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putschki1969 · 4 years

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「KEIKO First Live K001 ～I'm home～」First Impression

1.Be Yourself: Live instruments sound so much better here than in the studio version but Keiko is quite shouty and out-of-tune during some parts (mostly the chorus). Maybe not the best start but hey, I still enjoyed it. 2. 始まりは | Hajimari wa (Beginning): Better than the studio version imo but overall pretty similar. 3. Ray: Definitely better than the studio version. A lot more ooomph if you ask me. By now KEIKO is really into it and not as shouty as she was for “Be Yourself”. Unfortuantely they kept those weird electronic sounds from the studio version in the live back-up track. I had hoped they would get rid of those.

MC:She greets everyone at the venue and watching at home. She hopes we will all have a great time. Next up is a song that hasn’t been revealed yet.

4. 溜め息の消える街 |Tameiki no Kieru Machi (A Town Where Sighs Disappear): New song for the album. I like it but it’s not my favourite. From what I can make out, the lyrics are lovely though. Love the rainy vibe

MC:Keiko loves how the following song opens up wide sceneries. She has always liked that about songs so after consulting with all kinds of people, she decided to pick this song for herself even though it’s quite different from all her other songs. It’s actually the oldest song among all her pieces.

5. 茜 | Akane (Madder Red): A very traditional sound with some Chinese elements I think. Kinda like Wakana’s Kinmokusei but not quite as good imo. But still, I am blown away, such a beautiful ballad. Fits Keiko’s voice perfectly. LOVE IT (just a few tiny little off-key moments but nothing too bad)

MC: Self Introduction. 10 years of Kalafina and vocalist at YK’s lives. Some promotion for YK’s upcoming live. For the next section she wants to cover some songs that she has sung during YK lives in the past.

6. 宝石 | Houseki (Jewel): The musicians don’t do a good job here, the drums in particular sound quite out of place and borderline grating to my ears. Or is it just me? Keiko is providing lovely and solid vocals but imo they aren’t quite on par with the FJ performances I have seen in the past. 7. 風の街へ | Kaze no Machi he (Towards the Town of Wind): This one on the other hand is absolutely FLAWLESS imo, KEIKO hits every note and I just love how she chooses to sing her lines. It’s different from her old style so I don’t think you can compare it to those FJ performances from the past. But it does remind me of the more recent performance I saw during the YK live in Taiwan. The musicians also sound much more balanced here.

MC: Keiko talks about the venue being in Shibuya which is a very important place for her. She would come here weekly during her time in school since she took voice training lessons here. At one point she heard a song by Yutaka Ozaki at Shibuya Scramble Square and immediately fell in love. During her time in Kalafina she would always name him as the artist that has influenced her most. So of course she has to cover one of his songs for this live.

8. I LOVE YOU (Yutaka Ozaki Cover): This made me cr even though I have never heard this song before. You can tell KEIKO feels strongly about his music.

MC: Introduction of musicians & reading some comments Bass.目黒郁也 Ikuya Meguro (she loves his solo in Kaze no Machi he) Key.ミトカツユキ Katsuyuki Mito (he sings a bit in Hajimari wa) Gt.和田建一郎 Kenichiro Wada (Hajimari wa, Tameiki no Kieru Machi) Dr.北村望 Nozomu Kitamura (she met him at the PrincessPrincipal live)

Everyone is going crazy about Kacchan (the pianist) in the comments. She shows off her haribo gummies and M&Ms in the clear bottle. Lots of fans are having dinner while watching the live which Keiko finds super cool. She had steamed buns for breakfast. I love that she is wearing her super old boots that she used to wear back in her Kalafina-days (during live-house encores in particular). She chose an outfit in which she feels relaxed. Keiko wanted some up-beat songs for her live so the following two were chosen quite quickly.

9. エンドロール (End roll) : So the bracketed lyrics are backing vocals provided by herself. No guest vocal unfortunately. Either way, a really good song that gets everyone hyped just as promised in the tweets. Reminds me of a song but I don’t know which one. I guess this is Keiko’s “Ongaku”, maybe it even reminds me of that? 10. Change the World’s Colour: Her deep voice is back!!! Combined with a super high vibrato voice during the bridge (just wow - that singing style is gorgeous, reminds me of her singing in Sans Toi M’amie). Btw, for a second there I thought she was gonna sing “Mata Kaze ga Tsuyoku Natta”

MC: She talks about her countdown tweets where she wrote down some lyrics of the previous two songs and was teasing everyone with some hints. Keiko probably wouldn’t have chosen those two songs if it hand’t been for this live stream concert. She thanks everyone for waiting so long for her return. She is super grateful to be able to hold this live.

11. 命の花 | Inochi no Hana (Flower of Life): Stunning! As gorgeous as the studio version but much more impactful.

ENCORE: Album Release => December 2; It was planned for autumn but it ended up being winter. She apologises for letting us wait. Her excitement when she mentions that YK has written a song for her album and Kore-chan has provided the guitar playing is so freaking cute. She is the most precious human-being on this planet.

12. 七色のフィナーレ | Nanairo no Finale (Finale of Seven Colours): my first thought was that it sounded kinda futuristic XD Also, you can definitely tell it’s a YK song but it really fits Keiko’s solo style. Love it, a super catchy tune, the chorus in particular. And those lalalas!!! *is dead* 13.& 14 Double Encore Synchronicity & Nohara (Venue ONLY): Wish I had been there T_T

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Can’t wait to rewatch the archived version. My faves (in no particular order) were probably Ray, Akane, Kaze no Machi he, I LOVE YOU, End Roll, Change the World's Color, Inochi no Hana and Nanairo no Finale.

You CAN STILL BUY tickets so be sure to SUPPORT KEIKO! It’s totally worth the money. The live lasted about 1 1/2 hours, pretty short but an okay length for a first solo live I would say. The audio and video quality are great and now that the live is archived till September 13 you won’t have to deal with any streaming issues. Find my TUTORIAL here. Keiko sounded fine for the most part but occassionally she was a bit out-of-tune. She is really straining her voice with this new singing style. It’s a bit of a hit and miss I feel. But I think she will eventually figure out how to sing her songs in the best way possible. Wakana did the same thing.

Now I am gonna try to order the live goods. Will let you know whether it works or not. EDIT: Okay, I couldn’t do it since the payment needs to take place on delivery...Stupid methods from the dark ages...Need to find another way to get my hands on the goods.

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Based on her past experiences, an original album which expresses a "new KEIKO" with various sounds will be released on December 2nd!! A special song written for KEIKO by Yuki Kajiura - a legend within the world of anisong - will be included in this album. It’s titled "七色のフィナーレ | Finale of Seven Colours" and the lyrics are written by KEIKO!! Release date： 2020/12/2 Title：to be decided 【CD Contents】・命の花・Be Yourself ・Ray ・始まりは・七色のフィナーレ and others (a total of 10 songs)

https://avex.jp/keiko-singer/news/detail.php?id=1085854

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Hikaru’s reaction tweet after watching KEIKO’s live stream concert.

I had a great time filled with lots of fun and happiness. Looking forward to the album!

#kalafina #keiko #report #KEIKO First Live K001 ～I'm home～#random thoughts #I generally LOVED it #so much fun #Keiko was so freaking cute and beautiful #and overall she sounded solid #great sound #still trying to find her dress #long text post #couple of songs are already on youtube o.O #can't people wait a little >_>#anyways #I managed to dl the live so BANZAI for that

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anti-social--princess · 3 years

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2021.01.02 - a reflection of the best selling Japanese album nearly 22 years later

So this is my latest iteration of attempting to blog about music. Thanks for looking. Let’s get down to business. I kept languishing over what the hell to post about for my first entry in this blog, and it came to me this morning as I was info-dumping to a friend about Hikaru Utada and her debut album First Love (because we were watching Gravitation -- a first for her -- and I had flippantly remarked that Ryuichi Sakuma’s successful USA career was unrealistic and my explanation used Hikki’s disastrous attempt at a USA career for a prime example). Why not reflect on this album, even though clearly so many others have waxed endless about it?

