Well, it’s been out for a little while, but I finally got around to finding this one from Darker than Black (Season 1), which turned out to be in a song package with the new Blu-Ray release pack.

21 – Total Eclipse, by Yoko Kanno.

Very good, BONES. Now if you’d just release the rest of the tracks, maybe we’d forgive you for ruining Season 2. Boy was that a total trainwreck.

I’m aware Ali Project existed long before this song was released, and that they even had theme songs in prior shows, but this was the song that got their name out there. “Copperia no Hitsugi” was the breakout single that brought Ali Project out of obscurity into the mainstream fold. Most of you out there are probably much more familiar with Ali Project through the Rozen Maiden and Code Geass franchises, and either loved or hated their themes. There isn’t a band doing anime themes that’s more polarizing than Ali Project, as there isn’t much middle ground between the camps that love and hate them. For better or worse, the second you hear their distinct musical style, you automatically know it’s Ali Project.

Maybe it’s just burn out from Ali Project overexposure these days. Just because a studio can use Ali Project due to their name recognition doesn’t mean it should happen. In their favor, their work in Rozen Maiden, Princess Resurrection and even .hack//Roots actually fit the motif of the series. Though oftentimes when they aren’t working on a dark or Gothic show, the songs feel horribly out of place, as is the case with Code Geass and Sora Kake Girl. You could say I’ve become disenchanted with their music, but a part of me still likes Ali Project too. It’s not like I’m going to go add all their new songs to my playlist and listen to them on repeat, but I do sit through their OPs and EDs, and their annoyingly catchy songs consequently get stuck in my head.

Three of their most recent songs, “Rara Eve Shinseiki” (Sora Kake Girl OP1) “Jigoku no Mon” (Phantom ED1) and “Senritsu no Kodomotachi” (Phantom OP2) are admittedly meh… But they’re still somewhat catchy despite the meh-ness. When Sora Kake Girl was airing I did find myself humming the opening tune without realizing it, cursing Ali Project all the while. Likewise, Phantom’s first ending was somewhat decent, with the visuals having a big part in making it memorable. Phantom’s second opening on the other hand is just plain grating on the ears, but is still sorta catchy in a weird masochistic way.

Despite the sensationalist title and Ali Project ragging, I don’t think they’re bad per se. If they were outright awful they wouldn’t continue to get work, but the fact is the band hasn’t changed much if at all over the years, and their style has fallen into a rut. The Ali Project from eight years ago is more or less the same Ali Project as today, and by strictly adhering to a singular style have become stale as a result. Their music is still distinguishable from the norm, but their songs are all more or less interchangeable with each other. Lyrics aside, you could replace a Rozen Maiden OP with just about any other theme they’ve done and you wouldn’t know the difference.

Overall I neither like nor hate Ali Project as they are now. I do admit their songs are still pretty catchy, but they desperately need to revamp their style because of how stale they’ve become. You actually could interpret not needing to change a sign of success as well since they haven’t needed to change to remain successful, but for a band like Ali Project that made its name through innovation, change would be a very, very good thing and make them relevant again to me. Now for your listening perusal, here’s a selection of TV size songs. For further shits and giggles, play them all at once for the ultimate ear bleeding mashup.

The feeling was like when you’re a kid and a good buddy went away for the summer, and when they came back they seemed totally different. Eventually you realize that they’re still the same person (unless they became a total douchebag), and you adjust to the small changes, as is the case with the new HnG. With seven episodes under its belt, I actually adjusted to the new art style faster than expected. Even more surprisingly, I’ve actually started to like “Wonder Wind” too. Below is a journal of my adjustment to the new OP song.

Episode 1: What the hell is this crap? It sucks!

Episode 2: At least the OP animation is nice.

Episode 3: You know, this song isn’t so bad after all…

Episode 4: It’s actually kinda catchy.

Episode 5: ???

Episode 6: PROFIT!

Episode 7: I now like the song.

So yeah. I guess I was tsundere for “Wonder Wind”. I even find myself humming it while doing housework. Now that damn Hinagiku song on the other hand… I like Hina but really dislike the ED. Where’s my Isumi ED, eh? I’m going to rage if Isumi doesn’t get her own ED soon.

Well, that was proven wrong. In spades.

It’s very rarely that something reminds me of the Serial Experiments Lain OP, and in a good way as well. The song is actually Falling Down by the rather popular western band Oasis, so the full version is obviously out. But that, combined with the mishmash of various 2D and 3D visuals, not to mention the words splattered throughout the opening sequence, lends an eerie disjointed feeling to the whole opening that I find quite haunting.

Oh, and the ED isn’t bad either:

Using paper cutouts and crumpling as elements for the ED animation shows a level of dedication and style quite beyond the scope of most things this season. While the story it tells isn’t quite memorable, one should be able to fully appreciate the intricacy behind the workings of this sequence. I also liked the song a fair bit.

Well, all that means I’ll probably be having a look into Eden of the East for the time being. At 11 or so episodes, it doesn’t seem like a big time investment either, so I won’t have much to lose compared to the other 26 episode shows this season.

First up is…

———————–

A musical number of cutsey concentrated into a lethal form and addictive number:

Cagayake! Girls, sung by… The four main characters of K-On!

Okay, I’ll be honest. I don’t really like this song. Heck, I probably won’t bother hunting up the full version when it appears. But it’s so damn addictingly cute that I can’t help but nod my head at its beat. It’s insanely catchy. And for some reason, I like this over the ED.  Yes, I know, I’m wierd.

———————–

Decent visuals but a solid track by the fine lady who brought us Lion from Macross Frontier:

Kimi Shinitamō Koto Nakare by May’N, Shangri-La

Well, this one was sorta an in-between as far as visuals go. Nice animation on the main character and her ensuing action scenes, and the panning shots of the girls were nice but overall a subtle effort in terms of an opening sequence. I do like the song a fair bit though, and will be hunting for the full version when it does appear.

———————–

Haunting vocals carry the atmosphere for this entry:

Karma by Kokia, Phantom: Requiem of the Phantom

(Due to technical difficultie-I mean, sparseness of availability, the provided video lacks the OP sequences’s visuals. Well, watch the anime itself for the visuals then!)

Ah yes, Bee Train. As of usual, their OP has mostly limited animation, and the gargantuan task of carrying the atmosphere for the series’s OP lies in the music. And what a track it is: Haunting sorrowful vocals practically make up the entire song, and it gives a cold and chilly atmosphere that you won’t find often. My one complaint is that it ends a little too suddenly, but I guess that’s not much of a complaint, is it?

———————–

And finally, the one OP this season that rocks my socks like no other:

Again – Yui, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Okay, well, this was quite a mind-blowingly pleasant surprise. The lovely atmospheric depth shots, melancholic mood, and the sweeping visuals made this one a stunning piece of work in itself, but add on the brilliant number by Yui, and the result is that this has become one of my favourite OPs of all time. BONES really outdid themselves for this one. As a note: I went back and watched all of the previous FMA OPs on youtube, and frankly they were all crap in comparison. Mostly. OP 4 was kinda decent. I’ll just say that this and the first episode of the series has made FMA: Brotherhood a strong entry in my book of things to watch this season. And for full version hunters: The full version of both the OP and ED are already out. Why can’t this happen more often?

Disclaimer: I watched the first episode of the previous FMA season and wasn’t impressed enough to go on. This season however had a strong start, despite being an anime original, so we’ll see how it goes from there.

————————————–

And there you have it, a quick and brief by yours truly. Stay tuned next time for more insight into this season, maybe, perhaps. I bid thee good day and fare thee well!

Edit: Noirsword was here and edited some stuff behind the scenes. How delightfully responsible. Thanks Noinoi-sama!

