Infinite: Koi Ni Ochiru Toki 1st Full Japanese Album Review

On June 5th, Infinite released their first full Japanese album, entitled Koi Ni Ochiru Toki (When You Fall in Love), with a normal edition and a limited edition.  The normal edition contains a photobook and a photocard, while the limited edition comes with a DVD, a larger photobook and a random photobooklet.  I originally didn't consider buying this album because of how Infinite's outfits gravely clashed with the background of the album cover washing them out and because I didn't see a point in having Japanese versions of already amazing Korean songs, but my love for Infinite overtook those feelings while I was in Japan and so now I have this album, with no regrets!

Here is the album cover, with and without the cardboard slip.  The Infinite font and logo, as well as the black dots and black circle cutouts, are raised, creating three dimensional texture to the exterior. On the slip includes a photo of the normal edition's album cover, which is a group photo of Infinite wearing their pattern-filled clothing that blends into the equally clashing background.  The casing is thick, sturdy and really well made. There is even a semicircle indent in the middle, allowing to more easily take out the contents.  The Infinite font and logo are the same as its predecessor album, New Challenge.

The back cover continues the patterns and raised dots.  I like how that when the slip is on (like the top of both photos above), "Infinite" still shows nicely.

The back of this cardboard wrap has lots of information.  It has the tracklist, which includes all of Infinite's Japanese songs from their three singles, as well as the Japanese versions of Woohyun's, Sunggyu's and Infinite H's solo and duet tracks from Over the Top, as well as "Welcome To Our Dream," "Man In Love," and "Wings."  It also lists the DVD contents, which include all of Infinite's Japanese teasers and full music videos.  Lastly it reveals the cover of each of the random photobooklets.

The album cover is very loud, with lots of contrasting patterns in a striking black and white color scheme. The contents come out of the case from the left.  Starting at the top is the random photobooklet, followed by the photobook and then the disc folder.

This is the disc folder.  The top image shows the back and front covers.  The black dots on the front and Infinite font and logo on the back are also raised.  The back cover faintly lists the tracklist and contents of the DVD.  Both discs are secured with a clear plastic casing, like most of their albums (meaning it's not the foam center kind).  The CD is on the left while the DVD is on the right.  The DVD is region 2, so only region 2 or all/no region DVD players can play it.  I personally didn't think the songs selected fit into one album. Because these are all translations from various Korean albums, the concepts are all very different and therefore don't flow well together.  There are so many main Korean tracks that stand out on their own that it seems weird seeing them all placed together. However, I understand that Infinite doesn't have original Japanese songs and therefore simply compiled all of their Japanese singles together.  Now onto the DVD.  The main screen has a group shot of the members in their white suits with the Korean version of the "Man in Love" chorus running in the background.  The BTD music video is exactly the Korean music video, just with the Japanese track.  All the other music videos and teasers are the original Japanese versions.  I love this DVD; it's a beautiful compilation of their Japanese music videos thus far.

Inside the disc folder is a slip of paper listing Infinite's full Japanese discography, including all versions of their singles, concert DVDs, variety show DVDs, both dramas of which starred Myungsoo and Hoya, and the first part of L's Bravo Viewtiful.

The main photobook is 52 pages of absolute gorgeousness.  Like New Challenge's theme, this album's concept shows Infinite as fresh, charming and romantic guys contrasting their usual dark eras.  The front cover (left image) fits this darling concept well, with the boys radiating cheerful smiles and wearing soft pastels and light patterns.  The back cover (right image) has a more hipster flare, with the boys in white suits, slanted and a bit hazy.  This photobook includes three different photoshoots: the first, like the front cover of this photobook, the second, like the normal edition album cover, and the third, like the back cover of the photobook.  There are only a handful of group shots, three from the first photoshoot (including the front cover), one from the second shoot, and two from the third (including the back cover); majority are individual photos.  Within each photoshoot, each member gets one to two individual photos.  Throughout the photobook, the lyrics and credits are listed.

Here are a few pages from the first photoshoot. Sungyeol's two pages include the credits and lyrics of Man in Love.  This photoshoot is my favorite out of the three because it shows the members being so lovely and charming...except for L's photos.  I'm upset that he looks so bored and tired; these emotions don't fit the concept at all!

Here are Sungjong's two pages from the second photoshoot.  Again, there's a lot of drama with the striking black and white background clashing with Sungjong's outfit.

And here's the last photoshoot.  I really like the soft filter effect and the charming white suits.  Again, L looks more on the downside, but nonetheless still as handsome as ever.

There was also this slip inside the photobook.  I'm not sure what it's for, but there's an ID, so I think it may be for some type of lottery.  I tried going to the URL, but it says 'page not found.'  This slip was also in the She's Back single, so I guess it's more of a Japanese thing?

And lastly, the random photobooklet!  Each album comes with one of seven random photobooklets, one of each member.  I received Hoya's, but I'll trade with my friend for L's (!) soon and I'll post photos for that after I get L's! [Update: I have L's and Woohyun's photobooks, which I blogged about here]! Now back to Hoya.  The covers show off Hoya with a friendly and endearing light.  He looks so charming here!

There are a total of 18 pages, all of Hoya.  The first six are of the ghostly photoshoot, followed by four of the black and white shoot.  I'm glad that there are only four of this second shoot; the other two shoots are just much classier and fit the overall romantic concept very well and much to my liking.

I'm so happy they saved eight pages for the cutesy, romantic photoshoot!  There's one page dedicated as the profile page, with Hoya's adorable copied autograph.  Having a random photobooklet is an amazing marketing strategy, since people are more inclined to truly want their bias's photobooklet rather than just a photocard!  Though Hoya isn't my bias, the photos are still very amazing and I'll be getting L anyways so I'm a happy camper.

Overall, I love this album.  The packaging is very high quality and has so many contents!  I'm shaking my head in confusion because I never considered buying this album, because now that I have it I love the album and concept so much.  Though this album is more expensive being Japanese, it's such a nice addition!