With a peppy opening theme, a fantastic ending as well as fun inserts, K-ON! looks to be strumming all the right strings in the Anison industry. As for the character image songs?
They seem to be doing equally well; in the CD market at least. After all, this is KyoAni + Pony Canyon we’re talking about…
Hirasawa Yui
Guitar ni Kubittake
I’m not going to repeat my thoughts on Toyosaki’s in-chara singing (but she doesn’t sound bad when she’s using her natural voice actually *points to “love your life”*). As for the song itself, it’s rather good. I like the melody in general and it suits Yui’s cheerful and fluffy nature, although I did think the aggressive play of the electric guitar doesn’t appropriately complement Toyosaki’s moé moé voice which lacks the right kind of edge that goes well with rock songs.
Sunday Siesta
Eeeek!! I get goosebumps whenever I hear syrupy songs like this ><. In any case, it still gets a high score for being in-chara, lyrics and music-wise. Everything about it literally squeals “YUI”. Not that I would spend most of my time listening to it though.
Akiyama Mio
Heart Goes Boom!!
Along with my ears… Geez, what is this? Why are they wasting Hikasa’s talent on songs like this? The melody feels thin and the arrangement sounds half-heartedly slapped together. If this is meant to be pop rock, it’s too tame for a yankee like Hikasa. Waaaay too tame. If I have to list songs which are fitting for Mio’s personality then all of the “fuwa fuwa” insert songs are far better suited for her than “Heart Goes Boom!!” is. Thank gawd this album has a saving grace by the name of
Hello Little Girl
Slow and laidback, dark and mysterious. This is my favorite track among all of the image songs. It’s not exactly in-chara for Mio but Hikasa did a great job on it anyway. She kept her voice controlled and restrained her habit of raeping the last note, a “technique” she’s been recently using to butcher other songs like Kisaragi Mio’s idol tracks from Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou. I guess I’m also becoming slightly bored with the kind of typical pop music they’ve been giving Hikasa to sing, which is why I’m glad “Hello Little Girl” evoked a different kind of mood much like “Sweet Bitter Beauty Song” did.
Tainaka Ritsu
Girly Storm Shissou Stick
For a start, it fares just about right as a character song for Ritsu. It has a nice upbeat rhythm and an overall funky melody, much of which I like due to the drums and rhythm guitar. Too bad I don’t fancy Satou Satomi’s voice. I’d rather listen to her play the drums than sing.
Mezase Happy 100%
For some reason the more I listen to Satou sing, the more I start to liken her voice to Ueda Kana’s, only that the former sounds younger and squeakier. Eh, right… About the song… Um, Happy Sugar overload. I prefer my brain to be diabetes-free, thank you.
Kotobuki Tsumugi
Dear My Keys ~Kenban no Mahou~
Is it me or are they giving the better singers tacky songs to sing? For an image theme that’s meant for a rich “ufufu~” ojousama, it’s rather shoddy and lacking the distinctive Takuan touch. I mostly blame the keyboard for the cheap melody and the fact that it failed to exploit the talent of arguably the next best singer besides Hikasa.
Humming Bird
Much, much better. It doesn’t seem like something Mugi would sing but it has more depth and richness in its composition. Kotobuki Minako’s voice also sounds a lot better here and I really like how the backup vocals gave the tune a bit of a dreamy ambiance. Can’t help but feel “Humming Bird” would make a nice ending theme for some slice-of-life, romantic comedy series. This is perhaps my second favorite song of the lot.
Nakano Azusa
Jajauma Way To Go
I’ll give Taketatsu the thumbs-up for a suitably aggressive vocal performance of a rock song. Other than that, well… The music reminds me of some random insert tune you hear in a modern Scooby Doo show. You know, like whenever the Mystery Gang are trying to outrun the monster-of-the-episode that’s chasing them?