I was 15 years old when I discovered this album -- the same age as Hikki when she released it in 1999. I was 15 in 2005, and to put it simply, exploring the world of Japanese music back then was really something. Newbies have it too damn easy these days. But I digress. And I think it’s important to highlight that bit about being 15. I simply saw her as a musical genius -- more so because I learned that is the all-time bestselling Japanese album and she was my age when she made it. And that simply threw young me for a whirl. Ayumi Hamasaki was my favorite person back then (and she still is, 15 years later), but I couldn’t deny Hikki’s “inherent” artistry.

Now, as I tumbled through my 20s, I had a problematic tendency to regress into a more immature state of mind and follow what some of my friends in the jpop fandom were saying about this album. Which is to say, they derided this album and considered it beyond overrated. At age 30, I have seen the error of my ways, and while I don’t venerate it as I did when I was a bright-eyed teen, I still regard it as a pretty damn great album. And it’s one of few jpop albums that my mom can listen to all the way through without complaints, which is great for me since it’s often a struggle to reach a middle ground with my mom about my niche interests, haha.

To someone growing up and forming their musical taste during the Y2K era (late 90s/early 2000s), the sound of First Love is really nothing special at the end of the day. Hikki was simply chasing a rising R&B trend in Japan and copying the current American R&B trends to put her own twist on the Japanese trend. She ended up setting the standard for that era’s Japanese R&B scene. Mai Kuraki a year later would try and capitalize on it with her own debut album delicious way, and it kind of worked--that album is in the Top 10 bestselling Japanese albums. MISIA was better equipped to become successful and to this day remains one of Japan’s R&B icons. I could go on with the impact, but anyway!

Being from the perspective of a 15 year old girl, I feel, is what makes this debut album so remarkable, all things considered. The debut single, and respectively the opening track of the album, Automatic is an extremely catchy, timeless bop about, well, catching feelings for someone. It’s also one of the rare occasions where I actually enjoy the first single of an album cycle being the first song on an album (a pop music practice that aggravates me and in my opinion, it has hurt the long-term success of many pop albums because of the general public’s short-term memory and tendency to buy a CD for “that one song”). In My Room is a comfy little mid-tempo further exploring the experience of catching feelings. It’s more or less a universal experience for a teenager. However, this becomes more apparent when you take in everything about the title track, First Love. It’s a beautiful, relatively simple yet impeccably produced ballad about her first major heartbreak. A lot of comments over the years have mentioned her shaky voice is a turn-off for them but I think it works and it’s why I kind of sit there stoic when I hear a more competent singer cover it (and I have heard MANY covers of this song, it’s ridiculous how often it gets covered to this day) -- the competence just doesn’t fit for a song like this. Heartbreak when you’re 15 is like the freaking end of the world and you don’t know how to unpack it, and you have to figure out how to keep it together. Keep it cool, ya know. The inexperience is what makes it. Which is why it’s frustrating to hear songs like Amai Wana ~Paint it, Black and B&C at my age because she just sounds so obviously trying to act like a grown-up when she’s very much still a child.

Sometimes the attempts at sophistication worked in the album, though. Never Let Go is another simple mid-tempo that samples Sting’s work, and as someone who grew up with a mother whose favorite band is The Police and also loved Sting’s solo work (I’m more partial to his solo work, myself), I can’t help but enjoy it. Her voice here is just so cute. And it’s an earnest cute, not cutesy for the sake of it. Another Chance is an example of how you can take a song about heartbreak and polish it with a dance-style backing track and it just works. For a more contemporary example, I’d recommend Kesha’s Dancing with Tears in My Eyes and Rina Sawayama’s Tokyo Love Hotel (the bonus to listening to this one is that Rina is a huge fan of Hikki so you can easily hear her influence on it).

However, there’s moments in the album that test my patience. Movin’ on without you is a little too polished and slick, and Hikki honestly just sounds like she’s dissociating throughout the song, which is a pity considering it’s sandwiched between two strong tracks and the lyrics give the impression of confidence. Ayumi Hamasaki’s cover of it in 2014 is vastly superior, personally. She had the aid of the renowned producer RedOne (you would know him best for working with Lady Gaga) and a more natural tendency to sound genuinely confident. Give Me A Reason is just simply too long even though the production and vocals are fine. There was no need for it to be nearly 6 minutes long.

The kicker about First Love and Hikki’s career overall is that she was more or less pressured into it. Her father Teruzane Utada was a big-shot producer and her mother Junko was a legend in her own right in the enka scene as Keiko Fuji. This also explains why the album sounds really good. She admitted in later interviews in her 20s that she was doing music because she felt there wasn’t any other choice for her in life. No wonder she took a 6-year hiatus to recoup. She just wanted to feel like a regular person.

And I think, again, Hikki being 15 is why people were so infatuated with the album. The general public saw her as a young musical prodigy. It also calls to attention the misguided impression most people have about the concept of talent and prodigies: the impression that talent is natural and practice/access aren’t necessary to make it in the industry. Hikki has skills as a musician, no doubt, but it’s not because she was born with it. She grew up surrounded by musicians. She had access to practice and the tools needed for success. This is not to dismiss her artistry in any way; I am merely pointing out her privilege. And what did this privilege gain her? She’s a legend.

Certainly, in 2021, no other album will ever top the smash success and sales of First Love. But they can damn well try. And really, who can blame anyone for chasing the halcyon days of an era long-gone from the music industry?

#utada hikaru #jpop #music #宇多田ヒカル

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depressedoverdrawings · 4 years

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Can you hear the tumult of our youth?

KazeKi is the first romance I’ve ever enjoyed, or rather, that I emotionally connected with, as “enjoy” is a funny word choice for a work that made me feel so miserable. Personally, I’ve never enjoyed media that focuses on relationships and love, were they movies, TV, or literature.

But after I discovered KazeKi, I found myself drawn to it, almost involuntarily so. It was as if a spell had been cast. I suppose what superficially drew me in, at first, was the art. It had the charm of retro manga (I absolutely love retro manga/anime looks, IMO they have so much more character than most modern anime and manga), the nostalgic elegance of the idealized upper-class XIX century, and the unrelenting beauty and cuteness of all the boys.

It was mildly surreal and highly entertaining to witness the seed of so many shounen-ai visual tropes: The flower motifs, the flowery poetry, the impossibly pretty boys in dramatic embraces and breathy kisses, the aggressive frenchness of it all. Even it was shocking to me how these elements, instead of striking me as the tired, sappy tropes I saw them as, were now all genuine and beautiful, somehow. Even those silly sparkles around pretty boys seemed fitting. I realized these weren’t tropes back then, but elements of a sincere artistc vision. However, while the art was mesmerizing to me, I came to realize that what drew me in deeper, and kept me anchored to KazeKi, were the themes explored, and the character-based drama, the very stuff I had always avoided.

Without getting far too personal about it, Kaze to Ki no Uta was the first romance that struck something within me, somewhere personal. Now, I certainly have never faced trauma and pain anywhere near to what poor Gilbert and Serge face in their absurdly depressing story, but I definitely wouldn’t call myself emotionally and sexually resolved and healthy, and once upon a time I was a closeted boy in a catholic school, so I guess there’s space for a little bit of self-identification. My coping mechanism to my personal woes had always been to just bottle them up and distract myself with entertainment and art. And that was exactly what I was doing, browsing music on YouTube, when I stumbled upon the KazeKi OVA’s soundtrack.

I found myself listening to this gorgeous arrangement of a Chopin piece, and thought to myself, staring at the angelic figure looking back at me, across the screen: “Gee whilikers, that’s sure is a pretty drawing of a pretty girl”. Then, after reading the comments, I found out that was a boy. As much as the “draw a girl, call it a boy” school of drawing pretty boys makes me groan, I could still feel it, that first hook of interest, stabbing me. As the slideshow enticed me with pictures of Keiko Takemiya’s gorgeous art, I found myself enamoured by it. It was a particular drawing that made KazeKi finally snatch me: that same boy, lounging angelically on some sort of abstract architectural design; in the background, a neoclassical vase flanked by two neoclassical girls, and, above and below, this stunningly beautiful vegetation. So much care, skill, and good taste, concentrated in just one image! I’d have it as a poster, if I could. So, I googled “Kaze to Ki no Uta”, unwittingly throwing myself in a rabbit hole I could not have prepared myself for. Trying to read it was in itself a journey, but, to sum it up: I managed to read it about as well as one can, if they don’t speak japanese and have no access to the spanish and italian translations.

