#and yes they are in fact singing the Japanese lyrics in the song perfectly

[turquoisephoenix]

Let's gather around the campfire and sing our campfire song...

I just had to draw Gummigoo and the syrup bandits. Their designs and existential crises really spoke to me.

[elizadraws]

Bulgarian Music in Studio Ghibli films

”Myth has it that Orpheus was born in what is now Bulgaria. It seemed to be fact, not myth, that his daughters are still singing there”

These words were written by the New York Times in the remote 1963 — the year in which the largest Bulgarian folk ensemble crossed the Iron Curtain to conquer an entire continent with its cosmic art.

The 1975 release of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, a compilation album of modern arrangements of Bulgarian folk songs, further popularized Bulgarian music, and in 1977, a vinyl record featuring the folk song “Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin” (Eng: Come out rebel Delyo) began its journey aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts.

From this point on popularity from the West spread to the East, and Bulgarian folk music made it to the entertainment industry, including legendary Japanese anime films, like the cult cyberpunk “Ghost in the Shell” or the heartwarming Studio Ghibli features.

In this short article I write about two occasions of Bulgarian music playing in Studio Ghibli’s films.

The record that inspired the creation of “Only Yesterday”

“Only Yesterday” is a 1991 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata, based on the 1982 manga of the same title by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. Set in rural Japan, the film draws parallels with the peasant lifestyle present in Eastern Europe.

The original work is a compilation of short stories about 11-year-old Taeko’s daily life in 1966. Director Takahata had a hard time making it into a movie since the manga, told in the form of a memoir, has no plot to hold a feature. Together with producer Toshio Suzuki, they came up with the solution of bringing the narrator of the story, adult Taeko, into the movie. But there is a curious anecdote about how this idea came to mind.

Taeko picks safflower as the Bulgarian song “Malka moma dvori mete” plays in the background. © Studio Ghibli

In a 2021 interview with students from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, producer Suzuki recounts how a record of Bulgarian songs performed by the children choir “Bodra Smyana”, introduced to him by director Takahata, inspired the creation of the movie. Moved by the cosmic voices of the children, they decided to make “Only Yesterday” a musical. He also recalls what a tiring process it was to acquire the rights to the music, but if you’ve seen the movie, I am sure you will agree that it was worth it; the haunting, beautiful songs with the pastoral images of farmers picking flowers contribute to one of the greatest scenes created in cinema.

Producer Suzuki showing the record that inspired the creation of ”Only Yesterday”. Source: Studio Ghibli’s Twitter

In “Only Yesterday”, we can hear two songs from the album Bulgarian Polyphony I by Philip Koutev Ensemble. The upbeat “Dilmano Dilbero” [Eng. beautiful Dilmana] sets a happy mood as the protagonist gets changed and ready to go on the field. As the scene shifts and Taeko starts narrating a sad story about the girls in the past picking safflower with their bare hands, the song and mood shift as well.

While the first song has a fast rhythm, with lyrics about pepper planting that can also be interpreted figuratively, the second one, “Malka Moma Dvori Mete” [Eng., a little girl sweeps the yard], is a ballad about a young girl who is forced into marriage but has never known true love.

Both compositions sing about life-cycle events like marriage and the regular coming of the harvests, with lyrics perfectly fitting the setting and plot of the movie, which makes me wonder if the filmmakers chose them by chance or if they had someone translate the words.

Bulgarian Cosmic Voices Enchanting Howl

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, loosely based on the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones. Set in a fictional kingdom the movie draws inspiration from various places in Europe. One of them being Bulgaria.

The story focuses on a young girl, named Sophie, magically transformed into an old woman, and a self-confident but emotionally unstable young wizard, Howl, living in a magical moving castle.

A sketch of a Star Child. Source: The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle

If you’ve seen the movie, you surely remember the scene when Madame Suliman ambushes Howl and tries to strip him of his magic powers. Star Children encircle him and his companions; their shadows grow big, dark and intimidating. They start dancing and chanting unintelligible magic words and are almost successful in their devilish act.

This scene, together with the music played in the background, have been a favourite of many fans of the film. Some even recount it giving them nightmares when they were children.

Star Children encircle Howl in an attempt to strip him of his magic powers. © Studio Ghibli

It turns out, however, that these aren’t any incantations, but the lyrics of a folk song. In Bulgarian. And a love song! Contrary to popular belief, the lyrics have nothing to do with magic and are actually about a boy taking his sweetheart, Dona, to the market to buy her new clothes. The excerpt used in the movie is very short and a bit altered from the original, but the words used go like this: Trendafilcheto, kalafercheto, Done mamino, translated as “the rose, the costmary, my darling Dona”.

I am planing a follow up article where I will post the translated lyrics together with a brief explanation on how they are related to the movies.

If you want to comment on or add something, I would love to hear!

Source

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Hey! It's me again. Wanted to respond in a comment cause I don't have much to add but it's slightly too long so here we are lol.

(About boku and ore in MeMe) My problem with this is that, as far as I can tell, ore isn't ever used in the songs, and the "I'm (boku) already the fake one" lyrics does make the most sense to me being Akakoto. I unfortunately don't have enough Japanese to argue much on this point, though; curious, does anyone know if Akakoto uses ore in the audio drama? As far as I knew the ore/boku thing wasn't apparent to the audience until the start of Trial 2, but that could be wrong.

This is the question I wanted to answer; yes, I think Akakoto uses ore in the first Voice Drama. I hear it twice when he starts attacking Kotoko. Maybe an ear test contrasted with subtitles by someone who doesn't know Japanese isn't the greatest, but I think it's pretty clear in the lines:

M (Aka): One like the other... You're pissing me (ore) off!

M (Aka): Don't fucking mess around with me (ore)!

It probably wasn't as clear when we had less lines, but it was still there. And I do think he would use ore in the songs. As I said, I think the Double sample might include it. I don't see why one song would follow the rules and the other wouldn't.

The point I was getting at there is that the line doesn't work with Aokoto; if the pronouns are consistent then it can't be Akakoto either; therefore what makes the most sense (to me) is a third alter, one which has more knowledge of the system than Aokoto but still uses boku. Therefore, Midokoto makes the most sense. Especially because again, this "boku pronoun + line that doesn't work with Aokoto" thing also happens in the shower and bath scenes.

Since I'm here I might as well talk about some other things.

When they said Mikoto and Kotoko "drew," I didn't really think of it as meaning they were actually equally matched in a fight, necessarily. If Mikoto were able to evade or something, that'd work. Besides, they say it was a draw, but Mikoto's clothes are pretty tattered and Kotoko has no injuries as far as I can tell, so I at least don't think it's perfectly even.

Fair, I guess, though I always felt a fight was more implied. Both from the wording ("Kotoko attacked him and they had a real dogfight" - Jackalope), the visuals used, the fact Kotoko ended up somehow biting off part of a strap from Mikoto's uniform, and the fact it's sorta implied that happened while Aokoto wasn't fronting, and I don't see Akakoto just evading, so Midokoto goes back to making the most physical sense. Though like you said, "evenly matched" is perhaps giving the Mikoto alter a bit too much credit :v

The UNDERCOVER English translation used to be entirely different!

Oh! Yeah, I think I had seen someone mention something like that, but I didn't fully know what it meant. Thank you for informing me!

(Also, [the Undercover] line uses boku, if you're curious. Makes sense considering that it's pretty clearly supposed to be Aokoto talking.)

... I thought... I thought Es was singing? /j Yeah the line's wording is very much Aokoto.

(About the reflection motif)

Yeah, this is personal opinion. I think it still works as "Aokoto and Akakoto are opposites/reflections and Midokoto's just kinda there", but I see why it may feel a bit unsatisfying.

I don't know how I would explain the three spreads in Twokoto theory. I guess the first two would be for Aokoto and Akakoto, and the third one would be for Mikoto as a whole? Not a great argument, but it's hard to theorize about it without actually going into the meanings of those spreads, which again, I don't really have enough knowledge of tarot to do properly.

You say this like tarot is an exact science lol.

I guess that's a possibility, but like you said, we probably would have to look at the spreads a bit closer. Which I will, in that MeMe analysis I swear I'll finish writing some day.

(The door thing)

Oops. Yeah, my bad. I saw someone mention the "Double x3" thing somewhere, checked if it was true, but forgot to check the other doors. That one's on me.

I personally see it more as "I'm Double (MeMe)", meaning I am two (MeMe). Putting them together just means you're doubling the fact that you're saying there are two. I can totally see it going either way, though, and I think we'll have to wait for the Double drop on that one.

Nice one! Yeah same, both interpretations work.

(But if you double MeMe, what you get is MeMeMeMe which is four and this means- /j)

Anyways, that's the final things I wanted to add. Thanks for the response again! Take care!

Hello! If it’s okay, I’d like to know your thoughts on the Trikoto theory (3+ alters). I think it’s a cool theory! And pretty likely, honestly. (Here’s a document about it in case you don’t know what I’m talking about. I didn’t make it, and I unfortunately don’t know who did, I just found it in another blog)(I really hope that link works lol)

Hey FF! I was wondering when you might send something in. Not the topic I expected, but I'm here for it!

I've definitely heard of this theory before. I can't say I know for sure where it originated, but I've always been under the impression that a blog called @bertrandcaillet started it as they're the first one I saw talk about that theory and they told me about it a while ago. They've since deactivated, though, so I can't really check with them to see if that's true.

I think the trikoto theory is interesting, and I fully agree with what's said on the document about how it would be nice if Milgram is showing a system with more nuance than just having two alters.

That being said, I personally don't believe this theory for a number of reasons. I'm going to do my best to explain why here. I do want to say going into this that while I do have extremely minimal psychology teaching (as in, undergrad psyc MINOR), I do not claim to be that educated on DID or similar struggles. So, anything that I say will be focusing much more on Milgram as a piece of media from a writing standpoint, because that's what I have much more extensive experience in.

I will say that I am very aware that most systems have more than 2 alters. That being said, I think I also remember from my psyc class that the average number is, like... 16? I'm not at my dorm right now and that's where my notes are, so I can't check, but I remember specifically thinking about it in the context of Mikoto and trikoto theory, so I'm pretty confident it's Above Three. That means that either way, it's not like we're doing The Most Common Number, so I think two versus three is largely irrelevant on that point.

For the sake of clarity, I'll be using the names in the doc (Akakoto, Midokoto, Aokoto), but I only personally believe that two of them (Akakoto, Aokoto) exist. I've taken to calling them Orekoto and Bokuto, but for this post, Akakoto and Aokoto it is.

At its base, my problem with trikoto theory is that I don't see a lot of evidence for it. Most of what I've seen has been talking about the implications of it if you assume it's true, but I've just never really been convinced in the first place. I'll just go through some of the main reasonings real quick:

The RGB Colors

I do acknowledge that I'm very much not a visually oriented person, so the color shifting is something I'm less inclined to notice. However, while the background of the room is blue and the train station and apartment are pretty green, I don't feel like there are ever really any red backgrounds (other than when the headspace becomes red as ooposed to blue). Because of that, I have a hard time believing that the backgrounds themselves contribute to the idea that there are three. I definitely think the red/blue coloration in the eyes and such are indicating different alters, but I don't think that specific fact supports there being three of them.

The Voice Changes

This might be a me issue, but I only really hear two different vocal inflections. I understand the point about there being some harsher (?) sounding vocals that don't have the growl, but personally, I still think the tone matches the one described as Akakoto enough to count. Similarly, the parts towards the end that are picked out for Midokoto ("I'm probably not to blame," etc.) actually sound more like Aokoto to me even if I do try to track the three voices.

I'm hesitant to go too hard in believing the different voices because to me, doing so would severely limit the amount of control Natsuki Hanae would have over the emotions he wants to put into the song. The vocalists in Milgram do a fantastic job at using specific vocal intonations to convey deep layers of emotions in their songs. I feel like it would be very limiting to only be able to use certain vocal effects (ex. growl) in specific places due to the limitations of the characters. If there are two, the two voices are far more separate, which gives more space for customization within the bounds of each voice.

This is also a little bit iffier on evidence, but there's the Es cover of MeMe. I don't know how much Yurina Amami knows about Mikoto's story and the entire video is in grayscale, so take all of this with a grain of salt, but to me, I feel like Es uses two voices here, not three. Notably, they even have a bit of vocal growl on the "switch" and on "split and half, make that heart beat," which are both squarely in the Midokoto tone. They do still have the two voice split, sounding a bit more apathetic and aggressive in the Akakoto parts and cuter in the Aokoto parts. To me, that signifies that there's suppose to be two voices going on, not three, but you could argue that that's just Es' perception of Mikoto, so it's not decisive or anything.

Mikoto Fighting Es

Yes, in his first audio drama, Mikoto is able to beat Es up until Kotoko stops him. Yes, that's inconsistent from what we've seen from Futa and also t2 Amane. I agree that that's because the Milgram rules only apply to one or more alters, and thus any others that may exist can get around the rulings. We saw this between trials, too, with how Mikoto (seemingly Akakoto at the time) was able to avoid being restrained despite his guilty verdict, likely through the same loophole.

(Side note: this implies to me that Milgram's system for restraining guilty prisoners is, like the protective barrier around Es, somewhat magical and isn't a physical thing. Thus, if we were to, say, vote Amane as guilty, I am fairly confident she would be unable to harm any other prisoners, as we've already seen the barriers are able to prevent her from attacking others. I still lean Amane innocent anyways, but I wanted to point this out.)

Anyways, I don't think that this is actually evidence towards trikoto theory because it works perfectly fine with just the two of them. Aokoto is the prisoner in Milgram and Akakoto isn't. This doesn't necessarily mean that Aokoto is the one who was fronting while the murder happened, though; the rules of Milgram just necessitate that the prisoner is involved in/related to a death. It can be indirect.

I think that that's exactly what Milgram is asking us with Mikoto. The question is, how do you fairly hold a system accountable? Can you blame one alter for the other's actions?

Milgram loves to complicate these, and I can see the appeal of a complication being learning about a third alter. Personally, I think it's much more likely that the route Milgram is taking is looking at how much knowledge the alters have about each other and asking how much Aokoto would have to know to make him an accessory to Akakoto's murder plans. It could go either way, though.

Some Bonus Points

I think the strongest piece of evidence brought up is the use of threes in Mikoto's design. Other than "they just liked it aesthetically," there isn't much of a counterargument I can make about it. My best one would be that they might be going for a "switching between black and white" type of thing, which would work better with more stripes, but that's pretty weak. I also had the idea that the first character of his name looks like three stripes, which might be a better or worse explanation! You get to decide, I have no idea.

The cake sells me less, though. It's true that Kazui's is a perfect 50/50 and that Mikoto's isn't, but that's because they're representing different things.

Kazui's is half and half because his song is called half, and it could also be a sign of how he and his wife didn't actually connect more in a marriage sense; they're still two fully separate people rather than being a unit.

Mikoto, if he has two alters, is still physically one guy. Mikoto is mostly sitting on the flower designs. I'd argue that the flowers are meant to show Mikoto as a whole: the connection point of the two alters.

That's pretty much all of what I have to say on the doc (in terms of the trikoto aspect, whether I believe it or not there's some good work done in character/lyric analysis that applies to two or three alter theories), but I'll go over some of my reason for why I actively believe there to be two, because there are some reasons.

Reason 1: The Song Titles

The doc explains what the meaning of MeMe is in trikoto theory, but it definitely still works with two, more obviously so. That's not evidence, though, because the trikoto theory has a viable explanation too.

I have no idea what they'd be doing with the song title Double, though. I guess it would be a play on somebody being someone else's double, meaning they're someone like them, which is no doubt part of the song title either way, but I think it's difficult to ignore the meaning of Double that means, y'know... multiplied by 2, or:

But that could very easily be a diversion and we haven't seen the second video, so I'd let that slide. However, that brings me to the bigger problem:

Reason 2: Upright Versus Reversed

AKA, the tarot cards.

Tarot cards can be read two ways, Upright or Reversed, based on the orientation of the card when it's placed/picked up/whatever. I already went over in my original theory (which is pretty outdated, I could do a way better job but I wrote that one literally first out of my milgram thoeries and I hated not having a good name scheme for the various alters) why I believe Akakoto to be the Hanged Man (Upright) and why I believe Aokoto to be the Hanged Man (Reversed).

I struggle to imagine why the devs would pick tarot, something that clearly has two meanings to it, when there are actually three alters. Maybe it'd just be to throw us off the scent, but it feels a bit too intentional to me.

Plus, if it was meant to throw us off, I'd expect we'd get a different metaphor/symbol for the second MV (as we have been with pretty much everyone). However, the association between Mikoto and "reversible" things has continued into trial 2, even before his MV has come up.

I say this because of his trial 2 cover song: Reversible Campaign. Funnily enough, I actually thought this song would go to Kazui before it was announced as Mikoto's, but then I looked again and understood why they wanted it for Mikoto.

