22 days until the release of Jump No.1, and we finally have a preview of the CD covers. They both look very similar, and very simple. The Limited Edition is on the left, the Regular Edition is on the right.
I probably shouldn’t read other people’s comments before I write down my own. Other people’s thoughts tend to aggravate me, especially when they’re different from my own. That’s why I usually try not to talk to people in real life.
Apparently some people are disappointed with the covers on account that they are somewhat simple and uncreative. I must say I don’t really mind that they look simple. As one prominent former Johnny’s Jr. member once said: simple is best. And I tend to agree with that. There are 10 people in this group, and there are only so many things you can do if you want to squeeze 10 people in a CD cover. If you want to have close up shots of everyone the result has to be simple. If you want something more sophisticated you end up with covers like Mayonaka no Shadow Boy or Hitomi no Screen, but then other people would complain that their faces are so small that you can hardly see them. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. You just can’t please all people all the time.
I like these covers. I think they’re cute. As opposed to… cool. Looking back at their previous CD releases I always liked the cute covers (Dreams come true, Your Seed) a lot better than the supposedly cool covers (Ultra Music Power, Mayonaka no Shadow Boy, Hitomi no Screen). I for one am happy that we didn’t get yet another Mayonaka no Shadow Boy clone. This album has to appeal to the die hard Hey!Say!JUMP fans, and for some reason I seem to think that they’d rather have cute boys singing cool songs than cool boys singing cute songs. And the covers have to appeal to all fans, even the ones who are only in it for Inoo or Ryutaro or Keito. You won’t please those minority fans by giving any one member more space on the cover than any one other, which is again why the simple approach is the right way to go for their first album.
As for the sailor suits, oh well, the sailor suits. Some people seem to think they’re too girly, presumably because sailor suits remind them of Sailor Moon or AKB48. So are Hey!Say!JUMP in sailor suits girly? I think not. I think sailor suits are indeed very manly, and I do have the evidence to back up my opinion.
- Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. Went on to become King of England, not Queen.
- Donald Duck. Uncle of his nephews, and nephew of his uncle.
- Popeye the sailor man.
- Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. Girly? Yeah, I think not.
- The Vienna Boys Choir. Okay, bad example.
- And finally the extremely girly sailors of Tom of Finland. Just look at those boobs!
No no, folks, let’s face it, the sailor suits are as manly as cute gets, and as cute as manly gets. They appeal to fangirls and uniform fetishists alike, so let’s rejoyce!
I love these covers, especially the LE one. I might be in the minority on this, but to be honest, I like it much better this way.
But no matter if you like the covers or not, at the end of the day this is still an album, not a photobook. It should be about how it sounds, not how it looks.
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