Comments (9) Trying to go through every single thing in my backlogged anisong list on a single post seemed an impossible task, so splitting it into two seems like the perfect solution – soundtracks get to go first. Unfortunately trying to mass review a dozen or so OSTs at one go means I won’t go into too much detail on any of them.
I loooooooooooovvvvvveeeeeee Mizuki Nana since 4 years ago. Let’s see how this album fares
Continue reading '*Crash Bang Boom* An extremely brief Impact Exciter Review by townberry'»
The most anticipated release of the year for many a seiyuu/anisong fan has leaked all over the internets ahead of its 07/07 release. I really wasn’t planning to listen or review it before the date itself but after prodding from various corners for my opinion (I don’t even know what it’s worth, really), now’s as good a time as any…especially given that I’m not planning to procure a physical copy for myself.
Continue reading 'Whizzing through Mizuki Nana’s IMPACT EXCITER'»
Nakajima Megumi (Mamegu for short henceforth) is one of those Marmite seiyuu, with as many haters as there are fans. It’s remarkable to note that she has the second-highest number of anti threads on 2ch (after Hirano Aya), especially when she’s been in the business for less than 3 years. The usual ゴリ押し (forcefully promoting & pushing) accusations that plague people like Aya and Tomatsu Haruka have generated a lot of ill-will towards her – as they say, the more popular the person is, the more haters they have.
I myself am fairly netural on Mamegu – I was never into Macross so all the insults tended to fly unnoticed over my head. Still, her musical output since Ranka has been uneven in terms of quality so I went into I love you not really knowing what to expect. Time to find out how the album fares, methinks.
Miss this column much? Honestly, I’ve not been digging anime music lately – all I’ve been hearing is cartload after cartload of rubbish, songs bereft of ideas & originality (lol anisong + original = does not compute?). Instead, I’ve spent most of the intervening time immersing myself in records from old and new favourites – Goldfrapp, school food punishment, Two Door Cinema Club, Soutaiseiriron, Amy Macdonald, Jónsi, Salyu, Midlake, Sakanaction and Massive Attack. They’re all good in their own way, but I guess I’m not going to talk about that when I have a separate (& neglected) music blog for that purpose.
So what to make of the anisong scene at the moment? From this current spring season, it seems the themes I like most are all mainstream pop/rock songs – Yakushimaru Etsuko’s pair of songs for Arakawa UB & Yojohan, ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D’s new opening for Durarara!! and Galileo Galilei’s Natsuzora for Oofuri season 2. I think the only ‘traditional’ theme I ended up liking was the WORKING!! opening with its ska stylings and fun ONE!ONE!SOME ONE ONE! refrain.
Otherwise it’s been more miss than hit, though that’s not to say that the last few months were a total write-off. There are a couple of things worth highlighting:
With 5 singles released over a one-and-a-half year period, Tomatsu Haruka’s debut album Rainbow Road finally arrives. Not sure that anybody’s really paying attention apart from the hardcore fans (such as yours truly) though, since her popularity within the Music Ray’n circle probably ranks second to that of the K-ON!-crest-of-wave-riding Toyosaki Aki.
And so Chihara Minori’s fourth album is here. Generally my expectations for Minorin’s music are set rather low since I’ve already been burned too many times, watching her lurch from disco to high-octane dance-pop to bubbly galge with confusing results. Even so, I’m a fan of her voice and personality so each new release is approached with typical optimism.
The first thing you’ll notice when you look at Sing All Love’s credits list is the fact that Elements Garden wrote/produced less than half of the tracks, with more of Lantis’ favoured songwriters on hand to help out this time around. This may or may not be a good thing depending on which type of Minorin fan you are, those who liked her from the Tenjou Tenge/HEROINE days (meaning you’ll have heard the worse of her pop days) or those who came on board after Haruhi (those weaned on her EleGa material). Will the move to shake things up pay off? We’ll find out.
Continue reading 'Spinning: Chihara Minori’s Sing All Love'»
Panorama Theme by 
Themocracy
