Kalafina Post-Kajiura thread (Upd: Kalafina appeared at Animax Musix 2026)

[Decretum]

Once again, commenting on their voices is not a ragebait. But oh well, you are free to think what you guys like

I mean . . . Responding to a post asking to stop the repetitive debates with “ok but their voices still sound bad,” therefore continuing the debate, is just kind of adding fuel to the fire. Therefore, it is a form of rage bait.

But also this entire debate has been done to death already. How many times has it been had; 50 times? 100? 500? I feel like everything that can be said has been said at this point.

And that’s all I’ll say about that.

 

[ak47]

i had to agree that for now, their kalafina's harmony is nowhere near as it was back then. and of course FJ is better than kalafina at this point, they have new singers and still have kajiura's touch. well i think it's totally normal, i mean what could we expect of three person singing together after 7 years not doing so?

well, it just me, but i still hope they could release something new, something that fit them better than their old songs.

hi, i didn't know Wakana stated something like that. it's true that some of kalafina's song doesn't suit her style anymore. but i hope she keeps singing those song. Wakana is the one who brings me the world of kalafina and i don't mean to discredit Keiko or Hikaru but for me kalafina's voice is Wakana.

Yea, she says that in some of her Instagram's live
She said she is finding it difficult to achieve the notes she used to achieved in kalafina's songs.
I think this is clear when you see her singing parts of Kajiur-go

 

[Saber]

The difference is also likely because Kalafina isn't an active group. They performed together for 10 years and Wakana was part of FJ at the time too. It's a lot easier than you think to forget how to sing those songs. Even for me, if I don't sing a Kalafina song in over 3 months because I rotate the music I listen to, there is an adjustment period. They hadn't sung together in 7 years prior to last year, and currently they hold lives together once a year. The rest of the year is purely just solo activities.

Wakana's solo repertoire very rarely demand the use of her head voice, with the only songs that do being Butterfly Dream and Boku no Kokoro no Tokei. She doesn't sing Kalafina songs too often in her live shows because she has quite a large pool of songs in her solo discography, and the Kalafina songs she likes to sing often aren't vocally demanding (Musunde Hiraku, Kimi no Gin no Niwa) or she will skip over the Kajiurago entirely (Oblivious). What she has gotten better at is vocal dynamics and emoting which she doesn't incorporate into her "Kalafina singing" for some reason. Not singing everything in forte would lessen the strain immediately.

Hikaru's solo repertoire literally never exceed A4 because her chest range has severely diminished, and she uses her falsetto even less now. I have a feeling Hikaru has nodules based on the excessive amount of air in her upper chest range, which indicates a lack of proper vocal cord closure, a clear sign of vocal nodules. I don't think she has gotten surgery either from the sounds of it, perhaps due to the risk of making her unable to sing entirely like it did to Julie Andrews.

In contrast, Keiko is the only one who explored and expanded her comfortable range by deliberately going out of her vocal comfort zone of depressed larynx chest voice, and she kept up being a part of FJ after the intial disbandment so she never lost her harmonisation skills. Her most recent solo lived focused solely on her upper range because she wanted to be more comfortable there, and because of that her vocals never really diminished the same way (plus she always had scarily accurate intonation). Her problems are stylistic, not technical, when she gets too excited during energetic songs and especially her "cutesy" voice when she raises her larynx to the roof.

And I'm only saying this because I love Kalafina. Criticism, not hatred, because I want and know they can do better.

 

[toshiroukajiura]

The difference is also likely because Kalafina isn't an active group. They performed together for 10 years and Wakana was part of FJ at the time too. It's a lot easier than you think to forget how to sing those songs. Even for me, if I don't sing a Kalafina song in over 3 months because I rotate the music I listen to, there is an adjustment period. They hadn't sung together in 7 years prior to last year, and currently they hold lives together once a year. The rest of the year is purely just solo activities.

Wakana's solo repertoire very rarely demand the use of her head voice, with the only songs that do being Butterfly Dream and Boku no Kokoro no Tokei. She doesn't sing Kalafina songs too often in her live shows because she has quite a large pool of songs in her solo discography, and the Kalafina songs she likes to sing often aren't vocally demanding (Musunde Hiraku, Kimi no Gin no Niwa) or she will skip over the Kajiurago entirely (Oblivious). What she has gotten better at is vocal dynamics and emoting which she doesn't incorporate into her "Kalafina singing" for some reason. Not singing everything in forte would lessen the strain immediately.

