Go Shiina & (notsomuch) Yuki Kajiura to compose for Kimetsu no Yaiba

I guesss that I’m not the only one who feels that "Are the OP and ED switched?" How come the ED sounds more upbeat than the OP...lol.

I like Akeboshi more, even I feel that the refrain and chorus sounds so disconnected. The funny thing is...I like almost everything in Akeboshi except the chorus, which sounds so ED-like and quite generic (I don’t hate it, but it sounds like the weakest part of the TV-size version), while I like only the chorus of Shirogane and not the other parts.

The beginning of Akeboshi reminds me of Hikaru’s Kalafina dark songs genre..lol. (I put Magia, Destination Unknown, Signal, Tsuioku, In every nothing, Gaika, I beg you, Wonderland, etc. in this family. I know that not all of them are Kalafina’s songs leaded by Hikaru, but they share a similar vibe.) It’s the instrumental that made me think about that, not the singing style or melody. I may try to imagine how’d it be if it’s sung by Kalafina next time I listen to it.

I like both of them more than From the Edge and Homura. Now I suspect that Aimer's ED may be a slow and gloomy one, contrast to Lisa's ED.

Besides, both songs sound like a heavy dedication for Rengoku...RIP in advance, guy...I wonder is he Kajiura's bias for this story...? Getting such a special treat..lol. (The character isn’t that popular when he appeared in the manga. IIRC, he hasn’t been in Top5 when there’re popular votings for the characters. But it seems that he gained more popularity from the movie.)
 
george1234 said:
^ Yes even in real life, some people become more popular after their death, so thats not so surprising.
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That happened in the manga as well George, but it didn’t give the same effect. (There is another character in the manga that becomes more popular because of that reason though..) In his case, it’s more like someone got popular after there is a popular movie telling about his…yeah..you know what happened..lol.
 
Lorde-Kowz said:
He died, so he was probably her favorite character hue. In the past, she's said her favorite characters always end up dying.
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But this story killed sooooo many characters though…it’s so hard to guess..lol.

Have just listened to the full track properly using my earphone~ Cannot feel Keiko here but I can imagine Hikaru (using her more dynamic live-singing style, not like what she usually has in the recordings) on the pre-chorus part and then Wakana on the chorus, but the song would be a different one. I think I would prefer Lisa version then :P.

I think it's closer to the Arabian-Egyptian inspired Kajiura's songs (Senya Ichiya, Kioku, Yami no Uta, Moonfesta, Delete, etc. I also feel that Aimer's I beg you and Wonderland are also partially in this group.) more than dark Kalafina's songs that I mentioned before. Now I think that it's kinda a child from these two sides like Aimer's songs...lol. Wonderland and Delete may be the closest, not in terms of melody, but it's about an atmosphere of the song.

What I love is the singing style of the main vocal and all other vocal parts remind me of the Enka-singing style in the OST. That makes the song strongly connect to the story. I can't remember hearing this style of singing from any Kalafina girls. Keiko and Hikaru may be capable of it if they try, but definitely not from Wakana. I hope that they would use the melody, or even a part of the song, to make a memorable OST for a moving scene at the end...you know what scene I'm talking about..lol.

Lisa's high note at the end of the chorus parts sound nice, but I prefer steady legato than slight vibrato at the very end like she did. The ending is really lovely. Already love the song...now I have something to put on an infinite loop after a while. (The last ones I did so were Haru wa Yuku and Wonderland :P.)
 
the beginning is great. the chimes... still not liking lisa's voice (random screechy, childish voice like in the middle) . the song has a different Kajiura sound, I would say it has some unique elements.

I can see how kalafina can sing it. hikaru would have been a better fit as lead. still i'm glad for lisa's fans. :goodjob:
 
Hmm. I like Homura better, but I agree about the chorus and verses. I like the instrumentals. Good mix of guitar and strings. The chorus is so much like Kajiura, but I like it. It may be a Kalafina song, or a would have been. Who knows, maybe we'll get Hikaru covering the song? heh I like Lisa's voice in it. I wish I could have the mp3 version. Okay... listening to it again, I don't care for the bridge, which sucks since I love Kajiura's bridges usually, like in See of Pearls. Well, the first part of it, then the part right before the last chorus is cool. Thanks for posting it.
 
IMHO Kalafina could cover it, but the song doesn't seem to be written for them, but more specifically for LiSA.
I think that Kalafina trended in Japan particularly because of 1) the lyrics 2) unusual anisong 3) Kajiura's name written

I remember that Yuki Kajiura loved ADAMAS, and it was some months before dropping "from the edge". I don't remember what but at that time I saw similarity with it, but now I don't find it anymore. Maybe it was the bridge "Cry for the future from the edge of darkness" or maybe it was linked to another LiSA song. Anyway, ADAMAS also seems to be her closest song to Akeboshi, although only because of its efficient and loud intro.

I've been listening to the song less than a dozen times so far but I really like it. Saw a comment somewhere and totally agreed with it: "the song gives you a feeling of being chased by a demon". Now let's dissect it:

- Intro: metallic sound: train leaves / drums: nightmare occurs

- Verse 1: LiSA starts with a demonic voice (similarly to the OSTs) & dark instru with loud E.G (deep in the train), menacing strings (don't die here!)
Lyrics (hidden meaning): "the sun closed in red, we're going right ahead into the mouth of hell"

- Bridge 1: Less threatening, maybe there's hope.
Lyrics: "there's a light, follow this way!"

