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For those familiar with Macross Plus, you’re probably aware that the ever-so-talented composer, Kanno Youko, has always been one of the reasons why its music has been so memorable. For a longtime Macross fan such as myself, I was extremely happy when I heard that she would be doing the music for Macross Frontier as well. Reading this, you might be wondering what any of it has to do with Sakamoto Maaya, who performs the first opening song to the series. Well, this actually dates back to Maaya’s debut as a seiyuu back in 1996, when she starred as Kanzaki Hitomi in Tenkuu no Escalfowne, better known in English as The Vision of Escaflowne, which led to her working together with Youko on “Yakusoku wa Iranai” 「約束はいらない」 (No Need for Promises), the opening theme for the series. After working together with Youko to release numerous singles and albums featuring songs for series such as Record of Lodoss War (TV series), Cardcaptor Sakura, RahXephon, and Wolf’s Rain, the two parted ways on Maaya’s fifth single release, Loop, the first ending theme to Tsubasa Chronicle. It’s been three years since then, and the two have reunited to work on Macross Frontier with this song—Triangular.
The PV itself is fairly simplistic, focusing primarily on Maaya on a grass field backdrop, but the emphasis on a love triangle theme is there thanks to the large green triangular sculpture she stands/sits on. I’m quite a fan of Maaya’s singing, so this song grew on me almost instantly when I heard it for the very first time and makes me kind of hope she’ll perform a ballad song such as Yubiwa 「指輪」 (Ring), Escaflowne the Movie‘s ending theme. Evidently, there are plenty of other songs in the series though, due to May’n and Nakajima Megumi‘s roles as the new Lynn Minmay‘s of the current Macross era, so I doubt we’ll get to hear another song Maaya in this series, but at least she’s featured in the show as Ranshe Mei, Ranka’s mother.
Finally, I find there’s a lot of confusion as to whether the title of this song should be spelt “Triangular” or “Triangler”, but since the latter isn’t even a word, I’m inclined to believe it’s the former. The single spells it as “Triangler” on the cover though, but I don’t have much faith in the Japanese’s spelling of English words these days, even for official releases.
If Kanno Youko could compose the music and Sakamoto Maaya could sing the OPs for all anime… well, I wouldn’t go as far as World Peace, but I’d be very happy!
dont watch music videos of my favorite op ed songs often, but its interesting to watch them on rare occasions like this.. i kept trying to look out for how her mouth moves when she says Itaeyo or something lol , and other kool sounding notes… last music video i watched was of the op song for To love ru, that one was nice…
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Very concise, nice introduction to Maaya Sakamoto. I’ve been a fan of hers since the first time I heard Escaflowne’s OP back in ’98. While she’s probably made some headway on her own, her name is virtually inseparable from Yoko Kanno.
It’s too bad that Maaya never had a chance to voice an idol singer in a Macross series, but at least ‘Triangler’ was a good compromise, I think.
Doesn’t the single make it clear that the title is “Triangler”?
Any:
Hmm, I never noticed that, but I guess it does.
Her hairstyle really resembles Rankas. More realistic though, obviously.
Her dress looks like Ranka’s white dress too… but with a bit more frills and stuff
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hmm…I normally love her songs, but I really disliked this one when I first heard it in Macross Frontier and still do >_<!
her voice is so awesome.
recall; fujioka haruhi *loooooove*
I really liked Yakusoku wa Iranai from Escaflowne and kind of like this song too, but it’s a bit on the high pitched side for Maaya’s voice, back then her voice was softer. Oh well I’ve got a lot of Kanno’s works as CDs, there lightens the wallet…
@Amy
Doesn’t the English language make it clear that “Triangular” is how it’s spelled?
OK, I like the song a lot. But that was one of the shittiest music videos I have ever seen.
@Mudkip: The single title is printed “Triangler”. You can google that yourself. But it’s fine if you want to think it’s Triangular considering the way they spell it.
I couldn’t be happier for the success of Frontier and everyone evolved.
As for the Triangler video some of the scenery choices were odd.
The word “Triangler”, as Maaya explained on an interview (or on the single booklet?, I can’t remember), means something like this: you have a love triangle, with girl A liking boy B, who in turn likes girl C. Girl C would the the Triangler, because she’s the one causing the love triangle, from girl A point of view ^^
Yeah, as Bazaa said, the title “Triangler” is supposed to refer to the girl who is making the love-triangle. She is er… triangle-ing, and therefore the triangle-r.
I personally find the video a bit weird with the moving chair, lol. While I absolutely love Maaya’s work, her colaborations with Kanno are definitely the stand-outs. If you listen through her albums, you can really hear her voice mature from the time of Escaflowne (eg. in her Shounen Alice album). The non-Kanno albums are still good in their own respects, 30 minute night flight is a good example, as well as the ending theme of the Tsubasa OVA.
Oh, and when I heard her sing as Ranshe Mei in Macross Frontier, I had a heart attack. In a good way of course.
Sakamoto Maaya was probably too busy playing the lead role in her latest work of Otaku fame to do Sheryl’s voice. With that being said, I like Aya Endo doing Sheryl just fine, although the gaping difference between her voice and that of May’n’s is becoming increasingly obvious with each song.
@Bazaa and Rain – And for months now I thought it was just another case of Engrish XD
@Nanatsuya – I think if they used Maaya instead of Aya+May’n, she would sound a little too much like a mature, experienced Ranka, and I think the staff wanted someone with an electric voice just so that it would be farther in the vocal texture spectrum. I think it would have been better though if May’n had the voice acting ability, or Aya had the singing ability, don’t you think? (Just a note, I don’t find Aya Endo’s voice to be that far from May’n’s singing, but that’s just me :P)
ofc it is triangler mr know it all. U think a mere normal word can grasp the awesomeness of the macross universe? ofcourse not new words have to be invited in order to be able to do such things
invited means inventing something new for something totally awesome.
It was not a spelling error i repeat it was not a spelling error ….
Oh my god man, this is one horrible Music Video. Their idea of fast pace music is of repeatedly showing the side of the singer in the middle of no where?