Anime Opening of the Year

Yes, it's been much too long since I bothered with this blog. Real life interferes, as always, as do things like social media (I love google+). So in an attempt to jumpstart things a bit, or at least try a monthly schedule, I offer something I did every year on LJ. Traditionally, the last post of the year was always my selection of the best anime opening song of the year. This year was... difficult.

The eventual choice for best song is surprising, at least to me. If I were simply picking ending songs, it would be Magia, hands down, the ending for the excellent Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime. Kalafina typically do great work, and Magia is one of the best. However, I don't rate endings. This is an opening, though, by a group who I first heard of from the ending single to the Eden of the East movie.

I like School Food Punishment. A lot. It's pretty difficult for me to list a song of theirs I dislike, and the only reason I don't have a stack of their CDs in my collection is because they tend to go out of print, a problem which is pretty common to the jpop industry. They have an interesting sound, with a heavy jazz influence over standard electronic fare, keyboard carrying the day.

Notably, though, the vocals in this song are done by the venerable Maaya Sakamoto. So, one of my favorite vocalists temporarily displaces the already pleasant vocals of one of my favorite bands. Aural heaven. It goes beyond simply being catchy; most anime openings are, by definition, catchy. It's more that Maaya's voice is, in a word, beautiful, and the music is beautiful as well. Not in the sort of ethereal way that Yoko Kanno, Maaya's normal composition partner, tends to be. Beautiful in the way a Miles Davis composition can be; there's a lot going on in the song, and it all fits together perfectly.

Honorable mentions for 2011 include the Madoka Magica opening "Connect" by claris, and "Zannenkei Rinjin-Bu," by pretty much the entire female cast of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai.

Weekly OP: ~infinity~

It's request time!

That's a good thing, because I haven't seen this particular series before.

Megumi Hayashibara's name is quite familiar to nearly all anime fans, having voiced roles for everyone from Pikachu to Rei Ayanami, and most of the character types in between. She also has a fairly impressive discography, perhaps most notably for Slayers, and the series which is arguably a remake of it, Lost Universe.

Still, the knock I mostly have against Megumi is that a lot of her songs end up sounding the same. And while that's great, from the standpoint of those who like her songs and want more of them--stick with what works, after all--it does wear a bit sometimes.

infinity is a good example of this. It's not a song I tend to listen to a lot, not because it's bad so much as it's just... unremarkable. I'm at pains to describe it, simply because I could simply say "Listen to any Slayers song and you'll know just what it sounds like." But that's obviously not my job.

A quick intro and then the first verse, which starts out very light on instrumentals, then slowly begins to build up. It's the sort of development I rather like, and once you're into the second half, things are in full swing. In fact, it's rather cleverly done, and keeps things from getting too stale.

The chorus is the strongest part of the song, with a good bass riff, some nice backing vocals, and the string portmanteau.

I do like the bridge, but it sounds very much like the bridge from another Hayashibara song, Breeze, which I actually like more than this one (and is from the Slayers series I saw first). It doesn't really last too long, though, which is unfortunate. Instead, we go into the conclusion of the song, which is rather weak, in comparison.

Three of five stars. If this was the only song Megumi did, it would be great, but that there are so many others makes it a bit dull.

Weekly OP: Cross*Heart

Sometimes remakes don't turn out as planned...

Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora was made by the same guys who did Kannazuki no Miko, which was featured last week. It has some of the same things, such as mysterious academies, summoned robots, and damsels in distress. Some of the characters even got recycled. So why did this show suck so much more than its predecessor? And considering its predecessor was only redeemed by its f/f pairings... well. The only reason I bothered with it was the allusion to that pairing repeating itself here, and while it was, it also was not. Largely a waste of time.

At least the opening song was good.

It's definitely not KOTOKO, which means you can abandon the electronic music, techno feel to things. It's sung by CooRie, who have a reputation for a much softer sound.

That's not to say that it's boring. The most striking thing in this opening, to my ear, is the bass line. It's a lot like the basso continuo of a Baroque work, because it (almost) doesn't ever stop. It underpins the whole thing and holds the song together, and without it I don't think it would be nearly as successful.

A quick intro, and we're off. The vocals are light and airy, high without being screechy. Very tender, with a bit of piano thrown in now and then, and some spicato on the strings, which build as we reach the chorus.

The chorus itself is pretty pedestrian, and proceeds naturally from the verses. A bit of an agility in terms of the words, which run together nicely. The strings, actually, are very important to the song as well, dancing up and down and around the main melody, adding a playful element to things.