My thoughts get confused and fight with each other

Very Mikoto, works for either two or three alter theories. However:

I just want to waver between black and white

It's turned me upside down

There's more that seems to paint Mikoto's mind as a dichotomy, not a... trichotomy? Is that a word? I don't actually know.

The Song Lyrics of MeMe

This is sort of an extension of the above part, but there are also definitely song lyrics in MeMe that sound like they're heavily implying two. Again, you could argue that that's trying to throw us off the scent, but some of them are, in my opinion, actively difficult to justify for trikoto theory.

Split in half, Make that heart beat

I cannot for the life of me understand why any of the three alters would say "split in half" if there are three. I guess if any of them were aware of one of the other alters, but not the other? I don't think that's what was being argued, though, sorry if I missed that.

I’m already the fake one

Little harder to argue this one because I don't know how definite versus indefinite articles work in Japanese, but saying the fake one really sounds to me like there is one fake and one real. If you were just having a moment of existential crisis, in most situations, I think you'd opt for "I'm already fake."

The Mirror

This is sort of the same argument as the tarot cards, but there's also the use of mirror imagery in Mikoto's MeMe MV. Mirrors have two sides and are a reflection. You could use Haruka logic and say that it depicts self reflection, I guess, but considering the reflection acts differently, I think it's much more likely that this is meant to show the two alters.

Conclusion

Hopefully this all made sense? I respect trikoto theory and I could easily be super wrong about it (see also: my original opinions on gay Kazui theory and police Kazui theory), but I've just never really been sold. It's possible my opinion would change if I saw evidence that I felt worked better for trikoto than... twokoto? theory, but personally, I feel like most evidence I've seen for it is still better explained by there being two alters. Let me know what you think, though :)

[terra-fatalis]

Talk about a coincidence!

(Previous post here)

Midgar Blues

It has been said and repeated to death: there's a song dedicated to the "promise" in the Remake, and this should be enough to claim the "coincidence" post and end it here with a good link to enjoy the song.

But this song received some criticisms, so I'd like to talk a bit more about it.

1. "There is no evidence that this song is about Cloud and Tifa" and "It's just a random song in Wall Market without specifical meaning".

I saw some people trying to debate about this matter so, here we are.

The text perfectly describes the scene of the promise and Cloud leaving Nibelheim to join SOLDIER. It talks about a man/boy who left his hometown for Midgar, leaving behind a girl. There's a reference to the Lifestream and to the starry night with falling stars. The lyrics - both English and Japanese - are posted below.

This song has old-time/banjo&harmonica sounds that fit the "old west" atmosphere of Nibelheim.

The "author" of the song says he had started his career 7 years ago, when Cloud and Tifa shared the promise, and he's wondering if "Midgar Blues" will be his greatest success. Get the metaphor.

From a storytelling perspective this is NOT a coincidence: no reasonable company invests money and resources to create this sort of content without a reason (and no reasonable company invests money and resources in a song submissively sang in a hidden location of the game, probably this piece will have more focus and importance in the next parts of Remake when the promise will be brought up again - who knows, maybe at Gold Saucer?).

2. The original Japanese lyrics are different from the English translation (hence: it's not about love)

(Source)

The English version is undoubtly romantic and includes the words "True love", while the Japanese version doesn't. I'd like to point out a couple of considerations:

Whether you take the English version or the Japanese one, they're both romantic. It really doesn't seem to me that the original version sounds like a man singing for his sister or his mother. The romantic subtext is in both songs, and it's no wonder: the fact that Cloud was in love with Tifa at the time of the promise is history, more likely the addition of the "True love" part could be made in order to convince the most relunctant part of the western fandom about this subject.

This is a "Enka" song, a popular Japanese music genre that bears some resemblance with blues (for this reason, "Midgar Blues"). This genre is a form of sentimental ballad: enka songs usually express strong emotions, especially love.

This is more a personal opinion about localization from the perspective of someone who's not a native english speaker. I've read many harsh comments about the English localization of the Remake. Especially when it comes to LTD I've seen people from both sides of the fence complaining the translators to be biased CA or CT fans. Fact is that if the complain comes from both sides probably they're not the first nor the second, they're just...translators. I'm not a translator but I speak many languages and it happenes to me to watch and rewatch movies both in English and in my native language. You'll never find a literal word-by-word translation, ESPECIALLY when it comes to songs. Because it wouldn't work. A good localization has to follow the pace of the lip-sync, has to create rhythm, rhymes and lyricism when it comes to poems and songs, it has to convey the right feeling before the right word, it has to take into account the cultural differences from the country of origin of the movie/song and the receiving audience (in this case Japanese people tend to be more descreet and less explicit than western people when talking about love), and much more. With this I'm not saying everyting in the localization is perfect, I don't speak a word of Japanese so I can't make a comparison myself, but just remember that the devs DO speak English. They speak it well enough to notice the difference between the two texts of the song and if they authorized it (I doubt nobody bothered to double check the international scripts of one of the most important products of this company)...it just means that they agree.

In conclusion, yes, it's a love song about the promise and no, it's NOT a coincidence.

[putschki1969]

Wakana e-onkyo Interview English Translation

Note: The first interview with Wakana regarding her cover album. Some juicy details so be sure to check it out!! A little highlight: Hitoshi Konno provided his violin playing for the album!! As always, take everything you read with a grain of salt, my Japanese is by no means perfect. If you want to use this translation or parts of it, be sure to CREDIT me and LINK to this post.

■ SPECIAL INTERVIEW ー with Wakana

Wakana debuted in 2008 as a member of Kalafina. In February 2019 she made her debut as solo singer. Her cover album "Wakana Covers ~ Anime Classics ~" has just been released. It features anime songs in a classic arrangement. Be smitten by Wakana’s charming and expressive vocals, she adjusts her voice to fit the mood of each song. Also pay attention to the unique sound which perfectly conveys the image the different arrangers envisioned. We talked about the songs, her singing,  the arrangements and the overall sound.

── I think everyone has long been hoping for you to release an album with the concept of covering anime songs with a classical arrangment. What inspired you to pick this particular timing?

Wakana: It was partly because I appeared in my producer’s event "Satoshi Takebe Premium Duo Session Special Vol.9 Satoshi Takebe x Wakana" last November. Takebe-san suggested we should do some covers and I told him I would love to sing some Ghibli songs. That’s how we ended up performing a Ghibli medley which was a lot of fun. Having had that amazing experience, I was planning to do a series of live performances starting this spring where I would cover anime songs in collaboration with a female group called 1966Quartet.

── Unfortunately all plans for spring this year were ...

Wakana: Yes, the live was cancelled before it even got announced. However, I had planned to hold the second instalment of that concert series in December anyway so we decided to just start from there.

── So were you planning to announce the release of the album during the spring live and then accompany the release with the winter live! Was it supposed to be like that?

Wakana: Actually, at the beginning, it was only a live project, I had no plans to release an album. However, during the stayhome period while I was filming videos for my fan club, I asked the fans, "are there any songs you want me to sing?" There were many people who mentioned anime songs, especially Ghibli songs. Needless to say, I loved all the suggetions and I realised that fans would probably be very happy if I released an album in advance of the live. So, while secretly starting the album production, I uploaded some covers on YouTube to get everyone excited. Eventually I was able to announce that, “yes, I am actually working on an album!”

── When it comes to the production of an album like that, the most difficult thing is selecting songs.

Wakana: If the choice had been up to me only the album would be full of Ghibli *laughs*, in order to prevent that I gathered the opinions of everyone around me and this is how we ended up with the final tracklist. For example, I came up with the idea to include a "Doraemon" song and some newer pieces from Makoto Shinkai movies but "Yatsura No Ashioto No Ballade" and "Get Wild" are songs that I wouldn't have suggested myself. I didn't think I would ever cover a song like "Get Wild".

── With so many Ghibli songs to choose from wasn't it particularly difficult to decide which songs to include in and which songs to give a pass?

Wakana: It was!! For example, I was adamant about having “Kaze no Toorimichi” on the album but that forced be to remove “Teru no Uta” from my list because both songs have a similar atmosphere. Then there were songs like “Kimi wo Nosete”. When I performed it together with Takebe-san at this live it left such a strong impression on me. Plus, I have always liked it so I KNEW I had to have it on the album. In fact, this song came to my mind first when thinking about the selection of songs for this album, I was literally crying removing song after song from my list of candidates but I comforted myself with the thought that I would eventually use all those songs for my live performance in December!

── How did you arrange each of the songs once you managed to select them?

Wakana: I asked three arrangers to help me this time, Shin Hashimoto, Miki Sakurai and Shu Kanematsu. According to the image I wanted to convey with each song, I gave it to one of my three arrangers. We held many remote meetings where I first talked about the image I had in mind for the individual songs and in response to that, the arrangers sent me their suggestions... Everyone came up with absolutely wonderful arrangements that go far beyond anything I could have ever imagined!

── I think that deciding on the key is also a problem for a cover song. Did you decide that after consulting with your arrangers?

Wakana: It's not as simple as to just change a male singer's song into a key that is easy for women to sing, after all, you don’t want to ruin the atmosphere of the song by changing the key too much. To begin with I sent sample recordings of me singing certain patterns for each song to the arranger and then arranger would suggest a key they found fitting. I asked them to send me accompaniment that matched their preferred key and then I re-recorded my singing with their accompaniment to get a feel for the overall atmosphere. So with that sort of exchange between myself and the arrangers we selected the perfect key that would suit each song.

── When you say that you don’t want to ruin the atmosphere of a song by changing the key, what exactly do you mean by that and could you name a song where this applies?

Wakana: Take "Rain" for example, the key is a little too low for me which doesn’t exactly make it easy for me to sing but I think that singing it with this key will bring you closer to the world created by Senri Oe and Motohiro Hata. A world that’s filled with tears, tears by men.

── "Rain" is a song with particularly strong emotions from a male perspective.

Wakana: It took a while to get into the lyrics. Kanematsu-san who was in charge of the arrangement helped me interpret the song from a male perspective. Towards the end of the lyrics there is a line that says "Whistling, I follow". Why does he whistle in this moment? I didn't understand. So when I asked Kanematsu-san, he said, "I think the man in this song is trying to appear cool." And indeed, when I read other phrases such as "incapable of words" or "in front of the eyes of the world" at the beginning it suddenly made sense. Once I had challenged myself with this song I came to the conclusion that I want to sing more manly songs from now on. This song truly taught me the pleasures of reading and singing certain lyrics.

── And then on the contrary, we have a song like “Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta Nara” which is sung from the point of view of a little girl.

Wakana: I knew I had to give this song to Sakurai-san to arrange, it needed a woman’s touch. That image of Kiki flying though the sky and that final scene where Tombo finally flies on his very own machine. This song has such a refreshing vibe and a sense of speed, it’s transporting you right into the future. It was not my intention to change those images, I wanted to stay very faithful to the original atmosphere. That’s why I asked Sakurai-san to keep the refreshing vibe and only make some other slight changes.

── Being overwhelmed with love for a song like this, did you have trouble approaching it as a singer?

Wakana: When I went to see one of Yumin-san's live performance, Yumin-san said, "I'm so happy that I am still in love with the world I envisioned as a girl." This brought tears to my eyes. There is still so much love. You have believed in God since you were little and you want to do your very best without ever giving up just like Kiki! That’s it!! That's why this song has such a girlish cuteness and innocence! But how to best express it through my own singing? I worried quite a lot about this. I consulted with Sakurai-san and Shin Hashimoto-san, who was in charge of the direction of all the songs, and somehow we decided on a singing style that all of us liked.

── Although it is faithful to the world of the song, it does not really resemble Yumin's singing style. For example, Yumin is applying a lot of vibrato starting from the first few lines but you are stretching out your notes in a calm manner followed by a bit of vibrato.

Wakana: That way of singing is unique to Yumin. I was not trying to simply copy the original songs, nor was it my intention to surpass them. I just love these songs so much which is why I tried singing them with as much joy and carefreeness as possible. I think I was able to do that because I had lots of time to face each song during the stay home period.

── So you were able to sing these songs you love so much without putting too much effort into it?

Wakana: In terms of singing, I was working a lot on my breathing technique this spring, so I guess the results of that came out while I was working on the album. My vocal coach said, "humans do not consciously inhale or exhale. If you exhale naturally, you will inhale naturally so there is no need to overthink it. This was especially true for “Toki ni wa Mukashi no Hanashi wo”, when I want to sing as if I'm talking, I don't want to put consciously add a breath. After all, I don't think about breathing when I'm talking. So I just let it happen naturally. 

── Is there anything we should pay attention to in terms of the sound of the arrangement?

Wakana: Everything really. But there is maybe one thing I would like to point out ... I was surprised that Kanematsu-san suggested we arrange "Inochi no Namae" with only strings and no other instruments. Listening to this song by itself is amazing but hearing it alongside the other tracks is quite fascinating because there is an audible change due to the lack of other instruments. In addition, the beautiful atmosphere from the recording studio is conveyed wonderfully through the music. When we were recording it felt like time had stood still.

── Are there any other things that impressed you when you were present at the recordings?

Wakana: “Ai ni dekiru koto wa mada aru kai” was arranged for piano, violin, and cello but we used the main area of Victor Entertainment’s largest studio to have Okuizumi-san play all by himself on the cello while Shin-san on the piano and Konno-san on the violin were recording in adjacent booths. We wanted the sound of the cello to be heard clearly since it takes up such a big portion of the song. Speaking of sound, “Yatsura No Ashioto No Ballade” is rather simple and only consists of my singing and a piano accompaniment.  We did a very basic racording and kept it quite raw without adding too much sound components to the song. I wanted to create a special atmosphere for the recording so we darkened the room, and I sat in a chair. All of a sudden I was becoming aware of sounds I had never noticed before, the creaking of the chair, my clothes rustling. I didn’t want these noises to be included in the recording because I feared it would end up being too raw so I made a lot of effort to record it while making as little noise as possible *laughs*.

── I was surprised by the arrangement towards the end of “Get Wild”  since you didn’t add a semitone-upward key change.

Wakana: …… Ahh! Now that you mention it.

── But it didn’t take away from the enjoyment since the tension was still incredibly high from the interlude, I didn't even realise at first that there was no modulation *laughs*. Besides, if you had transposes it up a semitone according to the original song, it would have sounded too pop-like and the classical atmosphere would have diminished.

Wakana: Regarding "Get Wild", I was particularly worried that the charm of the song would be lost by using a key more suited for a female singer. So I was adamant to make this song the most powerful out of all tracks. I asked the members of 1966 Quartet to record it because I wanted this song to have a sprinting vibe reminiscent of their Beatles and other UK rock covers. As for my singing style, unlike "Rain" which I sang in the early stages of production with gradually strenghtening, I sang this song with a lot of strength from the get-go both in the verses as well as in the choruses.In the original sample I sent my singing was still quite soft but then I realised that wouldn’t work, I needed something different so I decided to sing in a fierce manner from the first note onwards. The arrangement is also based on that.

── In your YouTube videos - including a recording of “Get Wild”- you are using Victor's new model "HA-MX100V" as monitor headphones.

Wakana: Those headphones have a really clear sound and I am not only using them for vocal recording but also for track down, mastering check, home recording and video editing. Also, in the latter half of the recording, I started using Shure headphones recommended by Kanematsu-san and my engineer. When using them, you hear the exact same thing in the recording booth and control room !

── You use Victor and Shure for your work. What about headphones outside of work?

Wakana: When I am travelling by train or car I like to listen to music. So Sony's noise cancelling headphones are my favourite. Even when I am  travelling on a heavy rainy highway, the sound of the rain and the roaring noise in the tunnel are all cancelled out! I also have wireless earphones and use them quite a lot.

── Good headphones are becoming more appealing than ever for music fans especially now with the ever-increasing number of live streams.

Wakana: That’s true! If you are using wireless headphones, you may be worried about the synch-gap between the video and audio so I think that a pair of high-quality wired headphones is perfect for a live stream. For my upcoming live "Wakana Anime Classic 2020" the audience capacity has been halved so we also decided to offer a live stream option.

── That’sgreat news!

Wakana: I think that some people find it difficult to attend the live because of the distance to Tokyo and the fact that they do not want to worry about getting sick in the current situation. So I'm very happy that everyone can enjoy it in the form of live stream. Since this is my first attempt there is still a lot to learn but with the help of many people around me we are trying to think of various things to make this experience enjoyable for everyone. There a re a lot of things to consider after all, things such as stage sets and video production.

── You mentioned that you would be singing songs that didn’t make it to the album?

Wakana: Definitely! And of course the songs from the album but I would like to sing them with a unique arrangement that can only be heard during the live performances. Please look forward to all of it!

── I'm looking forward to it!

Wakana: And there is something that’s actually still a secret ...

── What is it?

Wakana: Four Hippos will be the appointed image characters for my live! Since I am only doing covers I thought it would be fitting to use hippos as motif. [Note: “hippo” in Japanese is read the same way as “cover”]

── Thank you.

