Thoughts on NCT Wish Debut: From NCT Universe: LASTART to NCT New Team to NCT Wish

Hello all,

This is my final review on the journey of the NCT Universe: LASTART to NCT Team to NCT Wish members: Sion, Yushi, Riku Jaehee, Ryo, and Sakuya. In my last post about the pre-debut NCT Wish, I didn't feel that my blog was complete without one final post to discuss the aftermath of the NCT Wish team, S.M. Entertainment's newest artist group.

I like to go beyond the NCT Universe: LASTART SM reality survival program to see what the aftermath would be for the fated trainees who move on to their official debut. I wrote about their pre-debut phase in my previous blog post, NCT Wish: The Aftermath of NCT New Team and NCT Universe: LASTART, but it is now time to comment on their official debut on 28-FEB-2024.

I can't believe that I am able to witness the beginning of greatness. When I look back at my previous reviews, I have a sense of nostalgia and I could only think about the member's future potentials, but now, I get to see it live. There is no doubt I will be their fan and will support them to achieve their dreams.

We will start off with their pre-debut video: NCT WISH : Welcome to Cupid Scouting Society!

I was surprised to see that NCT Wish would release a pre-release video with English commentary. I thought they would focus on the Japanese audience, but I think their aim is to potentially go global, which is totally fine by me since I am in the global category. Anyway, I am trying to learn Japanese on my own just so I can keep up with this group.

The video as a whole is so light-hearted and funny and that is what I expect from a relatively young group that includes teenagers like Ryo, Sakuya, Yushi, and Jaehee. When NCT Dream debut their "Chewing Gum" video, there is a sense of rebelliousness combined with cuteness. NCT Wish may be the brightest of all NCT groups and with a name like "Wish" they will be as bright as the stars and bright even in the daytime. In both groups, I can always see what concepts that they want to portray and maybe this is also who they are in real life. When I watch NCT Dream content, I can see how mischievous the members are and when I watch NCT Wish content, I see love and hugs everywhere.

The "NCT WISH : Welcome to Cupid Scouting Society!" video is so short. I really wanted more, but I know I am being spoiled. NCT Wish have been flexing their acting skills so far in their previous MV and pre-debut videos. The video begins with Sakuya who is the newest recruit at the Cupid Scouting Society. This society organization shouldn't be like a school, but a place to exchange ideas. It makes sense to have Sakuya as the latest recruit since he is the youngest member.

Sakuya walks in to immediate focus on Sion and Riku, the most eldest members as they form love matches on what looks like a board game, but reminds me a bit like Jumangi where it moves itself or could have been moved with Sion's magic. It would make sense that Sion and Riku would be the most skilled based on the concept that the oldest members would be the wisest members. 

In the Cupid Scouting society, they also give seminars even though it is called "Cupid 101" on how to find couples and shoot them with the arrow of love. Sion is portrayed as the wisest one and the most serious member who requires concentration during this seminar.

In the Precision exercise, Ryo falls short of perfect in this bow and arrow pose, but he has to move on for the next person. Feeling disappointed with his shoulders drooped low, Ryo walks away sulking and Riku takes his place with his best bow and arrow pose. The angle of his bow arm was a bit high, but Riku looks the least bit apologetic or he could be downplaying the discrepancy. While Ryo aims to please, Riku just wants to be himself. 

In the test flight exercise, Yushi attempts to gracefully fly with his cupid wings, but is compared to a reckless chicken which leads to him to fall flat on his back. It seems as though Yushi has a long way to go to be a great cupid. I thought the humor attempt to compare Yushi's flight to a chicken was amusing.

In the "no cheating" scene, Ryo is running late for his exam so he runs, but doesn't fly up the stairs. As he was rushing for the exam, he was a bit unprepared and did not bring a pen for the cupid exam. However, he was resourceful to pluck one of the feathers of his wings so that he can use it as a fountain pen. This scene reminds me of Ryo when he was doing the time sensitive challenge to stack mini plastic chairs during the NCT Universe: LASTART era. Ryo knows how to think outside of the box. I hope he passes the exam as he was hardworking so far.

In the "wings of purity" scene, Jaehee oversees the laundry of cupid wings. He seems to be the member that can do no wrong. He will not let bad weather ruin the cupid wings. With two claps, he was able to bring back sunny skies. 

Being a cupid doesn't seem to be so bad. I always imagined myself as a cupid when I was young because I always wanted to put the main leads of a drama together. I imagine myself falling to earth just to help couples fall in love. One day, I will publish my book so look out for it.

In the final exercise, the cupids go into a "battle for love" though this scene makes me think that maybe NCT Wish is battling for our interest and our love for NCT Wish. Sakuya is funny for holding a super mini bow and arrow, but he manages to shoot a perfect ten score in the middle. Unfortunately, Riku and Jaehee have the harder task of shooting moving targets. Sion steps up to show them how it's done and one of the targets crashes through a window and lands outside. I am getting images of Sion and his superior batting skills in the pre-release "Hands Up" music video. Sion needs to be the MVP of everything. I find it funny that there are chickens clucking outside. Oh, Yushi.

I watched this video many times and also the behind the scenes video and find it very enjoyable. It is not very related to their actual music video, but I like that they gave a slightly different story as a teaser for their main video, "NCT Wish."

NCT Wish debut on 28-FEB-2024 during the SMTown Live 2024 SMCU Palace concert at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. They are debuting under a special situation. Who debuts at a major event like SMTown at such a huge venue like Tokyo Dome where other artists can only dream to perform in?

If NCT Wish were nervous, they did not show it on stage. The added bonus for fans is that they can listen and see the performance of NCT Wish's debut song before the music video is released, which is a rare event in the K-pop music industry. I was not immediately hooked by their debut song, but I gradually started to like it after their Korean promotions. I wasn't used to seeing Yushi wearing the Japanese style leg warmers and I wasn't used to seeing a male person wear it. However, they are young and they can explore different styles. Later on, I see other members wearing it too on different occasions. If they are going to follow a cupid fantasy concept, it's not completely off track. 

Not only did they perform "Hands Up" and "NASA," they also collaborated with Super Junior to perform Super Junior's song, "U." The song, "U," reminds me of their kalgunmu (razor-sharp group dancing) moves in the NCT Universe: LASTART era. 

When I look at their 41 second practice video, I can tell they practiced really hard. It is just amazing how dedicated they are to being the best. I think their efforts can not be understated. I am impressed that Jaehee, the member with the least dance experience, can keep up with this difficult choreography. Meanwhile, Sion does his 120% effortless dancing style as if this was not a challenge. I encourage everybody to check out the SMTown version as their vocals are so smooth and of course their dance performance was on point. It's rare for me to hear Sakuya sing and Sakuya's voice is not bad at all. I want to hear more of his vocal performance. 

Now, to review their debut MVs. NCT Wish's MVs are creative in that there is a slightly different story line for each MV so that means I need to review their MVs twice, which is still a joy for me. I also recommend watching their behind the scenes video and their MV reaction video for more insights to their process of creating these videos.

"WISH (Korean Ver.)" MV

By the time you read this, I have watched the music video dozens of times and I still haven't got sick of it yet.

When the movie starts, we see a young Spanish couple arguing in the car. I thought I was watching a different video so I double checked that I got the correct video. However, I have the correct video because NCT Wish filmed their music video in Barcelona, Spain. The actress is really pretty in my opinion. She reminds me of singer Camila Cabello. Anyway, as the couple is arguing, something or should I state, someone falls onto their car windshield, cracking it and rolling on the ground. The couple cautiously stops the car and steps out of the car to see what happened. Ryo suddenly stands up with a perk and gazes around without the slightest injury, surprising the couple. I guess cupids or angels can't get hurt on Earth. 

Behind the couple, another person or thing seemingly falls from the sky and seems to be landing flat (on his face). The young woman faints at the sight while the young man catches her. It's raining cupids! If I were there, I would be fascinated to see cupids. Yushi also gets up and lightly brushes himself off without injury. I guess Yushi still didn't practice his landings well from the Cupid Scouting Society and I do say "Cupid Scouting Society" with a German accent like Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Yushi sees Ryo and they walk down the road together without caring about the couple or their damaged car. Yushi playfully pushes Ryo aside and Ryo lightly pushes Yushi back. However, Yushi doesn't let up and does a forceful takedown of Ryo with his forearm behind Ryo's neck like a wrestling clothesline move from behind. Maybe they both had some type of competition and since Ryo landed first, Yushi was a bit jealous so he had to have some fun with Ryo. As they both fell to the ground, the couple that was arguing in the car have made up with each other once the young woman woke up. Love works in mysterious ways.

I love how the music video segues into Yushi and Ryo rolling towards each other in the grass. Before they were on the highway, but now they seem to be in a park having fun and relaxing. Sakuya makes his entrance into Earth by landing in the water instead. Riku is the last person to come to earth and is still falling backwards from the sky. I think these cupids need more training at the Cupid Scouting Society (German voice). 

Already on Earth, Sion and Jaehee are already looking at their target by the beach, scoping out a couple with binoculars. Too bad that we don't see them arrive on Earth. Their target is a woman with a dog and a man, both who are sitting on the beach, but far apart. 