I mentioned before that the bass line doesn't stop. Well, it does, once. That's in a second sort of vocal bridge, which leads to the last two verses. It's somewhat of an interesting passage, because it's almost a capella, with just a bit of instrumental flourish, before jumping back into things.

On closer examination, though, there isn't too much going on in this piece. It's very light and fluffy, and to be fair, it's only after a few listenings that I began to like it. It's about as light a song as I'm willing to put up with in an opening, without getting boring, with an ending that sort of abruptly fades away.

Three of five stars. Which is more than I can say for the anime.

Weekly OP: re-subliminity

Rampant lesbianism needs no excuse.

2004 was another good year for anime. Not as good as the annus miribilis of 2003, but still darn good, and this series, Kannazuki no Miko, came out toward its end. Coincidentially, about the same time a little show called Lyrical Nanoha came out. One is still busting out cash, and the other is not, which speaks a good bit to Kannazuki no Miko's quality. It's not really a good show, with an awful mismash of shoujo-ai themes and giant robots. Though the shoujo-ai was really, really good, and so this show still has a place in my heart.

The song has a bigger one, though, which is why I picked it out. Re-subliminity is by KOTOKO, that venerable veteran of I've Sound who's done a number of series, though perhaps she's most recognized for the opening for Onegai Teacher. At the least, that's where I recognize her from first. This, though, is KOTOKO at her very best.

The intro is deceptively simple. A little synthesizer, than a few piano chords, repeated again and again, with a bit of a hint of more synthesizer. Then, at thirty seconds, you get the bass beat. Still in the introduction, rumbling of something about to happen, and then a forty-five seconds, you have the full instrumental, giving you the underpinnings of the song.

And then you get the singing, at a minute twelve seconds. And ah, what singing.

KOTOKO has two modes of singing: low and sultry, and ultra high-pitched. This is low and sultry, and it fits. Very high paced, though. This is not a song I would be comfortable karaokeing. Especially the chorus, which races along. Fitting, for a somewhat mecha-based series. Not a lot of chord variation, but with a somewhat techno-ish song, that shouldn't much of a surprise.

The bridge is fairly unremarkable, in comparison. Just more of the same driving dance beat. Which isn't really a bad thing; a guitar solo would be highly out of place in this song, and in fact there's almost nothing in here that couldn't come out of a beat box. This is fairly typical of I've Sound, and does lead to an interesting feel.

If there is a knock on the song, it's that while innovative, it does tend to repeat that, over and over again. The song doesn't develop, really, and so it has to be filed in the category of anime openings which simply recapitulate the TV-sized version. Still, since that version is patently awesome, I approve.

Five of five stars, and what would have been the best opening of 2004, if not for a little thing called Innocent Starter.

I have to try this drunken blogging thing sometime...

Pajamas Media » Drunkblogging Obama’s Libya Speech

Suckers

Funny, how we become what we most despise.

"Rights Are Curtailed for Terror Suspects" - ProfessorBainbridge.com

Weekly OP: Groovin' Magic

ah ah-ah ah, ah ah-ah ah

Fifteen years after the original Gunbuster came Diebuster, which is technically a sequel, but in my opinion exists enough on its own to be taken apart from it. Besides, aside from one memorable scene (which still makes me tear up just to think about), the latter makes little reference to the former.

The choice of ROUND Table (as always, featuring Nino) was perhaps an odd one. They don't have too much to their credit, and arguably, given the distinct disco feel to most of their songs, they're even more retro than Noriko Sakai would be. I like the overall effect, but then, I like disco. It's hard to be a jpop aficionado if you don't.

This is immediately a more complex song than Active Heart. In fact, it's one of the more complex opening songs you'll find, with three or four different lines all competing for attention. In some ways it might actually be considered distracting, but things settle down for the first verse.

The chorus is a repeat of the introduction, and perhaps the strength of the song overall, as short as it is. There isn't a lot of sadness to this song, not at all. It stays happy and perky throughout.

Vocals? Pretty good, with the words somewhat sandwiched, register-wise, between the disco drum and bass beat, and the portmanteau (but not quite) of the strings. A slight syncopation to the chords, just enough to keep one guessing, and the strings come in more toward the ends of the verses.

I adore the bridge. It's disco at its best, with the strings dancing up and down the range. Very dance worthy, really. Almost, shall we say, groovy? But no, that's a different song, and a different review. In any event, the use of the wah-wah pedal is really evident here, and to good use. The song nearly veers off into funk territory, but then swings back to disco, and a hauntingly quiet, still repeated chorus before we launch into the coda.

