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Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials

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K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 9 – Final Exams Dilemma

June 5, 2010 by Chikorita157 1 Comment

She got distracted…

Final Exams… Does this remind you of something?

Final Exams seems to be the period of time towards the end of the school year or semester where stress levels goes to the max. Last minute studying and/or the pressure that if you don’t do well on the finals, your final grade will tank adds more to the already high stress…

As finals approach, Yui forgot about it and panics. Yes, I to admit that I was goofing off on the internet when I was studying for various subjects. The end result is that most of the grades turn out great, except one that I won’t go into since its embarassing. It’s somewhat difficult to focus on studying the material when you have several distractions like your mobile phone, laptop, television, etc. Believe me, I don’t have the study habits of Yui…

Study Groups are usually helpful, unless they goof off…

Note taking is probably the most boring thing to do. In most of my classes, teachers usually teach out of the book, which makes little sense of taking any notes and just study from the textbook. Sometimes, I record the lecture, but I forget to listen to them after I recorded them. However, there is an advantage of note taking because you study what the teacher covers so you don’t have to study the whole textbook. Also, there could be things that the teacher covers in class that isn’t in the textbook.

Going back to the show, there are funny differences on how these girls take notes in class. Mugi seems to take the neatest notes (Yui gets a copy of them), Mio draws cute things on hers and Ritsu sleeps in class like with Yui… Guess who seems to have the higher grades? No need to guess… While they are studying, Yui fools around with a crossword puzzle and distracting the whole study group. What was the purpose of having a study group if they are going to fool around?

Hyper Ultra Sadistic Mint… I don't want to know the taste or feeling of it…

Yui rans into the grandmother and she gives some snack… Yui also introduces her to Gitah.

They were so cute….

I have remembered my grandmother on my mother side taking care of me and my sister. She use to do stuff like taking us to places and doing stuff when my mom isn’t around… until 3rd grade when she got a stroke and unable to look after us anymore. By then, we are a bit grown up. She is still around living by herself in senior housing that is a few miles away from I live.

I’m guessing that Yui had a great childhood by looking at the flashbacks. Also, you see Nodoka in the last scene of the flashback. Lastly, this is the second time I saw Ui as a child which she looks really cute.

When Yui got home, she doesn’t study and practices guitar instead. Great study habits since it won’t get you very far.  So, she studies more at school, but like aways seem to drift way when something distracts her.

Oh dear lord… No normal person would mix up soy sauce with sugar.

Like Azusa says, no normal person would mix up soy sauce with sugar…

Yui decides to do the talent show for Grandma as solo because she didn’t want to distract the others from studying for finals… Azusa agrees to help, but on one condition…

Azusa forces Yui to study on a schedule…. No breaks whatsoever.

And the result…

Yui still goofs off… drawing Azusa as nekomimi… Does this signify anything? Absolutely Nothing…

They practice and Grandma comes over when she notices Yui. Yui introduces Azusa to her and the Grandmother leaves. They decide on the duo name, which is YuiAzu. Next day after Yui studied all night, she finishes her exams and a day after, the talent show.

They look cute, but this is just funny…

After cracking up some jokes from Yui, they started to play a song. This pretty much reminded me of slap-stick comedies like Angel Beats… oh wait…

They play a different version of Fude Pen, which is a song played last season and also in the Houkago Tea Time single. Overall, their version of the song sounded okay. Half-way through, they ran out of time and they got the concession prize. I find the whole thing funny, but if Yui hadn’t acted so funny, we could have heard more of the song. Anyways, Grandmother was happy even though they didn’t win and they had dinner with Ui.

Surprisingly, Yui passed the finals with high scores, even though she was goofing off!

This was a rather enjoyable episode. It simply proves that there are people out there that are a lot smarter than they act. Yui is one of these characters, which seems to be this childish genki girl and manages to pull through even with the talent show. However, don’t do this in real life, especially in college because every grade counts in the end.

Next Episode: Sawako and hopeless love? Oh, this is going to be interesting!

Verdict

8.8/10

Read moreK-ON!! Second Season – Episode 9 – Final Exams Dilemma
Category: K-ON!Tag: finals, kyoani, moe, music

Review: Pure Pure Heart Insert Song Single

June 3, 2010 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

General Information

Album Title: Pure Pure Heart
Artist: Houkago Tea Time (Toyosaki Aki, Hikasa Youko, Satou Satomi, Kotobuki Minako, Taketatsu Ayana)
Catalog Number: PCCG-70075
Release Date: June 2nd, 2010

Tracks

1. Pure Pure Heart
2. Sakuragaoka Joshi Koutougakkou Kouka [Rock Ver.]
3. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental)
4. Sakuragaoka Joshi Koutougakkou Kouka [Rock Ver.] (Instrumental)
5. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Guitar1])
6. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Guitar2])
7. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Keyboard])
8. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Bass])
9. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Drums])
…

Read moreReview: Pure Pure Heart Insert Song Single
Category: K-ON!, ReviewsTag: final impressions, music, opinion

Review: My Soul, Your Beats / Brave Song Single

May 24, 2010 by Chikorita157 3 Comments

General Information

Album Title: My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song
Artist: Lia, Toda Aoi, Maeda Jun
Catalog Number: KSLA-0054
Release Date: May 26, 2010

General Thoughts

When something gets animated, the theme song will get referred to as the national anthem.
– Ken from Seitokai no Ichizon

Typically, all the Key Anime Adaptations always had great opening and Eeding Themes (Tori no Uta, Last regrets, Megumeru, Toki wo Kizamu Uta, Light colors and others). Angel Beats is no exception to this, except the insert album songs from Girls Dead Monster since the vocals sound like they were amateurs. From hearing the songs over and over again, I think this is a pretty solid album overall with some tiny flaws (some minor screeches in a few areas in My Soul, Your Beats! and vocals being soft in Brave Song), but nothing that serious. Both songs have strong instrumentals and sound really beautiful, especially with Brave Song.

