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Welcome to my episode five review of NCT Universe: LASTART.
If you have not read my introduction post yet to this competition reality show, please go back and read it to get a great idea of what to expect from this show.
If you do not want spoilers, please do not continue reading because I will not hide anything in my review. Besides, these episodes already aired a while ago.
As the debut group will be focused on Japan, the trainee groups will sing SM's Japanese hits for mission three. This will be the last mission before we head into the final mission where the rankings will be finalized.
Vocal trainer and Artist Director Jang Jin Young mentioned that all Exo members can sing and dance well, being top-tier performers with skills on another level. He expects that a lot of practice must be done to pull off the "Electric Kiss" song.
Eunhyuk responded that the choreography is fast-paced and tight. Live vocals with dancing will be a challenge.
Once again, on D-4, a special guest came to visit the trainees: Xiumin of Exo. He asks the trainees what they are practicing and Sion answered, "Electric Kiss." Xiumin then replied that that was a bad/wrong choice as if the trainees had a choice. As per Xiumin, even Exo members wanted to avoid this song. There were too many dance formations and the song is fast-paced. I think SM Entertainment really wants to challenge our trainees to their limits, though I know SM Entertainment will not give the trainees more than they can handle because their reputation is at stake. Xiumin describes the song as hectic. Xiumin didn't bring anything with him as a gift so he promised to buy the trainees a drink after he checks out their progress. In a true mentor fashion, Xiumin requests that the practice is recorded so that the trainees can monitor themselves afterwards.
Xiumin intently watched the trainees perform and concluded that they did well with the choreography. He must have bought the trainees drinks at this point in time since they all had drinks when it was time for Xiumin to give out his tips. Xiumin explained that they need to work as a team and nobody should get in the way of somebody's solo part because that would look obvious and the choreography will look a bit off. The beginning part of the song is also very important. Yushi took the part of Kai from Exo so Yushi must make his part outstanding and attention grabbing. Sion was praised for maintaining eye contact with Xiumin the entire time he was dancing. Xiumin mentioned that somebody bumped into Sakuya during the performance. Kassho raised his hand. Xiumin simply told Kassho to fix that part. In general, Xiumin said that their formations were not smooth and fast enough. They view the performance again on a tablet together with the trainees watching their performance behind Xiumin. The entire part where they line up diagonally with a wave of hands landing on the shoulder of the trainee in front of each trainee needs to be more dynamic as per Xiumin. Afterwards, Xiumin complimented individual parts of Sakuya, Ryo, and Anderson. Overall, the team was in sync and the dance angles were good. Ryu had to step out of the formation more so that Xiumin can see him. Kassho needs to show more confidence in his dance. When it comes to Jungmin, Xiumin was concerned that his part before he goes into the diagonal line didn't look right. It looks like Jungmin left an empty space in the middle section of the stage. Xiumin recommended that Jungmin slide to the side before he goes into the formation. In later parts, Xiumin wants Jungmin to also make gestures while he is in the front center.
Next, Xiumin wanted to check on vocals as he thought vocals was more important than dance because even if they danced well, but had poor vocals, the trainees will look untalented. Xiumin suggested that they dance again and sing live. After the team's live performance, Xiumin immediately focused on Jungmin again and asked why Jungmin had all the high note parts. Jungmin revealed in a personal interview that the parts were already assigned to him so he had to do his best and be responsible for it. Xiumin did not like that because it meant the group had a huge reliance on Jungmin to secure those high notes just like how Exo's Chen had to be responsible for Exo's high notes back then. Xiumin advised Jungmin to study how Chen managed to sing his high notes. In reality, I know Xiumin can hit higher notes than Chen and Baehyun of Exo so Xiumin understands the stuggle. Xiumin then told the group that their facial expressions were great as they sang live. He also advised the group to practice with headsets and in-ears on to get them used to those devices getting in the way of their dance. Xiumin told them again that they did well and Yushi was a great singer.
When Xiumin asked if the group had any questions, Sion volunteered himself to tell Xiumin that Yushi was a big Exo fan who has been going to Exo concerts since he was young. Yushi told Xiumin that he went to Exo's Tokyo Dome concert and Xiumin remembers being very nervous back then. Xiumin turns this experience into another lesson and advises the trainees not to show that they are nervous because their nervousness will make the audience also nervous. When they are performing, they should think of themselves as the coolest performers on stage and I wanted to chime in "NCT U: Boss."
