Sumire Uesaka - Nanatsu no Umi Yori Kimi no Umi

Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san OP

Tracklist:

1. Nanatsu no Umi Yori Kimi no Umi

2. Waga Ki no Moto e Tsudoi Tamae

3. Nanatsu no Umi Yori Kimi no Umi (off vocal ver.)

1. Nanatsu no Umi Yori Kimi no Umi

This year has been nothing short on weirdness, and I find myself again confused and deeply disturbed by the chaos we get to hear here. Funny rubber-like, cartoonish drums open the song, and they just keep building up, as if this were a trance song, until it unravels into Sumire's chubby vocals. Even with the overall cute-ish atmosphere, this track suffers from genre identity crisis, as we get to hear happy pop, usual anison, and all the way to hard metal with full-blown screams (of course, not by Sumire herself). Following the genre changes, the arrangement can vary greatly as well, and the better question is what isn't thrown in - we have harps, metal guitars, toy drums, strings, etc. I'm a big fan of strange and unique songs, except this one pushes it a bit too far with the confusion, but is at the same time missing the surreal elements which make me fall in love in a song.
Rating: 6

2. Waga Ki no Moto e Tsudoi Tamae

After all the randomness, Sumire again threw me completely out of tact, because here she sounds almost... serious. The song is actually somewhat comprehensible, and instead of being completely ridiculous, it is actually quite normal by the standards of anime music. Her voice is deeper, and since it is probably not her natural tone, she sounds weak and sometimes gets lost in all the instrumentation with a piano, guitars and violins. Although the track is not really original and is easily forgettable, it would make a better A-side than Nanatsu no Umi was. I wonder why she didn't stick to this from the start.
Rating: 7

Considering that this the debut single for her, I was unpleasantly surprised. Along with the songs, it seems that Sumire and her label is confused as to whether to make a new Kyaru Pamyu Pamyu in the anison world, or to just stick to the familiar formula. As for my opinion, if she plans to borrow from someone else in her songs, it must be worthwhile to listen, not sound like her composers were hallucinating while torturing a saxophone. My overall rating for this single is: 6 ½

Nagi Yanagi - Yuki Toki

Yahari Ore no Seishun Lovekome wa Machigatteiru OP

Tracklist:

1. Yuki Toki

2. Oto no Nai Yume

3. Surrealisme

4. Yuki Toki (Instrumental)

5. Oto no Nai Yume (Instrumental)

6. Surrealisme (Instrumental)

1. Yuki Toki

Every singer has stepped out of their usual style at least once, and Nagi's time has come now. Unlike Zoetrope or Laterality, the track represents an overused, generic anisong style dominated by the piano and the guitars. Strangely, though the atmosphere of the song is happy and cute, she doesn't try make her vocals nasal even once, which I'm thankful for, because her warm colour is very hard to achieve. Summing up, this is not bad, but at the same time nothing which hasn't been heard before.

Rating: 7

2. Oto no Nai Yume

The follow up is a dreamy, slow ballad unlike the cheeriness found in Yuki Toki. Finally, the B-side isn't a filler, like in few recent reviews I've done, and the arrangement is quite interesting with the standard acoustics, piano, and an occasional flute as well. Nagi's voice is a bit too weak to hold longer but calmer tones, unlike the power she can sometimes show, but it doesn't really ruin the relaxing experience.

Rating: 9

3. Surrealisme

I'm not sure if I can go that far and call Surrealisme a proper song... it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff. No matter how long you listen to it, foot tapping is impossible, because the rhythm goes just from being as regular as a ticking clock to a state in which there almost isn't any. The same weirdness applies to the instruments, where the better question is what isn't used... and Nagi doesn't even sing - more like rap extremely fast or hold elongated tones in the only bit of sanity that is the chorus. My love of strange songs kicks in again, and I will probably grow to like this even more than Zoetrope, my current favourite song from her, seeing as this should of definitely been the A-side.
Rating: 10

This single is definitely quite different that what she has released before, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a bad thing - except the very A-side, which turned out to be the worst song in the single. I don't really see why it couldn't of been done better, since Nagi is no stranger to mind-blowing songs, like my new favourite, Surrealisme. My overall rating is: 9

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