My Soul, Your Beats!

The intro of My Soul, Your Beats! has a simular feel to Toki wo Kizamu Uta (A Song Engraved in Time) from Clannad After Story… Heck, the vocals sound similar. From the song, I like how the piano and the guitar is played in the background as it gives this feeling of being blown away because of how powerful it is. Since it’s Lia, the vocals are solid. Nothing else to say about My Soul, Your Beats! as its a very good song. No need to recommend as most people will like this off the bat.

It’s worth noting that while I was listening to My Soul, Your Beats, I was comparing this song with Lia’s past opening themes with Key (Tori no Uta, Light colors, Toki wo Kizamu Uta). While My Soul, Your Beats is a good song, it lacks the emotional feel from these three songs. However, Brave Song conveys that feeling, which is the next song in the review.

Brave Song

Honestly, it took several listens for Brave Song to click in, but it has the feel of Chiisana Tenohira. It pretty much fits in with the whole premise of the show. The vocals from Toda Aoi seem to be a bit soft at first. After listening it a few times, it fits in well with the song although not as good as Lia. The strength of this song is the lyrics that can compare to Toki wo Kizamu Uta as it has emotions that’s not present in My Soul, Your Beats. Although most won’t get Brave Song from listening it to the first time, but after a few listens, it will click in. Maybe not like Go Go Maniac since I still can’t get over the screechy vocals from Toyosaki Aki.

By the way, Brave Song is the song that is played when the rocket goes off, which I found really strange.

Conclusion

From listening to both of these tracks, Jun Maeda should be proud that his Opening and Ending Themes are not ruined by mediocre vocals from marina and LiSA, but with more established singers. Lia delivered just like she alway do from all of her tracks I had listen to. Toda Aoi on the other hand isn’t as refined as Lia, but her performance of Brave Song turned out pretty good. Nevertheless, this is a solid single and is a recommended listen if you are watching Angel Beats or like Jun Maeda’s compositions.

Verdict

8.9/10, A-/B+, Outstanding

Read moreReview: My Soul, Your Beats / Brave Song Single
Category: Angel Beats!, ReviewsTag: final impressions, key, music, opinion

K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 7 – The Mio Fanclub Legacy

May 23, 2010 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

Beware, this episode has a lot of MugiVision…

I bet all those Mio fanboys are raving this after they had a tea party commemorating Mio.

Fangirls are fascinating creatures…

Fanboys and Fangirls are facinating creatures that seems to love and be so passionate what they like way too much. In real life however, these Fanboys and Fangirls can get so annoying to fan haters that the fan haters and the fanboys/fangirls go out on an all out war. In K-ON!!, they seem to not show that negative aspect. No matter how much those Mio fanboys want to be at the tea party, they can’t go since it’s an all-girls school.

Considering how popular Mio is after that pantsu Nice Bowl incident doesn’t help the fact that she is shy. Not only that, she generated a lot of fans that she thought they were stalkers…

Caught Red Handed!

In a past incident, the former student council president, Sokabe Megumi is actually behind the Mio Fanclub! No wonder she knows how to make tea! Also, Ritsu tried to add some Mugivision while Mio was telling about what happened with the Mio Fanclub which I found rather funny. Not only that, the whole club plays for Megumi before she graduates… and the club gets handed down to Nodoka although she doesn’t want to…

Megumi is the biggest Mio fangirl out there that she could surpass all those Mio Fanboys in real life. Not only that, she wants an autograph from Mio signed as Mio-tan… I laughed.

Now onward to the party:

Holy crap! Mio themed items!

The speech isn’t much of a speech with Mio biting her tongue, lips and also with someone saying Shish kabob that makes Mio laugh. Fangirls love it when they see her quirkiness.

Azu-nyan and Mio cutting the cake with embarrassment.

Fangirls are still squealing…. Not only that, the cake looks nice.

Ritsu and Yui is having a field day with this…

Although Mio doesn’t like Ritsu and Yui asking about scary stories…

The fangirls are… They will be satisfied with anything…

Not only, they take advantage of this by asking Mio embarrassing questions. Also, do I smell some Mugivision going around here

They look so cute… Also, why Ritsu is in every picture? It's her pictures, obviously…

When the fangirls look at the sideshow…

They are liking it.

Mio afterwards share a very strange poem that sounds like a love poem… ouch… Next, they play “Pure Pure Heart” which sounds really good, on the same level as Fuwa Fuwa Time from the last season. At least its better than the mediocre music I had listen from Girls Dead Monster…. Ugh… Not only that, the insert single is releasing in another week, so I will probably get a chance to review the full song. Will it be better than Fuwa Fuwa Time? We will find out soon.

