Thoughts on NCT Wish Debut: From NCT Universe: LASTART to NCT New Team to NCT Wish

Hello all,

This is my final review on the journey of the NCT Universe: LASTART to NCT Team to NCT Wish members: Sion, Yushi, Riku Jaehee, Ryo, and Sakuya. In my last post about the pre-debut NCT Wish, I didn't feel that my blog was complete without one final post to discuss the aftermath of the NCT Wish team, S.M. Entertainment's newest artist group.

I like to go beyond the NCT Universe: LASTART SM reality survival program to see what the aftermath would be for the fated trainees who move on to their official debut. I wrote about their pre-debut phase in my previous blog post, NCT Wish: The Aftermath of NCT New Team and NCT Universe: LASTART, but it is now time to comment on their official debut on 28-FEB-2024.

I can't believe that I am able to witness the beginning of greatness. When I look back at my previous reviews, I have a sense of nostalgia and I could only think about the member's future potentials, but now, I get to see it live. There is no doubt I will be their fan and will support them to achieve their dreams.

We will start off with their pre-debut video: NCT WISH : Welcome to Cupid Scouting Society!

I was surprised to see that NCT Wish would release a pre-release video with English commentary. I thought they would focus on the Japanese audience, but I think their aim is to potentially go global, which is totally fine by me since I am in the global category. Anyway, I am trying to learn Japanese on my own just so I can keep up with this group.

The video as a whole is so light-hearted and funny and that is what I expect from a relatively young group that includes teenagers like Ryo, Sakuya, Yushi, and Jaehee. When NCT Dream debut their "Chewing Gum" video, there is a sense of rebelliousness combined with cuteness. NCT Wish may be the brightest of all NCT groups and with a name like "Wish" they will be as bright as the stars and bright even in the daytime. In both groups, I can always see what concepts that they want to portray and maybe this is also who they are in real life. When I watch NCT Dream content, I can see how mischievous the members are and when I watch NCT Wish content, I see love and hugs everywhere.

The "NCT WISH : Welcome to Cupid Scouting Society!" video is so short. I really wanted more, but I know I am being spoiled. NCT Wish have been flexing their acting skills so far in their previous MV and pre-debut videos. The video begins with Sakuya who is the newest recruit at the Cupid Scouting Society. This society organization shouldn't be like a school, but a place to exchange ideas. It makes sense to have Sakuya as the latest recruit since he is the youngest member.

Sakuya walks in to immediate focus on Sion and Riku, the most eldest members as they form love matches on what looks like a board game, but reminds me a bit like Jumangi where it moves itself or could have been moved with Sion's magic. It would make sense that Sion and Riku would be the most skilled based on the concept that the oldest members would be the wisest members. 

In the Cupid Scouting society, they also give seminars even though it is called "Cupid 101" on how to find couples and shoot them with the arrow of love. Sion is portrayed as the wisest one and the most serious member who requires concentration during this seminar.

In the Precision exercise, Ryo falls short of perfect in this bow and arrow pose, but he has to move on for the next person. Feeling disappointed with his shoulders drooped low, Ryo walks away sulking and Riku takes his place with his best bow and arrow pose. The angle of his bow arm was a bit high, but Riku looks the least bit apologetic or he could be downplaying the discrepancy. While Ryo aims to please, Riku just wants to be himself. 

In the test flight exercise, Yushi attempts to gracefully fly with his cupid wings, but is compared to a reckless chicken which leads to him to fall flat on his back. It seems as though Yushi has a long way to go to be a great cupid. I thought the humor attempt to compare Yushi's flight to a chicken was amusing.

In the "no cheating" scene, Ryo is running late for his exam so he runs, but doesn't fly up the stairs. As he was rushing for the exam, he was a bit unprepared and did not bring a pen for the cupid exam. However, he was resourceful to pluck one of the feathers of his wings so that he can use it as a fountain pen. This scene reminds me of Ryo when he was doing the time sensitive challenge to stack mini plastic chairs during the NCT Universe: LASTART era. Ryo knows how to think outside of the box. I hope he passes the exam as he was hardworking so far.

