Kajiura Family Media Appearances

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I'm going to be really mean here, but I don't want Maya to came back. She did leave for whatever reason when they were a small unknown group, and now coming back as if nothing happened when Kalafina is a big band would be totally unfair to Keiko, Wakana and Hikaru, who have dedicated TEN YEARS of their lives to make Kalafina what is today.
It's also unfair that you compare nowadays Hikaru to nowadays Maya. Probably most of Hikaru's voice problems cames because she's been working so much with her voice, while Maya didn't. We don't know what would happen if Hikaru left and Maya stayed, maybe things would be the opposite right now. (Also I've noticed Hikaru has been sounding much better this year, she didn't struggle a lot on the LisAni live, and the Progressive perfomence on Mezamashii sounded really good as well so far)
This doesn't mean I dislike Maya, it's the oppossite. She does have indeed have impressive vocals, and on the video she seemed like a nice, funny girl. If she joined another band or went solo, I'd totally love to support her! And I agree it might be interesting seeing her on the 10Anni as a guest singer. (I wish the corsets came back as guests as well. Or as permanent members)
Anyway, I still preferHIkaru's version of Sprinter over Maya's. Her sweet voice makes the song happier, more optimistic.
 
^ But if performances damage the voice, then whats the point of doing all these lives ? Its like becoming a [insert job] and starting to lose your skills overtime because you are doing that job (same for Wakana) . Maybe they should just stop the lives and just do studio releases like in the pre-kalafina days, and do 1 tour per year instead of 4. After all in most of these they perform the same songs again and again on the same cities too.
 
^ I agree with you on that, and I've been saying the same since last year. I assume you should ask the question Kajiura (or whoever who manages their activities). If I could choose, I'd totally leave this year almost live tour-free, so girls could recover and do their best for the 10Anni. But I assume for the ones who benefit from their activities, it's more important to keep making money than worryingo for the girls voices.
 
It's regrettable that Maya left the group cause if she is still in Kalafina maybe she's my favorite on par with Keiko. But she's happy with her life now and Kalafina is still here so it's all good :)

george1234 said:
^ But if performances damage the voice, then whats the point of doing all these lives ? Its like becoming a [insert job] and starting to lose your skills overtime because you are doing that job (same for Wakana) . Maybe they should just stop the lives and just do studio releases like in the pre-kalafina days, and do 1 tour per year instead of 4. After all in most of these they perform the same songs again and again on the same cities too.
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Maybe instead of explaining damage voice this and that which isn't even part of the discussion you should answer why Hikaru should be replaced by Maya? Do you think replacing her can make Wakana awesome again?
 
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I'm just still surprised Maya has such a dedicated group of followers. She sang one song with a group who now has over a hundred songs, near enough a decade ago,and that was it. Yet somehow everyone has been going 'huh, I wonder if it would be different with her here' for so long.

In this case it makes sense for people to be talking about her again due to this new vid, and she does have nice vocals, but other than that I just don't get it.

Honestly if I could get anyone who only sang one song a decade ago to release more music it'd be Negishi Satori, her voice was amazing, but that'll never happen either.
 
forgive my harsh words but i totally don't hear ANY improvement on Hikaru's singing. on those recorded audio from live 9+one Hikaru still sounded like shit bad. on that tiny bit mezamashi live video she still struggled a lot. at this rate i won't be surprised if they ever release other progressive live Wakana's voice would dominate the chorus or they studiomagicked Hikaru's voice af.

also, the fact that Hikaru has more experience in singing sprinter but actually sounds more and more horrible each time is a proof of her ever increasing bad technique in order to achieve the "tone" that she wanted to produce, or as the result of her using her "rockish" voice more and more often. if this continues the only way for Hikaru's voice to not pollute future Kalafina releases is to not give her any solo/main vocal lines unless the song is in the style of Magia/D.U/signal vibe. the root of her problem is just bad technique used over and over again to the point where nowadays she doesn't actually sing as her legato is nearly nonexistent.

raw emotion my ass, lots of singer can sing with "raw emotion" and still sounded wonderful. whoever has any basic vocal lesson would say that Hikaru can't sing if they listen to her lines in Kantankatan and Tombo.

i was kidding when I said Maya should replace Hikaru as the chance it would happen is nonexistent as we all know.
 
I think the reason why people romanticise the idea of Maya still being in Kalafina is because she can comfortably sing in Wakana and Hikaru's ranges to a degree, and that means less strain on both vocalists long term.

