Tomatsu Haruka. motto☆hade ni ne!
1. motto☆派手にね! (motto☆hade ni ne!)
2. シアワセサガシ (Shiawase Sagashi)

I’d say it again: The ero-oyaji inside me I love the PV. And the songs, actually. It has catchy tunes that anisong retards like me will love in the first try. And for a split second she resembles Inoue Marina (only in glasses).. maybe the cheek and the :O mouth.. no?

Scans

Mizuki Nana. Rosario+Vampire Capu2 Character Song Vol. 1 Akashiya Moka
1. あなたにカプッchu! (Anata ni Kapuchu!)
2. DESIRE -情熱-

Apparently I’m not that biased towards Nana because I honestly don’t like this CD. :-/ Well, I knew I shouldn’t expect much seeing the first song’s title, but indeed it’s stupid. Akai Jounetsu on the previous CD was silly too, but better.
I was more intrigued with the second track. Like before, it’s a cover of an old song. I liked the idea of Nana singing a Nakamori Akina song, both has powerful vocal. But Nana’s ‘good cover’ matches the original song too well.. and since I hate the song (get up get up burning love #!$!@#) I can’t come to like her version too.

Scans

Okui Masami. Melted Snow
1. Melted Snow
2. Shape of myself

It’s a ballad! Makkun rarely produces slow songs, especially for singles (can’t remember the last time she did.. dare yori mo zutto? That was like when I was five), which is why I think people are missing a lot if they don’t get her albums. I really like Nemurenai Yoru ga Kureta Mono (眠れない夜がくれたもの) from crossroad, Sanctuary (サンクチュアリ) from angel’s voice, and Wasuregusa (ワスレグサ) almost made me cry when I first heard it on Masami Life. Have no idea on the game tie-in, but I really like the song.. Second track is her usual rock-ish, pretty good too.

Scans

Chihara Minori. Paradise Lost
1. Paradise Lost
2. 勇気の鼓動 (Yuuki no Kodou)

First time I heard Paradise Lost last month, I thought Voyager Train is better. I’m swallowing my own words now, orz. Paradise Lost is my song of this month! Being a fast-paced, Minorin-ish song, I better be off to work without coffee than not listening to it.. And Yuuki no Kodou, while being completely opposite to Paradise Lost, is damn good too, it might as well replace Yume no Ashioto ga Kikoeru as Ga-rei ED, lol.
Can’t wait for Parade album too.. CD release means many good things to come, this month Seigura already has her in the front cover (for the first time!) or better: Pick-up Voice 13!! XD expect scans 3 days after it gets out, lol, how I wish Japan-Australia shipping is overnight.

Scans

Oricon Ranks
-LMAO Tomatsu Haruka (#29) finally outranked Sakamoto Maaya (#31). So I guess j1m0ne was right on anime tie-in factor, lol.
-Kapuchu made it to top 30 as well in the first days (now sinking to wherever) thanks to the Nana factor, blind buyers ftw?
-Totally forgot to check Paradise Lost Oricon rank on the release day, but the weekly rank has come out. It sold 10754 copies in its first week and charting at #15. Pretty good actually, and GJ for beating CHEMISTRY (I hate them).
-Melted Snow is nowhere to be seen, lol. I wonder how many people (esp outside Japan) are still faithfully following Makkun’s career.. I believe she still has many fans in Japan, with her solo concert every year, and I saw some wearing her live shirts to Animelo.
-Argh, the boyband hype is killing me. I choked when I saw Arashi latest single has sold 351860. Just how many do their fangirls buy?? God.

A friend of mine mentioned about the striking first-glance similarities just a while ago.. and I have to agree with him. See the Paradise Lost PV he uploaded:

..and I’m sure most of you know how Massive Wonders PV looks like. Otherwise kill yourself watch this.

Compiled few more pics of what I think looks similar (..except that Minorin wears slightly too many layers of clothes) *runs*

Wind.

Gloves (..or in Minorin’s case, fingers covers).

What do you think?

Weeks late for a review, huh? But who cares anyway.

The live DVD was a pretty enjoyable ride, I’d rank this as good as Kuribayashi Minami’s, minus the good long Making Of.. wait, Minorin doesn’t even have one. >_> Anyway, she sang impressively, although most of her songs sound the same to me.

Few notes before tracklist and snapshots.

- Minorin got a custom jewel case with rounded edges (like Mizuki Nana’s Starcamp EP) but I hate hate hate thinpak. It’s OK for anime, saved me hell lotsa space, but not for my precious live DVD collection.
- Booklet is so-so, I already got most pics from hm3. Head over townberry for scans.

- She only changed costume once. At first this was a real downside for me, but like Kuribayashi Minami’s live, after I stopped being an oyaji got over it, it wasn’t that bad. Nice gowns.
- Two songs were performed twice, given she can only sing her Lantis songs.

