Yuki Kajiura LIVE vol.#21 - 60 Songs (Jul 26 - Aug 24, 2025) (BD on Jan 21, 2026)

YKL20 box with tokuten YKL21 + tokuten tshirt + tokuten pass + tokuten photo&interview book GET

Am I happy I have it?
Yes.
Am I pissed off at myself for supporting this overpriced and overstuffed release format?
Hell YES. I hope I never give in again.

edit:
The interview in the photo book seems to be relatively new, as YK is already talking about ykl22 with YUUKA. Mind you I don't understand Japanese, lol, so I'm just saying what I'm seeing.

The documentary "Long Interview & Making" is 1h5min long. YKL21 itself is 2h38min.
 
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I don't know about this "Honoh no Tobira"... Joelle kinda takes it as a regular(?) pop song to belt and it feels like she's both doing too much and not enough at the same time? It's quite weird and not working for me as of now. It also seems like she's struggling in many places ("furusato e kaeru" line in particular seems rough but it's not just that one place) and y'all already know how I feel about those loose glisses... ;-P

So... love Joelle but this one's a no from me for now. Maybe I'd get used to it with time but I don't think I'll be listening to it outside of the times I watch the full show.

edit:
The MC that was missing from the TV cut of YKL21 does have band introductions, on top of YK talking about the songs that came before.

Kay, I've edited this post a gazillion times. I think I'm done. And before anyone asks me to rip it, makemkv doesn't seem to be handling the discs yet.
 
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Watching the Making video and it has some raw footage from the soundtrack specials. (But no audio, lul.) Also saw some shots where you see the audience from the stage, so maybe you can find yourself. xD

Edit:
Just so you know... this really is just a long YK interview with clips from other performers. There's very little other video footage, and almost no on-location audio at all. I don't think they should've advertised it as a Making video at all but I don't know... maybe having Kajiura talk for almost an hour wasn't the plan when they announced it, lol...

Edit:
Oh, YK reacting to interviews with the audience.

Oh, someone mentioning Xenosaga2. Taste (though I've no idea what they actually said, lol). ^_^

mMm strawberry cake.
 
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grunty said:
I don't know about this "Honoh no Tobira"... Joelle kinda takes it as a regular(?) pop song to belt and it feels like she's both doing too much and not enough at the same time?
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Hmmm. I am just following your train of thought, but she should done it more like a character song than a straight pop style?
Just from Joelle's take, how do you think switching roles between Kaori and her would have worked, i.e. Kaori in lead.

Oh, and was Yuriko or any other person present?
grunty said:
those loose glisses... ;-P
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The glissandi don't work because they were not in the original or there was too much of an bend in the curve? I don't like the "loose" connotation from her, though I would need to hear to make a determination.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
Hmmm. I am just following your train of thought, but she should done it more like a character song than a straight pop style?
Just from Joelle's take, how do you think switching roles between Kaori and her would have worked, i.e. Kaori in lead.

Oh, and was Yuriko or any other person present?

The glissandi don't work because they were not in the original or there was too much of an bend in the curve? I don't like the "loose" connotation from her, though I would need to hear to make a determination.
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Yuriko and Kaori were on stage with Joelle. Yuriko only sang in the bridge from what I remember.

I don't know what Joelle could've done. I would guess the song is not within her comfortable range and does not allow her to do what she is good at. When the vocals first started, I was invested and interested in how she was going to lead it, but it very quickly fell apart. She keeps switching between essentially yelling and relaxing. She is not going anywhere with the vocals despite seemingly trying to emote every other word. It's too much and feels disjointed from the music. As far as I'm concerned you can already hear that in that first taste with got on Kajiura's youtube bluray digest.

You'll make up your own opinion when you hear it in full. It doesn't have to be similar to mine. I hope people like it.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
Hmmm. I am just following your train of thought, but she should done it more like a character song than a straight pop style?
Just from Joelle's take, how do you think switching roles between Kaori and her would have worked, i.e. Kaori in lead.
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Ηοnoh no Tobira was not a character song but an Insert song, maybe even ED not sure https://canta-per-me.net/lyrics/honoh-no-tobira/

If you read the lyrics n see the MV maybe it should be sang in a more dramatic way ?

https://youtu.be/Oio_Myp61Y0?si=
 
I don't know if it's a case of being more "dramatic" or not. Joelle can be dramatic (and melodramatic; in general :p) and it does feel like she is emoting every other word in this song. It just doesn't feel like there's any storytelling in this performance... IMHO.

