Perfume is a three-person electropop Girl Group hailing from Hiroshima, Japan. Formed in 2000 as trio of standard fare pre-teen Idol Singers; it was the influence of Record Producer Yasutaka Nakata (of electro house duo capsule) that gradually transformed them into a self-described "Near-Future Technopop Unit", although it was several more years before that translated into commercial success.
When success finally came, it made history – Perfume were the first techno act ever to debut at #1 on the Oricon weekly charts with their single "love the world". And the album GAME was only the second-ever techno album to reach #1 in Japanese pop music history. note
The group's name comes from the kanji 香 found in all three of the founding members' names (it's the ka in Ayaka, Yuka, and Yuuka); it means 'fragrance' …so yeah.
The members, easily distinguishable by their different hairstyles and way of dressing, are:
- a~chan (Ayaka Nishiwaki): Has mid-length hair which is typically in a ponytail, and is never not seen wearing a dress.
- KASHIYUKA (Yuka Kashino): The one with the heavy bangs and long straight locks; wears skirts shorter than A~chan.
- NOCCHi (Ayano Ōmoto): Highly conspicuous in her bob haircut. Pretty much always wearing shorts or pants. Joined the group to replace the spot vacated by Kawayuka.
Former members:
- Kawayuka (Yuuka Kawashima): Left the group in 2001 before their first professionally recorded song. Eventually showed up in another group called Risky.
Perfume are noted for their energetic and charismatic on-stage performances complete with coordinating costumes, intricate choreography executed with military-like precision and, more recently, advanced technology. And because they're seen as wholesome, naturally beautiful women singing technopop that is accessible to the masses, they have a Multiple Demographic Appeal, from young girls to middle-aged men (and whoever's in between).
Not to be confused with The Other Perfume, or Perfume Commercial.
Chocolate Disco-graphy (LP's):
- Perfume~Complete Best~ (2006)
- GAME (2008)
- ⊿ (pronounced "Triangle") (2009)
- JPN (2011)
- Perfume Global Compilation LOVE THE WORLD (2012)
- LEVEL3 (2013)
- COSMIC EXPLORER (2016)
- Future Pop (2018)
- Perfume The Best "P Cubed" (2019)
- PLASMA (2022)
This band provides examples of:
- AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: Naturally when speaking English, as it is their second language. This has started to fade over the years, as the amount of English in their songs has increased, culminating in the nearly-entirely English "Spending All My Time".
- On their 2016 tour of the United States, they conversed with the crowd in (mostly) unassisted English. But, the Cosmic Explorer World Tour 3rd Digest shows they chose someone from the audience at each venue to help translate more complicated thoughts.
- Their 2019 tour of North America featured even more unassisted English, though they still picked a translator out of the audience, mostly for KASHIYUKA.
- After the End: "Future Pop
" begins with a shot of what seems to be Tokyo Big Sight overgrown with vegetation in a giant field, suggesting this before everything starts being rebuilt. - Animated Music Video:
- The story portion of "Vitamin Drop" is animated.
- "Mirai no Museum" is partially animated, with the girls and PTA-kun appearing in live-action.
- Artifact Title: The group's name comes from the kanji 香 (ka, "fragrance") appearingin all three of the founding members' first names. NOCCHi's first name is Ayano.
- Aside Glance: In the video for "If You Wanna", NOCCHi very clearly and quickly gives a "wel'p" look to the camera after singing the line, "If you wanna kiss me", to her bandmates within tight quarters.
- Audience Participation Song: Perfume have a catalogue of crowd-pleasers, where participation is highly encouraged:
- "Jenny wa Gokigen Namane", a cover of the 1980 power-pop song by Juicy Fruits that Perfume recorded back in 2003, usually appears near the very end of their shows, with specific chants for each singer.
- "Chocolate Disco" always goes off live. The girls sing "chocolate", the crowd screams "disco" and it goes on like that for the next three-and-a-half minutes.