It had been years since I had started feeling emotionally numb. My most extreme displays of emotion came in the form of quiet, teary eyes, reserved for those rare, impactful pieces of art, and those rarer moments of despair-inducing introspection that I couldn’t manage to suppress, but even those lasted little, as I fought to recover my composure. By the end of Kaze to Ki no Uta, I was a sobbing wreck, doing my best (and failing) to contain my ugly crying. Ugly crying, for god’s sake. I was ugly crying, actually sobbing like a kid, because of an yaoi manga. Crying in the shower, even! What kind of weeb had I degenerated into? It hurt. It deeply hurt, in a way I hadn’t been made to hurt in a long, long while. KazeKi had impacted me to the point that I wasn’t just sad, I was scared too, as the waterfall of emotion opened the path for that deeper, personal darkness to come out. And it did.

Now, I admit I’d been a little bit more emotionally fragile than usual right before I read it, due to the effects of the quarantine and the previous consumption of a highly depressing piece of media: Les Amitiés Particulières, which is probably even more depressing than KazeKi as it deals with a much more grounded homophobia-induced tragedy based in real life. Somehow, it didn’t impact me as much as KazeKi, however. Also, it was definitely what influenced my personal YouTube algorithm to recommend me the KazeKi soundtrack, so I wouldn’t know of KazeKi if it weren’t for Amitiés. But even then, it felt unnatural to, well, feel so much. I hadn’t felt this invested in and attached to fictional characters ever since I was a little kid, too young to realize those people in the TV weren’t real. In the following couple of weeks, I was crying over these boys, spending whole days feeling like trash, feeling mild anxiety spikes whenever I remembered about KazeKi, having (even more) difficulty falling asleep, and utterly failing to avoid thinking about my deep-seated intimate issues, all because of these dumb, pretty anime boys. Not even my trusty prayer of “they’re not real people, stop being stupid” worked. In an attempt to stop wallowing in this shounen-ai hell, I decided to consume a whole lot of escapist media while I deliberately avoided any activity related to KazeKi, be it reading the manga, listening to the OVA’s soundtrack, looking at fanart, or even just thinking about it. It “worked” for a month or so, but now I’m back here, wallowing in KazeKi’s painful beauty again, stalking the other seven people in the western world that seem to care about KazeKi, and distilling my thoughts in this bizarre textwall, in an attempt to work it out. If you’re one of those seven people, please don’t refrain from talking to me, if you feel like it! I’ve had just one opportunity to have a conversation about KazeKi, and it was in YouTube comments, for heaven’s sake. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m this afflicted by KazeKi due to its unrelenting, merciless, cruel beauty. Everything about it is presented in this assembly of pure beauty and lost perfection, this painful nostalgia that is present in its aesthetics of an idealized Europe which lives only in its surviving art, that is present in the story which ultimately tells us of the loss of love, and is present in the fact that the whole story is a broken man’s reverie about the past. Tragedy might make me sad, but tragedy with beauty will destroy me. Bittersweetness is just so more cruel than bitterness. And it was this masterpiece of sadistic bittersweetness that permanently broke something in how I deal with my emotions. Kaze to Ki no Uta touched me deeply, to the point of leaving a permanent impression, I’m afraid. I can count in one hand the pieces of art that have punched my soul in the face like KazeKi did. I am honestly flabbergasted over the effect it had over me. At first I felt embarrassed over being emotionally obliterated by a freaking shounen-ai, but I’ve since come to the conclusion that KazeKi is a work of art, a genuine, sincere work of art, deserving of the title. Now I just hope I’m not alone in being emotionally obliterated by this freaking shounen-ai. After everything they went through, the personal fights, the shaky development of their relationship, the undeserved ostracism at Lacombrade, Auguste’s demonic persecution, the escape; how could it be that Gilbert’s life would end in such a horrible way, and that Serge would be left alone to face the full, unbearable weight of his grief! Why?! Keiko Takemiya, you’re a vile sadist. You’re a genius, too, of course. But you’re a vile sadist.

I knew that a happy ending wasn’t going to happen. The horrible ending was a pretty early spoiler, really. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t stop myself from reading on anyway, and I couldn’t stop myself from having an inkling of illogical hope. Even if my logical self knew a happy ending wasn’t gonna happen, it couldn’t prepare me for just how tragically their love would end, and how awful it all would feel, once I knew their full story.

It’s all the more bitter because of how close Serge came to saving him, too. Having escaped together to a place where they could’ve built the nearest thing to a normal life a gay couple could have, back then. But in the end, not even Serge’s love could mend Gilbert’s mutilated soul. Those boys deserved so much better, especially Serge. Serge, you sweet angel! You were created to suffer.

KazeKi really is a masterpiece in how it explores its extremely heavy themes and the minds of its characters, and how it flawlessly meshes that with perfect art. There are many moments in KazeKi that haunt me: Serge letting that bird go, Serge’s vision of Gilbert at the Lacombrade grounds, Gilbert running into the carriage, angel wings behind him; Serge laying alone on the bed in Room 17. I cannot look at those pages without tearing up and feeling this horrible feeling in my heart, and this feeling is literal: My heart actually feels heavy and constricted when I think about it, it can’t be healthy. Up until now, I thought “cri evrytiem” was just a meme. KazeKi has woken me up to the fact that bottling up one’s own personal issues will inevitably end with them exploding out, leading to something much, much worse. I am scared by the prospect of facing my personal issues. To me, they are horribly strong, and seem incredibly hard to solve, if they’re even solvable at all. I’m horrified by the prospect of facing them, working to solve them. I’m so scared, that simply thinking about it, right now, gives me this awful weight in my chest, and makes me want to cry, again. But I know now that I have no choice in this matter, as the only alternative is that abyss I dare not speak of, and one cannot return from. Melodramatic? Yes. But I did just read Kaze to Ki no Uta.

Thank you for getting this far, whoever you are.

I’m forever haunted by Serge’s words to his long-gone Gilbert, right at the beginning:

“Gilbert Cocteau, you were the greatest flower to ever bloom in my life. In the faraway dreams of youth, you were a bright red flame, blazing so fiercely… You were the wind that stirred my branches. Can you hear the poem of the wind and trees? Can you hear the tumult of our youth? Oh, there must be others who so remember their own days of youth…”

#kaze to ki no uta #the poem of the wind and trees #rant #shounen ai

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kazetokinouta-a · 4 years

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List of Good Kazeki Fanfictions

There are a lot of fanfictions about Kaze to Ki no Uta on the Internet, in this list we are going to see only the finished ones.

Warning: I do not own the rights to any of the stories cited here, all credits are their proper authors. The following list is for fan to fan promotion only. Kaze to Ki no Uta belongs to Keiko Takemiya.The stories here were all I read and the ones in English are complete.

When the Earth Touched the Water

Link : https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13113410/1/When-the-Earth-Touched-the-Water

One Shot Writed by Despaired Author

Synopsis:In a world where one's zodiac sign determines one's looks and abilities, a Capricorn learns the dangers of crossing a seemingly harmless Pisces. (Zodiac Personification AU)

My opinion:It's a short story, but a very good one. If you are looking for something different and with a lighter plot then this fanfic is perfect for you.

Dull Gold Silence

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12478185/1/Dull-Gold-Silence

One-shot by Despaired Author

Synopsis:Just another day in Paris for Serge and Gilbert after the accident. (Canon divergence from Volume 17)

My Opinion: It is sad and happy at the same time, Gilbert does not die but is sequeled after the events of volume 17.

