Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials
Two weeks later, I have finally returned from my rather long vacation after traveling over 3000 miles in the car! While the activity on my blog took a slight nosedive, I have enjoyed my time and now feel refreshed.
Coincidently, I watched the beach episode today with the girls and Producer going on a one-day vacation to relax from the blistering heat amongst the lack of air conditioning. As you expected, it’s time for fanservice!
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In effort to make the girls of 765 Productions more noticeable, they appear on a wacky Iron Chief-like show with a crazy frog host. While it seemed fun for Haruka, Hibiki, and Takane, Chihaya wasn’t pleased with the lack of singing at the event.
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We are getting close to the middle of summer and I find myself wanting to watch another show. So I decided to take another look at THE iDOLM@STER, a show that has nothing to do with robots, but a more faithful adaptation of a popular idol raising simulation game. (Image Source)
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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).
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I know most of the people wanted a formal review of the opening single “Connect” by ClariS… So, I worked hard during the last two weeks to get the review perfect. Hopefully you will enjoy my review of the single.
(Also, post your comments at Anime Instrumentality Blog.)
(Image Source)
I have told everyone that Rio: Rainbow Gate is a really bad show not because of the fanservice, but the complete randomness. If the overall premise of the show is horrible, how about the music? Besides the opening theme, I took a look at the ending theme sung by ULTRA-PRISM, whom also created the Ika Musume OP. Sadly, “Miracle Chance” did not live up to my expectations since it felt so dull that it would put me to sleep. After reviewing it, I have absolutely no motivation to listen to the opening with the assumption that it would be absolutely mediocre too.
Next time, I’m going reviewing a good single instead of reviewing bad ones… Perhaps Kalafina’s Magica or something that would be enjoyable to review.
(Also, post your comments at Anime Instrumentality Blog.)
Besides the second season of K-ON, which I will be covering in a future Anime Moments post, there was an OVA that released in the first season. Basically, the Light Music Club decides to do a live house performance, which they are very excited about. They met many girl bands they haven’t heard before and had lots of pleasurable time with them. (Image Source)
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As you might know already… I loved “MOON SIGNAL,” which is one of the best openings in the Fall 2010 Anime Season. This review only took a few hours to write since there wasn’t that much to nick picking compared to the previous singles such as MM! OP review and K-ON! 2 Yui Character Single. While “MOON SIGNAL” remains the best song out of sphere, “Now Loading… SKY!!” remains my second favorite. Also, the B-side in “Now Loading… SKY!!” is a bit better than “Climax Whistle.” So enjoy the review of “MOON SIGNAL” and be sure to share your thoughts about the single at the Anime Instrumentality Blog.
(Comments are disabled in this post… Make your comments in the actual review. Image Source)
Fall 2010 still has a myriad of good and enjoyable Fall 2010 songs so far. Unfortunately, there only a few I really wanted to review in depth. Nevertheless, I still want to share my thoughts about them. [1. Image Source]
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As the Fall 2010 heads to its midpoint, its time to take a look of some Anime Music I decided to try out. Besides the MM! opening single I reviewed at Anime Instrumentality Blog, the other singles I tried out was pretty good. This is why I would like to share my brief thoughts about them. [1. Original Image]
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When you have an Anime that has masochism written all over it, you can expect that the songs would be a masochistic experience…
From listening to the songs, Taketatsu Ayana is a really bad singer. This makes Hirano Aya’s and Toyosaki Aki’s singing sound 2x better! It’s like mixing two of the horrible pop singers (Lady Gaga and Katy Perry) and have a song that is a pile of crap.
Then again, it was not horrible enough to make the song unlistenable. It had some redeeming factors if you take out the vocals. I think this single could be considered as “So Bad Its Good.” Yes, the singing from Ayana is horrible and the electronica is out of place in the second track, but it was slightly enjoyable as receiving pleasure from masochism. I just can’t take my eyes off of it unlike Sae’s Ending from Amagami SS, which had nothing redeemable whatsoever.
So, enjoy this masochistic review of this single… and it’s just in time for Halloween! I will probably make another review on “Moon Signal” in a few weeks.
MM OP Review at Anime Instrumentality Blog (Make your comments over there, not here.)
