A bit of a promotional appearance in advance of AnimeNorth 2006. Once again, KOTOKO re-affirms her status as a great performer by giving it her all on a children's channel.
Had I known that KOTOKO would be appearing at AN'06, I'd have skipped class and dragged my carcass down to see her perform. At the time I had yet to have discovered Re-sublimity, but I had encountered Second Flight (ft. Hiromi Sato), the famous (although not so great) Shooting Star, and various other image songs from Onegai Teacher/Twins and Triangle Heart ~Sweet Songs Forever~ OVA.
For anyone interested in a bit of trivia, Triangle Heart (based on a game of the same name) featured a Takamachi Nanoha, but not as the incarnation that wound up in MSLN, MSLN A's and now StrikerS. Likewise, none of the other Triangle Heart characters make any serious appearance in the MSLN series.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
KOTOKO on YTV
Thursday, June 21, 2007
KOTOKO - Kirei na Senritsu single (B-Side)
Initially, my KnS and rush notes were going into the same entry, as would be expected, but it was as if the two songs couldn't be more different. Plus, I like rush much more.
I really enjoy listening to rush. We've seen KOTOKO rock out pretty hard before, with Hane and Uzu-Maki coming to mind as having some stand-out rock songs, but it seemed back then that whenever KOTOKO rocked out, it was almost a given that it was by order of the forces of darkness.
Not so with rush, and maybe the song title is a point in irony, because the music is contemporary easy listening. Were it not for KOTOKO's brand appeal (and the not-so-significant fact that it happens to appear beside the title track), I'd have never actively come across something like this, but I like it all the same.
There is motion, but it's laid back. There is dynamic contrast, with KOTOKO being almost drowned out by the backgrounds in the verse passages (that old mixer/balance problem?), but there is no drama. Like KnS, rush is uplifting, but does it from the ground up, not being all flighty. It is rustic with its sparse, strummed guitar accompaniment in the verse, and modern with strings in the chorus and elsewhere.
The first few times through the Winamp loop, I was enamoured by the outro. It was assertive, it had attitude. My only wish is that KOTOKO rock out more at the end. In the chorus she has wavering lines which she delivers with plodding detachedness, like a march. She should have cranked up that level of detachedness, giving her last lines a truly head-tossing (or biting) edge.
Instead of witnessing a marshaling of the hosts of despair, I see sun-kissed fields rolling by from the car windshield, or the train window. I could be walking the concrete jungle, or sitting in some terminal waiting for my flight. rush combines jet-setting anticipation with lazy summer days.
KOTOKO - Kirei na Senritsu single (title track)
Kirei na Senritsu, second ED to the MariMite OVA, is one of those uplifting, tender tracks that's too quick to be a ballad. In the opening bars, with only piano and strings, it's quite possible that it could have been a slow paced love song, and the lyrics (partial translation) do lead you on if only you could understand them, but the instrumental break gives no doubt that you are on familiar I've Sound territory. Incidentally, KOTOKO is not the composer for either of the two songs, although she might have had some input in the creative process.
Epic-ness is striven for with strong bass and an upper-range line in xylophone, but fails to transcend the ordinary. What would have been nice is if chimes were used to carry the line. It's hard not to feel empowered at the sound of chimes ringing out, especially with this kind of song. Using chimes over something sparkly like a xylophone is also in keeping with the setting of the series. A harpsichord or clavichord, recognizable as sounding like a piano with plucked strings, makes an appearance, so why not chimes?
KOTOKO's voice sounds a bit strained (but not on YouTube, where the high-frequencies tend to be rounded off), and in the parts where there is little accompaniment it is particularly noticeable. This stands in contrast to the B-side, wherein she returns to her usual tone. I don't think it's a question of register but more of trying (too hard) to inject emotion. The effort is noted, although it sounds out of place.
To me, the song speaks of bittersweet wistfulness more than raw emotion. The drum claps
in the verse passage are like echoes in time; the melody is free-flowing in line and rhythm, lost in thought. It's too bad that it's all cut short with the unconventional decision to only have one main verse.
Monday, June 18, 2007
MariMite's Dream
I'm watching the third season of Maria-sama ga Miteru, consisting of 5 OVA-length episodes, without having watched the first two seasons. I thought I ought to reduce any semblance of credibility before anyone takes me seriously.