After Xiumin left, Sion found Yushi crying a few minutes later before his personal interview. Yushi still had to complete his interview in front of cameras so he rolled back while sitting on the floor in embarrassment. Sion helps him back up and stayed with him a little bit as he begins his personal interview. Yushi was asked why he cried. Yushi was so happy to meet Xiumin of Exo so he cried. What does Exo mean to Yushi? Yushi thinks briefly and responds that Exo is his goal and Exo gives him courage.
Afterwards, the "Electric Kiss" team has some work to do to work out the problems that Xiumin mentioned. Jungmin is especially deep in thought on how to resolve the problem. They first have to work on the diagonal line part before Jungmin steps into it. The team practices the Jungmin slide into diagonal formation part many times until Jungmin is comfortable with it. They spent the next three days in deep practice with the last scene being them practicing with their headset microphones on. It's great to see that they are following Xiumin's advice.
D-day has arrived and the "Electric Kiss" team was ready for their rehearsal in the Ilsan studio. Vocal Trainer and Artist Director Jang is present to check on their rehearsal performance, but does not like what he heard vocally. He advises them to focus on stabilizing their vocals and also keep their vocal power strong since dancing vigorously will tire them out. Director Jang needs to hear more energy from them. Director Jang immediate moves on to fix Anderson's pitchy sounds in his "tell me where you at" parts. Anderson proceeds to practice that part repeatedly. Director Jang asks Jungmin to sing his high note part standing in place before asking Jungmin takes a step back and continue the choreography. Doing so will make Jungmin stand out more. This was not the only change they made one hour before the actual performance. Sion asks Sakuya to move closer to the front near Yushi during the hook part of the song.
Electric Kiss Team: Sion, Yushi, Jungmin, Ryu, Anderson, Kassho, Ryo, and Sakuya performing "Electric Kiss" originally performed by Exo
After the performance and introductions, Eunhyuk started by asking if Sion was satisfied with his performance. Sion gave a wise answer such as needing to monitor his actual performance afterwards. Yes, this is serious business. However, Sion admitted that he had fun dancing in this performance.
The artist directors, Eunhyuk, Hyoyeon, BoA and Jang Jin Young began to provide their feedback.
Eunhyuk tried his best to not focus on Sion and Yushi as they were already part of the debut team, but Eunhyuk found it difficult to evaluate the other trainees without paying attention to Sion and Yushi, who constantly caught Eunhyuk's attention. Eunhyuk thought Sion and Yushi are amazing and wanted to thank them for leading and preparing for both performances. Eunhyuk asked Jungmin if his parts were difficult given that he had the high notes. Jungmin replied that he tried to practice out loud many times and also practiced singing while dancing to get used to it. BoA laughed at Jungmin since he talks in a monotone way like a machine. Eunhyuk then followed up with asking Jungmin if he speaks more comfortably with his team in which Jungmin confirms that is the case. Eunhyuk asked Sion for his opinion. Sion replied that Jungmin is very cheerful and makes a lot of jokes, which makes the rest of his team laugh. Eunhyuk wanted to see that side of Jungmin. Eunhyuk thought Jungmin was timid and lacked confidence in the last mission, which Jungmin probably also regretted, but in this performance, Eunhyuk told Jungmin he was great and he loved Jungmin's performance with such an intense gaze. Eunhyuk asked Anderson if learning Japanese for the performance was difficult. Anderson said that Japanese and Korean are both a foreign language to him. Therefore, he had to constantly listen to the song to pick up as much pronunciation as possible. He also had help from his Japanese friends on the team to learn the language. Eunhyuk recognized Anderson's talent this time around in this performance. Anderson mentioned in his personal interview that he would not have been able to do good gestures had he not understood the Japanese lyrics or the pronunciation. Eunhyuk told Sakuya that it wasn't because he was bad at singing or dancing, but he lacked strength in his body to pull off any powerful moves. Kassho's overall balence was not that bad, but Eunhyuk considers this an advantage and disadvantage. He had no expression on his face and he only opens his mouth slightly while singing. Eunhyuk's comments reminds me of my early impressions of Yushi. Therefore, Eunhyuk could not concentrate on Kassho's performance. In this personal interview, Kassho agrees that he is not confident about himself. Lastly, Eunhyuk thought Ryo looked too cute for the concept of this song. Ryo explained in his personal interview that he practiced a lot of facial expressions for "Chewing Gum" and found it difficult to look cool in a powerful song.
