j1m0ne’s blog

21 November 2007
When it rains it pours….. Curse you record labels for making me listen to so much stuff this week! Which means another round of speed listening -_- I never thought I’d have a week as busy as the last week of last month but I’m proven wrong.

Last week’s reviews’ chart positions
Singles
02.Hurry Xmas. L’arc~en~Ciel (102,593)
03.Ukiyo Crossing. UVERworld (47,945)
08.Hito. GReeeeN (21,723)
08.Wana. THE BACK HORN (21,573)
12.Sekai wa Mawaru to Iu Keredo. GARNET CROW (12,984)
44.Boku no Koto o Shitte. CHARA
61. Lumica. Momoi Halko (1,829)
68. High Energy. Momoi Halko & Nogawa Sakura (1,630)

Albums
01.φ. KinKi Kids (190,342)
02.GREAT ACTIVITY. Mizuki Nana (43,126)
07.Utajikara~Cornerstones 4~. Sato Chikuzen (19,049)
10.Termination. 9mm Parabellum Bullet (17,073)

-GA is Mizuki’s fastest selling album, and also the highest charting one; though the latter point is moot as there was hardly any competition around. THE MUSEUM sold just a few thousand copies less than GA but only ended up at No.5 - thanks to the fact that MISIA, Kimura Kaela, Ito Yuna & Suga Shikao all had new albums out around that period.

Obviously Nana’s never gonna sell as many copies as Hayashibara Megumi’s stuff used to do - in these days of shrinking sales 100k is considered a major achievement. Regardless, 43k is a pretty poor return when you consider that MASSIVE WONDERS sold 60k+ in its first week - I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly disappointed that she ended up with nowhere near 50k. But a hearty congrats to Nana anyway, who now holds the ‘Highest Seiyuu Debut Chart Positions’ records for both albums and singles (both at No.2).

Singles
Sei naru Yoru ni/Fuyu Monogatari. Ketsumeishi

With KAT-TUN guaranteed to be No.1, it’ll be a straight fight between Ketsumeishi and EXILE for the runner-up spot. Naturally I’ll be rooting for the rappers ahead of the 2 singers + 5 cheesy dancers combo. Things start off well with Sei naru Yoru ni, a typical Ketsume ‘ballad’ except with a Christmassy feel to it but Fuyu Monogatari is not up to scratch, being a knock-off of their biggest hit Sakura - the tune is way too similar.
Watch: Sei naru Yoru ni PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.02 (second day=⇔ at No.02)
Rating:

I Believe. EXILE

Here we go, another Xmas-tinged single…. I Believe starts off sounding like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with those bells but ends up as another one of their bland mid-tempo, tuneless r’n'b songs. I prefer Kimi ga iru Kara, which is yet another generic ballad but at least it doesn’t annoy the pants off me.
Watch: I Believe talk + live
First day Oricon chart placing: No.03 (second day=⇔ at No.03)
Rating:

Kiss shite. KOH+

On paper, it looks like a dream collaboration - singer/actor/producer/suave bachelor Fukuyama Masaharu and actress/singer Shibasaki Kou, best known to Western audiences as the mad-sickle/stun gun wielding Mitsuko in Battle Royale. Kiss shite is the theme song for popular dorama Galileo, which both of them star in. I assume it’s popular anyway, cos by itself Kiss shite is awfully boring and nobody would buy it if not for the duo’s involvement.
Watch: Kiss shite PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.04 (second day=⇔ at No.04)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Mugen no Kaze. Okuda Tamio

Finally back to making new songs after a bunch of compilations and tribute albums, but you’d think that after some time off Okuda would come up with something more exciting than this. I was hoping for a rip-roaring classic like Tsuki o Koero or Mashimaro but we get a middling rock ballad that sounds more like YOSHII LOVINSON than Okuda Tamio.
Watch: Mugen no Kaze PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.13 (second day=⇔ at No.13)
Rating:

Dugong no Mieru Oka. Cocco

Dugong no Mieru Oka, which Cocco performed at Live Earth was originally an Okinawa-only single (talk about limited edition, lol) but finally gets a nationwide release. Which it totally deserves, cos it’s such a beautiful song and one of her best. Yeah I know, what’s a dugong eh? It’s a marine animal - Cocco wrote the song about the dugongs in Okinawa who natives fear face extinction if the Japanese & US governments go ahead with their plans to expand a military base near the creatures’ habitat. Yay for environmental awareness songs?
Watch: Dugong no Mieru Oka live
First day Oricon chart placing: No.10 (second day=↑ to No.09)
Rating: ★★★★☆