So maybe it should be the opposite of "dramatic" for this song? You should paint a picture, not emote/embody it? v( ' ')v There's a disconnect in my perception of this performance & song & music. There's a lot happening in Joelle's performance with seemingly no point or focus...

But, like I said above, I think that's also a question of the right tessitura/range... because Joelle does keep flipping and dipping between seemingly yelling and not. It's not quite "aikoi" where I imagine JUNNA was quicky getting tired from constantly going low and high and back low, switching her style of singing, resulting in a mess, but still...

You'll have your own takes when you hear it. I hope others will like it. I can always go back to the versions I enjoy. Listening to ReMix as we speak. XD
 
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grunty said:
Yuriko and Kaori were on stage with Joelle. Yuriko only sang in the bridge from what I remember.
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Yaay! So Yuriko harmonized with Kaori for the bridge. Nice!

grunty said:
I would guess the song is not within her comfortable range and does not allow her to do what she is good at.
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This would be confusing for me. Her range extends both below and above this, easily. Maybe parts of the song are in one of her vocal bridges. I've heard (and noticed in my own voice) some notes might be difficult even though you can sing pitches above and below them.

grunty said:
She keeps switching between essentially yelling and relaxing. She is not going anywhere with the vocals despite seemingly trying to emote every other word.
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Hmmm. So not the most appropriate stylistic choice for her vocals.
 
grunty said:
I don't know if it's a case of being more "dramatic" or not. Joelle can be dramatic (and melodramatic; in general :p) and it does feel like she is emoting every other word in this song. It just doesn't feel like there's any storytelling in this performance... IMHO.

So maybe it should be the opposite of "dramatic" for this song? You should paint a picture, not emote/embody it? v( ' ')v There's a disconnect in my perception of this performance & song & music. There's a lot happening in Joelle's performance with seemingly no point or focus...

But, like I said above, I think that's also a question of the right tessitura/range... because Joelle does keep flipping and dipping between seemingly yelling and not. It's not quite "aikoi" where I imagine JUNNA was quicky getting tired from constantly going low and high and back low, switching her style of singing, resulting in a mess, but still...

You'll have your own takes when you hear it. I hope others will like it. I can always go back to the versions I enjoy. Listening to ReMix as we speak. XD
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Interesting.

Just throwing thoughts out there, riffing on your comments. I get the feeling there wasn't enough sensitivity from Joelle (which I feel she is capable of giving) to the gentle, subtle emotion of Yuuka's original performance, or she was merely trying to put her stamp on "her version". I agree with you about Joelle's melodramatic tendencies. 😁 It's an endearing trait to me for re-contextualizing some songs' lyrics emotively, but it does not work as a constant approach for every song.

In terms of listening, I would, if I understood the language, try to decipher what specific words and phrases she was doing what effect on - was she trying to emphasize specific words in the lyrics with lots of emotion compared to others.

Was she flipping into her head voice and back down to chest? If that was happening a lot, belting in the chest and flipping to head, then it wouldn't feel smooth for this particular song. The Music for "Honoh no Tobira" is also a more steady progression without strong chord-, tempo-, orchestration-, or loudness changes, so lots of changes vocally from her, would be, yes, disconnected.
 
She wasn't switching to her head voice at all in this, from what I remember (maybe one line? Too lazy to take the discs out again, lol. I'll leave it for a rewatch...). You'll see when it's available.
 
I think she focused more on hitting the notes with a clear and strong voice, but it´s not really fitting here. It was great in Toki no mukou ni etc IMO.
The weird thing is she usually switches to head voice instead of belting everything. It would´ve fitting for this song. Well, she did do that in the pre-bridge(?) and honestly it´s where she sounded best. That and when she sang ¨My dear¨.
 
Lorde-Kowz said:
I think she focused more on hitting the notes with a clear and strong voice, but it´s not really fitting here. It was great in Toki no mukou ni etc IMO.
The weird thing is she usually switches to head voice instead of belting everything. It would´ve fitting for this song. Well, she did do that in the pre-bridge(?) and honestly it´s where she sounded best. That and when she sang ¨My dear¨.
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I really look forward to
grunty said:
She wasn't switching to her head voice at all in this, from what I remember (maybe one line? Too lazy to take the discs out again, lol. I'll leave it for a rewatch...). You'll see when it's available.
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Looking forward to it.
 
For accidental Konno with Frog powerup.

ykl21ost1.jpgykl21ost2.jpg
 
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