Best of 2006 (Anime Music-hen)
1. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu Character Song Vol.5 - Asakura Ryoko. Kuwatani Natsuko
I don’t have the figures for this, but I’m sure this was one of the bigger selling idol seiyuu singles this year. The c/w songs are pretty solid as well.
Genuinely creepy, fits the show perfectly. Her album nearly made it to my list as well, it was a good effort and much better than Kawada Mami’s lacklustre Seed.
One of the best opening songs of the year. Her album was not bad either.
He’s a talented singer-songwriter-seiyuu-presenter, and has a very Jrock-like voice.
Tonagura - crap. The songs from the show were mostly great though, especially Ohara Sayaka’s image song for Hatsune ‘flower in my heart’.
Shock! Two tone-deaf seiyuus manage to produce a good single. Yay for brilliant production values!
Didn’t watch the show so I can’t comment about that, but what I can say is that these two songs are great - one a happy, pop tune and the other a mellow ballad.
I was hoping their involvement in the Hachikuro anime would amount to more than just four songs, but nevertheless they’re still a great collection of tunes.
A slight name change for the See-Saw vocalist, but her style remains the same. This is the Simoun OP song, and very good it is too.
Top 10 Anime-related Albums of 2006
Includes soundtracks, seiyuu albums or mainly anime-theme releasing artists.
1. Wild Flower. Jyukai
Very polished, accomplished pop. Great debut album.
A collection of image songs for the 4 main girls (+1 alien) penned by Yuumao, including the four versions of Michishirube heard on the show. Lovely album.
Which of her two albums to choose? They were both good, but this just about shades it for me because ‘Kono hana saku koro’ is on it. Too bad SINCLAIR and CORE (from CARAMEL-BOX’s Alicematic) , two of her best tunes this year came too late for HONEY.
The only other seiyuu who appeared on Hey!X3 this year apart from Hirano Aya, this is the biggest-selling seiyuu album of the year (I think) and rightly so.
Another great Da Capo related album. Never been a fan of the series, but the music has always been great. rino’s version of Andante pwns Horie Yui’s.
6. Nishi no yoki majo Astraea Testament OST. Nanase Hikaru
Had trouble deciding between this and Noein, but it won out in the end ‘cos it’s just so lush and epic.
The music was better than the anime itself, though its use was often jarring and inappropriate.
I really could have done without all those image songs, which seems completely out of place on a soundtrack as grand as this.
God only knows why this took so long to get released. Kawai seems to have done quite a lot this year, but nothing comes close to last year’s sublime JINKI:EXTEND.
Great soundtrack for a great series. Overall dark, gloomy and sometimes eerie but it fits Mushishi perfectly.
Other notables: Suara’s Yumeji, Shiraishi Ryoko’s In Bloom, eufonius’ Subarashii Sekai, Noein OST, Kasimasi OST, Himawari Vocal Album, ARIA The NATURAL OST, Strawberry Panic OST, Hashimoto Miyuki’s Lovey-Dovey.
Must try harder: Aice5 is crap. And half of them can’t sing anyway. I have no idea why ICHIKO’s First Kiss sold relatively well, it’s a shit song from a pretty shit show. GRANRODEO and Clover are terrible as well, but nothing else comes close to the abomination that is DD (Daisukes Kishio & Namikawa). Watch and weep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dglOQB0×4dY