Hikari. GING NANG BOYZ

Ugh. Hikari weighs in at nearly 11 1/2 minutes - 6 minutes of a boring folk ballad followed by 5 of some shouty rubbish is not exactly what I’d call radio-friendly material. Still, they appear to have plenty of hardcore fans to get them pretty high up in the charts, undeservedly.
Watch: Hikari PV pt.1 pt.2
First day Oricon chart placing: No.06 (second day=⇔ to No.06)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

White Choco. LOVE

What convinced Otsuka Ai that singing as her self-drawn bunny cartoon was a good idea? Lame is the only word that comes to mind when describing what I think of LOVE.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.34 (second day=↓ to No.46)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

How are you?. NICO Touches the Walls

There’s only one new track on this T_T Still, GANIMATA GIRL is well worth the price to pay (or the time to download), and the other updates of songs from their indie days plus a studio version of Bugesho Hatto are pretty cool too. This is their first release on Ki/oon Records (home to L’arc~en~Ciel & ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION) and only time will tell if NTtW will achieve anywhere near that level of success. I sure hope they do, their indie releases have certainly been highlights of the last 2 years.
Watch: image training PV
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating: ★★★★☆

Brand New Day. NIRGILIS

It’s pretty hard to classify NIRGILIS - they’re too pop for the indie snobs yet too left-field for the teenyboppers. Which leaves them to appeal to…. who exactly? Brand New Day is an electronica-tinged dance track which is reminiscent of sakura and Snow Kiss, their two biggest hits (both had anime tie-ins) but they’ll be hard pressed to match the success of those songs. It has a pretty interesting trampolining PV though ^^;
Watch: Brand New Day PV
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Follow the Nightingale. KOKIA

Woah. Epic is the only way to describe Follow the Nightingale, and it’s perfect for the Tales series. The chanting throughout the song sounds like random Japanese words mashed up, turned backwards & scrambled around - I swear I hear ‘Nightingale’ in there somewhere…. say goodbye & good day (the Tales of Innocence ED) is a wonderful song too though maybe not so suitable for the game, but it certainly reminds me of how much I loved listening to KOKIA’s voice 4-5 years ago. (Mental Note: Must dig out all her old albums…..)
Watch: Tales of Innocence trailer
First day Oricon chart placing: No.23 (second day=↑ to No.22)
Rating: ★★★★☆

Love Song. ONE☆DRAFT

♪’Tis the season for Ketsumeishi-soundalikes♪ Seriously, what the heck is up with all these bands sounding like Ketsume, right down to aping their rapping style. Love Song ain’t hald bad, but why bother listening to some copycats when you can have the real thing?
Watch: Love Song PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.31 (second day=⇔ to No.31)
Rating:

Rocket. POLYSICS

Another mad song from POLYSICS, with a suitably zany video featuring lots of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure posing. I don’t usually listen to them but I’m feeling a bit silly this week so Rocket is right up my street. It’s also the Moyashimon ending theme, so mental images of little Oryzae running around pop up in my mind everytime I hear the chorus’ refrain of Gimon, gimon, gimon….
Watch: Rocket PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.33 (second day=↓ to No.47)
Rating:

Second Fantasy. UNDER GRAPH

Debuting at No. 50!!! That is pretty dire; there’s no tie-up to help UNDER GRAPH along this time, and it shows. I didn’t even know they had a new single out - no promotion was done whatsoever it seems. Second Fantasy may not be one of their best songs, but it certainly deserves more than hanging around the lower reaches of the top 50. God help their new album release in January.
Watch: Second Fantasy PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.50 (second day=↑ to No.37)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Hadaka Denkyu. Nakamura Ataru

Things have been going downhill since Tomodachi no Uta, with further releases faring poorly in the charts. Hadaka Denkyu (literally Naked Lightbulb) appears to be an attempt at repeating the success of TnU, having a similar ballad feel to it. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be working, with the single bombing on its first day and dropping out of the Top 50 altogether today. I quite like Hadaka Denkyu myself (gotta love her voice, especially live), but I do wonder now that all the buzz about her gender issues (read wiki for more) has died down whether she’ll scale those heights again.
Watch: Tomodachi no Uta live
First day Oricon chart placing: No.48 (second day=>Top 50)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Saigo no Kajitsu. Sakamoto Maaya