When they take group pictures with Mio and the fangirls, Azusa sends a group picture to Megumi who can’t come to the party. Look at how much she grew in the last scene:

Oh look how much she changed after she graduated…

Girls grow more mature and beautiful once they graduate and enter their adult/college life. Also, the last scene as pretty heartwarming indeed… especially when she is the #1 fan of Mio… Take that Fanboys~

Even though I am not a Mio fanboy, I found this episode rather enjoyable… This episode pretty much done it for me along with Episode 4 and others. It makes me wonder… What will happen to the Mio Fanclub once Mio graduates? That will leave us speculating about it until the end of the season.

Verdict

8.9/10

Read moreK-ON!! Second Season – Episode 7 – The Mio Fanclub Legacy
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, fangirls, kyoani, moe, music

K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 6 – Rain Worries and Naming Instruments

May 14, 2010 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

I think I got a nosebleed here…

Yes, it’s rainy season and it sucks badly… April seems to be the month where it rains so much that you need to wear a raincoat or use an umbrella. Not only that, outdoor after school activities get canceled or put indoors because it is so wet out. There was a few occasions in my life where I stood out in the heavy rain for an hour. After going inside, I was all soaking wet, even when I have an umbrella and jacket on. Yui is the same way, trying to protect her Gitah. Getting wet by cars splashing water, puddles, a dog and falling down to the ground. This is a reason why Yui is wearing this maid outfit. I wished she kept it on since it looked so cute, but oh well…

Is this some kind of ritual?

This is a funny thing since hardly anyone would dry their clothes in the dark music room. Well, you have to put it somewhere so it could dry. However, Ui never broke the news that it was Yui’s and it left hilarious reactions on Azusa’s and Jun’s part.

You wonder where Azusa got this?

Azusa discovers online shopping where she bought various things for cheap such as a guitar raincoat that comes with a guitar desiccant, a wall mounting guitar hangar, finger trainer and a training CD. Azusa really loves to buy random things online. Buying online is usually beneficial as it costs less and you can buy items that is normally not sold in stores in the comfort of your home, but some might get too overboard and then have their place filled with unnecessary things lying around the house or apartment.

When Yui starts replacing the strings in her Guitar, the funniest scene happen when Azusa said that Yui shouldn’t talk so dearly to her Gitah every time. This makes everyone else think that Azusa is jealous of Yui and saying it is a love triangle. I laughed.

How she is going to take this off when inside?

Musical Instruments are very delicate and very sensitive to temperature and moisture. I know this because my Clarinet is made out of wood. However, I won’t go so far and wrap it with plastic and tape. It is pretty foolish because it’s hard to take off. This is why all the members decided to leave the instruments at school, but…

Yui misses Gitah.

There are some people that are emotionally attached to their musical instruments like with Yui. This is because Yui brings it home every day so that she can practice on it and even sleep with it! Normal people won’t do that with their instruments, unless they are like Yui…

Oh my! Mio is also naming her instrument.

There is some things in life that some people give names to… Computers, cell phones, instruments, Weighted Companion Cubes (no, I’m just kidding about the cube part)… you name it! I even name my computers and my iPhones after my favorite anime characters such as Fujibayashi Kyou on my Unibody Macbook Pro. Laugh of me if you want, but I am proud of it.

Yui suggests naming her bass “Elizabeth” which Mio refuses to call it by. However, Mio calls it “Elizabeth” by  the end of the episode, with the others peeking at her and giggling. Azusa also calls her guitar “Muttan.”

In the end, this was a pretty fun episode with the girls doing some funny stuff… To my surprise, what will Ritsu and Mugi name their instruments?

Verdict

8.7/10

Read moreK-ON!! Second Season – Episode 6 – Rain Worries and Naming Instruments
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, kyoani, moe, music

Review – Girls Dead Monster – Thousand Enemies

May 11, 2010 by Chikorita157 3 Comments

General Information

Album Title: Thousand Enemies
Artist: Girls Dead Monster (Singer: LiSA)
Catalog Number: KSLA-0052
Release Date: May 12, 2010

General Thoughts

The Crow Song Album and marina’s singing has proven to be mediocre because something was missing from the vocals… expression! As a result, the vocals sounded so dull and flat that it lessened the playing of these songs. If I were Jun Maeda, I would be crying in my sleep because the vocals ruined my music composition. With the new singer for Yui-nyan, do you expect a fangirl of Girls Dead Monster to sound better than the predecessor? I have to say that the vocals in this album sounds marginally better than the previous, but it is not perfect.

Thousand Enemies

If we compare the instrumentals from Crow Song and Thousand Enemies, there are some obvious differences. Crow Song had more energy, but not so good vocals. In Thousand Enemies, we have better vocals, but lacks that energy shown in Crow Song. So, there is a tradeoff here: more energy but not so good vocals or good vocals but lack of energy. Pick your poison! Also, I found something wacky with the vocals midway of the song (around 3 minutes in) in the following:

Mayotta toki ni ha kokoro no chizu wo atashi ni misete hoshii
Sore nara yukisaki sugu wakaru kara
Jibun ja wakaranai dake

Something doesn’t sound right with these lines. It seems that LiSA’s vocals for those phases went out of tune or something… Overall, it is a good sounding song, but not nearly as rememberable as Crow Song, despite the not so good vocals.

