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

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1vVG766EZd/

Ghibli no uta concert. With 3 songs for Kalafina (and the encore with every singers), from 40m46s:

Keiko was pretty great and perfect mostly all the time. Wakana seems to have less difficulties than for the live 2026, maybe because the songs here suits more now to her voice (even if her vibrato is sometimes hard to listen but way better than for the live 2026). Hikaru maybe a little more behind except for Arrietty's song.
Itsumo Nando Demo (Spirited Away) feat. Win Morisaki: Pretty good version. Fits perfectly for Wakana but even more for Keiko. But not for Hikaru. And the male singer is perfect on it, for a really female voice song, impressive
Toki no Uta (Tales from Earthsea): Moh, don't really like the song (like the movie unfortenately), good interpration but don't find it a good choice for the band
Arrietty’s Song (The Secret World of Arrietty): Great version even if I found the harmonies when they all sing together sometimes a little flat or too low? But when they sung individually their parts, it was very good.
Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta Nara (Kiki’s Delivery Service) : As a ensemble song where their solo part was pretty short, not easy to have an opinion on this one. I like it but I'm could be not very objective because it's a song I really like...
 
I watched the whole thing, and for me the highlights (from all the performers). Quite long... 😔

  1. The first lady, Sakurako Ohara, was quite good and stable and gave a cute performance. Her voice was so expressive too, using dynamics, breath, etc.👌🏽Listen to her at 10:30 to 10:37. I loved her movement from her low chest voice, through a switch through an enka-influenced style (to my ears) vibrato up to her head voice (curious about her influences). She's an actress too.🤔I'll be keeping an eye out for her.
  2. For the first collab, the GLIM SPANKY singer seemed mismatched with Ohara for the duet song as she (GLIM SPANKY girl) seemed to be more of a rock-belt-style singer without much dynamics. Glim Spanky's own cover song with heavier instruments was better.
  3. Kalafina singing with Morisaki, singing "Itsumo Nando Demo (Spirited Away)": Interesting collab. Keiko was smooth for her solo, Hikaru shaky, Wakana OK. The harmonies were basic, I gotta say. The section where Wakana and Morisaki faced each other was a highlight. The end acappella and choral style was actually nice. Wakana went for those high notes, and her head voice sounded more stable.
  4. "Toki no Uta (Tales from Earthsea)": Keiko didn't start too well. She was going for a lighter, softer style rather than in her full voice, so the dynamics weren't there. I preferred Hikaru's fuller, expressive voice to Keiko's 🙂 (first time to say that in a long while). Wakana was breathier with that fluttery/shaky tremolo. Hikaru coming in at 49:30 after the harmony chorus was beautiful, though she then strugged with the held notes at the end. Keiko went a bit off the pitch-centre on a note. The acappella at the end was nice. Now that's Kalafina.
  5. "Arrietty’s Song (The Secret World of Arrietty)": They proved the song in a live performance! 🚀 Keiko's start was beautiful and Hikaru's continued in that same vein, both with rich, full expressive voices and cute mannerisms. Wakana was cool though her voice sounded a little thinner (not sure why). This is still the best non-Kajiura work Kalafina has ever done, in part because of the Celtic style of Corbel's composition, and the sense of progression on a journey. The end where they all gave cute looks for the camera looked just like they were on a Kalafina stage! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
  6. Penthouse was interesting as a guy/lady vocal duo (I like the lady's voice a bit). Their dynamic almost felt purpose built for performing emotional love ballads. They also sang a collab with another guy (didn't get his name) and they did a 3-part harmony, which was a nice counterpart to Kalafina's earlier harmonies during their own session. Of course, Kalafina have the poise and no-look-confidence (for the harmonies) of a seasoned group, while these guys had to look at each other to guide their dynamics (like acappella groups often do).
  7. For the ensemble songs, Ohara's solo was the best (chest voice notes).

Sakurako Ohara (taking the picture) with Satoshi Takebe, Kalafina, Penthouse, GLIM SPANKY, Shiori Tamai, etc.
Screenshot 2026-05-25 124656.png
 
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CloisteredFlame said:
I watched the whole thing, and for me the highlights (from all the performers). Quite long... 😔
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Not yet for me, only the songs I liked... "Quite long", I guess some performances was not good for you?
CloisteredFlame said:
The first lady, Sakurako Ohara, was quite good and stable and gave a cute performance. Her voice was so expressive too, using dynamics, breath, etc.👌🏽Listen to her at 10:30 to 10:37. I loved her movement from her low chest voice, through a switch through an enka-influenced style (to my ears) vibrato up to her head voice (curious about her influences). She's an actress too.🤔I'll be keeping an eye out for her.
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CloisteredFlame said:
For the ensemble songs, Ohara's solo was the best (chest voice notes).
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Yes, I liked her too, especially for "Kaze ni naru".