- "FAKE IT" is absolutely wild live, with the entire crowd jumping along at A~chan's command during the recurring intro section.
- "Baby Face" and "STAR TRAIN" become full-on singalongs – if not dance-alongs – as the lyrics appear on screen behind the group.
- "Perfume", "Puppy love", "Kokoro no Sports", and "MY COLOR" all have varying ways to fist pump throughout the song.
- Author Appeal: Producer Yasutaka Nakata is also well known for making electro house, techno and future bass songs under the name of capsule, so he has created unique pieces for Perfume in this vein.
- LEVEL3 contained three "album-mixes", as well as the 7 minute "Party Maker" and 6 minute "Dream Land".
- Each live show has had an extended dance number sent to a banging club track, commonly referred to as "Perfumeの掟" (Perfume no okite; "The Law of Perfume".) Additional pieces have creeped into their albums, with "Party Maker", "STORY" and "FUSION" appearing on recent titles.
- Auto-Tune: The central gimmick of their sound, being a "Near-Future Technopop Unit" and all. Nakata used vocoders and Auto-Tune for their major-label debut in 2005 and the effect has been used to various degrees on most of their songs since. When taken to extremes, the girls almost sound like Vocaloids and it becomes difficult – even for them – to tell their voices apart.
- Every album following JPN features less of it, using it primarily on backing vocal parts or for effect.
- Arc Symbol: Triangles. It's not only one of their albums, but it's generally considered the official logo for the group.
- Band Toon: Happy!, Chandelier House, and Love Party were shows where the Perfume members interacted in both scripted and improvised scenarios, often with popular Japanese comedians.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Loosely defined below.
- a~chan: Beauty. Plays the Team Mom role even though she's the youngest – she was the driving force behind starting the group and especially in keeping it going after Kawayuka left. The most outwardly emotional (see Tears of Joy below).
- KASHIYUKA: Brains. Often the quietest of the trio, but very much in a Sugar-and-Ice Personality sense. A real life Meganekko.
- NOCCHi: Brawn. 100% Otaku Surrogate. Is the often the butt of jokes, so has a bit of The Woobie about her. Openly admits to wearing contact lenses.
- Bears Are Bad News: In the "Laser Beam" PV, the girls get chased around by a giant polar bear.
- Between My Legs: Occurs in the "Laser Beam" PV when the girls meet the villain for the first time.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: On their television show, KASHIYUKA, the quietest and sweetest of the group but also a known animal lover, pulled out a python from a box and, knowing it was harmless, proceeded to chase the screaming cast members around the set laughing and giggling the whole way!
- Big Damn Heroes: This has happened in more than one video of theirs.
- KASHIYUKA and NOCCHi get one in the "Vitamin Drop" music video.
- PTA-kun in the "Mirai no Museum" music video.
- Bigger Than Jesus: One live concert had a sign behind them that read, "We more most populer than Jesus." Uh... okay.
- Bolivian Army Ending: The "Pick Me Up" MV (before it's revealed as All Just a Dream, anyway). NOCCHi (and her double) jump off a ledge into the abyss, KASHIYUKA (and her double) are surrounded by Murderous Mannequins, and a~chan embraces her double, followed by some kind of explosion.
- Book Ends: Subtly used in the video for "VOICE". The girls are standing in the same positions in both cases but at the end, they're holding diamonds.
- Broken Record: The polyrhythmic bridge in "Polyrhythm". Don't you dare call it an interlude. Nakata doesn't like that.
- Played with in the video. Near-identical shots of the girls repeat over and over during this section.
- The entirety of the lyrics of "Spending all my time" is the two lines "Spending all spending spending all my time / Loving you so loving you forever" repeated throughout the song. There are only a few Japanese phrases included at the end of some lines, but are no where near as prominent as the rest.
- Butt-Monkey: Nocchi is often portrayed as one during onscreen appearances.
