D.Gray-man / Miscellaneous / PV / Random Musings

Random Musings – A Little Bit Of Everything

There are some miscellaneous things this week that I think don’t warrant a full post, but are worth a mention.

  • Hirano Aya’s latest single NEOPHILIA, the second of her three releases on consecutive months, was actually pretty good. At least, it was pretty good in comparison to last month’s LOVE★GUN which I thought was absolutely horrendous (both the PV and the song). NEOPHILIA showcased her vocal talents a lot better, though the PV with the mannequin was a bit too creepy for my tastes. According to the official Lantis website, each single has a separate theme – the first one being CRASH!, the second being COOL & elegance, and the third being HAPPY!. With that in mind, I’m not exactly looking forward to the third single, but it might be worth a listen. It’s titled MonStAR and is due out December 5th, 2007.
    		•
  • Although I’m not actively watching or blogging Genshiken 2, I saw some screenshots of this week’s episode and had to take a look. They expanded on Ogiue’s fantasy from volume six of the manga into this whole boys’ love story that turned out to be way more homoerotic than anything I’ve ever seen on television, yet I couldn’t stop laughing because of how seriously it was portrayed in both theme and animation style. It’s definitely worth a watch if you have the time.
    		•
  • I’ve gotten literally dozens of emails this past week about blogging D.Gray-man again because it’s finally gotten back on track with the manga story, so this is something that needs to be addressed: I have no current plans to pick DGM back up, regardless of how good it currently is or isn’t. Never mind the fact that doing so would require me to drop Myself; Yourself or BLUE DROP, but after having sat through those anime original episodes, I’m just not willing to go back to it again unless it’s damn impressive. The recent episodes 55, 56, and 57 were good, but still not quite good enough for me to reconsider, especially in light of the current weekly schedule. It’s possible I’ll think about it again next season, however that’s still unlikely unless Winter 2008 has some really weak shows. For now, I’ll just stick with reading the manga.
    		•
  • It was officially announced yesterday that the second Vocaloid2 package (the first being the insanely popular Hatsune Miku) will be Kagamine Rin. She’ll be voiced by Shimoda Asami, who’s probably most famous for being the voice of Ami and Mami in THE IDOLM@STER game. In terms of singing, Hatsune Miku is listed as being good for Idol and dance songs, but Kagamine Rin will apparently be good at rock, pop, and even some enka. She’ll also sing at a higher tempo – 85 to 175BPM – compared to Hatsune Miku’s 70 to 150BPM. It should be interesting to listen to, and it’s a surefire bet that this’ll be a huge hit too.
  • mewmew has decided to drop Taiho Shichauzo Full Throttle, citing that it’s not interesting as he had originally thought it’d be, and he hopes this’ll give him more time to concentrate on Ghost Hound and Moyashimon.
  • Oh, and I almost forgot. I’m really looking forward to the first episode of the Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations OVA coming out next week. I’ve got my fingers crossed for Production I.G to do as good a job with it as they did with the Tsubasa movie.
    • Darker than BLACK / PV

    HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR – Dreams PV (Darker than BLACK ED2)

    When I think of HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, I think of their two most popular singles, PRIDE and Ichirin no Hana, which were relatively fast paced rock songs and featured some degree of shouting. That’s why I was surprised to hear that their latest song Dreams – the second ED to Darker than BLACK – was a ballad. If I didn’t know it was them, I wouldn’t have been able to tell because this song has such a peaceful pop quality to it. Even the PV has a white color scheme and mostly features the band members sitting or standing, unlike previous music videos which had much more movement and quick camera work. Actually, Tadoritsuku Basho and Oxalis (the latter is one of my favorites of all their works) from their single earlier this year were more like this song in pacing than some of their previous music. I don’t consider the change a bad thing, and Dreams has been growing on me as I listen to it more and more. Now that I think about it, the chorus of the song reminds me a little of Shimokawa Mikuni‘s Karenai Hana.

    HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR’s single Dreams is due out August 1st, 2007.

    Gurren Lagann / PV

    Nakagawa Shouko – Sorairo Days PV (Gurren Lagann OP)

    For those who might not be familiar with her, Nakagawa Shouko is an insanely popular idol who seems to be able to do everything, including singing, acting, voice work, being an otaku, and blogging ridiculously often (something like 10 to 20 blog entries per day). I first found out about her from the now infamous Private Lesson segment from last year where she – dressed as Suzumiya Haruhi – explained what being an otaku meant to a dumbfounded Wada Akiko. Sorairo Days, which is the opening song to Gurren Lagann, is actually the first time I’ve heard her sing, and I have to say that she does a pretty good job, much better than I expected anyway. I thought the PV was a bit lacking though since it basically just showed Shocotan (as she’s known as) in variations of the same three shots cycled over and over again, and most of the time it looked like she was just holding that guitar for show. Still, I liked the full version of the song, so I’ll probably just listen to the music and not bother with watching the PV again.