Yushi and Ryo see Riku about to land from the park and they look at each other. Yes, it looks to be a painful landing if Riku is landing on his back. A mermaid rescues Sakuya in the water and Riku causes Sion to miss his love shot of the couple since he landed in front of Sion and Jaehee. However, Sion and Jaehee do not appear mad about the mistake. Somehow, Riku manages to land near Sion and Jaehee. After landing, Riku is also not hurt and looks at Jaehee, the couple, before sighing, acknowledging their mistake and taking off to resolve the problem with Sion and Jaehee sprinting behind him. 

The mermaid that saves Sakuya tries to do CPR and Sakuya spits out water on the grass. 

Yushi and Ryo walk down the street having fun. However, Sakuya, all dried up by now, was standing outside a music record shop across the street and trying to look inside, which is strange since he is across the street. 

Riku, Sion, and Jaehee come out of the subway somehow and try to run down the street. I so far do not see any cupid powers from them so down here on Earth, they have to act human. I guess they either had money to take the subway or they bypassed paying for the subway. 

In the sky, clouds move away to make a heart shape and Yushi and Ryo sees that as a sign. This story is a little bit similar to one of my stories that I wanted to write, so I find this very interesting. Yushi and Ryo look at each other as if they knew who their targets are so they head over to the record store. Unlike Sakuya, Yushi and Ryo shade their hands over their eyes to look directly into the music record shop from the store window, unabashed. They did better than Sakuya, who must have been a bit shy, but all of this staring-into-the-record-shop is stalker behavior, but at the same time adorable for the viewer. Sion, Riku, and Jaehee catch up to Sakuya, and soon the whole group is together in front of the record shop and looking into it like stalkers. They see the red-hair mermaid lady who has human legs and another young man of interest looking a vinyl records as a customer.

Somehow, NCT Wish take a break to walk towards a water fountain with a baby cupid statue peeing out water from its private area. Sion and Riku glance at each other and Riku also looks downwards in concern to his private area. It is comical and innocent. Soon, the baby cupid is covered with some blue striped baby pants and the water stopped coming out in the water fountain since NCT Wish team supposedly took care of it. Maybe NCT Wish needed to discuss a plan of action so they took a break and have human needs like eat some lunch. Again, I am not sure if they magically had money or how they were able to obtain burgers, but there was a clue that Sion had a coin in his hand so they must have collected all the money from the fountain, but I doubt it is enough money for all six of them to buy burgers unless those burgers are incredibly cheap. 

NCT Wish must have waited for the mermaid woman to be off from work as she is walking with her bike across the town square. Yushi gets behind the fountain to take a cupid shot from his small long firearm with a heart-shaped scope. Unfortunately, he misses the timing and shoots a tree that blocked the mermaid lady instead of mermaid lady, who is also a redhead so she must be related to Ariel of Disney. The young boy customer was also in the square and witnesses mermaid lady's weird actions so he unapologetically also tries to capture the scene of mermaid lady kissing the tree on his phone.

After his shooting mistake, Yushi decides that he needs more practice and starts practicing shooting cans and bottles near the lakeside. One of his bullets somehow went to a fish in the lake. I guess Yushi is not that great of a sharpshooter. 

Mermaid lady can be seen watching the young man with his electric guitar in front of a goal post of a soccer field from her balcony. I find it strange that the young man is playing his electric guitar by sitting in front of a goal post. How is he getting electricity? All that is unimportant as NCT Wish also dances in the middle of the field. 

Sion scoops up the fish that Yushi shot and all five members run towards him on the dock before they all jump into the water for some fun. I guess Sakuya can swim in the storyline, but probably in shallow waters or Sakuya fell unconscious in the water the first time around so he didn't swim. All members dry off by taking a nap on the grass. 

Sakuya wakes up to seeing mermaid lady walk towards the lake and gracefully jump in to the water. At the same time, the young man of interest is driving towards them on his moped. 

Jaehee gets excited to use a shotgun, but Yushi takes it away from him to take Yushi's shot. Sakuya wastes no time and runs toward the dock. Sakuya leaps in front of the young man of interest and is shot in the heart instead. I tried to make sense of how Sakuya is faster than a bullet, but if we go to the Japanese version of the video where they can freeze time, then this is possible for Sakuya to be in front of the bullet. Amazingly, he has a heart-shaped hole in his heart and behind the hole is the mermaid lady swimming towards Sakuya. The sky is shown with clouds moving away into a heart shape again, shining sunlight on the mermaid lady. Sakuya looks at the screen and smiles as if he intended to link his fate to the mermaid lady who saved him from drowning in the lake. 

The music video is so easy to watch and digest without going into deep details like I was doing during "Hands Up". I had so many theories about the "Hands Up" music video. They could easily have made a whole movie out of this storyline. "Wish" is lighthearted, fun, and shows how innocent the NCT Wish members are as cupids. The music video was well-made and NCT Wish did a brilliant job.

'WISH (Japanese Ver.)' MV

For the Japanese version of the music video, I won't rehash the parts of the same storyline so I will only comment on the differences in the music video.

In this version of the video, Sakuya is rescued by mermaid lady, but when he wakes up, he sees both Ryo and Yushi looking at him instead. Sakuya still saw the back of mermaid lady walking away. Yushi shakes his head at Sakuya, knowing how clumsy Sakuya must have been to faint while dropping into the lake from the sky. Either way, all landings of Ryo, Yushi, Sakuya, and Riku must be painful from a human standpoint. Remember, Sakuya was the newest recruit to the Cupid Scouting Society (German voice) so he is the rookie of the team.

The storyline here is a little bit strange as Sakuya saw mermaid lady walk away with purple sweater with pink flowers and short jeans, but as Riku was racing across the park, he jumps over mermaid lady, who is now in a totally separate outfit that is pink with long jeans. Maybe mermaid lady changed clothes fairly quickly and decided to lay down at the park and read a book. For the story to be logical, Sakuya must have landed on Earth first and then Riku landed on Earth some time much later. Riku gives mermaid lady his charming smile before he walks away.

In this alternate time line, Sion, Riku, and Jaehee are standing across the street facing the music record shop where the mermaid lady works and the young man of interest walks into the shop. This also does not make sense. Riku just jumped over the mermaid lady so he must have waited or followed mermaid lady to work, but mermaid lady is again in a different outfit of green. Maybe mermaid lady has to change clothes for work. This can only be possible if some time has passed. 

Meanwhile, Sakuya, Yushi, and Ryo are carefreely walking down the street. When the cloud opens into a heart shape, all three members see the sign. The three find themselves starring into the record shop and are promptly joined by the last three members to make a complete group. They still look like stalkers. I love the reactions of Ryo, Sakuya, and Yushi when they see Jaehee, Sion, and Riku behind them as if they are saying, "Do I know you?"

The Wish is Complete - NCT Wish
Credit to SM Entertainment and the Youtube video

The story further deviates when mermaid lady decides to go to a gallery where the man of interest is also present. Riku has a mischievous idea to stop time and break up a couple by moving the man and his flowers to propose to another woman. I wasn't too sure what the point of this was, but it did draw the attention of mermaid lady and the guy of interest. That is funny if cupids can also break people up.

Also, I find it fascinating that this is the only scene in which we see the NCT cupids having some type of magical power. Otherwise, they look like normal human beings on Earth who take subways and eat burgers.

Having NCT Wish dance in the gallery with white flower petals seems nice and the little boy cupid painting was a nice touch. 

Yushi didn't actually miss any shots with his cupid firearm, but he still needed to practice. This did not really go with the story line, but Yushi still shot a fish and he scratches his ear apologetically. However, it is clear in this version of the video that the fish landed on the dock, which would make sense how Sion was able to pick it up in the Korean music video.

After NCT Wish cupid members take a nap on the grass while drying off after jumping into the lake, it is Riku who stands up, gazing at mermaid lady with fondness. When man of interest shows up in his moped or bike, Jaehee excitedly thought he would get lucky this time to shoot his firearm, but Riku grabs the firearm from Jaehee this time. Poor Jaehee who never gets a shot in, but I think he is just as happy with what seems to be a one-for-all-and-all-for-one attitude. 

Riku takes a shot, but lowers his head in disappointment. That looks like me when I go bowling and knew the ball wasn't going to hit the pins that I wanted. The love bullet hits the dog again and the dog's owner and the other man of interest are pulled together again. The couple smile at each other except the dog is also smitten and jumps on the guy's sensitive area. Riku's disappointment turns into a cheesy smile as he looks up again at the scene. 

In this version, we have been duped as the couple wasn't mermaid lady and her man of interest, but the dog lady and her man of interest. I welcome the change in storyline to give each character a bigger role.

Overall, now that I too a look at both versions, the "Riku" version, which is the Japanese version doesn't quite make sense as a story with some discrepancies. I much prefer the more logical storyline, which is the "Sakuya" Korean version. However, I did enjoy watching Riku's mischievous self.

I have never been to Barcelona before, but it seems to be a beautiful place. I am sure these videos will encourage tourism and even though there was no dialogue in the music video, the actors all portrayed their roles well. 