- On one episode of Happy!, the cast visited a camera store and found a model that was meant to automatically snap a photo of a smiling face …but it refused to work for Nocchi no matter what she tried. Even the officially designated butt-monkey of that show, comedienne Sumiko Yoshida, was able to get the camera to work.
- Another episode of Happy! showed her utterly failing to get the correct reactions from a male guest during a skit, then in a different skit failing to get any fish in the fish-scoop game and having her "boyfriend" stolen by a~chan.
- Played up on Episode 4 of Chandelier House when a~chan stole Nocchi's strawberry off her cake. Nocchi told a~chan off and left… only to get clocked on the head and knocked out by a golf ball.
- This tendency extends to Real Life as well…
- She is the one most likely to have a Wardrobe Malfunction during a performance – be it a hat falling off, a shoe flying, a belt coming undone, etc.
- During one variety show, she was forced to admit she had no friends, after which Kashiyuka interjected, "She didn't have friends in Hiroshima either."
- On a different variety show, Nocchi tried to tell a story about going bowling with Kashiyuka, but Yuka interrupted her, saying she couldn't remember it nor imagine them going out without a~chan. Everyone laughed as Nocchi tried to wave it off.
- She's the only one of the trio who didn't graduate university.
- Call-Back: Several in their "Mirai no Museum" PV regarding their previous singles:
- They first appeared in the video as the androids from "Spring of Life"
- Later on, NOCCHi uses "Laser Beam" eyes.
- KASHIYUKA uses the same hand movements as part of the choreography in "Spending all my Time"
- The middle segment of the "Secret Secret" PV combined the "Computer City" choreography with the "Electro World" costumes.
- The PV for "Future Pop" contains the names and images of past albums and songs across the city's buildings and billboards.
- This was the whole point of the "Saisei" video, which features rapid montages containing shots from almost every music video Perfume had made over the previous fifteen years – from "Linear Motor Girl" all the way up through "Future Pop".
- Canon Discontinuity: In 2005, they released a song with Halko Momoi (operating under the name DJ MOMO-i): "AkihabaLove". Not produced by Nakata and coming shortly before their major-label debut, it's frequently overlooked in discographies.
- Catchphrase: Their stage introduction: "KASHIYUKA desu." "a~chan desu." "NOCCHi desu." (or whatever order they happen to be standing in, left to right) "San'nin owasete Perfume desu! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu."note The phrase is so memetic that audiences will scream out "Perfume desu!" along with the ladies.
- On their North American tours, they provided the translation of, "I'm KASHIYUKA." "I'm a~chan." "I'm NOCCHi." (or whatever order they happen to be standing in, left to right) "And we are… Perfume!"
- Costume Porn:
- The girls have some of the most outlandishly gorgeous matching outfits ever committed to fabric. On top of the clothes that they normally wear, each video provides us at least two new outfits.
- Special mention go into the four inch pumps that the girls are always wearing – this includes every dance sequence. "Nēe" gets additional special mention for a section of leg-only choreography.
- Dress-Coded for Your Convenience:
- Only since forever, as seen in the member descriptions above.
- Even before forever, they were Color-Coded for Your Convenience in their earliest PVs. a~chan in red, KASHIYUKA in blue and NOCCHi in yellow/light green. note . The same colors appear more subtly in the "1mm" PV.
- Dystopia:
- Their song "Electro World" talks about one. In contrast, "Computer City" talks about a Utopia.
- "Secret Secret" played off of Perfume's earlier robot image and their sponsorship by Pino Chocolates by having the girls appear as the stars of TV channel PTV, dancing robotically to their own song and requiring chocolate to retain their motor functions. It's implied that during their off-stage time, the girls both reminisce about their lives before becoming corporate slaves, as well as dream up a fantasy in which they climb up a spiral staircase to escape. And all the sad faces and real thoughts are wiped away with a bite of chocolate.