As of this entry, I've finished the first three episodes. After a long gap, I watched the latter two consecutively. It may have had something to do with an inkling I had, but it was KOTOKO's second ED for the series, Kirei na Senritsu, that sealed it. A higher quality Stage6 version of the sequence may be found by Googling the the song title.
All episodes are self-contained with persistent characters, but with no continuity in the story, releasing the viewer from the duty of having to rewatch previous episodes in order to regain context. As I understand it, each episode corresponds to one novel, which is convenient.
This OVA offers something for the classicist and the control freak. Not much separates either of the two, and I have been known to exhibit signs of both extremes depending on the situation and how much sleep I've gotten in the past week. I thought that perhaps there was some element of romanticism as well, but the setting and the characters don't have romanticism so much as they romanticize the school and school themes, specifically private school.
I'm more jaded now, but as a kid, this is what I'd have liked at least my high school years to have been. In this self-contained environment, there are rules and procedures. Even outside the school, that same formality dominates the thinking and actions of the characters. The world, not just the school, is thus neat and ordered, and all actions are initiated by a plan. Watching the second and third episodes back to back, I was acutely aware of the feeling that I was watching the unfolding of process, and even though most stories are about progression in a general sense, a story based around meetings and the organization of events drives home a point otherwise taken for granted.
In the back of my mind I'm thinking, this is a classicist's dream, going beyond, say, the proper
organization of events and human interaction. That's just how business proceeds on a good day. More than professionalism, there is also a sense of reservation. Discretion does play a role in being formal, but one does not need to be subtle in order to have discipline and good time management skills.
Dialog is not gratuitous; few characters speak for the sake of speaking. Just as muted is the art, eschewing bold colours. Some scenes feel like memories: visible but too ethereal to be tangible.
Against the Real World, this setting comes up short like all self-contained environments have a tendency to do. The activities the characters organize and take part in, the kinds of social circles they partake in, the necessary mannerisms, all have little correlation to what I've seen. Everything that I identify with aligns with the ideals in my head. To me then, MariMite is a beautiful dream, an acceptable substitute for those nights where there won't be any sleep.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Two-Mix eclipsed
(Originally 20 January 2007)
I've been trying to free up drive space to feed the anime monster. On the hit list is my archive of music that I've never listened to. I've already ditched Echoes by The Rapture. Up next is 150 BPM by TWO-MIX, which is pretty surprising to me as well.
A long time ago, probably late elementary school or early days in high school, I was in the basement, flipping through channels. I was bored out of my mind at the time, as I typically am now with the exception that I didn't have high-speed internet, a computer capable of running TFC or any other 3D FPS at playable framerates (let alone running any FPS later than maybe Quake at all), and didn't know anything about anime (as opposed to knowing a miniscule amount about my preferences now).
At the time, on YTV they were in between shows, and the announcer (probably one of the PJ's) was saying that up next was a pilot episode for a new series they were going to try out. I thought, that was kind of cool, sort of like history being made. Looking back, it was.
At any rate, I stuck around to see what would transpire, and the OP sequence hooked me from the opening bars. It was good, whatever it was. Heck, it was great, and it was in Japanese, and the animation had fighting robots. The series was Gundam Wing, and the OP was Just Communication from TWO-MIX.
I think it was the first time I had ever heard a Japanese song. I may have seen Escaflowne being butchered by Fox either before or after Gundam Wing — I can't really remember the air dates for either series — but Fox's Escaflowne definitely did not keep the original OP track.
It might have also been the first time I had ever heard electronic, or very nearly after I had my first taste of electronic, which was in a car ride in which Enigma and Robert Miles were played. Just Communication just whipped along. It was faster than almost anything on the radio, faster than the dream music of Robert Miles, and exponentially faster than Enigma on crack. It had a strong low range drive, decent melody (for the time), and thus, TWO-MIX was godly. Just Communication followed with Rhythm Emotion, White Reflection, all Gundam Wing related tracks, all received via the awesomeness of a 33.6 kbps modem on a good day, 28.8 kbps on any other.
150 BPM is an old TWO-MIX album, featuring other old favourites such as Rhythm Generation, Just Meeting on the Planet, and Love Revolution. Unfortunately these are also the stand-out tracks among a host of lesser imitations. I might be inclined to keep these, and toss the rest.