When it came to NCT Wish music show stages, I would say they did well and surprisingly even winning two music show wins with "The Show"! and Show Champion, which is amazing for a rookie group that just debut. There was only one disappointment that I had for Jaehee's performances in which I personally thought he didn't hold his notes long enough like in the record where he sang "so I make this wish tonight..." and his "tonight" felt too short for me. I felt Jaehee improved a lot on his dance and I am also happy to see that he is not always dancing in the back anymore. By the way, I also came to love the B-side song, "Sail Away," as well. It's no shock that I bought both the Japanese and Korean versions of their CD. I almost bought the Wichu keyring version as well, but decided not to as I felt it was overkill for me to own so many versions and I thought Wicchu looks sad and I rather have a happy Wichu. Maybe Wichu is happy, but he looks sad to me. I also wish they had an album that included both Korean and Japanese versions on CD.

I also watched their "Wishlist" showcase and I was proud of them and proud of Sion especially for handling all the technical difficulties with Wichu and leading most of the conversations during the show. I won't go too deep into it as my post is already super long, but I enjoyed it.

If you still need to get the album, they have it on Amazon below (Note: the links below are affiliate links in which I receive a small commission should you decide to make a purchase at the 3rd party website):

Single Album WISH Photobook Ver. (Korean version)

Wish - Regular Edition - Trading Card For 1St Pressing (Japanese Version)

2nd Preorder NCT WISH - 1st Single WISH WICHU Ver. Keyring

NCT Wish - 1st Single Wish [Keyring Ver.] Smart Album

I'll also include the individual CD covers for the Japanese album in case you are interested:

Wish - Sion Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

Wish - Riku Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

Wish - Yushi Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

NCT WISH WISH JAEHEE Ver. First Press Japan Version

Wish - Ryo Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

Wish - Sakuya Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

I again congratulate NCT Wish on their debut! I think I have done the full circle to say farewell to NCT Universe: LASTART and hello NCT Wish! I will be watching them closely to support them and I can't wait to see what else they will bring us next, but I won't be writing such detailed reviews anymore, unless you all have any interest in me doing so or if I decide to feature their song on Wehaiyo! I hope that I brought NCT Wish enough attention to interest you into checking them out as well.

Wehaiyo! (Cheers!)

J-Drama Review: Ao Haru Ride Seasons 1 and 2 (2023 and 2024)

Ao Haru Ride Season 1 and 2 (2023) / アオハライド Season 1 and 2

aka Blue Spring Ride

Starring:

Deguchi Natsuki as Yoshioka Futaba

Sakurai Kaito as (Tanaka Kou) Mabuchi Kou

Shida Sara as Murao Shuko

Niihara Taisuke as Kominato Aya

Riko as Makita Yuri

Kanechika Daiki as Tanaka Yoichi

Sota Ryosuke as Kikuchi Toma

A new major character appears in season 2:
Fujiyoshi Karin as Narumi Yui

Year: 2023 and 2024 (Season 1, Season 2)
Episodes: 14 (8 espisodes in season 1, 6 episodes in season 2)
Network:  WOWOW
Genre: Romance, Mystery

This drama is based on a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Io Sakisaka.

Synopsis:

In middle school, Yoshioka Futaba is on the verge of being an outcast in her class for having a pretty face and supposedly popular as her female classmates see it. One day, to avoid the rain while returning home from school, Yoshioka Futaba runs to a nearby temple and also meets Tanaka Kou standing there as well. She recognizes him and addresses him since he is her classmate. He covers her with a spare shirt so that she can dry her hair and their friendship blossoms. It was not long before they start glancing at each other in the classroom and Tanaka Kou waits for Yoshioka Futa after school to invite her on a date to the Lantern Festival since the next day is officially their summer school break. 

Unfortunately, Tanaka Kou never showed up to the Lantern Festival and also did not come back to school when starting the new school year, leaving Yoshioka Futaba heartbroken. Still, Yoshioka Futaba wanted to fit in at school so until high school, she forces herself to hang out girls who despise any type of girls that are deemed as popular and pretty. 

Surprisingly, Tanaka Kou also transfers to Yoshioka Futaba's high school as well, but under a different surname, Mabuchi Kou and a different personality where he does not care for school or friends anymore. Little by little, Yoshioka Futaba and Mabuchi Kou learn to appreciate who they are and to move beyond the obstacles that lay before them.

Reasons to watch it:

This is a beautiful coming-of-age story with so many obstacles and imperfections for the main couple and also the side characters, but this is what growing up is all about. I think the "Blue Spring" title is in reference to Mabuchi Kou's sadness. 

Yoshioka Futaba is already a flawed character who works so hard to make her female classmates like her and she lacks confidence to show who she is and never thought that she could become a leader and class president had it not been for Mabuchi Kou's indirect encouragement. She is not particularly smart, but she works hard on any task that she decides to do.

Mabuchi Kou, hurt by family matters, closes his heart for most of the series, but he shows on many occasions that he cares about his friends. He also does not realize that he hurt his family members, especially his older brother without thinking about his older brother's feelings. Mabuchi Kou seems to be punishing himself for not realizing that his mother was sick. He takes a long time to realize who he wants to be and to find out his attitude in life, but he would not have done it without Yoshioka Futaba, who never gave up on him. 

Yoshioka Futaba's friendships with her two female friends are also commendable. Even though her new best friend, Makita Yuri, also had a crush on Mabuchi Kou, they did not let their friendship get in the way of liking the same man. This is what I call a mature friendship.

The arrival of fellow student, Kikuchi Toma, in Yoshioka Futaba's life was also a beautiful relationship to watch. I think Yoshioka Futaba could have been also very happy with Kikuchi Toma as her boyfriend if she truly decides to give up on Mabuchi Kou and want a perfect boyfriend instead. Kikuchi Toma is a very ideal boyfriend. However, Yoshioka Futaba is not interested in perfect men.

Kominato Aya is a very good and loyal friend to Mabuchi Kou. Mabuchi Kou should be very grateful that despite yelling at his friend, Kominato Aya several times, Kominato Aya never gave up on their friendship. Kominato Aya also has low self-esteem since he is constantly being rejected by his friends, but his loyalty to his friends makes him somebody really precious in this drama.

Reasons not to watch it:

Murao Shuko's character is very confusing to me. I think there is a lot of undeveloped story to her character and how she would change from liking Mabuchi Kou's brother, Tanaka Yoichi, who is also a teacher at their school to her loyal classmate, Kominato Aya. The only reason why Murao Shuko could not be with Tanaka Yoichi is because of their student/teacher relationship. However, in real life, Tanaka Yoichui could have still pursued Murao Shuko later on in life since he resigned from the school to somehow go overseas, which is very strange to me. 

During the series, Tanaka Yoichi continuously gives Kominato Aya chances to pursue Murao Shuko. Kominato Aya knows that Murao Shuko has set her feelings on Tanaka Yoichi and even I thought there was no hope for them. However, I didn't see any particular pivotal moment that would make me believe that Murao Shuko no longer loves Tanaka Yoichi. While I am happy that Murao Shuko made her choice at the end of the drama, I have a hard time believing how she can change over time.

Season 1 and Season 2 must be watched together if the audience wants a complete story because Season 2 is the continuation of the story from season 1. On top of that, season 1 ended on a cliffhanger.

I didn't like the drama of Narumi Yui entering Mabuchi Kou's life. At the time when Mabuchi Kou would have been certain that he wanted to date Yoshioka Futaba, he allows Narumi Yui back into his life. I do not really understand why Mabuchi Kou wanted to be so secretive about it. He could have been more frank and if anything, introduce Narumi Yui to more friends so that she can have a better outlook on life just as Mabuchi Kou did. Mabuchi Kou also could have called Narumi Yui back at a more convenient time instead of dropping everything he was doing just because she called. I felt really bad for Yoshioka Futaba during this time period. The worst part is that Mabuchi Kou made a conscious decision to not have a romantic relationship with Yoshioka Futaba. What was he thinking?

Favorite Couple and Chemistry Factor:

Favorite couple has to go to Yoshioka Futaba and Mabuchi Kou, two friends who are imperfect, but perfect for each other. They rely on each other and I think their lives would have been so sad without each other. I do not know why Mabuchi Kou came back to the same high school as Yoshioka Futaba or maybe he made a conscious decision that he cannot live without her in his life, but not necessarily to date her, but to be around her. There is little talk about Mabuchi Kou's father, but I guess they are financially well off enough to live separate lives. Mabuchi Kou tries to stray so many times to hang out with seemingly delinquent youths, but I love how Yoshioka Futaba would never let him do so.

Yoshioka Futaba and Mabuchi Kou were always more than friends, but it took them a while to be comfortable with it, accept it, and be confident with their decision. They make a very sweet couple if we ever get to see it.

Favorite Scenes:

My favorite scene was a sweet scene at the beginning where Tanaka Kou and Yoshioka Futaba were secretly and not-so-secretly staring at each other in the classroom. I can feel love in the air. 

When Yoshioka Futaba made an internal bet with herself that if Mabuchi Kou did not get off the train when she made an excuse to go back to school, she will forget about her feelings for him and as she opened her eyes to see if Mabuchi Kou was there after the train left, Mabuchi Kou stood in front of her nonchalantly saying that he would accompany her.

I can't forget about the cliffhanger scene in Season 1 where Mabuchi Kou and Yoshioka Futaba argue about their accidental kiss and as soon as Yoshioka Futaba mentioned that Kikuchi Toma told her that it was meaningless, Mabuchi Kou, triggered, had a strong inclination to prove Kikuchi Toma wrong and kisses Yoshioka Futaba with meaning and purpose so that Yoshioka Futaba cannot mistake it as an accident anymore. 