In the "wings of purity" scene, Jaehee oversees the laundry of cupid wings. He seems to be the member that can do no wrong. He will not let bad weather ruin the cupid wings. With two claps, he was able to bring back sunny skies. 

Being a cupid doesn't seem to be so bad. I always imagined myself as a cupid when I was young because I always wanted to put the main leads of a drama together. I imagine myself falling to earth just to help couples fall in love. One day, I will publish my book so look out for it.

In the final exercise, the cupids go into a "battle for love" though this scene makes me think that maybe NCT Wish is battling for our interest and our love for NCT Wish. Sakuya is funny for holding a super mini bow and arrow, but he manages to shoot a perfect ten score in the middle. Unfortunately, Riku and Jaehee have the harder task of shooting moving targets. Sion steps up to show them how it's done and one of the targets crashes through a window and lands outside. I am getting images of Sion and his superior batting skills in the pre-release "Hands Up" music video. Sion needs to be the MVP of everything. I find it funny that there are chickens clucking outside. Oh, Yushi.

I watched this video many times and also the behind the scenes video and find it very enjoyable. It is not very related to their actual music video, but I like that they gave a slightly different story as a teaser for their main video, "NCT Wish."

NCT Wish debut on 28-FEB-2024 during the SMTown Live 2024 SMCU Palace concert at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. They are debuting under a special situation. Who debuts at a major event like SMTown at such a huge venue like Tokyo Dome where other artists can only dream to perform in?

If NCT Wish were nervous, they did not show it on stage. The added bonus for fans is that they can listen and see the performance of NCT Wish's debut song before the music video is released, which is a rare event in the K-pop music industry. I was not immediately hooked by their debut song, but I gradually started to like it after their Korean promotions. I wasn't used to seeing Yushi wearing the Japanese style leg warmers and I wasn't used to seeing a male person wear it. However, they are young and they can explore different styles. Later on, I see other members wearing it too on different occasions. If they are going to follow a cupid fantasy concept, it's not completely off track. 

Not only did they perform "Hands Up" and "NASA," they also collaborated with Super Junior to perform Super Junior's song, "U." The song, "U," reminds me of their kalgunmu (razor-sharp group dancing) moves in the NCT Universe: LASTART era. 

When I look at their 41 second practice video, I can tell they practiced really hard. It is just amazing how dedicated they are to being the best. I think their efforts can not be understated. I am impressed that Jaehee, the member with the least dance experience, can keep up with this difficult choreography. Meanwhile, Sion does his 120% effortless dancing style as if this was not a challenge. I encourage everybody to check out the SMTown version as their vocals are so smooth and of course their dance performance was on point. It's rare for me to hear Sakuya sing and Sakuya's voice is not bad at all. I want to hear more of his vocal performance. 

Now, to review their debut MVs. NCT Wish's MVs are creative in that there is a slightly different story line for each MV so that means I need to review their MVs twice, which is still a joy for me. I also recommend watching their behind the scenes video and their MV reaction video for more insights to their process of creating these videos.

"WISH (Korean Ver.)" MV

By the time you read this, I have watched the music video dozens of times and I still haven't got sick of it yet.

When the movie starts, we see a young Spanish couple arguing in the car. I thought I was watching a different video so I double checked that I got the correct video. However, I have the correct video because NCT Wish filmed their music video in Barcelona, Spain. The actress is really pretty in my opinion. She reminds me of singer Camila Cabello. Anyway, as the couple is arguing, something or should I state, someone falls onto their car windshield, cracking it and rolling on the ground. The couple cautiously stops the car and steps out of the car to see what happened. Ryo suddenly stands up with a perk and gazes around without the slightest injury, surprising the couple. I guess cupids or angels can't get hurt on Earth. 

Behind the couple, another person or thing seemingly falls from the sky and seems to be landing flat (on his face). The young woman faints at the sight while the young man catches her. It's raining cupids! If I were there, I would be fascinated to see cupids. Yushi also gets up and lightly brushes himself off without injury. I guess Yushi still didn't practice his landings well from the Cupid Scouting Society and I do say "Cupid Scouting Society" with a German accent like Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Yushi sees Ryo and they walk down the road together without caring about the couple or their damaged car. Yushi playfully pushes Ryo aside and Ryo lightly pushes Yushi back. However, Yushi doesn't let up and does a forceful takedown of Ryo with his forearm behind Ryo's neck like a wrestling clothesline move from behind. Maybe they both had some type of competition and since Ryo landed first, Yushi was a bit jealous so he had to have some fun with Ryo. As they both fell to the ground, the couple that was arguing in the car have made up with each other once the young woman woke up. Love works in mysterious ways.

