Hello AramaJapan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week, Kanjani8 beat off competition from Sandaime J Soul Brothers and Nishino Kana to come out on top. This week we have 2 new songs! 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: V6 – Sky’s The Limit (not released digitally)

Ronald: This song is generic, but in a likable way. I like the intro and some other parts of the instrumental. The chorus kinda kills this song for me. It’s like they made it cheesy on purpose for some reason. And one of these guy’s voices is reminding me of that nasal kid from Sexy Zone. Weird seeing as how these guys are in their 30s and 40s. I could’ve lived without that mini rap too. 6/10

Kyle: V6 needs to become the male MAX one more time and make Eurobeat famous again. It’s kinda fascinating that they sound exactly the same as they did 19 years ago. The music is pretty generic, but I don’t hate it. Makes me think of spring/summer. I’d probably like it more if one of the pop girls got this instead. 6/10

Ryusenkai: As per usual, idols aren’t really my thing, etc. However, it is worth noting that I don’t dislike V6 as much as I do most idol groups; I just find their music somewhat generic and overall pretty innocuous. “Sky’s The Limit”, however, tends towards the more electronic end of their sound that I DO kind of dislike, so my opinion here is going to be colored somewhat. The instrumental is really simplistic and there’s not really much that sets it apart from other songs done in this style. If the title wasn’t enough of a dead giveaway, this song’s lyrics are the kind of “keep going” uplifting that has been all too common in this feature. All of that said, I do like their vocal mix more than I like Kanjani8′s and think that I’d be more likely to listen to this idol song than I have just about any other I’ve reviewed here, so that counts for something. Overall, not great, but I’ve heard worse. 3.75/10

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Recochoku / iTunes: SEKAI NO OWARI – Dragon Night (Oricon #9)

Ronald: I called the V6 song generic and this falls in the same boat. It’s different though in that this isn’t likable. I’m not here for this Avicii Japan-only bonus track featuring SEKAI NO OWARI. And the banjo, WTF is that? It was like a bad sound effect on one of those Fisher Price kid’s toys. This is so generic that they’ve ripped of Avicii’s country/EDM hybrid shtick. There’s something about this band that I just really don’t like. They’re like the band version of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, childish and gimmicky. It’s makes sense that the singer is banging her… 2/10

Kyle: Not feeling this at all. The beginning of the chorus reminds me of this EDM song that used to be played 24/7 on the radio, I think it was by Avicii? Vocals kinda annoy me too. The banjo is awesome tho that was a highlight. 4.5/10

Ryusenkai:

I’ve a weird relationship with SEKAI NO OWARI as a band, since I actually do quite like their compositions for the most part; there’s clearly a lot of work put into them. Where the problem begins to creep in is with their (in my opinion) overuse of auto-tune and lyrics which are frankly… really not very good. I’ve had the auto-tune described to me as a stylistic part of their music, and if so, it’s possible that said style just isn’t for me; I don’t mind artists experimenting with auto-tune as an effect, and I’ve even supported it when BUMP OF CHICKEN and Southern All Stars have dug into it in the past. However, it’s not something that I feel goes with every song and should not “replace” singing, so to speak. Those two factors end up making a lot of SEKAI NO OWARI songs feel repetitive to me fairly quickly.

This brings us to “Dragon Night”, which contains both of the above problems PLUS a composition that’s been invaded by EDM stylings. Throwing yet another repetitive element into a style of song that already ends up somewhat repetitive for me probably isn’t the best of ideas, and this is honestly one of my least favorite SEKAI NO OWARI songs. Even so, I do enjoy it more than V6′s effort this week by enough to name “Dragon Night” my pick of the week. This song at least has one moment within its instrumental that shines – the impressive banjo run followed by what sounds like a few notes on a xylophone. That’s enough to allow it to pull ahead in this race, even though I think both songs are far from the front of the pack. 4.5/10

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Ronald’s Rank:

1. Oricon #1: V6 – Sky’s The Limit

2. Recochoku / iTunes #1: SEKAI NO OWARI – Dragon Night

Kyle’s Rank:

1. Oricon #1: V6 – Sky’s The Limit

2. Recochoku / iTunes #1: SEKAI NO OWARI – Dragon Night

Ryusenkai’s Rank:

1. Recochoku / iTunes #1: SEKAI NO OWARI – Dragon Night

2. Oricon #1: V6 – Sky’s The Limit