The most pivotal scene in which Yoshioka Futaba and Mabuchi Kou meet at the temple despite Yoshioka Futaba telling Mabuchi Kou that she would forget him is very impactful and also highly anticipated. Prior to this scene, Yoshioka Futaba admits to Kikuchi Toma that she liked Mabuchi Kou for his imperfections and his inner strengths and weaknesses are still a mess. She sees how Mabuchi Kou is changing bit by bit for the better and she didn't want to miss any of it. Back at the temple scene, Mabuchi Kou admits his mistakes and asks Yoshioka Futaba if she would be willing to watch how dependable he will become. I think the audience knew in their hearts what Yoshioka Futaba was thinking at this moment.

Least Favorite Scenes:

Leaving Yoshioka Futaba stranded on a date twice by Mabuchi Kou is brutal. I am highly surprised that she would still want to be friends with somebody like that. In today's world, we have internet and text messages so I don't know why Mabuchi Kou never bothers to explain himself to her and he had summer months to do so.

I wanted to include that every time they show the school's indoor shoes with the rubber front, I thought it was not attractive at all. I wish they had better looking school shoes.

The Lesson:

Life is imperfect and finding who you are and improving yourself is a process, little by little. It's better to have friends by your side during these times.

OST songs:

I also loved the fast piano opening song, but I can't find it anywhere.

Kana Adachi feat.Yuito Takeuchi - Konoamegayandara この雨がやんだら

Watch it on Viki:
Ao Haru Ride (Season 1)

Ao Haru Ride (Season 2)

Wehaiyo’s Viki Recommendations:

If you liked this drama, then consider watching these coming-of-age Japanese dramas:

Black Cinderella - Another coming-of-age story in which a beauty pageant contestant learned to appreciate who she is and her true beauty despite having her face scarred in the process.

Brother Trap - A drama in which a female university student with low self-esteem finally finds a great guy to date, only to find out that she dated his older brother in the past. The two brothers also struggle to adapt to the new change and to take care of their sick mother at the same time.

In Time With You - Two lifelong best male/female friends who rely on each other a lot stay in the friend zone all their lives with missed chances to officially date each other. They stay in limbo with each other until one of them decides to marry someone else.

Silent - Two high school students who bond over music almost fall in love only for one of them to disappear from their lives. Eight years later, the female friend was overjoyed to accidentally see her male friend again only to find out that the male friend became mute and wanted to avoid all his past relationships and memories.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ao_Haru_Ride

https://mydramalist.com/753383-ao-haru-ride-season-1

https://mydramalist.com/753385-ao-haru-ride-season-2

Three Chinese Short Drama Apps to Download to Kill Time

 Hello readers,

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today with a sore throat and a headache, but I can't help not trying to blog some more today because inspiration is constantly coming to me. I know that I have a lot of topics that I did not write about on Wehaiyo! yet, but I will take it easy at least for this week.

I want to talk about some guilty pleasures today, which is Chinese 狗血 (gou3 xie3) or Dog Blood dramas, which means, according to yabla.com, melodramatic and contrived. I couldn't think of any term in Cantonese for melodramatic dramas that are over the top, but then whenever I watched Hong Kong television dramas or movies when I was young, the plot tended to be over the top anyway so that is probably just a normal story line for everybody. This was an idea of mine to one day post about my absolute pet peeves in Asian dramas.

As per Chinlingo.com, Dog Blood dramas originated from the Peking Opera who would use the dog blood to expel evil spirits. Or I have seen in Quora that somebody answered that the actors actually used dog blood at the Peking Opera as fake blood to do drama scenes on stage. Either way, I think of melodramas as dramas that have ridiculous and unrealistic plot lines.

The first term that comes to me is the Korean term, 막장 (makjang), for dramas with outrageous plot lines. When I first started watching Korean dramas, I thought the plot lines were kind of unbelievable and could not understand why almost every character is shouting as they speak. Korean male characters tend to throw anything in front of them or slam their fist into a wall in a fit of anger. Maybe, the first thing they want to do is punch someone and ask questions later. Either way, this is the type of drama I am talking about.

I can easily find Dog Blood dramas on Youtube. It was over the summer when I easily spent around two hours to watch a plot from beginning to end. Almost every scene had a character being slapped in the face either by a love rival or a parent. People who were not rich enough were constantly being berated and money is power. This type of  狗眼看人低  (gou3yan3 kan2 ren2 di1 in Mandarin / gau2 ngaan5 hon3 jan4 dai1 in Cantonese or Dog Eyes Look Down on People), the way people look down on other people, makes me want to slap them all in real life as well. 我睇唔顺眼啊 (In Jyutping: ngo5 tai2 m4 seon6 ngaan5 meaning "I can't stand it" or literally "what I see is not agreeable to my eyes").

There may or may not be subtitles in the videos, but I was still able to follow along with the basic knowledge of the language.

Being slapped is commonplace in a Chinese drama.

As a Chinese-American, I have never been slapped in real life by anyone. Also, I tend to stay away from trouble so unfortunately, there is really no rich CEO out there waiting to save me from evil rich families or people who want to climb up the social ladder. There is nobody out there claiming to be my long lost parent.

It wasn't long before I started seeing online advertisements to watch Chinese short dramas on applications.

I ended up downloading three English language apps where I can watch Chinese dramas (in Mandarin language):

SnackShort

Kalos TV

DramaBox

I am not including applications or streaming services that are well known to produce great Chinese dramas. This topic is more for the miscellaneous category where somehow these app companies are contracted to license these dramas onto the app.

These short drama apps are not for everybody because unless you are a paying client, free episodes are not free as it makes the user work to earn free episodes. There are a lot of traps in these apps so if you are not willing to put in the effort and not willing to pay money, this experience is not for you. 

Traps

Each episode operates on a coin system, much like reading webtoons or mangas or manhwas where each episode consumes some type of points or currency. 

Each app allows the user opportunities to watch advertisements for coins. However, there is a timer  time delay between each advertisement and I think it is a tactic to keep users on the app as long as possible. 

For each drama, the first few episodes are free to hook the user into the drama. Subsequent episodes of the drama will require coins to unlock per episode.

Each episode is less than two minutes long. Normally, each episode is longer than a minute. One minute does not move the plot along that much and can be a mood killer.

Paying for a subscription on the apps are usually very expensive.

Based on the above points, the apps are normally a time waster. I do not recommend the free plan for anybody who has no patience because unless the drama is really good, it is easy to give up on it due to all the blocking factors above.

Still, I keep them around because it's mobile and I can watch an episode whenever I want assuming that I have wi-fi and have a moment to spare and not really time to watch a 45 minute to an hour long episode of a drama.

The good thing is that an unlocked episode stays unlocked as long as the account is not deleted. I can re-watch the entire drama in full after unlocking all the episodes without interruption.

Keep in mind that the drama production is very simple with limited budget, the plot is limited, and the plot is often nonsensical. Sometimes rich people don't dress like rich people with extravagant clothes and in one case, I can see the actress wearing slippers underneath a party gown.

Also, I want to bring up the fact that the plot lines can trigger a lot of undesired themes such as rape, sexual assault, blood and violence, but nothing shown in a graphic way, . However, I can easily tell it is fake acting and not realistic. It is not uncommon that women are treated as objects in the story. If they are useful, they are loved, but once out of use, can be discarded like garbage.

Even watching advertisements has a limit each day. I think all this was designed to make the user come back every day to log in and use the application. There are coins that are received by logging in and consecutive logins usually will be rewarded more coins after the seventh day or on certain consecutive days.

Honestly, this business model is worse than watching cable TV or subscribing to a streaming service. At least, when watching cable TV or a streaming service, the user just need to wait to allow the advertisement to automatically come on, but in the app, the user must purposely click on the buttons to watch each ad that is minimum 30 seconds. Watching one ad is not enough to unlock an episode. It will take almost watching all advertisements to be able to watch an additional one to two episodes.

I would recommend to stay away from these apps as your main source of drama watching, but it is always good for an occasional view.

As a bonus, it is exciting to see some no-named actors and actresses be part of this low budget production, but then go on to act in bigger productions later on. I am also shocked to see various versions of the same storyline on Youtube, but with different actors and actresses. It is not uncommon for Chinese productions to recycle the same storyline. It could be that we are watching the same basic plot of revenge over and over again, but under slightly different circumstances.

Lastly, the apps are not really built for fast forwarding or rewind. The apps usually freeze when I try to go to an exact moment.

Which App is the Best?

After all the warnings above, I can tell some people might want to continue on and watch these dramas. 

I will list what I think about the apps that I mentioned from my favorite to my least favorite while not paying for a paid subscription, though I will mention the subscriptions for anybody interested in it.

Kalos TV

Apple Store Link or Google Play Link

I see that Kalos TV is most active on the Tiktok social media platform. 

Their "Benefits" package has two paid plans (at the time this post was published):

Monthly package at $29.99 a month ($7.49 per week), providing 2100 coins and a bonus of 1350 coins, and extra 1800 coins per login per day, totaling up to 5250 coins in total. 

