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

george1234 said:
singing for more popular anime
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I don't think anyone can control the anime project for which a group gets to sing.

It's the director/company that approaches the artist, and you can't be picky if you're not getting a lot of anisong requests.

I still think if they were still active and Kajiura was still with SC, they might have been the ones to sing for Demon Slayer.
 
grunty said:
Do I have good news for you! Yuki Kajiura isn't holding them back anymore! Woohoo.

simpsons-grandpa.gif
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Yep.

The question now is whether their handlers have enough faith in them to fully resuscitate the group and test that theory.
 
In... what way? Cause I don't think he composed anything for Ghibli, lol.

Edit: oh nevermind, I'm dum. Clearly I've not been paying attention to ghibli for a while...
 
grunty said:
george always seems to think you can show up at some workplace and do whatever you want. Maybe he has never been interviewed for a job or never failed one...
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I did both dont worry. But choosing a project isnt the same as finding job. Do you see how thry trend on twitter every time something happens to Kalafina ? Im sure they could do more than those much lesser known shows i said before, based on that (besides the songs for those 2 popular ones i said were so bad that i always skipped them, i only liked the Shokugeki no Souma OP1.)
 
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I just want to say this about all this hypothetical talk : yawn. and peace out.

but honestly. Kajiura created the group Kalafina and of course it was an outlet for her hence their "evolution" was mainly shaped by her. Could they have suddenly sung heavy metal in Bremen with Black Sabbath on a spring weekend? Probably not.

Did Kajiura stop Wakana from being the next Maria Callas by forcing her to sing difficult songs? Yes and no, because she did and did not destroy her voice since her voice was and was not her voice at the same time.
 
george1234 said:
I did both dont worry. But choosing a project isnt the same as finding job. Do you see how thry trend on twitter every time something happens to Kalafina ? Im sure they could do more than those much lesser known shows i said before, based on that (besides the songs for those 2 popular ones i said were so bad that i always skipped them, i only liked the Shokugeki no Souma OP1.)
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It is not all that different because Kalafina was not the only artist that Sony/Aniplex had on their roster and tried to promote. Or maybe how many of those artists were fighting for a chance in the spotlight. You don't know how many songs YK or SC actually sent out for consideration and how many of them got rejected.

Out of curiosity, which Sony/Aniplex project in the mid 2010s would you have liked Kalafina to be a part of (and instead of which projects that they did around that same time)?

Edit: I guess you can pick from Geneon/NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan projects, too, since we know they had a working relationship (Arslan anime).

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniplex search with "201" or something, I can't find a chronological list.)

I guess "Hoshi no Utai" was used in a KOEI TECMO game. I guess one can wonder why that was their only song used in a game. Would having more songs in games be better for you than what they did do?

wat11 said:
I just want to say this about all this hypothetical talk : yawn. and peace out.
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:D
 
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(I think I subconsciously don't want hypothetical Kalafina stuff to be discussed because Kajiura is not connected to it any more so it's a reaction to Kajiura's absence, I feel as if it's not fair to her... shhhh xD)
 
grunty said:
It is not all that different because Kalafina was not the only artist that Sony/Aniplex had on their roster and tried to promote. Or maybe how many of those artists were fighting for a chance in the spotlight. You don't know how many songs YK or SC actually sent out for consideration and how many of them got rejected.

Out of curiosity, which Sony/Aniplex project in the mid 2010s would you have liked Kalafina to be a part of (and instead of which projects that they did around that same time)?

Edit: I guess you can pick from Geneon/NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan projects, too, since we know they had a working relationship (Arslan anime).

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniplex search with "201" or something, I can't find a chronological list.)

I guess "Hoshi no Utai" was used in a KOEI TECMO game. I guess one can wonder why that was their only song used in a game. Would having more songs in games be better for you than what they did do?


:D
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First of all it was Cloistered who started this question n i just said my opinion.

Some popular show that come to mind apart from the 2 i said is also SAO (popular even if half fanbase said they hate it lol) for which i dunno why Kalafina was never involved. For more i ll have to google since its hard to remember by memory. The ones by the other Sony artists were forgetable apart from LiSA's OP1.

