Review by Stacy Livitsanis

Excellent ten-song album by Megumi Nakajima. Nakajima always sounded good, but her voice has improved with age, and she sings beautifully on this album. Every song is gorgeous. Sometimes when listening to an album for the first time, I don't always give it my complete attention, but every song on Green Diary made me stop whatever else I was doing and listen. That's a strong sign of quality.

Movies can often be a great introduction to other artists, such as bands. The Isao Takahata Ghibli film Pom Poko used "Itsu Demo Dare Ka Ga" by Shang Shang Typhoon as its ending song, and after hearing it I immediately wanted to know more about this group with a distinctive Okinawan sound. This 80-minute 'Golden Best' album covers the group's first ten years, from 1990 to 1999. It's one of the best song compilations I've ever heard. Shang Shang Typhoon have a vibrant, positive sound. It's music to lift the spirits and raise a smile. Anyone interested in mainstream contemporary Japanese music that's outside the J-pop formula will find this album worthwhile. It's served as a gateway to exploring more music specifically from Okinawa, which is one of the most fascinating musical cultures in the world. Shang Shang Typhoon effectively disbanded around 2010, and don't seem to be as well known today. I wonder if people in Japan remember them? Most of their albums are out of print. This compilation CD absolutely worked as far as compelling me to investigate further, as I've bought as many Shang Shang Typhoon albums through CD Japan's proxy service as I could find. All of which were exceptionally good.

Voice actress Inori Minase (A Place Further than the Universe, Kira Kira Precure a la Mode) has an adorable singing voice, showcased perfectly on this album. It might lack variety (most songs have a similar structure) but when in the mood, it flows beautifully. If you're a fan of Minase it's an obvious purchase.

This two-disc album of Takatsugu Muramatsu's score for the Ghibli film When Marnie Was There contains the image album on Disc 1 and the film score on Disc 2. The film score is lovely and worthwhile, but the fairly short (22 min) Image album is worth the price alone. The five tracks (not including a piano reprise of "Anna") are utterly sublime. Muramatsu has composed sumptuous, grand, emotional music that recalls Joe Hisaishi at his finest.

Sometimes it's worth buying an album just for one song. I like every track on this album, but the main reason I bought it was for 'Wanna Be An Angel'. Some of Yoko Kanno's songs are so achingly beautiful that I start levitating as soon as I hear the first few notes. The song is also available on Akino Arai's 20th Anniversary compilation Sora no Uta, which includes 'Voices', of course. Most of the other tracks on For Fans Only are repeated from Macross Plus Original Soundtracks I & II, but with alternate arrangements. Yoko Kanno fans, or Macross fans, don't need convincing. You already proudly own this.

The first song on this album, Sphere-Ism, is one of those ridiculously cheerful, bouncy, happy pop tunes that makes me grin and want to jump up and down. It's catchy and feelgood in a way that melts cynicism. I'm happy to have bought this album just for that song. There I was thinking 'I'm too cool and hip to like this kind of silly J-pop nonsense'. WRONG. Surrender to Sphere's amazingly sunny, happy songs. Most modern pop music doesn't sound like this. This is something else. The production isn't stupidly overblown, the melodies are simple but solid. The songs aren't limp and insipid the way most idol groups' songs are. There's an ineffable quality here. I still can't quite believe how much I like this music. I took a chance on Sphere because members Haruka TOMATSU and Minako KOTOBUKI are both Precure voice actresses (Cure Fortune and Cure Diamond, respectively). Thanks again to Precure for introducing me to so much delightful new music.

One of two song compilations taken from Haruka Tomatsu's solo albums. The other, Starlight, contains slower, more subdued ballads and the like, while the songs on this collection are all upbeat, happy and fun. Tomatsu is a member of voice actress girl group Sphere, and the songs here are very similar. Straightforward cheerful bouncy J-pop. Nothing particularly adventurous musically, but if you like this kind of thing, this is a fine album. It's grown on me the more I've listened to it, prompting me to check out her other albums.

An incredible score by Naoki Sato, full of driving, intense, brooding rhythms, powerfully evoking a nightmare world of death and destruction. Sato has written many sweet, lovely melodies over the years, including five seasons of Precure (where I first discovered him), but he is impressively eclectic. In the last decade he has developed a compelling repetitive style reminiscent of Hans Zimmer, but forging his own compositional path. The opening track 'Final Battle in Tokyo' is a knockout introduction to a dark musical world beckoning adventurous soundtrack fans to enter.

It's a delight to discover new artists through their associations with other artists. As a Yoko Kanno obsessive, I've explored various musicians and singers she's worked with over the years. One such performer is Megumi Nakajima, who debuted as Ranka Lee in the Kanno-scored Macross Frontier. Since then Nakajima has gone on to be a distinguished singer and voice actress. This excellent value 2-CD set is a great overview of her singing career to date. Several tracks are anime OPs & EDs. Nakajima has a beautiful, memorable voice and most of the songs are a delight to listen to.

