Black Cherry (Kumi Koda album)

Black Cherry
Studio album by Kumi Koda
Released	December 20, 2006
Recorded	2005-2006
Genre	J-pop, urban, R&B
Label	Rhythm Zone RZCD-45506/B~C (Japan, CD+2DVD) RZCD-45507/B (Japan, CD+DVD) RZCD-45508 (Japan, CD)
Producer	Kumi Koda
Kumi Koda chronology
Best: Second Session (2006) Black Cherry (2006) Best: Bounce & Lovers (2007) Singles from Black Cherry "Koi no Tsubomi" Released: May 24, 2006 "4 Hot Wave" Released: July 26, 2006 "Yume no Uta/Futari de..." Released: October 18, 2006 "Won't Be Long" Released: November 21, 2006 "Cherry Girl/Unmei" Released: December 6, 2006

Black Cherry is Kumi Koda's fifth studio album and first original album since secret (2005). It charted at #1 on Oricon, continuing the artist's streak and staying at #1 for one month. It remained on the charts for sixty weeks.^[1] It was released in CD, CD+DVD and CD+2DVD with the latter being a limited edition that carried her movie debut Cherry Girl.^[2] The entire film's score was from the album.^[3]

Information

Black Cherry is Kumi Koda's fifth studio album and seventh album overall. While it was only a year since her last studio album, secret, two compilation albums were released between secret and Black Cherry: Best ~first things~ (2005) and Best ~second session~ (2006).

It was released in CD, CD+DVD and CD+DVD. Each version contained different album artwork with Kumi donning different classical outfits on each cover. First Press editions of the album (all editions) carried three bonus tracks: the "English Version" of Twinkle (the original "Japanese Version" was on the Amazing Nuts! soundtrack - Taiwanese singer Show Luo also carried an English version on his album SPESHOW, which featured Kumi), the 2006 theme for the Crayon Shin-chan film GO WAY!!, and the "Red Cherry Version" of Won't Be Long (originally with Koda Kumi and EXILE).^[4][5] It also contained an access code to Koda Kumi's playroom, a chance to win album goods and the "Premium Making" of the music videos on the DVD.

Cherry Girl (film) was produced by the same team who created the drama Busu no Hitomi ni Koishiteru (ブスの瞳に恋してる / In Love with the Eyes of an Ugly Girl), which Koda Kumi had performed the theme, Koi no Tsubomi (2006). Milk Tea (ミルクティー / Miruku Tii) was the first time Koda Kumi wrote and composed a song that was featured on an album. The "Introduction" on the album was given a full version, Black Cherry, on her 2008 album, Kingdom.

Packaging

Black Cherry was released in three editions, with each edition containing different cover art:

• CD: contains fifteen songs.
• CD+DVD: contains fifteen songs and eight music videos.
• CD+2DVD: contains eighteen songs, nine music videos and Koda Kumi's debut film Cherry Girl.

Limited editions of all versions contained three bonus tracks on the CD: Twinkle [English Version], Go Way!! and Won't Be Long [Red Cherry Version]. Limited DVD editions carried the making videos for all of the music videos and Twinkle feat. Show Luo.

Promotional advertisements

Get Up & Move!! was used for Suzuki Chevrolet commercial.^[6] A music video to this song was later released on her third compilation album, Best ~Bounce & Lovers~.

Tsuki to Taiyou was used to advertise jewellery store GemCerey.^[7]

Puppy was used for KOSE's Rush Escalation under their Viseé line.^[8]

Candle Light was used to advertise Morinaga's Weider protein bar.^[9]

Go Way!! (stylized as GO WAY!!) was used as the ending theme song for the 2006 Crayon Shin-chan film.^[10]

Cherry Girl Movie

Cherry Girl
Directed by	Shuta Takahata
Produced by	Max Matsuura Chiba Ryuhei Araki Takashi Hayashi Shinji Nagata Yoshihisa
Written by	Osamu Suzuki
Starring	Kumi Koda MEGUMI Yuko Ito
Music by	Kumi Koda
Distributed by	Rhythm Zone Avex Entertainment
Release dates	December 20, 2006 (2006-12-20) (Japan)
Language	Japanese