Hikaru's solo repertoire literally never exceed A4 because her chest range has severely diminished, and she uses her falsetto even less now. I have a feeling Hikaru has nodules based on the excessive amount of air in her upper chest range, which indicates a lack of proper vocal cord closure, a clear sign of vocal nodules. I don't think she has gotten surgery either from the sounds of it, perhaps due to the risk of making her unable to sing entirely like it did to Julie Andrews.

In contrast, Keiko is the only one who explored and expanded her comfortable range by deliberately going out of her vocal comfort zone of depressed larynx chest voice, and she kept up being a part of FJ after the intial disbandment so she never lost her harmonisation skills. Her most recent solo lived focused solely on her upper range because she wanted to be more comfortable there, and because of that her vocals never really diminished the same way (plus she always had scarily accurate intonation). Her problems are stylistic, not technical, when she gets too excited during energetic songs and especially her "cutesy" voice when she raises her larynx to the roof.

And I'm only saying this because I love Kalafina. Criticism, not hatred, because I want and know they can do better.

Agreed!!
Same with the criticism, not hatred.

 

[ak47]

يرجع هذا الاختلاف على الأرجح إلى أن فرقة كالافينا ليست نشطة حاليًا. فقد غنّت معًا لمدة عشر سنوات، وكانت واكانا عضوة في فرقة إف جيه آنذاك. من السهل جدًا نسيان كيفية غناء تلك الأغاني. حتى أنا، إذا لم أغنِّ أغنية لكالافينا لأكثر من ثلاثة أشهر بسبب تنويعي للموسيقى التي أستمع إليها، أحتاج إلى فترة للتأقلم. لم يغنّين معًا منذ سبع سنوات قبل العام الماضي، وحاليًا يُقمن حفلات موسيقية مشتركة مرة واحدة في السنة. أما بقية العام، فيقتصر على أنشطة فردية.

نادرًا ما تتطلب أغاني واكانا المنفردة استخدام صوتها الرأسي، باستثناء أغنيتي "Butterfly Dream" و"Boku no Kokoro no Tokei". لا تُغني واكانا أغاني فرقة كالافينا كثيرًا في حفلاتها المباشرة نظرًا لامتلاكها رصيدًا كبيرًا من الأغاني في ألبوماتها المنفردة، ولأن أغاني كالافينا التي تُفضل غناءها غالبًا لا تتطلب جهدًا صوتيًا كبيرًا (مثل "Musunde Hiraku" و"Kimi no Gin no Niwa")، أو أنها تتجاوز مقطع "Kajiurago" تمامًا (كما في أغنية "Oblivious"). ما أتقنته واكانا هو ديناميكيات الصوت والتعبير العاطفي، وهو ما لا تُوظفه في غنائها لأغاني كالافينا لسببٍ ما. إن عدم غناء كل شيء بصوتٍ عالٍ سيُخفف من الجهد المبذول فورًا.

لا يتجاوز رصيد هيكارو الغنائي المنفرد حرفيًا نغمة A4 لأن نطاقها الصوتي الصدري قد انخفض بشكل كبير، وهي تستخدم صوتها العالي (الفالسيتو) بشكل أقل من أي وقت مضى. أظن أن هيكارو تعاني من عُقيدات صوتية بناءً على كمية الهواء الزائدة في نطاقها الصوتي الصدري العلوي، مما يشير إلى عدم إغلاق الأحبال الصوتية بشكل صحيح، وهي علامة واضحة على وجود عُقيدات صوتية. لا أعتقد أنها خضعت لعملية جراحية أيضًا، ربما بسبب خطر فقدانها القدرة على الغناء تمامًا كما حدث لجولي أندروز.

