j1m0ne’s blog

13 June 2007
Haven’t been listening to much music apart from Uninstall this week. Been catching up on some older anime like Blue Gender, Mahou Tsukai Tai and Rayearth instead - & I’ve dropped a couple of series from my spring anime watch list to make room for them + Denno Coil (which is absolutely fantastic). Also the summer shows will be here in a few weeks’ time, so bye-bye Nagasarete Airantou, Kamichama Karin, Nanoha StrikerS, Lucky Star & Romeo X Juliet.

Last week’s reviews chart placings:
02. Suirenka. Shonannokaze (36,213)
10. Tabibito. Takasugi Satomi (12,641)
20. Kimi ga Kureta Ano Hi. Chihara Minori (6,602)
23. Surfer King. Fujifabric (5,930)
35. Te o tsunaidara. Fumido
40. Koiuta. Onsoku Line
67. Itoshii Hito e. Tainaka Sachi (2,001)

Props to Stephanie, the half-American half-Japanese singer of the KissDum ED Kimi ga iru Kagiri who managed to rise from 91 to 61. Oh the power of appearing on Music Station…. it did for Stephanie what it did for Tainaka Sachi last year - gained her a whole new audience. Her performance was pretty good vocal-wise but still much to do on the ‘performing’ side - too much hand gesticulating lol. M-Ste performances are always removed from Youtube very quickly so watch the talk + live on Crunchyroll instead (requires registration).

I must say, I love Stephanie’s voice much more than Tainaka’s - not sure bout the songs though - pretty generic Jpop fluff. The two of them are being marketed in similar ways - 5-octave range wonder singers ^^; Tainaka writes most of her own songs though, Stephanie only co-writes lyrics.

First noticed Stephanie when she made an appearance on Kadowaki Mai’s blog - they’re both represented by Kaleidoscope agency. There was a big deal made about how they didn’t reveal her face before she debuted…. well in that pic in Maita’s blog you can most of it except her eyes ^^; I’ve read some pretty hilarious comments on her looks (Fugly! She’s got Cher’s cheeks!) but I guess it doesn’t mean a lot to me, I’m a seiyuu fan after all

Hope she does well in the future…. though being featured on M-Ste doesn’t mean your career automatically skyrockets - there’s the ones who’ve made it big like Aqua Timez & Shonannokaze but look at Younha or Tainaka; they’re not exactly setting the charts on fire after their initial success.

Singles
Uninstall. Ishikawa Chiaki

Arguably, Uninstall & Little Bird are the best pair of anime OP/ED themes from the spring season (KissDum’s runs it close). I’m still a little sore at See-Saw’s dormancy cos let’s face it - as sweet as Nanri Yuuka is, she’s never gonna hold a candle to Ishikawa. Hey it’s the first time I’ve given anything 5 stars - Uninstall is just that damn good.
Watch: Uninstall PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.11
Rating: ★★★★★

Eden. NICO Touches The Walls

NTTW always reminded me of some other band but I couldn’t quite place it til a few weeks ago - they’re like a more hardcore Tsubakiya Shijuusou. I think it’s something to do with the minor chord structures and melody lines that both bands like to utilise. They’re signed to a relatively small record label (SENHA&CO.), a subsidiary of ‘major’ indie label Toy’s Factory that has only two other artists on its books - Yuzu and Yanagida Kumiko. They’ll probably go nowhere on the charts though…..
Watch: (My Sweet) Eden PV
First day Oricon chart placing: outside top 50
Rating: ★★★★☆

Kimi ni shika kikoenai. DREAMS COME TRUE

Kimi ni shika kikoenai is the theme song for the movie of the same name (based on a series of light novels which has a manga adaptation as well) starring Narumi Riko and Koide Keisuke. I was wondering why Koide looked and sounded so familiar before I realised that he was Okuyama Masumi (queer afro timpani-playing dude) in the Nodame Cantabile dorama.

I don’t really care for DoriKamu ballads - LOVE x3 might be one of the most famous Jpop songs ever but it is oh so damn boring. This is similarly bland but marginally more melodic, Miwa’s voice does make up for a lot. Sayonara 59ers! is much more my cup of tea. The sudden change of pace halfway through the song caught me out at first but I got used to it after a while. It’s three singles in 7 months, I hope an album’s coming soon….
Watch: Kimi ni shika kikoenai PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.03
Rating: ★★★☆☆

My Generation/Understand. YUI

Hmmmmmmmmmm. I don’t like either My Generation or Understand. Even if YUI’s two albums were pretty turgid affairs, I’ve almost always enjoyed her singles. I can’t say the same for this however, and the acoustic version of CHE.R.RY is the only reason this single is worth getting.
Watch: My Generation PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.01
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

TWISTER. GOING UNDER GROUND

TWISTER is slow, long and boring - just the type of GOING UNDER GROUND song I don’t like. They should’ve made Dakedo bokura wa shiranai the A-side, it’s one of their trademark melodic anthems that gets stuck in your head.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.17
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Phonoscope. Suga Shikao

Eh. I’m not sure what to think of Phonoscope…. I’m normally a fan of his funkier songs, and it starts off pretty well but the chorus is just ugh. Too much sugar! Fortunately the updated version of Saka no Tochuu makes up for it. And I am bemused that HOP STEP DIVE which was aleardy on his PARADE album, is included here. Maybe it didn’t sell enough copies…..
Watch: Phonoscope PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.04
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Albums
Negima!? Princess Festival live. Various

I was wondering whether or not to give this a miss - the Magical Xmas CD had already scarred me for life and this was a 2-disc set; double the pain! But what the heck, I gave it a spin anyway. I have to say that I found it a bit more tolerable this time - the presence of Minagawa Junko certainly made it a lot better ^_^

Only a handful of the girls can sing well live; Minagawa, Shiraishi Ryoko, Kobayashi Misa (sort of) + some of those who sang on Infinity Love 2U (I can’t tell them apart ^^;) . Actually Kobayashi Yu was pretty OK, it was the fact that she was singing with tone-deaf Aipon that spoilt the song. I really do think I can sing better than her - and I’ve never been to karaoke in my entire life ^^; Kanda Akemi seems to be unable to control her voice - initially you think she sings OK but her flaws are exposed when she sings Sugar Memory with MinaJun ^^;

It was a lot better than Magical Xmas CD but I was pretty disappointed that Ito Shizuka, Deguchi Mami, Omae Akane & Shiratori Yuri weren’t there cos I really wanted to hear YELL and Egao no Hana live.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Next week:
Anime: Touka Getta OP/ED themes, Emma 2 & Seirei no Moribito OSTs, Chata single from Growlanser, this year’s Animelo single featuring Mizuki Nana, Suara, Chihara Minori, Jyukai, JAM PROJECT + a host of others.
Normal: Singles from KREVA, Sowelu, Chatmonchy, Santara. Albums from MARIA, Horishita Sayuri and Sato Chikuzen.

Posted on June 15th, 2007 under music, this week in japan • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback