Tag: Japanese

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

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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

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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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Perfume | Time Warp

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Perfume. Is. Back. I repeat! This is not a drill!

Perfume returns with a brand-new single, their first new release in 2020, and the very first physical single in over 2 years. For Perfume fans, like myself, this is amazing. Coming off the heels of a best-album tour and even taking part in Coachella, of all things, Perfume is taking Japan and the world by storm, and now they may just cure 2020 with their 31st single.

Titled ‘Time Warp’, the girls take us back in time with this new release, but is this time warp going to malfunction on us at all? Find out by reading on!

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玉置成実 | Connect the Truth

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August marked the return of a special singer dearest to my nostalgic heart: Tamaki Nami! Her first official solo single in over 5 years, Nami is back with ‘Connect the Truth’, a track that brings you back to the mid-00s, when Nami’s career was at an all-time high and anime music was (and still is) so cool.

Tying itself in with the dorama ‘Ultraman Z’, Nami strives to bring something fun for her older fans and newer fans alike. But is this single going to connect with us, or is the truth far more uglier upon listen? Read on…

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倖田來未 | Someday / Boys♥Girls

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We finally made it boys and girls! I thought we would never make it, or that we would make it here someday… but no, we are finally at the end of the single series!

Capping off the 12 Singles of Christmas is the series’ only double A-side single, ‘Someday / Boys♥Girls’, though Someday was promoted with a music video over the other (and interestingly caps off the movie series that the singles had in place). The concept art is also, fittingly, Kuu in Japanese garments, representing Japan in the finale. Now that we are at the end, we have to ponder, was this an appropriate single to end the series, or have we already reached it prior to?

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