Kalafina Best album

As expected, the WTF? adventure of The Best finishes today with the new releases. Blue is 25th and Red 27th.
Weekly Oricon: the Blue is 3rd (26,739 copies sold) and the Red is 4th (25,598).
 
Wow that is even higher than After Eden 1st week sales, which was the highest first week album sales for Kalafina before. With all these promotions it's not to be unexpected, though. Congrats for Kalafina!
 
Thanks PeachPitt! Hmmm I'm not okay with Keiko's staccato-singing in the first verse but it gets better as the song goes. Anyway does anyone notice that LisAni lives tend to have the drum sounds much louder and the other instruments are barely heard? Sato really love his cymbals lol what with him using the unnecessary cymbals during the verses. At the same time, I love the loud drum because it gives the song more power.
 
^ Indeed!

Keiko is so happy that she sings the lead that she cant stop smiling, and that affects her singing a bit.
nice performance!!
 
misterioso is <3. I love this song so much, and this live makes that love multiply ten-fold! Loved every single second of it, and I especially loved how the overture transitioned to the song. Aaah, gives me goosebumps just watching it!

Kimi no Gin no Niwa has been aired before, but this is still a great performance. All three are amazing here, no complaints at all.

seventh heaven, it's been so long! Wakana's voice (and singing style here) is a lot similar to her older voice, so she's definitely the highlight of the song. I'm iffy about Keiko's airy delivery and Hikaru is struggling to reach those notes, but it's still a good performance overall.

sprinter is when things start sliding downhill. Hikaru has obvious issues adjusting to her singing style (which wasn't a problem the past few years, don't know why it's cropping up now). Keiko taking over Maya's lines is still not as refined as the Red Moon Live. Okay performance, I guess. Side note: Keiko running on stage made me laugh.

Ongaku is when things pick up. Hikaru stops having trouble and Keiko's delivery is more controlled. Wakana is <3 during her solo.

Alleluia, ehh. I don't like how Keiko handles her lines. All three sound tired from previous performances and it shows. One of the few times I much prefer the studio version until I hear a live version that lives up to it.

So my favorite is misterioso, but it was no contest. That was truly an awesome performance.
 
My Review:

Misterioso- really liked it! Wakana sounded a bit strained with short and sometimes flat notes. But Hikaru and Keiko supported her very well!! Otherwise a great job!:goodjob:

Kimi no Gin- Sounded exactly like the LisAni TV version, which I thought was very accurate to the CD recording. I'm not sure whether I prefer this one or the Nico Nico recording with a real accordion:ayashii: and 4 violins accompanying

Seventh Heaven- this song is one of my favourite so I always have big expectations for it. Did it succeed? Erh kinda >_< I didn't like Keiko's higher pitch start and Wakana is sounding more strained - obviously tired from the previous two songs. Though for the first time I could clearly Hikaru's gentle harmonies - excluding the 2009 closed premium live XD Also I could hear the drumming very clearly - more than the guitar- which was nice but a bit distracting! Overall, the 2009 closed premium live- yes even with Hikaru's very strong harmonies- is still my favourite SH live

Sprinter- Nicely done! Wakana seemed to make a deus ex machina return ! As always their sprinter lives are at a good standard so I'll leave it there !

Ongaku- Like the TV version, this was very accurate to the CD recording. Well done!

Alleluia- A nice way to end the concert. I still prefer their Paris Alleluia, because Keiko never did stacatto in her verses- she stuck very closely to the recording which suits the song better! But that's my preference because they sang it very well

A very good concert by the girls at LisAni! Well Done! Overall I wasn't too keen on the sound mixing of Lisani. I felt the instruments were alot louder than the girls. Wakana was probably and sadly the weakest for me. She just sounds very strained and tired. Now seeing her perform in Paris, I know she can sing better than this, especially when they rest! Paris was such a mindblown for me because I did have my doubts. Now waiting to listen to the RED DVD :D
 
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That Misterioso was awesome! A solid performance from the girls! I just love Hikaru's singing style in this song, it's so bright and happy.

No complaints about KNGNN, a great performance again. Such great vocals, heart-warming. :dote:

Seventh Heaven was not at its best (2009 performance to me was just perfect) but still nice. I didn't really like Keiko's higher pitch but Hi-chan and Wa-chan sounded pretty good, a bit strained sometimes.