All in all, I love this song. The backbeat gives you almost no breaks, and so you're left bopping your head for the full 4 minute 24 second length. Five of five stars, for one of the best songs of 2004.

Why Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power - News - Mail & Guardian Online

Putting things in a bit of perspective.

Why Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power - News - Mail & Guardian Online

iowahawk: Feed Your Family on $10 Billion a Day

Erasing the deficit, made easy:

iowahawk: Feed Your Family on $10 Billion a Day

Weekly OP: Active Heart

The theme for the next few weeks: remakes. But you can't have a remake without an original, and here's one of the classics.

Gunbuster hopefully requires no introduction. If it does, I weep for you, and wonder just how you managed to read all the preceding posts. In any event, perhaps one of the seminal giant robot anime, its opening is quintessentially 1980s, yet has aged rather well. Perhaps better than the woman who sang it; Noriko Sakai, of course, made headlines in 2009 with her involvement in a drug scandal. Japan is extremely intolerant of such things, and so this fairly well marked the end of her career.

In 1988, though, all that was far in the future. The present was full of lots and lots of synthesizers.

Active Heart is a song that would not look out of place in the discography of A-Ha or WHAM! Yes, it's that... perky? The introduction is definitely very bouncy, and would make a good workout track, if you have the proper tight pants and leg warmers. It's also not very long, with the drum beat to establish things, and the familiar chords from the keyboard.

Noriko's voice is rather light and airy, and not as obsessively cute as jpop has gotten, later on. This was long before the moe boom, and while having a woman sing the opening song for a proper, manly robot show might be a little off, well, the fact that the manly robot show had primarily female protagonists might have altered things a bit.

In any event, her voice mostly carries the song. There is the drum and bass underlying it, in a fairly intense beat, but that's almost all for the instrumentals during the actual singing; there's little to get in the way of her voice, aside from the occasional backing vocals.

As such, though, the song feels a bit thin in places. Part of this is its length; at 3 minutes 22 seconds, it's fairly short for a song. Part of this is that it's not an especially complex song; there are no instrumental heroics in this piece, as it has a very straightforward chord progression. The bridge is almost an afterthought, and it took me a few listenings to remember just where it fell. So no guitar solos.

For all that, it's not a bad song. It's just not a very good song. Written, as it was, at a time when anime openings were just those, openings, and not necessarily made to sell singles, that isn't so surprising. Still, it does pale a bit, when compared to later songs. On its own merits, though, it does what an anime song is intended to do, which is catch the ear. It just happens that the overall effect of this song is to sound as if the album length version is just something they had to come up with because they already had the OVA-length version laying around.

Three of five stars, mostly from nostalgia.

Weekly OP: 明日へのbrilliant road

Well. It had to happen sometime. Finally, a Japanese anime opening song whose title involves actual Japanese.

Stellvia was one of many anime in the "annus mirabalis" of 2003, which saw so many other quality titles as Scrapped Princess, Planetes, Last Exile, and others. It's a lovely series, as the others were, and one I even rewatched a couple years ago, without disappointment. Well, too much; it's hard to remember that 4:3 was the standard aspect ratio for programming back then. How high definition has changed the scene.

Asu e no Brilliant Road is the opening for the series, and as such was also a gamechanger for its group, angela, who have gone on to a number of other anime openings and endings, as well as a general boost in their career. And it is also just about everything you would want in an anime opening.

There are little hints of synthesizer and drum in the vocal intro, before we jump with the full band compliment. They calm down again, though, as the first verse starts. The bass is almost in a call and response, with a bit of bells as well, before jumping into the first chorus.

This is, without, the wheelhouse of the song. atsuko's vocals work perfectly with a string ostinanto, and driving bass and guitar beats. atsuko, the vocal half of angela, has impressive vocal range, and she uses it in the lead in to the bridge. The bridge itself is, surprisingly, dominated by strings. Lovely, lovely touch.

Second verse much the same as the first, of course. The chorus comes again, and I do like how the voice just marches up and down the scale, giving the impression of walking. Into adversity? Of course. And then a second bridge, again dominated by strings. This might be the best part of the song altogether.

The end of the song is almost an afterthought, with another iteration of the chorus. All three parts of the band drive together, and finally fade into a last few, demanding notes of verse... and then an instrumental finale. We're left to drift away, with a few parting words of the drum, fading strings, and a last guitar riff.