- This is Minorin’s first big(ger)-scale personal live to mark the debut album, ignoring non-Lantis work (heroine). She didn’t look nervous, but she didn’t move a lot (except the trademark para para hands) until the second half of the concert.

01. Contact

02. 詩人の旅 (Shijin no Tabi)

03. MC
04. Peace of mind～人魚のささやき (Peace of Mind ~ Ningyo no Sasayaki)

05. ふたりのリフレクション (Futari no Reflection)

06. Cynthia

07. MC
08. Fragment～Shooting star of the origin～

09. sleeping terror

10. MC～メンバー紹介～ (MC ~Member Introduction~)

11. 純白サンクチュアリィ～Acoustic Ver.～ (Junpaku Sanctuary)
When I first read the tracklist, I had doubts. How the hell they gonna make a powerful techno-pop song into an acoustic piece? Anyhow it turned out nice.

12. MC
13. Dears～ゆるやかな奇跡～ (Dears ~Yuruyakana Kiseki~)

14. mezzo forte

15. interlude

16. 夏を忘れたら (Natsu wo Wasuretara)

17. MC
18. Last Arden

19. 君がくれたあの日 (Kimi ga Kureta Ano Hi)

20. too late? not late…

21. 純白サンクチュアリィ (Junpaku Sanctuary)

22. MC

23. truth gift

24. 詩人の旅 (Shijin no Tabi)

25. MC
26. Melty tale storage
Preview of her “upcoming” single Melty tale storage. Weird, I didn’t really like this song when I heard it months ago, but her performance here was convincing.

27. MC
I was quite amazed she didn’t cry when the audience were calling her name frantically.. compared to, say, Momoi, who would have filled up a bucket of tears already. ^^; I don’t know why but it seems she tried her best not to cry. But she finally cried after thanking her parents, who came to the concert! Wow.

Mom and Dad

28. Contact 13th

29. End Roll

Minna, daisuki~

30. Ending

I’m not going to write a lot (LOL) since there are those who already did much better reviews (and pretty much similar to my opinion), but well, just thought I’d post the poster and rant a bit before I start drooling over Minorin’s Live DVD. On to the track list..

01. TRUST (Kuribayashi Minami)
Couldn’t think of any better song that suits Minami more than TRUST. One of my favorite in this album.

02. Rinbu Revolution (Chihara Minori)
Call me trolling, but I’ve hated this song since I first heard it in Minorin’s radio last week. It’s so bland I couldn’t believe this is my favorite Makkun song. I guess it’s the weird arrangement or my expectation was too high, but I wouldn’t replace Shimokawa Mikuni’s cover in my Ipod for this.

03. Jounetsu (Misato Aki)
I feel alive again hearing this right after Minorin’s Rinbu Revolution. Loved the original, and while Misato took the song differently, I like her version too.

04. INTRODUCTION (Endoh Masaaki)
All hail the rocker, I want zero-G- from him!

05. Olive (Ishida Yoko)
I have to agree that this song sounds very weak. Maybe I should stop comparing, but it’s really a pity since I actually like Ishida’s sweet voice. She should have done something like, er, My Jolly Days?

06. Iiwake (Suara)
Hands down to the best track of this album. I was tempted to download the flac yesterday for this song, but my patience paid off the minute I heard Suara’s pure voice. m(_ _)m

07. Otomegokoro Mugen (Ohmi Tomoe)
It wasn’t bad, but nothing outstanding too.. a bit unlucky heh, positioned between heavenly Iiwake and awesome Koishimasho Nebarimasho.

08. Koishimasho Nebarimasho (Momoi Halko)
Momoi is always awesome in doing cover songs. Her version of Yuzurenai Negai is the best I’ve heard, and Hirano Aya should be ashamed if she ever listened to Momoi’s rendition of God Knows. Following her trend, this track was really good, I even forgot this was a Makkun song. #2 best track after Iiwake.

09. Wasuregusa (Kageyama Hironobu)
A sentimental song that easily became one of my favorite in Masami Life, and while I think Kageyama is a fine singer, I didn’t really like his version of Wasuregusa.. maybe because I’m a bit attached to this song (i.e. looping it too many times) so I can only accept Makkun’s voice.. oh well.

10. HAPPY PLACE (Yonekura Chihiro)
She sounds like Makkun the most from everyone in this album, in a good way, too. And oh, in the end I didn’t buy Ever After, it got too many of her own songs for a cover album.

…and that was quite a lot of ramblings. ^^; Anyway, I wish there were more tracks in this CD.. 3150yen for 10 songs is a bit pricey –heck it was worthy– but extra songs from Mizuki Nana, Hayashibara Megumi, or Shimokawa Mikuni won’t hurt.