KEIKO "Yuuyami no Uta'' (composer: Yuki Kajiura) ED Theme Song for TV Anime SENGOKU YOUKO. (Release January 24, 2024, TV size on Dec 6/2023)
- Thread starter Nightmare
- Start date
CallOfLegend
I adore Yuki
i love it.
i'm really the easy to please type.
i'm really the easy to please type.
george1234
Moderator
I LOVE how Keiko looks there even though at times it feels like its a Kalafina PV where the 2 girls were kicked out for not dancing as good as Keiko 
. Still need to listen more to the song.
. Still need to listen more to the song.
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CloisteredFlame
Roses at her doorstep
Really cool video and I really enjoyed Keiko's vocals especially at the 1:00 and the 2:30 marks. She got to use her range (without going down to the really low/dark Kalafina areas), jumping to head voice and back and changing resonance placement on the fly too. All that work she did from her early albums and with KnY is coming together here and paying off in showcasing her as a versatile vocalist, not just "pretty lady with deep voice". It's the use of her varied skills that's one place Yuki Kajiura shines. She is open to (and requires) multiple vocal styles from the same singer and uses them well!
Really looking forward to that! And maybe a kajiurago insert for the FJ live cover version too (you just know that Yuki Kajiura must have imagined something during her composition).
You said it all! Very photogenic and one of the best poses compared to some of her previous promotional photos.
I actually would say it is Kajiura's music that brought out the uniqueness and beauty in Wakana's voice within YK's musical world through highlighting her in many different contexts and juxtaposing her with, especially. Keiko and Hikaru, and more so in a tightly developed harmonic structure. She (and the others) may not have gotten to work with those strong, memorable compositions if they hadn't been selected by YK at SpaceCraft. Same with Kaori getting to work early with Revo and his own musical experimentation (though more rock-dominant).
These ladies were lucky to not be stuck doing generic pop/rock stuff in small girl groups and the like. The new composer/producer teams could realize what Wakana had to offer because of the work she put in under YK. Simple as that to me.
That's a bit harsh to Hikaru... I know she started out strongly from the get-go and got anime tie-ins. She just couldn't maintain the consistency of quality songs and maybe didn't have the strongest composition/producer support, and of course her voice was limited even though she was often quite experimental in Kalafin...
Moving on...I had a wild flash of a "what if" scenario (hear me out): A more traditional-themed collab between KEIKO and Yuko Suzuhana of WagakkiBand, since they are both like opposites, with Yuko having a 100% bright voice and Keiko with her warm/soft/dark variations and the vocalizations they're both capable of doing. Anyway....
CallOfLegend
I adore Yuki
Nightmare
Yuki is lord of heaven and earth
ENGLISH translation up (subtitle/cc ON)
OKAY QUEEN KAJIURA THE GENIUS THAT YOU ARE. And whoever directed the Opening and Ending of Sengoku Youko needs a raise too cause those symbolisms are sooo good.
Yuyami no Uta is a song that depicts cycle of seasons as it was mentioned on the MV 2:25(Beautiful seasons and memories) and heavily implied on the Anime Ending sequence where the main characters(4 of them, very obv. symbolism
) rest on a tree then winter appears going backwards. Obviously can't cover the full song so they crammed all the 4 thematic seasons into the anime ed version lol
Main focus is on the lyrics. As a note, she probably wanted to express the song without using haru/natsu etc etc.
Started off as spring around 0:25(Blooming under the bleak sky is the brightest petal) as symbolic to plants started to grow and bloom under this season.
Summer was depicted on the song around 1:50(On the road that leads to sunny skies) continued to 1:56(Dreams and sadness shine brightly) as a season that defines the hottest and brightest of them all.
Interestingly, autumn is quickly introduced in the bridge of the song around 2:17(Like a wind the cuts through the Earth) portraying the transition from hot to cold season, hence windy.
As the song near it ends as the last(Winter) period of the year. 3:45(A quiet song) part is plain and simple as the Earth turns to stillness.
You can also hear those high pitched morse-code like noises at the start and end of the song which symbolizes the cycle. Just like how she made the lyrics of Hana no Uta and Haru wa Yuku connected.
As I already mentioned, Ending Anime Sequence has a good chunk of showing these seasons as literal as it is. Started of the Light and Shadow lyrics as bright moon imagery. We can also seen lotus during the chorus, as this plant always associated with rebirth, pretty symbolic to the cycles of the year. Those small unripe pomegranate fruits showed near the end in the ED is linked to the red and ripe fruit at the start of Hibana(OP).
Sorry for my cringy season description
OKAY QUEEN KAJIURA THE GENIUS THAT YOU ARE. And whoever directed the Opening and Ending of Sengoku Youko needs a raise too cause those symbolisms are sooo good.
Yuyami no Uta is a song that depicts cycle of seasons as it was mentioned on the MV 2:25(Beautiful seasons and memories) and heavily implied on the Anime Ending sequence where the main characters(4 of them, very obv. symbolism
) rest on a tree then winter appears going backwards. Obviously can't cover the full song so they crammed all the 4 thematic seasons into the anime ed version lolMain focus is on the lyrics. As a note, she probably wanted to express the song without using haru/natsu etc etc.
Started off as spring around 0:25(Blooming under the bleak sky is the brightest petal) as symbolic to plants started to grow and bloom under this season.
