Kantan Krusaders (Hyakka and Tombo posting is welcome too)

I personally don't mind when one of the girls takes the entire song to herself. Classic examples would be ARIA (HIKARU), Lacrimosa (WAKANA), TETOTETOMETOME (KEIKO), Sorairo no Isu (WAKANA), progressive (HIKARU), Mata kazega tsuyokunatta (HIKARU), and Alleluia (KEIKO).

I like that the entire song is tailored to the strengths of one of them, as opposed to Kajiura going all over the place trying to satisfy all their individual strengths; What ends up happening is their individual weaknesses start to become more apparent(I.e. HIKARU in recent piano ballads).
 
They've all proven that even when they're not at their technical best that they still put a ton of emotion into their singing. Yasashii Uta is a damn fine example of this, and I'd say Kantan is too.
 
I know there's mixed feelings regarding Haru wo Matsu but it's the unpolished emotional rawness that I enjoy most about that song.

Seasonreaper said:
I'd say Kantan is too.
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It's amazing how Wakana can conjure such a powerful atmosphere even now, when she's not at her best.
 
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I was listening to Kagayakusorano shijimaniwa yesterday for the first Time in ages and REALISED how much more passion WAKANA used to have in her voice. Man.
 
Aelarion said:
It's amazing how Wakana can conjure such a powerful atmosphere even now, when she's not at her best.
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She's not? Wakana sounds fine to me, pitch-wise. Not anything like what Hikaru seems to be suffering through. It's just that the studio setting seems to bring out the more annoying/grating aspects of the voice she has now.

edit: Take for example Natsu no Asa live vs studio. Dunno if it's studio magic and/or venue acoustics, but Wakana's voice is much more pleasing in the live version.
 
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Atlas Star said:
I was listening to Kagayakusorano shijimaniwa yesterday for the first Time in ages and REALISED how much more passion WAKANA used to have in her voice. Man.
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I think nowadays with Wakana, it's a song-by-song basis in terms of passion. The performance of Kagayaku from the FotW special final I thought had a lot of passion in it, especially in the Kajiuriago. Imo, in the studio version, while Wakana sounds good, you can hear the beginning of her vocal problems in it :uh..:.
 
Aelarion said:
I meant compared to Ashita no Keshiki/Red Moon Wakana, which I would consider to be Wakana at her very best.
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Heh, those days are long gone man... :cry:

These days I'd say that Wakana's best is pretty much what we've had since the beginning of the FOTW era.
 
Don't know if this was already posted somewhere, but Kalafina had an appearance on NHK World that included what is presumably the official translation of the "Hyakka Ryouran" title- "Riot of Flowers"

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https://twitter.com/Sai_fina/status/899289859231170560
 
FotW seems to be the turning point for Wakana, she finally managed to get a grip on how her new voice sounds and is working it well.

If I listed all the performances where she was problematic for me almost all of them would be Consolation/Best era. Her performance from FotW onward has been generally strong, even if it is different to AE or earlier. That's not to say she didn't still have good moments during those eras but they were for sure her weakest. Nowadays though? It's rare that I have any problems with her voice, she sounds gorgeous in my opinion.

I just hope Hikaru follows the same pattern and recovers. Her worst was still Red Day and has been patchy since, but it's still notable that something is off. I've still been impressed since then however, she's still rocking some of the heavier songs and was mostly on point for the Winter Acoustic, which is why I'm still certain she'll recover.
 
Yeah, I love this song so much. it's getting up there with I have a dream, and that's my 4th fave. (My playlist changes a lot though heh) I love pretty much everything about it. My most favorite part is where the instrumental bridge ends with the guitar and Keiko begins after that short pause. Ahhh, so satisfying. I think Wakana sings pretty much like she does in I Have a dream, except towards the end where she has kind of a twinge (not sure that's the right word, but you get the point) but other than that. Hikaru does force it a little in her solo, but overall does fine. I would love love love to see a live version, either in person or on tv. But the song is so relaxing. It does make me think of relaxing on a pantoon in the water, or riding on a train with lovely countryside scenery.

Btw why was the Hyakka thread locked? I haven't been on in a little bit... EDIT: Nevermind... wow. Usually this is a pretty nice place to come and talk about Yuki's music, or just anything really. I am sad that stuff like this happens. Anyways, back on topic!