- "Spending all my time" features the girls locked in a room wearing farm-inspired dresses. Then you see the number tattoos on their forearms. Then they start showing off their abilities in spoon bending, divination and telekinesis. Just why are they locked inside?
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Before Yasutaka Nakata started producing them and refining their technopop sound, Perfume's first two indie singles were idol pop. Even when he did start producing them, they fit squarely into the picopop genre – basically, if chiptune music was used to create ultra-sugary pop music. The "Perfume sound" became codified by their 7th and 8th singles, "Computer City" and "Electro World".
- Their earliest music videos were more slice of life fare than what they became known for. The PV for "Sweet Donuts" has the girls sitting in a kitchen drinking bubble tea and giggling instead of lip syncing, even.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite forming at age eleven and working tirelessly in Hiroshima and then Tokyo, they weren't making any inroads and were about to be dropped. But as the girls enrolled in university, Amuse (which had recently absorbed Bee-Hive) let them release 3 singles as a "good experience" to go out on. Those singles – "Linear Motor Girl", "Computer City", and "Electro World" – featuring a radical new sound by Nakata, eventually did well enough to allow them to continue. "Chocolate Disco" finally netted them the attention of music insiders, followed by breakout hit "Polyrhythm" (See Tears of Joy, below). It's for this reason that they count "Linear Motor Girl" as their official 1st single.
- Epic Instrumental Opener:
- "GAME"'s intro goes for about 40 seconds.
- "1mm" runs on for nearly a minute before the vocals start (though the intro is shortened when performed on television).
- The hardstyle track "STORY" finally drops its beat in at 2:30 into it; the sole verse starts at 4:00.
- Several of their later singles, such as "Spring of Life", received large dance music intros as part of the album versions. The practice started with the ⊿-mix of "edge" and hasn't stopped since.
- The Cosmic Explorer album opening track "Navigate" is a minute of nothing but melodic and rhythmic beeping before leading directly into the album's title track. Future Pop does the same thing.
- Epic Rocking: "edge (⊿-mix)" and "Party Maker" are both over 7 minutes long and contain many long instrumental sections. Musically, they are considered among their "hardest" songs.
- Epileptic Flashing Lights: Most of the PV for "Butterfly" consists of this.
- Everyone Went to School Together: The members all met & formed Perfume at Actors School Hiroshima. The original 3 were in "Class B" together but, after Kawayuka's departure, NOCCHi was recruited from "Class A". Their choreographer, MIKIKO, is from the school as well.
- Freudian Trio: a~chan is the ever-emotional Id, KASHIYUKA is the calm quiet Superego, and NOCCHi is the very relaxed Ego.
- Greatest Hits Album:
- Perfume's first album Complete Best was a compilation of many of their previously released singles, plus one new song. What's telling is that the album was initially limited edition. At the time (2006) they had only made the transition to a major label the year before, but both management and the girls themselves were unsure that Perfume had a future. So, all three girls enrolled into university that year – a~chan and KASHIYUKA completed their degrees; NOCCHi dropped out.
- The group released Perfume Global Compilation "LOVE THE WORLD" in 2012 to capitalize on their newfound global success and their tours to Europe and Southeast Asia. It features songs and b-sides from GAME, ⊿ and JPN.
- Perfume The Best "P Cubed" is out in 2019 serving as their 15 year anniversary album, covering their singles from "Linear Motor Girl" through tracks off of Future Pop plus new song "Nananananairo". note
- Hair Flip: Kashiyuka tends to do this with her long hair during concerts, always getting applause from the audience.
- Idol Singer: Eventually subverted. They started as a straightforward idol group before being scooped up after two singles by producer Nakata. They're now an extremely competent technopop group.
- Intercourse with You: Usually averted:Interviewer: What was your reaction when you first saw the lyrics to "23:30?"KASHIYUKA: Nakata-san! What were you thinking? (lol)NOCCHi: I know. Why does he make us sing these kind of songs? ...Because we say "Love me." It’s "Love me" not "I love you." It's too sexy.a~chan: But I’m not singing the song while thinking so.