I love Maaya’s new hairstyle ^_^ Saigo no Kajitsu is definitely not for anyone still pining after Maaya’s Kanno Yoko works, but those who loved Yuunagi Loop (yeah, all three of you) might find it more to their taste. The song is fairly similar to NO FEAR/Aisuru Koto (same songwriter - Suzuki Shoko) though Saito Neko’s arrangement is pretty subdued and boring. Mitsubachi to Kagakusha is a collaboration with Solaya, who writes mainly for J-urban artists (Crystal Kay, Sowelu etc) and no doubt most people will find the song slower than molasses trickling down a rocky slope. I quite enjoy the single overall, but I have to be in the right frame of mind when I’m listening to this. Or else I’ll fall asleep.
Watch: Saigo no Kajitsu PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.11 (second day=↓ to No.15)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

1/2. Ishikawa Chiaki

I wonder how Ishikawa got involved with something like You’re Under Arrest, her musical style doesn’t exactly lend itself to a modern series about policewomen. Then again I guess the same could be said of Uninstall and Bokurano…. 1/2 is another fine single, but sales remain sluggish as usual - people don’t appreciate her music enough, sadly.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.38 (second day=⇔ at No.38)
Rating: ★★★★☆

INSANITY. Okui Masami

I haven’t liked an Okui song for a long, long time and I’m beginning to wonder if I ever will. INSANITY is annoyingly repetitive and has too much fuzzy guitar and electronic beats, things that she seems to favour a lot these days (zero-G-, WILD SPICE). TOTAL ECLIPSE follows the same mould and I can’t find much to like about this single. Thumbs down from me.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.46 (second day=>Top 50)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Vivace. Okada Junko

So I put track one on, and it sounded alright for the first 20 seconds. Then the singing started…. erm, what can I say? I prefer Nonaka Ai. It reminds me why I dislike listening to (predominantly) eroge seiyuu sing…. except maybe Yui-nyan. Kizamu Kisetsu isn’t that exciting either, and euphoric field is beaten to a pulp. The music sounds like it was recorded in somebody’s garage 10 years ago, and everything that was good about ELISA’s original version has been destroyed by that awful doujin-music style arrangement and Okada’s flimsy vocals. Avoid!
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Chasse. Utatsuki Kaori

Lalalunlunlun♪♪♪….. Oh hell, I still hate this song. Utatsuki gets a few more points for being the least ugly member of I’ve but Chasse is still terribly uncool. I have to skip it everytime I watch Hayate, I can’t bear hearing the Lunlunlun♪♪♪ refrain - makes me shiver. Brrr. Yuck.
Watch: Chasse PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.21 (second day=↓ to No.28)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Colorful Days. Satou Rina, Inoue Marina, Chihara Minori

Couldn’t think of a different pose for Kana? She looks exactly the same as she did on the cover of Keikenchi Joshochu. Incidentally, that single is still doing well in the charts and has passed the 10k mark. Colorful Days is a very bland song and another ending theme that I skip everytime the episode finishes. I wish the gentle c/w Hohoemi Sunset had been the ending instead - love the girls’ vocals on it, especially Satou Rina’s. Wonder if the trio were cast with their singing abilities in mind?
First day Oricon chart placing: No.30 (second day=⇔ to No.30)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Sora ni Saku. Komine Lisa

Komine’s done the smart thing and added her surname so that people won’t confuse her with a certain ex m-flo vocalist or a gravure idol. Sora ni Saku has ‘typical anime song’ written all over it and is pretty similar to stuff she’s done in the past like Will (Melody of Oblivion) and tears (Gundam-something-or-the-other). And there’s Faith, which turns out to be Sora ni Saku sung in bad Engrish - a waste of the decent if generic lyrics written by Arisaka Mika.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.22 (second day=↑ to No.21)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Aruiteikou.. Yoshida Jungo

Yoshida’s certainly a smooth-looking and smooth-sounding fellow, isn’t he? Too bad he’s wasted on stuff like ending themes for average anime like Rental Magica, I’m sure that he could go far with a voice like that. And only if he wasn’t signed to a record company that specialises in anime songs…..
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating: ★★★☆☆

KURENAI. Miyazaki Ui

Already liked KURENAI since I heard it in the Night Wizard promo. The song is written by Okui Masami…. which makes me wonder why the heck she gives out her good stuff to other people to sing and settles for crap herself -_- Miyazaki’s a fairly good singer, probably the best amongst her Clover bandmates and this looks set to be her best-selling single yet.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.32 (second day=↓ to No.33)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Erinyes. BETTA FLASH

