I recently became obsessed with Anime again after about one year of not watching anything (but still reading manga of course). I have Code Geass and Code Geass R2 to blame for getting me started.
First, the Macross Frontier opening features "Triangular" by Maaya Sakamoto. Maaya Sakamoto did an excellent ending for the Anime Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles with the song "Loop"
I didn't like this song too much at the beginning, but then I got addicted to it after 4 or 5 listens.
Second, it's FLOW's song "COLOR" as the opening to Code Geass
Third, it's Orange Range's song "O2" as the opening to Code Geass R2
I'm not a huge fan of Orange Range, but this song is particularly catchy
All Anime songs can be found on Gendou, so give it a try!
Interesting Jpop in Anime
Blaise Plant - Call me (Appelez moi)
If you happen to listen to Blaise Plant's (from Monkey Majik) solo song Call me (Appelez moi), you might have been surprised that it's French Pop. Quite the deviation from his Jpop career, but it's an interesting listen if you've never heard French music before.
In my opinion, Blaise Plant should just stick with Monkey Majik, since Blaise Plant singing without good guitar just doesn't do it for me. If you want an example of good French music, I was recently introduced to Kyo. One of my favourite songs by them is Comment te Dire:
Jpop Recommendations - Girls Be Ambitious
The Jpop album Girls Be Ambitious was released March 26, 2008 which featured a variety of popular and talented female artists. I was glad the female voices were typically lower pitched, but wasn't too happy about the rapping.
| Artist | Song | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Kay | Tears | Slower paced song with excellent vocals |
| ARIA | I Love You | Pop, the song's hook is the excellent piano instrumental |
| MINMI | Aisuru Toiu Koto | Pop/Soca, excellent vocals from my favourite Soca Jpop artist |
| DOUBLE | SPRING LOVE | Pop |
| Leah Dizon | Koi Shiyou | Pop, I like this song minus the chorus |
| Orion | Once More | Pop, I'm a sucker for piano yet again |
Of the 26 tracks, only 5 songs matched the Jpop I enjoy. I was slightly disappointed, but then again, the percentage of songs I enjoy in the Oricon SINGLE WEEKLY TOP 30 is usually just as bad.
Highly Recommended Jpop - January to April 2008
2008 has started with an incredible amount of releases from some of my favourite Jpop Artists as well as some who I've recently discovered.
There were a lot of albums containing older songs, such as Ken Hirai's Pop Star or any song from the brilliant's green single collection. However, if you've missed them before, it's a good opportunity to get them now.
Albums/Singles
- ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION - World World World
- Ben Arashino - Chapter One ~Complete Collection~
- CHEMISTRY - Face to Face
- EXILE - Pure / You're my sunshine
- GLORY HILL - DAYBREAK e.p.
- Hikari - Naked
- Ken Hirai - FAKIN' POP
- Koda Kumi - Kingdom
- KOKIA - Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi
- Leah Dizon - Love Paradox
- melody. - Lei Aloha
- mihimaru GT - diverge
- Monkey Majik - Together/Akari/Fall Back
- Nami Tamki - Don't Stay
- Namie Amuro - 60s 70s 80s
- Rimi Natsukawa - Ano Hana No Youni
- the brilliant green - complete single collection '97-'08
- Utada Hikaru - HEART STATION
- YUI - I LOVED YESTERDAY
- Yuna Ito - WISH
- ZEEBRA - BUSHIDO
| Artist | Song | Details |
|---|---|---|
| ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION | After Dark | Rock, the popular song used in the opening for the anime Bleach |
| ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION | Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu | Rock |
| ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION | Travelog | Rock |
| Beni Arashino | Cherish | Pop, an old favourite of mine |
| Beni Arashino | FLASH FLASH (feat. KOHEI JAPAN) | Pop, rapping |
| Beni Arashino | Goal | Pop, an old favourite of mine |
| CHEMISTRY | Kagayaku yoru | Pop, song supported by Monkey Majik, which means amazing guitar |
| EXILE | Pure | Pop, on the slower side but excellent male vocals |
| GLORY HILL | DAYBREAK e.p. | Punk/rock, sounds like ELLEGARDEN (including unintelligible English) |
| Hikari | Sowelu | Pop |
| Hikari | Still lovin' you | Pop |
| Ken Hirai | Pain | Pop |
| Ken Hirai | Pop Star | Pop, if you haven't heard this song before you should! |
| Koda Kumi | anytime | Pop |
| Koda Kumi | Under | Pop |
| KOKIA | Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi | Pop |