Shut up, Please!

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11676501/1/Shut-Up-Please

One Shot by Despaired Author

Synopsis: "Oh my god, will you shut up already!" — In which Gilbert only meant to kiss Serge to shut him up… at least, in the beginning.

My Opinion: This is more romantic with a bit of humor, has no sad ending and has a kind of provocative scene at the end.

Twisted Fate

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10370751/1/Twisted-Fate

One Shot by Despaired Author

Synopsis: The two of them fought, and one ran away. The other set out to search for him. As the rain pours down, the runaway finds himself back down the road where the carriages would mainly enter Paris. Their fates are sealed, and the fate one shall meet is beyond twisted. Yaoi. Character Death. No like, no read.

My Opinion: Beautiful, sad and inspiring are the words I would use to describe this story. Just say one thing, prepare tissues for the end.

SergexGilbert Music

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9233685/13/SergexGilbert-Music

13 Chapters by Despaired Author

Synopsis: Series of short stories based on songs I have randomly heard on the radio. Also songs I think would match my favorite romantic couple of all time! WARNING: Yaoi/gay actions and maybe some other stuff that make this Rated T! NOT SONG-FICS! SergexGilbert There will a few chapters that will be related to each other, thereby created a mini-series within the stories!

My Opinion: A cute, well writed story, the last chapter even made my heart race. At the end of each chapter there is a very entertaining dialogue between the characters and the author.

Mirror Image

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4830983/21/Mirror-Image

21 Chapters by Enmy

Synopsis: There's a new student at Laconblade Academy. Will he gain Gilbert's trust or he will just fall in Gilbert's trap like everyone else?

My Opinion: A happy ending where Gilbert finally finds the happiness he deserves.

Untouchable

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9257141/8/Untouchable

8 Chapters by Despaired Author

Synopsis: Serge is a student at the now all-gender school Lacombrade Academy in France. Gilbert is the new student with a mysterious past and also happens to be Serge's roommate. What secrets does he hold behind his innocent appearance? And what scars are they both hiding from the world? The beautiful romance with my own little twist! Warnings inside! SergexGilbert forever!

My Opinion: A good narrative to read, with a good and peaceful ending.

Insults

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9148331/1/Insults

29 Chapters by Despaired Author

Synopsis:A prequel to my first Kaze to Ki no Uta fanfic. Serge and Gilbert's relationship slowly reveals itself at Lacombrade Academy. Will their love triumph, no matter who finds out about their secret? And what does the universe have in store to test their love? WARNING: Yaoi/Gay actions included!

My Opinion: A long story that precedes another fanfic, is a story of good quality and worth reading. A tip, read also part two, you will be thrilled.

Kissing Sins

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9113184/1/Kissing-Sins

30 Chapters by Despaired Author

Synopsis: Serge and Gilbert have run away to Paris to live a new life as lovers. Will their love survive? Will Gilbert's past tear them apart? How long will they be able to survive in Paris? Am I asking too many questions (the ultimate question)? WARNING: Yaoi/Gay actions included!

My Opinion: It's the continuation of what I said earlier, it sure is one of the best, most complete and exciting fanfics I've ever read. If you have time, read from the previous to the end of this one and you won't regret it.

Freak Like Me

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9243328/1/Freak-Like-Me

One Shot by TheWammy'sHouseReject

Synopsis: You don't belong here either, do you, Serge?

My Opinion:It is focused on Gilbert's point of view, is interesting to read and matches what the character would think.

Another Glass of Wine

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7307151/1/Another-Glass-of-Wine

One Shot y Anomalous One

Synopsis:Despite his actions in the past, Auguste Beau has very much become somebody that Jules admires, and if he wouldn't mind being seduced by him, well, that isn't his fault, is it? Spoiler/trigger warning for Rosemariné's past.

My Opinion:After reading this story, I could understand a little more about Rosemariné's past and Jules's view of Auguste. It's worth reading, it's a different thing.

Complication

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7307147/1/Complication

One Shot by Anomalous One

Synopsis: Jules' feelings for Rosemariné are far more complicated than he'd like them to be, and when they take tea together he sometimes does his best to try and understand. Spoilers/trigger warning for Rosemariné's past.

My Opinion: If you ship Rosemarine x Jules, then this fanfic is perfect for you. It shows what everyone who read the manga wants Jules to admit, his true feelings for Rossy.

Joyeux Anniversaire

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7307138/1/Joyeux-Anniversaire

One Shot by Anomalous One

Synopsis:It's Rosemariné's thirteenth birthday, and he wants a special present from Jules. Blushy awkwardness ensues.

My Opinion: It's a cute story, it shows that the feeling that exists between Rosemarine and Jules has always existed since they were children.

Perfume

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7307122/1/Perfume

One Shot by Anomalous One

Synopsis: Jules' bedroom smells of the outdoors, and books, and lavender perfume. It smells like roses, too, which is understandable and disconcerting and exactly what makes him happy.

My Opinion: This is one of those stories that make the reader imagine what could happen next, once again Rosemarine and Jules try to admit what they feel for each other, it is worth checking out.

A Thorned Rose

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4813179/1/A-Thorned-Rose

12 Chapters by eirinatakebana

Synopsis: (The synopsis is unavailable, however, it is a happy ending version of the original manga)

My Opinion: Of all the fanfics mentioned here, this is certainly one of my favorites, the story is very beautiful, well written and will make you emotional in the end.

Sleep In

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4819924/1/Sleep-In

One Shot by Sara Jaye

Synopsis: Serge, for once, wishes he could stay in bed instead of going to class.

My Opinion: One of the shortest stories, but it's cute and shows one of the few moments of joy for Serge and Gilbert.

My Only Love

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2165402/1/My-Only-Love

One Shot by X-Bride

Synopsis: Serge portrays his feeling towards Gilbert in a passionate way. Will he finally fall in love and realize his true feelings? My fist Kaze To Ki No Uta fic! Please read and comment! Thankyou!

My Opinion: The structure of the story looks like a poem, is beautiful and resembles something that Serge would actually write.

Ultima carta de despedida ( Last farewell letter)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2842927/1/Ultima-carta-de-despedida

One Shot by yamato ishida yagami

Synopsis: Gilbert escribe una carta a Serge antes de morir... ( Gilbert writes a letter to Serge before he dies ..)

My Opinion: The story is written in Spanish, but it's so good that I couldn't help but quote it here. Copy and paste the text into Google Translate, because it's worth reading, it's very good.

WonderCraft

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2446923/1/WonderCraft

One Shot by X-Bride

Synopsis: Gilbert breaks down in his black despair and Serge is there to comfront him. What will they learn about themselves and their existence? Slight attempted suicide. R&R!

My Opinion: Similar to what happens in the original manga, Serge comforts Gilbert during his suicidal thoughts, is beautiful to read and shows the real meaning of true love.

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lyendith · 4 years

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Trianthology − School Love Adventure part 1

Back to that other game! It’s hard to find the time (especially since I’m not used to reading an entire VN in Japanese) but I’ll try to move forward a little bit and at least get to the third story before the end of the month.

But first, I have to apologize − contrary to what I said it seems like the first story “Country Girl” wasn’t written by Ryūkishi07, but by Tanaka Romeo so… mea culpa.

So I picked up from where I stopped, when Keiko was hospitalized, read a bit ahead and… then the story stopped in the middle and we got back to Alice and her rabbit. Yes, that’s where the 07th Expansion weirdness is starting to kick in − instead of finishing this story, we get thrown right away in the middle of the second one: a romcom parody called School Love Adventure (Although It’s Kinda Silly to Call It That) (yes, that’s the full title). And shit only gets weirder from there.

The point-of-view character is your usual antisocial First-Person Smartass© of an MC called Amara Ibito, with his one male pal Karasuma Hidaka and his female pal Manabe Yukari. Of course he also has a shy childhood friend called Akazawa Noriha. Of course there’s a school legend about love (although a little bit twisted) and of course a whole bunch of girls are gonna go after him, with each encounter getting more ridiculous. Even the interface looks like your average dating sim − the text box now has its own buttons, meaning you have a menu in your menu so you can play while you play!