[xxbluestrifexx]

My Top 10 Japanese Releases

10th: Everlasting Shine - TXT

- such a bop

- perfectly suits the boys and their vocals

- also it’s anime opening meaning it is 1000x more epic than before

- the chorus is so impactful I love it so much

- it took two listens for this song to make itself on this list

- choi line really came for my neck with their vocals (kai killed it too with the vocals in the chorus)

- please listen to this track it is so awesome omg stan txt

9th: Bibouroku - Got7

- a chill vibe song

- I didn’t even know they had a japanese album but this song slaps and suddenly I play it constantly

- the beat is really catchy, like the fact it stays constant is really cool

- mark’s rap is so chill, I love it, same with bambam’s

- YUGYEOM’S REGISTER WORKS SO GOOD FOR THIS SONG

- so does Jaebeom’s (all of their vocalists pop off)

- listen to love loop cowards, especially bibouroku

8th: Electric Kiss - EXO

- HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

- I love this album so much guys I can’t

- electric kiss is literally one of EXO’s best title tracks (the fact that it got a short mv pisses me off)

- kyungsoo, kai, baekhyun vocals *chefs kiss*

- Chanyeol’s rap is epic I love it

- in conclusion I listen to this song 7393727374x a day and you should too

7th: Tattoo - The Boyz

- iconic Japanese debut

- anytime sunwoo opens his mouth y’alls ears are blessed

- prechorus is the best thing ever

- NEWS VOCALS DURING THE CHORUS SLAP BEST MAIN VOCAL EVER

- the styling is also epic- we love green and black

- the mv is gorgeous

- kevin & Jacobs bridge parts (all of the bridge tho)

- seriously tho, sunwoo’s rap is literal fire

- yalls rappers could never

- STAN TBZ

6th: Breakthrough - TWICE

- first listen I fell in love; this song got me into twice

- the music video is so aesthetic I love it

- the outfits are so pretty I can’t (twice is so pretty I can’t)

- I love the chorus a whole lot especially nayeon & jihyo’s parts

- CHAEYOUNG OMG

- THE SASS- THE RAP- THE HAIR

- I’m wrecked I love her

- This song was so good and I feel like it was just overlooked when it’s so iconic

- the last chorus with no bass line is amazing omg I can’t get enough of this song

- listen to breakthrough for clearer skin

5th: TOP - Stray Kids

- imma be real honest with y’all this track would’ve been first if I didn’t like the korean track more

- this song is literally perfection

- the choreo is so satisfying to watch, especially the chorus parts I love them

- the mv is so cool and clearly had a lot of time and effort put into it

- I love the track- the raps are so good per usual

- also tower of god is one of my favorite WEBTOONs ever so when I found out stray kids was doing the tracks for the anime I screamed

- idk what else to say this track literally should be first except the other four exist and I like the korean version more :///

4th: Call Call Call! - SEVENTEEN

- this song dropped right when I’d finished memorizing SVT; I watched the mv on repeat all morning while I got ready for school

- the mv is so well done from the styling to the locations to the stunts and acting

- I love the choreography as well- Hoshi and their choreographer come up with the best and most fitting dances for their tracks

- vocals and raps were on point (that beginning though)

- THE BRIDGE

- MINGHAOS MULLET

- so many things I love about this entire era that I had to put it fourth

3rd: Breaking Down - Day6

- again the first day6 that came out when I was first getting into their music

- I’m a huge fan of rock music in general so the beat and hard rock aspects of the song were very satisfying

- also the lyrics are so awesome

- I love the second chorus when young k is singing his heart out and then Jae comes in just as strong

- ��find my pieces and put me into one” I FELT THAT

- also the non vocal bridge slaps

- I love my emo Japanese rock music

2nd: Don’t Leave Me - BTS

- do I really need to explain why this song is on this list

- this songs lyrics are so meaningful I cry every time

- the vocal line being powerful as fuck during the chorus is so iconic

- jungkook’s pre chorus makes me so emotional his voice is so good I love him mom

- I love EDM and this song satisfies a lot of those needs

- the bridge leading into the high note is epic

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

- DREAMCATCHER - I Miss You

- BTS - Your Eyes Tell

- SEVENTEEN - Fallin’ Flower

1st: Livin’ It Up - Monsta X

- yes this is my number one don’t judge me

- there is not an Mx song that I dislike

- to start, this mv is fantastic omg like wow

- the vocal line sounds so good especially their falsettos

- changkyuns rap is so iconic I love it especially the choreo during his rap

- I love Kihyunn and Minhyucks parts during the chorus (hyungwon too my bb)

- the best part is the bridge between Jooheon and changkyun

- that last chorus where the instruments back off UGH

- stream living it up

[mokkoriness]

ROCK AND READ vol. 086 - Saga Interview

Their own "alicenine."

At their 15th anniversary tour final that was held at Hibiya Open Air Concert Hall on August 10, their band name changed back to the original "alicenine." from the "A9" that we have gotten familiar with over the last 5 years. Although we heard the reason behind this in the previous issue from the band's frontman, Show, in this issue, we ask each of the members to talk about their feelings towards "alicenine.". With what kind of feelings did they have when facing this band name and the "blend of Japanese and Western styles" concept 15 years ago? Everyone has their own image of "alicenine.", so that means we should be able to see many aspects of the band that is alicenine.

The one who composed the first release of the second stage of アリス九號., "Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-", was the bassist Saga. We asked the composer himself why they went on such a strong Japanesque path. And when we did, we discovered an unexpected fact related to the original song. Also, what was the image of the lyrics he requested of Show? It actually became clear that this is connected to things that happened before the formation of アリス九號.! This is the latest interview where you can feel Saga's creative soul and his "Love for Show".

The new song "Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-" was first played during the encore of "A9 LAST ONEMAN ALIVERSARY TOUR FINAL & 15TH ANNIVERSARY "THE TIME MACHINE"" at Hibiya Open Air Hall on August 10, after announcing that you would change your name back from "A9" to "アリス九號.", while wearing new outfits.

Saga: That's right.

Does that mean you worked on "Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-" with the intention of it being performed at this time?

Saga: Yes. I had started pre-production from around the beginning of June. For this song, I had worked with SuzukiDaichiHideyuki. I went to his house and there was much back and forth. Since the song was pretty much complete, some minor adjustments were made.

There was something that I personally thought when listening to the song for the first time. I apologize if I am mistaken. Is this perhaps a song that you had written for the secret solo project that you had previously made public in this magazine?

Saga: Ahh. As expected of you. Even if I wanted to be active in my solo project, I'm so busy that I can't. For this year in particular, things were done for アリス九號.'s anniversary year, so I could not make the time to work on my private project. However, I did have plenty of stock songs for my solo project.

How many songs do you have?

Saga: I have enough songs for 2 albums. So when we had decided to change our band name back to "アリス九號." together with our 15th year anniversary, we talked about releasing a single that was in line with those standards. When we were deciding on what song to make it and what visuals to show, what immediately came to my mind was to wear traditional Japanese coats like we had done in our early days. Those kinds of words were thrown around.

Why is that?

Saga: I wanted a feeling that we had returned. I thought that we should show that we were back in every respect, from the looks to the songs to the band name. Because I would think that even if we changed the band name back, if we didn't change our appearances and did songs as usual, then there would be no need to change our band name back. I thought that if we were going to change our band name back, then I should change the way I composed songs back too. So I had started to write songs, but even though I thought to do so in my mind, my hands did not keep up and I couldn't come up with anything (awkward smile). Even if I did write songs and they were goods songs, the only songs that came to me were ones that were not the kind of songs to be done at the point in time when we go back to being "アリス九號.", so I rejected those songs. Before this, I had spoken to Show and said that I wanted to write a song that wasn't gimmicky and had "good singing", so I think that I wrote the song in a way that would allow good singing. But even so, we had to decide on a song or else we would have not made it on time. My iTunes is full of demos for my solo project, and when I listened to those, there was a song that I was hooked to. Unfortunately (laughs).

When you say "Unfortunately", do you mean that you had the feeling of not wanting to bring out a demo that was made for your solo project?

Saga: That's right. It is a song that I had written for myself, after all. But unfortunately, the demo for "Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-" had suited the style, and it just clicked.

That it was a song that perfectly suited the timing of changing your band name back.

Saga: That's right. But this song was not written to be a single for a band, rather than communicating a message to people, the emphasis is on the atmosphere of the song. I wrote the song with the image of a degraded Japanese world. Personally, it has the feeling of Yoshiwara1.

The image of the red light district?

Saga: Right, right. The incredibly sad world of the women who worked there. Originally, I wrote the song with the image of a sad Japanese world with a negative aura lingering in the air.

So that's why you use the shamisen.

Saga: Yes. That was always in the song. From the introduction to the chorus. It's not as though we put in the sounds of the shamisen because アリス九號.'s concept is a blending of Japanese and Western styles, but it was always there from the beginning. So when asking Show to write the lyrics, I communicated my own ideas.

What kind of ideas?

Saga: There was a band called Givuss that he used to be in before アリス九號. I really liked the titles he came up with for the band. One of their album titles was "Nou Ongaku, Museimei (No Music No Life)", and personally, I thought he had interesting sensibilities. On top of that, in the very last artist photo of Givuss, they were wearing traditional Japanese coats. I thought that to wear a traditional Japanese coat and give such a title to an album was the kind of sense that only he had. At the time, other bands were all influenced by baroque and doing that kind of thing, but I thought he was original. In addition to being an extension from that, when アリス九號. first formed, the basic concept was a blending of Japanese and Western styles. アリス九號.'s debut single is called "Namae wa, Mada Nai". There, we wore traditional Japanese coats.

So the concept at the time reflected Show's sensibilities, which he always had since Givuss.

Saga: To me, those things are connected. I think that the sense that only Show has is アリス九號.'s uniqueness. I've always thought that we should value that. But when we changed our band's stylisation to the English "Alice Nine" in our 5th year, he changed the way he expresses himself into something more broad.

In line with the stylisation of the band name?

Saga: Probably. Since then, he has been holding back on expressions that he used in the past. Even if he were to express himself that way, it would only be for a song on an album or a coupling song on a single. That's what he kept it at. But personally, I always thought that he should push out those parts of him for all to see. So this time, at the point in time where we were changing our band name back, I told him that he should definitely do that. There's a song called "Byakuya ni Kuroneko", and I really like the world in the lyrics that he wrote for that song. It's a little angsty, or rather, dark, but I think that he shouldn't throw away his sense for using words. This is what アリス九號. is.

You felt that strongly about it.

Saga: Although I think when we are asked "What is アリス九號.?", we will all remain quiet. I think that it's Show's sensibilities.

Show also has fantastic sense, like saying "Let's become stars".

Saga: That is also a part of him, but I think the motivation for his most fundamental expression is the sense that allowed him to wear a traditional Japanese coat and come up with "Nou Ongaki, Museimei (No Music No Life)". When I said that to Show when asking him to write the lyrics for "Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-", he said "I understand". And so he wrote these lyrics.

So you had a resolute vision for the band in the changing of the band name back.

Saga: I had a plan for the framework of the band. So when we were talking about costumes, I suggested that we wear traditional Japanese coats. I originally liked the katakana and kanji stylisation "アリス九號.".

Is that so?

Saga: Yes. So that's why when we changed to the English stylisation, of course it was changed with the consensus of the members, but I had always thought that changing our band name was a waste. But at the time, I myself was writing songs that were similar to Western music. I didn't have this burning passion inside of me to say that I absolutely hated the English stylisation. But things are different now. At first, there was the idea to change the band name back to the English stylisation at this time. We made it the katakana and kanji mix instead.

You didn't like the English stylisation?

Saga: If we were going to change it back to "Alice Nine", wouldn't it be just fine as "A9"? When thinking about what we would do after changing the stylisation back to "Alice Nine", I think that it probably wouldn't be any different to what was being done (as "A9"). That being the case, I thought that I'd rather change it to the katakana and kanji mix and do something interesting.

And so the band name was changed back from "A9" to "アリス九號.". Looking back on the 5 years spent as "A9", how do you see it?

Saga: To be honest, it was tough. Because we started from a state where people didn't know that we had changed our band name and were like "What's A9?". I do have an attachment to it, as we had carried the name all the way until this point, and I do feel that it is something emotional.

As A9, the members had set down their instruments to sing and dance, and even played the role of princes and incorporated a 2.5 dimensional play into your live show. During this era, the band came to do many activities in the pursuit of entertainment. What was the reason behind being able to do such activities?

Saga: It was because we had lost many things. We lost many things, and even lost sight of what we were. I think that's why we were able to do that sort of thing. From someone else's point of view, the sight of us doing that kind of 2.5 dimension play and reciting a script might make them think "You guys have really lost it". I don't think that it's wrong to say that. I think a band is something that loses sight of things. I think that a band "strays off course" as a long as they keep on doing activities. I think that the people who belong to a big entertainment production company and have a proper director have people navigate them on the correct course, so they don't stray off course. But I think that all bands doing activities on their own are straying off course. That's why they always say to fans "Come along with us".

Because you are straying off course.

Saga: Yeah. If you are on the right path, there's no need to say "Come along with us". I mean, because you're on the right path. But when you do activities on your own, you stray off course and get nervous. Because you can't see one step in front of you. All you can do is keep making choices on what is in front of you and do each and every thing.

Since parting from your previous management company, I think that it would appear to those around you that the band was straying off course at a faster rate.

Saga: Probably. In these 5 years in particular we strayed off course. But I don't think of that as something negative. If that didn't happen, then we wouldn't have been able to reach this point.

By straying off course, the band matured.

Saga: Right. The secret to behind our band lasting for 15 years is "straying off course" (laughs).

Hahahaha.

Saga: I'm certain it's true. All the bands that I like stray off course. U2 constantly change their musical direction.

Bands should stray off course.

Saga: Right. Whether or not that straying off course was correct or not is decided by the audience. If the audience doesn't come along with you, then it means that that straying off course was bad luck.

And fortunately, A9's straying off course wasn't "bad luck".

Saga: By a hair, though. Our audience did their best to try and understand our straying off course. That's why there were many times where I felt glad. Also, even though we were straying off course, we took it seriously. We didn't do it with any feelings of wanting to just cause incidents or to try and cause an issue. I think that is why our audience put in effort to try and understand us.

Your top priority wasn't to do something crazy to make a buzz.

Saga: That's right. Even with us dancing, it's not as though we wanted it to become a hot topic; it was just the natural course of things. For us. It's not surprising at all.

And fans understood that.

Saga: Yes. That is why we seriously practiced. That's why I think we will continue to stray off course in future too. This is something that I want to say to the readers who like bands: That is what bands are! I want you to think about whether to follow a band or not after understanding this fact. If you don't like that, then I think it would be less stressful for you to follow a more proper artist. Bands stray and stray off course, and while getting lost, there are moments where they just instantly return to the right path. That is cool in its own way, and doesn't it make fans happy? That's what a band is. Bands stray off path, and their members even change. But there are times where you can think "That thing at that time wasn't bad". That's what's strange about bands.

Like "They became princes and acted at that anniversary live, but that wasn't bad either".

Saga: Right, that's right (laughs). That's why even though we stray off course, so that we don't think of the activities that we do as a mistake, we make a choice at each and every point in time.

I see. Even though you are straying off course, you are carefully choosing the path to take.

Saga: Yes, that's right.

Ever since becoming A9, you personally have started to rap, singing in the chorus, and sometimes even leaving the bass to Tora and playing the keyboard. I feel that you've come to be able to show us that you go beyond the border of a bassist and are more and more like a multi-instrumentalist.

Saga: In the past, I thought that all I needed to do was just play the bass. But I myself changed my awareness to become A9's colour, so I think that change shows. My colour in the band is purple (laughs), but if an outsider were to take a glimpse at us, they would be like "That purple caught my eye". I myself decided that it would be okay for me to show that my colour in this band is an important one, and not just be a part of a collective entity that is the band. That was also a conclusion I naturally reached. After becoming A9 and looking at ourselves objectively, I felt that my individuality was still weak, and I felt that there was no need for us to pull ourselves back.

From a producer's point of view.

Saga: Yes. Lately I've been listening to younger bands, and sometimes all I can hear is the vocalist. Isn't that a real waste? Even though everyone in this scene wears make-up and is in a band because they particularly want to stand out. But despite this, only the vocalist wears a different outfit, and everyone else wears the same colour. I wonder if they are okay with that. The instrument players need to show themselves more. To the point it gets annoying. My feeling is that if they don't do that, it will be boring. In this scene that is called Visual Kei, what's interesting about it is that guys apart from the vocalist are also putting themselves out there to the point it gets annoying, right? If only the vocalist needs to stand out, then the instrument players should just wear masks. Isn't that the logical conclusion of that line of reasoning? I feel that if you're going to act cool, don't let it just stop at your looks and make your playing and performance cool, and it doesn't matter if you bump into your other members; just go for it. I think that a band would be more interesting if no matter how many times they get told "Don't come out to the front", they want to come out to the front.