BoA thought Yushi could be a very good vocalist and was deeply touched by Yushi's vocals despite him not originally being a vocalist. BoA thought Jungmin hit all his high notes very well. Jungmin said in his personal interview that he did feel more confident than when he performed "Lucifer." He mentally told himself while performing that he was going to nail the performance and performed as if his life depended on it. Anderson stood out with his gestures and facial expressions this time and BoA thought maybe it was because she gave him harsh feedback last time. Since this was a Japanese song, BoA expected the Japanese trainees to have an advantage over the non-Japanese trainees, but BoA thought the Japanese trainees did the worst job. They speak Japanese and know what the lyrics mean, so she expected more from them. Anderson, Jungmin and Sion had the most praise in this case. The Japanese trainees missed a big opportunity to show their potential. BoA apologized to Sakuya, but she didn't feel Sakuya's presence at all. BoA mentioned that Ryu needs to concentrate on his fingertips and that there was a proper way to finish each dance move. Ryu doesn't back-up the other dancers while dancing in the back because his dance moves were distracting. Ryo admitted in his personal interview that he couldn't concentrate on dancing and singing at the same time and that was a shame.
Hyoyeon saw determination in Sion's eyes, which told her that Sion was going to crush the performance that day. Anderson's powerful rapping and gestures was eye-catching and cool. Hyoyeon noticed weakness in Sakuya's posture and mentioned that she took lessons every day on posture. She asked Sakuya to show confidence in the way he stands and he will become more charming that way. Sakuya confessed in his personal interview that he is not good at dancing with more strength. As he was also nervous for today's performance, he couldn't bring himself to make more powerful moves. He will try to work harder for his next performance.
Once the critiques were over, Eunhyuk invited Ryu to show his specialty, which was waacking. Ryu self-taught himself to learn the waacking dance. In the introduction part of the song, Ryu did not appear too confident and did not have any straight postures where posing moves are a a highlight of the waacking dance, but once he started whirling his arms, it was impressive. I liked it, but he also can improve on it overall. If only he used this type of energy into his actual performance, he would be a better dancer. Hyoyeon said exactly what I thought that he should put that type of power into his choreography to become a perfect dancer. BoA exclaimed that was the correct way to use his fingertips.
Artist Director Jang concluded that the time to prepare for the performance was short, the trainees manage to keep up with the pace and grow along with it for which he was proud of them. He hopes that the trainees will take that day's advice and use it for their growth.
I thought the Electric Kiss performance was electric. The beginning performance was very sharp with Yushi setting the tone for his powerful stand-up pose. I was super impressed by the group's initial choreography. I would have to disagree with BoA that I thought Sakuya was very powerful at the beginning of this song. He was also the only member dressed in a semi-white-patterned shirt so he drew my attention right away. Sion is extra special in that he was 200% invested in his role with crazy head angles and neck rolls. Anderson gave a clear vocal performance and special gestures in the beginning, but when it came to his rap part, I was less impressed with his rapping delivery as his voice was not very clear, but alluring at the same time. He's a great, expressive dancer, but if he wants to do rapping parts, he needs to have a cleaner rap delivery. It was true that Sakuya, Ryo, and Kassho started being passive during verse 1 of the song, but I didn't consider the performance as bad. However, Kassho has been weak throughout his performance whereas I see Ryo and Sakuya's effort attempts, which are not enough, but at least I can see that they tried to put in more effort. Ryo was stable in vocals, but again, he never seems to attract my attention. This performance is Jungmin's absolute best performance. I love this confident side of Jungmin. If he keeps this up, he is ready to debut. I noticed he changed his style of singing to fit the song. I became a definite Jungmin fan after this performance. As the judges mentioned, I see Ryu's hands also bothering me. His voice sounds nice though. When he did the three finger movement going down during his solo center stage part, it looked weird to me. Was that some type of sign? Yushi was also perfectly playing his part as the serious guy with really cool moves. He is really too cool in this performance and I'm sure he captured many fans with this performance. If he wanted to maintain this cool image, he needs to keep his hairstyle the way it looks with his forehead open. I was really looking forward to seeing the diagonal line part of the choreography, which happens two times. I am impressed with the first time and even more impressed when they did it the second time. Before that, Sion was darting around the stage like a rocket. Yushi was on fire with his crazy shoulder moves on the diagonal line despite him being third from last on the line. There wasn't much of a slide move anymore for Jungmin as he naturally stepped into formation into the diagonal line and overall the entire sequence was clean. Towards the end of the song, I saw Sakuya fire up again with his strong point finger movements so I see potential in Sakuya, but it wasn't consistent. My basic opinion for all the performances so far is that the SM Rookies have better outfits in general than the trainees, which also is a reason why the SM Rookies stand out. I didn't think Sakuya's outfit suited him, but he definitely stood out by wearing a semi-white-patterned shirt, so he grabbed my attention a lot.