This is a very good song. And like all good songs, the more you listen to it, and begin to pick it apart, the better it gets. This was for awhile on the CD I'd mixed together for running, and with good reason; it's quite motivational, though its pace is a bit too fast for using for running cadence. Five of five stars, and what would have been the best opening song of 2003... if it weren't for a little ditty called Dive in the Sky.

Weekly OP: metamorphose

It's the end of the world as we know it, and we feel... huh?

Believe it or not, Yoko Takahashi has done other songs than her signature Cruel Angel's Thesis, the bane of anime convention karaoke the world over, and also one of the best opening songs of all time. Certainly the most recognizable, and enough has been written about it, elsewhere, that anything I tried to say about it here could not do it justice.

So, I'll go back to something a bit newer, if that makes sense, and metamorphose. Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai, or This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, aired in 2004, and was noted at the time for being a somewhat transparent retelling of Gainax's previous Mahoromatic. I don't intend to rehash those differences here, but it is useful as a starting point for the series, which concerns two cute girls who are intended to bring about the eradication of Earth. Cheerful, and yet it managed to wrap up in thirteen episodes.

The song itself is... well. I'd say it's about what one would expect from Yoko. She has a very distinctive voice, and she uses it to best advantage. I think, if there was a single knock against this song, it would be that it sounds too similar to Cruel Angel's Thesis. Both start with vocal solos, then jump into a driving rock beat. The first verses are similar in pacing and instrumentation. The refrains are are a bit different; here we lean on the strings, where in Thesis it's all about the backing vocals. The bridge in this case is a violin solo, where of course in Thesis you have the infamous guitar solo.

It's striking, actually, the similarities, and yet those similarities mean that metamorphose succeeds, in many of the same ways that Thesis succeeds. Yoko's low, sexy voice holds your attention, and she works well with the bass and strings, neither competing nor overpowering them. This song has a slightly less frenetic pace, but only slightly. There is something of the inevitable about this song. That the end of the world is already a given, and there's nothing for it but to march on, to even hasten its coming.

Instrumentally, it's somewhat interesting. The guitars are played in a way almost reminiscent of a harp arpeggio, which is neat. Lots of short, repeated notes in the guitar riffs, as well, and a bit of synthesizer thrown in for fun. I like the very subtle tapping of the cymbal in the bridge; it's very much like a ticking clock.

Four of five stars for this song, which for me put Yoko back on the map, after very few appearances after Evangelion.

the mideast, this ain't

The cheek of politicians is amazing.

For two years, the excuse presented for the fact that somehow a Democrat-controlled White House and Congress had such difficulty actually getting anything done (how long did that health care bill take again?) was because of the Party of No. Well and good. The Republicans definitely took an aggressive stance in that, and while I'm not fond of that sort of tactic, one has to concede that it was at least effective from their standpoint. You could call it obstructionism if you liked, I suppose, but whatever you think of it, it's hard to argue that it worked against them at the polls, which is, in American politics, the only goalpost that matters.

Of course, now state legislatures in Indiana and Wisconsin go into more or less open revolt, by fleeing into neighboring states in the dark of night, and refusing to come back and present a quorum. Now none dare call it obstructionism, because of course that would make it seem as if the conservative wing had the moral high ground. And that will never, ever be acceptable to most of those who report the news, and nor, I imagine, to many who read it. No, a prominent Wisconsin Democrat had the gall to say that it was the governor who was holding up the works of government, and not the fourteen who decided they didn't want to play anymore.

The indignant protests over the rights of unions are, of course, justified. Those who have descended on the Wisconsin state house have every right to protest, though I tend to think that they could find a better way to go about it, and certainly they seem intent on fulfilling every nasty stereotype normally levelled at the Tea Party (strangely, nobody seems to pore over their pictures to see how many minorities are hiding in the crowd). That I happen to severely disagree with their viewpoints on, say, collective bargaining, is irrelevant. What, exactly, gives elected officials the right to absent themselves from their elected posts, just because they disagree? Guess what: every elected body in history has had people who disagree. When you do disagree, the solution isn't to run away and prevent business from being done. It isn't to offer up a slew of amendments to delay a vote you know that you will lose. It's not to point fingers.

No. Your job, and your duty, is to stand up, speak your mind, cast your vote, and sit back down. You really feel your issue is that important? Explain, in words clear and compelling enough to command the assent of the governed, your case, and if the voters agree, they'll say so in November. How it can be said that the Wisconsin governor is the sticking point is amazing, and I find it very hard not to consider the fourteen missing representatives very petulant, very immature teenagers who, seeing they won't be able to have their way, decide it can't possibly be their fault.