And in this game, you have choices! And if you pick the wrong choice… the camera zooms back to the point of view of someone playing the game, calling it crappy and turning it off, and it's a game over. There seems to be two kinds of "bad endings" − either the MC falls in love with a girl and they live happily ever after, or he decides to ditch everything and live his life as a slob playing games forever. Thankfully, if you click "continue" the game brings you back right before the choice even if you haven't saved.

By the end, there’s a weird twist, or hint of a twist. First the MC wonders if he's in the freaking Truman Show because there's no way so many girls would be after him, and as I kept deliberately picking game over options (because any options but the first ones lead to happy bad endings), things started to get a little clearer… In several endings, we got a glimpse of the player's face which was none other than Mikihiko from the "Country Girl" story. And in case it wouldn't be obvious enough, one of this story's girls namedrops one of the characters from Country Girl out of nowhere, to the bafflement of the MC − and mine. And just as things start to get really weird, we get back to the Metaworld before switching to the third story, Vespio 2438, a space opera.

I have no idea how they're gonna connect that to the first two stories, but now this game's got my full attention.

Regarding SLA, while the fact that new (Ryuukishi-drawn) girls appear out of nowhere every minute only to give you bad endings seems like a potshot at clichéd romcom games, I really dig said girls' designs, so I kinda hope they're not one-off jokes… but I doubt it, as they're clearly meant to be shallow clichés − you got the serious stuco president, the passionate sports club captain, the cool distant beauty, the Cute Clumsy Girl who's Late for School with a Toast of Tardiness, the Ojou, and the girl who's in an arranged marriage with the MC. Oh, and there's a Rika/Bernkastel expy among those girls, because of course there is.

But even putting aside all the meta-meta-shit, SLA part 1 was actually really fun to read for its sheer absurdity, and I laughed more than once.

Well then, see you next time to start Vespio, and I’ll leave you with a bunch of random pretty pics!

Kujou Yukina (with posters of Shannon and Terumi from Hotarubi in the background)

Kirihara Hinata

Takatori Fuuka

Miumiya Hinako

Kuonji Miho

Dlanor trying to make ends meet between two executions.

Shion and Satoshi in the poster behind. D’awww.

Black Ops Duty: Call of Battlefield. Or something.

Not pictured: the girl who comes to abduct you in a helicopter at the end. No, really.

#Trianthology #review #School Love Adventure

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youturnitintolight-blog · 6 years

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『Kalafina’s All Time Best 』Looks/Outfits Challenge ~ PV Outfits

Sorry @putschki1969 I'm stealing borrowing your template

Also, these are not in order!

Group Outfits:

I do like many of the outfits, but there is always one that I don't like very much. This was surprisingly difficult. Special mentions go the ring your bell, Yume no Daichi, and the to the beginning PV's.

Magia PV: This PV was the first of Kalafina's that I watched and I fell in love with the dominatrix look with the leather and the high boots with the flowing fabric. Hikaru especially, looks like a queen in this song with her hairstyle, and owns the song. I also love Wakana's sleeves and Keiko's jacket.

into the world PV: Did someone say... LACE?! These dresses would be just your average white dresses for me, but the lace around the chest and the sleeves really sells it for me - it reallt gives an elegant style that fits the setting of the room in the PV as opposed to the beach with their jackets

Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa PV: These outfits are popular throughout the fandom, and I love them to death. The pure victorian gothic lolita aesthetic of these dresses fit the song and the PV in a way that is utterly gorgeous

Wakana Outfits:

believe PV: Wakana's dress is so shiny and coupled with her straight hair (which I am always a sucker for) suits her really well

Hyakka Ryouran PV: I absolutely adore Wakana's hairstyle here with the ribbon. The shoulder off look always shows off Wakana's collarbones and here is no exception and the single flowing arm along with the patterns make her look beautiful

into the world PV: The lace design on Wakana's dress is absolutely beautiful I don't have words for it. I usually don't like this kind of hairstyle on Wakana, but it looks beautiful with this dress

Keiko Outfits:

blaze PV: I love Keiko in a ponytail, and this dress is quite cute and suits it. What sells the dress for me is the flowing arm which is just the right type of fabric imo (not too heavy and not too thin). The cut of the neck is quite nice as well

Hyakka Ryouran PV: I love the flowing sleeves on this dress, it really sets it apart from the other girls with its bright red that catches your attention. The layers of fabric is something that I'm not usually a fan of but on this dress it's small enough that I can look over it. Again, the patterns are gorgeous

storia PV: I adore the puffy sleeves and the decoration on the chest (she kinda looks like a maid it's cute). The hair decorations are not too OTT and complements the curls of her hair. The fabric of the skirt is my favourite out of the three and I love boots on Keiko

Hikaru Outfits: tbh Hikaru's hairstyles are the standouts of these outfits imo

Hikari Furu PV: I freaking LOVE the hair decoration + hairstyle, she looks very elegant and cute at the same time. I also like the puffy sleeves, I feel like they really sell the dress for me. I also love the cut of short at the front of more flowing at the back, it looks better on here than on the other dresses

Kimi no Gin no Niwa PV: The design of this dress is quite simple but it's simplicity is really the selling point. It's a very cute look, with the small boots, the short, loose dress with that small amount of embroidery and curled hair

Hikari no Senritsu: Hikaru's dress of the HnS dresses is my favourite. Although the chains are a bit too much for my taste, this yellow looks really nice on Hikaru and the small amount of red really adds to it. The straight hair is also really nice, and the length of the sleeves I've always thought is cute, and the boots are always nice with shorter dresses.

#kalafina #keiko #wakana #hikaru #pictures #kalafinaalltimebestchallenge #kalafinalookschallenge

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tomioneer · 6 years

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yyh rewatch post 7?? I think??

this is gonna suuuuuuck. eps 20 and 21 and 22.

the english title of this episode is, for once, WAY MORE DRAMATIC than the Japanese title. episode 20 is called Seven Ways To Die holy shit

yusuke informs suzaku what any shounen fan already knows: pissing off the hero is the worst mistake any villain could make

yusuke remembers he’s here for a whistle, not a brawl, but gets punched and electrocuted in the process

yusuke continues to deny his feelings. meanwhile, dickbag iwamoto chases Keiko and botan with scissors

suzaku doesn’t seem to realize he’s a fucking fashion icon,or he wouldn’t be doing this shit, he’d be working the runway.

hearing laura bailey (keiko) screaming is the worst thing, because all I can think is that it’s not keiko--it’s honda tohru from fruits basket. NO ONE FUCKING HURTS TOHRU

the real Worst Mistake suzaku made was putting keiko’s misadventures on a screen where yusuke can see whether or not she’s still alive. if he couldn’t see, he'd be worried to distraction about her.

suzaku claims all his other selves have free will and their own initiative, but then they all use the same attack at the same time???

yet another jackass villain is surprised when yusuke stands up

“that shows you don’t know me very well. my whole life has been borrowed time.”--urameshi yusuke, a fourteen-year-old with no self-worth. I. want to hug him.

he says this with full conviction and hero eyes. he believes it.

last arc we got to see kuwabara be tortured. now we get to watch yusuke go through it too. lovely.

this makes the third arc in a row in which Yusuke ends up bound in some way, this time beind held in place my two of the suzaku clones

suzaku puns at yusuke, who is being electrocuted, by saying the words “shock of terror” about keiko’s situation.

yusuke shouts for botan, his friend, definitively showing that romantic bonds aren’t the only things worth fighting for.

epilepsy warning for episode 20 of yu yu hakusho.

jorge just assumes yusuke is dead, or about to be

shows what he knows.

the dub gives koenma more credit than he deserves by having him freak out about potentially having to give in to suzaku’s demands for the sake of humanity. in the subs, he’s panicking about being in trouble with his dad again.

kuwabara misses by like. two feet. the idiot. he’s trying so hard to get to his boy. meanwhile, the True Battle Couple clear the way themselves.

scene transition is yusuke screaming in agony.