This plan is probably for the ultimate drama watcher, but I can't see how anybody would want to pay for this plan as there aren't that many dramas on the roster.

Weekly package at $14.99 per week, providing 1050 coins and a bonus of 630 coins, and an extra 60 coins per log in per day, totaling up to 2100 coins in total.

I am cheap so I do not have any subscribed plans. Subscribing to too many services will leave me broke so please don't forget to click on some Google Ads advertisements on this website so that I can earn some change.

Not only does this app have Chinese dramas, but they also have non-Chinese dramas as well. The acting also seems bad and low budget in non-Chinese dramas. 

There is a Highlights section to introduce users to other dramas.

I like how there is a "My List" section to show the dramas that I am currently watching so that my drama doesn't get lost in the drama list. It also shows percentages of how much of the drama I have completed so far. For the most part, there are English subtitles, but I don't like how they also translate the character's names to an English name as well, which is very unrealistic in China, at least. The character renaming is done in all the apps that I mention in this post.

Dramas that I have watched in completion so far:
Trio Tycoons Compete For My Heart- I had a bit of nonsensical fun with it and rising actress Zhang Ruo Nan is in it as the main female lead. Her latest drama to date on Viki is "My Boss". The male lead is also cute looking. Somehow, this rich lady in disguise has three brothers protecting her, but two of the brothers are blood-related so the title is misleading or did I miss something. I recommend watching this story instead of the same story on Youtube with different actors. I see at least two more of the same plot line on Youtube, but I won't bother watching it again for the same story line.

When Love Strikes Back - I wanted to believe in this couple, but the male lead is highly toxic, cruel, and it is very hard to root for him. I like the main actress though so I will look out for her other works on this app. 

Currently watching:

Little Cuties' CEO Daddy - This one seems refreshing with a couple who comes together on a contract marriage and they each have their own kid to create a complete family. 

When it comes to earning free coins, this app is the most easiest app. First, I recommend watching new episodes first. As long as those episode are not the last few episodes of the story, I am allowed to additionally watch one ad per episode without using coins, which is considered a really good deal compared to watching advertisements just to barely get coins. 

Unlocking each episode seems to require more and more coins as each episode progresses (45 coins for episode 28).

Afterwards, I recommend checking in on the app, which gives 10 coins, but the seventh consecutive day gives 50 coins. 

There is an option to "top up" to buy coins directly as an option, but I think it's very expensive.

After getting those ten episodes, I recommend going to the "Daily Watch Ads" section to watch ten ads with ten seconds of buffer between clicking to generate an ad. I would do this during times when you do not need your phone and let the advertisements run, so it is a multitasking job. This goes for the other apps I review as well.

I think each episode requires around ten coins.

If you happen to watch many episodes from other dramas, there are watching rewards as well at 6, 12, 20, and 30 episodes. I normally do not go past 12 episodes a day, but having an extra 25 coins because of it is not bad.

I can normally watch at least 12 episodes a day so that's maybe 15 minutes of drama watching on this app for free.

This seems to be the best deal out of all the apps that I mentioned.

Dramabox

Apple Store Link or Google Play Link

For those looking for a subscription plan, Dramabox offers a yearly subscription for $199.99 (Wow! So expensive!) and a weekly subscription plan for $19.99 (still expensive). I definitely recommend the free plan and bare waiting each day to unlock free episodes. Rates are valid as of the time this article is published.

I just downloaded this app today so it could be too early for a review. They have a website, which I linked above in the title. They have the basic features that Kalos TV has including a browsing list.

This app is similar to Kalos TV in that it also has non-Chinese dramas on the watch list. However, I am interested in it for the Chinese dramas.

Unfortunately, compared with Kalos TV, I can only watch two episodes without coins by watching an advertisement compared to Kalos TV, which allows me to watch ten episodes with ads.

Their login rewards system is only three coins a day with five coins on the third consecutive login day, six coins on the sixth consecutive login day, and nine coins for the seventh consecutive login day.

Unlocking an episode seems to need around five coins to watch, but I am unsure if this amount would change as I progress.

In the "Earn rewards" section, there are 15 advertisements that I can watch, but there is about a two minute delay between each advertisement before I can click on the button again to launch another one. That is a time waster. Each advertisement only brings me one coin as a reward. 

The app also rewards users with the time spent watching at five (one coin reward), ten (two coins reward, and fifteen (four coins reward) minutes.

Starting one new drama allowed me to make it to episode 19 in one day. I am not sure how the math added up to allow me to watch so many episodes. This benefit could be comparable to Kalos TV.

I am currently watching the drama, "Facing Facades: Love Beyond the Deal." It surprises me about the amount of distrust people have over anything the main character leads say in the drama. Nobody, even themselves, believes that the other person is an influential person. There are English subtitles.

My list of dramas had pre-selected dramas already on the list, but I can easily remove the ones that I am not watching for a clearer picture of what I am currently watching.

Like Kalos TV, there is also a "Top up" option to buy more coins. Their most popular plan is 200 + 20 coins at $19.99. Again, I find this very expensive as this is more than a Viki subscription per month with way more benefits.

Snackshort

Apple Store Link or Google Play Link

Snackshort has a Youtube channel, which I linked in their title.

They have a paid VIP Express monthly subscription of $39.99 to watch all shows without interruptions. That would make most people go bankrupt. Rates are valid as of the time this article is published.

This app is a little different than Kalos TV or Dramabox in that there is no personal list that I can make of the dramas that I am currently watching. This is inconvenient to constantly search for the drama that I was watching the previous day. 

Unlike Kalos TV or Dramabox, Snackshort does not give any free episodes in exchange for watching an advertisement without coins. One episode a day is much to painful for me and I can't really recommend this app on top of the list. Snackshort calls their coin system Popcoins.

An Episode that I want to watch at episode 16 costs 80 Popcoins to unlock.

I am currently watching "Beg for Mercy My Ex-Husband" at a painful slow rate. There are English subtitles.

They have the usual login reward system to give ten coins a day except at day three and day seven with twenty coins as a reward. 

They allow the user to watching up to five advertisements a day for 10 Popcoins as a reward, totaling up to 50 pop coins a day. There is a two minute delay between clicking from one advertisement to the next advertisement. I find that annoying and also limiting to how much we can watch in one day.

They give bonus points for a seven-day consecutive check in (100 Popcoins), watching 5 videos a day (20 Popcoins), and a one-time Facebook sign in (40 Popcoins).

This app does not give many chances to earn coins. I recommend login into the app just to get free login bonus on days that you do not plan to watch anything just so you can get the coin bonuses and it will take a while to add up.

Conclusion:

I would stick to the free plans for all of these dramas. The subscription fees are unreal and unrealistic. I don't know of any person who would actually pay for a subscription plan. This is not a huge company with a huge catalogue like Netflix or Viki. I'm sure iQiyi, Youku, and Mango TV subscription are way cheaper than these prices.

If you only have a few minutes or don't want to watch a full-fledged Chinese drama, having these options is a good option. It is also great for me to have the subtitles in English even if I may not need them.

The apps are definitely a good time waster if you want to watch something on your spare time. The dramas do not overlap among the three apps that I mentioned so only a particular drama can be viewed on a certain app.

The apps are also great for anybody obsessed with collecting things like virtual coins. The Alibaba Express app also gives users coins as rewards on a daily basis just to use their shopping app. I guess Chinese apps like to reward their users for simply visiting the app. 

I am not paid to introduce these apps so feel free to explore on your own as desired.

Next time, you want to see a good slap in the face or faces or want to see some type of revenge where the good overcomes the bad people, try one of these Chinese short drama apps.

References:

https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=gou+xie

https://www.chinlingo.com/articles/601283/

https://www.quora.com/What-does-this-Chinese-word-%E7%8B%97%E8%A1%80%E2%80%9D-mean-in-English#:~:text=In%20a%20modern%20context%2C%20%E7%8B%97,the%20actors%20of%20Peking%20Opera.

NCT Wish: The Aftermath of NCT New Team and NCT Universe: LASTART

Given all my NCT Universe: LASTART reviews on Wehaiyo!, I thought I would jump in to talk about the aftermath of NCT New Team, the newest and last official expansion of the NCT group. I would make sense that I write a follow up on how NCT New Team, which is now known as NCT Wish, is doing after their reality survival competition show ended. After all, they will officially debut on 28-FEB-2024 with their debut single, "Wish," in Korean and Japanese versions of the song. The wait is totally worth it.

If we already watched the journey to debut, we might as well watch the entire journey up until their official debut. When I saw their newest performance video today, I was too excited and wanted to write a blog post right away to celebrate this moment.

I will recap their journey after NCT Universe: LASTART.

NCT New Team: Hands Up

NCT New Team aka NCT Wish made their first official performance (sans Jungmin) in the "NCT Nation: To the World" concert in Osaka on the 9th and 10th of September, 2023 as a pre-show act. We could see in fancams how nervous the boys were as they could barely speak and greet the audience. I love all those long keychains that they were wearing on their pants.

I still think that SM Entertainment should have already come up with the official name and concept for NCT Wish in advance before they go on stage as NCT New Team. They lost some opportunities to brand this group from the beginning. I also suppose that perfection cannot be rushed. 