Cherry Girl is a Japanese action/drama film featuring Kumi Koda and actresses MEGUMI and Yuko Ito. The film was scored by Koda Kumi's album Black Cherry and the score was featured on the second DVD of the album.^[11]

The film was inspired by Charlie's Angels, which could be seen with its action scenes and with the three women given orders by via telephone.^[12]

Kumi Koda, the main focus of the film, released a music video centered around the film's theme on her Cherry Girl/Unmei single.^[13]

Plot

Cherry Girl centers around three female bartenders, who use the bar to run a private detective agency. Kumi (Kumi Koda), Meg (MEGUMI) and Yu (Yuko Ito) play agents who work as private investigators for an unseen man named Goro (Goro Inagaki). He contacts the three women via Vodafone cell phone to give them job orders.

The film opens with a bar scene of the women serving the customers, alongside a conversation Kumi, Yu and Meg are having, talking about past love interests. Kumi tells them that during one of her relationships, she had found a hair in the man's bed, which did not belong to her and broke up with the man a week later. The scene is played back-to-back with the bar scene and an action scene of the trio. Meg alerts the other two of a suspicious character entering the bar, who they find had a pocket knife.

Later, as the women are getting massages, Goro gives the trio a job order by a woman named Mari, played by Mari Hoshino, who believes her fiance, M. Hotta, played by Jai West, is having affairs with multiple people and wants the women to get him to stop the affairs before they are married. She says how she is mainly suspicious of Hotta's secretary, Ishida Fumiko.

Kumi watches Hotta and Fumiko exit an office building, relaying the information to Meg and Yu. She sends a picture via cellphone as Hotta sits in the back seat and Fumiko takes a seat in the front. She takes on several disguises as she follows the duo, failing to come up with evidence of him cheating. Failing to gain any information over the course of a week, the trio discusses the case, now believing Hotta to be "perfect." Still wanting to please their customer, Mari, the trio decide to crash a party Hotta will be attending, which will host many celebrities.

Kumi and Yu stake out the event and see Hotta enter with Fumiko. Kumi begins a conversation with Hotta, during which Yu bumps into him and drops her hand bag. As she and Hotta exchange apologies, she takes the opportunity to swipe his cell phone and his wallet. Afterwards, Kumi meets Takeda (Shinji Takeda). Once the trio return to the bar, Kumi tells Meg and Yu that it was "love at first sight" and he gave her a token to remember him. The other women are skeptical, but Kumi defends her feelings. Goro calls then calls, asking if there has been any success with Mari's investigation, to which they admit they have not found anything. Before he hangs up, Kumi asks him what he thinks about true love, where he tells her that a meeting is controlled by destiny. It is then revealed that Kumi had met Goro when she had an investigator investigate a past love interest. When the P.I rejected her, not believing her boyfriend to be having an affair, Goro overheard and offered her information and a job opportunity.

Afterwards, Kumi sees Mari and Takeda out in public together and Meg is curious as to why Takeda, Hotta's vice president, would take Mari to Hotta's office. After the trio discover Mari and Takeda are trying take over the company, they talk to Hotta, who asks them to find the truth to save his company. When they break into Hotta's office, they find Takeda and Mari. Mari tries to escape, but Yu stops her and mocks the fact that Mari thought her manipulation would work. The trio fight Takeda and, after he falls, Mari places herself over him to protect him. She explains that, as Hotta's company grew, Takeda was pushed off to the side, so she tried to frame Hotta as having multiple lovers so he would have to give up the company due to bad publicity. Kumi tells her that, by manipulating both Hotta and Takeda, she is hurting Takeda and it would be best to tell the truth.