Were you ever told by the members "Don't come out to the front"?

Saga: Our band is full of nice people, so I haven't been told that. Show will never say "No". Even if I were to say "I want to rap" or "I'm going to sing the whole chorus", he'll be like "Oh, okay" (laughs). He won't ever say "I'm going to do that". That's why people should just do what they want. Of course, if they're going to do it, then they need to practice. If there are any band members reading this issue of "ROCK AND READ", that is what I want to tell them.

Ever since A9 participated in "PARTY ZOO ~Ken Entwines Naughty stars", I feel like A9 has really gone hard with this. In the past, it would have been unthinkable for you to use your own face parts as a topic and push it, like you do with "Nose Mountain".  

Saga: That might also be because that is what Ken advised us to do. He said to us "I thought A9 were princes, but you guys are boring" (laughs). When he said that to us, it made us think "Huh? Were we always like this?". That's why meeting Ken was the biggest thing for A9. The biggest memory I have from these 5 years of activities is ever since being able to participate in that event, we have become close with Ken, and he has been giving us lots of advice.

The band returned to its original name in light of the change within the band. What do you want to do with アリス九號. going forward?

Saga: In the past, we were the kind of people think that the atmosphere wasn't important. When we joined our previous management company, we were twisted, so we were punks who were like, "Atmosphere? We don't need that" (laughs). But now, going forward, I would really like to value the atmosphere. What's most important after our 5 personalities is the atmosphere. Now, it's sort of like 5 gaudy people are in front of a white backdrop. But going forward, what I would like to show as アリス九號. is the 5 of us in front of a really complex painting. And the background image is, at least for this single, the world that blends Japanese and Western styles. This will probably change for each release, but I want to make it so that there is a common factor. And that is what I talked about earlier: Show's sensibilities. Going forward, I want him to show his sensibilities more.

Show's sensibilities will be the key to アリス九號. going forward.

Show: That's right.

Earlier you were talking about bands straying off course, so do you think that after another 5-year period, アリス九號. will change their name again?

Saga: I am putting in effort so that we don't change it. Always (laughs).

So where will you head towards with this band name?

Saga: I want for us to head to our 20th year anniversary. I want to play at Nippon Budokan. When I thought about how to cook this アリス九號. to get there and what kind of meal we should be to be able to play at Budokan, for me, the answer was to go really deep with our colour, with アリス九號. Even with the songs, I want to write song that don't present to the world a song that is easy to listen to or feels familiar to the ear, but one that has an atmosphere.

And when it comes to expressing that, it does seem like it will be easier for not "A9", but "アリス九號." to do.

Saga: Is what I think. To us, this name is catchy, but it's not a catchy name to the rest of the world. They think "What is this?". Our band name doesn't allow us to do normal things. To me, I think アリス九號. is a band name on the same level as Yabai Tshirts Ya-san.

Ahahaha. It seems like you will be accelerating the straying off course going forward.

Saga: That's why I can't say "Please come along with us". To me, "straying off course" is the biggest compliment you can give.

1 Yoshiwara was a famous red-light district in the Edo period.

[sj4iy]

Anime: My Favorite Anime OP/ED Songs From the 00s

Time to continue my personal track through memory lane. This decade is going to be longer than the previous one simply because I was a college student who was studying Japanese and even lived in Japan during this time. This list will also have some pretty obscure anime by today’s standards, as well as series that I didn’t like but I loved the songs for. Again, this is in no particular order, and it can contain any opening or ending songs from a single series (unless the series was broken up). Let’s begin!

1. Gundam Seed “Anna ni isshou datta no ni” (あんなに一緒だったのに) by See-Saw (2002)

This song was such a huge hit in Japan at the time, even without the anime. The series itself was pretty good but this ending made it all the better.

2. Gundam Seed Destiny “Bokutachi no yukue” (僕たちの行方) by Hitomi Takahashi (2005)

This was obviously a follow up season to Gundam Seed, but I’m counting it separately here. I loved this series and this song as well, even though the protagonist of the Gundam Seed series got on my last nerve (as many Gundam protagonists tend to do sometimes). Still, amazing song.

3. Wolf’s Rain “Stray” by Steve Conte (2003)

This was such a beautifully written series. But even though both the opening and the ending really gave it a different feel to most anime, the opening song was the one that really stuck with me. For one, an English song written and sung by an English artist is pretty rare in anime, but it fit the series so perfectly I couldn’t have imagined anything else.

4. Fullmetal Alchemist “Melissa” by Porno Graffitti (2004)

Yes, I’m old enough to have watched this series when it first came out while I was in college. I even remember singing this song with a friend in karaoke. There’s just something about this upbeat but slightly melancholic song that really fits this series. Even though I eventually loved Brotherhood more, none of the amazing songs can replace Melissa for me.

5. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood “Golden Time Lover” by Sukima Switch (2009)

I know that some people might think I’m crazy for not picking “Again”, but...I just like this song way more. I love the beat, the lyrics, and the animation that goes with it. It’s a perfect “middle of the road” song for a series like Brotherhood. “Rain” is a really close second (I even translated the lyrics on this very site and others), but this says “Brotherhood” to me.

6. Fruits Basket “For Fruits Basket” (For フルーツバスケット) by Ritsuko Okazaki (2001)

This was another series that I fell in love with while I was in Japan. The opening theme song sounds like she almost whispered it, but it works for the series at that time. So unassuming, like most people who walk into the series...only to be hit by the feels over and over again. Great series, great song.

7. Scrapped Princess “Daichi no la-li-la” Yoko Ueno / Masumi Ito (2003)

This is a series that I doubt many people remember, but it was one that I loved when I was living in Japan. Pretty different to most series I’ve ever watched, and the ending song is almost like something out of a renassaince fair...but matched perfectly to the strange blend of genres in the anime.

8. .hack//SIGN “Yasashii Yoake” (優しい夜明け) by See-Saw (2003)

I remember watching this series but I don’t remember much about it anymore. I do remember both the opening “Obsession” and the ending song...but I’ll give the nudge to the ending more than the opening. Definitely a good one.

9. Chrono Crusade “Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line” (翼はPleasure Line) by Minami Kurayabashi (2004)

Even though I had actually forgotten the anime itself until I looked it back up, I did remember this wonderful opening song. Very pretty, catchy and the lyrics are very well done. 

10. Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu “Sore ga Ai Deshou” (それが、愛でしょう) by Mikuni Shimokawa (2003)

It’s probably a well known fact how much I love this series overall. I’ve translated light novels, I’ve watched all four seasons, I’ve even summarized an audio drama from this series. It’s easily one of my favorite series of all time. And if I had to pick a single theme song to cover the three FMP series that came out in the 00s, it’s this one. Fumoffu was a huge hit, it was (and still is) hilarious. And this theme song was perfect in every way. 

11. Hikaru no Go “Sincerely ~ever dream~” by Dream (2002)

Hikaru no Go had so many amazing opening and ending songs, but this is the song that I think really sums up the entire series itself, even if it is an ending song. The songs actually kind of ‘grow up’ with the protagonist of the series, reflecting what he’s gone through. Even though “Days” makes me tear up, I’m putting this song as my favorite.

12. Soul Eater “Bakusou Yumeuta” (爆走夢歌) by Diggy-MO’ (2009)

This was a pretty fun series overall that took me a little while to get into. I love the 3rd ending song because it’s also a fun song that’s way different than most anime theme songs...much like Soul Eater itself.

13. The Twelve Kingdoms “Getsumei-Fuuei” (月迷風影) by Mika Arisaka (2001)

This was a series that I loved so much that it hurt to never have a proper ending for. In many ways, it reminds me of Yona of the Dawn...including the theme songs. The opening theme song was orchestral and beautiful..but I prefer the ending theme song. It’s a waltz that makes it sound very much like a journey, which is how I’ll always remember this series.

14. Inuyasha “Fukai Mori” (深い森) by Do As Infinity (2001)

I loved this series, and I absolutely loved this band. This song is completely different from the other, more pop-like theme songs. It’s very dark, slow and beautiful. I will always associate Inuyasha with this song.

15. Naruto “Haruku Kanata” (遥か彼方) by Asian Kung-Fu Generation (2004)

Yes, I did watch some Naruto...no, I didn’t keep up with it. But I lived in Japan at the time it started, so of course I tried it out. I did really like this song, though. It’s also about the point where all of my knowledge of the series ended. 

16. Fate/stay night “disillusion” by Sachi Tainaka (2006)

I watched this so long ago that I couldn’t tell you what happened in it anymore...but the song stuck with me. Beautiful, haunting and melodic...hard to beat a theme song like that.

17. Bleach “*~Asterisk~” (＊～アスタリスク～ Asutarisuku) by Orange Range (2005)

Ah, Bleach. Another shounen series ruined by never quitting. Just like Naruto, I started watching this series when it came out. Also just like Naruto, I dropped it pretty quickly when I realized it was never going to end. There’s a reason you don’t see these series (especially One Piece) on my lists...I don’t like series without constant character or plot development. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the songs...such as this one. I remember it well, even if I’ve forgotten most of what I knew about Bleach.

----

This is the end of this list...I’ll be back soon for my 10s list soon.

Previous: 

My Favorite Anime OPs/EDs from the 90s

Next:

My Favorite Anime OPs/EDs from the 10s

[justbtsstuffsforfun]

Heartbeat

Pairing: Namjoon x reader (f)

Word Count: 1.4k

Genre: Fluff

Summary: Just a cheesy moment between you and Namjoon in the karaoke room!

“Okay! There’s no turning back now.” You take in a deep breath, before walking towards Room 12. Though quite famous for its playlist, the corridor of this karaoke center seemed murky and dull. Probably due to the simple white-washed walls and white lights. Nevertheless, you keep walking through sound-proofed rooms till you reach yours, the one in the far left, right beside the stairs. You quickly turn the knob and walk inside.

“Not bad,” you murmur to yourself, staring at the small, yet cozy-looking room in front of you. Being brought up in a rich family in America has raised your expectations and spoilt you for sure. On further inspection, you quickly spot the gold mic Yuki keeps talking about. Yuki is your best friend, your former roommate and, Jimin’s wife. 

Out of everyone in the whole world, Yuki’s eyes land up on your boyfriend’s best friend. That too in a surprise birthday party you had arranged for Namjoon. What’s even more surprising is the fact that she and Jimin somehow spend more time than the two of you do, and even got married before you did. 

And speaking of Namjoon, you doubt he would even make it to the date this month. Firstly, extra time as the leader. Extra dance practice as it takes time for him to adjust to the beats. Extra studio hours since he’s involved in the composition of all the new songs. And finally, stupid, extra time with all the managers, since they’re promoting in America. And he’s the only one who’s fluent in English. Video calls, although convenient, doesn’t make anything better since…it’s a video call. A small reminder that he’s far away from you. You can’t watch movies together, cuddle under the soft teddy blanket, make out in the rain- gods! You don’t get to go on real dates?! It’s a miracle (and love, of course) that your relationship has been steady for eight years. 

You quickly switch on the Karaoke box and start shuffling through the playlist searching for something soothing and peaceful. Some English, some Korean and most Japanese. “Aha!” you exclaim in excitement after spotting your favorite song, Heartbeat. Yep, others might think it’s not one of their best, but you can’t seem to walk away from the idea of fate and destiny. Namjoon and you together? Destiny. 

You quickly press the play button and pick up the mic lying on the sofa. The soft beats begin, trying its best to calm your racing heart. Though all alone, you’re still nervous. What if someone walks in? What if your voice is way too hoarse? What if people in the other rooms start laughing listening to you?

Before you have time to collect and prepare yourself, the song greets you with Taehyung’s part: “It leaves me feeling seasick…”

“Baby…” you continued singing watching the English subtitles for reference. Crap, you sound so pathetic. But, being your favorite, you continue.

“It spins me around and drives me crazy, hannaje tteun dal gateun nainga bwa..”

You could sense your voice wavering when you sing. Nope, not because you’re nervous, but because how much you relate to those lyrics. 

There wasn’t a single night when you haven’t thought about your relationship with Namjoon. The way you hid from Saesangs when the two of you met at the library in Osaka. The way he poured the Americano on your shirt (you still thank god that it was cold!) during your second encounter in Seoul. How the two of you met for the third time under the cherry blossoms a few weeks later in Tokyo. That’s when you believed that you would meet each other once again. You still remembered Joon’s expression that evening under those pink flowers. Probably the moment when two rationalists started believing in fate.  

“And every time our heart, beats, bal matchwobwa dashi…” 

‘What if the two of you meet again today?’ you wondered, enjoying the cheesy, pathetic idea like a kid while singing Jungkook’s part ‘I’m feeling the destiny in me.’  

“When you hear my heartbeat baby, you give new life you give me new birth…” A deep voice harmonizes with you. You instantly turn back and cover your mouth in shock. Namjoon smirks, giving you a quick thumbs up whilst singing-rapping his part perfectly as ever. He points at you when he says the word ‘universe’ making you blush miserably.

“Korean is hard to pronounce.” You reply, closing the gap between the two of you. In a matter of seconds, Namjoon’s hand have already claimed your waist. He gently pushes you down on the sofa and connects his lips with yours.

“You know how much I missed your soft lips?” he asked, pulling you closer. He rests his head on your shoulder, his hand busy caressing your cheeks. You merely lie on his shoulder, one hand playing around with his hair, while the other holding the mic. 

“You made me miss Hoseok and Yoongi’s part.” You pout. “My bias and bias wrecker.”

“Aww…then what am I?” Namjoon playfully asks his heart-eyes staring at his one and only. 

What do you think you are?” you asked, mouthing the word “Destiny”.

Namjoon smiled. He knows that word quite too well. Destiny was a huge part of his life, even before you made an appearance in it. Every time someone mentions the word, he could hear Seokjin laughing, smile at Yoongi’s gummy smile and Hoseok happy claps, enjoy Jimin’s hug, Taehyung’s boxy smile and Jungkook’s shy one. 7 of them from different walks. Every single moment with them was a part of his destiny. And he couldn’t be happier. 

“My hearts on fire for your love…” Namjoon sings his dimples on full display.

“My hearts on fire for your love” you sing back, staring at him. “I thought you weren’t going to make it this time too.” You replied, turning your gaze towards his owl hoodie. “I missed you. A lot.”

“I’m sorry, I missed it last year.” He replies, slowly breathing into your neck. “I would never do that again. I tried calling you multiple times today on your phone and- “

“Holy shit!” you quickly get up and search all around the sofa. “My phone is missing! Oh My God, how can I be so irresponsible! I thought it was just- “

“Y/N, relax.” Namjoon pulls you back into his arms. 

“How can I be when- wait, how did you…get it?” you ask, quickly taking the phone from his hand. 

“You left it at home, silly.” Joon gently smacks you on the head. “Yuki told me that you were in here. So, I went home, picked your phone up and came right here.”

“Oh…Thank you, Joonie!”

Joon just chuckles. The two of you just sit silently, enjoying each other’s presence. Namjoon just stared at the ceiling, his hand never losing hold of yours. You, simply stare at Joon and his perfect features, thinking about going to the beach together.  

“Do you have any plans for today? How about the beach? Or an art museum?”

“Hmm…” Namjoon sighs. “How about something better than that.”

“Something better?” you ask, eyeing him curiously. 

“Yeah, like becoming my fiancé?” Namjoon turns to you, clumsily pulling out the box. You, being way too shocked stare at him dumbfounded. 

“Um…hello?” Namjoon shakes his hand in front of your eyes, hoping for a better reaction.

“Don’t you want to be Mrs. Kim?” 

“Joon…I…” your voice begins to choke, as soon as your brain starts collecting itself together.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to Y/N, I-“

“WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?! Yes Yes YES! I would love to be Mrs. Kim!” You jump on him, laughing in excitement and relief. “I love you Joon!”

“I love you too.” Namjoon giggled like a cute little kid. “I thought you were about to cry.”

“Oh, I was going to. But that would be so cliché so…nope!”

“You are so weird.” Joon laughs and immediately starts attacking you with kisses. 

The two of you laugh and proceed to have fun by tickling each other. After becoming completely exhausted, Joon quickly pulls you up and makes you sit on him. 

“How about we go crab hunting tomorrow morning?” You asked, bopping his nose with your finger. “Anything with you is fun. But first,” Joon took a hold of your left hand. He quickly opened the navy-blue box that he had kept aside on the table, revealing the beautiful sapphire ring. He slowly picks it up and inserts it into your ring finger. 

“Happy nine years, my love.” He replied, leaning his head on yours.

“Happy forever, my love.” The two of you gave a knowing smile, before your lips locked together.  

[ryuukia]

[Translation] Tsukiutaya Tokuten Short Stories - Koi Wasuregusa ver.

Happy Birthday, Hajime~! I was thinking days ago what I could do for his birthday then I remembered I had these short stories. 