In the above video where there were numerous back-up dancers, who danced in the beginning, impressed me a lot. This was an ultimate opening for a rookie group. It was a nice idea to debut NCT New Team at a NCT concert. I wish I was there. For all members to suddenly appear behind the back-up dancers and then do their own moves to end the introduction music was epic. I made sure to watch it six times to see what moves each member performed to end the introduction. I like all the moves, but probably Yushi's move is the best because it looked to be the hardest to do. I think all those moves were part of the song choreography, which is cool.

All the members looked so clean and fresh with perfectly set hairstyles and looks. I think Riku is probably nervous, but he did not look nervous at all while performing the song. Sakuya also looked confident with a cute smile, but I think that is his special skill to not look nervous in front of people. Ryo is fitting his part so well with his vocals and dance moves. I was happy to see Ryo's voice blend in with Yushi and Daeyoung's voices as we did not particularly see this combination in the reality survival competition program. 

I love hearing some Korean words in the Japanese song because "Ola" or "올라" means to "go up." It sounds so natural to add some Korean words in there. I knew what "Ola" meant since I watched and listened to Woo Jinyoung's rap in in the song "No Name" in the reality survival competition show, "Produce 101 Season 2" where Woo Jinyoung pointed his finger up as he rapped "Ola ga". I asked my Korean husband what it meant and my husband said it meant to go up. That performance was iconic in many ways, but that will be for another topic.

I think nobody but Sion could do the body wave in the chorus part, so it is very appropriate that he gets the center position for it. Also, it would not be nice if a younger member did it as we have minors in the group. I will state is that Sion is very flexible.

Sakuya did a great job backing up Riku in rap parts, but Sakuya could also still stand out on his own with his own style during his verse two part.

I am super impressed with Yushi's ability to sing high notes. The "so let me see you fly" lyric was originally Jungmin's part, but went to Yushi to show his vocal skills. I do not particularly see Yushi as a powerful performer, but I think he has that ability should he choose to use it. The only thing I wanted to see is that he changes his facial expression when he tries to sing powerfully to not only let us hear it, but also to see it. Maybe he should scrunch his face to make a tight facial expression when he sings difficult parts.

I like this song because it has a lot of vocal parts and creative rap parts. Unfortunately, Daeyoung did not stand out. During the bridge part of the song, Daeyoung had to bend down during his solo part while singing, which is not that great because he lost his chance to shine in front of the audience. He did not get many highlighting parts. I think he was put in the back of the dance line because he still needed to improve his dance skill, though for me, he was not terrible because practicing dance will lead to a great performance, but he could use a confidence booster. 

I wonder how the Japanese members feel about performing in their home country. It must be thrilling and a source of pride. 

Sadly, before the pre-debut tour on 02-OCT-2023 and almost a month later after NCT New Team's first performance as a group, SM Entertainment announced on social media that Jungmin left NCT New Team due to health reasons and will revert back to being a SM Entertainment trainee. I lost a lot of sleep over this news because I saw how hard Jungmin worked in the NCT Universe: LASTART show. The whole reality of Jungmin's departure from the group came crashing down on me because all the NCT New Team fans were trying to hold on to the hope that he would return and now I have no idea how long I must wait before I see him in the K-pop entertainment realm again. Jungmin is my number one pick in the show.

From 08-OCT-2023 to 20-DEC-2023, NCT New Team embarked on their pre-debut tour all over Japan from Tokyo to Hokkaido with ten stops and multiple days, which is unheard of for a group that did not debut yet. However, this should be a special situation since they were part of a reality survival competition show so that meant that they were already known to the public. I have never seen a pre-debut tour with this many dates. NCT New Team wanted everybody in Japan to know who they are and that they are here to stay. Also, I believe SM Entertainment was testing the waters to see how well NCT New Team would be received by the public.

They will be in direct competition with &Team from Hybe Labels Japan, who debut in 22-DEC-2022 and is Hybe's answer to conquering the Japanese market. SM Entertainment will attempt to do the same with NCT New Team. The only thing I do not know is whether the pre-debut tour paid off and if NCT New Team significantly gained new fans. I did not see any significant statistics that showed NCT New Team's fandom growing significantly, although NCT as a whole is growing in popularity. I still see some hesitation on social media of fans not enjoying the fact that the new team will join the NCT group. For me, I am simply excited about all the possibilities. Even when SM artists collaborate with each other, I feel very giddy about it.

On the other hand, while I watched the reality survival competition show, "&Audition – The Howling" for &Team, I did not feel a deep connection with the members themselves except for member K, who I already knew from the "I-Land" season one reality survival competition show and K is someone who I know has a lot of talent. I am interested in learning more about the &Team, but I am super interested in NCT Wish as I am thoroughly invested in their career. SM Entertainment and their artists constantly grabbed my attention in talent. I won't bother mentioning looks because they can make a regular person into somebody that I want to get to know based on make-up, fashion, and video production methods and angles. SM Entertainment is the whole package.

For example, I think of Daeyoung from NCT Wish, who is now using the stage name Jaehee, as a bit of an awkward and slightly goofy guy, but after seeing his official photos, who would have known that he has this boy-next-door charm and seems like a whole new man with a fresh image. I really liked the name Daeyoung and I will no longer call him Daegu man. However, Jaehee seems to be a nice name for him too. He did not have to change his name, but I guess it is a personal preference. It seems we also have a lot of J names in SM Entertainment already, so not sure why the name Daeyoung was retired.

I have also seen in social media that some fans think fellow brother group from SM Entertainment, Riize, fits the image of NCT and also can be catered to the Japanese market. While this can be true that Riize can have success in Japan with one Japanese member and former NCT member Shotaro and also another former member of NCT, Sungchan in the group, they will not specifically be focusing on Japan as their main business. I believe Riize will focus more on the Korean market. I think SM Entertainment has a specific plan for them to secure the home base in Korea as a priority. However, I want to add that I like their "Love 119" song, which also has a Japanese version. Either way, the "little neos" as NCT Wish can be affectionately called, will pave the way for NCT glory in Japan.

On 19-OCT-2023, it was fitting that NCT New team released their pre-debut digital single, "Hands Up" as they should strike the iron while it's hot so to speak. All I could think about was finding the missing seventh member in the choreography and that is why I thought having Daeyoung (Jaehee) dance in the back looked a bit awkward. Since the song's release, I watched or listened to the music and video dozens of times as I can never get sick of this feel good, playful, and youthful track.

Another reason why I tried to watch this video dozens of times is because I needed to keep watching to understand the story line. I think the music video story line is a bit hard to understand as the sequence of events could jump back and forth. Basically, our little neos are fighting green blobs that are invading what looks to be Japan and their fictional school (though the video was shot in Korea). The scenes are very fast so it is easy to miss seeing what is happening in the story. NCT New Team are students at school and also part of the baseball team. 

We see a great playful friendship between Ryo and Sakuya and a more mature friendship between Sion and Riku. Daeyoung is looking more like a baseball teammate and competitor with Sion, which is the arc I am using to make the story interesting. Meanwhile, Yushi is also by himself dozing off on a train in a strange nightmare where everybody on the train is gone. Yushi is seen as the ace, the pitcher of the team, which is fitting as he is the person who has the most attention, the center. Sion's leadership qualities are still there as he appears to encourage Sakuya and Sion is the person with the most interactions with other members of the group. Sion is also the last person to enter the locker room as everybody rushes in for safety after seeing a big, green blob.

Somehow, everybody thinks wearing baseball gear and having bats and balls will destroy the blobs, although Sion did make a small blob explode upon contact with the blob by swinging his baseball bat at it in the locker room. This is the first time I see the green blob, which I assume represents NCT, as a bit of an evil presence.

It's interesting to see Sion nod to Riku before they leave the locker room to battle. They are the two most senior members of the group. Sion is seen as the ace of baseball bats with a specific shot of him swinging his bat on a green blob on the school rooftop. I actually don't know why they would pick going to the rooftop as there is no way to escape easily and they can be attacked by blobs from every direction as opposed to on ground where they can use obstacles to hide or block themselves. 

Oddly, the king of blobs explodes in the NCT New Team member's faces to sort of confuse them in the green whirlwind mist. For a second, I thought a little bit about the Ghostbusters story except there is no slime. NCT members appear to stand in the whirlwind in confusion. Maybe there is a bit of mind control involved to get them to be NCT zombies. Because our hero Yushi was already dozing off in dreamland, he might be too refreshed and confusion had no effect on him. He was able to psychically communicate with Sion with a nod and threw Sion a pitch for Sion to knock it out out of the whirlwind to hit one of the other green blobs. Somehow, hitting this green blob causes all the surrounding blobs to explode. I guess this is one powerful "NCT New Team" ball that maybe has some invisible ricochet powers.

Hilariously, in the next scene, NCT New Team are dancing among the green blobs in the baseball stadium. They are no longer afraid of these green blobs, and maybe they embrace them or they can control them in some way, though the previous baseball stadium dancing scene already showed them not being afraid of the green blobs. 

All the green blobs explode like bubbles and become twinkling dots of light above them. This must mean something as if  they have some neo powers. Too bad I didn't get to see the rest of the team fight the blobs except Sion and what looks to be Yushi, who would theoretically need to carry many baseballs on him if he is going to throw them at all the blobs. I wonder if only NCT New Team baseballs would work and not a standard baseball. The last scene is of Yushi, who is still on the train, dreaming, but his NCT New Team baseball has been infected by the green magic.