Nice….furry thing on her head there. This is apparently their debut single and is the NIGHT WIZARD ending theme. Erinyes takes a while to get going but it does have a nice ethereal feel to it, with good vocals. I can see BETTA FLASH’s future being limited to doing anime themes - I don’t think their style has much mainstream appeal.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating: ★★★☆☆

synchronicity. Makino Yui

synchronicity is a Kajiura song, which people will either hate or love. My opinion of Makino’s voice hasn’t changed and she doesn’t sound so good on the piano version of Amurita - there’s a few bits which sound rather odd, it’s like she can’t hit/hold the high notes too well. But yeah, I like synchronicity - I am a Kajiura fan after all.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.35 (second day=↓ to No.36)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Negaiboshi. Snow*

Oh, Ohtake-san. What the heck is happening to your career that you’ve resorted to doing anime songs -_- Not that your own material that great in the first place, but singing in a whiny voice wins you even less points. The c/w Aoi Kasa is actually a very nice song and the vocals on that are much better - so she can have an extra half star for that.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating:

perfect blue. Jazzin’ park

I was expecting some hot-blooded JAM PROJECT-style opening for Dragonaut but it turned out to be a jazz-pop song instead. It’s pretty boring & not something I’d listen to if it wasn’t anime-related. A yawnfest.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating:

Rain of Love. Fukui Yukari

Sigh. Why Yukarin?? Rain of Love is actually a pretty lovely song, but it’d be much lovelier if Fukui wasn’t the one at the mic. Sadly, as KONAMI are sponsors for the Dragonaut anime I’m sure they hammered out some sort of deal to allow Yukarin to sing the theme (Jazzin’ Park are signed to the label too). I can just about survive to the halfway-point of the songs before her squawky vocals do my head in.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating:

Yokai Yokocho Gegege Bushi. Suwabe Junichi

Would you buy a CD with that cover? ^^;;;; This is the second ending for the upteenth update of Gegege, and Suwabe is surprisingly good on the fun, catchy Yokai…, which sounds a lot like those ondo/festival songs you hear so often in anime. That picture of him on the back is awful though.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating:

Lucky Star Character Song Albums
Vol.11 - Kanata & Sojiro. Shimamoto Sumi & Hiramatsu Hirokazu

Lantis are really milking it aren’t they? Even Kanata gets a chara CD…. Oh well, hearing Shimamoto (Nausicaa, Kyoko in Maison Ikkoku) singing is always cool, though it would’ve been infinitely better if Hiramatsu had shut up. Shiawase negau kanata kara is probably the best song from Lucky Star so far but really…..only been about 4-5 decent songs from 12 CDs - that’s ridiculous.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.24 (second day=↑ to No.23)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Vol.12 - Nanako & Yui. Maeda Konomi & Nishihara Saori

In case you were lulled into a false sense of security by Kanata’s song, here’s a way to bring yourself right back down to earth - listen to this CD. Now who in their right mind would fork out some decent dosh to hear a bunch of drunkards at the karaoke? OK, Kekkon nante sa Pappaya probably doesn’t sound so bad once you’ve had a few drinks, but Tekireiki na Lady is just… indescribably awful. Anime rap songs are gay.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.27 (second day=↑ to No.24)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Myself; Yourself Character Song CDs
Vol.1 - Yatsushiro Nanaka. Koshimizu Ami

Heaven knows if the songs fit the characters since I dropped the show after the first episode but I’m pleasantly surprised by how likeable the single is. I was expecting some cheesy keyboard- crap but got a catchy guitar-based pop song instead. 5pb. (Shikura Chiyomaru’s music production company) are responsible for the music in the anime, and I do like what I hear. Amisuke’s singing has improved a bit over the years, and she does well on ANOTHER WORLD. Not a bad start for this series of CDs….
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating:

Vol.2 - Mochida Hinako. Murata Ayumi

Is Hinako one of the main characters? Haven’t a clue, but I’m guessing why this got released in the first batch of CDs ahead of Tamura Yukari and Toyoguchi Megumi is cos her seiyuu is Murata Ayumi, whose music is distributed by…. 5pb. Hajimete no Kiss? (#^.^#) is a fun bubblegum pop song which Murata wrote herself, but I can’t see myself giving this more than a couple of spins before it’s banished to my DVD archives.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Vol.3 - Hoshino Asami. Nakahara Mai

