For a long time, I have an interest in music ever since I played Piano and Clarinet when I was in high school. When I started to watch Anime again back in 2008, I have already established an interest towards Japanese music with Pokémon that simply grew beyond what I have listened to.
Several months after I posted my favorite artists last year, I guest reviewed several Anime related singles on Anime Instrumentality Blog. In addition, I have listened to other singers’ songs, which kind of redefined my perceptions of Anime Music a bit more. So, further ado, I want to share my updated favorite artists and music I have listened up to now (Image Source).
Lia
Little has changed since I have last listened to her newest song she did for Fortune Arterial, “Kizunairo”. In comparison to “My Soul, Your Beats”, “Kizunairo” felt different and not as smooth to what I normally hear. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the song and the delivery was solid.
In short, she is still my favorite singer thus far…
Maaya Sakamoto
After “Magic Number”, she sang some more amazing songs for the Fall 2010 anime Soredemo and Tamayura. “Downtown” and “Yasahisa ni Tsutsumareta Nara” just sounded so amazing that I was awed. On the other hand, “Kanashikute Yarikirenai” gave me a very nostalgic and warm feeling.
While I haven’t listened to most of her classics, I look forward what she has to offer in the near future.
Kalafina
Back in January, the hit magical girl anime, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica has aired with some great music primarily composed by Yuki Kajiura. The music was used in the dramatic scenes gave a feeling of darkness and despair. “Magica” is a rather unique song that conveys this feeling of despair… It was so good that I couldn’t stop listening to it.
Yuuki Aira
Several months after listening to “Colorless Wind” for the first time that I loved, I have listened to more of her other songs that she sung for True Tears and Tears to Tiara. For the most part, they sounded very good (with the exception of “Yume to Tsuki”, it sounded a bit dull). While I haven’t watched The Legend of the Legendary Heroes, I have taken a look at the opening, “LAMENT ～ yagate yorokobi wo ～” and it had a similar feeling to “Colorless Wind”. So, I feel that she has a very nice singing voice.
Sphere
Sphere is a recent group of four voice actresses (Minako Kotobuki, Ayahi Takagki,
Haruka Tomatsu, Aki Toyosaki) that have decided to make a band like K-ON!… well, maybe not. In 2010, their songs were getting noticed more after one year of Sphere’s creation. There were two songs that caught my attention. They were “Now Loading… Sky!!” and “Moon Signal.” These songs bought out the cheerfulness and the strength of the group’s singing abilities (sans Toyosaki Aki) for the most part. After listening to the songs in the mentioned singles, I have enjoyed all the songs in both singles and hopefully they will continue their success with the ending single for Hanasaku Iroha, “Hazy.”
Favorite Opening/Ending Songs from Summer 2010 to Winter 2011 (Besides the artists mentioned above)
Connect (ClaiS) from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Watashi ni Dekiru Koto (Nakajima Megumi) from Kobato
For You (Rie fu) from Hourou Musuko
No Thank You! (Ho-kago Tea Time/Hikasa Youko) from K-ON!! Second Season
My Secret (Mizuno Saaya) from Kaichou wa Maid-sama!
Ready Go! (May’n) from Ookami-san
Kimi no Mama de (azuza) from Amagami SS
Maaya and Lia are definitely going to be mainstays, especially if the former gets to keep working with Yoko Kanno since Kanno does such a great job of bringing out Maaya’s awesomeness. As for Lia, she’s one of the few who excels both on the CD as well as live concerts, and her singing is always rich with emotion.
Also, I’d recommend checking the likes of Nana Mizuki, since she’s a big J-pop name with a lot of good songs to her credits.
Since you mentioned it (well, I didn’t notice it until months later), just recently I came across her music after watching and reviewing Dog Days while I was on vacation and listened to Scarlet Knight. Yep, totally got hooked since the song was full of energy and of course her performance of the song was very good…
I still prefer the Nanoha the Movie 1st ending song, PHANTOM MINDS since it sounded pretty.
Lia YES! Love all of the angel beats songs she did very nice, also loved Yui’s versions of her songs as well.
Kalafina Yep! I like their stuff in Madoka, you should check out Kara no Kyokai movies, all of the songs are done by Kalafina too 😀
Fav Ops for me would have to be
Kore wa zombie desu ka?
Yumekui Merry
IndexII Op 1 and 2
To be honest, I find new artists by downloading songs from artists who release one nice song. Hence the Aqua Timez fandom and whatnot.
The routine for checking new artists is listening to the op/ed for the shows I have watched. From there, I backtrack to the artist’s previous works they have and current ones… most of the time, they are a positive experience, giving more to listen rather than listening to the same songs over and over again.
I enjoy Kalfina because of Madoka. But currently the anime songs that I truly enjoy are Sasakama Bridge by Sunehoir (Arakawa Under the Bridge ED) and Aoi Shiori by Galileo Galilei (Ano Hana OP)
Kalafina’s success definitely is in part of Yuki Kajiura herself and it tells with her background music, not just her projects (FictionJunction and Kalafina). But if you like their music, I suggest checking out their other albums, especially from Kara no Kyoukai, which is the bulk of their earliest works.
Also, I’m not too much of a fan for male vocalists, but I did enjoy the AnoHana Ending theme.