I always have great expectations on Sprinter and this time they were not completely fulfilled. Hikaru struggles a lot to give decent vocals but she kinda failed to me. Her sound bothers me if compared to the old one. But luckily Keiko and Wakan did a wondeful job with amazing lines and harmonizations. This could have been way better but acquires bonus points for that running Ke-chan:sohappy:

Ongaku was awesome as usual, always funny and entertaining to watch.

We come to the last song, Alleluia. A lovely performance though I still prefer the studio version. My only issue is about Keiko's solos. I don't really like her singing style here.

Well done girls!
 
Yeah, she (Keiko) seems to do that in lives when she's smiling. Even in Ongaku she does it a bit. It's okay to have a different style for the live, but I would keep the same tone for the slower songs, like Alleluia. It isn't meant to be happy, although I can see why she is. She has done performances like this though (Kaze no Machi e) where she doesn't do that. Hmm. Maybe she's trying to make her voice sound louder? Just a thought.
 
All other performances on the RED BD have been aired, so here's ARIA.
:rain:

Disappointment. All three struggle with notes, Hikaru has issues with her voice and Wakana is severely strained. And this was from last year.

Is Hikaru going through a Wakana phase in which she's severely trying to "find" her voice? Ugh, I miss 2011 Hikaru. I don't really mind if her voice is nasal, I just want clarity. I'm surprised how after 6 or so years in the industry, she still doesn't perform well.
 
From what I've read, Hikaru's always been super-careful when it comes to taking care of her health as far as her voice is concerned. I reckon it's because they're on the road and working so hard right now...hopefully the promo tour will be wrapped up in time for the three of them to take a break (I recall Wakana saying in her recent blog post that stopping by Fukuoka gave her a homecoming sort of feeling that helped her 'recharge her batteries' a bit).

I'm not saying I'm not concerned, but I half-expected the past few weeks to be a bit hard on them.
 
According to my opinion Wakana and Keiko did a good job (Ke-chan has so much fun in the kajiurago bridge:plot:) but once again Hikaru is struggling with her notes. I can't really understand why she can't sing just with her "old" voice, which I personally loved. I miss a lot the old Sprinter, Aria and that majestic "Misori cadita mie" at the beginning of Oblivious :cry:
 
Why would you be concerned about a performance thats over a year old? An edited one at that, lol. Everybody's been saying they sounded like shit during the Anniversary live when it aired on TV already.

In heavenly blue niconico live that I listened Hikaru sounded fine for the most part. Wakana being a whole other story as always. :)
 
^Actually I remember everybody said that the sound recording quality is shit, though I do agree that they kinda suck in that live what with Wakana sounded flat most time and Hikaru sounded sick and her voice is heavily edited imo. These lives make my preference for Keiko gets bigger because she sounded fine most time (as in stay on key and hit the right notes), it's her singing technique that sometimes bothers me (too much belting and/or staccato). And yup, Wakana is almost permanently off in heavenly blue (or dare I say the whole event). It's because she's backupped by Keiko and Hikaru in harmony her faults don't instantly recognisable. About the blue BD, I agree with almost all of yours opinion. Somehow I think that Keiko's voice sounded raw as it sounds because her voice isn't heavily edited imo :p
 
Kodaku said:
According to my opinion Wakana and Keiko did a good job (Ke-chan has so much fun in the kajiurago bridge:plot:) but once again Hikaru is struggling with her notes. I can't really understand why she can't sing just with her "old" voice, which I personally loved. I miss a lot the old Sprinter, Aria and that majestic "Misori cadita mie" at the beginning of Oblivious :cry:
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This is the same problem I have. I don't always like listening to 2008-2010 songs being sung by the girls today ,because I prefer Wakana's old voice and the group before the magia craze. Listening to the 5th live of aria for example, I, as I'm sure many other people do, will unconsciously compare the old and new covers. Hikaru sounded a ill through through the whole performance ( missing her usual clarity) and Keiko was ok. I would prefer if the girls now sang recent songs. 5th live anniversary and other DVDS now have their best covers of their old songs so I would rather have them sing yane no muko ni for example , so that I cant compare. I've accepted the group as it is today and still appreciate their music!

But basically if I were buying one of the best, it would of been the blue. Lisani is a better dvd.
 
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