I hope justin cook took care of his voice

URAMESHI IS CRYING

oh because he thinks keiko is dead already

genkai is the little voice in yusuke’s head.

still being electrocuted, yuuske laughs at suzaku

YUSUKE SAID BITCH

amazing

“training under critical conditions”

my boy has such good hero eyes

he looks so good with his hair down why is he such a little greaser.

genkai’s breaking speech to him is completely different in the dub. I’m going to have to watch the sub later, aren’t I?

shots of his friends being in life-threatening moments are interspersed with his mother sobbing over his death, and keiko kissing him back to life like the princess he is

I’m legit tearing up this is so awful I love it

it’s so fucking relatable that yusuke only finds worth in how he’s viewed by the people he cares about

“Did I miss something,” suzaku asks flatly, “or did you just get five times more powerful?”

Oh buddy. you missed something.

i love

sometimes i forget that I judge all action heroes by sailor moon and yusuke urameshi. the purity of intent, the lengths to which they’ll go for others... the clarity in their eyes as they look at a person or situation and see it as it really is. sailor moon forgiving her enemies while yusuke judges his. these are the standards I demand from my heroes.

on a gayer note, keiko cradles botan in her arms like a dramatically fainted lover.

yusuke, about this whistle: please be close by (looks around) It’s far away. typical.

yusuke threatens a demon bird and calls her a smartass

this would be a lot better if I didn’t know there was more fight left.

jorge thinks yusuke’s telling the truth about having power left, but he’s absolutely bluffing.

there are yet more plant zombies coming in. but like. I realize now, they are.. plants?? fighting kurama??? WHY IS THIS EVEN STILL A CONCERN???

suzaku gets back up. dub suzaku says yusuke’s attack wasn’t strong enough to kill him, but the subs say it was a matter of aim.

as much blood as there are when someone is getting hurt, I’m surprised there isn’t much when someone is already injured. it’s just torn clothes

koenma seems to be... flying? around his office?

koenma also urges yusuke to use a missile launcher. because he totally has one in his school uniform pockets.

it’s off that in the commercial bumper for the show, yusuke’s spirit gun is yellow, but in the show, it’s always, always blue

the stairs our three boys are on crumble away at suspiciously inconvenient time

they used seven different zooms of the same animation to make it seem like seven different shots. anime on a budget i guess

suzaku’s second great mistake was definitely telling yusuke the requirements for actually killing him

yusuke’s fucking dying again

that was hella badass though, projecting his life energy to save keiko and botan

suzaku lives just long enough to deliver a ‘oh I understand you immense strength now’

kuwabara is just like, ‘oh, I’ll just die for him, no biggie’.

magic cpr I guess

kurama alludes back to trying to die for his own mother. good boy.

are they dead or just. gay.

oh wait it’s both

PURE YUSUKE IS BACK BLESS HIM

WHAT IS KUWABARA WEARING

how did he explain this extended sleepover ot his parents, or, I mean. his sister???

kuwabara and kurama are fucking. pranking him.

THEY ARE THE WORST

soft haired high waisted pant boy

I mean to be fair yusuke asked botan to explain to keiko, and she just. didn’t. he left on a time limit.

keiko is so pretty and cute and so fashion. and she’s so reasonable.

I know for a fact the manga has a whole extra story in between the saint beasts arc and the yukina arc. it has one of the best gags in the series, the infamous tuxedo mask joke.

but no, instead we just get hiei delivering the tape with no fucking lead up or breathing room. if you don’t know that chapter, LOOK IT UP

BOTAN WHAT THE FUCK

meanwhile she is a nineties fashion icon

koenma is so. so full of shit

I want to make this clear to people. Yukina has been raped. They make it clear they tried “every kind of pain imaginable” to get her to cry. the most beautiful gem an ice maiden sheds is at the birth of her child.

a fan theory states there’s a good chance she’s technically infertile due to being a half-blooded ice maiden, which might be the only things that saved her from actually having to deal witht his, because we don’t know how long they’ve had her.

just. go read the tv tropes page, nightmare fuel.

tarukane just called her a “knockout” and a “frigid little whore”.

who even is this off-brand beatles rip off

at least tarukane isn’t voiced by jerry fucking jewell

this two-minute long bad guy is nasty looking as shit.

#yyh #yyh rewatch #yu yu hakusho #saint beast arc #spirit detective arc #suzaku #urameshi yusuke #yukina rescue arc

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hadi-sama · 6 years

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Super Late Kalafina 10th Anniversary Live Report!