Watashi wa Watashi no Michi wo Iku
I have to admit, I feel like tearing my ears off whenever it came to the verses. It would have been a good track overall if it weren’t for the way Taketatsu was directed to sing the lines that began with words like “Who”, “Haa”, “So”, “Yeah” etc. It’s seriously killing the momentum >_>. Other than that, the chorus is kinda okay…
Hirasawa Ui
Lovely Sister LOVE
This theme should be called “VIVA SISCON!” or something, thanks to the lyrics which hit all the right notes in saying “Suki! Suki!! Daisuki!!! Onee~chan DAI~SUKI!!!!”. Anyway, similar to Yui’s themes, everything about “Lovely Sister LOVE” deserves full marks for being in-chara and likewise, Yonezawa Madoka did excellent in infusing Ui’s personality and her Oneechan LOVE into the song. Poppy tunes are not for me, but I find this one cute and tolerable to a certain extent. I’m sure Ui’s adorable WAIFU status has something to do with it.
Oui! Ai Kotoba
Yonezawa upped her key considerably here, which is an odd change unless all the B-sides are not really part of the character image package? Another happy sugary track, though contrary to the first, it’s one I probably won’t playback often. With that said, whether this album impressed me or not, I’d love to listen to more of Yonezawa in the near future. Hopefully singing with a lower pitch. Mai gawd, I’m surprised she can actually make herself sound sexy. ♥
Manabe Nodoka
Coolly Hotty Tension Hi!!
Whoever came up with all these spiffy song titles must’ve been smoking something very stimulating… Anyway, after the barrage of horribly composed and arranged songs spewed by some of the main characters’ albums, this is surprisingly pretty good. Contrary to the title, the music is fairly laidback and moderately soft, much like Nodoka’s nature I suppose. The melody isn’t too loud or energetic and the rhythm is paced just nice. Fine singing by Fujitou Chika too, although her voice has yet to grow on me.
Prologue
Just as good as the first track. “Prologue” also has a relaxed tempo and the melody sounds simple yet well arranged. I find this song quite similar to “Coolly Hotty Tension Hi!!” in terms of temperament so my opinion stays the same for this track.
Yamanaka Sawako & the DEATH DEVIL
Maddy Candy & Hell The World
This doesn’t exactly belong in the line-up but it’s associated with a K-ON! character nonetheless. If I have to name a winner among this group of CD series, this would be it (Not that the songs are particularly enjoyable to listen to unless you fancy having your ears and brain screwed into oblivion). The sole merit this album deserves is for being 200% in-chara, with much praise going to Sanada Asami for doing an incredible job in her vocal performance as Sawako from her DEATH DEVIL days. It doesn’t get more believable than this.
Overall, K-ON! character image songs – not my cup of tea, to be honest. With superior OP/ED and inserts, I was expecting the image albums to be on par with the rest but that wasn’t the case with a majority of the songs not sitting well with my preference. I blame my fussy taste for either not liking the music and/or the vocalist’s singing. Still, I guess it’s a good thing there are many fans who are willing to stick by the franchise regardless. Anyway, it looks like that’s the end of K-ON!’s music releases for now. Hmm… What to look out for next… Oh yeah, the “LET’S GO!” Live. Hope we can get some sort of media recording and coverage of that. :D
“I haven’t touched Season 2 yet (I’m too scared to start watching hahaha). I bet for S2, the plot is mentioned only for like…er…maybe a few minutes each episode. 95% FANSERVICE as usual???”
I haven’t touched it yet either :/ I need to get it off someone. But yeah took entire S1 to get to that place where they officially begin begin the actually round tournaments, lol. The one’s during the 1 don’t count. They were pretty much all retarded D:!
