Yuki Kajiura Career Retrospective: 2015

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With 2015 coming to an end, I'd like to discuss Kajiura's performance this year: this basically means all pieces of music that she wrote this year, so Kalafina, FJ, etc. If you want, you can also talk about the singers.

Personally, I think this is Kajiura's worst year in a long time; however, I attribute that to the fact that she really didn't do much in 2015. She didn't work on any new project outside of Kalafina.

Speaking of Kalafina, her performance there was really mediocre this year. You'd think Kajiura would have put out some excellent material for the group during this break from anime, but no. Every single they released ended up sounding so similar, I just really don't know what happened; and if that wasn't bad enough, FoTW was a big letdown as well.

So yeah, this was a pretty bad year for Kajiura. No new soundtracks, and mediocre songs for kalafina. If I forgot to mention anything, feel free to let me know.
 
Well, though I did really like some songs on FoTW (Musunde, OL, Gogatsu), I would have to agree that the other songs ranged from good to meh (not counting HB & Believe since they are 2014). I would have to agree that this is probably one of Kajiura's worst years. I would say it's nearly as bad as 2014, if not for elemental that year.

As for Kala's performances themselves (we haven't heard anything from FJ this year; the live album was 2010-2013), they were really good, for the most part. Wakana has clearly recovered from the trouble she was having with her voice, which had pretty much been going on since around AE's release. Though Hikaru had a bump during Budokan (esp. Red Day), I can tell that it was temporary, as she sounded fine during the "THE GATE" and FotW NicoNico lives in Aug. and Sept., respectively. My only complaint is that she needs to be able to sing songs well other than rock (Haru wa, Kugatsu, etc.), like she could with the other albums. She seems to be extremely shaky on ballads now, especially Mahiru.

As for Keiko, she was fine (as she always is). My complaint with her (though more towards Kajiura) is that...

WE NEED TO HEAR MORE OF HER HAVING LEAD!!!! :omg:

Though I would like it better if she sang less cutesy (preferably not at all)... It doesn't fit her, especially knowing what she is capable of sounding like.
 
I just wanted a thread to focus solely on 2015 since it's so close to ending.
 
For Kajiura-sensei, 2015 is probably just as bad as 2014, except the only soundtrack she released was SAOII's, and did that even count? I tend to discard SAO from her discography - it's that mediocre.

Kalafina's year in 2015 was exceptional. From Budokan, to FotW, I really like what they've done so far. While Hikaru had vocal issues during Budokan, she seems to have been recovered. Wakana has been more consistent than ever before, and Keiko is...you know, Keiko. XD Their live performances have improved significantly, with all three being more controlled than before. After last year's extremely disappointing believe, ring your bell was a very refreshing change of pace. One Light was also quite a departure from their rock songs with a more shounen-mainstream style, but it grew on me. B-sides are another story, with Mahiru being sorely disappointing. Koibito was (and still is) awesome, and Samidare is an extremely catchy song, though repetitive. Speaking of catchy, that's what FotW was to me. I actually love all of the album tracks (except Hokage). I just pretend heavenly blue and believe don't exist, and replaced it with Koibito and lapis, and voila, FotW is fixed. But even without it, it's still an extremely solid album, with Utsukushisa, Musunde and Sorairo being the standout tracks. And look at those Christmas Live dresses. Holy crap.

FJ was non-existant, so whatevs.

It's a bad year for Kajiura, but for Kalafina, it could not be further from the truth.
 
2015 was good for Kalafina...
Good things:
1. Budokan!
2. Ring your bell song (I don't like Koibito)
3. One Light song (ok, don't kill me again)
4. Kalafina and Nana Mizuki performance! I'm happy because of it collaboration, I hope for future performance
5. FOW album - very, very good album, one of the best for me
6. Gorgerous live with Strings (as describes people who attend it)
7. Live tour in this year!

Bad things:
1. Koibito, Mahiru and Samidare....
2. No OST in this year by Kajiura-san
3. The single songs were similiar (even if I like them)

I think that this year was better than 2014 (HB and believe were born!)
 
It's not a bad year, per se, but not a great one either. Kajiura herself didn't really do anything, so it's all on Kalafina.