My general opinion is that Jungmin stole the show to be my favorite trainee. I won't rule out Anderson to be a strong contender for high ranks.
1. Jungmin
2. Anderson
3. Sakuya
4. Ryo
Now, we start to concentrate on the "Why?" team.
BoA couldn't help but bring up the incident in which TVXQ!'s Yunho ripped his pants, which revealed his red underwear during his performance of the song, "Drop" at an SMTOWN concert in Seoul back in 2017. I'm surprised that they would openly discuss this topic on this show. Eunhyuk added that there were rumors that this was staged, but I doubt it was staged when Yunho usually is a perfectionist and that is actually an embarrassing event.
The Why? team starts off day one with lots of stretching and basic run through of the choreography and knife hand moves. New trainee contestant Daeyoung seems to be following along well. On the second day, D-6, they begin formation practice, but have trouble with the beginning part where they all have to jump at the same time. Artist Director Jang was present to guide them to be on the beat. Amazingly, they eventually got it and moved on to practice other parts. At D-3, Yushi wanted them to sing live as they dance. As the beginning part of the dance was very important to set the tone, Riku was in the middle, but he had a hard time finding the rhythm to start his solo part.
A special guest came to visit them: Chang Min from TVXQ!
Daeyoung was taken aback and became super surprised to see a real life idol in front of him. Everyone seems to be trembling at the sight of Chang Min. Chang Min brought the trainees health supplements. I like how every special guest so far has brought the trainees something different as a gift.
Chang Min mentioned that when he and fellow member Yunho received the "Why?" song for the first time, they thought it was difficult. Chang Min asked the members what they thought was the hardest about the song. Sion answered that it was the vibe of the song. Minjae added that they would need to keep the flow going in the entire song. Chang Min asked the trainees politely to show him their performance.
After their performance, Chang Min was a bit taken aback at Sion's glare and he was thankful that the trainees are sweating buckets after the performance. Chang Min explained that the energy should be felt by the audience. The team tried to show their energy, but Chang Min could not feel it. They should use their strength in some parts and relax their body in other parts to show contrast. To give an example, Chang Min shows them the difference in how he dances the main chorus part. The trainees can visually see the difference if they learn not to do strong moves entirely throughout the song. During the bounce part, which I really think is a seasickness dance move, Chang Min mentioned that they should be leaning their bodies forward during the bounce in a rolling motion. Changmin asked the trainees to show him the move and then guided them to also pay attention to how they walk as walking is also part of the choreography.
Next, Chang Min checked for the vocals and asked the trainees what they thought of the vocals. Daeyoung was the first to give his respects since the vocals are hard. I agree that this is possibly god-level stuff that only Chang Min can perfect. Daeyoung was brave to try singing in front of Chang Min. Chang Min liked Daeyoung's voice. Next was Minjae, who had even higher notes to secure. After hearing Minjae sing, Chang Min mentioned that Minjae knew which route to take to ensure his notes. Chang Min moved on to the three rappers: Heitetsu, Riku, and Haruta. Chang Min helps Heitetsu hit the key points to accents the key words. After hearing Riku's rap, Chang Min advises Riku to have a sense of rhythm when he is rapping acapella. With Haruta, Chang Min can hear the rhythm, but it sounded like he swallowed the sound. His rap delivery sounded weak. Haruta needs to find his piercing voice.
Chang Min hopes that the Why? team will crush the other team. The camera focuses on Yushi, who is probably thinking that he is in both teams, so how can he do that?
Haruta is a big fan of Chang Min and he surprisingly broke into tears after their pictures together. I am reminded of how Yushi broke down earlier when seeing Xiumin. Yushi held it in well until after Xiumin left.
D-day arrives and the team is in the rehearsal. Our episode ends here.
Wow, I waited all episode, but only heard Daeyoung sing for a few seconds. I will need to painfully wait another week to hear him sing. The previews show so many negative comments so I am worried.
Please leave a comment if you would like about this episode and we shall continue to episode six of NCT Universe: LASTART.
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