“PS. Enjoy the tree-groping w00t”
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh RIGHT I remember seeing/hearing this a while back! I remember now :D Didn’t know it was a colab though :O it sure was.. a strange… pv. probs that why i don’t remember it lol
@ baka~
I won’t be expecting too much from Hikasa either but so far, I think she’s the most versatile singer among the K-ON! girls. She’s proven she can do a variety of genres – techno, rock, pop. Heck, she even sounds great when she’s singing a’cappella. Most important of all, her voice can make those songs sound good (provided the music doesn’t suck). Several people have criticized her for her generic sounding singing voice compared to others like Toyosaki Aki who has a unique and easily identifiable voice, but I think that may be Hikasa’s strongest asset. It allowed her to be more adaptable to a wider range of music genres. After all, I seriously can’t imagine how “Don’t say lazy” would sound like if Toyosaki Aki was the main vocalist instead. o_O
OH GAWD. Anyone BUT Ali Project, PLEASE!! ><
I think their music is kinda dark + goth. I used to like Ali Project during their White days which was uh…10 years ago? Then they shifted to the Black days and nearly all of their songs sound too eerie and aristocratic for my taste. A few of their modern ones are tolerable to a certain extent such as the themes they did for Maria-sama ga Miteru; they’re more traditional and baroque-like. Then again, there's the problem of them frequently singing about hell and demons what-have-you and it made their songs seem depressing once you hear too much.
I agree Hikasa wouldn't suit Ali Project at all. I was thinking along the lines of Kajiura Yuki who is known to produce songs with a dark and heavy atmosphere. Of course, what I would prefer more is maybe for Hikasa to sing sexy and seductive songs by Kajiura e.g. FictionJunction YUUKA's "Hitomi no Kakera" (Nanri Yuuka's voice is soooo hawt <3).
@ Rei
Those battles make me think of “Boyoyoyoyo~n”. Oh, now look what Fairy Tail did to me. XD
well, i’d say that if you’d compare pikasha to any sphere member in terms of singing, she’ll probably end up as an underdog. the four gals of sphere have backing. it really sucks to admit but pikasha doesn’t have that advantage. still, i guess this situation, as you put it, is her strong asset. i might be rushing off and concluding things but one disadvantage of girl groups/idols would be they need to have songs that sell so they are constantly put under pressure and have to sing songs with genre recycled over and over in the masses’ ears. pikasha, on the other hand, is free from this pressure and she can be given the opportunity to find her forte in singing other genres provided somebody invites her.
more so, i firmly believe that pikasha can pull off good songs if anyone would let her. don’t say lazy, fuwa fuwa time, and fude pen are the proof. sure these songs might’ve been forgotten now since k-on! is over but the fact that the songs challenged oricon charts and sat at high places is no sheer luck
well, i really dislike ali project save for their rozen maiden series 1&2 intro, the movie op song sucked though.
Do you mean “underdog” in terms of appeal and uniqueness? I certainly agree about Hikasa lacking in those departments but if one takes into account Sphere’s technical singing skills, I’d say Hikasa fairly beats them all imho. She prolly stands on equal footing with Kotobuki, and nudges past Toyosaki in my very biased opinion. As for Tomatsu and Takagaki eh… I still think they can’t sing, tho’ if you give Takagaki the right genre to perform i.e. classics and slow fantasy, she’s easily up there with Kotobuki as one of the best singers among Sphere. It’s too bad Takagaki’s musically trained talent has gone to waste on mostly singing pop songs.
That’s true. There’s also the case of those idol groups being a temp thing rather than a long term stint. Most of them don’t last beyond the release of one or maybe two full albums. Well if the group’s chemistry is right, then benefits will be in their favor. If the chemistry fails (e.g. Eclipse didn’t work for me), then they’re better off being solo artistes. I guess Sphere may have things going for them in a while since they are made up of a group of unique individuals. I reckon fans may root for them more for the reason of them being seiyuu rather than capable vocalists.
Anyway, I also think Pikasha is a lot better off being a solo artiste. If she gets put into a group and her talent outshines the rest of the members or vice-versa, it’s not going to be good. For now, I’ll accept the Sakurakou Keionbu as the only group which seemed to have worked for her so far (Well, it IS the only group she was ever in). It’s still hard to imagine what it’ll be like if she were to sing alongside other seiyuu as an idol unit.