| Leah Dizon | Love Paradox | Pop, surprisingly good for a Leah Dizon song |
| melody. | Haruka -Eternal Version- | Slow song |
| mihimaru GT | diverge | Pop |
| Monkey Majik | Akari | Pop |
| Monkey Majik | Fall Back | Pop, the rap sucks but the rest of the song is good |
| Monkey Majik | One More Chance | Pop, the surprisingly good b-side |
| Nami Tamaki | visualize | Dance, reminds me of her song "Believe" |
| Nami Tamaki | Promise | Slow song |
| Namie Amuro | NEW LOOK | Pop |
| Namie Amuro | ROCK STEADY | Pop |
| Namie Amuro | WHAT A FEELING | Pop |
| Rimi Natsukawa | Ano Hana No Youni | Slow song |
| the brilliant green | Ai no Heart Ai no Hoshi | Rock |
| the brilliant green | Rainy Days Never Stays | Rock, one of my favourite tbg songs ever |
| the brilliant green | I'm So Sorry Baby | Rock |
| the brilliant green | Stand By Me | Pop, another one of my favourite tbg songs |
| Utada Hikaru | Beautiful World | Pop |
| Utada Hikaru | Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version | Slow song, my absolute favourite song from this album |
| Utada Hikaru | Stay Gold | |
| YUI | My Generation | Pop |
| YUI | Namidario | Pop |
| Yuna Ito | Mahaloha | Pop |
| ZEEBRA | BUSHIDO | Rap, this is what Japanese rapping should be like |
Namie Amuro Play Tour 2007 Cover Scan
I saw Namie Amuro's Play Tour 2007 DVD for sale today, so I decided to make an impulse purchase. I had seen the Play concert on JPOPSUKI, but my ISP does a great job in preventing me from getting it. The concert was okay. I don't think there's much lasting value, since I don't see myself watching it more than two times. I would recommend you "sample" this concert before you buy it, since the concert wasn't spectacular.
I love the DVD cover:
The Namie Amuro Play Tour 2007 cover, scanned by me. I'm a newbie at scanning stuff, so hopefully it turned out correctly. It was originally scanned at 300dpi and Flickr shrunk it down to 692x1024 (which is not too bad of a resolution). I wasn't able to find a large scan of the cover anywhere, so this is my attempt to scan something.
Not Dead...Yet. Just Really Busy
I've been really busy with work, so haven't had time to do anything Jpop related.
Luckily, even when I'm completely out of touch with Jpop, I can always rely on these two great sites for finding recent and older releases:
Jpop n' Kpop
Too Fast To Live
Basically, they are my JPOPSUKI substitutes, since I would get exactly what shows up on those two sites anyway :) If you didn't know about those resources before, check them out!
Monkey Majik's new single is out tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be disappointing or I'll be crushed.
Monkey Majik - Together
Title: Together
Artist: Monkey Majik
Single: Together / Akari / Fall Back
Release date: April 23, 2008
It's about time Monkey Majik released something new in 2008. I've been eagerly waiting for something new from Monkey Majik. When I found out that the title of their new single would be Together / Akari / Fall Back, I was overjoyed at the potential for three killer songs. Hopefully these songs will be the triple counter to compete against Namie Amuro's 60s 70s 80s single, which will probably still be at the top of Oricon SINGLES TOP 30 when this single is released.
Luckily, this single starts off nicely with the song Together. Together follows the award winning Monkey Majik recipe: the use of their indie-pop style, amazing guitar playing, excellent English and Japanese vocals, and no rapping (thank God). Overall, Together has a depressing tone similar to their song "Sotsugyō, soshite mirai e.". About 85% of this song is sung in Japanese with very few consecutive lines of English. I felt that the tidbits of English were appropriate and didn't sound out of place.
I'd say the weak point of this song was the chorus. I didn't find the chorus to be particularly interesting. To me, it's a rare anomaly, since Monkey Majik choruses are usually the song's hook. Besides that, I really enjoyed the song. As an added bonus, the music video was well made too. The music video is touching, as it focuses on a mother and daughter dealing with the death of the father. This music video reminds me of the "Christmas Gift" scenario in the Nintendo DS game Elite Beat Agents, which has a similar premise (including the ghost father watching over his family). Here's the Together music video:
Mirrors:
High quality MV at Jpop n' Kpop
Flash video at JpopAsia
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