NMB48: Cat Transformations in "Mousou Girlfriend"

Yesterday, the Osaka AKB48 sister group released the PV to one B-side of their 5th single, Mousou Girlfriend, on their official Youtube channel!

First off, the song! I like how soft-sounding and casual the opening sounds! If I didn't know, any better, I'd think I was listening to one of Acchan's songs off her solo singles. But then, before I can even think, it was just to lead into the real instrumental of upbeat "du-du-duru, du-du-duruduruduru..."'s and clapping, along with some bells, maybe? These make the instrumental breaks sound quite cutesy, in a good way. But when it gets to the chorus, it gets pretty standard. Meaning: It doesn't really stand out in any way. The only part that does stand out is when they sing the first two lines of the chorus and they shout out "GIRLFRIEND!" or "BOYFRIEND!". It continues in that meh-kinda style for the verses and the bridges. For the most part, but I also do like how the percussion builds up in the bridge, and how they say "PLEASE!" in the part before the last chorus. It somehow builds up my happiness, in turn. Aaaaand that's pretty much all I find great out of this song. I mean, it is cute and catchy, but really, really, REALLY generic pop. Thank goodness, it's just a B-side, though, and not the A-side. (Really don't want a repeat of Oh My God; part of the reason why I don't keep up with NMB releases)

Looking at the thumbnail, (which looked... Interesting, if I do say so myself) I knew I was in for a crazy ride. But looking at the beginning, I was squinting a little. "Ah", I thought, "they're just trying to surprise us!", so I continued to watch. When watching Milky talking to the cat and touching it, I found it fairly normal. Who doesn't talk to cats from time to time? But when the cat bit her finger and I saw sparkles coming out, I knew that was when the fun started. From there, Milky finds herself on the ground, her pinky turning pink, growing a tail and ears (With an awesome bow!) and suddenly, standing up, dressed in a crop top, frilly skirt, furry wristlets and a garter, totally pulling off cute and sexy simultaneously.

Surprised by this, she runs off to... Somewhere. I don't know where, but she looks ridiculous when contrasted with the calm, normal scenery! I was really giggling a lot! Through town, on the railroad, in the forest and she finally makes it to the other NMB members, who look at her like, "Who the hell is she?!". But all Milky wanted to do was spread the cat disease by biting her fellow workmate. And so the cycle goes on with biting and transforming into a cat!

Once all the members have successfully turned into cats, they all dance to the music and sing along, as any cat idol would. The choreography, just like the outfits, is cute and sexy with every move that they do. The part where they're in a line, swaying their heads from side to side in unison especially looks so cute and carefree. I also found the part where they do a round-off of poses very giggle-worthy. What surprised me most, though, was that it appears they've woken up from a dream at the end while the camera pans out at their stunned faces.

The storyline was quite fun to watch! Really random and crazy, but fun! The transforming parts were well executed and magical, so they were some of the best parts of the PV for me! I thought that at the end, the cat would be there when the camera panned out fully or something else like that would happen. But with the PV ending like it did, it kind of made me feel empty, like all the whimsicalness of the whole PV was just fake. A bit depressing, I know, but still, I'll just remember the story from before the ending. :P Also, though the outfits were a little distracting at first due to their lengths and furriness, they fit the girls and the dance well. I'd say the PV almost makes up for the song!

Overall, I'd give this 6.7/10; Like I said before, a generic pop song, but the PV bumped up some of the points for me.