Nakahara’s singing voice takes much getting used to because of its nasal qualities - similar to someone like Ueda Kana. If you liked the first two volumes, this will be right up your street; Haru no Kiss and ANOTHER WORLD are written by the same people after all. I can’t believe I like Myself;Yourself music more than Lucky Star ^^;;;
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating:

Albums
KISS. L’arc~en~Ciel

I was pretty concerned about how KISS would turn out as I didn’t particularly like any of the singles that preceded it. The album cuts make up for the weak A-sides, stuff like ALONE EN LA VIDA and Sunadokei have that classic Laruku sound and you wonder what possessed HYDE & co. to think that SEVENTH HEAVEN was good enough to be a single. On first listen KISS trumps AWAKE and SMILE and I can predict myself picking this up in a years’ time, like I always do with Laruku albums… OT, but I’m just really slow at buying CDs, just the other week I finally got Hirahara Ayaka’s 4tsu no L - which was released in early 2006 ^^;
First day Oricon chart placing: No.01 (second day=⇔ at No.01)
Rating:

Dareka no Chijoue. Aqua Timez

Aqua Timez sure are busy - since April 2006 they’ve released a mini-album, five singles and two full-length albums. Not really complaining, but I do wish they’d take a bit of time with their material - it might help prevent crap like Pivot and ALONES from spoiling an otherwise decent rap/pop album. Unfortunately there’s just way better things out this week that I gave the album just 1 spin - maybe I’ll get back to it in 3 weeks’ time and find it more appealing than I do now.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.02 (second day=⇔ at No.02)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Immortal. Straightener

Another band in a bit of a hurry…their last album LINEAR was only released in March but here we are with their next release. Those familiar with STRAIGHTENER’s style will find nothing different here, it’s still their usual loud, power-chord rock but like on LINEAR there’s nothing that stands out. Nothing that has as much impact as say, Tender or ROCKSTEADY - just another 6 play-it-safe out & out rock songs. Fans will lap it up, others will just give it one listen and move on.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.03 (second day=↓ to No.06)
Rating:

EXPOSED. Boom Boom Satellites

BBS’ punk/drum & bass style isn’t the kind of thing I’d normally listen to but since my brain is already warped from listening to all kinds of different music I thought I’d give it a go. Verdict? Badass. But damn noisy too - I don’t think I’d listen to this album on a regular basis as it feels like my head is being pounded by rocks everytime I do. Reminds me of the days I listened to stuff like The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, now I’m just an old fart who prefers folk and country music. Oh dear.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.08 (second day=↓ to No.10)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Zeitakubyo. ONE OK ROCK

Who says ex-boy band members can’t make good rock music? Vocalist TAKA certainly has plenty to live up to, being the son of famous enka singer Mori Shinichi as well as being a former member of the very successful Johnny’s band NEWS. ONE OK ROCK (their oldest member is 20) may not offer anything particularly innovative but they pack their tunes with plenty of swagger - think an edgy version of UVERworld with a bit of ORANGE RANGE thrown in and you’ve got their style down. Zeitakubyo is definitely one of the best and most confident debut albums I’ve heard in a while, and the low price of the CD (¥2,000 for first press, ¥2,500 otherwise) is likely to prolong their stay on the charts.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.10 (second day=↑ to No.07)
Rating: ★★★★☆

Gateway to Tomorrow. Nagase Miyu

I wasn’t even aware this was coming out -_- Nagase doesn’t spring any surprises, sticking to the safe pop-rock formula with the occasional upbeat dance number. She certainly knows who she’s appealing to (ZONE fans mostly) so if it ain’t broke why fix it? At least it’s way better than her former bandmate Maiko’s new project MARIA.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.20 (second day=↓ to No.22)
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tobira Album. Rie fu

ROSE ALBUM was terribly disappointing for me personally, but Tobira Album has restored my faith in Rie fu. London is an obvious highlight, On It’s (sic) Way and Feel The Same are other high points on an album that flows well. I like this a lot, and I hope it sells well after the disappointing performance of the singles.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.21 (second day=↑ to No.20)
Rating: ★★★★☆

