Infinite: For You 2nd Japanese Full Album (Limited + DVD) Review

At the end of 2015, Infinite released their second full Japanese album, For You. With this release, Woollim sets yet another record by producing 10 versions of For You, whereas the previous 24 Hours release just had 9. For You has a normal edition (1st press and additional presses), a limited version with a DVD, the same limited version with a Bluray, and 7 member versions. Here I'll be reviewing the limited version with the DVD. I have no immediate plans on getting any of the other versions.

This album includes all of the Japanese singles released since Koi Ni Ochiru Toki, meaning the songs from Last Romeo, Dilemma, and 24 Hours. There are also three songs that haven't been released in Korean though Infinite has performed them in Korean, those being "Can't Get Over You," Love of My Life," and "For You." Additional Korean-turned-Japanese songs are "Bad" and "Between Me and You." I feel so stupid, I didn't realize until about a couple of months ago (well after I went to Infinite Effect) that this album is titled after the song "For You," the one that Infinite performed at Infinite Effect.

The easy way to tell the difference between the limited DVD version and limited Bluray version is that the front cover of the DVD one has the logo and title in gold while that of the Bluray one has them in silver. This album is the same size as most of Infinite's other albums.

The top left sticker reveals the two new side track songs.

The bottom right sticker gives more information on the contents of this version.

The backside includes the tracklist for both the CD and the DVD.

There is an exterior slip case to hold the album together.

Here's the album without the slip case. The print on the spine is black instead of matching in metallic.

I really like this photo; it's just such different composition than Infinite's other photoshoots. The location (and fashion styles) is also so gorgeous.

The back cover of the album lists the two discs' tracklists.

The album is a tri-fold. Opening the first flap reveals the loose-leaf photobooklet.

Opening the other flap reveals the CD in the center, the DVD on the right, and a beautiful background.

The photobooklet has 25 full-color photo pages, followed by 13 pages for song lyrics, then song credits, and lastly album credits. Tucked in the first pages is the promotional event sheet.

The first 14 pages are from the beach photoshoot. There is one full-page photo per member, and one two-page photo of OT7 (two photos up).

The rest of the shots from this beach photoshoot are of the members walking on the beach, soaking in the view. I really like these semi-candid shots.

The following 11 pages are from the field photoshoot. There is one full-page photo per member, the the remaining four pages are semi-group photos.

The DVD contains music videos for "Can't Get Over You," "Last Romeo," "Dilemma," and "24 Hours," where "Can't Get Over You" is the only new music video as the other three were released in the limited version of their respective singles. I didn't know that the Japanese music video of "Last Romeo" has a slightly different intro!

The DVD is for all regions. The making of "Can't Get Over You" is 24 minutes and 22 seconds long. This clip is split into two parts, the first 11 minutes and 30 seconds for the beach and field photoshoots, and the remaining for the music video. Majority is footage of Infinite posing and acting seriously while the instrumental of "Can't Get Over You" plays in the background. Throughout, the members have solo interviews. The audio is in Korean with Japanese subtitles, but when Myungsoo and Sungjong spoke a little Japanese, then they removed the subs. During bts of the music video, the members individually talked about their wire action.

Overall, I really love this photoshoot and wish they made a bigger photobook from it. As for the songs, I'm sad how Woollim now keeps releasing new Japanese songs and we have no idea when they'll release them in Korean.

Infinite: Grow - Infinite's Real Youth Life DVD Review

Woollim produced a documentary movie, Grow: Infinite's Real Youth Life, covering the span of Infinite's first world tour, One Great Step, from August 2013 to December 2013. Grow was released in theaters in December 2014 and released on DVD in August 2015. Sadly Woollim didn't release a DVD version of OGS, and Grow doesn't contain much of OGS besides snippets from various stages. However, this DVD is nice because it focuses on the personal lives of the members off stage and the various emotions and issues they faced. Now on to the unboxing!

This DVD set is the same size as typical DVD cases and Infinite's albums.

