Watch it here.

Video released November-26-2012

Single to be released December-12-2012

And then tell me what you thought. :)

My thoughts: 

- I think this is SHINee's first real "story-based" video. It's their first ballad video too, right? So that makes sense. You can't really dance to this :P

- I had to watch it a couple of times to actually get the storyline (explained below), but that's because it's like a whole understated message that you don't understand until the end. Just watch it more than once, you'll be sure to get more out of it every time you watch. (And boost view count!)

- If anyone has the English translated lyrics, let me know. (Actually, nevermind- I'll just look them up on shineee.net once they're up. But if you still have them before then, feel free to share!)

- The rap, surprisingly, didn't bother me. It quietly blended in well with the rest of the song. I didn't particularly love Onew's voice in this, but I liked his face so we're good. (anything for my bias). The song as a whole is sweet and I love it. It's calming and soothing, but also a little melancholy, but a pretty good ballad. 

- That kid had really long eyelashes. I'm kinda jealous heheh. 

 *Spoilers from here on*

- I like how this story revolved around actors other than SHINee. It was very sweet, and to me, more meaningful. Instead of being some ordinary, shallow love song about a teenage crush or lust or whatever (like Juliette, Replay, etc.), this video represented a different type of love - familial, father-son love. It kinda represented loyalty, sacrifice - a more mature and realistic type thing (IMO). 

- I like how you could clearly tell who was singing background and who wasn't - In the first chorus you see Minho and Key are going "aaAaaah" while the other three are singing actual words. (But, uh, you kinda just hear Key's voice in everything, all the time, so idunno LOL. Which is okay because he and Taemin are best at Japanese, right?) 

- I like how this video kind of lets Onew and Key shine, especially in the vocals.

- The 5 cats the boy sees outside his window was a nice detail.

The story: (If you still don't get it)  MAJOR SPOILERS.

SHINee are at a bus stop. But once you finish watching, you'll realize this is no ordinary bus stop. The 5 men look at their watch, big black book, and the driver, who Onew seems to be well acquainted with. (If anyone has a gif of him doing that hat tip thing, tell me! I thought it was adorable asdjfkl;). They look at a picture in the book of a happy family. 

Cut scene to the family: a man and woman with their child, who appears to have been hospitalized (for a problem with the lungs? I saw the torso x-ray, so I'm assuming that is what it is.) Apparently, the doctor tells the parents the bad news, and the woman breaks down. 

Dad and mom are watching over their kid, and dad tries to cheer up the boy through his little "clowning around," although it doesn't work. He tries to garner a fist bump/gesture from the boy, but the son just turns away, upset. The dad watches the other two sleep, and he reminisces about the good ol' days when the kid was healthy, the family was happy. They used to play with the clown noses, and do this family fist bump or whatever. 

The dad goes to the door and sees, who else but, our 5 SHINee lads clad in black. He is alarmed and distressed, and, after giving a glance back into the room where his son is, pushes through the group of singers. If you've watched the teaser, you should remember this scene, and although this part isn't included in the music video, the man says "Choctto-matte" (Sorry for the y romanization), which, if you've watched enough anime, you should know means "Wait." (Ignore my run-on sentence; this is informal, okay?)

The man then goes to some place (IDK where) and opens up a special chest that he has. When he does, he releases a flurry of a thousand balloons, which float around outside of his son's hospital window and even into the hospital itself, effectively bringing his son joy. SHINee is watching the scene from their place up on the roof or something (where the boy saw 5 black cats earlier). 

Now go back to the bus stop. The man from before approaches the bus and gets on while the driver and SHINee all look on. SHINee checks their book again, which has the man's photo (and name? IDK there's stuff in Japanese, which I unfortunately can't read). Then SHINee and the bus driver check their watches once more, (SHINees' does some cool shining stuff), and the bus drives away. If you look, you notice that the man is on the bus with a bunch of older people. 

As the bus drives away, Taemin goes to the side of the road and puts his fist up, as well as the son does to the sky, the dad to his window, and then SHINee with the rest of Taemin. This fist gesture is a homage to the past when the man and his family would do that fist bump thing and raise their arms to the sky together. 

At the very end, you see the bus actually flying into the clouds in the sky. 

It's a bit confusing at first, but after you think about it, you should realize that the dad "died," and went to heaven or somewhere. The afterlife. SHINee, along with their friend the mustached bus driver, were meant to be the ones who lead people off to their death.

Now the rest is basically up to personal interpretation, but I'm willing to bet that SHINee went to the hospital to collect the boy's life, but the man asked them to wait and sacrificed himself instead, out of his everlasting love for his son. Before he died, he wanted to do one last thing to make his boy smile (releasing the balloons). 

Well, what did you think? Did you like my recap? 

Did you like the video/song? Tell me why you liked/disliked it; I'd love to hear your thoughts and discuss!

I wonder if this song'll do well on Oricon charts. I want to buy it! Does anyone also know how to purchase Japanese songs? They don't go on iTunes, but some other site, right? Please help! 

Also, (sorry for all the questions OTL) does anyone know the ranks of Kpop groups in Japan? KARA's the top kpop girl group there, right? Even higher than SNSD? And what about for guys? I know SHINee does well overall, but I would like to know who's on top, just for reference.