The single for Asura Cryin’ 2’s opening theme “Alternative” was released two days ago. Along with the limited edition version came the PV for the song you see above. While Asura Cryin’ isn’t a series being covered here, I have been following it since the first season’s debut back in spring. It’s never a series I get terribly excited about, but the story has taken an interesting turn with all the first world / second world stuff going on now. Originally, I was a bit overwhelmed with the number of characters and student councils introduced early on, and a bit underwhelmed with no clear indication of where the story was going, but the insanely diverse cast that stars the likes of Irino Miyu (Saji Crossroad in Gundam 00, Zwei in Phantom), Tomatsu Haruka, Tanaka Rie, and Nonaka Ai kept me watching. I’ll refrain from potentially spoiling anything from here on, but thought I’d share one of the many songs the Japanese pop band angela performs for the series.
Comprised primarily of atsuko and KATSU (angela is the group name and not the vocalist’s), the group was formed in 1993 and started as street performers before debuting in 1999. However, it wasn’t until 2002 that they had a breakthrough via anime, which allowed their musical careers to really get going. In my case, I didn’t know of the group’s existence until last year when I heard their songs in Shikabane Hime, but was quickly hooked on their upbeat OP/ED songs “Beautiful fighter” and “My story” there. As such, when I learned that they were performing the songs for Asura Cryin’, checking out the series was a given. That said, I still don’t like “Alternative” as much as the aforementioned songs, nor season one’s opening “Spiral”, but it does sound pretty good when the pace picks up.
As for the PV itself, KATSU’s visual-kei-like style and flamboyant behaviour are still kind of creepy to me, but they actually make him look younger than atsuko. I’m not a big fan of the blond wig atsuko’s wearing, but there are parts where she doesn’t have it on. In any case, I’m pretty indifferent to their appearance and more into their music, which is kind of special since they write, compose, and perform it themselves, being former music school students and all. Included below is the opening sequence for the series, which those of you who aren’t watching it may want to check out.
I’ve been on the lookout for this PV for the past two weeks — basically ever since the single was released (09-10-21). After seeing Sakakibara Yui with nekomimi on the CD cover, I just knew it was going to be some crazy cute & sexy overload and I was not wrong in believing so! Yui is no stranger to cosplaying, plus she’s ridiculously cute to boot, so her PVs are usually ones to look forward to. I know the same can’t be said about a lot of Japanese PVs, but Yui’s all about choreographed dancing and even baring her midriff at times. She’s definitely got the physique for it. While she doesn’t show any midriff here at the neko-maid diner, we are treated to an amazingly cute cat-like dance. Like seriously, OH, MY, GOD, cuteness explosion. She even winks and does pouty faces here and there to tease us. To spice things up, there’s a short dance intermission partway through, which is absolutely scandalous with the way she flicks her skirt… and tail! Ranka Lee Nyan Nyan CM, eat your heart out!
As for the song itself, I’m going to take a random stab and say it was written specifically for the anime. The title alone would make anyone think as such. In addition, the statue of Neko Jizou-sama appears in the PV, with its head falling off and everything. If you’re not familiar with Yui’s music, it has a unique, almost childish sound to them because of her singing voice. Surprisingly though, her natural speaking voice sounds absolutely nothing like it. It’s actually a lot lower than you’d imagine, in a kind of sexy sultry way. Pretty dangerous combination when she can do both cute and sexy impeccably if you ask me, but I’ve seen both and can confirm her “deadliness”. That said, I’ve been listening to the full version of this song for the past couple of weeks and just find it so god damn catchy. It totally reeks of cuteness, but when you picture Yui behind the voice, it somehow puts things into a different perspective. (i.e. Hot) Did I manage to get anyone to fall for her? Sakakibara Yui is Nyanderful-TASTIC!
P.S. For those who don’t know, she happens to be a seiyuu too. Probably one of the cutest ones out there.
