j1m0ne’s blog

04 April 2007
As the new anime season kicks into gear, the music scene gets a little quieter this week with only a handful of notable new releases. Gives me a chance to catch up on some of the anime I’ve missed, and hopefully toss in a marathon of the first two seasons of Nanoha as well.

Singles
Dakishimetai. Base Ball Bear

Another one of those bands I discovered through impulse purchasing (last year’s Band B ni tsuite). Since signing to a major label, they’ve beefed up their sound and stepped up the output - 6 releases (3 singles, 1 mini-album, 1 regular album & 1 compilation) within a year. Thankfully it’s had little effect on the quality of the music and Dakishimetai brings more of their trademark radio-friendly rock - the new version of Kareshi Kanojo no Kankei is especially rocking.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Punkish. mihimaru GT

The raps are cheesy, the melody is silly but hell it’s stuck in my head. I bet I’ll hate it by next week.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tenjou o kakeru monotachi. LOVE PLANET FIVE

The Shana movie theme song by a special I’ve unit consisting of their 5 biggest names (KOTOKO, Kawada Mami, MELL, Shimamiya Eiko & Utatsuki Kaori). Ehm, the song itself doesn’t stand out much - pretty much typical I’ve.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Manabi Straight Kira -Kira Happy Festa theme: Miracle Straight!. Horie Yui, Nonaka Ai, Inoue Marina, Hirano Aya & Fujita Saki

Ah, it’s so sad that Manabi Straight is over. Pity that it was only 12 episodes (bar the DVD special), but the ending was one of the more satisfying ones I’ve watched in recent times. Anyway this CD contains the theme songs for the Manabi PS2 game, the opening by all the seiyuu; and 5 different versions of the ending Yume Panorama Wide. My fave versh was Hocchan’s, though Hirano’s aha-ahahas did make me giggle, they somehow sounded a bit weird.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Rensoku Jet/Mirai Angel. Koshimizu Ami, Satou Rina, Takahashi Mikako, Ueda Kana, Nazuka Kaori

Still haven’t got around to watching Keitai Shoujo yet - my experiences with net animations haven’t been too promising (Psychic Academy, Ajimu) so I’ve been rather hesitant. This pair of songs - both happy, upbeat tunes, are really good - they’ve convinced me to give the show a go.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Scarecrow. the pillows

I guess the pillows need no introduction, you’d have to be living under a rock to have not heard of them. This is their first single with Avex and also serves as the ending tune for the anime Moonlight Mile. Please Mr.Lostman is probably one of my top 5 favourite Japanese albums - each and every song on it is just brilliant. Unfortunately, since then I’ve mostly found their output rather underwhelming. The last song from them I really liked was Come On, Ghost….. which was in 2002?

So on to Scarecrow - it’s one of their most melodic singles in a long, long time. Similarly, BOYS BE LOCKSMITH. is a cheery and upbeat pop-rock tune, and probably good enough to be the lead single. They also throw in a cover of Mr.Children’s Tsuyogari which isn’t half bad, but Yamanaka’s shouty rock vocals were obviously never going to match up to Sakurai Kazutoshi’s heartfelt warble. This single a step in the right direction, but they’re not quite up to the heady heights of the FLCL years yet.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

egg one. sunny-side up

sunny-side up began life in 2004 as a (sort of) all-star unit consisting of shela (the one who sang a few anime songs for Hikaru no Go, Ikkitousen etc), speena vocalist Kanako and producer Suhou Shougo. They only ever released one single (plus one split with shela) before the project was seemingly tossed on the back-burner. Two years later, sunny-side up are back sans their two famous members and in their place, two unknowns (Takahashi Manami and Tanabe Mai) pair up with Suhou for this single.

The lead track Say My Name is the ending theme for a Fuji TV show called Take=Kotaro (hosted by jockey Take Yutaka & Koizumi Kotaro, actor/son of the former president Koizumi Junichiro). Apart from the appalling name (egg jokes aren’t funny….will the next release be scrambled or hard-boiled?), there’s a whole lot to like about this. A mix of catchy pop tunes and lovely ballads - may not be the most innovative music you’ll hear but it’s not always a bad thing to keep things simple. Probably my favourite release this week.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Albums
CAN’T BUY MY LOVE. YUI

After what was for me, a bunch of hit (CHE.R.RY, I remember you) and miss (ROLLING STAR, Good-bye Days) singles comes the singer-songwriter’s sophomore album. I did quite like FROM ME TO YOU, though there was a little too much filler for my liking there. Style-wise not a lot’s changed - it’s more catchy acoustic lite pop; if it ain’t broke why fix it eh?

CAN’T BUY MY LOVE starts off well with How Crazy (though the chorus’ refrain of the title gets somewhat irritating after a few listens) and the happy It’s all right. Things start nosediving after CHE.R.RY and by the time Good-bye Days rolls around I’m already bored to tears. The album ends on a good note with the ballad Why? but like FMTY, it just doesn’t sustain my interest for very long. Having heard some very good pop albums this year already (Ikimonogakari, Suemitsu, Tainaka Sachi), YUI’s effort feels a little flat and lifeless. Good for a few casual spins, but I won’t be sticking this on my iPod anytime soon.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Hidokei. Ishii Tatsuya

The album started off well enough with Deai and an alternate version of the single Kumo but I realised I was in for a very long evening when ballad followed ballad followed ballad…… a few slow songs are fine but 15 in a row and I’m off to la-la land. That said Hidokei isn’t a particularly bad album, provided you take it in chunks. Still prefer the silly pop music Ishii made as part of Kome Kome Club though.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Maboroshi Forever. SPARTA LOCALS

I was mortified upon hearing the first two tracks Little Garden and Maboroshi Forever which sounded like ELLEGARDEN rejects - it had me worried that they were taking a turn into thrashy punk-rock territory. Thankfully it gets better after that little blip - Heibon Gang, O.K. and Special Voice are all excellent songs; and this is their best effort since SUN SUN SUN.
Rating: ★★★★☆

So there wasn’t anything terribly bad this week. I guess it’s partly because I passed on the stuff I knew I’d hate (Glay, Amuro Namie, The Alfee). Gave up trying to review AliPro as well, I can never be objective about their music when most of it sends me scrambling for Panadol. Still looking for Asai Kenichi…..

Posted on April 5th, 2007 under music, this week in japan • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback