The Nutbladder Ranking: 2010-02
February is 2 days too short I think. It’s jam-packed and I could use that extra time…at least so I can make more progress on the UC Gundam backlog. (I’m holding off on Unicorn until The Time Is Right. Even if that usually means RIGHT THIS MOMENT.) So much stuff, so little time. Let’s get on to it.
[Just to recall, this is just a list of things I found notable during this month.]
Came for Kanno, Stayed for Natsumi Kiyoura
I have this bad habit of gambling on debut albums. Thankfully it happens only once every year or three. It’s no big deal; only $40 tops down the drain tops… Maybe that is why I kept on doing it.
This time, it is Natsumi Kiyoura’s first solo album, called 19 Colors. CDJapan actually wrote it up better than I could have. To save you the trouble, I’ll just word drop a bit:
- A song produced w/ Yoko Kanno
- Spice and Wolf Season 1 OP
- Sasameki Koto OP/ED
- Keroro ED14
- Some song from Ristorante Paradiso (full version)
- Sketchbook OP new version
And other stuff.
If you read that CDJ promo piece, you might wonder why people compare Kiyoura with Maaya Sakamoto. Besides the Kanno connection, I guess, that is because both of them are child talents that grew up into this weird acting/music/seiyuu niche after they aged out the children’s talent bracket. Maaya is roughly 10 years senior of Natsumi IIRC.
As for the Yoko Kanno connection, the Kanno song, “Ano ne demo ne,” is not much to write home about. It reminds me of Maaya’s pop-ish tracks from, I dunno, Dive. It is a little jarring considering the rest of Kiyoura’s album is laid-back, jazzy, and overall nowhere nearly as intense as Maaya’s sound. I didn’t like it much, and you know I whore out for Kanno (who’s actually on the keyboard for it) any day.
On the other hand, unlike Maaya’s very early work, Kiyoura’s songs actually are cohesive, and the overall product is spot on if you enjoy crap like, well, Ristorante Paradiso. It’s like, sometimes these seiyuu-pop-idol types need a while to find a sound that works with their voice, but Kiyoura has already got it. Or is closing in on it, at any rate.
In short, just need more songs like Tabi no Touchuu yeah? Yeah. I’m not going to break the tracks down one by one; not my style anyways. I think it’s a good thing rather than a bad thing when the album goes down smooth without dips, but also without many outstanding marks. The more rock-like tracks on the album sound like “winded down idol group music” for lack of a better term, but even so Kiyoura adds a notable touch to the sound. It just isn’t so haunting or so memorable as her most outstanding track.
I was oddly surprised by Nijiiro Pocket however. The full cut is so much better…
Random factoid time.
- I think there really are a total of 19 colors on the album if you add something to something.
- The studio live that’s on the DVD were televised at one point? Not sure how they got on Youtube in the first place. Nice to have on DVD nonetheless. There are 4 performances, total, acoustic arrangements, I had a good time playing it in the background.
- The front cover of the insert booklet, which you see as the album cover, writes the album name “19 Colors” in (American) English. The rest of the album, at least everywhere I looked, writes it in kanji (十九色). I take this to mean that the proper way to refer to the name of this album is by its translated term in whichever language you choose. At the same time, the first track, also the title track, has the same name, and it is labeled itself by kanji only. For that I used the romanized term. Seems inconsistent but oh well.
Track list–
- Jyukuiro
- Tabi no Tochu
- Ano ne Demo ne
- Giniro no Kanashimi
- Neverland
- Nijiiro Pocket
- Kanashii Hodo Aoku <album version>
- Pallet
- Kaze Sagashi <full-colored samba mix>
- Bokura no Aikotoba
- Nanairo
- Midnight Love Call
PS. Limited Edition and Regular Edition at CDJ (affiliate links).
Chasing Moonrunes
Pretend-ignorance can be bliss too.
Why do I follow Mako’s silly excuse of a blog? Because she posts pics like these.
It’s not exactly a secret, but I can’t read Japanese. So why do I subscribe to Japanese blogs? I’m subscribed to Makkun’s blog, out of some misguided sense of duty–the same reason why I buy almost every solo CD she puts out I guess. I hardly read even half of her non PR posts. I also follow ItoShiz’s blog, but because she usually posts some interesting pictures and she doesn’t post much anyways, so it isn’t as if it makes a difference.
I follow a few other Japanese blogs for non-informational purposes, but they usually have some actual utility even if I can’t read it.
Is this the same reason why I listen to Japanese music when I don’t understand it in the first person? Or play Love Plus (well anyone can say “pon” or whatever)? And by that I mean I don’t understand it until I look it up on Google or something. [Speaking of which.]
On a similar note, these blogging voice actors and anime personalities post things that they are commercially tied to. It makes logical sense–you’re blogging as a part of your professional persona as an entertainer, so what can you talk about besides what you did at work and other work-related things? To some extent that’s basically what makes following seiyuu blogs interesting. Someone like Mako gets into costumes (and her true idol roots show there) and do promotion events, so that’s always pretty neat to see. But the less-photogenic also have something else interesting to say to even the most-illiterate. Even if it’s just what they had when they went out to eat that night.
I guess pictures of chocolates incoming 3…2…1…
Why Did I Think Sayaka Ohara Retired?
Because Sayaka Ohara didn’t. She did announce that she is getting married/is married, late last year.
The equally-fab-but-less-historied, yet-also-35-year-old Erino Hazuki plays Yamamoto-sensei in Hanamaru Youchien. As you may notice, Hazuki is not a frequently-heard voice in the sort of anime we watch. Her voice is somewhat distinctive, and it is not hard to pick her out if she has any notable roles. I mention this because it makes the handful of main/secondary character roles she plays notable.
The thing is, in Hanamaru Youchien, Hazuki plays an ara-ara onee-san/okaa-san type, Hanako Yamamoto. Yamamoto-sensei is also the type of character you typically find Sayaka Ohara doing.
So if you’ve watched Aria, you might recall the ending of season 3. Now read j1m0ne’s splendid spoiler.
I am sure what I am pointing out is a coincidence. But it makes the mind wonder, doesn’t it?!
Marble
No puns this time! (I think.)
I’ve grown to like Marble’s music, the pop duo Micco and Tatsuya Kikuchi that have re-launched their brand of music since 2007. To be more concise than Wikipedia, the two signed up with Lantis in 2007, and since then they’ve released a line of music that really gets to me.
Before then, the two also have worked for and with different artists, writing music, touring, and releasing stuff. Both can compose, play and write; and in stereotypical musical-duo-form, Kikuchi gets to do the bulk of programming and play. Some names they’ve written for include Nana Kitade, Mai Nakahara, and Ryoko Hirosue, among others. Recently, they’ve written one of the character songs (at least?) for Hatsukoi Limited and provided the OP song and the Christmas episode image song. Their first single from Lantis launched with Hidamari Sketch (2007), as the ED song, and you can hear their latest single in Hidasketch Hoshimitsu (X***?). More (outdated) info can be found at the marblepedia.
Actually, I want to talk about that ED. See here. With lyrics. It’s a bit of a divergence no? I thought the way they sounded since 2007 had a particular method to their madness. It is like dressing up street pop with a lot of glitz, but in a fluffy, diet-soda kind of way. Compared to the songs on their two re-release albums, which was a lot more mainline indie/folk/jazz influenced, the new stuff is just outrageous. And I don’t mean outrageous like Lady Gaga. It’s like Akiba/Dempa with a much smaller dose of the electricity.
Oh right, their new song, “Sakura Sakura Saku ~Ano Hi Kimi wo Matsu Sora to Onaji de~,” is a freaking mouthful. And catchy in that cheapass teenage powered rock music way. Sigh. Perhaps it’s a progression from Hatsukoi Limited? Wait, there is a PV to Hatsukoi Limited? LOL?
It’s like seeing Micco in that outfit for Kuusou Jet reminds me of Elizabeth from Persona 3. Farm their old blog for pics–the two of them post quite a bit, and you can follow their new posts on their ameblo.
In fact it’s probably more amusing than a blog post full of links you can google up in a few minutes. In a nutshell that’s partly how I feel about Marble–they are nothing really extraordinary, but somehow they’re just really enjoyable. It is as if they are in a niche that takes advantage of their competent if humble skill set. It’s like, moe?
It’s so much like moe, that all this poking and researching don’t add much to my appreciation of their works. So weird. I guess it beats writing a post about the lone nipple pointing at the moon…