The backside has the standard information about the DVDs. There are two versions, one for the Japanese market (there's also a Blu-ray version for Japan but Region A), and one for the rest of the world. I got the one for the rest of the world, which places for regions 1, 3, 4, and 5, and has subtitles in Korean and English.

There's actually a clear exterior slip case with a metallic design to add to the overall look.

Inside the DVD case is a photobooklet (purple) and a folded poster (blue).

Here is a better look at the front covers of the photobooklet and folded poster.

The photobooklet has 21 black-and-white and color pages. There are two sets of individual photos, one of the members in dressy outfits and the other of them in playful outfits. Separating the different sections of the photobooklet are group photos.

The last two pages are candid photos from throughout the world tour. I wish more photos from the world tour were included instead of so many photoshoot photos. Also some of those photoshoot photos are purposefully blurry, which is a bit annoying.

Each DVD set contains this same poster design. The dimensions are just larger than 14.5" x 21.5" and it is thick and really high quality.

Because I got this item a couple of months later than its release, I'm not too sure about the extra promotional goods. I do know that there are also exterior posters and these exterior postcards of the individual members, but I'm not sure how people got the postcards.

This DVD set contains two DVDs. The one of the left is the documentary film and it's about 1 hour 22 minutes long. It is broken up into many short chapters, where the first few chapters focus on each member's problems or personalities. Then, later chapters reveal the conclusions. The members' problems aren't explicitly stated, for example they just state that an article came out for Myungsoo, but not what the actual article was about. These chapters really just focus on the candid emotions they felt and the support they received. Because of this formatting, the documentary isn't in chronological order, though it does follow closely. Sadly there wasn't a strong focus on all stops of OGS, though on the cities they did focus on, they did a great job. This movie shows footage mostly from behind-the-scenes of the world tour, such as the members practicing other countries' songs and languages (Hoya and Sungjong were practicing Cantonese!), as well as the members' free time (meaning not much concert footage). Lastly, it was really cool seeing footage from the L's Bravo Viewtiful 2 fanmeeting where Myungsoo performed his self-written song; this was such a nice surprise.

Disc 2 contains three special features: the movie trailer (1 min 17 sec), the behind clip (19 min 44 sec), and the commentary (1 hr 26 min 32 sec). The behind clip is a lot more lighthearted, showing the members enjoying themselves on their free time throughout the world tour. It usually focused on just one or two members at a time. It was so cute when Hoya was speaking English! And it was cool seeing the CEO buying that yellow LV tote for Sungjong; he used that bag so often!

The commentary shows Infinite viewing the documentary and giving their random comments, all while the documentary is shown in the bottom left corner for the viewer's reference. They first spoke about their impressions of the trailer, and ended with their reflections of the world tour and the documentary. My random thoughts: It was also nice seeing the members a few months after the tour finished. It was so hard for Myungsoo to watch his chapters. And I had originally thought that the narrator was so boring, but then Infinite pointed out that it's the CEO narrating haha.

Here is the image underneath the DVDs.

I miss Infinite so much, and watching the DVDs (more so the special features instead of the documentary) made me so happy again. These DVDs are like a longer version of all of those short special features in Infinite's Japanese limited albums with DVDs; I always like watching those DVDs but they're always too short for me to take the time to watch them, so it's nice having full length features such as Grow. I really do hope Woollim will officially release some sort of documentation of Infinite Effect, whether it be a concert DVD or a documentary DVD.

Nam Woohyun: Write.. 1st Mini Album Review

Nothing can express just how proud and happy I am for Woohyun to finally get his time to shine outside of Infinite as a whole. On May 9th, 2016, Woollim released Woohyun's debut album, Write..

I pre-ordered this album from Kpoptown. For my past few orders, I had been religiously ordering from Ktown4u because they offer free folded posters; however, this time I found that Kpoptown was cheaper to order with a folded poster. My total purchase was just under $20, including the lowest shipping option. It was shipped just a few hours after its release and arrived in 13 days (including weekends).

