If you don’t like my one-off posts because you tend to follow a series via weekly coverage, feel free to ignore this one. For those watching though, this week of NEEDLESS was full of all kinds of awesome and if I watch something awesome, you can bet I’m going to talk about it! This series also features Aruka Schild, the girl who willing goes nopan. Need I say more?
Aside from her role as Solva in NEEDLESS, I admittedly don’t know much about Imai Asami. Based on her previous work, she’s been a fairly low profile seiyuu in the anime industry for the past eight or so years. Her more notable roles have been in video games, with Kisaragi Chihaya in THE IDOLM@STER standing out in that department. Despite her relatively uneventful career, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Asami in anime, since her psychotic portrayal of Solva is absolute money. (Oh I can just hear the “Magnetic World” screams now!) Because of her role there, it’s hard to believe she can sound as sweet as she does here for the Nyan Koi ending theme, but she has displayed some incredible range voicing Solva.
In undoubtedly Nyan Koi style, the PV features a cat to increase the cuteness factor. As for the song itself, “Strawberry ~Sweet and Painful Tears~”, I didn’t think much of it when I first heard it, but it’s surprisingly catchy the more you listen to it. As such, I’d recommend giving it a few more listens if you’ve been watching Nyan Koi but haven’t really bothered taking notice to this song. It may just grow on you like it has for me.
For those interested, this PV was released along with the single about a week and a half ago (09-10-21).
Okay, totally random out of the blue post here, meant entirely for those watching this series. After watching this episode, I felt compelled to talk about a promising turn of events.
First off, I’m treading on unknown waters by bringing the other shounen-tastic series to RC, but I shall face embrace thy Narutards head on! That said, who really cares about the establishment of the ninja alliance and the impending fourth ninja war when Sakura is confessing to Naruto! You know, I was just starting to like Sakura more lately, but I just lost a lot of respect for her after this “pity” confession. All I see it as is her way of ridding herself of the guilt she feels now, after she FINALLY realizes what she’s put Naruto through all these years. Well I’m sorry Sakura, you can sell your body to him at this point, but the damage is done you inconsiderate girl.
I’m so glad Naruto didn’t buy into her confession and best of all, threw it back in her face at the end. I mean, does she not realize that him accepting this now and throwing away his resolve for the past 3+ years would immediately make all the hardships he’s gone through chasing after Sasuke meaningless? Personally, I’m sick of Naruto’s ongoing pursuit of the runaway ninja who would kill him without even flinching, but at least he sticks with it and never wavers. For the first time, I actually respect Naruto’s stubborn attitude. He has his way of the ninja and Sakura just tried to trample on it. God, what a stupid girl. You’re not scoring with the next Hokage after Danzou curls over and dies with these wishy-washy feelings!
A lot of you probably thought I was crazy when I was blabbing about seductive student council presidents last time. Well now I have some cold hard evidence. You let your guard down for even a second and their tongue is down your throat before you even realize!
「四角関係の刻(タイムズ・スクウェア)」 (Shikaku Kankei no Koku (Taimuzu Sukuwea))
“Square Relationship Time (Times Square)”
I was so wrapped up in the amusement park date that I completely forget one of the twins was going to show up. Tomatsu Haruka did have a line during Kirishima Akari’s brief appearance, but more importantly, Kaede knows about Junpei’s curse now!?
While the release of Letter Bee’s opening theme single is still several weeks away (09-11-25), the PV for it has already been aired. Unlike the anime version, the full song features a rap portion by Mummy-D, the MC/producer of a fairly old hip hop group called RHYMESTER. I haven’t really listened to Suga Shikao‘s music outside of one or two songs he wrote/performed for Honey and Clover, but I took an instant liking to “Hajimari no Hi” (Day of Beginnings) because of its catchy beat. Nowadays, anime songs tend to be no different than the music normal people would listen to, but I find they still tend to fall into pop and rock genres. I’m not sure what to classify Shikao’s music as, but it’s a refreshing change in the anime scene.
Surprisingly, the arrangement of the full version sounds a bit different from the TV short one. You’ll probably notice this immediately with the way it opens and of course, with the inclusion of Mummy-D’s rap later on. This is actually kind of cool, since it’s a whole different dimension to the song I wasn’t anticipating. Normally you’d just expect the TV short version plus a second verse at the end, but they mixed things up here.
As usual, I like to include the actual TV anime sequence for comparison purposes, so see below if you need a “Tegami Bachi” spin on the song.
I know it’s a trap, but I don’t mind so much when “Yamasaki Akemi” is an unwilling participant. It leads to some pretty good humour along the way, which I’m all for.
A surprise for May’n and Megumi as the anime cast members step on stage to present them with flowers.
For this last part of the Galaxy Tour, we’ll look at how things wrap up in the encore. While the DVD includes clips from a smaller concert at Yokohama as well as various behind the scenes footage, this concludes the 165+ minutes of Macross F performances on Japan’s biggest stage. Picking up from the Seikan Hikou duet and band member introductions, May’n and Megumi take a moment to thank all the fans. Following that is an encore duet performance of Anata no Oto, where everyone asks Kanno Youko to make their heart skip a beat. Like with all the duets thus far, May’n’s voice just compliments Megumi’s here, so it was quite a treat to hear.
As the concert nears the end, we have a performance of the goofy SMS anthem with the crowd singing the majority of it. Before that song’s over though, the anime cast members that were there stepped on the stage to surprise May’n and Megumi with flowers. Apparently the two songstresses weren’t aware of this part of the script. Unfortunately though, it looks like Sakamoto Maaya wasn’t there after all, but Endou Aya definitely was. Just when you think things are over though, Youko, May’n, and Megumi appear from beneath the retracting stage for one more piano performance of Diamond Crevasse! It’s one to remember too!
「仮面の微笑 a doboz mögött maszk」 (Kamen no Bishou)
“A Smiling Mask”
Be wary of overly bubbly girls as they may have a secret bloodthirsty, murderous, split personality! Or at least that’s what Japanese media will have us believe.