Kalafina 18th single "One Light" for Arslan Senki [confirmed]

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2015/08/16/kiji/K20150816010948890.html
https://twitter.com/HMV_Nishinomiya/status/633092772405252096

【#KALAFINA】お待たせ致しました!昨日ガーデンズライブにご出演頂いたKALAFINAさんより記念写真とサイン入りポスターを頂きました☆準備ができ次第店内に掲示させて頂きます☆新曲ONE LIGHT‐ハドかつクールで最高ですよ☆


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Am I the only one who loves these dresses??:plz:

 
My vinyl finally arrived today. :w00t: It was pretty well packed in a thick cardboard box, with bubble wrap and paper padding. Fortunately it seems to have avoided the fate of my copy of RyB, in that the disc isn't bent out of shape like a dinner plate. I still don't know whether that was damaged during shipping or a manufacturing fault, but it hasn't happened this time. I'm also glad that the songs I'm interested in listening to are all on side A - I'm not bothered about hearing the instrumental or TV size, so I've not played side B at all.

I have to admit I, ahem, acquired an mp3 rip of these, but the legit analogue version sounds much better to my ears (I've listened to both on the same pair of AKGs, so although there could be one of many reasons for that, it's definitely not the headphones!). I didn't notice any noise, glitches or skipping either, apart from the occasional crackle from a bit of dust landing in the groove here and there. Which is pretty normal, and won't be a problem as long as I look after it. The arrangements sounded a little 'crowded' and poorly mixed in the mp3s, but the vinyl sounds warmer and more balanced, and the voices and instruments are separated out better. I guess it proves what a difference good quality audio gear makes! :XD:

The title track is growing on me though. The same goes for Samidare - neither are particularly exciting, but they're pleasant and enjoyable enough. I can't fault the voices or instruments, at least. The intro to Samidare is kinda cool - it sounds more 'informal' and less polished, like a live session where they just set the tape going, kicked off and played. I don't think it would be able to stand alone as a single or live track, but it serves its purpose as a b-side really well.

Mahiru is interesting. I think I can see why Keiko's voice at the beginning sounds odd - it's that higher end of her range that we don't usually get to hear (and the part of her range that she's less used to using, so there's that). The piano accompaniment reminds me a bit of the soundtrack scores that Tenmon has written for Makoto Shinkai's movies. Again, not a standout song by any stretch, but very nice.
 
Okay, I have to put in my opinion of this single.

One light: At first, back when i only heard the TV size, I was a little unsure, but listening to the full version, I fell in love. Yes its generic, but it has a great beat and is really catchy. It knows how to get me pumped up. Hikaru rocked it!

Mahiru was beautiful. I do agree that Hikaru wasn't perfect in that song, but the rest of the song was calming enough to overlook it. Not much more to say about it, as it was a simple piano ballad. Not quite as good as Gloria, but still calming to the ear.

Samidare: ....errr I have to listen to it again. I remember listening to the sample thinking WHAT?? Its not overly memorable for me, other than the fact that it sounds like it came out of the 90s (Not necessarily a bad thing since that's when I was born :P). I'll have to give it another listen or so. Who knows, maybe it will grow on me!

All in all, not their best single, but not their worst. (Now when I say worst, I mean not my favorite but I still liked it). That single would probably belong to fairytale. Love the song, but I tend to skip it the most out of any Kalafina song.

Anyways, that's my opinion on this thing. I'm going to go back loving this, HB, Believe and RyB now!
 
sprinterXkyrie said:
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2015/08/16/kiji/K20150816010948890.html
https://twitter.com/HMV_Nishinomiya/status/633092772405252096

【#KALAFINA】お待たせ致しました!昨日ガーデンズライブにご出演頂いたKALAFINAさんより記念写真とサイン入りポスターを頂きました☆準備ができ次第店内に掲示させて頂きます☆新曲ONE LIGHT‐ハドかつクールで最高ですよ☆


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Am I the only one who loves these dresses??:plz:
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Love the dresses! .. but they all look so tired in that last picture, especially Wakana. I hope they're getting enough sleep!!
 
Just out of curiosity, does a placement of a single on Oricon a good indicator of how well it's selling? I checked there and it debuted at #8 on the daily singles chart. The highest it made was #6 on 8/15. I wish there were exact sales numbers, though.
 
Spirica Rose said:
Just out of curiosity, does a placement of a single on Oricon a good indicator of how well it's selling? I checked there and it debuted at #8 on the daily singles chart. The highest it made was #6 on 8/15. I wish there were exact sales numbers, though.
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Ranking can be misleading. Generally, Kalafina makes it into the top 10 during their first week of sales (both singles and albums), but the sales numbers depend on the week of release and the competition against other artists during that time (currently, I see a trend where Kalafina releases singles during weeks of low competition in order to rank higher in the Oricon charts). There were times where some singles sold twice as much as other singles but didn't place in the top 10.

To the beginning sold 23.8K in the first week. Ranked at no. 11.
HnS sold 10.5K in the first week. Ranked at no. 7.

Most recently, Believe sold 17.4K. Ranked at no. 10.
Ring your bell sold 15.9K. Ranked at no. 8.

So yeah, ranking doesn't really indicate how well a single is selling.
Side note: The earlier the single is released during the week, the higher the sales will be (holding other factors constant). From what I can see, Kalafina releases most of their singles on a Tuesday, which can be crucial in determining the week's rank, as one day of sales can make the difference between the top 10 and the top 15.
 
^ Didn't really know where to find sales numbers, so I couldn't compare. Thanks for the info!

So, we should find out the sales numbers for One Light's first week sometime soon then?
 
^Probably, since it's usually the first week of sales, and one week will be tomorrow.