I’ve been in a huge writing funk lately, so here’s some filler to let the readers get to know me better through my musical taste. I’ll only include the most played vocal tracks on this list, since I don’t expect anyone to care about OST and instrumental music. So do any of your favorite anime songs show up here? No? Well go complain somewhere else.

1. Lia – Tori no Uta
2. Eufonius – Megumeru ~Cuckool Mix 2007~
3. Elisa – Euphoric Field (Japanese Version)
4. Yoko Takahashi – Yoake Umarekuru Shoujo
5. Kalafina – Oblivious
6. Aira Yuki – Colorless Wind
7. Natsumi Yanase – Sora no Yume
8. Eiko Shimamiya – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
9. Eufonius – Megumeru (Original)
10. Kanako Ito – Kimi to Yozora to Sakamichi to
11. Lia – Yakusoku
12. Nana Mizuki – Innocent Starter
13. Eiko Shimamiya – Naraku no Hana
14. Kotoko – Re-sublimity
15. Kotoko – Agony
16. Riya – Ten Thousand Miracles (Clannad Image Vocal Album)
17. Betta Flash – Erinyes
18. Ceui – Mellow Melody
19. Mami Kawada – Joint
20. Ayana – Last Regrets (Full Chorus Version)

Absolutely brilliant stuff here. A grand mix of orchestral plays and simple environmental themes, not to mention the usual happy-go-lucky tunes. I might do a full-on review sometime later in this post, but for all you leechers, check it out. Get it right here.

Hit up Nipponsei’s IRC channel for the MP3 distro release. If you don’t mind Megaupload, you can also nab it here. “Megumeru ~Cuckool Mix 2007″ doesn’t sound any different from the movie’s “Megumeru frequency e version”. Regardless of that it’s still a wonderful song and you’d be hard pressed to find a better opening song this season. The other big draw here is the ending, “Dango Daizazoku”. The Dango song actually sounded better in the TV edit, but it’s still just too cute for me to say bad things about it. I don’t have anything to say about the instrumental versions and TV cuts of the OP/ED. The final thing worth noting is “Shoujo no Gensou ZTS Remix” which is just a trance song.

Full track listing

Overall: This is a must have for Key fans and comes highly recommended. 9.5/10

1. Gyakuten Saiban – Court Begins Blue Note Scale
2. Naruhodou Ryuuichi – Objection!
3. Great Edo’s Warrior Tonosaman
4. Gyakuten Saiban 2 – Court Begins Blue Note Scale
5. Mitsurugi Reiji – Great Revival
6. Shibakuzou Toranosuke – Swinging Zenitora
7. Gyakuten Saiban 3 – Court Begins Blue Note Scale
8. Godot – Fragrance of Dark Coffee
9. Yomigaeru Gyakuten – End
10. Minuki’s Theme – Child of Magic

This is certainly an interesting remix album in the sense that it’s jazz. Most of the time, popular game music is remixed into techno or orchetral forms. In the case of Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright), those albums exist as well. Before I diverge more than I usually do, here’s the review coming right at ya.

It’s refreshing to hear this kind of remix. Most of the recognizable character and court themes are here. The songs are very heavy on saxophone, trumpet, piano, and double bass. If I wasn’t familiar with this music, it could probably pass in a real lounge without a second thought. I think all of the songs are good, but the best one is Godot’s theme which was already a jazzy piece to begin with. Now you didn’t hear this from me, but you can obtain the album here.

Rating: I know jazz isn’t for everyone but give it a try. You just might like it. It’s a very well done compilation. 8/10

I wanted to try something new so here we go. For my first album review I picked the Kanon Air Piano album. As the name implies it is a piano arrangement of ten tracks from both Kanon and Air. There is a nice selection of songs that are all arranged very well. All your favorites like Tori no Uta, Shoujo no Ori, and Natsukage are here. The tracks are very soothing and would be a nice way to wind down from a busy day. I might upload the soundtrack if anyone is interested.

Full track listing.

Overall: Highly recommended. 9/10