I love how the music video segues into Yushi and Ryo rolling towards each other in the grass. Before they were on the highway, but now they seem to be in a park having fun and relaxing. Sakuya makes his entrance into Earth by landing in the water instead. Riku is the last person to come to earth and is still falling backwards from the sky. I think these cupids need more training at the Cupid Scouting Society (German voice). 

Already on Earth, Sion and Jaehee are already looking at their target by the beach, scoping out a couple with binoculars. Too bad that we don't see them arrive on Earth. Their target is a woman with a dog and a man, both who are sitting on the beach, but far apart. 

Yushi and Ryo see Riku about to land from the park and they look at each other. Yes, it looks to be a painful landing if Riku is landing on his back. A mermaid rescues Sakuya in the water and Riku causes Sion to miss his love shot of the couple since he landed in front of Sion and Jaehee. However, Sion and Jaehee do not appear mad about the mistake. Somehow, Riku manages to land near Sion and Jaehee. After landing, Riku is also not hurt and looks at Jaehee, the couple, before sighing, acknowledging their mistake and taking off to resolve the problem with Sion and Jaehee sprinting behind him. 

The mermaid that saves Sakuya tries to do CPR and Sakuya spits out water on the grass. 

Yushi and Ryo walk down the street having fun. However, Sakuya, all dried up by now, was standing outside a music record shop across the street and trying to look inside, which is strange since he is across the street. 

Riku, Sion, and Jaehee come out of the subway somehow and try to run down the street. I so far do not see any cupid powers from them so down here on Earth, they have to act human. I guess they either had money to take the subway or they bypassed paying for the subway. 

In the sky, clouds move away to make a heart shape and Yushi and Ryo sees that as a sign. This story is a little bit similar to one of my stories that I wanted to write, so I find this very interesting. Yushi and Ryo look at each other as if they knew who their targets are so they head over to the record store. Unlike Sakuya, Yushi and Ryo shade their hands over their eyes to look directly into the music record shop from the store window, unabashed. They did better than Sakuya, who must have been a bit shy, but all of this staring-into-the-record-shop is stalker behavior, but at the same time adorable for the viewer. Sion, Riku, and Jaehee catch up to Sakuya, and soon the whole group is together in front of the record shop and looking into it like stalkers. They see the red-hair mermaid lady who has human legs and another young man of interest looking a vinyl records as a customer.

Somehow, NCT Wish take a break to walk towards a water fountain with a baby cupid statue peeing out water from its private area. Sion and Riku glance at each other and Riku also looks downwards in concern to his private area. It is comical and innocent. Soon, the baby cupid is covered with some blue striped baby pants and the water stopped coming out in the water fountain since NCT Wish team supposedly took care of it. Maybe NCT Wish needed to discuss a plan of action so they took a break and have human needs like eat some lunch. Again, I am not sure if they magically had money or how they were able to obtain burgers, but there was a clue that Sion had a coin in his hand so they must have collected all the money from the fountain, but I doubt it is enough money for all six of them to buy burgers unless those burgers are incredibly cheap. 

NCT Wish must have waited for the mermaid woman to be off from work as she is walking with her bike across the town square. Yushi gets behind the fountain to take a cupid shot from his small long firearm with a heart-shaped scope. Unfortunately, he misses the timing and shoots a tree that blocked the mermaid lady instead of mermaid lady, who is also a redhead so she must be related to Ariel of Disney. The young boy customer was also in the square and witnesses mermaid lady's weird actions so he unapologetically also tries to capture the scene of mermaid lady kissing the tree on his phone.

After his shooting mistake, Yushi decides that he needs more practice and starts practicing shooting cans and bottles near the lakeside. One of his bullets somehow went to a fish in the lake. I guess Yushi is not that great of a sharpshooter. 

