A Couple of All-Nighters Later…
YUI – again PV (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OP1)
As many of you may know, popular singer and guitarist YUI performs the opening song for the new Fullmetal Alchemist series. It’s a pretty good song, full of energy, and the full version of it has been floating around the internet for a few weeks now. The PV for it finally aired yesterday, and while it’s not a very exciting video since the majority of it is just shots of her performing the song with a band, it does showcase her instrumental and vocal talents. It’s probably worth a watch if you like the song. If you’re looking for more, FujiTV’s Mezamashi TV also aired a segment a couple of days ago about the PV, and you can find that download here (thanks to yuistalker for the link).
The single for again comes out June 3rd, 2009.
GReeeeN – Setsuna PV
So I was listening to the radio while working on the Spring Preview, and GReeeeN‘s 「刹那」 (Setsuna) came on. The song immediately stuck in my head, and so I went and looked up the PV for it since it’s a very recent song. To my surprise, the PV was actually really amusing. It’s one of those music videos that actually tells a story, and in this case, it takes on a tokusatsu/sentai flair with the redemption of a washed-up hero. It’s cheesy, but that’s what’s so fun about it, and I enjoyed it enough that I thought it was worth sharing, so here it is.
Mizuki Nana – Shin Ai PV (WHITE ALBUM OP)
First off, Happy Belated Birthday Nana-chan! Despite being fairly knowledgeable about seiyuus and their past roles, I’m not quite obsessive enough to bother remembering their birthdays. Incidentally, I stumbled upon the fact that Nana’s birthday is on January 21st and she just turned 29. Her age makes me wonder if she’s going to tie the knot with anyone soon or if she even has anyone in mind, since she’s nearing the big three O soon. Takahiro Sakurai (Suzaku in CODE GEASS) perhaps? Unlike their North American counterparts though, most Japanese people seem to be so career-oriented that being single at 30 years old doesn’t automatically trigger some sort of mid-life crisis. Interestingly enough, it was Inoue Marina‘s birthday the day before (January 20th, turned 24), Makino Yui‘s the day before that (January 19th, turned 23), and Paku Romi‘s birthday today (January 22, turned 37). I’m not sure what’s up with all the January birthdays, but since they’re all noteworthy seiyuus in my book, best wishes to all of them.
More after the jump…
Stereopony – Namida no Mukou PV (Gundam 00 S2 OP2)
Admittedly, I’ve always preferred female vocals over male ones, but it’s even better when it comes from an all-female rock band. Unconsciously, I tend to associate the ability to play an instrument with musical talent. Anyway, all-female rock bands aren’t something I recall seeing a lot of, with ZONE being one of the more popular ones off the top of my head. I don’t tend to follow “mainstream” Japanese music much nowadays with the constant influx of music from anime OP/ED singles though (some of which may be mainstream), so I’m far from being the most knowledgeable person in this area.
In any case, I’m really starting to like Stereopony‘s music, which has already been featured in Bleach as the 17th ending theme prior to Gundam 00. For those following Bleach, “Hitohira no Hanabira” 「ヒトヒラのハナビラ」 was their first single and did fairly well on the Oricon Weekly Charts, peaking at 25th.
More after the jump…
HALCALI – Long Kiss Good Bye Live (Music Fair 2008.11.22)
Japanese hip-hop duo HALCALI appeared on Music Fair last week along with SPEED, Perfume, and Lil’B, where they performed “Long Kiss Good Bye”, the seventh ending theme to Naruto Shippuuden. While I’m sure Naruto fans will have a more immediate attachment to the song, it sounds really good on its own due to the nice mix of Jpop and hip-hop. Despite not being a huge fan of rap, I find female asian hip-hop artists quite refreshing to listen to, especially with HALCALI’s style of music. Case in point, I’ve listened to this song to death already, but am not sick of it in the slightest yet. Prior to Music Fair, HALCALI also appeared on Girl Pop Factory, but has since added some simple choreography to their performance as seen above. If you’re interested in checking out the PV as well, I’ve uploaded a copy of it here. In any case, enjoy the video(s).
-divine
…in an ongoing effort to make use of the new HD YouTube.
THYME – forever we can make it! PV (To LOVE-Ru OP)
With the finale of To LOVE-Ru coming up this week, I thought this would be as good a time as ever to post the PV for the opening theme. When I first heard this song back in April, I admittedly had no idea who THYME was, but found the song itself surprisingly catchy—a sentiment that only grew the more I listened to it. While the fan-service filled opening sequence definitely added to the song’s appeal, it’s actually pretty good on its own, especially in the full version we have here.
Originally an indie band, THYME (pronounced “time”) was formed in 2004 by Thyme (vocals, lyrics) and Shimizu Teppei (arrangement, composition, guitar), but Hoshino Takafumi (music engineer) joined the group a couple of years later when his skills were deemed necessary for them to progress. Prior to forming the band with Teppei, Thyme (real name: Kamiyama Sayaka 神山 さやか) was pursuing a solo music career, but needed someone to help her compose music, thus leading to the THYME we know today. It wasn’t until September 2007 that they had their first major debut though, releasing their single “Hello” after signing with Geneon Entertainment. Under Geneon, their involvement in anime naturally followed suit, which is (probably) why “forever we can make it!” was used as To LOVE-Ru’s opening theme. This trend continued on to the summer season, where their song “Fly Away” was used as the opening theme of Mahou Tsukai Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~, which some of you may recall I originally started blogging.
Seeing as I hadn’t heard of THYME half a year ago but am already a fan of this song and “Fly Away”, I guess this goes to show what a little anime exposure can do for new artists. While these up-and-coming artists probably never pictured having their music used in anime, I doubt they’ll complain about having a few otakus buy their CDs. On a separate note, is it just me or does Sayaka only look half Japanese? I haven’t come across any information stating that she is, but there’s something about her eyes (and straight teeth) that make me think she is. In any case, enjoy the video!
AZU – Jikan yo Tomare feat. SEAMO Live (Music Fighter)
As per the PV I posted a little under two weeks ago, here’s a live performance of the second Itazura na Kiss ending theme, “Jikan yo Tomare” (“Hey Time, Stop”). While this was originally in glorious HD, it obviously didn’t translate over nearly as well in streaming format, but it does showcase how well AZU and SEAMO can perform live. Unfortunately, this is only a short version of the song and doesn’t quite have the same effect as a pumped up crowd on Music Station, but is nice regardless.
On a related note, I’ve been slowly catching up on the series when I get a chance to and feel the urge to mention something about it given this opportunity. While refraining from mentioning any spoilers, I can understand that the series is trying to show us the “complete relationship” between Kotoko and Naoki from beginning to end (something that isn’t done in a lot of anime adaptations), but I couldn’t help but feel that the events in episode fourteen came across somewhat abruptly. If you’ve been following the series, you’ll probably know what I’m talking about, but if you don’t, perhaps it’ll peek your interest enough to check it out yourself.
In any case, comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome as always.
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.
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!