Original Image Source
After the final performance from the four girls that left Azu-nyan in tears, we are now left with the Extra Episodes.
The extras are what you expect if you watched the last season; they are fun and enjoyable stories to look at. The first extra involves the Light Music Club producing another promotional video since the last one is shoddily done. The second involves a visit to Sawako’s apartment to get her approval on the final copy of the yearbook. In addition to visiting her, they made dinner and done the laundry while she recovers from the cold.
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Since the girls in K-ON!! finally graduated from their high school, I decided it would be fun to review the most popular girls’ character sing, Hirasawa Yui sung by Toyosaki Aki.
This review was a bit different experience compared to my previous reviews. Reviewing music singles are not easy as it looks since you have to convey what you heard into words. Even though I have a musical background, it took me some time to get it right. So, if you are interested, you can read the review by following the link below.
Read it at Anime Instrumentality > (Discussion about this single is done in this post only)
For those who are wondering, I will be contributing more reviews in the future (as in the coming months). These may include:
I will not review any more Girls Dead Monster singles/albums since they really suck and I don’t want my ears bleed more.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by ぽにし。
I have to admit, it was a pretty emotional episode as the four girls are finally graduate and leaves their school behind for college. In addition, it was quite funny for Yui to hide the gift from Sawako to give for appreciation. This pretty much makes her worry about Yui a lot during the graduation ceremony. In the end, it seems that she loves the gift she receives from her students a lot.
As for Azusa, she has not gotten over the graduation anxiety and she broke down towards the end. Yui gives her some mementos (the four girls freshman picture and a five petal flower) to her. Afterwards, the four girls played a “thank you” song to Azusa with the four girls singing. It was one of the best songs in addition to U&I. It was emotional and a happy song that pretty much marks the happy continuation of the friendship even though Azusa still has a year left in high school. After they played the song, they do an encore and it sends happily ever after.
I have to admit; K-ON is probably the most emotionally happy comedy slice of life ever. Forget the haters, I enjoyed and liked it since it brought nostalgia when I was having fun with my friends in high school. It even surpasses Lucky Star over its random comedy. K-ON in my opinion shows the good and simplest things in life, friendship and living life to the fullest. It’s also fully evident in another familiar slice of life show. I’ll keep that a secret. :p
Next Episode: Time for Azusa to get some new recruits… Final Review will be written after I watched the second Extra Episode.
10/10
9.45/10, A, Masterpiece.
Two singles, two times the trouble. The question is, will well they fare against the last Amagami SS single I reviewed? Let’s find out!
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Album: Anata Shika Mie nai (Literal Translation: You’re the Only One I Can See)
Artist: Konno Hiromi,Oomori Toshiyuki
Release Date: September 15, 2010
Catalog Number: PCCG-70093
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It has been nearly two months since Angel Beats have ended and after listening to the whole Angel Beats OST, I was impressed by how surprisingly well ANANT-GARDE EYES and Jun Maeda songs sounded. I mentioned this since there was a discussion about the composition of the soundtrack a while back on Twitter between me, zzeroparticle and Aorii that happened last week over how long it took to compose the music for Angel Beats, which was rumored to be 3 days. Because of the discussion, I brought up the fictional school band, Girls Dead Monster since it could explain why the songs sounded so lackluster because of the composition and the vocals. The responses I got is that the songs would sound better in the Anime opposed to just listening it as a lone track and that Jun Maeda isn’t exactly cut out to make pop songs that involves guitars.
After watching the last performance of HO-KAGO TEA TIME at the School Festival in Episode 20, it have gave me some thoughts about Angel Beats’s Girls Dead Monster and if they really can compare to K-ON’s HO-KAGO TEA TIME in regards to vocals, composition and its message, which will be discussed in this opinion piece.
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Surprisingly, time goes by very quickly when you are having fun with friends. After all, four of the girls are seniors and they had to perform their greatest to make the memory last forever. From the three festival performances, this is probably the best out of three and was pretty heartwarming. Some observations:
The sad realization is that it’s their last year they would be performing in front of the crowd. We know that good things have to come to the end, but never let go of the fond memories they had with each other. As we let the festival go away in the sunset, we should realize that K-ON is not all about girls doing cute things or eating cake and drinking tea. Its all about friendships, which is one of the simple things in life. Most people might have even gone through this feeling after graduating from High School or College and leaving old friends behind. In the end, as the girls did in this episode, we should remember the times we had fun with our old friends and never let them fade away…
Next Episode: Time for the Yearbook pictures!