- That being said, a few songs such as "Take Me Take Me" and "Kiss and Music" have rather sensual lyrics/implications. The choreography for the former is even more so.
- In the lyrics of "One Room Disco" there's one line that talks about how the singer can't turn on the shower alone ever since her messy breakup, implying that they showered together.
- That being said, a few songs such as "Take Me Take Me" and "Kiss and Music" have rather sensual lyrics/implications. The choreography for the former
- Lighter and Softer:
- The harsher, more experimental sounds of the ⊿ album were drastically toned down for JPN was released. The same was repeated with LEVEL3 and COSMIC EXPLORER, though the latter album did have a hardstyle song called "STORY" right in the middle of it.
- Mirai no Museum was noticeably simpler and definitely softer than their previous work, though that may be due to it being made for a kid's movie.
- List Song: "Speed of Sound", from ⊿.
- Location Song: "Akihabalove", a single the group made with DJ Momo-i in 2005.
- Looped Lyrics: "Spending all my time" and "Take Me Take Me". The latter is entirely in Gratuitous English and the former mostly so. note
- Loudness War: Nakata's production has been pushing the limits of what compression can do with every successive single. Their 2011 album JPN hit Californication levels of distortion, to the point where melody lines that are supposed to be dead centre are wobbling around the stereo field from all of the other instruments momentarily hogging frequency range.
- This is one of the reasons for the existence of P-Cubed. Nakata went back and adjusted the levels on fifty songs to undo some of this. Consensus seems to be the remasters are superior.
- Lyrical Dissonance:
- "Electro World". The song is very upbeat in tempo, and the choreography is energetic. But check the lyrics and you'll discover this song is a poetic but depressing tale of dystopia.This street continued to run ahead
It should have been written in a map but I can't find the town
And as I turned around to look at that place, the scenery changed
This world is our last electro world
The ground is shivering and broken
and the sun has fallen from the sky lightly into my hand. - This has become standard across their music, as the lyrics are exclusively written by Nakata (and before he began working with them in 2003, his childhood friend Emi Kinoko). Songs like "edge", about being obsessively in love, and "One Room Disco", about pushing past a nasty breakup, aren't exactly normal subjects for an idol group.
- This was a recurrent theme with their B-sides in the singles leading up to their third album JPN, with '575' being about uncertainly in relationships and 'FAKE IT' about a girl who can no longer pretend that the feelings she once had for her boyfriend are still real.
- "Electro World". The song is very upbeat in tempo, and the choreography is energetic. But check the lyrics and you'll discover this song is a poetic but depressing tale of dystopia.
- The Matchmaker: An accidental case occurred with two guests for their Perfume FES concert in 2015. Negicco's Nao☆ and Kuso Iinkai’s bassist Okada Noriyuki met there and fell in love. They are happily married as of 2019.
- Merchandise-Driven: Considering just how amazing their songs are, it's really hard to remember that, like many Japanese pop stars, a large chunk of their singles are songs commissioned for use in commercials. Their most important hit song, "Polyrhythm", was for NHK's recycling campaign. "Natural ni Koishite" and "Nēe" were used to promote two separate lines of clothing from NATURAL BEAUTY BASIC, and the song and video for "DISPLAY" were commissioned by Panasonic as a test of 4K resolution effects processing.
- Perhaps taken up to eleven with "Pick Me Up" and the Isetan department store, selling everything from clothing & heels to jewelry & accessories.
- They've had an agreement with major telecom company NTT Docomo for some time. Both "Fusion" and "Future Pop" have been used to promote Docomo's tech advances, with Docomo funding Rhizomatics, the tech company they regularly hire to deliver their mind-blowing live shows.
- Perhaps taken up to eleven with "Pick Me Up" and the Isetan department store
- Mind Screw:
- Some of their music videos.
