Hello Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw Nishino Kana take the top spot for the second week in a row, this time over A.B.C-Z. Kana is back again this week, along with a newcomer. Find out what various staff members thought of the songs that topped the physical and digital charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!

Oricon #1: NMB48 – Must be now (Recochoku #37 / not in the iTunes top 50)

Ronald: “Must be now” sees NMB48 doing their best E-girls impersonation. And by that I mean that they are attempting a sound that is more in line with current pop music trends. This is very contemporary sounding for them. It’s not some cutesy mess like everything else I’ve heard from them while doing this feature. It’s not something that I particularly enjoy, but it is much better than their usual output. 4.5/10

Ice: Sigh, inferior “Kamonegix.” Anyways, how I would describe this electronic song is that NMB was going for a modern look, they decided to choose 2009 instead of 2015 for the sound for some reason. Anyways, the song isn’t as good as “Kamonegix” which fills the same niche as this song in NMB’s discography without the unique Japanese flavoring. Though I guess what is different is that it’s a 89 member song. My biggest problem with the song is the lack of payoff in the chorus. It feels like it builds up, but instead of exploding, it just kind of stays where it is and meh. 5/10

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Recochoku #1 / iTunes #1: Nishino Kana – Torisetsu (Oricon #33)

Ronald: Same review as last week – Dreadful. I can’t with this twee, babyish crap she puts out now. I’ve really and truly reached my limit after these past few singles of the same throwback Taylor Swift crap. I hate this. 1/10

Ice: Same review as last week – Unlike Kana’s usual style of a sentimental ballad, this is a more fun and happy fast tempo’d folk-like song. Kana did not use anything particularly impressive here when it comes to her vocals but it’s mostly stable and consistent throughout the whole song. I did not feel that this was anything particularly interesting as even in the category of fun and happy songs, there are a lot of songs that do the job better. 5/10

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Ronald’s Rank:

1. Oricon #1: NMB48 – Must be now

2. Recochoku #1 / iTunes #1: Nishino Kana – Torisetsu

Ice’s Rank:

1. Oricon #1: NMB48 – Must be now / Recochoku #1 / iTunes #1: Nishino Kana – Torisetsu

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