Summer was depicted on the song around 1:50(On the road that leads to sunny skies) continued to 1:56(Dreams and sadness shine brightly) as a season that defines the hottest and brightest of them all.
Interestingly, autumn is quickly introduced in the bridge of the song around 2:17(Like a wind the cuts through the Earth) portraying the transition from hot to cold season, hence windy.
As the song near it ends as the last(Winter) period of the year. 3:45(A quiet song) part is plain and simple as the Earth turns to stillness.
You can also hear those high pitched morse-code like noises at the start and end of the song which symbolizes the cycle. Just like how she made the lyrics of Hana no Uta and Haru wa Yuku connected.
As I already mentioned, Ending Anime Sequence has a good chunk of showing these seasons as literal as it is. Started of the Light and Shadow lyrics as bright moon imagery. We can also seen lotus during the chorus, as this plant always associated with rebirth, pretty symbolic to the cycles of the year. Those small unripe pomegranate fruits showed near the end in the ED is linked to the red and ripe fruit at the start of Hibana(OP).
Sorry for my cringy season description
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It's far too similar to Hyakka Ryuoran for my tastes, but even Hyakka Ryouran did Keiko better than Yuuyami despite its own similarities to Parallel Hearts.
I'm not too fond of it. I already didn't like the TV version but didn't express my thoughts because I thought the full-size would have something more interesting to it, but it doesn't. I really dislike the repetition of the 5-note melody throughout the whole song, as it makes it feel rather empty and unfinished. Keiko's eehs were the best part of the song, unfortunately. The song just goes nowhere.
It sounds like a battle track that was supposed to have had strings, but used Keiko's vocals instead, rather than an actual song. Just imagine the melody line with a violin - it suddenly makes more sense.
Kajiura should have gone with the sandpiper/tsuioku-enka route and not the Hyakka Ryouran route. A similar song (melody lines from strings) that actually works was Kimi ga Yume no Monogatari for ASCA - it has a similar-ish structure. but KgYnM works far better because it has more interesting melody lines.
I'm not too fond of it. I already didn't like the TV version but didn't express my thoughts because I thought the full-size would have something more interesting to it, but it doesn't. I really dislike the repetition of the 5-note melody throughout the whole song, as it makes it feel rather empty and unfinished. Keiko's eehs were the best part of the song, unfortunately. The song just goes nowhere.
It sounds like a battle track that was supposed to have had strings, but used Keiko's vocals instead, rather than an actual song. Just imagine the melody line with a violin - it suddenly makes more sense.
Kajiura should have gone with the sandpiper/tsuioku-enka route and not the Hyakka Ryouran route. A similar song (melody lines from strings) that actually works was Kimi ga Yume no Monogatari for ASCA - it has a similar-ish structure. but KgYnM works far better because it has more interesting melody lines.
george1234
Moderator
^ true the song was missing instruments. Other than that, i dont find it so bad.
grunty
I have reached Yuki nirvana
I disagree with this.
Everything else you said is fair (after all I do not care for this song either, and this full mix in particular :p) but changing the lead vocal for violin would change absolutely zero in anyone's reception of this track. It would still be the same thing over and over again.
+++++++++
Ghost Reaper
Bowl of Yuki-shaped cereal
I'm doing it again. I listen to Keiko's new song and imagine Wakana and Hikaru harmonies. If some one tells me they aren't there, I'd call you a lair. I hear them.
LianaIlia36
I have reached Yuki nirvana
Yeah. I like it. It has a nice upbeat feel after the verse. But the flow is somehow off to me. I think the SeeSaw song has better flow. I love her singing style. I probably would have liked more Kajiurago instead of the eiyehhhs or whatever. But I guess she was trying to match it with the anime? With the flow I also think of Asa ga Kuru again. I liked the tv size but then it gets a little chaotic. I will be listening more, however. I'm happy for Keiko and her first tie in anime song!
ritarudandoo
7 billion humans. She must know I exist
This "repetition of the 5 notes melody" is really funny to me because this "5 notes melody" only repeats itself twice and 5 notes melody in a pop song is actually a lot of notes lmao. This song has problems but I honestly don't think melody repetition is one of them.
Agree that the song kinda goes nowhere though. I feel like there should be some more lines in the "chorus" before the "kimi ga utau/namida ga nureru" because the chorus is literally only one and a half lines if we exclude the yeheheiye.
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eh it's rather boring. such a copy and paste of bars from past songs, there is no organization to the arrangement, no sense of direction of melody either. strings wouldn't have helped and it's ironic because Kajiura uses strings all the time lol. not sure about the lyrics - could be meaningful I dunno.
george1234
Moderator
It does have strings they re just kinda in the background.
LianaIlia36
I have reached Yuki nirvana
Does anyone have the full single in mp3 form please? I won't get this one for awhile.
george1234
Moderator
^ its not out yet, it comes out on the 24th.
CallOfLegend
I adore Yuki
:
Lorde-Kowz
I have reached Yuki nirvana
I quite like the song, but the refrain sounds kinda incomplete. Like it needed another line. I hear it and I can easily tell how Kajiura would've written the additional line hue.
Other than that, Keiko sounds great, and her traditional singing sounds cool as fuark. Better than recent KnY theme performances.
Other than that, Keiko sounds great, and her traditional singing sounds cool as fuark. Better than recent KnY theme performances.