C-ute’s 11th single is an interesting turn of events for the group as no one but Airi gets any lead lines.  Those who follow C-ute have probably realized that it’s been the Maimi & Airi show (with everyone else being thrown a bone) for a long time but to not even give Maimi any lead parts is strange. I guess short hair Maimi (who is still hot no matter what) gets no lines now?

Is this an experiment to see if Airi is ready to be a soloist? I don’t exactly think of this as a C-ute track at all, it’s more like Suzuki Airi feat. C-ute. Not that I’m going to complain since I think Airi is the stronger singer when compared to Maimi. It’s just weird to see only one person singing the entire song. I would feel kind of slighted if I was a member of this group but that’s just me. Perhaps the next single will return to the status quo.

The song itself  is an up tempo track that combines the H!P styled pop with the James Bond theme. It’s consistent with the types of songs they’ve been releasing lately (with the exception of Shochū Omimai Mōshiagemasu) and is another track that solidifies my theory that C-ute is getting the better productions out of the big 3 in H!P.

The video is another dance shot one. Not really surprising but kind of disappointing considering that the song is fairly catchy & it probably deserves something above the normal H!P video treatment. But there are some redeeming qualities. The group is given a sophisticated look (except for Mai, she looks like a little girl compared to the rest) with outfits that are variations of black & white.

Seeing Maimi with short hair took some time to get used to but as I stated earlier she looks good no matter what. Since this is an Airi-centric video she looked to be styled to look abut 4 years older than she actually is. It’s kind of scary man because she looked good & I shouldn’t even  be saying that at all. But it’s true so I figured I’d just point that out (in a non-pevry/creepy way).

Shock! (Normal Edition)

Shock! (Limited Edition CD + DVD)

Shock (Single V)