- There is a dance remix of Polyrhythm.
- Some of
- Modesty Shorts: a~chan and KASHIYUKA wear these under their skirts when performing since otherwise they'd be constantly flashing the audience their underwear. Especially KASHIYUKA.
- Mood Whiplash: On the ⊿ album, the sublimely inspirational "Dream Fighter" is followed by "edge", which is a creepy song told from the POV of a Stalker with a Crush.
- Music for Courage: People were initially a little shocked by the uncharacteristic sentiments in Nakata's lyrics for "love the world":My darling, don’t give up
That precious little temper of yours
It’s exciting, hey, and wonderful
The world we see is shining
Even though I stumble blindly
I think I’m starting to understand a little. - Non-Appearing Title: "edge". The 'edge' is implied in the lyrics, however ("Throw yourself upon the most solid and sharpest part of me'"). But considering the downright eerie repetitive lyrical content, the 'edge' in question may be a mental one as well — i.e., the speaker is going "over the edge" and into possible insanity due to his or her obsession with their object of affection.
- The Not-Remix: There are three versions of "edge" - the original (track length 6:31) and the extended mix (8:41), both included on the single for "love the world"; and the version that came on Perfume's third album ⊿ (8:43). The ⊿-mix incorporated some of the elements used in live performances.
- Non-Uniform Uniform: They've never used "Uniforms", per se. However, their (many) outfits are coordinated and usually reflect each lady's trademark style…
- a~chan wears a knee-length dress
- Kashiyuka wears a miniskirt
- Nocchi wears shorts or pants
- Obsession Song: "edge".
- Odd Friendship: With OK Go as of 2014, with each of them making cameos in each other's videos, Perfume's "Pick Me Up" and Ok Go's "I Won't Let You Down". They have very good and positive things to say about each other, too.
- Both bands eventually recorded the song "I Don't Understand You" together in 2016.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: The group originally came from Hiroshima, so although they've spent most of their career in Tokyo and usually speak standard Japanese, they're known for occasionally slipping back into Hiroshima dialect and being asked about it in interviews. Exemplified beautifully here.
- The Oner: "I Still Love U" is a single continuous take. According to the clapboard at the start, the fifth take was the one used. That also happens to be the take where assistants decided to mess with the ladies' feet near the end (which is why they bust out laughing after the cut-to-black).
- Piss-Take Rap: "575". The song is about being unable to sleep because of feelings for a boy; the rap section is about trying to text them a haiku, but sending a clumsy, "Hey, what are you up to now?" instead.
- Puppy Love: Subverted. They have a song called "Puppy Love" albeit that one's less about childish romance and more about a Tsundere boy.
- The Quiet One: Nocchi at first, confirmed by all three. When a~chan first recruited Nocchi, she decided to have the new trio get to know each other at a slumber party. a~chan pretended to go to the bathroom, leaving Kashiyuka alone with Nocchi for half an hour hoping they would hit it off. However, Nocchi was so nervous she didn't say a single word the entire time.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: A~chan lists Perfume's rules in the prologue of the music video of "575" as "Black haired, white skinned, positive, dream-chasing idols." As such, the members have agreed to not tan or dye their hair for the group's image.
- This makes the music video for "Sweet Donuts" even more Early-Installment Weirdness than it already would have been. It was filmed in the summer of 2003, and the girls were noticeably tanned.
- Record Producer: Yasutaka Nakata, who also does double-duty as their songwriter and composer, exclusively producing them since 2003 (he would later perform the same duties for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and others). Nakata's influence over their sound and even their image is undeniable, but he insists that the girls sing the songs pretty much the way they want, with the exception being when he was unusually controlling and specific about how they sang their B-side song "FAKE IT", even to the point that he caused A~chan to cry because he was being so overbearing.
- Robot Girl: The girls play robots programmed to deliver pop music in their "Spring of Life" video. Possibly a Take That, Critics! to those who call their music over-processed and robotic, the video has the Perfume androids discover love, only for the feeling to overwhelm them so much that they accidentally cut themselves off from power, ending their lives.