Also available ahead of its scheduled release (09-11-04) is ELISA’s ending theme for Railgun. Compared to her previous single earlier this year, “Wonder Wind” (Hayate no Gotoku!! 2nd Season OP1), “Dear My Friend -Towards an Unseen Future-” didn’t take nearly as long to grow on me. Here, her voice sounds slightly lower during the verses, which I find is better in a way. While I’ve liked ELISA’s angelic-like voice since I first heard it in the ef series, it was never a really powerful sounding voice to me. It just never had the “fullness” of say, Mizuki Nana’s voice. Given ELISA’s softer voice, that may simply not be her style, but her singing during the verses (0:16-0:52, 1:36-2:13) already gave me the impression of a more powerful voice. I find it’s a lot less transparent and unassuming then, so I’d personally like to hear more songs like this one. It’s minor, but I somehow picked up on that during my endless repeats of this song. It could just be me though and the fact that I prefer the sound of the somewhat slower verses. (I’m no musician so yeah… -_-;) As for the PV itself, we have ELISA cycling by the beach in a summer dress. Not like we need anything more than that, but the bright sunny setting also suits the upbeat lyrics.
Somehow, I’ve taken it upon myself to post more PVs here. There’s a reason behind this madness though (and insanity isn’t it!). While I used to listen to a fairly diverse selection of music (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English), I slowly drifted away from that over the years. This is primarily due to 1.) the amount of anime I’ve been watching and 2.) the drastic change in what constitutes “anime music”. Unlike the music used in western cartoons, anisongs were pretty unique to begin with since they’re usually “normal” songs borrowed for anime use. However, even songs written specifically for a series these days tend to sound like music anyone would listen to. As such, I no longer look for new music to listen to; I can just let it come to me via anime opening/ending themes. The natural extension of that are the PVs to those songs, hence why I’ll post about entire concerts these days. At least, that’s what my music collection of 950+ singles/albums/soundtracks labeled with an “Anime” genre tell me.
So with that, I have the PV of fripSide’s “only my railgun” here. Surprisingly, it’s “available” ahead of its scheduled November 4th release. As a pop group that started in 2002, flipSide’s music sounds anything but anime-only to me, even though they became a part of the visual novel publishing/distributing company Visual Art’s in 2006. They’re comprised of two main members, Nanjou Yoshino (vocals/lyrics) and Yaginuma Satoshi (composition/arrangement/lyrics/guitar), the former of which replaced the originally vocalist Nao earlier this year. Some of you may be familiar with Yoshino’s work as a seiyuu, having voiced Oosawa Maria in CANAAN and Tsukishima Koko in Da Capo II. Given the title of the song, I assume that it was written specifically for To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, but you probably could’ve fooled me if you told me it wasn’t. The song has a surprisingly good beat and could probably pass as a dance song if remixed a bit. Because of that, I originally thought it was something by I’ve Sound, especially since they had done the music for Index. I tend to like I’ve Sound’s KOTOKO and Kawada Mami’s songs almost immediately, so fripSide’s similar sound was easy for me to get hooked on. As for the PV itself, it’s anime-themed with a girl in a Tokiwadai uniform and espers showcasing their abilities. Befitting of the song, you also get to see a Misaka Mikoto style railgun at the end. Pretty cool.
I have more PVs in store, so stay tuned. (Feel free to comment though. :P)
I gather Stereopony doesn’t need much introduction after their “Namida no Mukou” song earlier this year, but I’ll redirect you to my introductory blurp here if you do. I know I tend to say this a lot with songs, but I found “Tsukiakari no Michishirube” (Moonlight Guidepost) catchy right when I heard it. Here though, at least I can say it’s because of the tune in the chorus. With the release of the single still several days away (09-11-04), it’s nice to finally get to hear the full version of the song. However, since it’s a direct extension of the TV size version, it can start to sound a bit repetitive if you listen to it too much (which I found out firsthand while writing this). As for the PV itself, it’s fairly simple with Aimi (guitar, lead vocals), Nohana (bass), and Shiho (drums) performing on a barren wasteland while weathering a rainstorm, but Aimi’s new hairstyle looks really good. That’s probably the farthest thing from an analysis of their music, but what can you do — I’m talking about a PV here, so enjoy the eye candy!