Among the contenders for TWO-MIX's place in my archive are KOTOKO and to a lesser extent, Tamaki Nami. KOTOKO doesn't need any further elaboration, but Tamaki Nami's Believe made more of an impression on me than Just Communication, if that's even possible. Since then, I feel that she's been unable to reach that bar, although she's come close in Heroine, Daitani Ikimashou, Destiny, and Final Memory.
In an earlier incarnation of this article I essentially wrote TWO-MIX off. If they'd actually release more stuff, I'd certainly reconsider. I'm trying to get a hold of Delta Two -Universe- to ascertain whether they've updated their style.
KOTOKO - Re-sublimity Single
(Originally 23 December 2006)
I've been meaning to rave about how awesome the Kannazuki no Miko OP and ED tracks are. Time, and a host of other tracks, has probably blunted my enthusiasm, but these are keepers.
Lyrics!
Re-sublimity, the OP, is typical KOTOKO/I've Sound form, right down to the consistency and placement of instrumental-only passages. The only thing that differentiates this track from basically every other I've Sound/KOTOKO produced track is plenty of open-ended driving power in the melody and accompaniment. Short motifs carried by either KOTOKO or the synth are contrasted with long string lines overhead. The synth's motif in the instrumental-only sections alternate (relatively) slower detached notes with rapid staccato. A pervasive ticking
snare keeps pace like, well, clock work.
Despite the lyrics, Re-sublimity is generally upbeat and passionate.
Agony, the ED, uses a darker atmosphere to create and build tension. In the verse, KOTOKO runs along with a short rhythmic figure with lead-in, then switches to a longer line as she transitions into the bridge, which continues into chorus. In the chorus she uses a sweeping line, but switches into the same short rhythmic motif once more to build to the end. In the middle section there's a breather, but it's short. At the end, the track breaks out into a bright, syncopated synth piano, in a major key. A quieter, but equally bright, acoustic piano comes in after the accompaniment fades out.
The lyrics describe a much darker passion, delving into despair and desperation.
Suppuration -core- is an image song that appears in two places, I think. My DVD's are currently on loan, can't be bothered to YouTube episodes to confirm. But I'd like to think one of scenes is where Chikane is kicking ass and taking names. Suppuration -core- is angry and violent, as evidenced by the intro with its jarring guitar, pounding bass drum. It's still danceable, like most other KOTOKO tracks, but it inspires stiff, jerky movement. KOTOKO's voice is distorted when she's using recitative, and the distortion is switched off when she goes to constrasting, longer and higher range lines. Violence motivated by desperation is what I feel emanating from the alternating distortion and soaring vocals.
It seems that all three tracks are written from Chikane's point of view, specifically her thoughts (confessions?) regarding Himeko. They track (har har) her descent into darkness from the beginning to up to the last episode of the series. She initially plays her cards close to her chest, but the viewer gets to see more into her as the series progresses, and her complete collapse in episode eight.
On their own, the tracks in the Re-sublimity single are solid and represent stand-out execution in an otherwise formulaic production by I've Sound. Suppuration -core- is indicative of KOTOKO's own rock-ish style, and she makes heavier use of guitar in her independent debut album, Hane. Rarely is a KOTOKO track so dark, apart from Collective, which is also an excellent dark, guitar-heavy track.
In the context of Chikane's character, these tracks offer insight into her motivations and thoughts, and add a lot more impact to her actions in the series. A must listen for any Chikane fan.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Utada Hikaru: Boku wa Kuma
(Originally 24 November 2006)
So I've come out of the encounter with Utada Hikaru's bear song relatively unscathed. It's a song for children, so it's deliberately simple in lyrics and melody. The backgrounds have a bit of flourish in the middle bridge, but for the most part are just there to give the sleepy atmosphere reminiscent of a lullaby. It's not quite lullaby status, but that's good, because it's good for a children's choir and it wouldn't do to have the lot of them pass out.
It's not a song title that I would want to see on her next album, but it's not for me, or most fans for that matter.
On a side note, I listened to Being, by KOTOKO (OP for Shakugan no Shana), and the opening phrase really struck me. UH's voice was calm, full, and comfortably in her low register, and it magnified KOTOKO's bright, thinner, and higher pitched line. Yikes. Being is not a bad song, but a lot of KOTOKO's tracks aren't bad songs. She's set the bar rather high, and only a few tracks stand out for me.