The irony, of course, is that in Washington, luminaries such as Nancy Pelosi are already setting the stage to blame the opposition for causing a shutdown of government. If representatives not showing up for a quorum isn't a government shutdown, then I can't think of what is.

Sadly, I fear that this sort of thing will become the norm, if it hasn't already. All that talk about new civility, and dialing back the hateful rhetoric? Yes, we see now just how sincere those calls were now, don't we?

Weekly OP: Message

Listen to my song! Or not...

Message is an odd song. Normally, the point of an anime opening is to grab the attention, to be catchy and remarkably prone to hum or sing along. Message does not do that. At all. I suspect that my interest in this song is secondary to the anime to which it's attached, Sōkō no Strain (or, as it was released in the US, Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry). The anime itself is highly watchable; Wikipedia lists it as being loosely based on the Little Princess novel, but I hadn't gained that impression from watching it, and I think the comparison is fairly meaningless when it comes to watching the series, which I would recommend. But this blog is not about anime I like. Yet.

So. The song is done by YoKo, who is probably more familiar to most listeners as Yoko Ueno. Under that name, she's probably most familiar as part of Oranges and Lemons, the group which did the opening and ending songs for Azumanga Daioh, and as a separate duet, the ending for Scrapped Princess. She has a very high voice, but in this case she avoids the pitfall of being so shrill that I just don't want to listen at all.

In any event, YoKo here lends her voice to give this a somewhat ethereal feel. The notion of a fairy very much comes to mind. There's actually an almost Arabian feel to the lilt of her music. Probably something to do with the scale used. In any event, the sing-song nature of the song lends an airy quality.

The instrumentals both help and harm the song. I think the drum and bass are a bit heavy, but happily they restrict themselves largely to the refrains. The main parts of the song are almost all synthesizer, and they, too, use light notes, but played almost in a mournful tone. That I approve of, since a large part of the series is the protagonist's rather estranged relationship with her brother.

Downsides to this track? It is, as I noted before, not especially catchy. It very easily can blend into the background, which is not what an anime opening should be. On its own, it's not a bad song, but as a hook for a series I have to say it fails utterly. That said, I still find it pleasant listening, and somewhat a change of pace from the usual, frenetic pace of an anison. Call it... three of five stars.

Weekly OP: White Destiny

And no, it's not an ode to the KKK.

I'm reaching back a few years with this one, but it's still a decent anime, and since magical girls are in vogue lately, why not? White Destiny is the opening song to the somewhat forgotten Pretear, which aired in the dark ages of 2001. I remember buying the DVDs in late 2003, and it was always fun paying $30 for each disc of a three disc series. Now, of course, I grouse about paying $50 for a four disc series, and that's assuming I pay for it at all, and I have it on good authority that my desire to actually pay money for anime puts me in the minority. That is, however, another rant.

This rant is about a song, by the estimable Yoko Ishida. She's had a long and distinguished career; older fans will recall that she got her start with Otome no Policy, the ending song for Sailor Moon R, back in 1993. After that, though, she largely fell off the map until the turn of the century, specifically between Pretear and Ai Yori Aoshi. The latter was a complete snoozer, but this song is quality.

The song is carried, from beginning to end, by Yoko's voice; the intro has only a light instrumental accompaniment to her voice. Even past that, though, the main backing is a steady bass. It would be a dance beat, I think, if a bit faster, and with more drums. In any case, guitars are almost absent; it's just the bass, and a bit of synth. Little is there to distract from Yoko, who has a very pretty voice; not ultra high pitched, like many jpop singers, but also without the smokiness of some of the more sexy singers (Ogata Megumi, I'm looking at you).

The absence of a guitar solo is somewhat striking, actually. The bridge is again, bass and synth. And the odd thing is that it works. In some ways, I'd look at this as a bridge between the 1990s, and the more driven, guitarish 2000s opening songs. This song does not attempt to be light and peppy throughout. Nor does it try to be too moody, either. It's... determined, I would say, which is appropriate; the anime is intended to be a more empowered telling of Snow White, as evidenced by its subtitle.

Major points to take away from this song? the pacing is excellent, of course. The refrain is really what carries it, though, in the end. It continues in a falling scale, kind of, starting high and marching down low, with Yoko's voice giving the impression of running down a set of stairs.; a lot of short, broken notes add to that impression. And... it's not overdone. Everything about this song should really put it squarely in the category of mediocrity, and yet it manages to be engaging, catchy, and overall, good; that I'd still rate this in the upper echelon of anisons, even after ten years, is testament to that. Five of five stars.

Weekly OP: Virgin's High!