9.5/10
After listening to the Angel Beats Original Soundtrack, I wondered about the other Original Soundtracks from other previous Key works like Kanon, Air and Clannad. After extensively listening to them, the three soundtracks had different styles between them and obviously completely different from the synth dominated tracks in Angel Beats.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by さとPON
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Since zzeroparticle and ETERNAL reviewed the Original Soundtrack very nicely, I don’t feel the need to review the whole soundtrack over again. However, I do feel that I need to share my overall “too long, don’t read” thoughts about the whole soundtrack because it sounded so good.
I do have to admit, even though the plot of Angel Beats and Girl’s Dead Monster’s songs are a big mess, the Angel Beats Orginal Soundtrack does not disappoint. The big surprise that everyone doesn’t seem to notice is that the synth songs. Although they have the Jun Maeda style, they are actually composed and performed by a synth group called “ANANT-GARDE EYES.” Most of these synth songs primarily sound like video game music, primarily music from role playing games like Final Fantasy for example. The video game style music fits pretty well with the overall setting of Angel Beats since it’s a virtual reality purgitory afterall.
From the whole soundtrack, my heart, my most precious treasure, kanade, Ichiban no Takaramono (Orig. Version) and theme of SSS stands out the most. I will pretty much discuss the mentioned songs on why they sound better than the other songs in the soundtrack and my overall thoughts about the soundtrack as a whole.
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Imagine that your club room, gym or field became unusable because of some accident or rare occurrence. You have an important event happening in a few day and need to practice or you won’t perform well. You soon find out that the other rooms are being occupied by other club activities that are preparing for the same event… Then what? The same exact occurrence happens to the Light Music Club and they really need to practice to prepare for the festival.
Since when the Light Music Club ever practiced? Every time I see them, they are drinking tea and eating cake… They will do fine, except in this instance…
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Let’s play some games!
They decide to go to a Summer Festival before hitting the training camps… and guess what? Sawako had 6 tickets!
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Sawako is under pressure because she wants to keep her pure image around the freshmen. However, the former members of “Death Devil” want her to participate in playing music at a wedding reception since the bride thats getting married used to be part of the band. Sawako refuses and the Light Music Club devises a plan to eventually force her to play.
You might be wondering how well they will perform without Sawako. We will find out soon enough.
In the last season, Sawako revealed that she had a wild past because the boy she wanted liked wild girls. However that pretty much backfired as she went too far and he rejected her. If she was so talented, why she stopped now? It’s because purity and hardcore death metal does not mix.
Wait… Haven’t I seen something like this before?
When I saw the girls in K-ON spying on Sawako, I thought about Nogizaka Haruka Episode 4 when they were spying on Hazuki. In the the first half of the episode is focus on following this one person. It was the same, except it was a lot shorter and the girls got caught as you will find out.
The funniest thing that happen when the girls were spying on Sawako? The short, light brown hair woman noticed them all along.
In the end, Yui cries because she spent the most amount of money. It happens because sometimes, we want the best and the greatest that we sometimes spend too much money.
By the way, that girl… isn’t she…
Actually, she is a nice person. Her name is Norimi and she finally tells them what is going on. She wanted Sawako to play with the former members of Death Devil at a wedding, but Sawako declines. It’s pretty difficult since Sawa-chan had image problems.
This scene is probably the funniest scene in the whole episode. Passing notes during class is somewhat typical when students are up to no good. Mugi passed notes to Mio. then to Yui and Ritsu. The reactions from Yui and Ritsu is hilarious. Yui says that Mio’s handwriting is cute and Ritsu draws some scary shit that would make Mio laugh. The response is pretty obvious. Sawako catches them and they get time out in the hallway as Mugi had wished for…
Usually, standing in the hallway is a punishment like shitting in a corner… It’s so elementary, yet the girls make standing in the hallway a fun punishment. I highly doubt it will happen in real life, but it was pretty funny.