I'm not a fan of Strike Witches at all, but I am a big fan of Ami Koshimizu, who sings all the songs on this EP. Koshimizu gave one of the all-time great performances in Kill La Kill as Ryuuko Matoi. She was also superb as Hibiki/Cure Melody in Suite Precure. Her name ensures I'll give something a go. I have no context for these songs, but they're decent, and I like Koshimizu's voice.

This review is more biased than usual, as this was the first Yoko Kanno album I ever bought, back in 1996, and it's hugely sentimental for me. It was instantly captivating, and since then I've immediately bought (or tried to buy) anything Kanno has been involved with. Kanno had composed a number of Japan-only video game soundtracks before Macross Plus, but this was the soundtrack that first made the world notice her. It was distributed in English-speaking countries and I bought it off the shelf in Melbourne without knowing anything about it except that it was anime-related. As a budding fan in what was effectively the pre-internet days, anything anime-related stood out. While Voices became the most-well known track on this album, it was Kanno's eclecticism that really impressed me. The way she switched between different musical styles, sometimes within the same song, taking two sounds that seem like they would clash but making them meld perfectly, was a rare gift. In a lot of anime OSTs, it's jarring when the orchestral score is interrupted by a modern pop song (Michiru Oshima's original Fullmetal Alchemist soundtrack is a notorious example). But in Kanno's musical world, it all fits. It all sounds like it belongs together. I still have that first copy of Macross Plus Original Soundtrack I. The fact that it's still in print speaks to its quality and longevity.

This CD is essential for anyone interested in Yoko Shimomura's music. It features full symphonic arrangements of selected cues from her Legend of Mana score, reworked so that all tracks finish, rather than fade out. This is a huge plus if, like me, you don't particularly like the way most tracks on video game soundtrack albums tend to fade out. The music itself is beautiful and expressive, evoking an immersive fantasy world.

Hinako Tsubakiyama is a young composer who demonstrates great promise with her first solo anime score, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale. The tone is light, whimsical and charming. It's a sweet, ethereal score that works perfectly on its own away from the show it was written for (which I haven't seen). There are a lot of recent anime scores in a similar vein that veer too close to twee and treacly, but Tsubakiyama's music avoids that trap, remaining lovely throughout. I look forward to hearing more from her.

A Place Further than the Universe is one of my favourite anime series. I've seen it four times and I never skip the opening. Whenever I watch the show, the first few notes of "The Girls Are Alright!" are an instant jolt of delight. It's a great song, and it couldn't be more suitable. A perfect combination of music and image. It's an overwhelmingly beautiful sequence, for an overwhelmingly beautiful series. The song is playing in my head as I'm typing this, and it's making me smile again.

A new Precure season means a new soundtrack, which I look forward to every year as much as the show itself. Erika Fukasawa's first OST for Hirogaru Sky Precure is an enjoyable, eclectic collection of styles and sounds, with the expected mix of heroic themes for the Precure action and quieter and quirkier tracks accompanying Sora, Mashiro, Tsubasa and Ageha's everyday lives. The transformation theme isn't as outstanding as previous ones in the series, but the main heroic melody for Sora is strong and works perfectly in the show. As a huge fan of the show's music, this was an automatic purchase. I've been very satisfied with every Precure soundtrack album.

The eponymous Carole & Tuesday required songs so beautiful they could stop anyone in their tracks and make them listen. Songs that are sweet and delicate, full of power and emotion, sincere and passionate, something to jolt the listener out of the haze induced by banal pop pap. A musical challenge Shinichiro Watanabe and co. have risen to superbly. In order to fully appreciate the songwriting miracle achieved here, you must listen to all of Carole & Tuesday's songs, spread across Soundtracks 1 & 2. These CD's are worth buying for those songs alone. The rest of the tracks are a mixed bag, as many of the other songs are meant to represent modern pop music, and that's not as appealing as the more down-to-earth songs of the heartbreakingly beautiful titular duo.

As a Yoko Kanno obsessive, this concert was mandatory. It's a solid, fun show. Singers Megumi Nakajima and May'n are the focus, but Kanno is why I bought it. She wrote all the music and appears on stage throughout. Her delight in performing music is beautiful. She looks like she's having the time of her life. I wish I could have seen this live. The song arrangements are stronger than on the Macross Frontier albums.

Lavish, hardcover book with many pre-production images from the Alita movie, many from as early as 2005 when it was first being planned. These kinds of "Art and Making of..." books that accompany big movies are always an excellent purchase if you're a fan of the movie. As a Japanese language learner, as well as a huge fan of the movie, there was no question of buying this. Honestly it was worth it just for the photos of Alita's hands (on Dr Ido's 'doll' body). Her hands are stunningly beautiful.

This is a wonderful show to listen to in any language. Some of the performances here might not have the same grand full-bodied gusto as in the Broadway original, but it's still a total delight. The woman playing Elpheba here cannot quite pull off those huge numbers with the same intensity as say, Idina Menzel, but that might be just because I'm so used to hearing Idina singing these songs. In other songs, such as "As Long As You're Mine", or "One Short Day" she is perfectly lovely. I love listening to the Japanese language and hearing a show that I'm so familiar with in English interpreted this way is not only hugely enjoyable but fascinating.