This was my first Kala live ever, basically a dream come true and I couldn't contain my happiness and nervousness! (Special thanks to @putschki1969 for all her tutorials, this wouldn't have been possible for me without her!) I arrived at the venue around 3 pm (3 hrs before the live, 1 hr after the goods sale has started), and my god, THAT QUEUE!! I've never seen such a queue in my entire life.. at this point I wondered if I could make it on time.. but I queued anyway, and I ended up buying for some of my friends too. Anyway, my turn finally came and it was 6:15 pm.. I freaked out and the fact that most of the things I wanted was sold out already did not help at all lol, so I ended up pointing at stuff to the salesperson like a maniac and my hands were shaking when i tried to get out my money xD Now less than 10 mins are left!! I ran to the first floor and thankfully some staff guided me to my seat. The view was great and my seat was the first in the line so there were just stairs to my right, meaning I had extra space to jump around. The lights started dimming, music started playing, and I started shaking xD The girls came up on stage on a platform and I clapped and screamed like a maniac. Now to the actual concert: 01.ring your bell: Hikaru and Keiko started out okay, Wakana joined and was flat AF xD I was like noooo Wakana please don't continue like this, and thankfully she adjusted and became perfect. Wakana actually sounded so good I was quite surprised, and her 2nd high "beeeeeell" sounded great and perfectly pitched, much better than their other live releases. I don't like this song, but was a good warm up for them I guess.. 02.未来: Almost everyone in the venue stood up and got excited for this. 03.lirica: This was extremely unexpected for me, I remember dropping my jaw when Keiko announced it in the MC, and I also remember hearing ppl around me saying huuuh in surprise.. My god, was this a perfect performance in every way.. Wakana was pitch-perfect and sounded SO GOOD in her verses!!! Keiko harmonized perfectly too, and Wakana's high chorus was great too, and Hikaru's harmonization was so good. Now to the Kajiurago bridge.. KEIKO KILLED IT!!! Was so deep and filled Budokan!! I really wanted to jump/scream/clap after her solo, but wouldn't be appropriate for this kind of song lol. Great great great performance. Bonus thoughts: The strings in the verses were great, and it was so fun to look at the band picking their strings in this part! I hope they show some footage of them in the release! 04.満天: YES!! MANTEN!! was a nice follow-up to Lirica. Wakana sounded great (at this point I realised that Wakana will dominate this live) Hikaru was fine. Keiko was good in her solo, but I really miss the way she used to sing it in 2012-2013 with some vibrato to "deshoooou", but it sounded good anyway. 05.屋根の向こうに: I have only heard this song once or twice in my life lol, was quite surprised to see it make an appearance! I didn't know it was popular at all! 06.光の旋律: I know this song is overplayed, but I really enjoy it, and was happy to see it. Hikaru was good in her verses, much like 9+one. Wakana was great, Keiko was great too (but kinda loud and screaming at times) and her solo was good also. Hikaru's high harmonies were great (a few flats here and there, so those of you who think that her high harmonies in this song are always playback, they are NOT playback). Bonus thoughts: The flute was so good, I'm so happy that Akagi-san was there, 07.storia: Eh.. I don't like this song, but they were good. 08.夏の林檎: WHAT?!!! NATSU NO RINGO?!?! At this point I wondered if this was real xD Too many surprise appearances so far!! And they performed it the way they did in Red Day, with Wakana and Hikaru switching parts. 09.serenato: So.. the accordion started.. and I definitely realised it was Serenato (there were minor hints in the solo). I KNEW they'd perform this! My happiness could not be contained!! THAT PERCUSSION THO!! They started with their kajiurago, THEY ALL KILLED IT!! Hikaru sang using her falsetto, and it was on point, provided a more calming atmosphere to the song than her old regular voice singing (tho way less fierce). Wakana was on fiiiiiirrrrrreeeeeeeeee!! It was obvious that she was enjoying this song!! Keiko was great in her harmonies, and Hikaru as well. I REALLY can't wait for the live release!! 10.ARIA: Oh shit.. The moment of truth.. My heart started pounding so hard.. This is one of my absolute fav songs and I have a strong emotional connection to it! The song started in a lower key, as expected (one key lower). Hikaru started singing.. HER VERSES WERE SO GOOD!! The lower key really suits the song and makes it sound way more tragic, sad and lonely. She sang in a very very very sad and broken way, and you can actually see all those feelings in her face :( Wakana and Keiko were also great with their harmonies. Wakana sang her chorus lines beautifully. Solid performance overall, my favorite ARIA ever. Bonus thoughts: I really love this new ARIA, and prefer Hikaru's way of singing here and this key over the old one, it suits the lyrics way more, It brought tears to my eyes and made me cry like a baby. The cello was more present, and really added to the song’s atmosphere. Percussion was very very very good, it's good to finally see this song with percussion!! 11.sprinter: wait what Sprinter NOW this early in the setlist why xD?!?! Hikaru did good (I especially LOVE how she sang the “Kaze ni..” verse. Keiko was on point, a bit loud at times tho. Wakana was great. 12.oblivious: Of course, wouldn't be an anniversary live without it. Hikaru started in falsetto (like 9+one), she was so good. Wakana and Keiko were great, and their "itsuka kimi to.." part was very emotional. Solid performance. 13.傷跡: Another surprise appearance!! Was a great performance by all three, Hikaru was great with her high harmonies, Wakana and Keiko also great with their solos and harmonies. This live can't get any better; I thought to myself. 14.君が光に変えて行く: YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!! MY FAV SONG UGH SOMEONE HELP I CAN'T!! But then.. Keiko sings with her cutesy voice. Someone needs to tell Keiko to stop using that voice forever, please. Wakana DELIVERED!! Aaaaah Wakana was so good!! :((( Hikaru’s harmonies were on point. Great performance EXCEPT WHEN KEIKO WAS USING THAT CUTESY VOICE. Sorry I'm still mad about it and can't get over it. 15.カンタンカタン: This is too much, at this point I got overwhelmed by the amount of good songs in this live. Wakana sounded MUCH BETTER than the studio version!! Hikaru's solo was nice. Keiko AGAIN used her fake cutesy voice for her solo :((( to me, that's basically the highlight of the song, so I was very disappointed, even though she hit her notes perfectly. I know in the studio version there are hints of cutesy in her solo, but it didn't matter much. Anyway, solid performance overall and Wakana sounded kinda more sad. 16.symphonia: Not a fan of this song, didn't pay much attention. 17.red moon: YeeeeY finally a song I voted for! I was so excited and scared at the same time, cuz their last performance of this song (arena) was so dead. Hikaru and Keiko's kajiurago start was perfect, Wakana started singing and.. was kinda lacking energy.. Keiko's harmonising was SO GOOD throughout the whole song. Hikaru sounded kinda tired but was doing her best. Keiko's final solo was great and gave me goosebumps. Wakana's delivery lacked energy overall, but she hit all her highs and lows perfectly. 18.adore: What? Is this AE Live xD? Was a nice performance overall. 19.to the beginning: I like this song, I know it's overplayed but it was my introduction to Kalafina, so it has a special place in my heart. Was a solid performance for such a hard song.

20.progressive: I also knew this would be performed, the stage got lit in rainbow colors, was so cool. A solid performance by all three! Hikaru was able to perform this song and did so well! I enjoyed this performance. 21.音楽: Of course, wouldn't be a Kalafina Live without Ongaku xD Was a nice performance with a MAJOR WaKei moment <3333 Keiko ran to Wakana right before her solo and jumped on her and hugged her so hard xD was super cute!! All 3 were great, and my god this is my fav Wakana-Ongaku ever!! Her solo WAS SO GOOD! The band introductions this time were nice, not as boring as they were before.

Bonus thoughts: Wakana was REALLY having fun, dancing so hard and jumping around.. I've never seen her this excited before.

22.heavenly blue: A solid performance. 23.into the world: I can't get myself to like this song. Solid performance by all three tho. 24.君の銀の庭 Accordion solo ver. ～ nightmare ballet (inst): I'm sorry but I took this chance to run to the restroom xD (sorry if this sounded disrespectful but I REALLY had to go :’( 25.ひかりふる: Started with a piano solo, and the girls came in with wedding dresses.. I was like WTF why the wedding dresses xD they were nice anyway and fit the song. The song started with just Wakana and the piano.. was absolutely wonderful and breathtaking :(((( they all sounded more emotional! The drums and the whole band kicked in together right before Hikaru's "hakanasugite.."!! WAS SO GOOD!! Major goosebumps! Keiko's "mabushii asaaaaaaaa.." was great, but I think she held it longer in the Arena Live. Beautiful beautiful performance. 26.百火撩乱: So Akagi-san came, and started playing a flute solo, very Japanese-sounding, so I knew what the next song would be. The girls started taking off some parts of their wedding dresses to reveal their "real dresses" under lol. I still laugh at how Hikaru was throwing away her wedding dress like a piece of trash xD Anyway, the instrumental part started, and the stage was illuminated in red. Keiko started her lines (Wakana didn't harmonise "yume wo miteeeeee"), Keiko was nice.. but I prefer how she sang in the studio version :/ I don't know how to explain it, but in the studio version, she sang like "naitaaa, omottaaa, kittooo, yoru nooo", but here in this live she ended them very abruptly and suddenly, like "naiTa, omoTTa, kiTTo, yoru No". In other words, the last syllables of those words were 3 three times shorter than the studio version, and that annoyed me so much, made the verses sound less powerful. (I hope someone actually understood what I meant xD). Hikaru sounded nice. Wakana, sang wonderfully, and took less breaths in the chorus, which sounded better for the song. Keiko's "yaibaaaaa" was much better and longer than the studio version. (Forgive my super picky and detailed review of this performance, but HR one of my favs and I spent a long time to cover this song so I know pretty much everything about this song in detail.) Bonus thoughts: The flute was super good. 27.アレルヤ: A perfect ending song to the concert. Was a very emotional performance, and all three delivered beautifully, and the WaHi harmonies were great this time. I also like Hikaru in this song. Keiko really did sing well here too. My fav Alleliua performance ever. So the concert ended, and the girls looked super duper emotional and moved, Wakana cried in her speech, Keiko took a few deep breaths before her speech and spoke with a super shaky voice then turned her face away and cried, Hikaru was smiling and waving to the audience section by section. Overall, a very solid concert, I am so happy I got to experience such a concert, solid setlist, solid performance, and more songs than usual. Highlights: ARIA, Serenato, Lirica, KantanKatan, Kimi ga, Natsu no Ringo. General Notes: - For such an event, I expected way more in terms of stage production and crowd involvement, but oh well they made up for that with the extra squeezed in songs. - Wakana was on fire pretty much the whole concert, she literally dominated, and was having a good time and dancing around and having fun. I really couldn't take my eyes off her. I hope they show more of her in the live release. - Keiko was great too, she harmonised perfectly and delivered her solo lines greatly (except for when she used her FAKE CUTESY voice). Was sometimes screaming and singing loudly tho. - Hikaru sounded good on some songs and tired on some, but you could definitely see that she was doing her best. (It was really cold that day and I’m almost sure she had a cold) - The first dresses were nice, though Wakana's dress was my personal favorite, it looked much much much much much better in real life than in pics, it was sparkly and elegant, it fit her perfectly. Keiko's dress was okay, nothing special in my opinion but the colors were super nice, reminded me of their 2014 tour dresses. Hikaru's dress was very very nice, but I didn’t like the baggy sleeve, would've looked much better if it was fitted. - I don't know what to think of the wedding dresses, a part of me likes them and the other part thinks they're over the top and unnecessary. They made more sense when they took them off, Wakana looked so weird though with her long skirt lol, the other two were very nice. - I was sure they'd play Marchen in its REAL version with the flute this time, but nope I was wrong. I'm too disappointed, I really wanted to see it live and it's a recent song and has only been performed in one tour while INTO THE WORLD has been performed way more. Also no Magia or Destination Unknown made me sad, I really wanted to see Hikaru sing them live :( - Budokan is such a beautiful venue inside-out! I imagined it to be MUCH MUCH bigger inside but it turned out to be way smaller than I imagined xD. - The percussion added A LOT of depths to some songs! Percussion should really be a staple in their tours.