The real question is, would Wakana and Hikaru sound as good as (if not better than) ten years ago if Maya was picking up the slack this entire time? I would like to think so.

What we also need to consider is that Kajiura always intended Kalafina to be a quartet, but unfortunate circumstance lead to Maya leaving, and the trio that resulted was not the Kalafina that Kajiura originally conceived.

Obviously it's far too late for her to come back, and Keiko Wakana and Hikaru have been together for ten years now, so reintroducing Maya into their harmonisation might actually make things worse at this point.

But it was a fun idea I guess. :)
 
^ Actually, for myself. I've only wanted Maya to appear as a guest for Kalafina's 10th Anniv. Like it or not she has been a part of it per se, not because the others dedicated in the long run. Also I and some off-cpme fans want to see that 4 Member Kalafina to be reunited with Sprinter/Aria live performance [insert Yuriko as chorus]... That might be a glorious sight for a live.
 
Why did Maya quit Kalafina ? Simple. She was 16 and living in Hokkaido. (this is the info I have) School was more important. Kalafina as a group remained nothing more than a studio act until HIkaru moved to Tokyo. It was then when the restless and rambunctious Keiko said to the others: Let's go do some gigs. Remember, their first gigs were in clubs of no more than 200 people. And they didn't sell out. Maya is way up there in the north, going to school. There was no way she could do any gigs with the others. So she bowed out. And also remember. YK didn't have a set idea of what Kalafina would be. She thought of it as a fluid concept with singers coming and going as she required to make a song the way she wanted it. Keiko is the one who solidified the group in to a performing act. She basically foreced YK to work with the trio as they are. Sure: add instruments here and there, add backing vocals here and there. So ,really, Maya wasn't a member of the solidified Kalafina. She was part of the fluid studio concept. And she flowed right out when the concept changed to a performing act.

As for constantly touring. That's the old school way of doing it to build an audience. Take a look at how the Rock bands of the 70s and early 80s did it and how they are doing it now. They tour. And TOUR and TOUR CONSTANTLY. They tour when they have no new material to promote. Kalafina is doing just that. Just like SCANDAL and MIWA and many others. They tour and tour and when they finish touring, they do more touring. I really think that if Kaori toured more, she could raise her profile and sell more music.
 
ghostreaper said:
Why did Maya quit Kalafina ? Simple. She was 16 and living in Hokkaido. (this is the info I have) School was more important. Kalafina as a group remained nothing more than a studio act until HIkaru moved to Tokyo. It was then when the restless and rambunctious Keiko said to the others: Let's go do some gigs. Remember, their first gigs were in clubs of no more than 200 people. And they didn't sell out. Maya is way up there in the north, going to school. There was no way she could do any gigs with the others. So she bowed out. And also remember. YK didn't have a set idea of what Kalafina would be. She thought of it as a fluid concept with singers coming and going as she required to make a song the way she wanted it. Keiko is the one who solidified the group in to a performing act. She basically foreced YK to work with the trio as they are. Sure: add instruments here and there, add backing vocals here and there. So ,really, Maya wasn't a member of the solidified Kalafina. She was part of the fluid studio concept. And she flowed right out when the concept changed to a performing act.

As for constantly touring. That's the old school way of doing it to build an audience. Take a look at how the Rock bands of the 70s and early 80s did it and how they are doing it now. They tour. And TOUR and TOUR CONSTANTLY. They tour when they have no new material to promote. Kalafina is doing just that. Just like SCANDAL and MIWA and many others. They tour and tour and when they finish touring, they do more touring. I really think that if Kaori toured more, she could raise her profile and sell more music.
Click to expand...

Do you have a source stating that Keiko wanted Kalafina to perform lives and and "forced" Kajiura-san to make them trio? I think the staffs wanted them to try perform lives and failing there and then but still persevere until they can control how they are now (Kalafina Record if I recall). With regards of Maya, I have a theory that she doesn't want how Kalafina sounded (Gothic-like image which is not kinda famous in Japan), just look at her dancing group and their song choices, coupled with her circumstances, so she left the group. So there's no choice but to make them a trio as they are now. I'm really sorry but I can see your statements blaming Keiko with Maya's departure :bow:

Definitely agree with the tour thing but if you are not an idoru in Japan, not a seiyuu singing or doesn't have a cutesy voice, you are on your own (If we are talking about artists tied with anime industry). Kalafina started with the best exposure(Kara no Kyoukai), hyped anime(Fate series, Madoka), and also grabbing non-otaku audiences(RHH) + Sony marketing so they have solid foundation. Kaori has some YK and Sanhora fans, some otome fans(which kinda depends on how famous it is anyway) so not that much of fanbase which is a pity cause I really like her independent works. So she needed to sell more CD music then the demand of lives will come after that (I mean, why give her more tours if people are not familiar with her?)
 