I love that yellowish sleeve of Wakana. I don't know, I guess it's because I loved those black dresses with the gold on for their live. It just looks great. Hikaru's dress is a bit off now that we can see it in the light. It's looks kind of rubbery, but I like when she holds out the skirt part of it. Keiko's is probably my favorite. And also Martin that's great that there was no skipping on yours. I could have gotten a full refund if I sent it back, but I want to keep it. So they are going to give me 1,000 points. Too bad I can't use it on the far on the water album. *sigh* Oh well, it does have some fuzziness too like you said with Mahiru and Samidare, but other than that it's okay with those two songs. So I think it was just wrecked with One Light, which is really growing on me. The singing masks the weird instrumental part. And I am writing out Mahiru's melody on sheet music. I have to get bigger sheet music but I hope to have it done tomorrow. I can scan it in if anyone is interested.
 
That's still pretty bad, though (probably because the single itself is quite lackluster). It's above the 10K mark, but that number makes me worry about FotW's sales if the tie-ins won't help boost sales.

On the other hand, most fans probably don't buy albums just for the tie-ins. I would consider album sales target the actual Kalafina fans.
 
Kirito said:
That's still pretty bad, though (probably because the single itself is quite lackluster). It's above the 10K mark, but that number makes me worry about FotW's sales if the tie-ins won't help boost sales.

On the other hand, most fans probably don't buy albums just for the tie-ins. I would consider album sales target the actual Kalafina fans.
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Agreed. It's defiantly unrealistic to think that every Kalafina fan in Japan would by the maxi's and albums, It'd be costly even if they include different tracks. Plus maxi's have a tradition of boosting sales leading up to eventual sale of the album so because of the marketing tactic of maxi's their sales target would undoubtedly be FotW.
But the maxi's don't seem to be doing too well and that is troubling especially if the anime is airing.
 
It's their third single after best album. Three singles in half of year - it's a lot. And these singles aren't too good. Maybe buying third single of Kalafina in short time it's too much for fans of Kalafina?

But from the other side... It was similiar with ttb, moonfesta and Hikarifuru. Ttb and Hikarifuru were the best selling single.

So small number is worring. It were two events to promote the single...
I hope that FOW would have a bigger number of sold copies. It's first album after Consolation from 2013. It would be really sad if it won't reach good place
 
TTB and Hikari Furu have Fate and Madoka as a source though, it's inevitable that they'd both sell well considering the overwhelming popularity of both franchises, especially at their peak.

Sales are pretty disappointing for a tie-in for a well-known series although maybe that'll give a hint that their recent releases are weak but at least it made top 10. It's also possible that because the album was confirmed that people would've held off on ordering the single due to the a-side inevitably being included in the track list. I still suspect a lot of fans only buy albums anyway, so this probably doesn't indicate much in regards to album sales, I know that outside of Kalafina I never really bother buying singles for any other artist.
 
11k sales is higher than Eir's lapis lazuli (10k at its first week) but lapis lazuli managed to get an overall sales of 29k on its run on oricon chart, making it as one of Eir's best selling singles. who knows, maybe one light can surpass the sales number of believe and ryb (iirc their total sales number is only around 27/26k), although I'm not sure. some people on the internet (and me tbh) think one light is (much) worse and such a letdown compared to lapis lazuli. some people that were never really into Kalafina also seem to be hating them now lol. comment on one light on some sites and youtube videos are mostly bad. the best i could find is "it's okay but still worse than the previous season ed."
 
ritardando said:
11k sales is higher than Eir's lapis lazuli (10k at its first week) but lapis lazuli managed to get an overall sales of 29k on its run on oricon chart, making it as one of Eir's best selling singles. who knows, maybe one light can surpass the sales number of believe and ryb (iirc their total sales number is only around 27/26k), although I'm not sure. some people on the internet (and me tbh) think one light is (much) worse and such a letdown compared to lapis lazuli. some people that were never really into Kalafina also seem to be hating them now lol. comment on one light on some sites and youtube videos are mostly bad. the best i could find is "it's okay but still worse than the previous season ed."
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Kalafina and the girls' vocal styles as a whole have definitely matured throughout the group's albums. I guess some people are just used to the old since it's been around longer. For instance I feel the consolation live of Mune no Yukeue is worse than the Eden one since it's been around for longer. It's like this in every fandom, things will turn out.
 
ritardando said:
11k sales is higher than Eir's lapis lazuli (10k at its first week) but lapis lazuli managed to get an overall sales of 29k on its run on oricon chart, making it as one of Eir's best selling singles. who knows, maybe one light can surpass the sales number of believe and ryb (iirc their total sales number is only around 27/26k), although I'm not sure. some people on the internet (and me tbh) think one light is (much) worse and such a letdown compared to lapis lazuli. some people that were never really into Kalafina also seem to be hating them now lol. comment on one light on some sites and youtube videos are mostly bad. the best i could find is "it's okay but still worse than the previous season ed."
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I actually haven't heard much about OL outside this forum. It's had hardly any attention compared to HB and Believe.
 
sora said:
I actually haven't heard much about OL outside this forum. It's had hardly any attention compared to HB and Believe.
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in terms of the English speaking community maybe the anime isn't well known. tbh I'd never heard of over half of the animes/maga series Kalafina do. Then again... I haven't watched much new anime in a LOOONNGG time, the most recent thing I watched was No Game No Life. Plus, Adelaide isn't known for it's anime fans even though I see stalls and shops dedicated to it. No one really watches anime here, it's thought of as childish.
 
Have the one light single lyrics been put on the lyrics page yet? Cause I just looked and they haven't, so it's been a bit late.
 
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