CloisteredFlame said:
"Arrietty’s Song (The Secret World of Arrietty)": They proved the song in a live performance! 🚀 Keiko's start was beautiful and Hikaru's continued in that same vein, both with rich, full expressive voices and cute mannerisma. Wakana was cool though her voice sounded a little thinner (not sure why). This is still the best non-Kajiura work Kalafina has ever done, in part because of the Celtic style of Corbel's composition, and the sense of progression on a journey. The end where they all gave cute looks for the camera looked just like they were on a Kalafina stage! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
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Yes, It will be great if the song could be on the setlist for their next own lives.
 
esteban82 said:
the male singer is perfect on it, for a really female voice song, impressive
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I am not sure the song was in the original key.
esteban82 said:
Not yet for me, only the songs I liked... "Quite long", I guess some performances was not good for you?
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I meant my breakdown was probably long for readers only interested in Kalafina. I have a tendency to watch the entire live to get a context of everything leading up to the desired performance (Kalafina), to see the interactions with other artists, musicians, etc.

It was cool to see the kind-mentor personality of Satoshi Takebe, and how measured and gentle he seems in his interactions. He also has this cute habit of doing a kinda high-five with his artists when they're walking past him to exit the stage on his side.

I can sense a really collaborative and supportive vibe from him, and I think it was a good choice for him to be the musical director for Kalafina. Wakana really seems to be blossoming under his care. He also seems to have a rehabilitative patience.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
Toki no Uta (Tales from Earthsea)": Keiko didn't start too well. She was going for a lighter, softer style rather than in her full voice, so the dynamics weren't there. I preferred Hikaru's fuller, expressive voice to Keiko's 🙂 (first time to say that in a long while).
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Same! I never liked Keiko's cutesy voice she puts on and it really didn't suit this song. Hikaru was great with her heavier tone.

My favorite part of Arietty's Song is still Wakana's "Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh" after the Keiko's line "Sou, kawaru koto no nai" in the 2nd verse. She sounded exactly like an erhu.

Overall the girls were pretty good, Keiko was just a tad shouty in a couple of songs. I liked that she took the lead and Hikaru and Wakana were on dual high harmony, that's a very rare vocal arrangement for Kalafina.
 
Saber said:
Same! I never liked Keiko's cutesy voice she puts on and it really didn't suit this song. Hikaru was great with her heavier tone.
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I actually am impressed that she and can go quite high with it especially during cheers at instrumental solos, but, she doesn't really know how (and when) to use it for singing (i.e. sparingly as a cry effect). It's just something she tries to "put on" as you said, for effect, but the balance isn't there yet. She does need a more forward alternative to her normal voice in her higher range, which is mixed voice, but this is her stopgap.
Saber said:
I liked that she took the lead and Hikaru and Wakana were on dual high harmony, that's a very rare vocal arrangement for Kalafina.
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The vocals were arranged by Takebe I assume, and they were really fitting for the current Kalafina.
Made me wonder if Kajiura was to compose new music for them how she would put it together considering their vocal placement as a group.

It seems to me that [adding missing text] Kajiura tended to write to the fulness of her concept of the music and ends up pushing her vocalists to rise to the occasion to meet up with her composition, so they might struggle a bit as Keiko, Wakana, and Hikaru all attested to in the early days of Kalafina. I mean, even LiSA talked about how she was taken way out of her comfort zone in singing "Shine in the Cruel Night", having to engage with techniques she doesn't usually do, and with all the pitch changes and tempo/dynamic changes, and expression requirements.

Kajiura's music is more like - 'I can intuit what you're probable capable of singing (it may not be comfortable to you) and I'm going to push you to bring it out to the best of your ability'. So she enjoys having powerful or emotional vocalists who can deliver that expectation time and time again. Doing that over time takes its toll, even for trained singers, and much more for less-trained ones.

Satoshi more straightforward and relaxed vibe is, I assume, reflected in his compositions and arrangements, so his music would be more directly approachable by the vocalist, so it works for the current Kalafina.
esteban82 said:
Such a beautiful instrument by the way...
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The erhu is an evocative instrument, even having no connection to its history or culture, that instrument by itself has a powerful expression and tells stories all on its own. I am always amazed at the different Far Eastern instruments (string, percussion, woodwind) and their great variety of sounds and tones.
 
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I saw Kalafina’s performance in Itsumo Nando Demo, I really don’t like Keiko’s cutesy style at the beginning of the song. Others might like it. But that style removes whatever control she has on her vocals. The middle and ending is ok.

I still stand that only Kajiura knows how to really properly blend their voices especially the specific kind of harmony that they can use in such a song.
 
toshiroukajiura said:
I saw Kalafina’s performance in Itsumo Nando Demo, I really don’t like Keiko’s cutesy style at the beginning of the song. Others might like it. But that style removes whatever control she has on her vocals. The middle and ending is ok.