This week we pick MELL, the Queen of Engrish. She does love using--and abusing--the English language, most notably in the opening song of the anime Rideback, titled the same. It's... interesting, to listen to. I may tackle that one later, but today I pick what's probably my second favorite MELL song ever (and the favorite, kicks!, is on the same single as this one).

Sky Girls is an interesting series. In many ways, it's a more sci-fi oriented version of Strike Witches; from my understanding, the production team wanted to go two different ways, and so they did; the more tech-oriented Sky Girls aired first, and then a bit later Strike Witches hit the airwaves in all its pantsu glory. Pretty obvious to see who won that battle. But then, I think the opening songs for Strike Witches suck, as much as I might like the series. On the other hand, this song is patently awesome, but I still haven't managed to get through the series.

Anyway. MELL has a great voice, her inability to string English words together coherently notwithstanding. And she really carries the song too. She starts a bit calm, almost whispering, but it doesn't take long for her to ramp to full volume. Displaying pretty good range, she provides perfect counterpoint for the instrumentals.

Ah, the instrumentals. The guitars are just about perfect in this one, and when combined with a techno sort of beat to drive the song forward, it's just all kinds of good. It's very hard not to tap the feet, and when listening to this in the car, I usually have to skip back and repeat it two or three times. The only other song like that is masterpiece, which I might get to another time.

5/5 for this song. It's frankly excellent, and after listening to it a dozen times in a row, writing this entry, I can't think of anything wrong with it, other than the Engrish. And as I've said before, I don't listen to anime songs for the lyrics. So nyah.

Weekly OP: Baby universe day

This is a fun opening.

Of course, most anime openings are fun. They have to be. But, considering to what extent the characters come out in this song, it's notable.

Kiddy Girl and is somewhat of a sequel to 2003's Kiddy Grade, part of that annus miribalis which also gave us Planetes, Scrapped Princess, and many other notable series. The opening for that anime deserves a separate entry all its own, but for this one I'll stick with the present.

The seiyuu for the main two characters of the series duet for this song, though I'm given to understand Uchida Aya and Gouda Aya are not related. In any event, as Asceour (on the left) and Q-fuille (on the right), they reflect their respective personalities, and this sort of singing in character should be done more often. They're exuberant when they have to be, hushed when they have to be, and at all times very energetic and, well, moe.

In some ways this actually hearkens back to the old 1990s opening songs. Lots of guitar and strings, with a steady beat to keep things going, and a little stutter start now and then to keep things honest. There is a lot going on, and sometimes it becomes a little difficult to keep track of things, but overall it's still a very nice ensemble. I think, in fact, that it's all the varied instruments and melodies running through this song which make it so perky and vigorous. The strings, in particular, at several instances follow the vocals exactly. It's something I'd expect from Handel.

5/5 for this one. Sure, it's from back in 2009, but still very catchy, and very good.

Weekly OP: LOVE X HEAVEN

Ladies Versus Butlers! is not a good series, by any stretch. It takes the maid chic so popular, and beats it over the head until it loses what little appeal it had. That said, what I read of it said it had lots of T&A, and so I had to give it a chance. It's not that bad. Just... not good. The most I'll say about it is, as you can see from the side image, that it's more a triangle sort of anime than a harem. Which isn't saying much.

The opening itself is somewhat typical of a harem anime, though. Very cute and peppy, which I like. And an ensemble cast; Love X Heaven has as its singers Kawasumi Ayako, Nakahara Mai, Koshimizu Ami, and Kugimiya Rie, all of whom of course have rather extensive CVs at this stage in their careers. None of them really take the lead, per se, though sometimes they do have little short, one line solos.

Unfortunately, unlike other multi-seiyuu songs, this is mostly fluff. Sometimes in these songs, you get a good expression of emotion. In this case, they're simply trying to sound cute. And, to be fair, they do a good job of sounding cute, but that's not the point. There's more to a good opening than sounding cute and throwing out a lot of pink visuals in the animation. In this case, they could as well be extolling the values of a particular brand of dishwasher detergent.

thus, we're left to the music to actually convey something. In point of fact, there's a weird little effect the bass has going through the verses that I think is pretty neat. Past that, though, the only things to suggest this song are the driving beat and general, peppy tones. As noted, I like peppy. Peppy is why I listen to anime songs so much... but this is a bit too much.

3/5 stars for this, mostly on catchyness and general genki.