They’re some tokuten you could get if you bought the smartphone case/bag/pouch from Tsukiutaya. Each item has a different short story, and even on the original paper they’re marked as vol.1, 2 and 3, but I put them together here. The first one is from Hajime’s point of view, second one from Haru's and third back to Hajime. Look forward to a short story each month, because I’ll do it until December.

Assistance and proofreading: @moonlit-manifesto and @ryota-kunstranslations. Rui also helped me a bit with some lines~

Please don’t repost/reuse my translations.

Koi Wasuregusa ①【Hajime】

“ーThis is a new song about you.”

Or so I was told yesterday. Ever since I had been handed the lyrics of my new song, I’ve been continuously gazing at them.

There’s heavy usage of unusual kanji which, paired up with the riddles hidden between the lines that require a careful reading, turn the song into something with a rigid narrativity.

The person in charge of composing my songs is determined to imbue every single word written on the paper with emotions.

With that in my hand, I’ve been thinking all along.

(In this song, a heavy, profound, and passionate love is being painted.)

Unfortunately, I’ve never thought about someone in such a manner until now.

I wonder if I can ever deliver this song perfectly the way I am now.

“Forget love, there’s only passion[1], huh?”

“Eh?”

Unaware I was muttering, I ended up saying those words out loud unconsciously.

Haru, who was on the other side of the room, tilted his head almost as if he was asking “What?” to which I answered “Nothing” and waved my hand dismissively.

“Eh, you made me curious.”

“I said it’s nothing.”

“If it’s nothing, then tell me more. Even though Hajime's the type to just say words as he thinks of them, in reality, there's actually a deeper meaning to those words!”

“Is that so?”

“It is. Aren’t you aware?”

“Not really.”

As Haru smiled in his attempt to figure out what was so intriguing for me, I suddenly asked him the question that’s been on my mind.

This new song is my duet with Haru.

Haru also knows about these lyrics.

That’s why……

“Have you ever fallen in love in such manner?”

It was a topic rarely brought up and would normally go ignored, but I brought it up anyway.

They say singing means experiencing new emotions and expanding your horizon.

(Ah, that’s right.)

Sometimes, having this kind of conversation is also good.

Koi Wasuregusa ②【Haru】

“Have you ever fallen in love in such manner?”

At hearing that question, I was at a loss for words, which is rare for me.

ーTalking about love.

(In this case, the conversation is not about Gravi’s mood maker, Koi[2], but rather about romantic ‘love’, right?)

My thoughts scrambled at such an unspoken thing. The shock was that big.

(A conversation about love. Discussing romance. Love talk, lo-, love talk!?)

It’s one of the most common topics for people our age.

However, I was surprised to see that the other party consisted of my combi partner, who always brushes off these topics.

(No way this is coming from Hajime! Love talk!)

It’s probably hard enough to talk about this with regular people.

But in any case, I want you to understand this is something very, very unusual. That’s why I was so surprised, and in that moment I felt some puzzling emotions.

After all, this is a conversation about love with the king.

“...Haru?”

“Ah, yes, yes. Love, huh, love…”

(Whaa, I’m talking about love with Hajime. About love! Talking about romantic love with Hajime...)

To be honest, the impact of that question was too big, and my brain stopped responding.

However, as that gradually faded away, curiosity unexpectedly took over soon after.

Unconsciously, I leaned forward.

“Since you asked me… Of course you will respond as well, right?”

“Me? … I don’t have any significant memories of love that I can talk about...”

“Now, now! I think you’ve been confessed to a lot of times, right? It must have happened at some point when you were secretly working part-time, too? There should be a dramatic story at least?”

“Aren’t you getting worked up over nothing?”

“Then I’ll get even more excited to talk. When do I ever get to have a conversation about love with you?”

“Conversation about love? …... Is that what is it?”

“......Then Hajime, what on earth is this talk supposed to be about?”

“About my song. We’re talking about music.”

“Still, it doesn’t change the fact we’re talking about love.”

“Don’t say it flatly like that...... Okay, well, I’m still asking you more about it.”

“Sure, sure. If I talk about it, you also have to do the same.”

Alright, let’s talk about love as well.

Koi Wasuregusa ③【Hajime】

I took in the glory of the shoot setup, my body wrapped in an extravagant costume that could dazzle the eyes.

And in one corner of the studio where they were showing us around, a tatami room with red walls was recreated.

(Is this where we come in wearing these outfits? That is…...)

“How should I put this…it’s flashy in many ways.”

“Indeed, isn’t it?”

Standing beside me, Haru laughs with ease.

As our outfits are being worked on, the two of us are side-by-side, looking at the set.

The part of the room brimming with various set pieces created an eccentric atmosphere beyond my imagination.

They don’t look cheap, and they actually aren’t cheap.

My eyes fell on the deep red fake wall for a few moments.

(The art is also fairly well-made, too.)

While thinking about those things my eyes shifted to my side, and there stood a profile of Haru you rarely see.

“You forgot your glasses.”

“Today I won’t need them. I’ll be wearing contacts to fit the world view.”

“That’s unusual.”

“It’s been a long time, so my eyes might hurt a bit.”

While we were talking, it appears the costume check had ended.

I was passed a flower branch and Haru received a pipe.

“Passion daylily[3], huh?”

“I understood something from that strange[4] conversation about love we had the other time: we have yet to experience a love as passionate as the one from the this song, don’t you think? Or rather……”

“Yeah, I understand, Haru. It’s impossible for us to comprehend it the way we are now. That’s why it’s better to devote ourselves to solely getting into this world, without thinking too much.”

“Right? …… Well, in fact, I think love is not something you feel with your head to begin with.”

“...... You say that as if you understand what it is.”

“I wish that were the case.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

Even if Haru laughs so nonchalantly about it now, I wonder if someday he’ll fall in love that intensely.

(...... And how about me?)

Maybe one day I’ll be able to give myself up to love, just like in this song.

ーOne day.

T/N:

“Forget love, there’s only passion”[1]  = lyrics from their duet song (”Ai wasure, koi dake”)

Koi[2] : There’s a thing here. Koi’s name (恋) means ‘romantic love’ in Japanese, so if I have to be more literal, Haru said “the conversation is not about Gravi’s mood maker, Koi, but rather about ‘koi’ as in renai” (恋愛/renai→love; love-making; passion; emotion; affections). I think it's understable even without this note so you can ignore it, this is aimed more for those interested in the Japanese part~

Passion daylily[3] = the title of the song, Koi Wasuregusa (恋忘れ草)

strange[4] = Haru uses 慣れない (narenai) which can also be translated as ‘unfamiliar’ or ‘unaccustomed to’

[glamatcha]

Top of the Bops: the 18 Best Anime Opening Songs of 2018

At the end of every year, I like to do some sort of retrospective list about the media I've been enjoying over the past year, and since most of the media I've consumed this year happens to be Japanese anime, I decided to focus on something near and dear to me: sweet, slappin anime opening themes. I've compiled 18 of the best opening theme songs from 2018 into a list of Japan's best TV bangers this year.

NOTE: While I did give extra points to some songs for fitting the tone of their show or for enhancing the show experience, this list is not really focused on the quality of the shows these songs are from but rather on whether the song is great to listen to. Also, I am by no means an expert on the genre, just a lady who watches too much anime.

Listen to the full playlist 

18 - "Kiss of Death" from Darling in the Franxx This song always stood out to me as a terrific moodsetter and got me more excited than the plot did during those first few eps of Darling in the Franxx. Sexy, melodic and upbeat, with those moody moody vocals, "Kiss of Death" did its job as a worthy hype man for this mecha anime.

17 - "Heading to Over" from Free! Dive to the Future Free! has always, always, ALWAYS had these wonderful, insanely aggressive, and super catchy power rock songs as their openings...despite the fact that the show's plot is constantly running on the lowest stakes. The opening songs always feel like some terrible lie about what you're going to watch, in my opinion. That it even made my list despite my dislike of Free! is a testament how good this opening song really is.

16 - "Power to the Dream" from Fairy Tail This is not the best Fairy Tail opening. It's probably not even top three, but that's because Fairy Tail has an absolute embarrassment of riches when it comes to catchy openings. The long-running series’s final season starts off with another good one.

15 - "Adabana Necromancy" from Zombie Land Saga This opening has been cited by many as one of the best of the year. It's a madcap zany opening credits sequence that's as wild and entertaining as the show itself. "Adabana Necromancy" is catchy but maybe not as much of an ear worm as some of the other songs on the list (or other songs within Zombie Land Saga). However, it's sung by Franchouchou, the fictional zombie girl band at the center of the show, and I'm a sucker for songs by fake bands.

14 - "Dark Sun..." from Persona 5 the Animation The one constant between all the Persona games and series is incredible genre stylization. While the first opening "Break In to Break Out" was a nod to the mood and style of Persona 5, I think the second opening embraces this more fully and is the superior song because of that. It is a cool, cool bop.

13 - "Spatto! Spy & Spyce" from Release the Spyce I have yet to start Release the Spyce, but this opening is so terrific. It's catchy and cute as shit. This type of girly pop tune definitely doesn't dominate my Best of 2018 list, but that genre of opening has its place in anime. I had the option to include the Magical Girl Ore opening, for example, but I kept that off the list because it's funny and cute but not 100% easy on the ears. This hits every note of being cheeky and charming and catchy AF.

12 - "Deadly Drive" from Bungou Stray Dogs DEAD APPLE Yes, this is technically a movie opening, and yes, maybe that's cheating. But! DEAD APPLE really functions like a long episode of BSD, complete with integrated opening credits. This song rocks so hard and fits well in the canon of Bungou Stray Dogs openings by being a little bit grim, a little bit rough and very, very catchy.

11 - "Fighting Gold" from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind This is the James Bond opening of anime theme songs. It is Dramatic with a capital D, and I love it.

10 - "Howling" from Seven Deadly Sins This marked the second collaboration between shonen music all-stars FLOW and GRANRODEO, following their successful team up on the Seven Deadly Sins season one closing song. And just like that song "Howling" does not disappoint. A song to get you real hype about full-blooded adventure. Hey! Get low! Hey! Howling!

9 - "Lonely Go!" from Boruto: Naruto Next Generation I am really mad that this opening is so catchy and the animation is so wonderful because I don't want to give this show the free press, but here we are. This is a fucking good opening. *grumble*

8 - "katharsis" from Tokyo Ghoul:re Tokyo Ghoul has struggled in the past to capture the perfect tonal match that their first opening found in "Unravel," so the clear solution was to get another song out of the same artist. While I am also a big fan of the first :re opening, this one is just flat out better.

7 - "Guess Who is Back" from Black Clover BRB, starting a petition to have Koda Kumi sing every anime opening forever. I was a huge fan of the water temple arc and its funky little banger of an opening theme.

6 - "Freedom" from Banana Fish I had a really hard time choosing between Banana Fish's two rock influenced angst anthems, but at the end of the day, only one of them regularly makes me scream sing along to the chorus.

5 - "Clear" from Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Peak sweet shoujo tunes. Maaya Sakamoto at her very best. I swear this isn't my CLAMP bias showing--I think Clear Card arc was more than a little boring in execution, but this song is great.

4 - "Winding Road" from Golden Kamuy I have yet to watch Golden Kamuy, but I have heard a lot of good things. When researching options of this list, I was pleasantly surprised to hear this song since it has everything I want in an adventure show opening. With a driving drum line and catchy melody you can really wail along to, the music perfectly compliments the stunning opening visuals. The credits have me convinced that this is one I need to get on my watchlist immediately. (And I've already listened to it a lot of times on loop :X)

3 - "ODD FUTURE" from My Hero Academia I KEEP MY IDEALS BLAAAALAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

2 - "Man Human" from Devilman Crybaby If anything had a chance of slapping as hard as the number one song...point deduction for having only two lyrics. But I refused to let my friends skip it when we watched through.

1 - "Flashback" from Kokkoku It's been a long time since an anime opening slapped this hard. Even if that anime was a weird-but-interesting one off with a lackluster ending.

[hadi-sama]

Super Late Kalafina 10th Anniversary Live Report!

This was my first Kala live ever, basically a dream come true and I couldn't contain my happiness and nervousness! (Special thanks to @putschki1969 for all her tutorials, this wouldn't have been possible for me without her!) I arrived at the venue around 3 pm (3 hrs before the live, 1 hr after the goods sale has started), and my god, THAT QUEUE!! I've never seen such a queue in my entire life.. at this point I wondered if I could make it on time.. but I queued anyway, and I ended up buying for some of my friends too. Anyway, my turn finally came and it was 6:15 pm.. I freaked out and the fact that most of the things I wanted was sold out already did not help at all lol, so I ended up pointing at stuff to the salesperson like a maniac and my hands were shaking when i tried to get out my money xD Now less than 10 mins are left!! I ran to the first floor and thankfully some staff guided me to my seat. The view was great and my seat was the first in the line so there were just stairs to my right, meaning I had extra space to jump around. The lights started dimming, music started playing, and I started shaking xD The girls came up on stage on a platform and I clapped and screamed like a maniac. Now to the actual concert: 01.ring your bell: Hikaru and Keiko started out okay, Wakana joined and was flat AF xD I was like noooo Wakana please don't continue like this, and thankfully she adjusted and became perfect. Wakana actually sounded so good I was quite surprised, and her 2nd high "beeeeeell" sounded great and perfectly pitched, much better than their other live releases. I don't like this song, but was a good warm up for them I guess.. 02.未来: Almost everyone in the venue stood up and got excited for this. 03.lirica: This was extremely unexpected for me, I remember dropping my jaw when Keiko announced it in the MC, and I also remember hearing ppl around me saying huuuh in surprise.. My god, was this a perfect performance in every way.. Wakana was pitch-perfect and sounded SO GOOD in her verses!!! Keiko harmonized perfectly too, and Wakana's high chorus was great too, and Hikaru's harmonization was so good. Now to the Kajiurago bridge.. KEIKO KILLED IT!!! Was so deep and filled Budokan!! I really wanted to jump/scream/clap after her solo, but wouldn't be appropriate for this kind of song lol. Great great great performance. Bonus thoughts: The strings in the verses were great, and it was so fun to look at the band picking their strings in this part! I hope they show some footage of them in the release! 04.満天: YES!! MANTEN!! was a nice follow-up to Lirica. Wakana sounded great (at this point I realised that Wakana will dominate this live) Hikaru was fine. Keiko was good in her solo, but I really miss the way she used to sing it in 2012-2013 with some vibrato to "deshoooou", but it sounded good anyway. 05.屋根の向こうに: I have only heard this song once or twice in my life lol, was quite surprised to see it make an appearance! I didn't know it was popular at all! 06.光の旋律: I know this song is overplayed, but I really enjoy it, and was happy to see it. Hikaru was good in her verses, much like 9+one. Wakana was great, Keiko was great too (but kinda loud and screaming at times) and her solo was good also. Hikaru's high harmonies were great (a few flats here and there, so those of you who think that her high harmonies in this song are always playback, they are NOT playback). Bonus thoughts: The flute was so good, I'm so happy that Akagi-san was there, 07.storia: Eh.. I don't like this song, but they were good. 08.夏の林檎: WHAT?!!! NATSU NO RINGO?!?! At this point I wondered if this was real xD Too many surprise appearances so far!! And they performed it the way they did in Red Day, with Wakana and Hikaru switching parts. 09.serenato: So.. the accordion started.. and I definitely realised it was Serenato (there were minor hints in the solo). I KNEW they'd perform this! My happiness could not be contained!! THAT PERCUSSION THO!! They started with their kajiurago, THEY ALL KILLED IT!! Hikaru sang using her falsetto, and it was on point, provided a more calming atmosphere to the song than her old regular voice singing (tho way less fierce). Wakana was on fiiiiiirrrrrreeeeeeeeee!! It was obvious that she was enjoying this song!! Keiko was great in her harmonies, and Hikaru as well. I REALLY can't wait for the live release!! 10.ARIA: Oh shit.. The moment of truth.. My heart started pounding so hard..  This is one of my absolute fav songs and I have a strong emotional connection to it! The song started in a lower key, as expected (one key lower). Hikaru started singing.. HER VERSES WERE SO GOOD!! The lower key really suits the song and makes it sound way more tragic, sad and lonely. She sang in a very very very sad and broken way, and you can actually see all those feelings in her face :( Wakana and Keiko were also great with their harmonies. Wakana sang her chorus lines beautifully. Solid performance overall, my favorite ARIA ever. Bonus thoughts: I really love this new ARIA, and prefer Hikaru's way of singing here and this key over the old one, it suits the lyrics way more, It brought tears to my eyes and made me cry like a baby. The cello was more present, and really added to the song’s atmosphere. Percussion was very very very good, it's good to finally see this song with percussion!! 11.sprinter: wait what Sprinter NOW this early in the setlist why xD?!?! Hikaru did good (I especially LOVE how she sang the “Kaze ni..” verse. Keiko was on point, a bit loud at times tho. Wakana was great. 12.oblivious: Of course, wouldn't be an anniversary live without it. Hikaru started in falsetto (like 9+one), she was so good. Wakana and Keiko were great, and their "itsuka kimi to.." part was very emotional. Solid performance. 13.傷跡: Another surprise appearance!! Was a great performance by all three, Hikaru was great with her high harmonies, Wakana and Keiko also great with their solos and harmonies. This live can't get any better; I thought to myself. 14.君が光に変えて行く: YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!! MY FAV SONG UGH SOMEONE HELP I CAN'T!! But then.. Keiko sings with her cutesy voice. Someone needs to tell Keiko to stop using that voice forever, please. Wakana DELIVERED!! Aaaaah Wakana was so good!! :(((  Hikaru’s harmonies were on point. Great performance EXCEPT WHEN KEIKO WAS USING THAT CUTESY VOICE. Sorry I'm still mad about it and can't get over it. 15.カンタンカタン: This is too much, at this point I got overwhelmed by the amount of good songs in this live. Wakana sounded MUCH BETTER than the studio version!! Hikaru's solo was nice. Keiko AGAIN used her fake cutesy voice for her solo :((( to me, that's basically the highlight of the song, so I was very disappointed, even though she hit her notes perfectly. I know in the studio version there are hints of cutesy in her solo, but it didn't matter much. Anyway, solid performance overall and Wakana sounded kinda more sad. 16.symphonia: Not a fan of this song, didn't pay much attention. 17.red moon: YeeeeY finally a song I voted for! I was so excited and scared at the same time, cuz their last performance of this song (arena) was so dead. Hikaru and Keiko's kajiurago start was perfect, Wakana started singing and.. was kinda lacking energy.. Keiko's harmonising was SO GOOD throughout the whole song. Hikaru sounded kinda tired but was doing her best. Keiko's final solo was great and gave me goosebumps. Wakana's delivery lacked energy overall, but she hit all her highs and lows perfectly. 18.adore: What? Is this AE Live xD? Was a nice performance overall. 19.to the beginning: I like this song, I know it's overplayed but it was my introduction to Kalafina, so it has a special place in my heart. Was a solid performance for such a hard song.

