Round One: "Ikiru" is kind of nuts, though I don't know if I actually like it, and "Uttenkekkou" and "Kimaru" are pretty good. Other than those tracks, nothing else really stood out to me. I got pretty bored by "Zettai Zetsumei". It's a strong contender for my least favorite Tokyo Jihen album.

I really hated Variety, this new album mixes a lot of 'Jpop' with the tokyo jihen flavour... and I really love it ! (this is first listen impression though, hope it will last longer than that)

Tracks that have caught my ear :) : Ikiru, Denpa Tsuushin, Utenkekkou, Noudouteki Sanpunkan, Zettai Zetsumei, Noriki, Senkou Shoujo

I already listened the album around five, six times, I'm a big fan :p

this is drawings I've done while listening it's kind of a graphic review :
My graphic review !

Basically the same....exactly. Plus I finally fell in love with 3pun now that the pressure is off and I know it isnt the best song on the album. and senkou shojo rocks too

I haven't sat down and tried to understand all the lyrics but what I could understand sounded pretty amazing and pretty ringo. ill try to understand them better tomorrow.

ive said this in emails to a few people already but I really think the album is what Variety wanted to be. It seems to be coming from the exact same place as far as style and artistic vision but its not nearly as sloppy and most everything about it is better (AND NO FUKUSHUU!!!). The opening song sounds like an opening song (and is great.....an opening song HAS to be great!). The ending song sounds like an ending song. The songs sound like the whole band was involved in them and not just the member who wrote it. The album sounds like ringo was involed again and not in her comeback-in-a-hurry mode. Variety wasnt nearly as bad as we all made it out to be, but whatever you say about it, it was a MESS.

I could actually imagine a lot (most?)of these songs being on variety but for the most part they are better.

And nayth welcome to the boards, your art is pretty f-ing cool

I like your art, nayth.

It did occur to me that this sounds very J-Poppy in places. I do agree with lazer in that Sports sounds like it's less about who composed what (Although certain members' idiosyncracies do pop up here and there, naturally)

Least favourite tracks so far: FAIR and Noriki, although there are segments in each song that I like.

Is it wrong that I like FOUL? Crawl/BB Queen comparisons aside, it reminds me of Dr.Robotnik... =X

beautiful review!!❤

Yeahh, I'm thinking Noriki is the worst track on the album, with FOUL coming at a close second... but maybe they will grow on me.

While stuck in the snow for the sixth day in a row, I contemplated pre-ordering Sports before first-press disappeared. In the process of checking out all the information, I stumbled across Glath's discovery of the album leak, and I could not help myself since going in blind would be a ~$40 gamble...


I like the idea of Ikiru, but the "background noise" in the first half can be a bit much, while the second half seems harder to get behind for some reason.

Denpa Tsuushin honestly sounds like it could be the theme music for Sonic 4, or at least a BGM. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you.

Season Sayonara sounds solid, so simply saying such should suffice. (I could go further with the s, but it'd be painful for all us sans schadenfreude.)

It feels like Kachi-ikusa was a Variety holdover that snuck onto the album, while FOUL was an extra from Shouso Strip.

Utenkekku? Eh.

Whatever your feelings on Noudouteki Sanpunkan are probably won't change with its release, but it does fit well in the middle of the album.

Zettai Zetsumei is pleasant but not great. I'd feel different about it if she didn't keep the lighter tone in just the first half and spread it out a bit throughout the song.

FAIR will probably accurately describe how most people feel about the song, but I'm a fan of the style.

Noriki feels too much like a mediocre anime theme that segues into a lame video game segment in the middle of the song.

Sweet Spot is Karada-level cheesy (so of course I like it, haha).

Senkou Shoujo: see Noudouteki Sanpunkan, except that it now benefits more from being put somewhere on an album, fitting in very well as the second-to-last track.

Kimaru wants to be the Souretsu of Sports but doesn't match up with the rest of album well enough to gain that title.


Some of the statements here seem a bit ridiculous, and rightfully so.

They're an actual band now! I'm so proud of them.

I'm lovin' it so far... Ikiru and Kimaru are like TJ's Shuukyou/Souretsu, I'm kinda impressed with them... The rest of the album is basically pop, but I'm not disappointed at all. The only song I don't really like is Uten Kekkou, which is simply boring... Maybe it will grow on me, but it's the song I'm not really into. The highlights are Ikiru, Denpa Tsuushin, FOUL, 3min and Noriki, but the rest is great as well ^^. I'm so glad this is not Variety II...