Review by Pauline
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Ameagari no Hana Yo SakeMinori ChiharaA bright and sunny single.
This single is definitely very different compared to Chihara Minori's previous single "Melty Tale Storage". The song Ameagari no Hana Yo Sake has a very light and upbeat tune and Minorin's voice fits into it perfectly. I especially like the part where Minorin showcased the power of her vocals during the high key parts. This song clearly proves that Minorin is not only just a professional voice actress but a professional singer as well. The second song "Say You?" is a slow sentimental song and it is suitable for easy listening. Not a bad song but it's not as powerful as the first song. Overall, this is a very good single not to be missed by Minorin fans.
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Minori Chihara 1st Live Tour 2008 -Contact- Live DVDMinori ChiharaA Decent 1st Live Tour
The first thing that I noticed when I first watched the concert was the venue was pretty small and the stage were not very extravagantly decorated. The concert itself were small scaled if you compare it to other voice actresses concerts such as Mizuki Nana's or Horie Yui's. However, Chihara Minori made it up with her steady vocal skills and her crowd interaction skills. Overall, watching this concert felt as if you're watching some live unplugged version performance. It's calm and soothing. Chihara Minori herself rendered all her songs smoothly and the live band too did a great job providing the background music. All in all, it's a decent start for Chihara Minori and a concert enjoyable for everyone, even if you're a not a fan of Chihara Minori.
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GREAT ACTIVITY [CD+DVD] [Limited Pressing]Nana MizukiNana! Nana! Nana!
This new album "Great Activity" has show us once again that Mizuki Nana is not just a voice actress but also an extremely multi-talented singer as well. There are 15 songs in this album and at least 4 different singing genres inside. The first song "Bring It On" is a hard rock metal like song, something which many fans may find it unfamiliar to the usual Nana-chan's energetic style. The album also has several jazzy, easy listening songs, contemporary pop style songs and last but not least the usual energetic songs like Aoi Iro. The limited edition DVD is also an extremely good buy for it contains almost 2 hours of Nana-chan's goodness. It's basically a show where fans got to vote for their all time favorite Nana-chan's song and she herself personally performed the top 11 songs and another extra 3 songs as encore. Her performance never falter and she never fails to hype up the crowd. I highly recommend this album to all Mizuki Nana fans out there. Get it before it's too late.
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Days / Say cheese! [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]Yui HorieBeautiful 'Days' from Hoc-chan
Another breakthrough single from Horie Yui. She is certainly proving herself not only capable in becoming a voice actress, she's also capable in becoming a good singer. "Days" is a sweet song without any heavy instruments and this song can just turn your sad days into happy days. The second song "Say Cheese!" is also very good. It's heavier on the instruments but the lyrics are very cheeky and easy to sing along. Though spending extra hundreds of yen to get a DVD with only one PV might bring doubts to shoppers, but once you view the PV, all doubts will be gone. It's a sweet standalone PV (meaning this PV has nothing to do with the anime Nagasare Airantou). Rather, this PV is done similarly like all other J-pop singers PV. This PV shows us the cute side of Hoc-chan and must not be missed by all Hoc-chan's fans. All in all, this single is another brilliant single from Horie Yui. Get it now.
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Nana Mizuki Livedom -Birth- at BudokanNana MizukiGreat concert, bad camera
This is a very good concert from Nana-chan. Featuring songs like Eternal Blaze, Heaven Knows, Super Generations, etc this concert is a must get for all Nana-chan's fans. Furthermore more this concert was recorded using high definition camera and if you have high definition LCD/Plasma television, you will feel as if the concert is happening right in your living room. Mizuki Nana herself gave an extremely applauding performance showing off her great vocal skill and dancing skill as well. Another plus point of this concert is that Nana-chan actually performed a song with only piano as the accompaniment. Guess who the pianist is. She definitely made the concert a very memorable one. On the downside, the camera view seemed to be running here and there all the time. Just when Nana-chan is showing off her dancing skill the camera panned and zoom out to the crowd. Disappointing. However don't be marred by one con. Buy this dvd for all the pros that it offers.
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Anime Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru Theme Song: Love Power [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]Aice5 (Akemi Kanda, Masumi Asano, Madoka Kimura, Tomoaki Takahashi, Yui Horie)Cute songs from a cute group
If you're thinking of either getting the regular version or the limited edition of this single, I'd say grab the limited edition ASAP. The limited edition comes with a promotional clip of the song Love Power and also the making of the PV. Though it's only a 20 minutes show for the whole special edition DVD, it's definitely worth it. After all, it's nice to watch members of the Aice5 singing and dancing to the song Love Power. In terms of music, this single is definitely another mark of improvement from their previous single of Believe My Love. They sounded more synchronize now especially in the second song, "Smile". This is a single worth buying. Especially if you're a fan of the anime Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru for all the members of Aice5 voiced in the show too.
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Love Aice5Aice5A strong, encouraging start for Aice5
This is Aice5's very first full-length album and although they did not take the world by storm, it is strong enough to prove their willingness and seriousness in the music industry. This album is not only suitable for hardcore Aice5 fans, but for casual listeners as well. They include a variety of style in their songs such as pop, hip-hop rap, and rock. Furthermore, all 5 members of Aice5 wrote the lyrics for a song each which I feel, adds in the feeling enthusiastic that they all have for this album. The final song in the album "Stardust" gives us a brief description of every members in the group as they each rap on when their names/nicknames are being called respectively. It's a cute song that will be stuck in your head for a short period of time after listening to it. All in all, the album Love Aice5 is a not-bad album. If you're a fan of Aice5, then this album is a must get. For others, if you're willing to listen to different styles of music in an album, checking out new, emerging group, then this album is meant for you too. I hope to see more and perhaps better full length albums coming from Aice5 in near future.