Weekly OP: Errand

Yet another offering from Seikon no Qwaser. I promise there will be an end to them. Just not this week.

faylan is one of those odd singers I fell across pretty much by accident. As I recall, she did an insert song for the Munto series when KyoAni revived it, and I was completely blown away by it. So, now I keep a bit of an eye out for her, and so I noticed when she did the opening for Seikon no Qwaser.

Sadly, this is not really representative of her better work. It's somewhat pedestrian, really; the music is only so-so, and while she has a great voice, she can't quite make up for everything.

It starts out promisingly enough, with a slow guitar riff, but then it slides straight into synthesizer hell, and struggles to win back from the abyss. There's little imagination or dynamism as it progresses through the first verse, just a sort of conversational, walking style. By the time we get to the chorus, faylan is trying to add some excitement, but the instrumentals are still only halfhearted. I suppose this might add a bit of a mysterious flavor, which might be useful at the beginning of the series, when things are still being teased and revealed.

The main problem with this song, I think, is its repetitiveness. There's very little meat to the song, and so it drones on and on. In its ninety second OP version, it's decent. AS a whole, though, it's just bland and uninteresting. faylan's low, smoky voice really isn't suited for this sort of instrumental, and it shows, alas.

I'll give it 2/5 stars, I think.

Touka Kureha and other babes

Everyone likes a bikini. Except me, really. Most of my figures are not bikini figures, mostly because one of the things that I like about figures is the clothes that they wear, while a bikini figure... well, there isn't really all that much to it. The sculpting, in that case, goes in a wholly other direction. Occasionally, though, a figure comes along that forces me to sit up and take notice, and the Shining Wind figure set from Max Factory certainly did that.

Admittedly, I took little notice of them when they were first announced, but after the large buzz they created in the scaled figure community, I thought I would try one out. And after it arrived, I was so blown away that I snapped up the next, once Hobby Japan happened to have another in stock. This is that figure. Touka Kureha hails from the video game which later spawned an anime series. I watched only a couple episodes, and was not terribly impressed, but when you have Tony Taka doing your character designs, at least you know you'll have cute girls (and boys!) to look at. Note how her bikini bottom cuts into her hip a little, adding the idea of plumpness.

AT 1/7th scale, she's starting to get up there. Of course, I'm spoiled; my first figures were 1/6th scale, and now anything less than 1/8th is unbearably small. I still can't understand why anyone would make do with a Nendroid. Anyway, she's nicely sized in all the proper ways, and since there aren't clothes to speak of, I get to focus on her body instead. I adore the sculpting of her stomach. Kureha, from my understanding, is not the type to have ripped abs, and so she doesn't. Though, I think some opportunities for definition were missed; her knees are almost nonexistent. She does have very nice legs, and the kneepits from behind are quite nice, but I would have liked a bit more pronouncement there.

I love her smile. It's one of the best smiles I've seen in awhile; just the right amount of playfulness, coy sexiness, and a knowing smirk. The way she's tugging at the straps of her bikini without overtly taking it off helps, as well.

This is normally where the panty shot would go, but there is no skirt, and the pictures I tried to take of her rear were rather unflattering. Actually, if there is a single disappointment in this figure, it's that the derriere is somewhat lacking. Which is a nice way of saying that she's got no butt. Baby definitely does not have back, and as a noted aficionado of that particular bit of anatomy, I can't help but be unhappy. Still, what there is is rather nicely done.

I'll note here that her feet are exquisite, which is notable considering Tony has been criticized in the past for unrealistic feet. These are, I think, just about perfect. Also note here the base, which gives a sandy impression, and in my opinion, must better than the 1/10th WAVE models. Or, for that matter, the plain white bases my 1/4th Nanoha and Fate have.

One of the nicer figures that I've gotten in awhile. And probably my favorite, in a bikini. Though there are the aforementioned Nanoha and Fate, but I'll attend to those later.

Weekly OP: Baptize

For being an all-around awful anime, Seikon no Qwaser had some great OPs and EDs. This is in particular the second opening, and as I've pretty well hashed the actual abysmal (but very bouncy) content of the series earlier, I won't waste too much time on that, except to note that, in keeping with a general trend of second opening songs, this one is a bit darker than the one which preceded it.

Baptize is done by the group Yousei Teikoku. They've a number of other anime to their credit, as well as two albums that I'm aware of. This song is fairly representative of their work; very fast paced, with a bit of symphonic rock feel to it. They fairly brazenly market to the gothic lolita market, and you can hear a good bit of that in their music too. In that respect, they're kind of like Ali Project, but with a harder feel.

