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「決意」 (Ketsui)
“Determination”
I just hate it when people are meandering over miscommunication and the angst that goes along with it, but I can really feel for the characters here. Yes, everything can be resolved if one person is able to break past their insecurities, but when no one can, you just want to get in there and do it yourself.
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「つばさキャット其ノ参」 (Tsubasa Kyatto Sono San)
“Tsubasa Cat Part 3”
Araragi is so ecstatic about scoring Senjougahara as his girlfriend and having her body that he’s raping lolis on the street in broad daylight! Someone stop this deranged pervert! Sukebe! Hentai!
I’ve been on the lookout for this PV for the past two weeks — basically ever since the single was released (09-10-21). After seeing Sakakibara Yui with nekomimi on the CD cover, I just knew it was going to be some crazy cute & sexy overload and I was not wrong in believing so! Yui is no stranger to cosplaying, plus she’s ridiculously cute to boot, so her PVs are usually ones to look forward to. I know the same can’t be said about a lot of Japanese PVs, but Yui’s all about choreographed dancing and even baring her midriff at times. She’s definitely got the physique for it. While she doesn’t show any midriff here at the neko-maid diner, we are treated to an amazingly cute cat-like dance. Like seriously, OH, MY, GOD, cuteness explosion. She even winks and does pouty faces here and there to tease us. To spice things up, there’s a short dance intermission partway through, which is absolutely scandalous with the way she flicks her skirt… and tail! Ranka Lee Nyan Nyan CM, eat your heart out!
As for the song itself, I’m going to take a random stab and say it was written specifically for the anime. The title alone would make anyone think as such. In addition, the statue of Neko Jizou-sama appears in the PV, with its head falling off and everything. If you’re not familiar with Yui’s music, it has a unique, almost childish sound to them because of her singing voice. Surprisingly though, her natural speaking voice sounds absolutely nothing like it. It’s actually a lot lower than you’d imagine, in a kind of sexy sultry way. Pretty dangerous combination when she can do both cute and sexy impeccably if you ask me, but I’ve seen both and can confirm her “deadliness”. That said, I’ve been listening to the full version of this song for the past couple of weeks and just find it so god damn catchy. It totally reeks of cuteness, but when you picture Yui behind the voice, it somehow puts things into a different perspective. (i.e. Hot) Did I manage to get anyone to fall for her? Sakakibara Yui is Nyanderful-TASTIC!
P.S. For those who don’t know, she happens to be a seiyuu too. Probably one of the cutest ones out there.
Also available ahead of its scheduled release (09-11-04) is ELISA‘s ending theme for Railgun. Compared to her previous single earlier this year, “Wonder Wind” (Hayate no Gotoku!! 2nd Season OP1), “Dear My Friend -Towards an Unseen Future-” didn’t take nearly as long to grow on me. Here, her voice sounds slightly lower during the verses, which I find is better in a way. While I’ve liked ELISA’s angelic-like voice since I first heard it in the ef series, it was never a really powerful sounding voice to me. It just never had the “fullness” of say, Mizuki Nana’s voice. Given ELISA’s softer voice, that may simply not be her style, but her singing during the verses (0:16-0:52, 1:36-2:13) already gave me the impression of a more powerful voice. I find it’s a lot less transparent and unassuming then, so I’d personally like to hear more songs like this one. It’s minor, but I somehow picked up on that during my endless repeats of this song. It could just be me though and the fact that I prefer the sound of the somewhat slower verses. (I’m no musician so yeah… -_-;) As for the PV itself, we have ELISA cycling by the beach in a summer dress. Not like we need anything more than that, but the bright sunny setting also suits the upbeat lyrics.
Show To Aru Kagaku no Railgun ED1 「Dear My Friend -まだ見ぬ未来へ-」 by ELISA ▼
Somehow, I’ve taken it upon myself to post more PVs here. There’s a reason behind this madness though (and insanity isn’t it!). While I used to listen to a fairly diverse selection of music (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English), I slowly drifted away from that over the years. This is primarily due to 1.) the amount of anime I’ve been watching and 2.) the drastic change in what constitutes “anime music”. Unlike the music used in western cartoons, anisongs were pretty unique to begin with since they’re usually “normal” songs borrowed for anime use. However, even songs written specifically for a series these days tend to sound like music anyone would listen to. As such, I no longer look for new music to listen to; I can just let it come to me via anime opening/ending themes. The natural extension of that are the PVs to those songs, hence why I’ll post about entire concerts these days. At least, that’s what my music collection of 950+ singles/albums/soundtracks labeled with an “Anime” genre tell me.
