Me: *watching random Japanese PV*
Person X: “So you like J-Pop?”
Me: (^-^;)

Well, it doesn’t happen as often now, but c’mon xD

But what are PVs anway? A PV, or “promotion[al] video”, is essentially the Japanese counterpart to music videos. I suppose the use of the word “promotion” was just a means to emphasize that most PVs/MVs are, in a way, “promoting” a new single/album. Aside from that, they’re pretty much what you’d expect from a music video – some have videos that match the song, some tell stories, and some are just really really random.

And here are some of my favorites 😀

Lyu:Lyu – メシア [ meshia | messiah ]
*trigger warning for depictions of blood and assault

“You laughing today– Saved my world, truly.” 
Let’s start you off with this little number here – messiah by Lyu:Lyu. Wow. Just, wow. I admit, part of what made me watch this video the first time I saw it was because it had “Director’s cut version” attached to the title. YouTube isn’t really as forthcoming as to what made it a “Director’s cut”.

Suffice to say I was genuinely shocked. Which is really just half of what makes this PV work. The other half is the lyrics – the gist of which talks about guilt associated with committing a wrongdoing for someone else’s sake.

相対性理論 – 地獄先生 [ soutaiseiriron – jigoku sensei | hell teacher ]

“Teacher, I want to know the things I don’t”
Generally speaking, SoutaiseiRiron PVs are all over the place – from footage of airplanes taking off to home videos of a toddler. Jigoku Sensei however, takes the cake with its nurses smoking cigarettes in slow-motion.

It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but it never fails to crack me up whenever I watch it.

amazarashi – 穴を掘っている [ ana o hotteiru | digging holes ]

“My dad often used to say, even villains can go to heaven.”
Back to something a bit dark, which is somewhat of a staple for amazarashi songs. A majority of their songs are of the emo variety, and this one isn’t an exception. Here the song addresses suicides in Japan. Now, I feel like I had to qualify it like that because it’s been a phenomenon for a while now.

As if to match the poetry, the video is bereft of people, and instead features a printing art installation in the middle of Aokigahara, a forest known for being the go-to place for people who don’t want to go back.

SUPER BEAVER – らしさ [ rashisa | being ]

“What’s ‘being yourself’ anyway?”
Some of you guys might recognize this little number as Barakamon’s ED. It’s a good song with very uplifting lyrics and a neat message to take to heart.

I guess what I like most about the video is how simple it is – people from different walks of life just being themselves, and being different from everyone else isn’t bad.

tricot – Break

“I was feeling safe.. but good-bye, Orange.”
Let’s end on a positive note.
And what’s more positive than ripping up all that negativity to pieces and moving on.

Or, in lead singer Ikkyu Nakajima’s roughly translated words, “everyone breaks up with him or herself in the past and goes on with their lives.”

—

Aand that’s about it. Were they any good?
Have any PV’s you like as well? 😀