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.
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