Rain Song

Rain Song sounds like a JPop Rock song. Comparison to Alchemy, this song seems to be more polished since we don’t have stuff like vocals going out of range. Like with Listen!!, they seem to play it safe after the big disaster they have with the vocals on the first single. Not perfect, but a good listen.

Highest Life

I can’t say that the albums aren’t consistent as it follows the pattern from the last single. Highest Life is a ballad but unlike My Song, this song is not an acrostic. Highest Life is a good song, but has flaws. In some instances, LiSA seems to go out of range for a few seconds, but not like marina, which seems to get the worse of the out of range vocals.

Overall, LiSA’s vocals seem to be a big improvement over marina’s mediocre vocals, but that is saying too much about the album. Comparing the instrumentals to Crow Song, the former had a lot more energy and excitement, but if we had better vocals, it would have given a better result. That excitement was simply not present in Thousand Enemies, but in return, we had better sounding vocals for the most part.

Lastly, I don’t get this… Why assign dedicated singers to these insert songs instead of using the voice actors? I’m guessing they want a professional to do it, but come on… you have to give them a chance!

Verdict

7.7/10, Good

Read moreReview – Girls Dead Monster – Thousand Enemies
Category: Angel Beats!, ReviewsTag: final impressions, key, music

Second Anime Audiosurf Competition – Spring 2010

May 9, 2010 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

With a good response to the last Audiosurf contest, I decided to hold another Audiosurf Competition since Spring Semester will be complete in a few days and now leaving time for more activities with the blogosphere.

Audiosurf, if you don’t know what it is, Audiosurf as the name describes is a music adapting puzzle game where you match blocks according to what music you are playing. There are different modes you can play with such as Mono where you collect only the colored blocks and avoid greys and Eraser where you match blocks, erase a certain color block and restore them later. This competition where we pick a few songs that all participants play on separate leader boards to see who have the highest score. With the last competition, we decide on what songs we should play in the competition. Now, I will up that to 4 songs. You don’t have to play all 4 songs, but it is best to play all 4 songs to have a better chance of winning. This time, I will allow the playing of the Elite level, but only with the puzzle characters. If you don’t own the game, Audiosurf is very affordable and can be get off Steam for $10… Sometimes it is on sale, so yeah.

In the Casual Tier, Mono only with Ironmode on because most casual players won’t know how to play the puzzle characters. Pro and Elite levels are Puzzle only, but I’m sure you will get the hang of them easily with Eraser being the easiest character.

In this competition, we will choose 4 songs either from Winter and Spring 2010 seasons. They can be insert or open/ending songs. No other songs outside from these seasons may be used. The voting process will end on May 20th and the competition will start on May 21st and last two weeks from that date. To avoid confusion on artists, make a copy of the song and rename the Artist to Spring 2010 Anime Audiosurf Competition so that we won’t have any conflicts with different artist names and such.

Read moreSecond Anime Audiosurf Competition – Spring 2010
Category: UncategorizedTag: audiosurf, music

Review – K-ON – Listen!!

April 28, 2010 by Chikorita157 2 Comments

This is the last of the Anime Music reviews for a while… until the Angel Beats! OP/ED comes out or some Insert Song Album shows up. Further ado, now onward to the K-ON!! ED Single Review, Listen!!

wpid-listen-cover-300x292-2010-04-28-21-32.png
General Information

Album Title: Listen!!
Artist: Houkago Tea Time (Toyosaki Aki, Hikasa Youko, Satou Satomi, Kotobuki Minako, Taketatsu Ayana)
Catalog Number: PCCG-70073
Release Date: April 28, 2010
Tracks

1. Listen!!
2. Our MAGIC
3. Listen!! (Instrumental)
4. Our MAGIC (Instrumental)
General Thoughts

It has been proven that Hikasa Youko is a better singer overall compared to Toyosaki Aki. Proven with the single, “Dont’ say lazy” that was released last year. Not only that, she managed to pull off Fuwa Fuwa Time pretty well and bring out a very fluffy and catchy song that brought out her character’s “cute” side. Does Listen!! delivers on that consistent quality the last two single albums have done after the disaster called “GO! GO! MANIAC.” We will find out soon enough.
Listen!!

Listen!! has energy, but not as much as the predecessor, “Don’t say lazy.” They seem to play it safe after the big disaster they had experimenting with GO! GO! MANIAC. The vocals are more present, similar to the style in “Don’t say lazy” and also, very catchy. Some may find the longer version better than the TV version… It is obvious that Hikasa Youko is a lot better than what I have seen with GO! GO! MANIAC.

Nevertheless, it was pretty damn close, but only a bit off of being just as good as the predecessor and is still a good addition for this season.
Our MAGIC

A bit slower than the last side and is more of a pop song that has a 60/70s feel as some people say. In contrast to the B-side from the “Don’t say lazy,” it is very different as it doesn’t have the rock feel. Our MAGIC is a very catchy song. As they say, this song sort of didn’t suit Mio’s character just like “Hello Little Girl” from Mio’s Character Album that released last year. Perhaps it could of suit Kotobuki Minako better, which had a pretty good singing voice from my experience… but I don’t know… Despite that, Hikasa Youko has done a pretty good job with this song.

