j1m0ne's blog

…part 2. This week sees a boatload of releases in time for Christmas, so I’ll be brief in my coverage of each.

20-21 December 2006

Singles
Princess Rose. Tamura Yukari
Another great single from Yukarin, this is the 2nd OP for Otogi Juushi Akazukin. Although Priness Rose isn’t as catchy as Douwa Meikyu, the great c/w songs make up for it.

Miso Soup. Tegomass
Yawn. Another week, another Johnny’s single. Their name makes them sound like some hardcore hip-hop artist, but sadly that’s not the case. It’s just more bland, boring pop. At least it’s about one of my favourite foods.

Koe. The Back Horn
Blimey. I don’t really know what to make of this, but ppl who don’t like The Back Horn’s more mainstream direction will no doubt detest this single. Koe is mildly catchy, but Hateshinai Monogatari and Icarus no Sora are just…..terrible.

Happiness! Deluxe Character Ending Collection Vol.1 – Kamisaka Haruhi. Sakakibara Yui
The song’s not written by Yuinyan, boo. Not bad if you’re into bubblegum pop songs I suppose.

Tupelo Honey. ART-SCHOOL
I’m not a huge ART-SCHOOL fan, but this song isn’t too shoddy though it sounds a little too Asian Kung-Fu Generation.

voice. Keitaku
I have a weakness for acoustic pop (Hirakawachi 1-chome) but Keitaku are a bit too bland for me, though their ballads (Negai, and on this single Kimi o omou) are pretty nice to relax to.

Aizome. savage genius
Mamimami’s original vocal wasn’t too bad (compared to some of her other efforts) but the Jigoku Shoujo ppl should’ve just used this as the ED. Aa’s vocals are about a 100000x times better, and worthy of such a beautiful song as this. The c/w song, Towa ni furu konayuki is just as good as Aizome.

Shiroi yuki. Kuraki Mai
This is the first Kuraki song since Secret Of My Heart that I actually like, despite the cheesy Christmas theme.

Scenario. Saboten
Naruto songs are pretty hit or miss, careering between the brilliant (Little by Little, Hearts Grow, Amadori) and the unlistenable (GaGaGaSP, Hound Dog, FLOW). Saboten unfortunately, falls in the latter category. Ugh.

Scoop!. Kawasumi Ayako & Noto Mamiko
Theme song for their radio show. I already knew this song beforehand, and my opinion of it hasn’t changed since hearing the full version. Seriously, neither of them can sing to save their lives. A shit song with shit vocals. The PVs included on the DVD are shit as well.

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! Character Mini Album Vol. 4 – Etou Mei. Hirano Aya
I quite liked the previous volumes and this one’s not bad either. I think singing’s definitely Aya’s forte but she’s got some way to go to match Mizuki Nana yet.

Tokimeki Memorial Character Single Vol. 2 – Kasuga Tsukasa. Yoshikawa Yukako
My least favourite voice out of the three main seiyuu (Makishima Yuki & Fujita Saki) and I don’t like this character single as much as the Amamiya Sayuri one.

Parallel Love. Okuda Tamio & Inoue Yosui
Another single from this collaboration, and I love it. Mainly cos it echoes some of Okuda Tamio’s catchier stuff (Sasurai, Hitsuji no ayumi). The c/w song is yet another Christmas song.

arrow. plane
I’m quite fond of plane, a cheery pop-rock band on the Toy’s Factory label. arrow is another catchy song, not dissimilar to Grandline, a single from this year’s Slow Express album.

Sumomomo,momomo Character Song CD – Kano Yui, Miyazaki Ui & Hirano Aya
As zany as the show itself. A very enjoyable bunch of songs, Miyazaki Ui’s is just pure class – half done in a hilarious enka-style and half in her typical cheesy pop, with random quotes from Suzuki Chihiro. Hirano’s is just chaos, partly a country hoe-down, partly carnival music; and she half sings and reads the lyrics. Kano’s is an interesting traditional-style Europop tune but her vocals aren’t too great so it kinda dampened my enjoyment of it.

Message/Umi no Opal. Yoko/Sema
Ueno Yoko-written theme songs from Soukou no Strain. She sings the OP, someone unknown sings the ED, both are drab and dull.

Albums
fantastic arrow. Kuribayashi Minami
Her first original album, and I was eagerly awaiting it. It’s not bad, but lacks the catchiness of her best collections for obvious reasons. I reckon it’s a grower and it’ll take a couple of spins for me to get into it.

IN THE MOOD. Himuro Kyosuke
I’m really not a fan of his louder rock songs, but his ballads are always brilliant. In The Mood is a mixed bag, with some great songs like Easy Love and Harvest, and some painful like In The Nude.

Code Geass OST. Nakagawa Kotaro
I’m no fan of Nakagawa’s past work (PlanetES, Scryed, Fushigiboshi, GunXSword) and I don’t like this much either, despite my love for (almost) all things Code Geass.

Black Cherry. Koda Kumi
I was actually quite into Koda Kumi around her Affection and Feel My Mind period but she’s just getting ridiculous now. So here’s yet another Koda release, I’ve already given up trying to count the number of singles she’s had this year. I’m surprised she hasn’t collapsed from exhaustion yet. Of course, quantity and quality are inversely related and Black Cherry, like the 12-week mass single thing, is another exercise in futility.

Utawarerumono Radio Special CD. Koyama Rikiya, Yuzuki Ryoka etc
The best release this week, no kidding. The first 13 episodes in full, good quality plus a couple of bonus tracks, featuring Tanaka Atsuko (Karura ♡♡♡).

Not reviewed: Nakahara Mai & Shimizu Ai’s Chronicle (nothing new), Tsubasa Chronicle Best Collection (ditto), Flow’s Best, Hataraki Man OST, Kiyokiba Shunsuke’s live set, the Idolmaster single (tired of idol pop singles), and NapsaQ’s (one of the members is Shimokawa Mikuni) covers album (can’t find it).