Though it could be due to K-ON! worship as well. I mean WRY was Ritsu’s chara image single in the Oricon charts at No.5??? Oh yeah… I just remembered. I can’t argue with the otaku masses. >_>
I like ‘em too, “Seishoujo Ryouiki” in particular! But somehow, all of their songs nowadays sound alike in terms of melody. They used to have such variety in their music before they turned Black. ^^;;;
“Those battles make me think of “Boyoyoyoyo~n”. Oh, now look what Fairy Tail did to me. XD”
HAHAHAHA. Definitely referring bouncing to boyoyo~n now.
Btw, have you heard the QB S2 songs? They’re actually really nice o_o i am actually in love with the ED – I can’t get over how SEXY Ito Kanae sounds *O* and her chara song is nice :D
I have you to thank for that. XD
Yes, I’ve listened to them and HOLY CR@P, the ending IS really good!! O_O
I have a glaring weakness whenever jazz and boogie are involved and “buddy-body” is just that. I agree with you on Itou Kanae being the best singer hands down and having a hawt voice but MY GAWD, I think this is the first time in my life when I thought Kugimiya Rie and Gotou Yuuko actually sounded sexy when they’re singing! Maybe it helped that the lyrics were quite…iffy.
that and the financial aspect. if nobody promotes her, how can she shine brighter? but yeah, biased as it is, i
agree on her potential to come up or surpass sphere’s.
as for takagaki, despite her freaky fish-eyes (my bad, this was actually influenced by reading air gear), she does sing good songs provided on the right genre. she proved that in singing inori.
come to think of it, nana mizuki never joined any group right?
now this is one wicked revelation… i guess there’s no limit for the die hard otaku
well, i never really heard their white version but the thing is with their black, they try to exaggerate the dark theme. the 1st 2 op songs of rozen maiden, when comparing it with their recent ones were better sounding despite the similarly dark atmosphere.
well, if there’s one group that i would like to hear often coming from roazen maiden, i’d root for kukui. if there’s a continuity of RM, i don’t care if ali project isn’t with it as long as kukui is :p
Ah yes indeed. The recording contract itself. Yeah, so far K-ON! hasn’t been working in the girls’ favor once the craze has subsided. Toyosaki and Kotobuki are lucky enough to be supported by Sony in managing Sphere’s career so they already have a head start and can stand on their own if there are plans for it e.g. Toyosaki Aki and her 1st solo single. I guess financial situations now could have made companies very cautious of who they want to invest in, and this may make them think twice about risking their money on an artiste without much experience. Also, they’re playing safe in investing in singers whom they’re already confident in raking in sales. Hopefully Hikasa will get more good quality songs to perform in the future (Her Gendai Mahou ones were disappointing imho). It may be the only way to boost companies’ assurance in her. Nagano Shiina has already expressed that he’s confident Hikasa is the kind of vocalist who is not far off from securing a recording contract in the future so perhaps we can hope that some producer out there is willing to use this as a referral and take her in.
If you’re talking about a seiyuu unit/group, then Nana has been in nana×nana (with Momomori Sumomo, Nakahara Mai, Nazuka Kaori, Fukui Yukari, Akita Madoka and Asaki Mai) and Prits (Kuwatani Natsuko, Mochidzuki Hisayo and Kobayashi Yumiko). Eh… It’s not surprising why they didn’t go very far. >_>
Nana also sang in groups with other seiyuu but they were mostly performing as a character group much like the K-ON! seiyuu were.
Ahaha well, what I meant by White and Black was the phases Ali Project went through during their music career. During their White days which was a good decade or so ago, the songs they performed were like happy songs with cheerful lyrics and melody that were even innocent enough to be used as themes in young children series, compared to now where they switched to the Black phase and (heavily) exaggerate the dark theme. But yes, despite turning Black, their Rozen Maiden themes were relatively mild compared to say, “Datengoku Sensen” (Bantorra) or “Kitei no Tsurugi” (Kurogane no Linebarrels). Anyway, I’m with you in that the Anison scene needs MOAR kukui! :D
this is a good sign. hopefully, this comes true.
well, despite being in a seiyu unit, nana became renowned for her imba singing skills. compare and contrast to sphere who work together and promote their talent further in the seiyu business