j1m0ne's blog

11 April 2007
Not a lot out this week, thankfully. I’ve a wretched dissertation to write. I just want to point out the existence of the Saint October OP song’s PV for the unaware – a suitably hideous PV for a hideous song from a hideous anime. I hear DVD sales are pretty bad…. and it’s only halfway through its run.

Singles
Train. Ketsumeishi

It seems an eternity since their last single (Danjo 6nin Natsu Monogatari), I’ve been looking forward to this one. Unfortunately Train is dull and nowhere near as fun as their last few releases, plodding along at a pedestrian pace. The c/w songs are more interesting but won’t save this from being one of their worst singles in recent memory.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Tokyo ni mo attanda/Muteki na kimi. Fukuyama Masaharu

Probably the opposite of Ketsumeishi in that his last few singles were awful – they had nothing on some of his classic singles (Sakurazaka, Heart etc) but still managed to sell by the bucketload regardless, such is his popularity. This double A-side though, is a major improvement. Muteki na kimi starts off sounding like another one of hits lame attempts at rocking out but it gets much better after that.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Nanatsu no Umi Wataru Kaze no Youni. Aiuchi Rina & Saegusa Yuuka

Shows how a boring week this is, that I actually bothered to download this. Normally apathetic towards Giza artists but this isn’t half bad to be fair. C/w songs are terrible though.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tori no Uta/PLACE. Senri Manaka

That the lead track had a very similar title to one of my favourite songs (Lia’s Tori no Uta) probably didn’t help its cause. I wouldn’t have gotten round to listening to this on other weeks, but this actually isn’t too bad on first impression. Doesn’t particularly stand out in any way, but pleasant enough for me to sit through the whole thing.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Far Away. Sakakibara Yui (late release from last week)

My second favourite Yui (after Hocchan). If you’re not into eroge/renai games or doujin music etc you probably won’t know too much of her apart from her work on Happiness or Otoboku. She’s great though; definitely one of my fave game singer-songwriters around. As with most of her singles, it’s a fast paced song paired with a ballad. Her site got a facelift a few weeks ago – looks so much better now. You can download the short version of Far Away’s PV there too.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Gekka no Rasen. Fei Lan (another late release from last week)

I’m not much of a gamer these days (mostly Stepmania really), so a lot of video game music tends to fly over my head. Which is a bit of a shame I guess, there’s loads of great stuff out there that I wouldn’t have a clue about. This is one of my happy random discoveries – the Touka Gettan PC game’s theme song. Great song. As good as, if not better than the ones in the anime. Gekka no Rasen is written by two people I’ve never heard of, lyricist Katagiri Yuma and composer Kim’s Soundroom though it is arranged by someone much more famous, Elements Garden’s Agematsu Noriyasu. The best thing I’ve heard this week (by a country mile).
Rating: ★★★★☆

Albums
Negima!? Sound Collection~Cantus II~. Haneoka Kei

OST 2 i.e. the leftover tracks that nobody remembers hearing in the show. The highlights are obviously the Negi/Anya/Nekane version of 1000% SPARKING! and the class versions of both the OP & the ED. There’s not a lot to shout about otherwise – go listen to Cantus I instead.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

ANDROID~Like a house mannequin~.VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE

Probably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Likely to give ppl who’ve never heard ZAZEN BOYS or NUMBER GIRL massive headaches. There’s barely a song on here that you’ll be able to sing along to, but it’s an almighty rocker of an album. VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE can do no wrong it seems.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Didn’t bother with the SHUFFLE! album cos we’ve heard it all before, and it’s not very good either ^^; No interest in ENDLICHERIx2, Kanjani8, Goto Maki, Kikkawa Koji or Oikawa Mitsuhiro. Can’t find Atari Kousuke’s single.