22 May 2013

Luna Haruna - Kimi ga Kureta Sekai

Fujimi Hime ~ Zombie no Sainan OP (Track no. 2)

Tracklist:

1. Kimi ga Kureta Sekai
2. Tokoshie Rondo
3. Kagayaku Hoshi no Yamai

1. Kimi ga Kureta Sekai

As expected from a Luna Haruna single, the leading song is a ballad - and quite a powerful one at that. The track starts off with her unusually strong vocals (considering she is only 21) paired with a piano, but unravels in a more upbeat, classic anisong arrangement with a laid-back hint of the incoming summer. With that in mind, the instrumentation can't go without strings, which again play on my weakness especially when used in a marching fast tempo, but the beach-like synths somewhat ruin the impression in the already uneventful verses. Following the variations between the grandiose and exciting, and the relatively boring, the mood the listener is currently in will impact the light in which the song is, so the final outcome would be average.
Rating: 7

2. Tokoshie Rondo

Just as the mind rests from the previous track, utterly unexpected synths and hard guitars kick in from the start and make this Luna's first step into rock music, and maybe even metal. Her vocals are, even though filtered, quite deeper and more dominant, with her having the ability to cause subtle scares with the unexpected key changes and purposeful lack of breath at the second chorus. Accordingly, the arrangement also stands on its own regarding the gothic style, and the horror movie effects with the trance-inducing instrumentation are very effective. Ending with an old-fashioned fadeout, like in retro rock songs, this track would definitely make for a much better A-side. 
Rating: 9

3. Kagayaku Hoshi no Yamai

The final track begins with Luna showing her voice acting skills while narrating to a music box playing in the background. Of course, nothing sugary of that kind would last alongside the previous track, and so the music box slows down, losing it pitch, until we are faced with a full stop. Starting anew, the same kind of guitars and synths from Tokoshie Rondo begin drumming, but much faster in tempo differing from most of her slow to mid tempo discography. The vocals here, now vocoded, are even deeper and more skilfully used with the purpose to frighten, with her sounding like a completely different person. For the same reason I love her vocals, the opposites colliding in this track sometimes sound very morbid and unique, making me wonder who the composer is. Wrapping up this masterpiece is the sparkly music box playing again, like nothing had happened, yet the mysterious last tone reflects the message of "To Be Continued".
Rating: 10

Sometimes I just wonder who would be crazy enough to put a relatively average A-side to the loss of the other two tracks (not to mention Tokoshie Rondo is actually tied to a media). The producers of this single made Luna in a huge disadvantage promoting her with such timid and safe songs. Don't let the covers fool you, though - Luna Haruna is one hell of a Gothic Lolita under the pretense of a cute girl. My overall rating for this single is: 9

The comment box doesn't bite; be careful when feeding it, though.

4 comments:

  1. I had the same opinion as you on all the tracks, except I was pretty harsh on the A-side :-) And it was interesting how her image was toned down from super-lolita in the first two singles to rather mainstream with only slight gothic lolita influences in this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Her first single (Sora wa takaku kaze wa utau) actually also had the Gothic Lolita influence, so I was surprised for her to go all cute and mainstream. She can currently go to the either of the two sides, but somehow she sounds much better in darker songs, so I hope her first album will be like that as well.
      On a side note, you probably knew that Sora wa takaku kaze wa utau was composed by miss Yuki Kajiura herself. Fingers crossed for the two to collaborate again.

      Delete
    2. Yup. I thought Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau was pretty good! And Overfly was composed by Yuki Kajiura as well. But I thought it was kind of boring.

      Delete

22 May 2013

Luna Haruna - Kimi ga Kureta Sekai

Fujimi Hime ~ Zombie no Sainan OP (Track no. 2)

Tracklist:

1. Kimi ga Kureta Sekai
2. Tokoshie Rondo
3. Kagayaku Hoshi no Yamai

1. Kimi ga Kureta Sekai

As expected from a Luna Haruna single, the leading song is a ballad - and quite a powerful one at that. The track starts off with her unusually strong vocals (considering she is only 21) paired with a piano, but unravels in a more upbeat, classic anisong arrangement with a laid-back hint of the incoming summer. With that in mind, the instrumentation can't go without strings, which again play on my weakness especially when used in a marching fast tempo, but the beach-like synths somewhat ruin the impression in the already uneventful verses. Following the variations between the grandiose and exciting, and the relatively boring, the mood the listener is currently in will impact the light in which the song is, so the final outcome would be average.
Rating: 7

2. Tokoshie Rondo

Just as the mind rests from the previous track, utterly unexpected synths and hard guitars kick in from the start and make this Luna's first step into rock music, and maybe even metal. Her vocals are, even though filtered, quite deeper and more dominant, with her having the ability to cause subtle scares with the unexpected key changes and purposeful lack of breath at the second chorus. Accordingly, the arrangement also stands on its own regarding the gothic style, and the horror movie effects with the trance-inducing instrumentation are very effective. Ending with an old-fashioned fadeout, like in retro rock songs, this track would definitely make for a much better A-side. 
Rating: 9

3. Kagayaku Hoshi no Yamai

The final track begins with Luna showing her voice acting skills while narrating to a music box playing in the background. Of course, nothing sugary of that kind would last alongside the previous track, and so the music box slows down, losing it pitch, until we are faced with a full stop. Starting anew, the same kind of guitars and synths from Tokoshie Rondo begin drumming, but much faster in tempo differing from most of her slow to mid tempo discography. The vocals here, now vocoded, are even deeper and more skilfully used with the purpose to frighten, with her sounding like a completely different person. For the same reason I love her vocals, the opposites colliding in this track sometimes sound very morbid and unique, making me wonder who the composer is. Wrapping up this masterpiece is the sparkly music box playing again, like nothing had happened, yet the mysterious last tone reflects the message of "To Be Continued".
Rating: 10

Sometimes I just wonder who would be crazy enough to put a relatively average A-side to the loss of the other two tracks (not to mention Tokoshie Rondo is actually tied to a media). The producers of this single made Luna in a huge disadvantage promoting her with such timid and safe songs. Don't let the covers fool you, though - Luna Haruna is one hell of a Gothic Lolita under the pretense of a cute girl. My overall rating for this single is: 9

The comment box doesn't bite; be careful when feeding it, though.

4 comments:

  1. I had the same opinion as you on all the tracks, except I was pretty harsh on the A-side :-) And it was interesting how her image was toned down from super-lolita in the first two singles to rather mainstream with only slight gothic lolita influences in this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Her first single (Sora wa takaku kaze wa utau) actually also had the Gothic Lolita influence, so I was surprised for her to go all cute and mainstream. She can currently go to the either of the two sides, but somehow she sounds much better in darker songs, so I hope her first album will be like that as well.
      On a side note, you probably knew that Sora wa takaku kaze wa utau was composed by miss Yuki Kajiura herself. Fingers crossed for the two to collaborate again.

      Delete
    2. Yup. I thought Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau was pretty good! And Overfly was composed by Yuki Kajiura as well. But I thought it was kind of boring.

      Delete