Anime and Japanese Music… and Favorite Artists

Like with most bloggers and such, I don’t spend all my time watching anime and such, but do other things like posting on AnimeSuki, tweeting, playing video games, writing editorial posts on my blog and even program stuff. For that, I need music to occupy myself while I am on my laptop. Even on the go, I will listen to music sometimes with my headphones with my iPhone 3GS, which doubles as a iPod. Since my return to watching Anime, my music collection was small, but it grew and grew as time went by… and I think I got what artists I seem to like personally… You don’t have to agree, but here they are (no specific order)

Lia

Having heard a lot of mediocre songs from Pokemon, this is a godsend. When I started watching Clannad After Story while it is still airing back in February of 2009, I heard the opening theme of Clannad After Story and I was stunned. Toki wo Kizamu Uta is a beautifully done opening theme sung by Lia. Torch was also good, but not on the level of Toki wo Kizamu Uta. Few month later, I listened to Tori no Uta, which is actually the very first song sung back in 2000 (about 10 years ago) and I was again stunned by how good it is. It is no doubt that is the reason why most of the plays tracked on Last.fm is dominated by her… I have 30+ songs on the playlist and yes, that is a reason… in no doubt, My Soul, Your Beats will bring the same feeling again…

Also, Lia does a good number trance music as well.

Favorite Tracks:

• Light colors – Tomoyo after Opening Theme
• Tori no Uta – AIR Opening Theme
• Toki wo Kizamu Uta – Clannad After Story OP
• nostalgia from Natukage/nostalgia single
• Disintergration
• and several more…

Maaya Sakamoto

I enjoy her singing and she has a rather pure voice… Some of her songs, Magic Number, tune the rainbow and gravity gets stuck in my head because they sound so good. I haven’t listen to rest of her songs yet in the album “everywhere” yet, but I will sooner or later…

Favorite Tracks

• Magic Number – Kobato Opening Theme
• tune the rainbow
• gravity

Kalafina

While some people complain, but I haven’t experienced their earlier works. What did it for me is Hikari no Senritsu, Sora no Woto’s Opening theme that sounded really good. I liked the traditional feel of this song. Thus, I listened to Red Mood and the same effect… Still sounded really good… They are pretty different in terms of what a typical jpop song will sound… Still like it though and so far, they still impress me…

Favorite Tracks:

• Hikari no Senritsu
• fantasia
• red moon
• progressive
• Te to Te to Me to Me
• I have a dream

Haruka Tomatsu

Dunno what attracts me to her, but her voice seems to have a very instinct quality that makes it so addictive. Although her first few songs at the start of her career were decent, it had gotten better. If you compare to the first song, motto hade ni ne! t0 Girls, Be Ambitious, her voice sounded different. I dunno why, but I think she got singing lessons or something. Still better than Hirano Aya at singing (I bet some of Hirano Aya fanboys will go after me for saying that… D:).

Favorite Tracks:

• motto hade ni ne
• Girls, Be Ambitious.

Elisa

No, not the Italian one… It seems that Last.fm always screw things up with artists with the same name. Although her English singing in the ef~ a tale of memories/melodies OP sounded rather strange, her Japanese singing is good. However, I think the songs she done for Hayate no Gotoku Second Season and the songs in her album, Rouge Adolescence are the gems of her singing in my opinion… From those two albums, I found several tracks that sounded pretty good.

Favorite Tracks:

• Wonder Wind – Hayate no Gotoku 2nd Season OP
• Rinrin to
• Absolute Perfection
• Waterland

Lastly…

Toyosaki Aki

Thanks to K-ON!, I got addicted to Toyosaki Aki. Although the K-ON!! Second Season OP is a disaster, I think she had sung some good songs, but I wouldn’t consider them perfect. Enjoyable to listen to, just like err the N’s from Nogizaka Haruka (2nd season pissed me off, but the songs from it still got me addicted to those songs dispite this). Although I like her songs, Hikasa Youko is a stronger singer… no wonder “Don’t Say Lazy!” and “Listen!!” sounded good.

• Yui’s Character Album
• Houkago Tea Time Album
• love your life – Aki’s first single
• Nanika ga Sora wo Tondekuru

Unfortunately, there are some songs I do like that are not on this list because I don’t have a lot of their songs on my playlist. They include

• Last regrets – Kanon Opening Theme – Ayana
• daily-daily Dream – Hayate no Gotoku Second Season OP2 – KOTOKO
• colorless wind – Sola Opening Theme – Yuuki Aria (This one is really addictive and sounded really good)
• Jellyfish no kokuhaku – Kobato Ending Theme – Nakajima Megumi
• Megumeru ~cuckool mix 2007~ – Clannad – eufonius
• Treasure – Seitokai no Ichizon
• several others… just look at this list (although it is not complete).

Now that I shared my favorite jpop artists, I ask you… what are your favorites and why?

Attribution Information

Artwork used in this post is done by ぽんず, pixiv page. ¶