The album came packaged in two or so layers of bubblewrap. The folded poster (which was folded smaller than I had imagined), came in a clear sealed bag.

Similar to Sunggyu's first solo album, the first press batch of Woohyun's album contains 999 limited edition copies. The limited edition includes a black background with a different cover, an autographed card indicating the number out of 999, and an extra hidden track of Woohyun's voice message. As expected, mine is the regular edition.

Like everyone is saying online, Woohyun's album is practically impossible to open without damaging it. I try to keep all of my Infinite goods in the most pristine condition, and Woollim's really making it difficult with this one. I decided to just make a separate post on how to open the album here.

The album has the same dimensions as Infinite's usual albums. This one comes with an exterior case. The front cover is simplistic with Woohyun's logo and album info. (I took this photo after I had opened the album).

The backside also has Woohyun's logo as well as the tracklist.

The contents slip out from the left side. I didn't know that the contents have a fingerprint-loving metallic cover, so I sadly added some oil marks to the front and back covers. I recommend using gloves.

Here is how the inside album looks. You can see how reflective the inside contents are; that blue rectangle reflection is actually Woohyun's photo from Infinite's 2015 Season's Greetings^^

The backside of this white casing also reveals the tracklist. There are six listed tracks, including an introductory track and five beautiful ballads. I'm so happy that Woohyun can finally officially share his own music with the world, as he participated in most of these tracks. There is also a hidden track, the studio version of "Everyday," which Woohyun performed for his solo stage during Infinite Effect! This is actually the 26th track, as Woohyun said it represents his age, and tracks 7 through 25 are blanks, with all of them 5 seconds long and the 25th one 7 seconds long. I wonder what the significance of this is...?

The contents slip out from the top or the bottom of the white casing.

From top to bottom (left to right in the picture), the contents are a photobook, the CD casing, and another photobook.

The front and back covers of the photobooks are reflective; this is where I suggest you use gloves! The black casing is also prone to oily fingerprints. Here are the back covers of all three items. There are small imprints on the black casing.

Each album comes with one photocard out of five types. Mine was tucked in the first page of the first photobook. The photocard is about the same size as Infinite's Reality ones.

Woohyun's poses are all so cute, I'm equally happy to get any one.

The backsides are also all really adorable, with Woohyun writing questions, like my photocard says "나 멋져? (I'm cool, right?)" and expecting us to nod in agreement.

There are two photobooks in this album, with the close-up of Woohyun labeled "Episode 1" and the other one labeled "Episode 2." Both photobooks contain 32 pages each of color and black-and-white photos.

Both photobooks contain different photoshoots, but the overall theme is very consistent. The photos are all very minimalist and mature, matching the songs' essence. I like how some photos of the scenery were included as well. The top photo is from the first photobook while the bottom is from the second.

"Episode 1" also contains the tracklist and lyrics. Above is the lyrics page for "Stand by me."

"Episode 2" has "the Thanks To" and credits pages. It's nice how some pages of "Episode 2" also have page numbers (though not in this page).

The black CD casing is very simplistic.

The inside of the CD casing has a message (of which I cannot understand) and Woohyun's solo debut date printed on the left and a plastic tray on the right to hold the CD.

There are two types of posters, which were only for first press. I was surprised that Kpoptown folded the poster so small; I thought they would have it with one fewer fold, like Ktown4u does. Maybe that's why overall it was cheaper to order from Kpoptown than from Ktown4u. Both posters are black and white close-ups, and they look so simplistic, mature, and natural, very fitting for the album.

Overall, this album is so special as Woohyun can finally share his talent as a true singer. I hope he'll continue to gain much support as a solo singer and can continue with more solo releases in the near future.

Infinite: 24 Hours Single (All Member's Versions) Review

Woollim released nine versions of Infinite's Japanese single, 24 Hours, in April 2015. Being the crazy Inspirit that I am, I got all nine versions (though I really can't justify getting nine versions of one album). I wrote more about this single in my review of the first press normal version here and in this post, I'll be showing all seven member versions of the single. But because all of them practically look the same, I'll do a general unboxing of only one member's.

