「Kalafina Anniversary LIVE 2025」15th January Tokyo Garden Theater (NO KAJIURA INVOLVEMENT)

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StarCloud said:
I wonder if they still have the same vibe together after 7 years.
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Good question. They would have already settled that in their meetings over the months (years?) and their rehearsals.

What's possible? What isn't?

Also working with the new music director will introduce his own thoughts about how to put things together. He has to put his stamp carefully, since he'll be under scrutiny from Kalafina fans the world over!

Since he's been working with Wakana he already has a good relationship with her. It will be for the other ladies to find their rhythm with him, in terms of suggestions and how they are taken. (edit: both ways).
 
Azokad said:
Well well...
Keiko is now following Wakana on instagram (she even updated her bio with Hi/Wa mentions).
Hikaru still not and Wakana follows 0 accounts so...
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Thanks for the update. Interesting indeed.

I suspect they are always testing some of these things out to see audience reactions. Keiko is more extroverted so she would do this either way.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
Good question. They would have already settled that in their meetings over the months (years?) and their rehearsals.

What's possible? What isn't?
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Asians age slower so its possible :)



Also working with the new music director will introduce his own thoughts about how to put things together. He has to put his stamp carefully, since he'll be under scrutiny from Kalafina fans the world over!
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Its hard to make better songs than Kajiura's 1993-2012 songs but much easier to make better than those that are more recent than that (sadly).
 
george1234 said:
Its hard to make better songs than Kajiura's 1993-2012 songs but much easier to make better than those that are more recent than that (sadly).
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I was thinking earlier this week that the most beautiful and expressive lyrics and songs Keiko, Wakana, and Hikaru have ever sang, that showcased their voices and abilities (and made us fans of them individually, and together) have all been born from Kajiura.

As varied as their solo work has been, it is Kajiura that has shone them the brightest, though of course each of them have also given form and shape, vocally, to Kajiura's compositions, so they have contributed that as well. 😍 😍 😍

Just a thought while watching KajiFes and (SH Moira) again during the week.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
I was thinking earlier this week that the most beautiful and expressive lyrics and songs Keiko, Wakana, and Hikaru have ever sang, that showcased their voices and abilities (and made us fans of them individually, and together) have all been born from Kajiura.
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Well it's not like they haven't had any good songs from their solo careers. On a whole, Wakana's songs are clearly on a league above, so if I had to compare their best Kajiura songs vs their own (purely my own opinion for which songs are the best):

Wakana - Mizu no Akashi vs magic moment

Wakana actually has a slew of great solo songs that rival her best Kajiura songs. Magic moment is probably the most "grand" song she's done so far (it's very much in the same vein as the Historia tie-in), but Asu wo Yume Mite Utau and 442 are very close seconds. Mizu no Akashi on its own is a very average song (Rie Wakana's original version), but it's Wakana's performance that brings it up to be superior. If we don't want to count self-covers, then I'd say it's either Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete yuku or Fairytale (personally I lean towards fairytale).

Lyrically, I vastly prefer Wakana's own songs. Kajiura's lyrics can be overly poetic and illustrative to the point where the songs don't have an intention, but rather the lyrics become just another instrument for her music (honestly I prefer Kajiurago to Kajiura's Jap/Eng lyrics). The lyrics are beautiful in the imagery they convey but it's often meaningless and nonsensical when spoken.

A song like myself, Asu wo Yume have decidedly "simpler" lyrics but that have key themes and messages that don't have to be interpreted to pick out the often no existent meaning behind the song. I will say, when Wakana writes "poetic"lyrics, they often have too many flower/nature motifs for my liking.

Keiko - Nohara vs Tooriame

Keiko's is an unfortunate case because the Kajiura-composed songs for Keiko's solo career suck so hard that I often wonder if Kajiura could still write for Kalafina today. Her best Kajiura song as of recently is Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, and that's a cover. Luckily for Keiko, before the Kalafina disbandment, she had plenty of great material to work with. My personal favourite is Nohara - it's again Keiko's performance that elevate the song to be her best in the Kajiura catalogue. The lyrics are a bit less illustrative than Kajiura's average and that's a good thing. I could tell from her long MC in vol. 11 that she wrote Nohara with a lot of intention behind it.

Keiko's solo songs are just so bad that rather than picking the best, Tooriame is the "least bad" song she has. Keiko can't write good lyrics (and I don't think she wrote any lyrics at all in her latest album), so even though Tooriame is a good song with Keiko's performance and the piano in the back, the lyrics are pretty much meaningless without the imagery to back it up.

Hikaru - ARIA vs Survivor
Obviously, nothing can compete with Aria. The combination of bold instrumention, great atmosphere, Hikaru's vocal performance and good lyrics make it far and away her best song.

Hikaru is probably my favourite lyricist out of Kalafina, because it doesn't amateur-ish like Keiko or sticking too close to nature imagery like Wakana. I also like how Hikaru adds English to her lyrics, it's very anison (though there are some misses in the placement and rhythm of the English lines like in pulsation). Survivor is her best work, but Avaricia is a close second due to its jazzy instrumentation. Overall Hikaru's work has less standouts but at least it's far better than Keiko's solo work.

It's so funny how Keiko was pushed to be the most popular solo member - she has the voice, the looks, the charisma, the popularity and the backing of one of Japan's largest record labels, and yet her songs suck.
 
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