- Self-Empowerment Anthem: "Dream Fighter".
- Shaped Like Itself: The lyrics of "575" (minus the rap section) are all in haiku form, aka 5, 7 and 5 syllable chunks.
- Shout-Out: KASHIYUKA is an Otaku-level fan of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, boasting a massive library of books and figures. She's even gotten some iconic poses into their music videos and promotional photos, such as in "Natural ni Koishite", "Fushizen na Girl", and "One Room Disco".
- Single Stanza Song: "Take me Take me".
- Stage Names: KASHIYUKA was initially known as simply YUKA (her real name) to differentiate herself from Kawayuka. She eventually reverted to her current stage name, but in early "Monochrome Effect"-era promotional material she is still referred to as 'YUKA'. a~chan still calls her "YUKA-chan" during MC segments, with the crowd chants following suit (especially during "Jenny wa gokigen namane".)
- Stepford Smiler: In "Secret Secret": "You lied with your sweetest smile. You're always secretive."
- Stylistic Suck: Near the ending of "I still love U", the track goes slightly off-beat and scratchy like a broken record then suddenly returns to normal. It's particularly fitting in the music video given what's happening at that exact point.note
- Tears of Joy: Given their long and difficult climb to fame (see Earn Your Happy Ending above), a~chan especially is prone to providing this trope during some of their concerts' MC segments. Perhaps the most epic example is the final MC segment of their first ever concert in the famed Tokyo Dome – a lifelong dream for the group, and a performance designed as a celebration of their first 10 years together. a~chan delivered a very passionate speech and then closed out the show with "Polyrhythm", fighting back tears the entire time. NOCCHi and KASHIYUKA start to well up when they notice a~chan shedding tears again after fireworks went off in the equally explosive middle section of the song. "Stage Of Dreams" indeed.
- The initial reaction to discovering GAME had topped the charts. This was the first time one of their albums had ever reached #1. When they open the box, you can see the uncomprehending shock on a~chan's face as she stares at the cake. All of them are overcome with emotion, a~chan in particular bursting into tears more than anyone else. Perfume had to struggle for eight years and almost disbanded before they could reach that very moment. What makes it even better is commentary from Perfume looking back at those memories after they've become famous nationwide, a testament to how far they've come.
- The initial reaction to discovering GAME had topped the charts
- Textless Album Cover:
- Title-Only Chorus: "Perfume".
- Title Track: GAME, COSMIC EXPLORER, and Future Pop have one.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: NOCCHi, with her short hair and shorts, and a~chan, with her long, curled hair and generally conservative dresses, respectively give off this vibe. KASHIYUKA falls somewhere in between.
- True Companions: Pretty inevitable, given the trio started the group when they were literal preteens, along with their choreographer MIKIKO, whom they met not long before.
- Tsundere: One of their early songs, "Jenny wa gokigen namane" ("Jenny's in a bad mood",) is about one. Another would be "Puppy love."
- Uncommon Time: "Polyrhythm". The bridge has 5/8 and 6/8 vocal parts over a 4/4 drumbeat that switches to 3/2 after the vocal 'hiccups'; the low synth has a 7:6 polyrhythm. It was such a radical bridge for what is essentially an Idol Group that
the company initially requested that the bridge be cut altogether. Yasutaka Nakata saw that the song was allowed to stand as is (although a radio edit without it was made as a concession) and it became Perfume's first top ten hit, as well as the song that got most people into them in the first place. The perfectly quirky dance sequence that goes along with this section probably helped to seal the deal, and the radio edit without the bridge remains a relic of the original CD single. - Wardrobe Malfunction: A Running Gag with NOCCHi is the frequent number of times she loses a shoe, gets her clothing caught on something, has her belt come loose, etc. in concerts. They currently perform with safety straps in their shoes.