Ring Your Bell was kinda mediocre, albeit a vast improvement over Believe. Mahiru isn't exactly anything special. Hokage is not very good. Musunde Hiraku is an improvement over Mirai but still not very good. One Light is good, but lacks something that makes it stand out amongst numerous other songs by other artists. Hikaru's performance at Budokan started out awful and never fully recovered even during Blue Day. The Christmas Live official photoshoot is ruined by Hikaru's terrible hairstyle. SME fucked us over by cutting RYB and FotW from the Budokan lives for the sake of making more money. The BD LE cover for FotW looks atrocious. Kimi no Gin no Niwa and Alleluia didn't make it onto the album despite being better than the other four singles combined. Keiko's pink outfit for the FotW tour is HIDEOUS, and Wakana's dress for that set is also terrible. Also the FotW mini poster set and a few images from the pamphlet are out of focus and overexposed.

With that out the way, we can focus on the good. Koibito is bloody amazing. Samidare is fresh and fun. Far on the Water, other than the singles, Hokage and Musunde, is pretty great, with Gogatsu, Monochrome, Usumurasaki and Sorairo all edging into 'really good' territory. The girls, Hikaru at Budokan excepted, are all sounding VERY good, with consistent performances from Wakana and Keiko throughout the whole year from what I can tell, plus Hikaru getting back on form after Budokan; she sounded lovely on the FotW tour and seems in good shape on the few other recordings I've heard, too. They're arguably at the most consistent live they've ever been, all three of them sound lovely. I really like the One Light dresses and their FotW and RYB ones are pretty great, too. The Christmas Live dresses are ridiculously gorgeous. On the topic of pretty things, the girls seem to be looking even more lovely than ever. The Kadakawa Bessatsu interviews also revealed a bunch of info we didn't know before and I think it made me care for them even more, somehow. Plus, we're getting Kalafina releases on vinyl now, which is cool, plus with one of the largest tours they've done going on now and into 2016, plus announcements of overseas one-man lives, it's looking good for their career. Also collaborations with Nana Mizuki, Eir Aoi and Aimer (the latter that we'll NEVER SEE:touched::comeback::cry:)

Edit: HOLY CRAP I FORGOT THE BEST THINGS OF 2015. THOSE BUDOKAN DRESSES. They are so amazing. I liked pretty much all the dresses they had for Budokan but those Blue Day ones are the best goddamn thing.
 
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I'm glad so many people here enjoyed FotW, but I still think it's their weakest album to date. There wasn't a single 10/10 song for me, and some songs which had alot of promise-such as monochrome, soraito, and even lilac-all ended up having problems. Couple this with the fact that Kajiura opted to go with a hodgepodge tracklist rather than one tied together with a concept, and the album just didn't feel like a fully realized product.
 
It is their weakest. If you look at my post at the 'rank Kalafina's songs' thread the highest position any of them got to is Usumurasaki at 19th, whereas my top 5 consists of one song from each of the other albums. It's still good though, just could've been so much more.
 
I feel like Kalafina has had good year but honestly i don't really feel experienced enough to say anything outstanding. The worst thing was probably Hikaru at Budokan she seems to have recovered though but her voice is different now compared to consolation. But it seems to be uphill from here at least. Keiko and Wakana's voices seem stronger, that's good. FOTW has grown on me A LOT including most of the Budokan performances. The believe/ heavenly blue thing and Aria being the worst things about Kalafina's major events honestly though I just pretend they don't exist. Kalafina are working on being top form again and we get an 8th anniversary CD release so that's good. things generally seem up from 2015
 
LacrimosaRaven said:
her voice is different now compared to consolation.
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Sometimes I feel like Hikaru sounds different in every album. :XD: That's not a bad thing, as by "different", I mean stronger (for the most part). Over the years, her voice has gotten heavier, richer, and lower (I wonder if using her Amazonian voice in Magia so much has something to do with it, bc the biggest change imo was between RM and AE). Plus, the signature tension in her voice has only gotten better. Though she wasn't exactly in prime form during most of Budokan, the parts where she was were fantastic and evident of that (Magia, signal, sprinter, etc.).