So with that, I have the PV of fripSide‘s “only my railgun” here. Surprisingly, it’s “available” ahead of its scheduled November 4th release. As a pop group that started in 2002, flipSide’s music sounds anything but anime-only to me, even though they became a part of the visual novel publishing/distributing company Visual Art’s in 2006. They’re comprised of two main members, Nanjou Yoshino (vocals/lyrics) and Yaginuma Satoshi (composition/arrangement/lyrics/guitar), the former of which replaced the originally vocalist Nao earlier this year. Some of you may be familiar with Yoshino’s work as a seiyuu, having voiced Oosawa Maria in CANAAN and Tsukishima Koko in Da Capo II.
Given the title of the song, I assume that it was written specifically for To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, but you probably could’ve fooled me if you told me it wasn’t. The song has a surprisingly good beat and could probably pass as a dance song if remixed a bit. Because of that, I originally thought it was something by I’ve Sound, especially since they had done the music for Index. I tend to like I’ve Sound’s KOTOKO and Kawada Mami‘s songs almost immediately, so fripSide’s similar sound was easy for me to get hooked on. As for the PV itself, it’s anime-themed with a girl in a Tokiwadai uniform and espers showcasing their abilities. Befitting of the song, you also get to see a Misaka Mikoto style railgun at the end. Pretty cool.
I have more PVs in store, so stay tuned. (Feel free to comment though. :P)
Show To Aru Kagaku no Railgun OP1 「only my railgun」 by fripSide ▼
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「…いい…」 (…Ii…)
“…Good…”
Forget Shiina, Haruka better watch out for her maids — they’re going to steal Yuuto if she’s not careful. He’s just too smooth with the ladies. As such, this week gave me flashbacks of season one when Yuuto could do or say no wrong.
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「任侠（セレブ）と初夜（アツイヨル）」 (Ninkyou (Serebu) to Shoya (Atsui Yoru))
“First Night (Hot Night) with the Yakuza (Celebrity)”
Bear wrestling, yakuza, a deserted island, bikini tanlines, seaweed monsters, and a sultry student council president. The last one is a given nowadays, but you don’t see the others a whole lot, especially not all in the same episode.
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「ロマンティックが止まらない」 (Romantikku ga Tomaranai)
“Don’t Stop the Romance”
Meganekko and bishoujo henshin. I never knew the two of them were related. Normally you’d expect the magical transformation to happen after the glasses come off, but it’s the exact opposite with Kanako.
I gather Stereopony doesn’t need much introduction after their “Namida no Mukou” song earlier this year, but I’ll redirect you to my introductory blurp here if you do. I know I tend to say this a lot with songs, but I found “Tsukiakari no Michishirube” (Moonlight Guidepost) catchy right when I heard it. Here though, at least I can say it’s because of the tune in the chorus. With the release of the single still several days away (09-11-04), it’s nice to finally get to hear the full version of the song. However, since it’s a direct extension of the TV size version, it can start to sound a bit repetitive if you listen to it too much (which I found out firsthand while writing this). As for the PV itself, it’s fairly simple with Aimi (guitar, lead vocals), Nohana (bass), and Shiho (drums) performing on a barren wasteland while weathering a rainstorm, but Aimi’s new hairstyle looks really good. That’s probably the farthest thing from an analysis of their music, but what can you do — I’m talking about a PV here, so enjoy the eye candy!
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「行き止りの町」 (Ikidomari no Machi)
“Dead-End Town”
Things spurred on with a new character’s personal aspirations to go to Yuusari, but the fight over Lag’s crossing permit was enough to warrant a multi-episode continuation. Better yet, Niche was cute as hell this week. Cue Ryuuguu Rena‘s “Hau! Omochikaerii~!“