Aside from her role as Solva in NEEDLESS, I admittedly don’t know much about Imai Asami. Based on her previous work, she’s been a fairly low profile seiyuu in the anime industry for the past eight or so years. Her more notable roles have been in video games, with Kisaragi Chihaya in THE IDOLM@STER standing out in that department. Despite her relatively uneventful career, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Asami in anime, since her psychotic portrayal of Solva is absolute money. (Oh I can just hear the “Magnetic World” screams now!) Because of her role there, it’s hard to believe she can sound as sweet as she does here for the Nyan Koi ending theme, but she has displayed some incredible range voicing Solva.
In undoubtedly Nyan Koi style, the PV features a cat to increase the cuteness factor. As for the song itself, “Strawberry ~Sweet and Painful Tears~”, I didn’t think much of it when I first heard it, but it’s surprisingly catchy the more you listen to it. As such, I’d recommend giving it a few more listens if you’ve been watching Nyan Koi but haven’t really bothered taking notice to this song. It may just grow on you like it has for me.
For those interested, this PV was released along with the single about a week and a half ago (09-10-21).
While the release of Letter Bee’s opening theme single is still several weeks away (09-11-25), the PV for it has already been aired. Unlike the anime version, the full song features a rap portion by Mummy-D, the MC/producer of a fairly old hip hop group called RHYMESTER. I haven’t really listened to Suga Shikao’s music outside of one or two songs he wrote/performed for Honey and Clover, but I took an instant liking to “Hajimari no Hi” (Day of Beginnings) because of its catchy beat. Nowadays, anime songs tend to be no different than the music normal people would listen to, but I find they still tend to fall into pop and rock genres. I’m not sure what to classify Shikao’s music as, but it’s a refreshing change in the anime scene.
Surprisingly, the arrangement of the full version sounds a bit different from the TV short one. You’ll probably notice this immediately with the way it opens and of course, with the inclusion of Mummy-D’s rap later on. This is actually kind of cool, since it’s a whole different dimension to the song I wasn’t anticipating. Normally you’d just expect the TV short version plus a second verse at the end, but they mixed things up here.
As usual, I like to include the actual TV anime sequence for comparison purposes, so see below if you need a “Tegami Bachi” spin on the song.
A surprise for May’n and Megumi as the anime cast members step on stage to present them with flowers.
For this last part of the Galaxy Tour, we’ll look at how things wrap up in the encore. While the DVD includes clips from a smaller concert at Yokohama as well as various behind the scenes footage, this concludes the 165+ minutes of Macross F performances on Japan’s biggest stage. Picking up from the Seikan Hikou duet and band member introductions, May’n and Megumi take a moment to thank all the fans. Following that is an encore duet performance of Anata no Oto, where everyone asks Kanno Youko to make their heart skip a beat. Like with all the duets thus far, May’n’s voice just compliments Megumi’s here, so it was quite a treat to hear.
As the concert nears the end, we have a performance of the goofy SMS anthem with the crowd singing the majority of it. Before that song’s over though, the anime cast members that were there stepped on the stage to surprise May’n and Megumi with flowers. Apparently the two songstresses weren’t aware of this part of the script. Unfortunately though, it looks like Sakamoto Maaya wasn’t there after all, but Endou Aya definitely was. Just when you think things are over though, Youko, May’n, and Megumi appear from beneath the retracting stage for one more piano performance of Diamond Crevasse! It’s one to remember too!
The galactic fairies Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee sing off with “Lion”.
What would a Macross Frontier concert be without THE Macross song that has transcended time itself, “Ai Oboete Imasu ka?” (Do You Remember Love?) If there’s anything that blew my mind with the series that marked the 25th anniversary of the franchise, it was the inclusion of this song. Having seen the original series way back in the day, the song not only gives off a real sense of nostalgia but “completeness” as well. It’s hard to imagine anyone ever matching up to Iijima Mari’s original Lynn Minmay, but Nakajima Megumi makes a good pitch for it as Ranka Lee. For the performance of this infamous song, May’n also helped sing backup.