I still stand that only Kajiura knows how to really properly blend their voices especially the specific kind of harmony that they can use in such a song.
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To your point about Keiko losing some control when she uses her "cute" voice to start "Itsumo Nando Demo", I don't even think it's her cute voice, it's just a tight, nasal and scratchy placement, and immediately her voice goes off pitch at the start. It's a placement that she has not yet mastered and is obviously trying to navigate while she uses it, and yet she switches to it fully, rather than using it briefly for word-painting. It could be an effect for a word or two, but NOT used to carry an entire phrase or solo. Also at 50:45, she went back to the placement again: nasal, tight, and closed-off, and so I noted she couldn't add vibrato or extend it for a long note! There's no benefit to this way of singing, and I don't know why she's adopted it.

When I talk about her "cute voice" it's actually something else from what she did in "Itsumo Nando Demo". The cute voice I refer to is that high piercing thing she does during cheers or chants at FJ that goes really high.

For the sake of a contrast in terms of properly utilizing a smaller/ more narrow /even slightly nasal placement, apart from Yuriko Kaida I gotta compare Sakurako Ohara's handling of her songs, which was masterful and made me an instant fan. From 9:42 I feel that is the kind of sound that Keiko is going for (yes, I know her voice sits lower). Sakurako's songs (especially the second) had pitch jumps and multiple times she had to sing to a quite low range but used vocal fry to masterfully support the register transition such that added a memorable color I love at 10:33 and 12:24. I would actually be curious to hear her sing the Kimetsu no Yaiba ending vocalization, just because of that balance.

56:48 Going back to "Arriety's Song" again, Keiko actually started with a blend of that slightly tighter sound but blended with chest voice, so she had control and could go into vibrato or expand into her full voice. That's where she should stay and never go to that fully closed-off sound she was doing in the former song.

toshiroukajiura said:
I still stand that only Kajiura knows how to really properly blend their voices especially the specific kind of harmony that they can use in such a song.
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This is why I am curious about Kajiura writing for the current Kalafina. I suspect she would just write the song much lower than she used to in the past. She might also give the solo to Keiko instead of Wakana or Hikaru. Hikaru would sing the kind of harmony range Keiko usually does, and Wakana would sing the kind of harmony range Hikaru usually does (just like in her first harmony of "Arietty's Song" with Keiko), while staying fully in chest voice and not going for any head voice/falsetto notes whatsoever.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
To your point about Keiko losing some control when she uses her "cute" voice to start "Itsumo Nando Demo", I don't even think it's her cute voice, it's just a tight, nasal and scratchy placement, and immediately her voice goes off pitch at the start. It's a placement that she has not yet mastered and is obviously trying to navigate while she uses it, and yet she switches to it fully, rather than using it briefly for word-painting. It could be an effect for a word or two, but NOT used to carry an entire phrase or solo. Also at 50:45, she went back to the placement again: nasal, tight, and closed-off, and so I noted she couldn't add vibrato or extend it for a long note! There's no benefit to this way of singing, and I don't know why she's adopted it.

When I talk about her "cute voice" it's actually something else from what she did in "Itsumo Nando Demo". The cute voice I refer to is that high piercing thing she does during cheers or chants at FJ that goes really high.

For the sake of a contrast in terms of properly utilizing a smaller/ more narrow /even slightly nasal placement, apart from Yuriko Kaida I gotta compare Sakurako Ohara's handling of her songs, which was masterful and made me an instant fan. From 9:42 I feel that is the kind of sound that Keiko is going for (yes, I know her voice sits lower). Sakurako's songs (especially the second) had pitch jumps and multiple times she had to sing to a quite low range but used vocal fry to masterfully support the register transition such that added a memorable color I love at 10:33 and 12:24. I would actually be curious to hear her sing the Kimetsu no Yaiba ending vocalization, just because of that balance.

56:48 Going back to "Arriety's Song" again, Keiko actually started with a blend of that slightly tighter sound but blended with chest voice, so she had control and could go into vibrato or expand into her full voice. That's where she should stay and never go to that fully closed-off sound she was doing in the former song.


This is why I am curious about Kajiura writing for the current Kalafina. I suspect she would just write the song much lower than she used to in the past. She might also give the solo to Keiko instead of Wakana or Hikaru. Hikaru would sing the kind of harmony range Keiko usually does, and Wakana would sing the kind of harmony range Hikaru usually does (just like in her first harmony of "Arietty's Song" with Keiko), while staying fully in chest voice and not going for any head voice/falsetto notes whatsoever.
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Hikaru and Keiko have almost the same range. The only difference is that Keiko sounded more contralto. Kalafina would still sound good under Kajiura if ever because Kajiura can utilize the voices of other singers like Remi, Hanae, Yuriko, etc for backup vocals while blending the three voices in their range.
However, blending their voices is different than them sounding good. Their voices right now are good for solos than them harmonizing together. Their voices current Kalafina has lost its charm. But that doesn’t mean they really sounded bad. It’s just they sound generic and not unique. Only Kajiura really made their harmonies work. Even in Arriety’s Song, their harmony placement is just out of place for me. And Keiko was just singing an octave lower in some parts with Wakana.
 
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