terrence huey (thuey@UCDAVIS.EDU)
Sun, 5 Sep 1999 15:11:40 -0700
X-Sender: ez073369@sandman.ucdavis.edu Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.10.9909051432190.19355-100000@sandman.ucdavis.edu> Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 15:11:40 -0700 From: terrence huey <thuey@UCDAVIS.EDU> Subject: [Review]Sakura Taisen: Shin Kayou ZenshuUpon Josh's request, i'm gonna try to review this CD. Sakura Taisen Shin Kayou Zenshu MJCA-00054 Marvelous Entertainment 3150 Yen 1.Kore ga Review (Sakura, Sumire, Maria) -as i said before, my fav on the CD. It has this "broadway play" style to it, a style that I don't care that much for, but I like how it's composed. I like how the seiyuu sing with each other, harmonize with each other, and sing/answer 2.Yuyake no Mukou ni (Tachibana Maria) -this is done in the same jazzy/lounge style as the other Maria songs. If you like that style,(i don't...), you will probably like this one too. It's got the piano, bass guitar, and drums as accompaniment, but the bass and drums are pretty soft. It's a little more upbeat than her other two songs(from ST:Kayou Zenshu and ST2:Kayou Zenshu) 3.Watashi no Natsu (Soletta Orihime) -it starts off pretty poppish and slightly upbeat. I really liked it initially but then somewhere along the chorus, it started to disappoint. It could have been the best song on the CD =/. There's this triplet part where she sings a bit off-beat in the lead up to chorus. But what I don't like is the chorus which just sounds too happy for what the rest of the song was. 4.Chichin no Pui (Iris) -maaaaybe Iris fans will like it. I think it's the worst song on the CD. I have no problems with Iris songs as I kinda liked Etude and I definitely liked Itoshi no Jean Paul. But this one tries to be too cutesy and thus annoyed the heck outta me. 5.Kamona Asakusa! (Shinguuji Sakura + Dandi no Boss) -a duet between Sakura and ... i have no idea..(it's a guy). It's kinda in the same style as Maria's song, but more along the broadway musical kinda thing. i think it's kinda cheesy. 6.Hirameki no Uta (Ri Kouran) -it's quite different than Kouran's other two songs. A lot more upbeat and sounds like an a cheesy anime character song. Doesn't have a Chinese influence like her previous songs. it's not bad though. just nothing special 7.Subarashiki Butai (Reni Miruhishutoraase) -sounds like it could have been a lunar song ^_^ well, not really but the way it starts off reminds me of the boat song. it's a slow-medium ballad kind of song. Still sounds like a broadway musical type of song 8.Shinjirareru Hito (Fujieda Kaede) - it starts off slow. then the song shifts gears,changes style, and gets upbeat. 9.Ai wa Towa ni (Kirishima Kanna + Kanzaki Sumire) - a very dramatic song, more so than Ai Yueni in ST:Kayou Zenshu. It's very slow moving and has some harmonies toward the end. I like it but it drags at the end making it 7 mins 30 secs long. 10. Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan (rev. 2) [Kanna, Iris, Kouran] - slightly different music arrangement from Geki! (kai). it's more on the synthesizer side. Sounds more like the BGM running on the background of the Sakura Taisen 2 title screen. than (kai). Kouran sounds fine. Kanna sounds fine. But Iris doesn't sound herself. Perhaps the song is in a different range from normal Iris songs and the seiyuu Nishihara Kumiko-san can't compensate. Well, don't take my word for it. If you haven't already done so, check out http://v-idols.simplenet.com/vidols2/artist/taisen/disco/mjca54/index.htm for audio clips of most of the songs. I think it's really expensive compared to the other two CDs. It has 10 tracks compared to 11 on ST:KZ and 14 on ST2:KZ. Not only that but the yen price for Shin KZ is 3150 while the others are 3000 yen. Just things to keep in mind. -Terrence