My family got these for me from a Kpop shop in Hong Kong's Sino Centre. They were all priced at $75HKD, except for L's which was $130HKD and Sungyeol's at $110HKD. Sadly the Sungjong one was broken such that the clips holding the CD in place broke off, yet it was still at regular price -.- Woohyun's case is also cracked...

Here are all seven member versions. You can see that it is a clear case to display the picture label of each CD. The clear wrap is still on the albums here, but once you remove it, the white slip on the left comes off (it's not attached to the case). These images are different from that of the normal version, however they're very similar to the back cover of that version.

The backside has the same image for each member version.

From here on, I'll mostly focus on L's version. I was a bit disappointed at the lack of packaging for the member version. It's simply a jewel case (but the super thin kind) without any booklet, and the member's image on the picture label.

Here is a closeup of the back cover. The top left sticker is on the outside of the clear wrap and has information about the promotional event I believe. The black box on the bottom right indicates which member this version is.

The paper spine (that thing on the bottom with all the wording) is in between the jewel case and the clear plastic wrap, so sadly I can't properly keep it with the album.

Pictured are Sungjong's (top) and L's. The black corner is meant to be ripped to enter into the lottery event. Sungjong's has a "9" printed on it while "L's has an "8," so you have to get one of each member in order to enter the event. Of course the event ended a year ago...

Opening the jewel case, the CD is held together on the on the left. I really don't like this design, because it's easy for the CD to fall out (you swing the side that the CD is attached to to open the case) and because it's easy to get the underside of the CD dirty.

Here is the mini photo pamphlet. Attached at the end is the spine of the album.

Inside is a loose leaf sheet explaining the event.

The underside of the pamphlet as the Japanese lyrics for "24 Hours" and "Just Another Lonely Night."

Instead of having the three Japanese tracks "24 Hours," "Just Another Lonely Night," and "Together" like in the normal and limited versions, these member versions have the respective member's audio message in Japanese as the third track, replacing "Together." Each member's message track is somewhere over a minute long.

Overall...I honestly don't think these member versions are worth it. Hopefully this guilt will help me steer clear from buying any future Japanese member versions.

Update: I originally opened four CDs with difficulty as the plastic wrap was really tight around the album. But it wasn't until I reached Woohyun (I opened it from youngest to oldest), that I realized that there is a little plastic tail hanging out at the top left side of the album.

You can just keep pulling it (like a pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum), then the entire wrapper easily comes off.

[HOW TO OPEN] Nam Woohyun: Write.. 1st Mini Album

Here I'll just be presenting how I opened Woohyun's album Write.. My full unboxing/review of this album is here. Woollim tends to have simple packaging, but they really went on the creative side with this one. On the left side of the album, the edges are perforated.

The top left corner has a black triangle and a slit in between.

I used my thumbnail to slip inside the slit and lift upward until it was like the picture above. It was convenient for me to open this album because I'm left handed, but hopefully it's naturally instinctual for right handed people too.

Then I used a sharp box cutter and really slowly, ran it against the perforation bit by bit. I only cut the long edge connected to the backside of the album, as pictured above. It's really easy to lose your grip and scrap the exterior of the box, or worse, cut so deeply that it runs through the inside album spine. Even with my patience, I did scratch both parts a few times -.-

After running the box cutter through the long end, then I ran the box cutter across the bottom edge as well. Note that there is more cardboard space (like they didn't make perforation marks throughout the entire bottom edge), so you may need to freely cut the edge a bit. After cutting just these two edges, I carefully unfolded the flap. You can see the uneven edge after I cut it in the top photo, and you can kind of see the scratches I put into the spine in the bottom photo (center of spine).

I hope this quick tutorial of how to open Woohyun's debut album helps those who haven't opened their albums yet!