Well, looks like after 4 months of other endeavours, I'm finally back, ready to review another music video. This one's an interesting one, seeing as it's the Japanese version of Bst.

始めましょうか(Shall we start)?:

Visuals

Not gonna lie, the months wait was somewhat worth it, considering the high quality visuals that were delivered.

First of all, let's just get the plain quality out of the way. It was perfect, as usual.

Although, a few scenes were re-used, with the reason as to why most likely being for some sort of effect.

Which beckons the question, do bighit shoot in 4k? They clearly must do, given how every video from spring day onward seems to pop with colour.

It felt like a whole new video, with it's re-freshing and visually appealing urban/neon vibe.

In a way, it felt like a more modern version of the original, the Korean version having a more aged and antique feel to it, for example the scene in the art gallery.

Although, we did see a few older aesthetics make their return, like shot with the murual painted above hobi.

In terms of colours, all the warm colours in the original(pinks, subtle yellows, etc) make their return, alongside​ some bright neon colours. This is evident in things like the aforementioned motel(?) Shot.

The visuals, at times, seemed a lot more trippy, which gave off a little bit of a drug-trip feel.

(Furthermore that scene with jungkook over the toilet has seemed to seal the deal on my opinion, thinking that it has some mention of drugs).

Oh, tae and Jin stans will be happy: from watching the video, I'm seeing a lot more screentime in comparison to the original.

 

In terms of the outfits, it's a far cry from the flamboyant and somewhat flashy suits in the Korean version.

They swap those out for more urban and modern looks, in order to help contribute to that formerly mentioned urban aesthetic.

Although, for some of the live promotions, they've decided to stick with a hybrid between flamboyant and mordern, most likely to garner that much more attention.

It's kind of a shame, in my opinion, because my favourite type of fashion is full urban fashion.

Also, can we appreciate how U̶n̶a̶f̶f̶o̶r̶d̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ awesome Taehyung's lone wolf jacket looked? I mean, it's sold out after he AND baekhyn decided to wear it in both their mvs, but I still think it's a cool jacket, despite costing more than my entire wardrobe.

Oh, and just to mention, it wouldn't be a bts video without our boys stage fighting >_>

Before we move on, I'd also like to give praise for the vapourwave-ish aesthetics within jungkook and jimin's scenes.

 

 

Music/ vocals.

As we all should now, blood sweat and tears is a memorable and entoxicating mix of carribean rythm electronic music; Which juxtaposes steady, light and melodic(but still slightly electronic) moments with weighty beat drops.

Although, to say this was benefited by Japanese would be a bit of an overstatement, considering the fact that the Japanese lyrics didn't seem to carry as much weight as it's Korean counterparts.

In terms of meaning, I have no clue whether or not the lyrics translated well(as I'm still learning Japanese), so I'll give them a pass on that.

Something else worth noting is that they haven't changed the "Mani Mani Mani" part, most likely because it either worked so well that they wanted to keep it, or they couldn't find a suitable replacement.
This won't quite affect the final verdict, but it's something you should be aware of, if you dive into this with an expectation that the lyrics are going to be completely different.

If I had to point out any other differences, it would most likely be that Japanese seems to make jimin's lines pop just that little bit more. Although, that might be just because I'm hearing them differently for the first time.

Oh, and Japanese sounds a little like the Korean version, but played backward.

Misc

On the play store, the Japanese blood, sweat and tears is currently 99p.

Is it worth it? I'd only say it would be if you prefer this version over the original.

As a bonus, Bighit/universal have thrown in the Japanese version of 'not today', and 'spring day', with fresh but slightly dark looking cover art.

So if you're looking for a little more, this may just be for you.

And if you don't want to fork up the £2.97, you could always go to YouTube, as a whole bunch of colour coded lyrics have been uploaded.

But you already knew this, didn't you?

Conclusion.

The Japanese version of Bst by bts isn't as powerful as the original in terms of tone and pronunciation, but with a refreshing new mv, killer new outfits and 2 other translated songs, I'd say it's worth a watch.