(Kind of unrelated but because the other thread is locked, I am liking the full Hyakka more and more. Even though it's chaotic. I wonder how it is live. Kuga and the others are so lucky to have seen it!)
 
Liana_Ilia said:
(Kind of unrelated but because the other thread is locked, I am liking the full Hyakka more and more. Even though it's chaotic. I wonder how it is live. Kuga and the others are so lucky to have seen it!)
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In terms of it being live it was mostly similar to the recording except for the unfortunate mixing issues (Hikaru and Wakana were too loud at some points), but that's really hard to get around anyway. They all sounded pretty good to me, Keiko especially sounded almost exactly like the recording. It is much easier to get into live though, since as you said its a bit more "chaotic" it really fits in with the hype of being at a live.

The performance live was very entertaining with some very interesting kaladansu, especially with Hikaru and Keiko. Those two really played up the performance which was a lot of fun to watch.
 
Thank you for your concern @grunty and @Aelarion. Hopefully my headache gets better in the next few days otherwise I need to have my brain scanned bcs damn my head hurts like hell these past 2 weeks

As apparently the only person who cares about Tombo I want to ask, does anyone else think that Wakana's part sounds like Saeko Chiba's Hikari?

On side note, I only got the chance to read the whole HR thread since I left it and wow the glee it brought to my face. Sorry for being a dramaaddict here but wow
 
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ritardando said:
Thank you for your concern @grunty and @Aelarion. Hopefully my headache gets better in the next few days otherwise I need to have my brain scanned bcs damn my head hurts like hell these past 2 weeks
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No worries, hopefully it begins and ends with just a headache. :)

ritardando said:
As apparently the only person who cares about Tombo I want to ask, does anyone else think that Wakana's part sounds like Saeko Chiba's Hikari?
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I hear it dude, aesthetically and dynamically is slightly different, but in terms of syllabic and structural composition it's very similar. Gonna level with you though, I literally just searched for the song on YouTube out of interest, so thanks for introducing me to Saeko's work. :)
 
MedChemist said:
...just singing and posing (i.e. what they do on every PV ever) could have actually worked heh.
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I'm sorry to go so off-topic, but thank you for bringing this back to my attention, as it has become extremely frustrating to me. Recently downloading the Vevo app after discovering that Kalafina is not region-locked like on YouTube, I just watched a plethora of their PVs for the first time, most recently (and most passionately) being symphonia. I did not realize that so many of their PVs are too damn static. I don't know about any of you but to me, Symphonia is actually a song of strength, even with such superlegato delivery. The backing percussion makes me want to start walking and progress to running through that field, not just stand contently in the middle of it. I think it's why I still have no true problem with Blaze, which I first heard accompanied by the PV. Also why I encourage their little incorporations of Kaladansu into lives although many don't like it at all.

Aelarion said:
She and Wakana could both do with around 6 - 12 months off, perhaps giving Kajiura a chance to work on some Keiko solo work.
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I was super fearful of this potential proposal, until I remembered my recent obsession with Chiaki Ishikawa, most notably her 2- and 3-part self-harmonization in studio versions. It's such a rarity that I listen to any solo act anymore that I was pretty blindsided upon discovering her and her range and harmony. (I've been truly moved by the harmony in her song "Landscape" from her 2015 album, "Natural" from the Zenya EP, and her older songs "Kamisama Dolls" and "Respect Me".)
I would hope Kajiura would encourage and compose for Keiko to do the same, as I'm pretty sure we all love to hear Keiko self-harmonize (most recently in Märchen, which I still love), as opposed to when Miss Kaida went solo as KAiiDA with no processing or harmony at all, although she does it all the time for OSTs. (Unfortunately the only song I could appreciate from "KAiiDA" was that unexpectedly lovely "Stranger's Dream" cover.)
 
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I noticed in my anime edition single a mail-back card for some offer (now expired) for some additional gift.

Did anyone notice this / mail theirs in?
 
Aelarion said:
I think it was an offer that allowed you to enter a competition that awarded Kala merchandise.

At this point though, I believe lack of Japanese address/reliable Japanese contact would have made the competition quite irrelevant to us gaijin.
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If I'd known about it at the time (as in actually opened the packaging) I could have taken advantage of the offer.

Of the 4 posters I obtained at the end of the Venus Fort Odaiba mini-live, 3 have been forwarded on to others, one in Ooarai, Ibaraki Prefecture (hand delivered) and 2 have been posted to Europe.
 
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