I always support Kajiura should compose for more games, as i loved her Xenosaga soundtracks but she seems to be shifting more and more to J-dramas as years go by, maybe due to her interests changing from age, and the one she recorded last week will probsbly be of one too...
 
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george1234 said:
First of all it was Cloistered who started this question n i just said my opinion.
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...? And later you responded to my post and I responded to you?

george1234 said:
Some popular show that come to mind apart from the 2 i said is also SAO (popular even if half fanbase said they hate it lol) for which i dunno why Kalafina was never involved. For more i ll have to google since its hard to remember by memory. The ones by the other Sony artists were forgetable apart from LiSA's OP1.
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From what I'm seeing "Shokugeki no Soma" had music production by Lantis (well, on its first season it was I WILL, which was under Lantis. Off topic but I WILL apparently turned into HIGHWAY STAR, lol, interestingly enouh). No idea how that would work out with Kalafina being on Sony.

"Dr. Stone" anime premiered in July 2019, Keiko left SC in April 2018 (or that's when it was announced).

So SAO and SAOII both had the same artists doing theme songs: LiSA, Eir Aoi (both popular acts), Haruka Tomatsu (who's also voicing Asuna), Luna Haruna (a relatively new artist for Sony).
At the time of SAO Kalafina had Minna no Uta (I don't know how the viewership is, but I imagine decent as it's been a thing since the 60s and goes beyond anime audiences; from wiki: "Minna no Uta is a five-minute NHK TV and radio program which is broadcast several times daily in Japan."; having your song be played several times a day on NHK TV and radio seems like a decent idea to reach new people, even if just for ?one week?) and Madoka Magica movies (Kalafina was already part of the franchise so I guess they could've additionally tried doing a different project at the same time to branch out; they also did Fate/Zero the season before SAO started like Luna Haruna).
At the time of SAOII Kalafina had Aldnoah.Zero (I want to say it was popular, but who knows) and FSN[UBW] (seems like a solid strategy)
Alicization started in October 2018 so it's not in the mix.
Maybe Kalafina did try out for og SAO and got denied (maybe promoting a newer artist took priority?), or maybe they never submitted any songs for consideration... Who knows.

george1234 said:
I always support Kajiura should compose for more games, as i loved her Xenosaga soundtracks but she seems to be shifting more and more to J-dramas as years go by, maybe due to her interests changing from age, and the one she recorded last week will probsbly be of one too...
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We were talking about Kalafina. Please gib me a game that you would have liked them to be a part of in the 2010s and think would have been a "better strategy" than how Kalafina's promotion went. I have no idea what the game theme song space is so I am curious.

Late Edit:
Added some comments about Luna Haruna, because I started wondering where she was at during SAO. I completely forgot she debuted on Fate/Zero's 2nd cour.
 
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grunty said:
Clearly I've not been paying attention to ghibli for a while...
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I didn't even know. It was just a throwaway comment on a video about Mrs. Green Apple on YouTube.
wat11 said:
yawn. and peace out.
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Fair enough.
wat11 said:
Could they have suddenly sung heavy metal in Bremen with Black Sabbath on a spring weekend? Probably not.
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🤣🤣🤣 But... They never even tried...
wat11 said:
Did Kajiura stop Wakana from being the next Maria Callas
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No she did not!
wat11 said:
Yes and no, because she did and did not destroy her voice since her voice was and was not her voice at the same time
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Schrodinger soprano!
 
grunty said:
I have no idea what the game theme song space is so I am curious.
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Extremely dead unless you are a Persona or Kingdom Hearts game. Most of the popular songs from video games are straight up OSTs or ending credits songs (Final Fantasy and the like, especially).

Most video games don't really do "openings" the same way anime does either. The ones that do are largely VNs or have VN-like elements, but they tend to be "popular" only within their own fandom only and don't see any success outside of very niche fanbases.
 
I guess my original question may have sounded a bit accusatory towards Kajiura. That wasn't my aim at all. They wouldn't exist without her, period!

I was thinking with regards to the music variety, and branding, and their influence as a group as the industry changed.