    Nakagawa Shouko’s single Sorairo Days is due out June 27th, 2007.

    Miscellaneous / PV

    UVERworld – endscape PV (Terra e… OP)

    UVERworld’s latest song endscape is featured as the opening of the series Terra e… which I actually ended up watching only two episodes of (and blogged just the first). Despite that, I remember how much I liked the small bits of it played in the promos and how the TV-size version didn’t quite appeal to me as much. I’m not sure if its a factor of time elapsed since the season started or just the full version being better, but I like endscape a lot more now that I’ve had a chance to listen to the entire length of the song. I still prefer Colors of the Heart overall, but this is nevertheless a good song that’s quite catchy. The PV also looks like there’s a pretty high level of production quality even though it features mostly TAKUYA∞ singing and the band playing against different backgrounds with shots of floating globes, one of which contains the sun.

    UVERworld’s seventh single endscape is set to be released on May 30th, 2007.

    Darker than BLACK / PV

    Rie fu – Tsukiakari PV (Darker than BLACK ED)

    As I was watching this video, it occurred to me that I haven’t seen one of Rie fu’s PVs since I Wanna Go To A Place…, and that was over two years ago. That’s not to say that she hasn’t put out any good songs in that period, but rather that I find myself paying much less attention to music and PVs than I have in years past.

    Miscellaneous / PV

    BENNIE K – 1001 Nights PV

    While I usually don’t talk about music that’s not from an anime or a drama, BENNIE K is one of those groups I really enjoy to listening to – I would even call them one of my favorites. That being said, I actually wouldn’t have even realized BENNIE K was releasing another song if it wasn’t for the MTV PV schedule that listed the video multiple times starting yesterday. In any case, 1001 Nights is the pair’s latest song, and as the name suggests, it has an Arabian flair. The PV gave me a very bad feeling at the start because of the cheesy introduction narration in English (“In a time long ago, when magical carpets and powerful genies existed, an ordinary girl tries to enchant her king for 1001 nights…”), however the song then proceeded to impress me a lot, including all of YUKI‘s vocal parts and how CICO ended it. Both of them look stunning in this video, and it was helped out by some good CG and beautiful land and sky-scapes.

    CODE GEASS / PV

    SunSet Swish – Mosaic Kakera PV (CODE GEASS ED2)

    I hadn’t listened to much SunSet Swish between when they did Bleach’s ED My Pace until very recently. But ever since I first heard Mosaic Kakera from the online promo over a month ago, I’ve been listening to some form of the song (either from the promo or the tv-sized anime ED) over and over again. It’s definitely my favorite of the four GEASS OP/EDs so far.

    Hana Yori Dango / PV

    Utada Hikaru – Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-

    Utada Hikaru’s newest song Flavor of Life comes in several flavors, and the one featured in Hana Yori Dango 2 and this PV is the ballad version. Unlike her some of her other PVs which have been flashy and high production value, this feels more down to earth in showing the recording of the song with an orchestra. Of course that makes it less exciting to watch, but I don’t really mind because I love her voice and this song.

    Bleach / PV

    YUI – Rolling star PV (Bleach OP5)

    Rolling star is YUI’s second song for the anime Bleach, and, in my opinion, the better of the two by far. Life is decent, but I’d only rank it in the middle of all the songs that the series has had. In comparison, I’d say that Rolling star is my favorite OP so far (TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT previously had the honor) and my second favorite out of all the Bleach songs, behind maybe only Houkiboshi.

    D.Gray-man / PV

    abingdon boys school – INNOCENT SORROW PV (D.Gray-man OP)

    The opening song to D.Gray-man is INNOCENT SORROW by abingdon boys school. For those of you who don’t know, a.b.s. was formed last year by Nishikawa Takanori (aka. T.M.Revolution) and people he’s worked with (SUNAO, Shibasaki Hiroshi, Kishi Toshiyuki). And yes, the Abingdon School does actually exist. INNOCENT SORROW is actually the band’s debut single, although they have recorded a few songs previously (including stay away on the LOVE for NANA album that I love).