على النقيض، كانت كيكو الوحيدة التي استكشفت ووسّعت نطاقها الصوتي المريح بالخروج عمدًا من منطقة راحتها الصوتية المتمثلة في صوت الصدر ذي الحنجرة المنخفضة، واستمرت في كونها جزءًا من فرقة FJ بعد تفككها الأولي، لذا لم تفقد مهاراتها في التناغم. ركّز ألبومها المنفرد الأخير كليًا على طبقات صوتها العليا لأنها أرادت أن تشعر براحة أكبر فيها، ولهذا السبب لم يتراجع صوتها بنفس الطريقة (بالإضافة إلى أنها لطالما تميّزت بدقة نبرة مذهلة). تكمن مشاكلها في أسلوبها، لا في الجانب التقني، عندما تنفعل كثيرًا خلال الأغاني الحماسية، وخاصة صوتها "اللطيف" عندما ترفع حنجرتها إلى أقصى حد.

أقول هذا فقط لأني أحب فرقة كالافينا. أقصد النقد لا الكراهية، لأني أريدهم وأعلم أن بإمكانهم تقديم الأفضل..

On the contrary, I didn't see any negatives in your comment
This is perhaps the most logical and convincing comment I've read about this until now.

 

[Lúa]

I think an example of YK using magic but still not fixing things is say it would be that Ring your Bell version with Lino Leia. Magic didn’t save it (Lino Leia has now improved her technique and probably would sound different now)

About their voices not getting worse bu their singing styles changing, I’d legit argue that losing access to certain ranges or voice positions when singing is just “change”, sounds more like damage (as Cloister pointed). Which is unfortunate. And I love the ladies, but I’m just in a point where I worry they’ll hurt themselves if performing certain repertoire is hard. Their voices is their instrument and their money maker.

 

[CloisteredFlame]

I think what made them sound worse are the lack of proper vocal exercises needed when they did their solos.

An on/staff vocal coach is part of the artist management services that (in my layman's opinion) SC should have been providing for their singers, so they stay in shape vocally and work out developing issues quickly to limit the risk of deterioration.

unlike Sakurada who knows how to truly blend with the band and vocalists.

I've seen Sakurada catch some strays in this forum but he's an excellent player. Always in sync with the flow of the song and adds small, beautiful flourishes, though in a similar yet different way than Kajiura.

His playing during one of Hikaru's lives where he supported her made me appreciate him even more.

Wakana's solo repertoire very rarely demand the use of her head voice,

Good point. So she's out of comfort zone with the requirements of her voice in many Kalafina songs, increasing her anxiety on those high notes, which also affects her singing.

What she has gotten better at is vocal dynamics and emoting which she doesn't incorporate into her "Kalafina singing" for some reason. Not singing everything in forte would lessen the strain immediately.

I think Wakana relied a lot more on her tone for her impact and just sang from her heart, but her skill is definitely improved (minus head/falsetto range).

I have a feeling Hikaru has nodules based on the excessive amount of air in her upper chest range, which indicates a lack of proper vocal cord closure, a clear sign of vocal nodules. I don't think she has gotten surgery either from the sounds of it, perhaps due to the risk of making her unable to sing entirely like it did to Julie Andrews.

I completely agree with you. Hikaru is probably going against advice I would imagine she's received to do the surgery (what would be worse is if she did it and were seeing unintended effects, but I don't think so.).

For comparison, Saiki from Band-Maid also almost lost her voice when she got nodules (because of touring and an untrained voice belting high notes in a hard-rock connect) and her voice was scratchy and fading away. The surgery (and lots of rest) saved it and she learned how to sing with her voice and became the Saiki of today.

Her problems are stylistic, not technical, when she gets too excited during energetic songs and especially her "cutesy" voice when she raises her larynx to the roof.

I also agree with this. That's commensurate with Kaori's unnecessary yelling tendencies (also due to excitement) which lead to her going off pitch. Though, I'd say Keiko needs to work more on her mix mask placement in addition to her natural resonance (not low larynx) to be able to cut through the mix more easily, like say Emiko. Don't get me wrong, she's definitely improved from her Kalafina days, her early solo live, and even her Keiko's Room covers.

Keiko is the most improved singer out of the three of them, in my opinion, not just because her voice is healthier. There was a live on her YouTube before the 2025 reunion where I was impressed with how she sang a solo section with the others around her. Can't recall the song.