I would like to give my personal thoughts on the NCT New Team members and their roles, which I think alludes to their roles in real life.

Sion: Team Leader and Star Batter

It's great to see Sion dancing in the middle as he always gives over 100% in his performances. He mentioned that he was not good at baseball, but in the music video, he looked like a professional. He is the only one in the music video who seemingly has a good rapport with all the other members as there was little interaction among the members with each other.

Riku: Catcher and Sub-Leader

Riku appears to be a no nonsense man in the music video with mostly a serious look. He has a good rapport with Sion and Sion appear to be someone that Riku can trust. In the absence of Sion, I felt that Riku would be the next person to lead the team as Sion checked with Riku before leaving the locker room. Riku can be a all rounder as even though he looks to be a catcher, he is also holding a bat, which implies that he is also good with a bat so he can be a jack of all trades.

Yushi: Star Pitcher and Center of the team

As my husband, a baseball fan, always says, the pitcher is the most important player in baseball. Yushi might not be a great pitcher in real life, but his role in the music video was pure star material. His storyline is the most interesting as we cannot tell if he is or is not in a dream while sitting in the subway car. The entire story could have been his dream or it could have happened that the NCT glow affected his NCT New Team baseball first so that he gain neo powers. However, as he threw his ball away more than once, there needs to be logic there that the green glow affected all his NCT New Team baseballs for the magic to work. In addition, the NCT glow needed to also affect Sion's baseball bat as well and all the equipment that the NCT New Team uses in their battle. Yushi seems to be the origin of it all. Yushi also seems to be a loner as he has almost no interactions with the members except for that psychic communication with Sion, which implies that he is the most close to Sion and they have a deep friendship and understanding, a relationship without needing words. In a typical story, I can see that a baseball team would have internal relationship struggles before they reach success as a team. Because Yushi acts like a loner, he cannot be a team leader or sub-leader. In the beginning of the video, he was seen as the only one left behind in the hallway of blobs.

Ryo and Sakuya: Substitute or Other Positions on the Field

I will mention Ryo and Sakuya in the same group as they are good buddies in the music video and they spent the most time together. They act as the youngest of the group with a youthful energy and when it comes to suiting up to kill the blobs, they seem to be in place to become the next Riku and Yushi with Ryo putting on a catcher's helmet and Sakuya wearing a baseball glove, though that could also mean that Sakuya has experience on the field too and not necessarily a pitcher. However, I see a flaw later on when Ryo was carrying a bat during the hallway scene and is not wearing a helmet anymore. On the rooftop, Ryo only has a baseball glove and his bat. Ryo was simply trying to survive or he lost his helmet and along the way. When I rewatch the locker room scene, Ryo seemed to have decided not to wear the helmet in the locker room and I think probably because he did not want to impair his vision while fighting. Sakuya was also carrying a bat in the hallway and is also wearing a glove on the other hand on the rooftop scene. Ryo and Sakuya act like twins, each with a glove and bat, though it would be hard to fight with only one hand holding a bat and what would be the purpose of wearing a glove in the other hand? Swinging a bat with two hands would be the most powerful way to fight. Sakuya's scene while looking outside at the green blobs in the locker room indicates that he would be the worrywart of the group. There isn't much plot with the two of them so they become supporting characters.

Daeyoung: Rival Batter

I wanted to give Dayoung a more important role in the story because otherwise, he would not have much of a story line. Daeyoung could be striving to surpass Sion's skills as a batter and could have potential disputes with Riku to become MVP (Most Valuable Player). However, once the blobs appear, it seems that his confidence took a dip as he is also a bit like Sakuya, worrying about the unknown. While walking and fighting through the hallways, Daeyoung is at the back of the group, which can possibly indicate that he is afraid. During the NCT whirlwind mist scene, he seemed stunned. In the end, we all need a character that brings some adversity and shake things up, so Daeyoung's the perfect character to do it. In real life on the NCT Universe: LASTART show, he also brought a bit of a stun to the other contestants as he joined midway into the competition and he persevered into debuting with NCT New Team.

Anyway, the music video was very enjoyable and it's more enjoyable when I wrote down what I think is the plot line. We can make a movie about this story.

NCT New Team: We Go

Complementing NCT New Team's first single is the "We Go" secondary track song. 

There is a dance practice at least that we can view, which I appreciate. In the choreography, I see it begins with the three senior members, affectionally known as Onriyu, in the front and center. Now, I understand why their outfits have a lot of star shapes on them as they became NCT Wish now. It seems to be a story in continuation of the "Hands Up" story as all of them are wearing their corresponding uniform numbers in this dance practice video as well. Their pants are a little strange to me as they are considered long pants with some short style pants linked to it.

As usual, Sion and Riku gave really great facial expressions while performing the song. Sion dances beyond 100% effort. Yushi is not always looking at the camera during his part so he is sometimes in his own world. Once again, Ryo and Sakuya are paired up again for the choreography in the middle of the song. Daeyoung is mostly dancing in the back again, but it makes me wonder if Jungmin was supposed to be there too in the original choreography. 

As for the song, it is really upbeat and bright. I love Riku's "We go" parts. After some time, I start to hear "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" instead. I feel like NCT New Team's songs are meant to be like how NCT Dream started with upbeat and inspirational songs. The song has upbeat and high notes at the same time, which was recorded well. 

Updates regarding the NCT New team were far and in between, but fans were able to see a glimpse of their life as they were touring during the pre-debut days. 

NCT WISH : WISH for Our WISH

On 17-JAN-2024, NCT New Team's name was updated to NCT Wish in preparation for their actual debut. SM Entertainment almost waited until the last weeks to confirm the NCT Japanese unit's name. We are officially in blast off mode as NCT Wish is now gearing up to debut. NCT Wish is expected to promote their songs in both Japan and Korea.

In the introduction concept of NCT Wish's Youtube video on 17-JAN-2024, "Wish for Our Wish," NCT Wish sets out to fulfill our wishes and dreams through music. However, it sounds as though we need to fulfill their wishes to debut and have a thriving career.

At this time, I got the shock in social media that Daeyoung changed his stage name to Jaehee. At first, I thought, who is this person in the teaser? Did we get a new member all of a sudden? A side profile picture of Jaehee also throws me off.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2NLP0Xrjfw/?img_index=1

It is interesting to see how in the story that the NCT Wish members were still in school, but have now graduated by throwing their graduation caps in the air. That is my assumption because why include a scene like that if it wasn't about them? This could be a little bit like a mellow aftermath to "Hands Up."  The boys walk out into the school yard with Yushi having his arm around Sion's shoulder. Riku is walking alongside Sion. Ryo runs past Sion, breaking the Yusion (Yushi and Sion) pair apart while Sakuya runs after Ryo. Honestly, I am not so sure if Sakuya would put that much energy into chasing Ryo because Sakuya seems to be a mellow boy in real life and mentally a bit chaotic and I mean that in a good way. It's still nice to see young boys enjoying their youth. 

Yushi hangs upside down on the side of a soccer net (Is that safe?) to observe Riku reading a book and Jaehee listening to music. Sakuya kicks a soccer ball up and down by himself while Sion and Ryo are in conversation. A drop a rain falls on Yushi's face. Rain comes pouring on the members so they run underneath a nearby tree for cover. Everyone starts to have fun and lighten up in the rain.

A clear umbrella swooshes by and Sakuya is the first to run to take it. The members then start stealing the umbrella away for fun. They then run to an overpass and then to a seemingly abandoned mini van. They first get rowdy in the van, but eventually calm down. Riku, Sion, and Sakuya look outside with pensiveness. Rainbows come out after the rain as the members are asleep in the van. Riku wakes up to see the rainbow and Sakuya is already outside, but standing on top of the van. Sakuya likes to be special. 

The NCT members are now walking past a lighthouse, but in different outfits so I guess some time has past. Riku's cap is blown off his head by the wind. He goes to chase his cap back. Somehow, all the NCT Wish members run and Riku can suddenly jump abnormally high. Each member starts jumping high as well. Then, rainbow bubbles fill the air. This now reminds me back in the "Hands Up" video why the green blobs look like bubbles because bubbles seem to represent wishes. Some animation is shown and the members are floating among the bubbles. They are now sitting or lying on the ground on the rooftop in their original school uniforms so maybe the last scenes were all a dream since it did not make logical sense that they start jumping high and floating among bubbles. 

Sion, who was leaning on Yushi, wakes up first and Yushi wakes up after Sion gets up to look at the rainbow. All the members stand around Sion to look at the rainbow and this is NCT Wish.

NCT : Dream Contact 'Our WISH'

On 22-JAN-2024, the SMTown Youtube channel released "NCT : Dream Contact 'Our WISH'".

The video is the video we needed to connect all NCT members together. It starts with Chapter zero where Taeyong, the unofficial leader of all of NCT is standing outside and looking at his phone. He is then in his studio composing music, but as he is composing and adjusting knobs and playing on his synthesizer, there is a connection to each NCT Wish member. Interestingly, Taeyong keeps hitting on the A key, which is the note that orchestras and bands use to tune their instrument so that every instrument can be in sync. 

