hitomi – touki REVIEWS

album review: hitomi “huma-rhythm”

We’ve reached album stage for the “huma-rhythm” series, and just in the nick of time! Did you know this album was released on this day in 2002? That’s… wow, 20 years ago!

Insane to think I’ve gotten to that point in my life where music I’ve grown up with is now 20 years old, but here we are. Of course, I didn’t find out about this album until a mere 3 years later, but the sentiment is still the same: imagine finding this at a young age, and several years later, you still find yourself able to listen to it (spoiler alert).

“huma-rhythm” is hitomi’s sixth studio album (which is also crazy, since she herself is a 90s J-pop star), and it tackles a lot for an album, considering the time it was released, when the world took a deeper look at itself. I won’t say what it is but if you recall anything big that happened in 2001, you might pin it together. So without further ado, is “huma-rhythm” the album that is guaranteed to get us as human as possible, or is it a lost melody buried deep in itself? Let’s see!

single review: hitomi “SAMURAI DRIVE”

The final single in the ‘huma-rhythm’ series, skipping over “I am / innocence” as I previously reviewed it, sees hitomi tackling on cover territory with “SAMURAI DRIVE”.

With a fierce space-like image that will be further referenced in the album it’s part of, on top of it all with a sleek sexy samurai outfit, “SAMURAI DRIVE” is sticking to a fabulous concept and theme not seen in prior singles. A cover of an original track from Japanese rock band CUNE, “SAMURAI DRIVE” continues the pop-rock trend established in her previous singles, but with a bit of an edge.

Is this final lead-up single to the album going to slay us with its samurai drive, or are we in for a bumpy ride? Let’s take a look!

single review: hitomi “IS IT YOU?”

Second up in hitomi’s ‘huma-rhythm’ set is the single “IS IT YOU?“, released in the last half of 2001.

Containing three songs, hitomi begs us the age-old question of whether who we’re looking for is you, wants us to keep an open mind, and then asks a new question: why? Continuing with the inspirational and orchestral pop-rock sound she now is putting into full force, hitomi aims to answer the many questions the single has.

So this begs the question: are you, the listener, the one? Is it you? Is she what you’re looking for? Let’s see!

single review: hitomi “INNER CHILD”

I’ll be doing another series following my ‘BAD Mode’ set, and this time, I’ll be focusing on a singer that most people may only know through an anime series known as InuYasha: hitomi. I previously did a review on the single attached to it here (known as “I am / innocence”), but today, I’ll be focusing on another single!

The first of four singles released for her critically-acclaimed and well-sold album, ‘huma-rhythm’, hitomi’s single “INNER CHILD” shows the makings of new themes and styles that she had been experimenting with in prior albums like ‘thermo plastic’ and ‘LOVE LIFE’.

As the first of the four, is this single able to take its listener to their childhood within them, or is the door shut on that inner child? We’ll have to see!

single review: 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?