Overall, Listen!! is definitely a better single album than GO! GO! MANIAC and a decent addition to K-ON!. It may not be on the same level as the predecesor, but it was pretty damn close. This pretty much proves Hikasa Youko is simply a better singer than Toyosaki Aki… As always, the animation of Listen!! is top notch just like “Don’t say lazy” from the first season.

And wait… Didn’t Hikasa Youko sing songs for Chu-Bra!! a long with Kotobuki Minako? Well, yes… of course. Although I didn’t heard any songs from that Anime since I have no interest in it, I’m positive that it is probably around the same level from my assumptions. I may be wrong, but oh well.
Verdict

8.5/10, Outstanding, but barely.

Read moreReview – K-ON – Listen!!
Category: K-ON!, ReviewsTag: music, opinion, review

Review – K-ON – GO! GO! MANIAC

April 27, 2010 by Chikorita157 4 Comments

wpid-02-300x291-2010-04-27-23-05.png
General Information

Album Title: GO! GO! MANIAC
Artist: Houkago Tea Time (Toyosaki Aki, Hikasa Youko, Satou Satomi, Kotobuki Minako, Taketatsu Ayana)
Catalog Number: PCCG-70071
Release Date: April 28, 2010
Tracks

1. GO! GO! MANIAC
2. Genius…!?
3. GO! GO! MANIAC (Instrumental)
4. Genius…!? (Instrumental)
General Thoughts

K-ON! in the first music had a very good amount of good pop music that sounded very good and very catchy. Did Go! Go! Maniac fulfill the promise to be better than the opening of the first season? Far from it since from first time listening to the TV version, it was a complete mess. However, does this album fixes that messiness. Not a chance… and you will find out soon enough.
GO! GO! MANIAC

Well, in comparison to Cagayake! GIRLS from the first season, GO! GO! MANIAC is two leaps backwards. The problem? The vocals are sadly a big mess. Toyosaki Aki’s vocals were a big mess compared to her first single, love your life, which sounded a lot better than this… The problem is that the messiness comes from the lyrics being sung way too fast and causing some squeakiness. I think the trend of Kyoto Animation providing not so good opening themes is becoming a reality since Suzumiya Haruhi S2’s opening theme, Super Driver, was also considered a disaster because of the not so good singing from Hirano Aya.

Oddly enough, taking the vocals away makes the song less cringing… but it doesn’t change the fact that the song was ruined by the vocals.
Genius…!?

Genius…!? sounds better than the former and Toyosaki Aki’s voice not nearly as bad, but fits in and pretty catchy. However, as with the overall horribleness of the opening song, this song simply doesn’t have the energy and sounds pretty simplistic.

From Toyosaki’s performance of these songs, the overall performance of the songs in the album was average. The problem is the opening song is obviously a big mess to make the song slightly unlistenable. I have heard a a lot better from Toyosaki Aki from the Houkago Tea Time Album and also Yui’s character Album. GO! GO! MANIAC did not deliver at all and was actually worse than the former OP in the first season. Even Toyosaki’s version of Fuwa Fuwa Time sounded better than this… Way better. From my impressions, it is clear that Hikasa Youko will perform better on the ending theme, Listen!! which I will review next time.
Verdict

7.2/10, Average

Read moreReview – K-ON – GO! GO! MANIAC
Category: K-ON!, ReviewsTag: music, opinion, review

Review – Girls Dead Monster – Crow Song Single

April 26, 2010 by Chikorita157 6 Comments

If the artist name doesn’t ring a bell, well don’t worry. This single obviously contains the insert songs in the Spring Anime, Angel Beats! that is currently airing. It surprised me on how early in the season it was released, but then again, the K-ON!! singles just released recently as well… Sorry if I’m not good at music reviewing. Probably Anime Instrumentality Blog will do it better?

wpid-album-300x284-2010-04-26-12-21.png

General Information

Album Title: Crow Song
Artist: Girls Dead Monster (Singers: Marina and LiSA)
Catalog Number: KSLA-0051
Release Date: April 23, 2010

Tracks

  • Crow Song
  • Alchemy
  • My Song

General Thoughts

The Album sounded fairly good, but it is not without flaws… Like with the music oriented K-ON! which had the characters playing with some rather good music, this is the same effect, but not perfect… Overall, the vocals were good for all the three song, except that the feeling in the vocals was somewhat missing or something as they sound a bit flat. I noticed this on all three tracks. If I compared this to Fuwa Fuwa Time or even Houkago Tea Time back in 2009, I think they done pretty close, except the flaws I mentioned.

Crow Song

This song is the insert song played in Episode 1. The overall song sounded really good and really like the instrumentals and had a lot of energy.

Alchemy

Alchemy is an album insert song. Although this song sounded good, but not as good as Crow Song as the energy wasn’t there that would make this song a bit forgettable. I think it would have sound better Live or something. It is sad that this one hasn’t been used in the Anime let.