 

[CloisteredFlame]

In my opinion, in terms of potential to take on a variety of vocal styles/genres, if properly guided/recovered. I would place Hikaru > Keiko > Wakana, but in terms of vocal skill displayed recently overall, Keiko > Wakana > Hikaru.

 

[CloisteredFlame]

Depending on sales potential, they should do a Kalafina cover album with some of their favorite songs, but arranged for their current voices.

 

[CloisteredFlame]

Not singing everything in forte would lessen the strain immediately.

I'm bothered she feels (or felt) the need to force everything (which was a longtime complaint of many about her voice sounding the same in everything during Kalafina's later years), and not having the awareness or skills (back then at least) to modify vowels, switch to head (maybe not possible), use glides, fry, etc., just to lessen the tension on her own voice. Seems from the outside like she was often singing through pain.

In contrast, Keiko is the only one who explored and expanded her comfortable range by deliberately going out of her vocal comfort zone of depressed larynx chest voice, and she kept up being a part of FJ after the intial disbandment so she never lost her harmonisation skills. Her most recent solo lived focused solely on her upper range because she wanted to be more comfortable there, and because of that her vocals never really diminished the same way (plus she always had scarily accurate intonation).

I just went over this again. Important highlights. Her improvement in her upper range (as you stated) and expression (not just going dome-y darkness or ultra-bright) allowed Kajiura to give her that "Sora Chisana..." song, which she nailed and we celebrated.

You're also right about her pitch accuracy - quite good.

 

[CloisteredFlame]

of course, studio magic is used by almost all artists when performing especially filmed performances.
It’s purpose is to smooth out vocals to make it sound good.

Don't tell that to Fil from the Wings of Pegasus YouTube channel.

Fictionjunction now is more disciplined in their performances than the Kalafina anniversary. The musicians are talented but it sounded like they were competing. For example, pianist has no control in his riffs, unlike Sakurada who knows how to truly blend with the band and vocalists.

FJ are always relatively disciplined. I think it's a reflection of Kajiura's reserved demeanor - just like with the singers standing in specific positions and not moving freely around, except on specific songs. Emiko's breaking all of that as much as she's permitted.

I just miss the times I was blown away but Kalafina.

Yeah me too. If Wakana could resolve her falsetto issues it would help a lot to restore the feeling. Oh, and the Reunion live's strings mixing is just not up to par for me. The first violin doesn't ring out as it should. The FJ Tiny Desk strings sounded better/more representative (to my memory) in the moment of watching it. Of course I was watching bili video so I can't completely conclude.

 

[CloisteredFlame]

I was watching the Magic Knight RayEarth (2026) main cast introduction video posted by @george1234 on it's dedicated thread.

I had a flash of a thought and a feeling that it would have been nice to have a Kalafina song or two from Kajiura for this anime, with it being a fantasy/ magical girl show with three female protagonists and all that. Kalafina with their different personalities might partly visually "embody" or musically represent the characters during performance, probably, with character songs led by each of them. Anyway, that's only if the VA's aren't also singers, who will sing any character songs Kajiura wrote, by themselves.

 

[george1234]

I was watching the Magic Knight RayEarth (2026) main cast introduction video posted by @george1234 on it's dedicated thread.

I had a flash of a thought and a feeling that it would have been nice to have a Kalafina song or two from Kajiura for this anime, with it being a fantasy/ magical girl show with three female protagonists and all that. Kalafina with their different personalities might partly visually "embody" or musically represent the characters during performance, probably, with character songs led by each of them. Anyway, that's only if the VA's aren't also singers, who will sing any character songs Kajiura wrote, by themselves.

Seiyuu profiles from myanimelist

https://myanimelist.net/people/11622/Ayane_Sakura
https://myanimelist.net/people/12041/Rumi_Ookubo
https://myanimelist.net/people/34785/Rie_Takahashi

2 are also singing and one is also in a band.
Kalafina would be impossible at the current timeline, but i can imagine a song in a similar style as older Kalafina or FJ songs. Like Parallel Heart or Toki no Mukou would fit just fine as OP. Keep in mind the chances are high we ll get a Yuuka song either as FJY or composed by Ozawa. Also possible Kajiura writes song performed by the seiyuu n then we get FJ version of it in YKvol#22.