MV Review: Takahashi Minami - Jane Doe

Time for another music video review! I received such a great response from my first music video review, so I will be continuing this type of review. :D This time, I am reviewing AKB48's General Manager, Takahashi Minami, solo debut single, "Jane Doe," which is being used as the theme song for the drama "Saki."

Video Concept & Story: in Detail

The video starts out with a tower illuminated by the city lights, but then the city suddenly becomes dark.

This tower appears multiple times during the music video, and it plays quite an important role. 

Then the video just as briefly cuts to what appears to be a chapel with a dark figure in the middle of the aisle.

After the title screen, we see two different Takaminas: one with long hair and a red ballgown dress, while the other one has short hair, and is dressed more fitted in black.

The effect with the mirrors is important as you can see that the video effortless transitions between the two Takaminas, using the mirrors as a literal meaning that these two are reflections of one another. However, one is real, and one is not, and that will be revealed as I review the music video.

As you will see throughout the music video, Red Takamina is a singer. She performs on a small stage in front of a bunch of rich people, and performs with mirrors behind her. The placement of the mirrors behind her as she performs hints that what the people are seeing in front of them is just a reflection of Takamina. This is not her true self, but an "act" she is putting on. 

Now that the chapel is properly lit up, we can see that the shadowed figure in the aisle is Dark Takamina. 

For the rest of this section, I will be focusing on Dark Takamina because the story is about her. Since Red Takamina performs throughout the music video, I will talk about her in the "Dance" section of this review. 

Dark Takamina seems to be looking for someone as she keeps looking around as she walks. 

Then, she suddenly sees what she is looking for...

...an elaborate necklace on a woman that is surrounded by bodyguards. 

It looks like the tower is reacting to something...

Dark Takamina rushes towards the woman to get the necklace, but the bodyguards are in the way.

What is going on with the tower? It is flashing all of a sudden. 

The lights went out.

Dark Takamina gets behind them during the blackout, and steals the necklace. 

The tower is glowing brighter than ever. What is going on?

Now that Dark Takamina has the necklace, she runs up the stairs and heads to the roof. 

The bodyguards are in hot pursuit. 

Dark Takamina finally makes it to the roof, where she sees the mysterious tower. 

The bodyguards have caught up to her.

Oh no, Dark Takamina is cornered.

Bodyguards: "Give it back!"

I like how the bodyguard on the right looks like he is catching his breath. 

Dark Takamina stands her ground, while tightly holding onto the necklace...

...and then she throws the necklace all the way to the tower. 

Dark Takamina has an amazing throw. 

After the necklace reaches the tower, the city, the tower, and the sky are all lit up. 

Dark Takamina smiles as she was able to bring light back to the city.

So, the entire story is about Dark Takamina, who comes from a city that was recently covered in darkness. She goes to the chapel, hoping to figure out a way to bring light back to the city. She ends up infiltrating a rich person's party by disguising herself as a singer, also known as Red Takamina. After her performance, she changes into a set of fitted, darker clothing, and searches for the woman who organized the party. It seems that the party was organized to show off a famous necklace, but to make sure it is not stolen, the hostess of the party is surrounded by bodyguards. Dark Takamina spots her, realizes that her attempt to get the necklace might be futile, but runs full speed ahead anyway. The Tower overlooking the city helps Dark Takamina by causing a power outage, allowing Dark Takamina to get behind the rich woman, and steal the necklace. Dark Takamina runs towards the roof as she is being chased by the bodyguards. When it seems that she is cornered and has to give up, Dark Takamina turns around and throws the necklace to the Tower, which brings light back to the entire city that was grim at the beginning of the music video. 

In this music video, Dark Takamina seems to be the female portrayal of the fictional character, Arsène Lupin, the French gentlemen thief, who is known to steal famous and rare jewelry, in order to give it back to those who deserve it. He is known to disguise himself in order to get what he wants. He is compared to Sherlock Holmes, but on the wrong side of the law.

Visuals

Throughout the video, there is a lot of scenes with Dark Takamina and Red Takamina surrounded by mirrors. A scene I particularly like is when Dark Takamina is looking at Red Takamina through the mirror, but it never happens the other way around. 

 This means that Dark Takamina is the real one, while Red Takamina is a fake
(as I had mentioned when Red Takamina performs with mirrors behind her). 

I also want to mention about Red Takamina's dress. It looks like a full-blown ballgown, but it has a secret.

That is right. Where you thought was just a crease from the fold on her dress is actually a slit. 

Quite unique and inventive.

Dance & Lyrics
For the lyrics and English translation of the song, you can check out the music video with it here.

Since the dance reflects the lyrics almost word for word, it is better to watch the video that I linked to above to better appreciate all the dance moves. I enjoy dances that match the lyrics, but when watching multiple live performances of this song, it seems there is slightly too much dancing, since she is singing with a mic stand. However, at least she uses the mic stand to the fullest by moving it around to make the performance more  intense than simply dancing behind it. Also the "Jane Doe" move looks better from a diagonal view (as seen in the music video) than a front view (as is seen in the live performances). I also liked the musicality of the moves when Takamina sings "wow wow wow." 

As for the lyrics, it is about a man falling in love with a woman that he thought he knew so well. However, he notices that when they kiss, his lover does not close her eyes. So he wonders why she does not close her eyes, and what is there to see with her eyes open during a kiss. He then starts to think he no longer knows the woman he fell in love with, because she seems to have a double personality, and calls her "Jane Doe." He truly believed that his dearest Jane Doe was his destined lover, and now wonders whether their love was all a lie. If she is thinking about another man, he would rather her let go of him, and quietly leave the room. When he finds out that she no longer loves him, he tells her to at least finish their kiss properly (not with her eyes open). Now that he has seen her true colours, he feels like he has lost everything, and does not remember the woman he first fell in love with. The pain of having loved Jane Doe will always remain as scratch marks on his shoulders. 

Overall Impression

This music video is absolutely amazing. I like how the story portrayed Takamina as a female Arsène Lupin, and showing the two Takaminas' "story lines" simultaneously was also very interesting, and was played up well with the transition effect with the mirrors, visually showing that these two Takaminas are one and the same, but there was only one true Takamina. Everything else that was visual was well-done: the dress, the lighting, the mirrors, etc. The dance was also pleasant to watch as it matched the lyrics. The lyrics are original, and matches well with the music video in terms of the idea of having a true self, and a fake self. What I think sold me on this music video was Takamina's expressions throughout. Her facial expressions were so genuine, and matched so well with the emotion that the lyrics were sung with, and the contrast between her harsh expressions as Dark Takamina, and her soft expressions as Red Takamina is what made me watch this music video over and over and over again. 100% genius. Every second was gold. Definitely above 5 out of 5. This was a very successful, must-see music video that tied in very well with the lyrics.