j1m0ne's blog

This week’s offerings are pretty poor (bar a certain soundtrack album). In fact, I found watching two nights worth of screechy, scratchy American Idol performances much more entertaining than struggling through this mostly tuneless, mostly souless pile of cack. Woops, I just revealed that I actually watch American Idol – I swear it’s cos I’m bored.

Mata ne. DREAMS COME TRUE (One Piece Movie 9 Theme)

Seeing the cartoonized Miwa and Masato on the cover is pretty funny, but that’s as good as it gets. Mata ne is a re-cut version of an album track (off their newest album AND I LOVE YOU); although I quite liked the song the first time around, it still doesn’t stand out as potential single material to me. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I heard all those cheesy One Piece voices, and I’m not surprised that it’s kind of lagging in the charts. Who’d want to buy this solely for the pleasure of hearing random Luffy and Chopper quotes?
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

D.C.II~Da Capo II~ Character Song Vol.3 – Shirakawa Nana.

Well hello. Upbeat Nanaka songs that I actually find tolerable. Tolerable, mind you. Not likeable. I still, for the upteenth time, don’t think Chihara Minori’s voice fits these kind of cheerful pop songs very well but it’s still probably the best out of the 4 CDs so far.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

D.C.II~Da Capo II~ Character Song Vol.4 – Yukimura Anzu. Okajima Tae

A few weeks ago I was pondering whether ‘Oyajima’ could sing. Well I got my answer, and it wasn’t the one I was hoping for. Actually, she’s technically better than Aoki Sayaka but Oyaji’s voice is just so weak that she can barely muster anything beyond a whisper, which happens to be off-key too often for my liking. That, and she seems to be singing half a beat behind the music. Shame, cos the songs are quite likeable.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Marionette. ROLLY & Zetsubo Shojotachi (Zoku.Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei main ED)

Oh dear. It’s the creepy Marionette aka the creepy ‘Teacher’s Pet’ song. Actually, I might’ve enjoyed the song more if the lyrics said anything other than ‘Teacher’s Pet’….. how about Silhouette? No? Erm…. Soaking Wet? Shonen Bat? Omamori doesn’t impress much either, especially not after the highs of Koiji Romanesque and Kuso Rumba.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Koisuru Kioku/Negai. Sakakibara Yui/Chata (Yotsunoha OP/ED)

Being an anime opening theme means Koisuru Kioku is very unSakakibara. Negai isn’t very Chata-like either. Both songs are also dreadfully dull, a bit like the anime….. someone wake me up when it’s all over.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Kagaribi. KAORI (Ayakashi ED)

The shining light amongst this week’s dismal lot. It’s not groundbreaking & it’s not actually that catchy either, but put next to something like Chata’s Negai, Kagaribi sounds like Nessun Dorma. I like it, and it’s also a few thousand times better than the crappy anime it came from.
Watch: Kagaribi PV
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I also skipped U-Ka Saegusa in db’s Conan ED#29, cos looking at the title (Yukidoke no Ano Kawa no Nagare no you ni) already made my eyes water. Didn’t like HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR’s Flashback/Komorebi no Uta (Jushin Enbu special theme) and Kita Shuhei’s Breakin’ through (Persona~Trinity Soul OP) either.

Albums
true tears Original Soundtrack. Kikuchi Hajime

This was already a contender for best anime soundtrack of 2008 for me from the very first episode. And that’s despite most of the tracks reminding me of something else – SeLecT sounds like a slower version of Nanase Hikaru’s Nemu o Sagashite (from D.C.S.S. OST 2), Ichijin no Kaze reminiscent of a few dozen Kajiura Yuki songs (Irritation Silence etc) & Kagami, Kimi o Utsushite sounds like something that I can’t quite put my finger on – Masuda Toshio maybe? Still, I thought that it’s a sterling effort from Kikuchi, the composing half of eufonius (who did the opening Reflectier). Minor complaint – the ‘aburamushi song’ by riya here is awful, sounding like a nursery rhyme my 6-month old cousin composed. I can only hope the forthcoming insert and image song collection features a better version, preferrably by Noe’s seiyuu Takagaki Ayahi.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Izayoi no Tsuki, Kanaria no Koi. Tamura Yukari

Have I ever mentioned that I find Yukarin’s music exasperating? I’ve never been a big fan of her songs that weren’t anime tie-ups; some might call her chosen style eclectic/experimental or whatever you like, I just think of it bizarre, sub-standard songs that were probably rejected by a half dozen other singers before making their way to Yukarin.

Apart from the two Nanoha-related singles (Hoshizora no Spica & Beautiful Amulet), not a lot else is memorable. In fact, most of it is unlistenable – Non-Stopping Train (a hideous attempt at Utada Hikaru) and Sand Mark (rock music, apparently) are two of the worst offenders. I think Jogen no Tsuki is the only song that I really like. Otherwise I felt an irepressive urge to strangle a cat with every passing second of every song. And that is why I prefer Horie Yui to Yukarin – as bland as Hocchan’s music is, it at least doesn’t make me want to bash my stereo to pieces with a sledgehammer.

Oh, and despite Izayoi….’s deceptively encouraging Top 5 debut in today’s daily Oricon album charts, bear in mind that it’s a desperately poor week for albums, with only BoA likely to hit the 50k mark.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

mighty roller coaster. meg rock

The gap between the release of mighty roller coaster and the first single from it (Peach Girl’s OP theme Baby Low Tension)? Three verrrry loooongg years. Frankly, I don’t think it was worth the wait…. but what the heck, I wasn’t waiting anyway. It just sort of came along and I just sort of gave it a go….. it wasn’t a very pleasant experience. At least I don’t have to wonder any more about who was the talented one in Melocure, the late Okazaki Ritsuko obviously had a better songwriting hand. porcupine is the only song that sticks in my mind after the 40 tortuous minutes I spent with this CD, and that’s only cos of the title. This turned out more like a Crappy Carousel than a Mighty Roller Coaster, but I’m sure someone out there will find a lot to like about it.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I refuse to listen to Fukui Yukari.

If it wasn’t bad enough, the mainstream Jpop releases were pretty awful too. There were a couple of releases that didn’t make me want to scream/cry/pull my hair out though.

Ai o Komete Hanataba o. Superfly

After the excellent collaboration with Australian band Jet (the down and dirty i spy i spy) comes Ai o Komete Hanataba o, a string-laden catchy pop tune that serves as the theme song for the Ito Misaki-starring dorama Edison no Haha. I love it – certainly there’s more melody life in the song’s chorus than the rest of the crap I’ve been listening to so far. There’s also a half-decent cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon, which would be infinitely better if vocalist Ochi Shiho didn’t sound like she was swallowing/slurring all her words. Regardless, this is a fantastic single and its mild chart success (debuted at No.13) will serve as a nice birthday present for Ochi, who turned 24 on Feb. 25. I will be following their career with great interest….
Watch: Ai o Komete Hanataba o live on Bokura no Ongaku
Rating: ★★★★☆

Namidairo. YUI

Despite being one of the most unoriginal singers in Japan (Avril Lavigne?) and also one of the sulkiest ones around (Does she ever smile??), at least she sings with a bit of passion. Namidairo starts off all Wonderwall but quickly turns into another one of her typical pop-rock songs, which I’m sure her fans will lap up – I thought it was OK but not great. On a brighter note – Laugh away, a song slated for her next album and currently being used in a Glico ad is pretty awesome, especially the full version.
Watch: Namidairo PV
Rating: ★★★☆☆

As a note, the chatmonchy single Hira Hira Hiraku Himitsu no Tobira is utter rubbish. ;_; I really do like them otherwise.