Now that they were unable to get Sawako to participate, they help Norimi and dress outlandishly…
Whose idea was this? Well, of course, Norimi’s!! You know when something doesn’t feel right, but you don’t want to blow your image, but you have to do something… Sawako flips, went on stage and started to play. She blew everyone’s expectations away on Death Devil. After performing, she realizes that she had done it and her image is completely ruined!
In the end, I knew that the girls couldn’t pull it off because it’s not their type of music. It seems that they do better with fluffy J-pop music instead of metal and I don’t blame them. Some people are simply better at a niche than others.
Well, I guess Sawako would be popular either way, so it’s no use of holding what you like most back. Sawako shouldn’t be so worried about the past because she is so talented. People change and grow up once they graduate in high school. The students aren’t going to make fun of her just because her past. Heck, they might even be amazed about it. Lastly, people look up to others who are talented, so she take advantage of that. If she does, she will remain a good role model.
Next Episode: It’s so freaking hot… can’t move… Yep, summer is in full force and you might be wondering… Where is the Air Conditioning?
8.9/10
Album Title: Little Braver
Artist: Girls Dead Monster (Singer: LiSA)
Catalog Number: KSLA-0055
Release Date: June 6, 2010
If you haven’t heard enough of the rather mediocre music from Girls Dead Monster, there is more! A few weeks back, there was a promotional video on Little Braver, but I didn’t take a look at it because I don’t want to go and spoil it. Several weeks later, the single is released. Have LiSA improved her rather mediocre and rather forgetful performance of the “Thousand Enemies” single? It’s only slightly better, but I am still not convinced if it’s good enough. LiSA seems to sound good on the lower notes, but she still goes slightly out of tune in some areas. Not as bad as Thousand Enemies, but that is saying too much about it. The songs are still pretty forgettable and made me wish that they had better singers singing these songs…
Little Braver is the song that was shown in the promotional video. It starts off with a calm intro and when LiSA enters. This is where the good composition gets drown out by the mediocre vocals. It does sound slightly better than Thousand Enemies, but it’s slowly goes downhill from there. The songs feel pretty dull and the higher pitches like with the previous album sounds slightly ever out of tune. Not only that, Little Braver is pretty forgettable several minutes after. Little Braver is an okay song, but it doesn’t try to go beyond the mediocrity of Girls Dead Monster.
The intro of Shine Days sounds pretty well like the intro to Alchemy and it’s a pretty upbeat song. This is probably the best song out of the whole single, but it’s hardly perfect. It still have several flaws like the slightly out of tune pitches on the higher octaves and it’s slightly dull. It’s an okay song, but still forgettable like the rest of the songs LiSA has sung. It’s worth mentioning that at 4:30, her vocals are barely audible…
Lastly, we have Answer Song, which is probably the most disappointing song out of the whole album. The performance of the song felt a bit messy and somewhat dull. I don’t feel any energy in this song, except mediocre singing that could put me to sleep. Probably the worst song I heard from LiSA.
I don’t know what they are getting at by not letting the seiyuu sing! I’m pretty sure Eri Kitamura and Miyuki Sawashiro are fully capable of singing, but no! Lets pick two amateur singers that doesn’t necessarily represent Japanese Indie scene and fuck up all 9 songs! Thats how I feel about the whole Girls Dead Monster thing and it’s a big disgrace. Jun Maeda does a wonderful job in composing these songs and these singers go out and ruin the work he worked hard for. It’s just like making a good game with good game play, story and graphics and the orchestra go and fuck the music up. Like I mentioned in my rant in the last paragraph of my Pure Pure Heart single review, they choose singers that can’t sing properly and resulted in the mediocre and disappointing performance of these songs. Girls Dead Monster will never reach the appeal of Houkago Tea Time because their songs continue to have flaws with the vocals, which make them rather forgettable. Houkago Tea Time is simply more polished, sounds better and the vocals don’t go out of tune so many times that it makes me cringe.
Not only that, there is more Girls Dead Monster singles that is coming out and what can you expect out of them after hearing the first 9 songs? More disappointment. They are making a mockery out of Girls Dead Monster and milking it what its worth from the hype. Believe me, My Soul, Your Beats!/Brave Song sounds like heaven compared to the mediocrity of all the Girls Dead Monsters songs combined.
7.0/10