Chapter one begins with Yushi taking a vision test with one eye covered with a metal spoon. He is able to name everything on the vision board except for the letter N where the boarders were glowing green. Later on, Yushi is sitting at the optometrist's desk, but is attracted to the green and white pills in a jar. Yushi puts down the jar upon the optometrist's return. The optometrist does not believe Yushi has any vision problems and that he is in good health, but the optometrist has never heard of not being able to see one letter only. Yushi gets distracted by the glowing N, but the optometrist taps his pen on the table to get Yushi's attention again. Yushi tests again on an autorefractor machine where he sees a little red house that blurs into two more red houses before it becomes one again.

In an oceanside scene, Sion is dressed in all white, sees footprints coming to him, but could not tell who it is since the figure is glowing all white. Sion wakes up in a bathtub of water with his white clothes on, which is strange because why would he do that? He dips his head back into the water to see the visions of the glowing person again. I think he probably immerses himself into water because he can see some type of vision. He thinks about himself dressed in white as he lays on the sandy beach and also in his bed. I think he senses that he has a calling to become leader of NCT Wish. 

In Chapter two, the A key for universal tuning is pressed by Jaehee. He lowers his ear next to the key to hear the A key, but that, to me, is an unnecessary action unless there was a lot of surrounding noise. Jaehee begins to play the upright piano in a large living room that has the insides of the piano exposed. Jaehee is probably the most musical of the bunch. I read that the song he played is possibly related to the NCT Wish song. He stops playing when he finds a key that is out of tune and proceeds to retune it.

A boy comes into the room and mentions to an older woman that the piano upstairs was acting weird. The older woman asks Jaehee to take a look at the piano upstairs. He seems to work in a piano school as I can hear music from other practice rooms on the second floor. It is in this room that we can see the word, 소망 (somang), which means a spiritual hope or a general hope for everyone and that is the name of the piano school. This is different than the word, wish or 소원 (sowon), which is a personal desire. My daughter is also named Sowon, and unofficially her name meant wish, but was officially updated to mean beautiful imperial garden with a different set of Chinse or Hanja (Chinese characters used in Korean writing) characters.

While Jaehee was testing the piano on the second floor, once again the "A" key is featured, but has a problem as no sound was coming out when pressed. Jaehee opens up the top of the piano and takes a look inside. There is a lot of green lights and a black cat's green eyes at the bottom. 

Riku is outside feeding a black cat. He names the cat, "Koo." He was holding flyers and he tapes up a flyer on a window before he walks away. Strangely, he holds another cat, which becomes a flyer when he attached it to a store gate. There are already 20 cat flyers around the flyer that he just posted. A fan theorized that each black cat represents an NCT member. Then, I was thinking what about the black cat named Koo? Was that Jungmin who was left behind? It looked like Riku just met Koo as he just gave Koo a name. The story gets strange and Riku found what looks to be Koo playing with a seashell in the overpass and behind Riku are 18 black cats behind and around him. A fan theorizes that there were once 18 members of NCT in their first group album in 2018. Riku looks at the seashell in curiosity.

In Chapter three, Ryo, with a lollipop in his mouth, is on his computer trying to find out if anybody knew the name of the strange star he saw in the sky. He looks to be at home with a big telescope in his room. Ryo logs into the astronomical community forum to ask if anybody knew the star that he saw. The comments flood in, but nobody has seen the star. Ryo goes back to his telescope to check again. While Ryo is checking for the star, another comment is sent by username "Sakupang" (I believe it is Sakuya in combination with his love for bread) who also saw the green star.

Sakuya is outside the train station, sketching the green star that he sees. The train station is named "夢駅" (Dream Station or Yume-eki). Sakuya takes a bite of his green bread. I had to laugh because this is overkill, but I like Sakuya's humor. It looks as if Sakuya is dreaming of him walking through the snow towards a castle and he can hear a chime. The chime continues two more times and Sakuya stops to turn around to see a big green star in the sky. Perhaps this was not a dream, but Sakuya recalling his memory of how he discovered the star. I also thought about the beginning in which Taeyong was using various sounds that is somehow connected to the NCT Wish members.

Sakuya is back in the present at the Dream station while Ryo calls his name. Sakuya shows Ryo his drawing and they continue to look at it on the train. As Sakuya and Ryo kept discussing the star, the people on the train begin to disappear. A fan theorized that this became a train to Kwangya, SM Entertainment's virtual world, but I still would like to think that they are in some type of dream.

In Chapter four, the train doors open and Ryo and Sakuya step directly on sand, but they are now dressed in white. The other four members were waving to them on the sandy beach. Once Ryo and Sakuya were close enough, the six of them run across the beach. Jaehee stops briefly to turn around and ask the other to catch up.

In what I think is a pivotal moment, Sion stops and turns around to see Yushi walking behind him. Now, Sion can see who the figure was in his vision. All members look into the ocean, but can see an inverted ocean also above the ocean and what appears to be a sunrise on both sides, although this sun has a green tint to it. This is where our NCT link story begins. I saw a comment that stated Taeyong's seventh sense was activated. The next NCT group album is going to be super fire.

I am impressed by the cinematography. All members did a great job and two bad it was so short. I would like to see more, but I am getting greedy.

Am I then thinking too deeply that NCT 127 is the home base, NCT Dream's dream power allowed the NCT Wish group to dream, and WayV's rainbow led the way to NCT?

NCT WISH 엔시티 위시 'NASA' Performance Video

I am finally at the main point of this post, which is to write about the "NASA" performance video. Just like Riize released their performance video, "Siren" before debut, NCT Wish also released a pre-debut performance video, "NASA." The video was released exactly on 28-JAN-2024, a month before NCT Wish's debut.

I found it odd that they released a song that is based on the USA's space agency if this group is focused on Japan, but I don't mind this dance track as it is more NCT-like music. When I showed this video to my nine-year-old daughter, she said, "That is not what NASA looks like!" She is funny.

This is another song about going up, so basically NCT Wish wants to "rise" up like Riize.

I am seeing a whole new side to NCT Wish.

I never knew Yushi had a alluring deep voice at the beginning of the song. I thought he was good at high notes, but his low voice is just as attractive. Also, I don't think I ever heard him speak English. If this is his voice, his English is very good. It is a good thing that we have the practice video because at some point, I lost where Yushi went after Riku went under his leg and Yushi magically appeared on the right side of the screen. 

Just like the "Siren" performance video, I saw the "NASA" video many, many times including the practice video to look at how well each member performed. 

When Sion is shown wearing Neo green pants, I immediately had all eyes on him. It is fate that my favorite color is green. This is probably my favorite Sion outfit. As usual, Sion is dancing at over 100% effort and I have to appreciate his dance style. I thought his silver hair also fits the theme of NASA.

In this scene where all members are wearing different outfits, I loved how it shows individualism, which is the SM Entertainment strength. This is how I envision the ultimate group to look where everybody is strong in their own way. This is exactly how I see all SM Entertainment artists. 

The move in which Riku slides under Yushi's leg with Jaehee's knee support is pretty awesome. We don't get to see many sliding movements in K-pop today. I hope that move doesn't hurt Riku's knees though.

The one leg squat from one side to the other side that all the members do looks super difficult. I think I would be in so much pain if I tried that move. Yes, I tried it and I can't get up. 

Yushi, Sion, and Riku definitely shined in the dance as they have the ability to lead the group well. Having Ryo and Sakuya dance together on the sides is also very complimentary. I can understand why the choreographer would want to put these strong combinations of dancers together this way. 

The NCT Wish members are not phased by a ball of light hitting a white star, turning it green. No, the dance goes on. It is also wild that fire sparks are going off everywhere and the group keeps on dancing. 

I love Ryo's blue and white wavy sweater and fire-colored pants. This video is over the top. 

I think it is unfortunate that Jaehee did not get a chance to shine in the dance performance. In the practice video, I can tell he worked really hard. However, he is not marketed to be a dancer. I hope he gets more chances to shine in their debut single.

The beginning and ending are so appropriate with Yushi standing in the middle of the rocket launch in the beginning while Sion is standing middle at the end with the members linked in a circle around them during those two times. The dance concept of a rocket ship launch is genius. I will be watching this over and over again.

This NASA performance goes to show that NCT Wish is capable of upbeat songs and also crazy fast dance songs. The NCT group is made to be flexible and innovative.

I am so excited to see the debut of NCT Wish and I "wish" them all the best. I am happy to see the results of how SM Entertainment created a new group and I will probably write another post about the official debut of NCT Wish. 

References:

https://www.dipe.co.kr/2264125

https://www.soompi.com/article/1617094wpp/nct-new-team-announces-jungmins-departure-from-group

https://www.reddit.com/r/NCT/comments/16c2580/230907_nct_new_team_will_hold_a_predebut_tour/

https://nct-jp.net/news/detail.php?id=1110102

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2024/01/398_360687.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCT_Wish#:~:text=9%20External%20links-,Name,would%20promote%20actively%20in%20Japan.

https://x.com/kumokumakun/status/1749453352294027659?s=20

https://x.com/jisungiespace/status/1749483542722339051?s=20

https://x.com/kumokumakun/status/1749453352294027659?s=20

https://x.com/nctwishsubs/status/1749575228009943516?s=20