20.progressive: I also knew this would be performed, the stage got lit in rainbow colors, was so cool. A solid performance by all three! Hikaru was able to perform this song and did so well! I enjoyed this performance. 21.音楽: Of course, wouldn't be a Kalafina Live without Ongaku xD Was a nice performance with a MAJOR WaKei moment <3333 Keiko ran to Wakana right before her solo and jumped on her and hugged her so hard xD was super cute!! All 3 were great, and my god this is my fav Wakana-Ongaku ever!! Her solo WAS SO GOOD! The band introductions this time were nice, not as boring as they were before.

 Bonus thoughts: Wakana was REALLY having fun, dancing so hard and jumping around.. I've never seen her this excited before.

22.heavenly blue:  A solid performance. 23.into the world: I can't get myself to like this song. Solid performance by all three tho. 24.君の銀の庭 Accordion solo ver. ～ nightmare ballet (inst): I'm sorry but I took this chance to run to the restroom xD (sorry if this sounded disrespectful but I REALLY had to go :’(  25.ひかりふる: Started with a piano solo, and the girls came in with wedding dresses.. I was like WTF why the wedding dresses xD they were nice anyway and fit the song. The song started with just Wakana and the piano.. was absolutely wonderful and breathtaking :(((( they all sounded more emotional! The drums and the whole band kicked in together right before Hikaru's "hakanasugite.."!! WAS SO GOOD!! Major goosebumps! Keiko's "mabushii asaaaaaaaa.." was great, but I think she held it longer in the Arena Live. Beautiful beautiful performance. 26.百火撩乱: So Akagi-san came, and started playing a flute solo, very Japanese-sounding, so I knew what the next song would be. The girls started taking off some parts of their wedding dresses to reveal their "real dresses" under lol. I still laugh at how Hikaru was throwing away her wedding dress like a piece of trash xD Anyway, the instrumental part started, and the stage was illuminated in red. Keiko started her lines (Wakana didn't harmonise "yume wo miteeeeee"), Keiko was nice.. but I prefer how she sang in the studio version :/ I don't know how to explain it, but in the studio version, she sang like "naitaaa, omottaaa, kittooo, yoru nooo", but here in this live she ended them very abruptly and suddenly, like "naiTa, omoTTa, kiTTo, yoru No". In other words, the last syllables of those words were 3 three times shorter than the studio version, and that annoyed me so much, made the verses sound less powerful. (I hope someone actually understood what I meant xD). Hikaru sounded nice. Wakana, sang wonderfully, and took less breaths in the chorus, which sounded better for the song. Keiko's "yaibaaaaa" was much better and longer than the studio version. (Forgive my super picky and detailed review of this performance, but HR one of my favs and I spent a long time to cover this song so I know pretty much everything about this song in detail.) Bonus thoughts: The flute was super good. 27.アレルヤ: A perfect ending song to the concert. Was a very emotional performance, and all three delivered beautifully, and the WaHi harmonies were great this time. I also like Hikaru in this song. Keiko really did sing well here too. My fav Alleliua performance ever. So the concert ended, and the girls looked super duper emotional and moved, Wakana cried in her speech, Keiko took a few deep breaths before her speech and spoke with a super shaky voice then turned her face away and cried, Hikaru was smiling and waving to the audience section by section. Overall, a very solid concert, I am so happy I got to experience such a concert, solid setlist, solid performance, and more songs than usual. Highlights: ARIA, Serenato, Lirica, KantanKatan, Kimi ga, Natsu no Ringo. General Notes: - For such an event, I expected way more in terms of stage production and crowd involvement, but oh well they made up for that with the extra squeezed in songs. - Wakana was on fire pretty much the whole concert, she literally dominated, and was having a good time and dancing around and having fun. I really couldn't take my eyes off her. I hope they show more of her in the live release. - Keiko was great too, she harmonised perfectly and delivered her solo lines greatly (except for when she used her FAKE CUTESY voice). Was sometimes screaming and singing loudly tho. - Hikaru sounded good on some songs and tired on some, but you could definitely see that she was doing her best. (It was really cold that day and I’m almost sure she had a cold) - The first dresses were nice, though Wakana's dress was my personal favorite, it looked much much much much much better in real life than in pics, it was sparkly and elegant, it fit her perfectly. Keiko's dress was okay, nothing special in my opinion but the colors were super nice, reminded me of their 2014 tour dresses. Hikaru's dress was very very nice, but I didn’t like the baggy sleeve, would've looked much better if it was fitted. - I don't know what to think of the wedding dresses, a part of me likes them and the other part thinks they're over the top and unnecessary. They made more sense when they took them off, Wakana looked so weird though with her long skirt lol, the other two were very nice. - I was sure they'd play Marchen in its REAL version with the flute this time, but nope I was wrong. I'm too disappointed, I really wanted to see it live and it's a recent song and has only been performed in one tour while INTO THE WORLD has been performed way more. Also no Magia or Destination Unknown made me sad, I really wanted to see Hikaru sing them live :( - Budokan is such a beautiful venue inside-out! I imagined it to be MUCH MUCH bigger inside but it turned out to be way smaller than I imagined xD. - The percussion added A LOT of depths to some songs! Percussion should really be a staple in their tours.

[noiseartists]

UMBRELLA BURNING FESTIVAL: Italogaze from Rome

I was introduced to Umbrella Film Festival by Sara, their bass player. A pretty good one too!

We first connected around Japanese Shoegaze. I was looking for a Japanese translator to help collaboration with Japanese bands that had little English. After a few short and unfruitful contacts with various people, Sara kindly offered to help.

That was a year ago. We have since worked together on Shojoskip, Plant Cell, and have a few more things in store. We get along well and love Shoegaze. With Nicolas Piere Wardell, we are a team, contributors I love working with.

I did not know she also was a bass player in a band. One day, shyly, I was told so and was very impressed by what I heard. You should be too.

One thing is certain, her bass playing is very similar to mine, a mix of support and melodic lines, trying to find solutions, patterns and varying them. She plays better than I ever did, but the intention is still the same.

And the rest is at the same level, with various influences from great indie bands, mixed with their own approach. 

I invite you to discover Umbrella Film Festival, one of Italogaze best, through this collaboration where they present their music and themselves.

 THE BAND

Some history

"Our band’s birth dates back to 2012. However, our lineup has changed a lot so far.

Sara met Luca Barboni, our former guitarist who left the band shortly after Poems in Braille recording and started to play with the aim of forming a garage band (!). As former drummer Francesco Gangeri joined the band the shoegaze idea came in. Gradually we realized how bad we needed a voice and Edoardo joined too. In 2013 Francesco left the band and was substituted by Marco. Since then, we have been writing and playing a bunch of songs and finally put 5 of them in our first EP.

Our only regret is that we could not tour as much as we would have liked, for Luca left UBF. We have been doing literally anything so far to cope with this lack of shoegaze guitarists here in Rome (as a matter of fact we have been trying out like 20 guitarists so far!), at the moment we’re still trying so hard to find another guy to make guitar sound loud, fuzzy and not so guitar-ishly.

We have never given in to this loss, recently Edoardo has decided to put his hands on a guitar and start singing and playing until our man appears. We are still confident he will!"  

Band composition

The line up is:

Edoardo Lelli – vocals, guitar

Sara Massiah – bass

Marco Scarcelli – drums

"As said above, our songwriting process is deeply rooted in the rigging. Most of our songs, including Poems in Braille tracks, were created starting from an improvisation we had recorded (yes, we have a bad habit of recording basically any rehearsal we do).

We would listen to the recorded material later at home, isolate some interesting sections and study our single parts. Then the effective process is kick-started: it could take weeks, months or just a couple of rehearsals until each part is composed, lyrics are written and everything is fine-tuned and arranged as a whole.

However, this is not the only way we compose. Sometimes one of us steps into our cozy studio with some kind of draft, a good riff or vocal line in mind, so everyone starts playing along and if we still like it when we listen back home the song is launched.

Either way, it’s a meticulous process, each of us is quite hard to please and we definitely cannot stop until everyone is satisfied."

 Personal anecdotes…

"If you google UBF you can read of somebody who claims that our name has something to do with the murder of a prostitute, but please don’t trust him. We can say "it’s wrong!"

 Music that is important to them

"We have quite different music tastes. Obviously, we share the love for the 90s Shoegaze scene (Slowdive, MBV, Ride, Swervedriver, Pale Saints, Drop Nineteens etc.) and broadly for the 90s sound we grew up with (Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, Nirvana, Placebo, Deftones, Foo fighters and so on).

However, Edoardo is more into the 80s alternative scene (The Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus, Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode, The Smiths), experimental music (Brian Eno, William Basinksi, Harold Budd), Berlin years Bowie and songwriters (among which Nick Cave and David Sylvian), while Marco doesn’t mind Britpop bands as well as heavy stuff like Tool, SunnO))) and Einstürzende Neubauten.

As for Sara, recent dream-pop artists (The Bilinda butchers, Wild Nothing, Beach House, Radio Dept.) and various groovy-yet-not-that-pop bands are essential (i.e. The Smiths, Interpol, Warpaint, A Perfect Circle, Phoenix, The xx, Japandroids, just to name a few)."

 Why the name of the band?

"Marco: I guess Sara knows better where does the UBF name historically come from. I personally like to consider it a joyful refusal of protection from any kind of weather condition. If it's rainy, then let's get totally soaked. And when the sun hits... she'll be waiting.

Sara: If you really ask me, it came up randomly while I was making research for my Bachelor’s degree thesis. I’ve been studying as a Japanese linguist, so one day I came into this photography book and while flipping through I read about some kind of traditional local festival they hold in Kanagawa prefecture, which is called Soga no Kasayaki Matsuri (namely, the Soga’s Umbrella Burning Festival).

They commemorate a historical event, the attempted murder of a feudal landlord by two young warriors belonging to the powerful Soga family whose father had been deposed. It was a matter of honor, so the two brothers were busted and taken to death but at the same time, their act was seen as a supreme gesture of filial piety. That night, on their way to the landlord’s shelter in the woods, they had burnt their paper umbrellas as to light up their way, therefore it seems that every year since then the local community celebrates by making a huge pile of colorful paper umbrellas which they burn at nightfall in the fourth Saturday of July.

Actually, this medieval revenge story has quite nothing to do with shoegaze music, but I found the photo of those burning umbrellas pretty evocative and fascinating. I showed it to my band fellows and we agreed upon this curious name.  "

 WHAT is your music about?

"Marco: I guess the sound part, detached from lyrics, is about contexts, and space/time. I really like when guitars don't actually sound like guitars. We rig up a lot when we meet and play, so we are just stuck and focused on what's going on in that particular moment, and we crave to do what seems to be magic instead of just what has to be done. We are looking for a giant, howling, and yet invisible ghost. We know it knows that we are there, the only way to catch it is to record its voice.

Sara: Well, about that ghost… I guess some of us just call it creativity. Rather than specific messages or stories, our aim is to suggest some kind of emotional landscape. While playing, we are constantly trying to reach a particular climax, which doesn’t necessarily mean the wall of sound (well, it does mean that more than often though). It’s some kind of emotional peak, the release of something we probably could not express any other way.

We like to think that our audience, especially those longtime Shoegaze fans, are able to grasp it and relate, but personally, I consider this aspect a nice side effect better than a specific aim of the songwriting process. Our music is a pure expression, secondarily the more can relate to the product, the better.

Edoardo: Sara has already said it perfectly: our aim is to set up emotional landscapes. Apart from that, a peculiar aspect of our work is that there's often something hidden or intentionally left unclear so that the listener can give its own meaning to the music or to the lyrics. I guess this is some kind of natural approach to us, as we tend to use ourselves as the test subjects to the evocative power of our songs.

Talking about lyrics writing process, what I'm always looking for is to go beyond the limits and create some reaction in a hypothetical listener. More than telling stories, images depicting. The verses I prefer are the ones where sensitivity and fury collide giving birth to something different, could it be bittersweet or fascinatingly disgusting. I think As Everything Falls Apart is a good example of this approach."

 THE MUSIC

Why we like them

The influences: Pale Saint, Ride, My Bloody Valentine! All drips into UBF' music.

The basslines: The line on Losing myself again is a killer, and the rest is as good

The voice: It is rare in Shoegaze and Dream Pop to hear powerful yet melodic voices. Edoardo pulls this out beautifully.

 Poems in Braille, EP, May 2016

1. Intro  02:14

"We were looking for a short track to work as an introduction to both the mood and the sonic landscape of the EP. We just wanted it to tell the listener something like “This is where we’re going to be for the next 20 minutes. So get ready and let yourself go.” We’re very satisfied with the result, as we think we’ve reached that aim pretty well."

This intro brings a vast palette of sounds. Some part reminds me of Ride's Grasshopper, some of some Japanese bands. A great introduction for the listener.

2. Track 5  02:52

"Track 5 is Umbrella Burning Festival’s take on the classic Shoegaze song: it’s straightforward, melodic, blurry and psychedelic. It’s a bad trip, both musically and lyrically."

This song reminds me of the first Pale Saints album, Comfort of Madness. Edoardo vocals are on par with Ian Masters. The title, track 5, for the second song is quite nice as it misleads the listener.

3. Stargazer  05:24

"When thinking of Stargazer an image always comes to mind: floating in space. Sonically speaking, this song places somewhere in between the space rock of The Verve's first album and the dream pop of Cocteau Twins."

The start of the song is also in the sonic universe of the same Pale Saints album. It is a calm song. It invites you to contemplate de sky full of stars, building tension slowly, without exploding. Subtle.

I love the title. In the 90's, I played often with a band called The SIgh. One of the best I heard. They had a song called Skygazer.

4. Losing Myself Again  05:12

"Losing Myself Again is a bipolar song. In the first part, with its in-your-face attitude, it's still lucid; in the second part, where it's pure chaos, it goes completely crazy."

This song has one of the best basslines I know: round, powerful. It is like getting into a warm whirlpool of sound.

This song has psychedelic sire to it, in the way it pulls the listener into it, both physically and mentally, and keeps you there, happy in the sonic chaos you are surrounded by.

Edoardo's voice adds a great intensity to a song already intense in all the right ways. I love this song.

5. As Everything Falls Apart  07:30

"This is the most intense track in Poems in Braille. Its slow, sinuous pace is meant to be trance inductive as if it was conceived as the soundtrack of a collapse."

In 2017, my favorite album was Camille Claudel 's eponymous album. This song could belong in this album in so many ways: the sound, Edoardo's voice and voice melody that so much like Frederico's, the intensity and trance-inducing. To understand, just listen to the following song. It is difficult not to find similarities. Did I say they were my favorite album of 2017? Maybe a hint as to why I love UBF too.