Mermaid lady can be seen watching the young man with his electric guitar in front of a goal post of a soccer field from her balcony. I find it strange that the young man is playing his electric guitar by sitting in front of a goal post. How is he getting electricity? All that is unimportant as NCT Wish also dances in the middle of the field. 

Sion scoops up the fish that Yushi shot and all five members run towards him on the dock before they all jump into the water for some fun. I guess Sakuya can swim in the storyline, but probably in shallow waters or Sakuya fell unconscious in the water the first time around so he didn't swim. All members dry off by taking a nap on the grass. 

Sakuya wakes up to seeing mermaid lady walk towards the lake and gracefully jump in to the water. At the same time, the young man of interest is driving towards them on his moped. 

Jaehee gets excited to use a shotgun, but Yushi takes it away from him to take Yushi's shot. Sakuya wastes no time and runs toward the dock. Sakuya leaps in front of the young man of interest and is shot in the heart instead. I tried to make sense of how Sakuya is faster than a bullet, but if we go to the Japanese version of the video where they can freeze time, then this is possible for Sakuya to be in front of the bullet. Amazingly, he has a heart-shaped hole in his heart and behind the hole is the mermaid lady swimming towards Sakuya. The sky is shown with clouds moving away into a heart shape again, shining sunlight on the mermaid lady. Sakuya looks at the screen and smiles as if he intended to link his fate to the mermaid lady who saved him from drowning in the lake. 

The music video is so easy to watch and digest without going into deep details like I was doing during "Hands Up". I had so many theories about the "Hands Up" music video. They could easily have made a whole movie out of this storyline. "Wish" is lighthearted, fun, and shows how innocent the NCT Wish members are as cupids. The music video was well-made and NCT Wish did a brilliant job.

'WISH (Japanese Ver.)' MV

For the Japanese version of the music video, I won't rehash the parts of the same storyline so I will only comment on the differences in the music video.

In this version of the video, Sakuya is rescued by mermaid lady, but when he wakes up, he sees both Ryo and Yushi looking at him instead. Sakuya still saw the back of mermaid lady walking away. Yushi shakes his head at Sakuya, knowing how clumsy Sakuya must have been to faint while dropping into the lake from the sky. Either way, all landings of Ryo, Yushi, Sakuya, and Riku must be painful from a human standpoint. Remember, Sakuya was the newest recruit to the Cupid Scouting Society (German voice) so he is the rookie of the team.

The storyline here is a little bit strange as Sakuya saw mermaid lady walk away with purple sweater with pink flowers and short jeans, but as Riku was racing across the park, he jumps over mermaid lady, who is now in a totally separate outfit that is pink with long jeans. Maybe mermaid lady changed clothes fairly quickly and decided to lay down at the park and read a book. For the story to be logical, Sakuya must have landed on Earth first and then Riku landed on Earth some time much later. Riku gives mermaid lady his charming smile before he walks away.

In this alternate time line, Sion, Riku, and Jaehee are standing across the street facing the music record shop where the mermaid lady works and the young man of interest walks into the shop. This also does not make sense. Riku just jumped over the mermaid lady so he must have waited or followed mermaid lady to work, but mermaid lady is again in a different outfit of green. Maybe mermaid lady has to change clothes for work. This can only be possible if some time has passed. 

Meanwhile, Sakuya, Yushi, and Ryo are carefreely walking down the street. When the cloud opens into a heart shape, all three members see the sign. The three find themselves starring into the record shop and are promptly joined by the last three members to make a complete group. They still look like stalkers. I love the reactions of Ryo, Sakuya, and Yushi when they see Jaehee, Sion, and Riku behind them as if they are saying, "Do I know you?"

The Wish is Complete - NCT Wish
Credit to SM Entertainment and the Youtube video

The story further deviates when mermaid lady decides to go to a gallery where the man of interest is also present. Riku has a mischievous idea to stop time and break up a couple by moving the man and his flowers to propose to another woman. I wasn't too sure what the point of this was, but it did draw the attention of mermaid lady and the guy of interest. That is funny if cupids can also break people up.