Normally, I find it pretty easy to overdose on Yousei Teikoku. Or for that matter, on Ali Project. This is a pretty good one, too, mostly I think because they don't try to be cute. It's a very driving, intense song, that barely gives you a time to catch a breath. This includes the vocals; one of the things I like about this song is the way it really tests the vocal chords. It's a very tough song to karaoke; the words come rapid fire, hopping up and down the scale with wild abandon. The presence of a backup chorus and tolling bells in the background help, as well. They give a somewhat religious feel to it. Or perhaps, sacrilegious is a better term.

One somewhat ignored aspect to this song, and I think overlooked in a lot of anisongs, is the drumming. I don't know who the kid is behind the drum set in this song, but he's a beast. My luck, it's probably a drum machine. The bridge, on the other hand, is a somewhat lackluster, almost perfunctory guitar solo, as if they had to have one because that's what anime opening songs have. I'd have preferred if they went back to lyrics and rocking.

In any event, I think this is one of Yousei's better songs, and definitely worth a 4/5. Which is probably more than I would have given it on first listening, but it's grown on me.

Ryoko Kaminagi,or how to videotape without being as creepy as Tomoyo

Zegapain was one of those anime which, I think, flew under a lot of radars. In terms of story, it was quite similar to the Matrix series of films. But then, I didn't like the Matrix series of films, and I did like Zegapain. Two dimensionality might have had something about that. Another notable thing about Zegapain was its animation; for the time it was quite well done, and thus it probably translates rather well to bluray. Not that I'll ever see it, since bluray anime in general is somewhat rare in the US, and the chances of seeing a BD for a series which is near impossible to find now even in ordinary DVD form are effectively zero.

The third thing that I liked about it, though, were the characters. For typical school/mecha fare, they were oddly compelling, and one of them was one Ryoko Kaminagi.

This is, I think, one of the more interesting figures in my collection. Not because it's a particularly good one. It's not a bad one, mind, and I like it, but because it was just about the only PVC done of any character in the series. In 1/8th scale, by Alter, I picked it up more or less on a lark from jlist, around 2008. It was, I think, somewhere around $70, which I thought was on the high end. Now, one finds it listed on ebay for between $300 and $500, if it's still mint and in the box. Not too shabby.

Unfortunately, my particular Ryoko is substantially less than mint. As one of my very first figures, I was still somewhat of a newcomer to the game, and I simply didn't know anything about proper care. I would dust her occasionally, perhaps, but I definitely didn't have a proper case. I think for some time I left her on the windowsill, in fact, and of course one should minimize the exposure of a PVC figure to direct sunlight. My figures are in front of a window, now, but that window is screened by windowblinds and a heavy duty blackout curtain. It's fun to work nights, sometimes.

Anyway, on to the piece of plastic. I think Ryoko is actually somewhat large, for 1/8th standards. She's in the rather stylish uniform of Maihara's high school, which I've always rated rather highly. Not quite in the standard sailor fuku mode, but the bow is a nice touch. As the more girl-next-door, down-to-earth foil in the series, her pose is rather cute and playful, hands behind her back. I don't really like her smile, as it's somewhat brackety (i.e. :] ish), and her hair isn't quite puffy enough, I suppose, but as far as her face goes, it could be worse.

The base is somewhat unremarkable green plastic, with two foot pegs holding her in place. I think that she may actually have developed a bit of a lean to one side, which would be notable as none of my other figures have fallen prey to this malady. It might just be a natural consequence of a walking pose. In any event, looked at in profile, I like how up and down her pose is. It's quite natural looking. Strange to consider that sort of thing, in a figure, but these are the things I come up with when I really think about it.

The bunching of her sweater vest is rather well done, and I like the shading that was done with it. Sadly, not all of the paint job is that good; the Maihara logo on her breast has some small irregularities, and there's a little break in the V of her neck. I'm a fan of the pleated skirt, though, especially with the white stripe on the hem. I should use this outfit for a MUSH character, in fact.

How can I do a figure session without a panty shot? I hate the flash in this picture; I took a lot more pictures for this one, both with and without flash, and I couldn't really get either to work properly. Next week I experimented with natural sunlight, and you can decide for yourself how it turned out. Plain white, in this case; I wonder who was the first anime character to sport shimapan?

Ryoko is pretty well done, and from a time when Alter was really waxing in popularity. I'm pretty happy with her, though I wish I'd taken better care of her. Hindsight is 20/20, though, and now it's mostly a shame that other characters from the series didn't receive the same treatment.

As a small aside, after I finished this post and was moving on to the next, I found I'd taken some more daylight pictures. I'll append them here without commentary, for comparison purposes.