My Song

This song is an insert song played in Episode 3 and it is a ballad. I haven’t watched Episode 3 yet, but it is a ballad. The song itself is powerful, and liked the acoustics. A bit better, but the vocals are still a little flat…

Overall, I think the instrumentals sounded really good because they are obviously composed by Jun Maeda which have made some really good music in past works. The only problem is with the vocals I mentioned earlier. While it is almost damn close to the K-ON! songs released last season, I think the flatness of the vocals is the problem I see here. If it wasn’t that flat, I think it would have done better…

Verdict

7.6/10, Good

Read moreReview – Girls Dead Monster – Crow Song Single
Category: Angel Beats!Tag: key, music, review

Anime and Japanese Music… and Favorite Artists

April 22, 2010 by Chikorita157 7 Comments
wpid-18648f0c31a0e0cb22fcd70d823533ae-300x240-2010-04-22-23-21.jpg
This is what I rather do than go to classes. :p

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)
…

Read moreAnime and Japanese Music… and Favorite Artists
Category: EditorialsTag: music, opinion

Sora no Woto – Episode 4 Thoughts and Impressions

January 26, 2010 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment
Someone seems to overworked themselves to be that tired.

Episode 4 mainly focuses more on Noel, the only character that isn’t a carbon copy from you know what and actually…

…

Read moreSora no Woto – Episode 4 Thoughts and Impressions
Category: Sora no WotoTag: A1 Pictures, aniplex, music, not moe

K-ON! – Episode 14 (OVA) Thoughts and Impressions

January 19, 2010 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment
Seriously, does this patch go on the case or what? Nope... 😮

This is a rather refreshing episode to get back on the K-ON! mood since after all, there is another season… Wait? Another season of K-ON! So, more cake eating and tea drinking, cosplaying and beach scenes than actual practicing?

Hold up… We are not there yet. They decide to do a live performance at a Live House, although Azusa and Mio doesn’t want to, but they give in. With their first time, Yui is so excited for it that yeah… her usual personality. Sticking the backstage sticker all over the place, asking for help with the performance sheet and other things that causes the viewer to have a moe~ nosebleed. They got too excited and nervous, that they messed up the first rehearsal, but with the help of the other bands, they got it just right for the live performance. Ui, her friend, Nodoka and also Sawako…

After their performance, they partied all night until midnight, where they slept.. They go see the sunset without Sawako and Yui notices that Azusa’s tiger ears were still on… Moe~~~~~

What? Azusa is still wearing the tiger ears?

Overall, besides the moe, this was a very enjoyable and fun episode… a thing that relieves stress from college work. If you contrast with Sora no Woto, I can see the difference clearly… K-ON! is moe~, Sora no Woto is not… and difference in character designs… So yeah… this should make most people excited for another season… yet it feels so nostalgic. Can I survive another season after watching this? YES I CAN!

Verdict

8.7/10

Read moreK-ON! – Episode 14 (OVA) Thoughts and Impressions
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, final impressions, kyoani, moe, music

The Music of K-ON! – It sounds so good!

August 27, 2009 by Chikorita157 2 Comments

Maybe K-ON! strongest point is not the story, but the music… With all the albums sold up to this date, 552,491 albums, about half a million are sold up to date since 5 months ago when the first two albums are sold… which is impressive compared to how many albums are sold in the time period for Suzumiya Haruhi in total (this should make the Haruhiists jealous)…

Here is the rough data of how much are sold:

Death Devil – Maddy Candy – 15464 total sales, #31 for the week
Don’t Say Lazy – 161163 total sales, #59 for the week
Cagayake Girls – 144909 total sales, #79 for the week
Hokago Tea Time – 100221 total sales, #37 for the week\

Fuwafuwa Jikan :  77804 total sales (current, was not in top 100)

Mio Character Single :  51897 total sales (current, was not in top 100)
Yui Character Single : 50196 total sales (current, was not in top 100)

Data is gathered from this thread and CDJapan.

The music is pretty much the strong point of the anime… Rarely, the ED doesn’t give that much attention, but Don’t say “lazy” became insanely popular after the first episode that many people like with Hare Hare Yukai started to imitate it or even try to play the piece. If you were to search on Youtube, you will find a good amount of people playing it or even MADs that have it.

Also, believe it or not, Cagayake! GIRLS is also popular as well… Although not as popular as the ED, it’s still pretty popular that some people plays it… In my opinion, both of them are just as good… I really don’t have much of the preference…

The next album is Fuwa Fuwa Time (Lit: Light and Fluffy Time) and there are two versions of it, the first with Hikasa Youko (Voice of Mio) and second with Toyasaki Aki (Voice of Yui). Fuwa Fuwa time pretty much brought out a lighter side of Mio, however, after hearing both of them, Yui’s version was a little bit better since her character suits her for that song alot more and in my opinion, on the same level as God Knows and Lost my music… Also in the Fuwa Fuwa Time album is Tsubasa wo Kudasai performed by all 4 voice actors of the K-ON! Club and sounds pretty good…

Next is the character image album… The only ones that I heard so far are Mio’s and Yui’s and most of the songs sound pretty good as well. The only song that didn’t fit well is “Hello Little Girl” in Mio’s Image Album, but still sound good… The favorite songs from both of these albums are Heart Goes Boom!! from Mio’s Image Album and Sunday Siesta and Guitar ni Kubittake from Yui’s album… They sound great… but I can’t give a final verdict on these since I haven’t heard the rest of the image albums (I expect that they will be good.)