 THE ENVIRONMENT

Tell us about the artists you have worked with

"We have had the pleasure to mix and master our EP at WAX Recording Studio in Rome, which is run by Alessio Pindinelli who happens to be the talented guitarist of La Casa al Mare. I guess many of you Shoegazers around the world know his band and we are really thankful to them."

 The band's presence on the web

Social media:

Facebook

YouTube

Listening / buying their music:

Bandcamp

Soundcloud

 Other bands

"Marco: I saw Human Colonies live set last year, and it was really good. Out of the ItaloGaze scene, I MUST recommend you all Musica Per Bambini, BRUUNO, and Lantern.

Sara: I absolutely agree upon Human Colonies. Then if you’re into alternative genres and don’t mind some Italian vocals I would say Verdena is a good band to discover. I grew up as a teenager and a musician with their music. Their second album (Solo un grande sasso, 2001) has some Shoegaze influences too. And if you’re looking for something closer to the shoegaze classics, with lyrics in English and sharp riffs, my suggestion is In Her Eye. Even though I’ve discovered them not long ago I love their works (especially Borderline, 2015). I’m looking forward to their upcoming release (Change, off on June 1st) since I’ve listened to the launching single Closer to me.

Edoardo: Speaking of Italian music, I would suggest Verdena (especially Solo un grande sasso), our friends La Casa al Mare (This Astro is such a great album – listen to M and tell me I'm wrong!) and Port-Royal from Genova (I've listened to their 2009 album Dying in Time at least a thousand times!)."

 Thanks to

Our friends and families. Mervyn Peake. Modulated reverb. 2290.

[casuistor]

Did you listen to the NY demo songs of the musical that were put online recently? Some of the songs that weren't officially released are now available. Was wondering if you have any thoughts about them... Adrienne Warren's Misa in I'm Ready sounds v different compared to Fūka Yuzuki!

I am so happy the NY Demo got leaked tbh, I’ve been listening to it nonstop for the last couple of days and lemme just say – even though I don’t fully agree with all the characterization choices, the demo is gorgeous ;~; THANK YOU for the excuse to ramble about this, haha. 

I’ll outline my thoughts on the songs that weren’t released previously under the read more, but just keep in mind that these are just some quick opinions on the songs rather than my thoughts on the demo vs the final versions of the songs b/c then this would be writing for weeks and nobody wants that textwall, haha. 

…I say this is going to be abbreviated and then it turned out long-ish anyway.

Where is the Justice?

Yes I know this was released previously, but the version that was officially released cut a minute out from the song, so I’m commenting, fight me.

While I think the song is overall too focused around the issues with the criminal justice in America for a story that is supposedly set in Japan, I think the verse that was removed was more reflective of the sorts of things Light in canon might think. 

That said I don’t fully agree that Light would argue that “draining the color from within until we’re back to seeing black and white and wrong and right again” is actually a good thing, especially considering canon Light does evaluate mitigating circumstances in his evaluation of who is guilty.

Overall, I think the song does a good job of establishing Light’s character as a kid who, despite having some deeply flawed views about justice, does genuinely care about fairness and has his heart in the right place.

To this day though, I’m not convinced that manga! Light is the kind of kid who would spark this debate in his classroom. He very much seems to be the kind of person who keeps his cynicism about the world to himself.  If you ask me, his “ic” response would be more along the lines of “sure, the justice system isn’t perfect, but it’s our job as the next generation to keep improving it, isn’t it?”  But that doesn’t make a cool song, lmao. 

Hurricane

Yes, this one was also leaked before, but you’re not stopping me from talking about Weather Metaphors The Song™ now that it’s out in HQ. 

Why. WHY.

I think the problem I have with this song is that there’s really not much character development during this song. Light is just immediately sucked into a power fantasy and this is really… not reflective of Light’s character in the series. 

I’m Ready

LOVE. FUCKING LOVE ADRIENNE WARREN’S VOICE. 

But i really don’t agree that Adrienne is a good casting choice with Misa. I LOVE her voice and her singing, but she’s… too much of a power house and Misa is just not that at all. Misa needed to be bubbly and radiate cuteness rather than maturity. 

Hearing this rendition of Misa really made me understand why the Korean production went the direction they did with Jung Sun Ah’s Misa though, and it comes as much less of a headscratcher now. 

I think these lyrics are also not PG enough for Misa’s idol image which sounds ridiculous b/c it’s overall a pretty tame song, lmao

Specifically it’s lines like “let me kiss you and then let me kiss you again” that are maybe not… squeaky clean enough for the image that idols in Japan have to project. 

We All Need A Hero

Perfection. Absolute perfection.  I love that they threw in that dumb light pun lmao. 

Honestly this almost made me cry and I wish I knew who sings this song as they were the perfect Sayu singing voice. Young, sweet, optimistic, sincere sounding? Nailed it. (Edit: I am told that the singer is Laura Osnes)

I am VERY much intrigued by the fact that this song was written as a solo in the NY Demo as opposed to the odd duet that it became in the final version. This makes much more sense to me and avoids weird/creepy parallels between Sayu and Misa that the final version forced by making it a duet. 

The Game Begins

I am so distracted by the line “for even the perfect crime has the perfect flaws” because this is just not logically coherent.

ON LESS GRIPEY TERRITORY – having the whole demo did put into perspective for me why the Weather Metaphors had to be, and I think it’s because they may have been going for a nature vs machine type of theme… and while I can appreciate it poetically (?) I just don’t agree that it fit thematically with the character of L and Light. 

Like why… does L keep making tech metaphors? Is this supposed to be a quirk of his the same way that the posture/diet is? I think in a way this was poorly executed and characterization was ultimately sacrificed in favor of poetic analogies. 

The literal first line “empty your mind of any feelings” is very unlike L to do. L is a detective who works heavily based on his intuition and his gut instincts. He did not tackle the Kira case like a super computer interested in objectivity and eliminating bias. That’s just not what happened in canon. 

I stand very much corrected on these lyrics as they are “empty your mind of any theories.” My bad, I don’t have the best ear for lyrics. But that said, doesn’t this contradict the fact that he already took an action based on a theory with the LLT plan? 

Overall I think this song took too many poetic liberties with L, and tried too hard to make him sound intelligent by throwing in “smart sounding words” like ~calculus~ and ~evolution~ even though those words didn’t actually make that much sense in the context he was applying them in? 

“A stronger mind and evolution determines who wins the game” – for example. Evolution and adaptation aren’t synonyms, but he uses them as such anyway and this kind of clumsiness, though very lyrically pretty, is a bit… idk, not quite what I associate with L myself.

In terms of the overall performance – lovely. My issues are 100% the lyrics on this one. Jarrod Specter performs fantastically. 

There Are Lines

Fight me this song is best song and I honestly did not like this song much in the final version of it.  

J’ADORE how salty Soichiro is about L’s method of offering up Lind L Tailor as a decoy. His anger seems so genuine and believable in this, and I love how it’s so obvious that he has no idea that this is applicable to Light too, since they don’t force that dumb “KAMI NI NARU!!!!” line to ram the subtext down your throat.  (… I say as I claim that I wasn’t going to talk about comparisons to the final Japanese songs, ahem). 

That said, was Soichiro actually that salty about L’s tactics there with LLT in the manga? No. At least not to the extreme that he lost a lot of respect for L for it. In fact, manga!Soichiro seemed impressed by the results L achieved and didn’t really seem to dwell on the moral implications of L’s actions. 

tl;dr not the most ic or canonically based interpretation of Soichiro, but I am standing by this man. 

Personally, I think this is an improvement on the character AND LET ME JUST SAY THIS SONG MADE ME REALLY WISH THEY’D ADAPTED THE YOTSUBA ARC IN THIS MUSICAL??? Can you imagine this song as a reprise as Soichiro shoots Light while they’re in the car? 

You’re welcome

Secrets and Lies

I cannot emphasize how much I love when Soichiro calls out L for his awful morals in addition to calling out Kira’s. This is so nice -w-

I am also deeply enamored with the fact that L also outright says “I don’t care who gets hurt now, as long as I get one more shot” because fucking yes – L is so brazen about this in the manga, and most adaptations try to sweeten his attitude. 

I enjoy that it is constantly reinforced that neither Light nor L are in the right because there are constant parallels between the two and the two are criticized by the narrative. 

Mortals and Fools

“What I see in your eyes is a counterfeit emotion” – the truest thing ever said about the manga!Misa’s feelings about love. 

Admittedly, Demo!Rem annoys me as a character though. It’s not a problem with casting – Carrie’s singing is lovely and I think they made a good choice there. This is a bit of an aside I guess, but I just don’t understand how it is believable that Rem actually romantically fell in love with Misa as the song “When Love Comes” implies after all this love is for mortals and fools lark and Misa… doesn’t really seem to do anything to win Rem’s love in a romantic sense of it. Platonic love I can squint and buy certainly, but not romantic based on the contents of “Mortals and Fools”, “Borrowed Time,” and “When Love Comes.” Maybe something in the actual script/dialogue justifies it? But with the material available so far, I’m not seeing it.

I think also Demo!Rem’s fixation on the notion of love is something that’s… overexaggerated from her more subtle curiosity over the issue in the manga. I just don’t think I’d agree that the melancholy tone demo!Rem has when she says she tries and fails to really understand love as an emotion is true to the manga. Manga!Rem seems to have a more “god Misa, I get this is important to you but could you maybe slow down” kind of vibe to her. Melancholy doesn’t really seem to be it, exactly.

For the sake of clarity – the issue I have is not that Rem’s character was changed from the manga to make her develop romantic interests in Misa. That is perfectly a-okay and it’s actually pretty cool that they went this route with demo!Rem. 

My issue is that from a narrative perspective, Rem’s character development in the demo seems underdeveloped and not optimally executed given that she is a) literally not human and b) as she herself points out is a shinigami who fundamentally does not understand why humans idealize romantic love. 

Shinigami themselves in the context of this musical are not shown to idealize love within their own culture. Ryuk and Rem both seem to find it funny or baffling/futile indicating that this is not a culture that parallels human culture in its zealous overvaluation of romantic love as a be all end all goal of life. Shinigami, according to the musical’s own internal logic, are not amatonormative.. 

My pet peeve exists specifically because it is somewhat frustrating to me, an aroace person, when even non-humans who were very firm on not relating to romantic love (and yes, “Mortals and Fools” makes Rem come down more strongly on that side compared to “Zankoku na Yume”) and have no reason to inherently want to experience or idealize romantic love the same way human society normalizes it for humans, starts extolling the virtues of romantic love as the pinnacle of interpersonal relationships.

I can fully respect that this is not a pet peeve that most other people will have, or even be inclined to view from this perspective and that to many, none of these things matter and that’s fine! Just keep in mind that I would find this just as pet peeve-y if Rem were a male shinigami and would have no problems whatsoever with any of this had Rem been a human girl or if shinigami culture as a whole been portrayed differently in the musical itself. Also please note, I am only speaking for myself. I’m sure other aroace folk will have different opinions as well.   Ironically enough, Rem in the final live version, I can more readily see as developing romantic feelings for Misa precisely because “Inochi no Kachi” was written the way it was and it is a damn shame that that is not the direction that was eventually taken with the character in the live productions as they seem to view Rem as having more maternal instincts. (…which, I’d again disagree is an inference of the manga, as I do think Rem’s feelings about Misa were very platonic in a ‘friends’-ish way rather than a parental way.)

tl;dr All I’m saying is that I think demo!Rem should have gotten more charater development, and it is a shame that she did not. 

On a performative note – it is really odd that Rem’s voice is higher than Misa’s. I don’t think I’d make this call. 

Borrowed Time

Adrienne delivers yet another killer performance!!

I know I said I wasn’t gonna make comparisons but I have to say that between “Borrowed Time” and “Inochi no Kachi” Borrowed Time is just so much more IC for manga!Misa. 

I’m glad they based this song around something Misa actually said in the manga since that line “Just kill me. I was supposed to die that day anyway” is actually something that stuck with me for a very long time since it says so much about where Misa was in her life.

In the end, I guess I find it more convincing that Misa would be singing a song more centered around herself than singing a less me me me focused song about the virtues of sacrificial love as she ultimately is a person (in the manga) who is pretty selfish and focuses mostly on her own perspective. 

Which is not to say that demo!Misa is really reflective of manga!MIsa because I don’t think that’s the case at all. 

The Way It Ends

Blurgh more machine/tech metaphors and analogies from L…..I still don’t like this, sorry. He does not view himself as a robot in the manga, so it just comes out of left field for me.

I think the part of this song that lets me down is Jeremy’s delivery. He’s not !!!!!!! enough for what is supposed to be a victorious moment for Light. He has so much less energy and power than he did when he was singing Weather Metaphors, and it really shouldn’t be that way in my opinion. 

On that last “a minute more.” Jeremy sounds weirdly remorseful, though I guess it’s hard to interpret the exact emotion behind that without an accompanying facial expression. 

But speaking of delivery holy shit, Jarrod’s delivery as L is spot on. I’m kinda stunned by the range of emotion in his voice for this one: confusion, defiance, anger and that hint of regret that his life is coming to an end as he goes into “like a closing door.” It’s so… good?????? 

Overall I think the NY Demo is lovely and it has made me really happy to be able to listen to it after years of wondering what on earth it was like, lmao. 

I know it sounds like I have a ton of gripes, but just keep in mind that a) even I consider these gripes pretty minor and they didn’t really hurt my enjoyment of the demo as a whole, and b) I think that adaptations have every right to make changes and take creative liberties with their source material. It’s important to do that in order to keep material fresh and bring in new thoughts and perspectives to the original. 

[fytaem]

Making Taemin ‘Move’: An Interview With Songwriter Curtis Richa

{171023} Muumuse

Yes, there’s a dude doing the Super Bowl next year who claims he’s responsible, but in fact, Taemin is the one who’s actually bringing sexy back. The 24-year-old member of SHINee, the five-member South Korean boy band still going strong since their 2008 debut, broke out for the second time on his own with his sophomore solo studio album Move, released last week (October 16). The sleek and varied collection of silky-smooth R&B melodies, shape-shifting electronica and big-voiced balladry (“Rise,” my heart!) is easily one of 2017’s best Korean pop releases, with its shadowy and seductive title track leading the charge.

“I honestly think ‘Move’ is kind of iconic,” Curtis Richa, one of the song’s co-writers, told me in a Skype call from Amsterdam last week. A U.S.-based songwriter who’s found himself in the liner notes of major releases by everyone from Koda Kumi to Jennifer Lopez to Rihanna since the early ’00s, Curtis was pleasantly surprised to learn that Taemin’s team not only wanted his submission – originally titled “Don’t Fight the Music” – but planned to make it the pop star’s lead single. “I feel like it surpassed what we originally envisioned it to be,” Curtis admitted of the track, which was penned alongside Adien Lewis and Angelique Cinelu, and later translated by Ji Eum Seo. “We didn’t have any big aspirations for the song. We loved the original song, but Taemin and S.M. took it to a level that’s just earth-shattering to me. I didn’t think it would be this big, this impactful.” The song is understated in its approach, supplying subtle-yet-undeniable hooks above dark, pulsating, ever-so-slightly menacing synths perfectly suited for the Halloween season, similar sonically to The Weeknd‘s transition to Max Martin Top 40 slick pop – and even The King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. “The singing style is so different from what I’m used to hearing from him. It’s a more breathy, sensual, kind of mysterious dark record with an air of brightness to it,” Curtis explained. As for the video – well, all three of them to be exact? If the song wasn’t enough of a selling point, Taemin’s smoldering screen presence surely seals the deal. There are three visual experiences: the main music video, a solo choreography version, and a duo dance between Taemin and the video’s Japanese choreographer (and frequent collaborator), Sugawara Koharu. Pulling off fierce choreography in the rain (and even fiercer fashion), Taemin toes the line between masculine and feminine as a gorgeously androgynous idol – not unlike some of the West’s most legendary male music icons. Taemin’s movements alternate between strong and precise to seductively soft, limp-wristed and femme – he’s captivatingly versatile as a performer. “For me, just the way he did the video, it kind of has shades of Michael Jackson in it…but it’s also Taemin. He has his own style,” Curtis said. Just don’t ask the song’s own co-writer to explain the meaning of “Move”: as with most Western artists who submit songs to be recorded by Korean artists, Curtis had no say whatsoever in the English-to-Korean lyrical crossover. “I don’t know what the meaning of ‘Move’ is, but I know what the original record was. It was meant to be sexy, sensual and really mysterious,” he revealed. “They [S.M. Entertainment] actually bring in the translator. They work with the translator to get what they want for the Korean lyrics. But there are some lyrics in ‘Move’ that are still there – that ‘you got the rhythm!‘ – that’s my lyric…there are a couple English lyrics in there. Adien’s voice is layered somewhere in there with Taemin’s and Andrew Choi. I think Adien is still in there somewhere in the background.” At the moment, Taemin’s been making moves with “Move,” as one does as a massive K-Pop idol, performing his own solo showcase and taking the stage nightly on music shows, which are still a major factor in the Korean music industry. (The TRL reboot could take a few notes, but that’s another story.) While he’s not there to experience the Taemin takeover in person, Curtis is more than pleased with what he’s seeing from afar. “I can’t stop watching these videos. I’m blown away by them. I get a big kick out of it. It makes me respect the composition more. I love that record. I always did,” he insisted. “But Taemin’s performance, and the energy in the mix…I was just extremely happy with that.”