The trio is then shown at their bar with Goro congratulating them on a job well done. After they say goodbye, the trio talk about the job and Goro. As they talk, a scene is shown where Fumiko encountered Goro, who, at the time, did not know her, but who she seemed interested in. It is then learned Hotta knew the girls were following him and of the tracking devices they were using to target him due to his secretary (Fumiko) relaying the information to him each time. As it had turned out, everyone, sans the trio and Goro, was in on the scheme. The girls had been set up and, while they were in Hotta's office, a bomb was placed in their vehicle, which exploded as they approached after leaving the job.^[14][15]

Cast

• Kumi Koda as Kumi, one of the investigators who works for Goro. She tends to make judgements based on how she feels, rather than logic.
• MEGUMI as Meg, one of the investigators who works for Goro. She is usually the one to give Kumi the hard truth, rather than allow her to live in naivete.
• Yuko Ito as Yu, one of the investigators who works for Goro. She is quiet, but also the most technologically advanced of the trio, being able to hack multiple types of systems.
• Goro Inagaki as Goro, the boss. He is the one who gives Kumi, Meg and Yu orders and the one who accepts the clients the trip investigate.
• Mari Hoshino as Mari, the client Goro accepts and the fiance of Hotta, the CEO of the Roppungi company.
• Jai West as Hotta, the CEO of the Roppungi company and the fiance of Mari.
• Ishida Fumiko as herself, M. Hotta's secretary and the woman Mari believes he is having an affair with.
• Shinji Takeda as Takeda, the vice president to Hotta's company and the love interest of Kumi.

Soundtrack

The film was scored by Kumi Koda's sixth studio album, Black Cherry. The film was released on the second DVD to the album. Kumi Koda worked alongside arrangers and producers Daisuke "D.I" Imai, h-wonder, Octopussy (who most notably worked with Soulhead), alongside others.^[16]

Some of the a-sides used in the album were Juicy, Cherry Girl and Won't Be Long.

Release

The film made its debut on Kumi Koda's album Black Cherry around the holiday season on December 20, 2006. It never received a television or theatrical release. The total sales reached over one million, however.

Critical reception

Cherry Girl received generally positive reviews upon its release from fans. On IMDb, the film has an 8/10 from thirteen reviewers.^[17] Some fans critiqued the film for being too similar to Charlie's Angels and the hokey acting, while others said it was an "enjoyable flick, though there are no subtitles."^[18]

Music videos

Though there was a lot of new material on the album, there was only one new music video: the English version of Twinkle, which featured Taiwanese singer/actor Show Luo, though the CD carried Kumi's solo version of the song, also performed in English.

The music video was originally on Show Luo's album Speshow, in which he featured Kumi (November 17, 2006). The Japanese version was released on the Amazing Nuts! album three weeks prior to Kumi's Black Cherry album on December 6, 2006.^[19] Two years later, Koda Kumi would release a solo version of the music video on her two DVD set for her Live Tour 2007 ~Black Cherry~ Special Final in Tokyo Dome.

• Koi no Tsubomi: about three women (all played by Kumi) wishing to gain the attention of a love interest. Each woman owns a doll, which transforms into a fairy to transforms their outfits to fit their personalities.
• Juicy: shows Kumi in a treasure hunting group, attempting to seduce men at a bar to gain access to their treasure map.
• With your smile: shows Kumi following the treasure map, while being pursued by the men from the bar.
• I'll be there: shows Kumi at a beach in Morocco, where she finds the treasure.
• Ningyo-Hime: the conclusion to the story, showing what the treasure led to.
• Yume no Uta: about a woman and her lover who are happy together. Their happiness then gets cut short.
• Cherry Girl: shows clips from Kumi's film of the same name, inspired by Charlie's Angels.
• Unmei: a story of two star-crossed lovers, proving fate will find a way.
• Twinkle feat. SHOW: an upbeat video with a green screen backdrop.

Track listing

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Alternate versions

Twinkle

1. Twinkle feat. Koda Kumi [English Version]: Found on Show Luo album SPESHOW (2006)
2. Twinkle [English Version]: Found on the album (2006)
3. Twinkle: Found on Amazing Nuts! (2006)^[20]
4. Twinkle [R-midwest Remix]: Found on Beach Mix (2012)

References