It's one thing for you to have opportunities because of Mama Kajiura, but it's another to stand in your own two feet as a group.

Could they have been limited in further options as a group by only being known for the Kajiura sound with it's familiarity / expected style, together with the branding / costuming that followed it - the whole fantasy pop image they had?

I wonder if Kalafina (the group) needed a drastic reinvention from the Year 2020 (assuming they stayed together, of course) without rejecting their connection with Kajiura or their songs, so as to have stayed fresh and grew their relevance in the industry until now, as a group? Assuming there was no disbandment after Kajiura left, their next concert would have happened in 2019 or 2021. Would it just have been more of the same with no new songs?

When we think about Kajiura leaving Kalafina, we know that this was a consequence of her leaving SC. I wonder if at that time she also probably felt there wasn't anything more she could do with, or offer to, the group that hadn't been squeezed out of her already in 8-10 short years, and so she wanted them to reinvent themselves and not rely on her anymore? And she was frankly just tired too!
 
Saber said:
Extremely dead unless you are a Persona or Kingdom Hearts game. Most of the popular songs from video games are straight up OSTs or ending credits songs (Final Fantasy and the like, especially).

Most video games don't really do "openings" the same way anime does either. The ones that do are largely VNs or have VN-like elements, but they tend to be "popular" only within their own fandom only and don't see any success outside of very niche fanbases.
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Figured as much. If george's original strategy comment was about "popularising" them more than SC, then I don't think Kalafina at that time needed an even more niche path than anisong. Granted, tapping into new niche audiences is always nice.
 
grunty said:
I guess you can only hope they actually reboot without Kajiura to find out.
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Yeah...

Though I also have a suspicion that the opportunity to meaningfully pivot was lost by the 10th anniversary. In my opinion, their age is already playing against them in trying to appeal to younger audiences as a new base of longer-term, "rabid" fans.

(I mean, even for FJ, Kajiura is collaborating with younger, slightly edgier artists - Aimer, JUNNA, LiSA - and bringing in new, young vocalists - rito, LL, Emiko - to refresh her vocals/sound, without getting rid of the classic, pro-level vocalists/artists she already gathered).

Watching a compilation of the history of Morning Musume from inception and what their more popular members' solo efforts have yielded or not; Lisa's evolution as an artist over her career; and even a group like Perfume's efforts at reinventing themselves to stay relevant, got me thinking about how Kalafina could have done this as a group without losing their roots.

Maybe @george1234 part of the decline in their success was that their sound/brand was seen as a known quantity and perceived as unable to carry top-range, modern anime IP as we were ending the 2010s?
 
Wait. Now we're talking about "decline in their success"? Is there even an argument for any "decline in their success"?
 
No there was no decline in success it was decline in the projects the made songs for only.

They started with Kara no Kyoukai (sorta popular but not much as FSN) then did Kurishitsuji (also super popular at the time), RHH (idk but people reqiested the soundtrack to be out and it had 4 seasons so i guess it is ?,), Madoka (undeniably their biggest hit), Fate Zero and Aldnoah.

After that they started making songs for much lesser known shows than until Aldnoah. This is what i meant by strategy. Maybe its the point Kajiura started classing with SC executives.

Going to discography at the time Kalafina released the songs for lesser known shows, she was writing osts for Alicisation (excellent) Hanako (excellent) and then Bokumachi (prob worse anime ost by her) and ordinal scale ost which was another fail.

(1 more paragraph will be here)

It was obvious from the songs Kalafina released at the time after Aldnoah that Kajiura had run out of ideas for fresh new melodies and arrangements and she was doing autopilot on most songs. This is why the first 2 album are the best for me.
 
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"No there was no decline in success it was decline in the projects the made songs for only." (Edit: Still guessing.)
"Fate Zero and Aldnoah. After that they started making song with much lesser known show than until Aldnoah." (Edit: Oh, I think I understand this sentence now. Okay. Guess I'm dum. No timeloops involved.)
??

I think I'm going to wait for you to edit your post some more 'cause I've no idea how to read it.

Also please stop mixing Kalafina songs and Kajiura BGM up, or your perceived quality of music, when you were talking about some Kalafina "strategy".
 
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