In part 4, we also see the conclusion of the main portion of the concert, which reaches a climax with the awesome instrumental medley “Fold Out ~ Shinkuu he! Flying Guitar” before going all out in a flurry of songs “Nyan Nyan Service Medley” Budokan Special style. However, with no full performance of “Lion”, things seemed incomplete. This brings us to the beginning of the encore portion of the concert, which realistically could’ve been a standalone mini-concert on its own. Starting with an instrumental performance of “Private Army” featuring Kanno Youko on an accordion, we’re set up for the long-awaited live performance of Lion… and more!
Sheryl Nome rises high above the crowd and welcomes them to her fan club’s night.
In part 3, we’ll take a look at May’n’s return to the stage. After a costume change, she comes back in Sheryl Nome-like fashion with a dominating presence care of the big screen. While the crowd gets excited about her performance of “Welcome to My FanClub’s Night!”, it’s not until the start of “Northern Cross” did they get really fired up. For that performance, they even had the air blowers going to give May’n’s hair and fluffy clothes that extra angelic touch. Surprisingly, Megumi returns to the stage right after (costume change and all) in a never before seen Aimo acappella performance. May’n also adds in her Aimo acappella bit, before Megumi takes us into a full-blown Aimo O.C. It was amazing to see the captivated crowd of 14,000+ go completely silent for the acappella performances.
Part 2 of god knows how many I’ll need to cover this Galaxy Tour concert. Continuing from the two marathon-like performances in Part 1, Megumi takes the stage alone to perform six more songs. She did get a bit of a break in the middle with the character skit and “Chou Jikuu Hanten Nyan Nyan” CM commercial song I mentioned before, but her “singing endurance” is still pretty amazing. I couldn’t help but wonder why they decided to sit May’n for so long, but she did show up for the Ranka version of “Iteza Gogo Kyuuji Don’t be late” before taking over the stage for the next couple of songs. In any case, part 2 is all Ranka Lee. Enjoy~
…Lots of videos after the jump. Not recommended for computers with limited RAM!
Nakajima Megumi, Kanno Youko, and May’n serenading us with a piano version of Diamond Crevasse.
In pure anime-like fashion, the Macross Frontier colony landed in Budokan last November 5th, 2008. Almost a full year later, we finally get to see what what down there in our very own homes and almost a week ahead of its scheduled release! (DVD: 09-10-30, Blu-ray: 09-11-27.) Starring May’n as Sheryl Nome and Nakajima Megumi as Ranka Lee, this huge concert marks the long-awaited onstage duet I’ve been absolutely dying to see since Macross Frontier was still airing. With over FOUR hours of footage (150 min concert, 90 min specials), this gigantic two disc DVD release doesn’t disappoint. It wasn’t all about these two singing princesses though, as the concert featured the one and only Kanno Youko. In addition to conducting her beautifully arranged score, Youko was also center stage on the piano for a lot of the songs.
I finally got my hands on Ayane’s newest PV, “Arrival of Tears”. Since the single’s release a few days ago, I’ve been listening to the full version of the song a fair bit and it’s quickly grown on me. It’s currently on my playlist and mp3 player and will probably be a mainstay there for a while. Back in my post about the first episode of 11eyes, I mentioned how Ayane sounds freakishly similar to Mizuki Nana at times. While I still feel that’s the case when she sings certain notes, I’ve listened to Ayane’s songs enough now to be able to tell them apart fairly easily now. That said, I would still love to hear Ayane sing one of Mizuki Nana’s songs or vice-versa just so I can be in awe.
As for the PV itself, it reminds me a bit of her “cloudier sky” one, except it’s completely 11eyes-themed with the Red Night and black moon. (Pretty cool.) Seeing as Ayane performed songs for the original visual novel and the Xbox 360 port “11eyes Crossover”, I guess it’s only fitting that the PV somewhat reflects the story of 11eyes. I tend to enjoy PVs that have some connection to the anime the song’s featured in, but I realize that’s usually the least of their concerns — especially when a song wasn’t written specifically for a show. In any case, I’ve included the anime opening below as well as the visual novel’s “Lunatic Tears…” for some extra 11eyes “feel” should you need it. Enjoy.