Considering how YURIKO's role in FictionJunction is the same as her role in Kalafina (that is, passive as fuck), I highly doubt Kajiura "strongly desired" Kalafina to be a Quartet, and doubt that the trio today was not what she envisioned. Not like she takes advantage of FJ being a quartet to the point where she uses all the vocalists to their maximum potentials :groucho:

I only wish they never officially announced Maya's departure, similar to how technically FictionJunction YUUKA never disbanded and Kajiura still collabs with her LIVE randomly, so that Maya could come back for a quick appearance. Sob.

I wonder how people would view Maya if she were still in the group. Imagine she changed her voice up like how WAKANA and HIKARU did. She would get bashed. :fwa:

Edit: I agree @Zinnia i think it's absolutely unfair to deem Maya to be better than HIKARU based on this video considering how hard HIKARU has worked over the past ten years for Kalafina. And why is there a constant need for putting the girls on a weighing scale against MAYA? She participated in a song, then left. The end. There's so much negativity surroundings MAYA and her departure it's getting old.
 
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@Nightmare The source for what I say is in all the interviews YK and Kalafina have done over the years. I'm not saying Keiko forced YK to make Kalafina a set trio. I do see that she forced the issue. Will it be a Studio act that constantly changes or will it become a performing act with the 3 singers.

I'm sure Keiko asked Maya repeatedly to join them doing gigs. But she just wasn't able to.

Let's face it. Keiko loves to be on stage and perform. the Lara sax band. Itokubo, Kalafina, Fiction Junction. If Kalafina did not become a performing act, I believe Keiko would have lost interest and moved on. And I do believe Keiko is the single reason Kalafina is still around. She is the heart of the group.

As for Kaori: She has to tour. Simple fact. Do it as a supporting act until she finds her audience. I remember the bass player for Aerosmith say they would and did open for any one. It was an crowd. They didn't care. With few exceptions all Top concert draws started out opening for some one in a dive or dungeon some where.
 
@Atlas Star @Seasonreaper That's also how I felt about Maya. Maya only really crosses my mind at all whenever I listen to sprinter's studio version or the **one** live of ARIA that she was in. To me she was a temporary addition to Kalafina from its early days when it was still finding its own identity as a unit.

And I may be alone on this but I actually prefer Keiko over Maya performing both "bokura ni dekiru koto wa tada..." and "kimi ni aitai..."
 
Kajiura created Kalafina for Wakana's goddess voice and was no thoughts of conducting lives. It was Keiko that let another producer Yasunori Mori started to think of performing lives. More seriously speaking, was her looking. And when Wakana met singing problem during AE period, Kajiura also said she would not continue with Kalafina if Keiko were to quit.

So at least Keiko was the backbone in their tough time.
 
I found an old interview with YK on Jmelo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mWXUa_4dJ8

She talks about how Kalafina will take her songs and add their own "darkness" to them. She just lets them do it. This leads me to some speculation about which songs Kalafina performs live. There are many B side songs they don't perform. Most are from their early career. I'm speculating that Kalafina didn't have that freedom on their first 2 albums. With After Eden they did. I speculate that they are choosing the songs to go on the albums. I have a suspicion that there is a pile of 10 to 20 demos that Kalafina passed on and are collecting dust some where.

I also suspect that YK wrote, but did not record, a 3rd FJ Yuuka album that has never seen the light. Some of those songs may have popped up here and there.

Speculations and Suspicions only: gleened from random tidbits.
 
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lol this is my first time hearing about how Keiko being the one who "forced" them to do the gigs. from what i've read from Kalafina record (or that other Kalafina book), the staffs aka the SME management were the one who said that Kalafina should make live appearance to the point where Kajiura herself (and the girls) even surprised bcs she never imagined them doing lives and the songs are quite hard to translate to live, with them being 3 persons vocal unit while their songs often have Yuriko and/or Kajiura doing the chorus. what is the official source of this info? i'm too lazy to search for that particular interview but I guess with one google search for Kalafina record translation we all can have it.
 
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