[adurnah]

REPORT: Aqours 2nd Live HAPPY PARTY TRAIN TOUR in NAGOYA - Day 1

(Disclaimer: this report will not be a serious and professional one because I just can’t contain the fangirling; also I may and probably will be biased towards Aikyan and Shuka I’m sorry- Also I’m sorry but I can’t really understand Japanese so I don’t know a lot of the things they said and what the Intermission PV was about, but maybe I will be able to update it later Last, there will probably be a lot of mistakes since I’m writing this on my phone (since I’m going back home to Italy only after Comiket next week)

Sorry this took me a lot of time! So, on Saturday I’ve been to the first day of Aqours 2nd Live Tour in Nagoya and I wanted to write a report of it for curious people and also for me to remember it better :)

My seat was on the last floor, but we were really close to the stage and the arena is rather small compared to Yokohama Arena (to which I’ve also been) so it was a really good seat. The stage was on two floors, connected with two stairs at the sides and the usual three monitors behind. Above there was the lit-up Aqours logo that changed with the singer’s colour and had all of them flashing when they were singing together. All around the stage there were neon lines that resembled railways; altogether the scenography was amazing. There was also a squared stage in the rear part of the arena, but with no aisle to connect it with the main stage.

The live started perfectly in time, as always with the introduction video. This time it didn’t really have any new animation of the girls, it was just the Happy Party Train from the PV soaring though the sky at an incredible speed and passing through Nagoya Station, and it also had the introductions of the characters.

Just after that the music from HPT started and the upper stage literally split in two and A WHOLE TRAIN CAME FORWARD. THE TRAIN FROM THE PV. WTF. And all of them were in front of it in their HPT outfits! I loved them, they were really accurate and had a central vertical area in sparkling blue fabric (you probably already saw them at this point from the seiyuu’s twitter), and altogether they were really beautiful. I have to say I like the design more than before now that I’ve seen the live version. At this point, even if this wasn’t the first time I attended a live, I’ve started crying for just how happy I was to see them in person again. The performance of HPT was amazing, Suwawa has improved a lot since First Live, her solos were really good and her high notes were amazing. All of the other girls solos where super good too, I am so impressed by their huge improvement. During the closing MC Rikyako said that she sang Yoshiko’s lyrics instead of hers and I’m so ashamed to say I didn’t noticed lol how did I missed it?? (I was probably still crying lol) Then in the last part, as everyone expected, the costumes lit up like in the PV! They were amazing. At this point they were only yellow and static, but in Shoujo Ijou later they also changed colour.

After HPT they went on right away with Pops Heart. Nothing to say here, since it’s a song that’s already been performed.

Then they did their introductions. Unfortunately I can’t tell you a lot of what they said because I can’t understand a lot of Japanese, but basically it was all the same as always. One particular thing that happened was that during Suwawa’s introduction, the lateral monitors showed the second years and Anchan and Shukashuu talking and laughing by themselves (anshuka cough—) and then at the Hagu shiyo part Suwawa LITERALLY RAN TOWARDS AINYA TO HUG HER and then Shuka made a face like “ah she didn’t hug me today” BUT THEN BOTH ANCHAN AND ARISHA HUGGED HER IT WAS SO CUTE- Also Suwawa admitted that her voice is not good and she isn’t the best at singing but then Anchan encouraged her by saying that the HPTT wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for her and Kanan-chan and everyone cheered for her. Then after the introductions they made a little skit to remember people to drink, basically Arisha faked a collapse saying that she was thirsty and was sweating so she needed to drink and then something like offering us to drink her sweat (this may be wrong I’m sorry). They also showed their outfits by turning around, this time guided by Suwawa who brought out a whistle and made them turn by whistling it.

After this skit they went on with the next song, Shoujo Ijou no Koi ga Shitai! As I said before this time the costumes lit up but each one in their respective image colour, and they were also flashing from time to time, it was amazing! The performance was really good (yeah I will be repetitive about this, I won’t stress it enough they were incredibly good I can’t even believe they improved so much in such a short time) and the choreograpy was really cute, I remember Aikyan and Shuka turning around arm in arm for their duet. This song also had CG on the main screen, with hearts floating at the sides.

During the final chorus the second years disappeared from the stage, and in fact right after Shoujo Ijou there was Sora mo Kokoro mo Hareru Kara. The girls were sitting on a bench on the higher floor of the stage, and had cute white outfits with details in blue and their image color (this fanart by Nanotsuki catches them perfectly). The monitor right behind them showed a sky in different moments of the day (morning, sunset, night). Their singing in this song was really amazing, probably their best performance in the live, all of them shined a lot in their respective solos PLUS SHUKA MADE ONE OF HER GLORIOUS SOLO DANCE DURING THE INSTRUMENTAL PART AND IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL I CRIED HOW CAN SHE BE REAL

When the song ended the first years arrived right away in the stage for Waku Waku Week. Their outfits were… well… a patchwork of colours and patterns… I can’t say I liked them a lot. But their performance was super cute and funny! I’ve always thought that Waku Waku was a perfect song for the comedians of Aqours (the first years seiyuu) and I wasn’t wrong, they seemed like they were having a lot of fun just singing and dancing together! Something that bothered me, at the end of the song I expected people to do the “giran”, “zura” and “pigi” instead of the usual “uh-uh” (the words even appeared on the monitors) but everyone just did that again, I was a bit surprised. (Well I’m still a bit disappointed that no one does the yousoroad during KoiAqua but whatever lol)

After them it was the third years’ turn and OH MY GOD THE OUTFITS. THE OUTFITS. I was wondering if they would actually have ballroom gowns and I wasn’t disappointed (this fanart is one of the most faithful), the dresses were absolutely gorgeous, in fine fabrics like beautiful organza, satin, tulle… I was speechless. I think that with all of those gorgeous fabrics they were probably the most expensive outfits of the live, they went all out with them. Also, the dresses were sleeveless… can you imagine Arisha in a sleeveless red gown? I can tell you, no you can’t. It’s beyond imagination. I can’t believe I witnessed a beauty like that. And it wasn’t all! Toward the end of the song the other six girls came back with black dresses with short tulle skirts, they were all amazing! And they danced (waltz?) in turn together with the third years, first Aiai with Arisha, Shuka with Ainya and Aikyan with Suwawa, then Anchan with Arisha and… I’m really sorry I didn’t see who King and Rikyako danced with. The other girls also gave a kiss on the hand of the third years while dancing, like they were the “men” of the dancing couple. It was a really nice touch that I didn’t expected (also those black dresses were asdfghjkl. Yeah.)

After a short MC when they talked about the dresses and the songs, they went away and an intermission PV started. No clue what it was about, sorry, looked like they were talking about Nagoya history.

And after that my favorite part of the live started. First of all was KoiAqua and WITH THE ORIGINAL OUTFITS!! I WAS SO HAPPY!!! I was super sad that during First Live they didn’t have them, and I expected that this time they either left the song out completely or do it with the original outfits and I wasn’t disappointed!! They were gorgeous too, really faithful and the colours were amazing, like when they were all lined up the beautiful colours of their outifts really stood up. Also, I was absolutely shocked by the fact that the outfit was actually split in two parts (top and bottom) and YES IT SHOWED THEIR MIDRIFFS. Like. Wow. Just a little bit, not like in the anime, but at one point Shuka was waving while she was on the monitors and I literally saw half of her midriff I died omfgsdfghjkl ANYWAY—  I was so happy to be able to listen to KoiAqua live again! Shuka improved a lot too and her solo was really good, I loved it.

Then they did an MC right away, talking about the song and the outfit. This time to do the turnaround, Aikyan said something like “daten!” with her datenshi pose and at first only Shuka turned and they were like “eh? Why did only me turn? www” then Aikyan did it again and everyone did their turning and the little demon pose lol- they also showed the rear part of their outfits, which were very decorated and if I understood that corrected they said that Anchan’s, Suwawa’s, Rikyako’s and King’s rear part looked like from samba dancers lol

After this, well, I almost cried when they announced Daydream Warrior, one of my absolutely favourite songs. I have no words to describe how awesome this whole performance was. Their singing was super good, their low voices were amazing; the one that hit me the most was incredibly Furirin’s solo, you can’t even imagine how good her voice was. The best part was probably the choreography: it was absolutely intense and really really difficult, at one point I started wondering how the hell they were still singing like that, they really built up an incredible amount of stamina. There was this part in which just Aikyan, Shuka and Anchan were dancing (an instrumental part) which was super intense, I was really impressed… I am absolutely sure no other Love Live choreo has anything at this level. Even their expressions were so intense, they added a whole level to the performance. The only thing that “”“ruined”“” it a bit was that they had those super colourful outfits while singing about war and impossible love, it was a bit out of place. But overall it was a really intense and powerful performance.

And! We didn’t even have time to catch a breath because after that was fucking Thrilling One Way!!! I can say that this was absolutely the most hype song, the arena was LITERALLY ON FIRE: their background monitors showed images of flames, there were jets of smoke (like the flames in Saitama Super Arena, but with just smoke) from the front part of the stage, I saw really a lot of UOs and the overall volume of the audience’s calls was absolutely higher than before. Like I said, literally on fire. And much to my amazement this song choreo was as intense as the Daydream Warrior one HOW DO THEY DO IT THEY ARE NOT REAL. I am amazed I love them so much they work so hard……. After this medley of kakkoi songs I was basically drenching in sweat. Me. And they were there singing and dancing. h o w.

Anyway, after another Intermission PV (which was about uirou, a Japanese sweet typical in Nagoya) it was subunit time! Of course CYaRon arrived first singing Kin Mirai Happy End. They had their pirate outfits from the CD jacket and they were suuuper cute in them! The monitors this time showed the deck of a pirate ship with a CYaRon flag, making it seem like they were dancing on the ship. They also had flags with a new CYR logo, which they said during the MC was designed by Furirin. During the MC they said the usual things like talking about the song and the outfits. Then, before singing Kaigan Doori, they showed us a move to do during the chorus, like the CYaRon sign (the number three with one hand) with your left hand and a salute with the right.

When they finished Kaigan Doori it was AZALEA time! For Galaxy HidE and SeeK, Arisha started singing while being alone on the center stage, which was elevated, and on the monitors there were astronomic photos of galaxies. Her singing was really amazing! Then the other two members suddenly appeared from hidden carts, then joined Arisha in the central stage and then back to the main one. Their performance was really wonderful, they all improved a lot in their singing. Oh, they were dressed in their CD jacket outfits too, white and pink, and they also had angel wings. They also took out some magic candy (?) similar to the magic wands they had for First Live. And as in First Live, during the MC they did the torikoriko spell to change the audience’s penlight colours, this time by also making us change to their respective image colour. Then they sang INNOCENT BIRD, another favorite of mine, which was really good. They had these fake microphones in their hand and they were dancing and using their cables like a lazo. Unfortunately as much as I love this song at this point my mind was already on the next song…

Guilty Kiss appeared on the central stage, in their CD jacket outfits too (they were a bit different though, if I remember correctly- but still good, I love them more than the Strawberry Trapper one, they were so hot in those pants oh my god I’m gay). I’m sorry but all of my biased will come out here because Aikyan in Kowareyasuki was simply the best. I wanted to cry at all of her solo parts. Her scream during the instrumental gave me so many chills. She was so so so so so so good. Absolutely gets the award for best singer in Aqours, hands down. So good. I died and resurrected. I love her too much. Anyway, of course all of them were super good and the whole song was LIT AF exactly as I imagined it. After the usual MC with the usual things and a bit of cnrk (Aikyan put an arm around Rikyako’s shoulders to apologize to her because she involuntary interrupted her), they started with Shadow Gate of Love. The monitors had CG for this but I wasn’t really looking at them since the seiyuus were on the carts and I was looking at them, but once I saw Aikyan on the monitor making a heart with her hands and the CG followed her hands. The choreo of this song was really sensual, I loved it. At the end they made a final pose with their backs to the audience and making a heart with their hands behind them, it was such a cute touch.

Then another intermission started and surprise surprise! BACKSTAGE FOOTAGE!!! I was so happy, I LOVE seeing them during their training! It really shows how hard they work. They always wear their characters T-shirts during their training, it was so cute to see them with all of the different T-shirts that came out (I remember Aikyan wearing the COSPA “emotional series” T-shirt, and Ainya with the one with Mari in swimsuit) Unfortunately they were just really short clips of training, one for each of them, together with some messages from them to the audience. One thing I clearly remember is Furirin’s clip, because they showed her practising the chorus of Thrilling One Way and she looked so cool.

After this intermission they came on the stage again with KimiKoko outfits and sang the ONLY anime song of the whole 2nd live, Aozora Jumping Heart. Nothing to say, this has been performed countless time.

Right after that it came another one of my favs, a song that I didn’t expected them to perform at this point (so many new songs already, and they also already did the kakkoi songs together) so I was surprised again: SKY JOURNEY. I will be repetitive again they were so good so good soooo good I don’t know what else to say they are so good I love them. The monitors were showing beautiful images of stars behind them, that really added emphasis to the whole performance.

After that it was another old song, KimiKoko. At the end of it they started waving and going behind the stage, but of course the lights didn’t turn off which was our cue to start calling the encore.

After some minutes an animated PV started, showing the girls with the yellow live T-shirts on the HPT. Suddenly the train stopped because it didn’t have any more energy (?). They said (sorry I can’t remember who said what) that they needed everyone’s power to make it start again, but that their power as only nine girls wasn’t enough. Then I think Kanan said that “we’re not just nine” and asked us to call “Aqours! Aqours!”, at which the train filled with energy and started again, bringing us to the encore.

When the PV finished the stage split in two again and the HPT came out, this time with Uchicchi in front of it!! The audience went wild, he is clearly everyone’s best girl. He had a big red fan with the kanji 祭 (“matsuri”, festival) written on it, bringing us into the atmosphere for the next song, Sunshine Pikka Pika Ondo! When the music started the girls appeared on the center stage, wearing the yellow Nagoya shirts and the happis above them, with Anchan in the central elevated part of the stage, with a big taiko and lanterns all around her stage, and the other girls all around her in the lower stage holding big and small red fans. It really felt like being at a natsu matsuri, the scenography was amazing! Also I love so much this song, I was so happy that they went all out with it, it was so funny! (I won’t say that of course their singing was so good you already know it at this point.) During the final part they went on the carts and back to the main stage, where they did a MC thanking us for the encore. I can’t remember anything special about this except what I already said about Rikyako (that she admitted her error during HPT) and that Aikyan was a bit teary-eyed (as always, my precious child).

After which they removed their happis announcing the very last song… everyone at some point in the live expected Mirai Ticket since Nippon Gaishi Hall is the arena in which they sing it in the anime, but much to everyone’s surprise it wasn’t even the last, which was instead Taiyou o Oikakerou. Not that I’m complaining, I like the song and the performance was so cute! They went back and forth on the stage while marching and waving at us all. The cutest moment was when Suwawa went to hug Shuka (to make up for before, uh), and then Arisha went to hug Suwawa from behind and then Ainya hugged Arisha! A Happy Party Train of hugs lol ♡ At the end they just waved at us saying thank you and went behind the stage, to which the lights on the arena went on again, marking the end of the concert.

Final considerations:

All of this live was so unexpected to me. I expected a live with S1 songs, PV songs and a bit of new songs, I hoped for the BD bonus songs but I didn’t have a lot of hope… instead we got a live with no anime songs and SO MANY NEW SONGS. ALL IN DAY1. This is better than anything I could have ever imagined I am so. So. Impressed. They are so good.

My feeling of attending a live has kinda changed, the first time (Aqours First Live) seemed unreal to be there and I was so shocked the whole live, this time I was able to be more present, I guess I needed to get used to the sudden and unusual burst of emotions.

A thing that I really liked about this live more than any other are the coreographies, and since I already talked about the girls’ awesome performance and no one ever talks about her I’m making a special mention to Yumi Ichikawa, the coreographer of Love Live. Her coreos improved so much, they are not only the typical idol moves anymore, they… well, when you’ll see Daydream Warrior you’ll understand what I mean. It’s so good.

Before every live I think to all of the money I spent to arrive here and obtain a ticket and I say this will be the last for some time, I have to save up for my future and more serious things but then when I’m there I can’t help to say HOW CAN I MISS THIS MY PRECIOUS GIRLS I WANT TO SEE THEM ALWAYS Don’t start going to lives kids it will ruin your life

TL;DR they’re good girls Brent