Also, the recently released image album,Houkago Tea Time with the full versions of Watashi no Koi wa Hotch Kiss (lit. My Love is a Stapler) by Toyosaki Aki and also another song, Fude Pen ~Ballpoint Pen~ (lit. Calligraphy Pen ~Ballpoint Pen~) sung both by Yui’s and Mio’s voice actors… Also included is Yui’s version of Fuwa Fuwa Time as mentioned earlier. Both of these songs undoubtedly sounded great… but haven’t heard the live mix yet.

Overall, the K-ON! music is what make K-ON! what it is… Even if you think the story line might not be the strongest… you have to agree that the songs in K-ON! are pretty appealing… more so than Super Driver and Tomare! which is terrible or average sounding at best (Again, this opinion is not meant to offend Haruhiists. I have to agree that although Hirano Aya is a good voice actor, she isn’t a great singer, but some of Haruhi S1 songs are pretty good). The songs sound good that it ended up on the top ten on my Last.fm charts:

chikorita157’s Music Profile – Users at Last.fm copy

Note, Top 11 was added due to a duplicate.

chikorita157’s Music Profile – Users at Last.fm

Yes, I have to admit that I am also a big fan of I’ve Sound/Key Visual Arts stuff and also Lia… mainly because her songs sounded beautiful (Tori no Uta, Light colors and Toki wo Kizamu Uta).

Note: K-ON! soundtrack isn’t mentioned since it doesn’t really have anything that interesting and it will probably put me to sleep (more so than the Visual Novel BGM (like Kanon and others of sort), which is alot more exciting) and Kyoani isn’t great at making BGM.

Read moreThe Music of K-ON! – It sounds so good!
Category: K-ON!Tag: music, review

K-ON! (First Season) – Final Series Review

June 27, 2009 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

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Notice: This is a review of the first season of K-ON I have written two years ago, not on the second season. A full review of the second season will be written in the near future.

After watching all 13 episodes of K-ON!, it is probably the most enjoyable slice of life/comedy/music anime so far in the spring season. Despite some drawbacks in a few episodes, the content of the series is pretty good and paired up with better animation than Lucky Star, K-ON! Is probably the 2nd best Kyoani comedy/slice of life series behind the Haruhi series.

Content

K-ON! Anime adaptation is adapted from the 4 panel manga which two are published so far up to this date and still continuing. The story involves with a new freshman named Yui and don’t know what club to join. Meanwhile Ritsu and Mio wants to join the light music club, but since there is a lack of members, the club was almost about to be cut. Soon, Tsumugi, a high-class girl who owns a music shop joins after changing her mind about joining the chorus club. Then, After Yui saw a poster on the light music club, she decides to join, but not able to play the guitar. After she obtained the guitar, over time she got better at playing. Club activities usually involve having tea and cake after school and cosplaying by Sawako towards the middle of the season. Next year, Azusa joined the club and soon they perform at the 2nd festival and named the band “Afterschool Tea Time” (or something like that)
Although there were a few instances of the beach episode being complete rehashes, the most of the series were different and also enjoyable with good comedy. In some report, the anime series cover 90% of the manga, although some of the content is made up to fill in the missing parts like in Lucky Star, it’s still good.

Animation

The animation style of K-ON! Is a mix between Haruhi and Lucky Star, but K-ON’s animation was a lot more detailed compared to Lucky Star. However, the animation is lacking a bit and not up to the beautifulness of Kyoto Animation’s Air, Clannad, and Kanon remake and the awesomeness of Haruhi and FMP.

Characters

In K-ON! We have the four main girls, including two others who play a part later of the series and also the irresponsible teacher, Sawako-sensei who rather drink tea and also cosplay with other members.

Many will find who watched Lucky Star that the character designs are very similar with some exceptions. Ui, Yui’s younger sister who is a lot more mature than Yui and takes care of her and Azusa-chan, a Tsundere, but not that much… and have a very timid personality.

Lucky Star to K-ON! Character Comparisons (for comparison
sake):
Tsukasa -> Yui
Kagami -> Mio
Miyuki -> Tsumugi
Konata -> Ritsu

Music

Although some will find the background music somewhat bland, the performances are the selling point of K-ON! The performance music and the single albums of K-ON! sound outstanding although there are a few instances. Another thing is that the OP and ED sold over 100,000+ copies within a few weeks which means that it’s proved as a success.

Conclusion

K-ON! is a great, lighthearted slice of life/comedy series that most people who are a fan of slice of life/comedy series should watch. However, some naysayers continuously said that the series is horrible… which isn’t the point. K-ON! may disappoint some because it’s not like Beck which have music performances frequently also with some fights, but if you look for what it is and have a open mind, you may end up enjoying it. Although some may be bothered by the moe factor in K-ON, the moe don’t bother me nor I have praised it because it have moe. However, if you enjoyed Lucky Star, you will definitely have no problem enjoying K-ON! Like Lucky Star, some people might want another season… but with the fate of FMP so far, not for awhile.

Overall Rating:

8.8/10, B+

Read moreK-ON! (First Season) – Final Series Review
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, final impressions, kyoani, moe, music, review

K-ON! – Extra Episode Impressions

June 26, 2009 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment
You didn't realize that Mio is using a Macbook!
You didn't realize that Mio is using a Macbook!