Also, I find it fascinating that this is the only scene in which we see the NCT cupids having some type of magical power. Otherwise, they look like normal human beings on Earth who take subways and eat burgers.

Having NCT Wish dance in the gallery with white flower petals seems nice and the little boy cupid painting was a nice touch. 

Yushi didn't actually miss any shots with his cupid firearm, but he still needed to practice. This did not really go with the story line, but Yushi still shot a fish and he scratches his ear apologetically. However, it is clear in this version of the video that the fish landed on the dock, which would make sense how Sion was able to pick it up in the Korean music video.

After NCT Wish cupid members take a nap on the grass while drying off after jumping into the lake, it is Riku who stands up, gazing at mermaid lady with fondness. When man of interest shows up in his moped or bike, Jaehee excitedly thought he would get lucky this time to shoot his firearm, but Riku grabs the firearm from Jaehee this time. Poor Jaehee who never gets a shot in, but I think he is just as happy with what seems to be a one-for-all-and-all-for-one attitude. 

Riku takes a shot, but lowers his head in disappointment. That looks like me when I go bowling and knew the ball wasn't going to hit the pins that I wanted. The love bullet hits the dog again and the dog's owner and the other man of interest are pulled together again. The couple smile at each other except the dog is also smitten and jumps on the guy's sensitive area. Riku's disappointment turns into a cheesy smile as he looks up again at the scene. 

In this version, we have been duped as the couple wasn't mermaid lady and her man of interest, but the dog lady and her man of interest. I welcome the change in storyline to give each character a bigger role.

Overall, now that I too a look at both versions, the "Riku" version, which is the Japanese version doesn't quite make sense as a story with some discrepancies. I much prefer the more logical storyline, which is the "Sakuya" Korean version. However, I did enjoy watching Riku's mischievous self.

I have never been to Barcelona before, but it seems to be a beautiful place. I am sure these videos will encourage tourism and even though there was no dialogue in the music video, the actors all portrayed their roles well. 

When it came to NCT Wish music show stages, I would say they did well and surprisingly even winning two music show wins with "The Show"! and Show Champion, which is amazing for a rookie group that just debut. There was only one disappointment that I had for Jaehee's performances in which I personally thought he didn't hold his notes long enough like in the record where he sang "so I make this wish tonight..." and his "tonight" felt too short for me. I felt Jaehee improved a lot on his dance and I am also happy to see that he is not always dancing in the back anymore. By the way, I also came to love the B-side song, "Sail Away," as well. It's no shock that I bought both the Japanese and Korean versions of their CD. I almost bought the Wichu keyring version as well, but decided not to as I felt it was overkill for me to own so many versions and I thought Wicchu looks sad and I rather have a happy Wichu. Maybe Wichu is happy, but he looks sad to me. I also wish they had an album that included both Korean and Japanese versions on CD.

I also watched their "Wishlist" showcase and I was proud of them and proud of Sion especially for handling all the technical difficulties with Wichu and leading most of the conversations during the show. I won't go too deep into it as my post is already super long, but I enjoyed it.

If you still need to get the album, they have it on Amazon below (Note: the links below are affiliate links in which I receive a small commission should you decide to make a purchase at the 3rd party website):

Single Album WISH Photobook Ver. (Korean version)

Wish - Regular Edition - Trading Card For 1St Pressing (Japanese Version)

2nd Preorder NCT WISH - 1st Single WISH WICHU Ver. Keyring

NCT Wish - 1st Single Wish [Keyring Ver.] Smart Album

I'll also include the individual CD covers for the Japanese album in case you are interested:

Wish - Sion Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

Wish - Riku Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

Wish - Yushi Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

NCT WISH WISH JAEHEE Ver. First Press Japan Version

Wish - Ryo Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

Wish - Sakuya Version - Limited/Picture Label/Trading Card

I again congratulate NCT Wish on their debut! I think I have done the full circle to say farewell to NCT Universe: LASTART and hello NCT Wish! I will be watching them closely to support them and I can't wait to see what else they will bring us next, but I won't be writing such detailed reviews anymore, unless you all have any interest in me doing so or if I decide to feature their song on Wehaiyo! I hope that I brought NCT Wish enough attention to interest you into checking them out as well.

Wehaiyo! (Cheers!)