Tommy heavenly6 | I’m Gonna SCREAM+

  

Speaking of Halloween… let’s do an artist spotlight, also!

When you think of Halloween and J-pop, you might think of a few artists. Does Tommy heavenly6 cross your mind? She should! Having released many Halloween-related releases as of recent, Tommy (or Kawase Tomoko) started out with an Avril Lavigne aesthetic, but upon prepping for her second album, Tommy tackled on a new style: Halloween aesthetic. The very first of these singles (and eventually album) is ‘I’m Gonna SCREAM+’.

With this single, she set up the standard of being an artist devoted to Halloween and all the spooky things around it, but is this single worthy of a scream or is it just a slight mumble? The doors to the dark side have opened… you may enter…

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島みやえい子 | ひぐらしのなく頃に

 

I’m back!

To commemorate the return, and just in time for the Halloween season (a short three days), I will be reviewing some fun horror-related tunes, whether they be from a horror anime, or have some concept/affiliation to the horror genre in any way. First up, I’ll be reviewing the opening tracks from a fun, mysterious anime series known as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, or When They Cry for Western fans.

An iconic opening track, “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni”, titled just like its tie-in, is a single released by I’ve Sound alum Shimamiya Eiko, and it propelled her career by making it her best-selling single. How does this track and its B-side hold up now, with a new Higurashi adaptation airing, and does it still spook to this day?

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시그니처 (cignature) | cignature 1st EP ALBUM ‘Listen and Speak’

 

Are you familiar with C9 GIRLZ? If you aren’t, that’s okay! Consisting of former members of GOOD DAY, as well as containing members who were previously on the reality competition show The Unit, C9 GIRLZ became a hot topic. Eventually, they would go on to debut under the improperly-spelt cignature with fun track ‘Nun Nu Nan Na’.

They return with their very first mini-album titled ‘Listen and Speak’, tackling a sound that may be confusing upon first listen. This begs the question: is this ‘ARISONG’ a bad song because of its ‘arisonghae’ cig-nature or does it make it unique and fun? Read on!

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島谷ひとみ | ANGELUS -アンジェラス- / Z!Z!Z! -Zip! Zap! Zipangu!-

 

Ready to head into the Latino vibes of the next InuYasha tie-in single? Or how about the Olympian feel of the second song on this single?

Performed by yet another avex soloist, Shimatani Hitomi, whose music always has some part of the world to them, ‘ANGELUS / Z!Z!Z! -Zip! Zap! Zipangu!’ serves as Hitomi’s first double-A-side single, with InuYasha’s sixth opening being the first and the other as TV Tokyo’s theme for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. With two vastly different styles packed in one release, there’s something here for two extremes! But will each song hold up on their own as zeroes to heroes, or are they just total zeroes?

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タッキー&翼 | One Day, One Dream

  

Next up is Johnny’s duo Tackey & Tsubasa with their single ‘One Day, One Dream’, tying in to the InuYasha anime series as the fifth opening. Tackey & Tsubasa are the second Johnny’s-associated group to tackle the series, and here, they go for a more pop-rock sound as opposed to V6’s J-pop sound of ‘CHANGE THE WORLD’.

With ‘One Day, One Dream’, they keep up the momentum, but is this single going to be as bright as day, as serene as a dream, or is it going to be a dark nightmare we must get ourselves out of? Read on…

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Every Little Thing | Grip!

 

Today we’re taking a look at the fourth song from the InuYasha series, ‘Grip!’. It is the fourth opening song of the first series.

Performed by popular avex duo Every Little Thing, who has a very traditional J-pop sound, ‘Grip!’ keeps things upbeat for the InuYasha series. Featuring the A-side and one B-side song, ‘Grip!’ may potentially be a single that gets you in its grasp, but is the single overall a grip worth reciprocating or is it something to loosen yourself out of?

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相川七瀬 | 終わりない夢

 

Third up in the InuYasha song review series is Aikawa Nanase’s ‘Owarinai Yume’. With its tie-in as the third opening song, we’ll be transported in hyper-speed with the song’s harder rock sound.

Known for her heavy rock vibes and her unique vocal, Aikawa Nanase may deliver just as well as hitomi did for InuYasha’s second opening. This does make me wonder… is this endless dream worth traveling through, or is this more of a nightmare that I need to wake myself up from?

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hitomi | I am / innocence

 

Next up on the InuYasha series is the second opening single, ‘I am / innocence’, performed by avex artist hitomi, not to be confused with Hitomi Yaida (and also not to be confused for ayumi hamasaki’s ‘I am…’, as my young, naive, innocent self believed initially).

hitomi also happens to be one of my favorite singers ever, begging for a question here: how does this single fare compared to a lot of her other stuff? Her first double A-side single, hitomi keeps InuYasha’s upbeat opening momentum, but is this single one of grand self-discovery or is it just not innocent of being bad?

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V6 | CHANGE THE WORLD

  

Alright, so if you haven’t heard, there’s a new InuYasha series coming out, and my young pre-teen self could not be more excited. In fact, because of this, I’ve gone and revisited the music from the InuYasha series. It’s where I got my start with Asian music and well, the rest is history.

I’ve decided that since it was the start of my rabbit hole down into a love for Asian music (and Asian culture, also), I wanted to review each single that had its mark on the InuYasha series before Yashahime gets on air (and hopefully get them all done soon, because it’s coming in October).

First up is V6’s ‘CHANGE THE WORLD’, where InuYasha fans alike belt out its first lyrics because it is quite literally the first thing to hear when the show starts. Is it with this single that the world changes or does everything stay the same throughout? Read on…

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