YURIA2. YURIA

I’m not normally fond of YURIA cos of her nasally voice, but I was keeping a watch out for this CD after the clutch of great game themes she’d done this year. They’re all present here, from the lovely ballad Kimi ga Kikoeru ~Calling You~ (Reconquista ED) to the pair of Natsumegu songs and a load of Shuffle! related tunes. In essence, it’s less an album and more of a hits compilation so there’s little continuity between the 14 tracks. I guess the downside is that I already know 80% of the songs, and the ones that I don’t (Natsu no Melody, Shampoo shite Ageru) I care little for… At least I don’t have to go hunting through my unorganised playlists for a random YURIA game song now.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Sayonara Zetsubo-sensei Chara Album: Zetsubo Kayou Daizenshuu. Various Artists

HAHAHAHAHHA. HAHAHAHHAH. I’m writing this just as I’ve finished listening to the whole album, that means the last song I heard was Kimura Kaere’s GoGoGo Beauty. Which is absolutely hilarious - I didn’t think they’d actually put in all those parody bits from episode 10 (4!5! Ma…ma), and Kobayashi Yu did a great job of deliberately singing badly. It rivals Luchador as one of the most ludicrous charasongs ever ^^;

This is how character albums should be - by all means tailor the songs to fit the characters but it’d be nice if some effort was put into making them listenable (Yes I’m looking at you, Lucky Star songwriters). And that’s what’s so good about this bunch of songs - the songs are fun, and the lyrics suit the characters well. Personal favourites include Hito Nami’s mocking Shujinko, Kaere’s schizo MISS UNIVERSE(S) and Kitsu Chiri’s deathly Bara no Hitsugi but in truth there’s not one of the songs I’d skip, not even the ones that have Nonaka Ai on it.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating:

Astral Lamp. KELUN

I was wondering who the heck KELUN were til I flicked through their wiki and found that it’s just a name change for UTARI, brainchild of former PICK2HAND vocalist Kojima Ryosuke. The band certainly has pedigree, with the other two members having been in other moderately successful groups (FREENOTE & KOHL). This is their first release on a major label and includes SIGNAL, the current ending theme for popular Jump anime Gintama. Much like the trio’s former bands, KELUN’s style is predominantly melodic rock (think BUMP OF CHICKEN, redballoon). There’s nothing much to set them apart from bands of their ilk, but catchy songs like Rain Drop Street and Howling Heart hint at a bright future for KELUN.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50 (second day=↑ to No.44)
Rating:

Sketchbook OST ~sound sketch book~. Muramatsu Ken

The music in Sketchbook is….. kinda slow. Not the best thing to be listening to at 10am in the morning, but I’d imagine that it makes good muzak - for those who might be interested in that sort of thing. Otherwise only listen to this if you’re struggling to get some shut-eye.
First day Oricon chart placing: >Top 50
Rating:

Hayate no Gotoku! Character CDs
Vol 7: Tachibana Wataru & Kijima Saki. Inoue Marina & Nakajima Saki

The Hayate image CDs have been pretty consistent so far in terms of song quality, retaining the same set of songwriters for each volume. It took a while to get to my fave combi in the anime but here we are. It’s cool to hear Inoue singing in character (or attempting to, anyway) , using a deeper voice as Wataru - I mean, Hayate’s songs made for rather uncomfortable listening when a girl’s voice (Shiraishi Ryoko) emanated from the speakers instead of the cool combat butler you see in the anime.

On to this volume - Marina & Saki’s voices go together well - especially on Ai MYSTERY but it’s a shame the songs themselves are pretty bland. Best thing about this CD is the reappearance of Goto Yuko Mao’s (the big-boobed idiot from episode 10) on the mini drama and other random tracks. Her catchphrase (XXXX-timo!!) can get pretty annoying but it was funny to hear them making fun of stuff like Kyo Kara Mao on the drama track.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.48 (second day=↑ to No.34)
Rating:

Vol.8: Nishizawa Ayumu. Takahashi Mikako

Lol at this performing better than Wataru + Saki. I guess Nishizawa’s appearance in every single episode really do make our dear little hamster more familiar to viewers ^_^ Sadly, we don’t get any songs about food or eating here, just songs about one-sided love affairs. Mikako handles both songs well, and the extra tracks feature a load of random things like Ayumu reeling off math equations (4 + √9/5 + x - cos y = z or stuff similar to that) whilst being egged on by Ormst Nadja [aka God]. I really enjoyed this CD, I thought it was pretty fun and the songs were better than the ones on the last 3-4 volumes. As a note, the Hayate chara CDs are classified as albums by Oricon thanks to them having close to 100 tracks even though their overall length is closer to a single.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.44 (second day=↑ to No.27)
Rating: ★★★★☆

Posted on November 23rd, 2007 under music, this week in japan • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback