Final Impressions / First Impressions / Wagaya no Oinari-sama

Wagaya no Oinari-sama. – 24 (END)

「お稲荷さま。初詣に行く」 (Oinari-sama. Hatsumoude ni Iku)
“Oinari-sama. Goes to the New Year Shrine Visit”

Episode at a Glance:
In preparation for welcoming in the new year, Noboru has everyone help clean the house, but is forced to do most of the work himself because of Kuugen and Kou.

CODE GEASS / PV

FLOW – WORLD END Live (Music Station)

 

In my ongoing efforts to find more PVs and live performances of anime-related music (which I hope to make a habit of doing so on a regular basis), I came across this live performance of FLOW’s WORLD END. While I realize that this is just under a month old now, I find that live performances are a lot more obscure than your run-of-the-mill PV, so I decided to share it here. I imagine that the number of fans who listen to anime music is noticeably less than that who watch it, with the number interested in PVs and live performances even less than that. This live version is a shorter version of the song, but I find live performances much more entertaining to watch, because you’re not simply listening to a prerecorded track you’ve heard many times before. The atmosphere is also quite different when you have a crowd of rabid fan girls. =P

In any case, I hope this is new to some of you, but if it’s not, you’re still more than welcome to share your thoughts about it. Expect some other PVs and performances to be posted soon, but in the meantime, enjoy the video.

First Impressions / Gundam

Gundam 00 Series 2 – CM5

 

Another week, another new Gundam 00 commercial. I can’t say I’m surprised at how many commercials there have been since there were a ton of Geass R2 ones back in the spring as well, and they probably want to get as many Geass fans as possible to watch the next show in the Sunday timeslot. As for this commercial, it brings back the UVERworld song (Hakanaku mo Towa no Kanashi) and the rapidly-flashing-by of images. It’s a little more mecha oriented than the previous ones due to all the new Gundams plus the Ahead and the GN-XIII types being shown, but there are some character shots in there too, including Soma, Kathy, and more Saji. Heck, I almost didn’t recognize Kathy because her uniform, short hair, and face made her look like a man.

This commercial also prompted me to visit the official site again, and I noticed that they’ve updated with a lot of characters since I last checked (don’t click the link if you don’t want to be spoiled). The masked character in particular is kind of amusing because it’s pretty obvious who that is, yet the official site makes it seem like a mystery. I’m curious to see how they develop him into a villain (assuming they do so) and if he’ll be a bigger threat than Ribbons.

Macross / PV

Sheryl Nome starring May’n – Northern Cross Live (MelodiX!)

 

While this performance is several weeks old now, I didn’t have time to check it out until now. Given how much I’ve been enjoying Macross Frontier‘s music for the past couple of seasons, I guess it’s only natural that Northern Cross grew on me fairly quickly. My favorite song to date is still “What ’bout my star? @Formo” (which I would absolutely love to see a live duet performance of), but I really like this song because it’s a lot more upbeat and very unlike the songs typically written for anime. I’m sure most Macross fans have listened to it to death by now (myself included), yet somehow I find that I’m still not sick of it in the slightest.

Anyway, I’ve seen May’n’s performances before, but I’m still impressed by how well she sings live, especially with the dance choreography that goes along with this performance. Granted, the choreography isn’t overly strenuous being mostly Para Para-like movements and she is a J-pop artist first and foremost; however, I’m sure we’re all aware that not a lot of artists can sing studio-like quality live. For those wondering, her stage name “May’n” is a contraction of her full name, Nakabayashi May (中林 芽依). For whatever reason, she decided to change it to this at the beginning of the year.

Finally, I should mention that I was a bit surprised to find out that she’s only 18 years old. Judging by her appearance (which comes off a bit mature), I figured May’n was in her earlier twenties already. In any case, enjoy the video!