Review by Doug Cornell

In Japan, Puffy AmiYumi are equivalent to our Kate and Ashley Olson.  Except Puffy AmiYumi aren't twins and they rock. This sort of pop-rock has always been around, and the record companies have always tried marketing it directly to kids.  If you've heard "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies or caught one of the old Jose and the Pussycats cartoons, you'll know the sort of territory that Puffy AmiYumi are treading.

Hi Hi Puffy... is really quite a lot of innocent fun.  Tracks like "Friends Forever" pack a modern guitar-punk crunch, while the soaring chorus makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over.  The backing band is solid. Electric guitars are the main instrument, while the bass and percussion keep the energy level maxed-out.  The singing by the girls is very easy on the ears - there's no out of tune Japanese folk singing here.  You'll find yourself singing along with most of the tracks, especially pseudo punky charmers like "Planet Tokyo."  If you aren't the overly literate type, you might enjoy the way the guitars simulate a Gang of Four vibe in the punk send-up, "Friends Forever."  It's guitars to the rescue again in the silly "Joining a Fan Club," which would have been a perfectly ironic track if it had been recorded by Cheap Trick.  The riff borrows a bit from No Doubt's "Just a Girl," but hey, who's paying attention?

The girls enter Phil Spector territory with the cute but sappy "Forever," then throw us an odd keyboard ditty sung entirely in their native language ("V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N").  "Love So Pure" throws a curve by paring Springsteen-esque guitars and production with the girls dual vocals.  Steve Miller and ELO are both paid homage in "True Asia," as synths, guitars, and vocoder are all represented in this extremely upbeat track.  The album continues with Japanese language arena rock ("Boogie Woogie No. 5"), Pete Townshend classic riffs (the intro to "That's the Way it Is"), more infectious Cheap Trick retro-rock ("Sunrise"), and a refreshingly subdued piano pop tune ("December").