K-ON! Extra episode pretty much gave the same results as the Haruhi S2 Episode 2, Endless Eight with various people in the light music club doing their things which caused Yui to wanted to make a hotpot all alone with her younger sister, Yui during winter vacation. This involves with Azusa-chan taking care her friends cat, Mugi getting a part time job, Mio going to the beach and try to make up lyrics for the next song and Ritsu babysitting her younger brother. IIn the second part, they started to have trouble and eventually Yui texted all of them on hotpot ingredients and her getting a reply. In the end, all of them meet up at the fast food restaurant.

The episode was enjoyable and also somewhat mediocre like the Endless Eight, but it was still not a bad episode as some naysayers make it out to be. However, this episode is a lot better than some of the Lucky Star episodes.

Verdict

8.5/10

Final review on the whole K-ON! Season will be posted in the next post.

Interesting Findings

The computer Mio is using is the White Macbook which is made by Apple. It seems that K-ON! have alot of product placement throughout the series. A comparison

K-ON-epbonus-scr2IMG_0138

Another finding is that Ritsu looks wierd with the bangs down.

She almost looks like Yui... with the bangs down
She almost looks like Yui... with the bangs down
Read moreK-ON! – Extra Episode Impressions
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, kyoani, moe, music

K-ON! Episode 10 Impressions

June 7, 2009 by Chikorita157 1 Comment

K-ON-Ep10-scr1
Azusa-chan ironicly having fun instead of practicing.

Since I’m two days late on the post, I won’t be doing a typical summary post and reaction… I’m just going to post my thoughts about this episode. The episode was alright and we learned more about Azusa’s “dere side” of Azusa’s personality, Episode 10 is a rehash of Episode 4 all over again with 20% more new content and differences from Episode 4. Yes, Mugi made the sandcastle again and Mio scared of barnacles… but what disappoints me the most is the lack of originality to Episode 4. What they should of done is make it a bit different and more interesting…. like have them actually practice more..

I pretty much agree with this author who pointed out the same thing to a certain degree…. Although I sorta enjoyed the episode, I was a bit disappointed to the above reason… they can do better than that… Yet”s hope the last three episodes don’t disappoint me towards the end of the season.

Verdict

8.3/10

Read moreK-ON! Episode 10 Impressions
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, kyoani, moe, music, tsundere

K-ON! Episode 9

May 29, 2009 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment
Cat ears on Azusa-chan is cute!
Cat ears on Azusa-chan is cute!

After Azusa-chan join the club, she finds that most of the members and the advisor of the light music club are laid back and don’t practice at all.
…

Read moreK-ON! Episode 9
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, kyoani, moe, music, tsundere

K-ON! – Episode 8

May 22, 2009 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

K-ON-ep8-scr1
The Light Music Club gains another member… a Freshman…

Yes, I guess this week is busy with the new Episode of Haruhi aired yesterday, but it doesn’t mean that K-ON! isn’t a enjoyable show because Haruhi just aired…
…

Read moreK-ON! – Episode 8
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, kyoani, moe, music

Midseason Report: K-ON!

May 9, 2009 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

4170755
Missing Artist Infomation: help us out!

Since K-ON have 7 more episodes left and we are in the middle of the report, I should give my overall reaction to all 6 episodes I have watched so far.

(click read more to read the full report)

…

Read moreMidseason Report: K-ON!
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, fangirls, kyoani, moe, music

K-ON! – Episode 6 – Nice Bowl Kyoani!

May 9, 2009 by Chikorita157 1 Comment

nicebowl
I just had to do it…
…

Read moreK-ON! – Episode 6 – Nice Bowl Kyoani!
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, kyoani, moe, music

Don’t be "lazy" ~piano ver~… with sheet music.

May 6, 2009 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

ca37465f7a4d91a7f1169d392244db3c

While browsing the internet, I found sheet music for Don’t be “lazy” at josh’s anime music collection (also I mentioned this on Twitter)… Although I can play piano, I’m still rusty since I haven’t played for awhile, so I always put the midi files into Garageband to see how it sounds like for real (not some crappy midi synthesizer)…

Don’t be “lazy” sounds just as awesome on the piano… and we know how insanely popular this song is… but I also want to share how it would sound like on the piano (screencast below):

If you really have the urge to play Don’t be “lazy” for weeks, just follow the link to the sheet music: http://bit.ly/16o0Zu

So what you think about K-ON’s music. Do you like it or not?

Read moreDon’t be "lazy" ~piano ver~… with sheet music.
Category: K-ON!Tag: music

K-ON! – Episode 5

May 1, 2009 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

k-onep5scr1-thumb
“Acting cute won’t solve anything!”
Sawako makes a debut… but have a strange past which the light music club members discovered and….

…

Read moreK-ON! – Episode 5
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, kyoani, moe, music

K-ON! – Episode 4

April 24, 2009 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

k-on-ep4-scr1-thumb

Here comes the obligatory beach scene!

Episode 4 is a pretty enjoyable episode… More after the jump.

…

Read moreK-ON! – Episode 4
Category: K-ON!Tag: comedy, kyoani, moe, music
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