- Refrain 1: reached the roof of the train, neverending strings (wind) and more usual anisong (heroes can do it!) They fight.
Lyrics : "even if it's hard, we won't give up"

- Verse 2: After a first fight, Demons rise again (demonic voice) and hope is not allowed, go back in the train and run away! LiSA's deep tone sounds like something really bad happened (someone died!), Demons are unstoppable.
Lyrics : "Demons, Blood, Suffering"

Interlude: this is the most threatening part. Innocent and childish voice reminds me of Nezuko?
at 2:25 the demon is saying "Taiyou wa, Mangetsu wa.."? (Sun, full moon) as if the characters were totally lost: who and where are they?
Lyrics : "I protected you but we destroy each other"

- Bridge 2: Like bridge 1, we can rise again
Lyrics : "Let's follow the light to escape the nightmare"

- Refrain 2: On the roof again, fierce fight!
Lyrics : "we are strong, we see the light"

- Ending: Demons begin to shout "Taiyou wa" (the sun) but LiSA comes with a more brighter voice following it: "we chase it" which means that heroes have made their way to the light. To understand in parallel with the intro.

We need a native to agree with it but I think that "Akeboshi", litterally "Bright Star" can both be translated into "dawn star" & "dusk star". And this is in my sense what's Kimetsu no Yaiba is about, with a strong link between Demons and Slayers.

I reckon it's over-analyzing, especially for a shonen like KnY, but I can imagine Kajiura doing it purposely.
Shout-out to her for being allowed to create such a different song for the most popular anime, assuming that she must have been pressured to do a more mainstream song. Let's remember that "oath sign" charted way better than "to the beginning" in F/Z, despite being totally off-topic. And there is so much more examples. And talk about royalties too, like in my previous post. As an example, I still can't imagine the full song being diffused in Tokyo Skytree or collaboration-cafes when they are holding an event.
Imho such direction is exactly what's lacking from the SNK series and their "heroes-only" anisongs.
 
Short "School of Lock" Radio Interview with LiSA about various topics, including "Akeboshi"
https://www.tfm.co.jp/lock/lisa/ind...vcXYiWioaIL21Mjw2IMZZWSSuBUhq7MsM67zhb77ryTSU- talking about the falsetto, first time for her used at the beginning of a song.
- LiSA was happily surprised when Kajiura won (the composer contest?????) EDIT: seems so!
- the song accurately tells the story (she says KnY is a dark story). She doesn't give more details though.

EDIT 2: Oricon weekly charts week 1 #1 with a comfortable lead! And Billboard weekly charts #1 too ~
EDIT 3: Oricon weekly charts week 2 #1
 
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There was a composer contest? That seems so weird considering how established and prolific Kajiura is
 
Sora said:
There was a composer contest? That seems so weird considering how established and prolific Kajiura is
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「まず梶浦さんをキュンとさせられたっていう私のレコーディングでの勝ったっていうのもあるし、梶浦さんが優勝した（笑）なんかこんな発明があるんだと私もすごく驚きました」

I'm not sure how we should understand it but a japanese friend of mine told me that, according to this sentence only, Kajiura did won (supposedly some sort of contest. But maybe it could be something else? Since LiSA was laughing during this sentence...).
If anyone here can confirm ^^

I wouldn't be surprised though if Kajiura had to submit a demo for a contest, knowing that LiSA is more often associated with other composers and that KNY is so popular to the point of probably giving a great amount of royalties to whoever composes a song for it. So a lot of composers must have submitted demos, and maybe Kajiura did not win Aimer's OP, what do you think? Why 3 songs out of 4?

Anyway, some details about the single here
https://kimetsu.com/anime/mugenresshahen_tv/music/And according to VGMdb, "Shirogane" length is 4:24
 
Yeah demon slayer is a money making machine so the committee would want to be selective about who they hire for the op/ed. I just usually think of contests in the context of finding new talent.
 
Sora said:
Yeah demon slayer is a money making machine so the committee would want to be selective about who they hire for the op/ed. I just usually think of contests in the context of finding new talent.
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Yeah I get it.
But maybe there was no contest after all. Kajiura won, but what? Maybe that's phrasing... and related to the falsetto?
Sorry for the confusion. We'll try to check back and update soon.

MV is out, let's hope that the youtube algorithm will bring us some BLACKPINK listeners hohoho
 
That anime edition cover is the most uninspired piece of art I've seen in a while. And there's been a lot of uninspired art that I've seen lately.

PV has some cute/intense moments but lacks any progression in its visuals. And what's with the MSPaint after effects?
 
Fun.
On "I beg you", it actually quotes an official review from Real Sound, which says that "the melody of another world" is very Kajiura-ish, for example I beg you". I agree that the world pattern (arabic, phrygian or whatever) can remind of "I beg you", but other than that the songs are completely different. It's like comparing 2 jazz songs because they are jazzy.

The article quotes the Oricon daily digital single chart (#1) but not the weekly digital single chart (#1 ; #1 ; TBA EDIT: meh, only #6 and slow debut on youtube, seriously this new anime edition nobody wants to see doesn't help --').
Then it quotes the weekly combined singles chart (#3), but imo it's not that representative since it puts online songs only // online songs + physical songs in the same category.

明けの明星 (Ake no Myoujou) is "morning star, aka Venus", not exactly "Akeboshi" in common language according to japanese people. Ofc, it has the same meaning literally, but maybe Kajiura wanted to share something more...
 
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