Lol, sorry for rambling about Hikaru :bow:
 
Westkana said:
Sometimes I feel like Hikaru sounds different in every album. :XD: That's not a bad thing, as by "different", I mean stronger (for the most part). Over the years, her voice has gotten heavier, richer, and lower (I wonder if using her Amazonian voice in Magia so much has something to do with it, bc the biggest change imo was between RM and AE). Plus, the signature tension in her voice has only gotten better. Though she wasn't exactly in prime form during most of Budokan, the parts where she was were fantastic and evident of that (Magia, signal, sprinter, etc.).

Lol, sorry for rambling about Hikaru :bow:
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No it's okay. Honestly I can ramble about her too sometimes. I feel as if Hikaru might need some more work on her higher parts where she supports Wakana like in RYB or the Kaijurago section of OL sometimes she sounds a little unnatural and scratchy. Ever since budokan it's been noticeable. Hopefully it gets resolved soon.
 
Hikaru's nasal-type voice she used in the old Kalafina days is gone. That nasal was a natural kind of nasal, similar to Yuuka's, but now her natural voice has matured and her 'nasal' voice has to be forced. She could always just use her lower "Magia" type voice for those songs, and who knows? It may work just as well. That's what Wakana did instead of trying to force her old voice. You can tell that the nasal-type voice is not her regular singing voice - just watch their covers on Kalafina Club.

It's most noticeable in ARIA, sprinter, storia and love come down. All simply don't sound as good as before because of her voice change.
 
Kirito said:
Hikaru's nasal-type voice she used in the old Kalafina days is gone. That nasal was a natural kind of nasal, similar to Yuuka's, but now her natural voice has matured and her 'nasal' voice has to be forced. She could always just use her lower "Magia" type voice for those songs, and who knows? It may work just as well. That's what Wakana did instead of trying to force her old voice. You can tell that the nasal-type voice is not her regular singing voice - just watch their covers on Kalafina Club.

It's most noticeable in ARIA, sprinter, storia and love come down. All simply don't sound as good as before because of her voice change.
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I feel like everyone's voice has changed over the years Hikaru's just seems the most noticeable and is especially relevant in a 2015 thread. I wonder what a higher Magia type voice would be like? That'd be interesting.

Things are really looking up for Hikaru right now though. I think her voice in general can only get better from here.
 
I'd say Wakana's is most obvious, but she seems to have adapted incredibly well at last. She's over her transition period as far as I can tell and she sounds absolutely divine. Hikaru may well be going through a similar thing, although Budokan aside it seems like she's coping a lot better with it. Her performance of One Light and Identify on the FotW tour sounded fantastic, plus the Countdown Japan performance of One Light sounded great too from what I could hear with that audio quality. I think (and hope) that Budokan was just a one-off thing and the fact she was vastly better on Blue Day (albeit still not quite right) seems to imply that.

Also your new sig is nice, Lacri. A daily dose of happyfina is healthy.
 
^^^ I feel as if Keiko's voice has gotten richer and deeper too ( although perhaps the latter is because of the notes she's been given in FOTW's songs)
 
Same here about Keiko's voice. I feel like she was a little more shaky (especially on notes not close to middle C, if that makes any sense) and had a little bit of graininess to it (look at her parts in Sajin no Kanata e).

It seems that she's improved on her head voice, even if we haven't heard it a lot (ie Door, some harmonies in Oblivious, HnS).
 
Despite Keiko's voice maturing and getting deeper, she sometimes chooses not to use it, particularly during her solo lines in songs like love come down and Ongaku (and especially Kimi ga Hikari T_T), where she uses her 'cutesy' voice - not that it's bad, but it just doesn't suit her. I know she wants to make the song more fun and all, but I would much prefer her to use her deeper voice.

Deep is sexy. Keiko is sexy. Therefore Keiko = Deep. Keiko does not equal cutesy.

One thing in particular I noticed is Keiko's lung capacity - she can currently hold notes for much longer (and with more strength) than Hikaru. Hikaru's "yuku no" in destination unknown is loooong, but Keiko's "mabushii asa" is even loooooooooooooonger.
 
Kirito said:
Deep is sexy. Keiko is sexy. Therefore Keiko = Deep. Keiko does not equal cutesy.
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My thoughts exactly :XD:
I think it fits for Love Come Down, but that's about it. Then again, it fits partially because that's not Kalafina's usual genre.

Unfortunately, it seems where her voice sounds/is the lowest, it seems to be a harmony (Magia chorus, Gaika, RYB, etc.).
 
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