#kalafina #Kalafina 10th Anniversary #Anniversary #Wakana #Keiko #Hikaru #Yuki Kajiura #Kajiura #Budokan #Nippon Budokan

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classicliteraturehoe · 6 years

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BREAKERZ “X” Discussion/Rant

Honestly I just really want to talk about this album to somebody and since none of my friends care about this band neither do most of you, I’mma just post it here anyways.

First of all, I want to say that I’ve been looking forward to this album for roughly two years, aka since the release of their last album, ZERO. Especially after they kicked off their Tenth Anniversary Concert Series. The moment I realized that each band they challenged would have a part on the album, I began anticipating X more and more. Essentially, I love this band with all my heart and I always look forward to their new music. And this album in particular has really caught my attention. Every song is very well crafted and they all sound spectacular. I’m going to go More in depth about how I feel about all the songs later.

I don’t know if it was Daigo who thought of this or another band member or a third party, but Kudos to the double meaning, triple meaning and consistency of puns with the title of the album and songs. If you don’t get it, let’s go over them:

The Title of the Album : X

-X as in the Roman Numeral 10 for this being he Tenth Anniversary of BRRAKERZ as a band as well as having ten songs on the album.

-X as in Cross, because every song is a collaboration with another Japanese musician or group. So BREAKERZ x SKY-HI, for example.

The Song Titles (excluding GOD and She is Devil)

GREAT (pronounced in Japanese as GU-REI-ITU” Ambitious, featuring GLAY (pronounced GU-REI)

RODEO Drive featuring GRANRODEO

Black SKY featuring SKY-HI

GOLDEN Night featuring GOLDEN Bomber

Koi no SUPER EXPRESS featuring 超特急 (which translates as SUPER EXPRESS)

TRIANGLE featuring TRIGNAL

Never Ending STORY featuring My First STORY

Hirari MAI chiru hana no youni featuring MAI Kuraki

Now, these are likely obvious to most of you, but I just find all of these cute play-on words commendable. They certainly put a lot of thought into this album and it shows.

Not only did a lot of thought go into the titles, but to the music as well. Each song was thoroughly enjoyable and beautiful for their own reasons and I adore each one.

GREAT AMBITIOUS was a great (pun intended) way to open up the album. The upbeat rock combined with the violins playing in the higher register felt to me very reminiscent of Ikusen no Meikyuu de, as well as Climber x (ha!!!) Climber. And from just the title I began thinking about WE GO, and I can imagine they both have similar themes. The song is very catchy even without really knowing the meaning of the lyrics. Overall, it’s a fun piece.

RODEO DRIVE. I don’t know if it’s just me, or does this song feel a whole lot like RUN AND RUN from ZERO? Yes, RUN AND RUN was specially written because Daigo was doing the 24 Hour run thing on television, which was huge for him especially since that was the day he proposed to Keiko Kitagawa, but this song is just as upbeat and I can only imagine going on long jogs at sunset when I listen to it.

BLACK SKY. This one is in the running to be my favorite on the album along with two others. The guitar riffs kind of remind me of Daydreamer from the ZERO album. But the addition of SKY-HI’s rapping gives this song a whole different feeling. I’m not even sure how to describe it. The touch of electronic music seems out of place in this song. On the other hand, I absolutely adore the chorus. The pace and the progression of the notes just sounds so beautiful to me.

ゴールデンナイト〜黄金色に抱きしめて〜. Listen up I’m literally obsessed with this freaking song. There are so many musical elements and little nuances that I just UGH love so much, and it just. feels like a BREAKERZ song. But it also doesn’t. And it’s amazing. It’s as if BREAKERZ took 女々しくて (Golden Bomber’s most famous song) and then made a BREAKERZ song. Because it sounds like Memeshikute, but it also doesn’t.

恋のスーパーエクスプレス. I like this one, but it’s not my favorite on the album. And believe me, it’s a nice song. Very j-pop-y, and when you collaborate with a jpop group that’s the kind of sound you tend to get. It’s a cute song, and in a few senses it reminds me Smile 100% and Arigatou Beautiful Day. You know, very pop-rock, sweet. You just really feel like smiling while you listen to it. A nice contrast to songs like She is Devil, Golden Night, And GOD.

Triangle. I enjoy the beginning of this one more so than the rest of it. The instrumental introduction is very pleasing. The clarinet I found especially pretty. It’s quite clever that it’s called Triangle and the rhythm is in 3. I can’t decide if it sounds more like a carnival song or a french drinking ballad. Really it’s a combination of both. Trignal narrating adds a nice touch. Also a sweet song.

NEVER ENDING STORY. I love this song a lot. It feels like BREAKERZ is going back to their roots a bit. I hear a lot of influence from many of their songs from GO and FIGHTERZ. Very fast paced. It feels a lot like DAIGO’s Mugen no Rebirth and other songs which were anime openings. And at the end of the chorus, it sounds like Daigo is referencing the melody from Maria, back in his DAIGO STARDUST days.

She is Devil. The only non-collaboration song on the album. And gosh, when I listened to it the first time, the first thing I thought of was Miss Mystery. She is Devil is written as if it’s the sequel song to Miss Mystery, and boy it brings back memories of classic BREAKERZ, back when I first discovered their music, and I felt like crying. I particularly enjoyed this song because it’s the only one on the album that is exclusively BREAKERZ. I mean, of course it’s great that they had all these collaborators, but it is an album celebrating ten years together as a band, and it wouldn’t be right if they didn’t write a song for them and only them.

ひらり舞い散る花のように. THIS. SONG. IS . GORGEOUS! I was in love with it after only hearing the teaser of it that BREAKERZ posted to YouTube. It’s quite possibly my favorite song BREAKERZ has ever written. Daigo is known for his recognizable voice, so full of emotion in every syllable, and this is a perfect example of the extraordinary power his voice has in carrying melodies, in ballads especially. I notice that while their ballads are never their most popular, they’re always my favorites. The acoustic guitar, the strings! The harmonies, the percussion. They all come together and create this beautiful work of art. If you listen to no other song on this album, make this the one you listen to.

GOD. The first time I read about DAIGO writing GOD and performing it at the BREAKERZ vs. VAMPS concert, I burst out laughing, and saying “aw Daigo, you Hyde super fan.” Only someone dangerously devoted to their idol would write and perform a song in their honor about how they worship them. But listening to the emotion in his voice as I finally got a first listen to GOD, I understand precisely why he wrote it, and I understand the sentiment. This song is written for Hyde, but it says exactly what many of us feel for the artists and creators and public figures that we look up to.

This album revived my love of the band. In the two years between albums, so much happened. I experienced the worst depressive episodes of my life, my anxiety worsened, and I was hating life for a long time. Of course, good things happened as well, I rediscovered my love of musical theater, worked on a lot of shows, became a better musician. Daigo got married, started becoming more popular than ever. So much happened. Along the way, I listened to them less and less. But after this album came out, I feel like I remember the way I felt when I first discovered BREAKERZ, and I remembered what it felt like to really love a band. I’m so thankful for this band and for Daigo and Akihide and Shinpei. And I’m so thankful that they’ve been together as long as they have been. Ten years is a milestone, and while was only on board for four years, I harbor a deep appreciation for the band as much as any other fan, even those who were with them from the beginning.

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putschki1969 · 2 years

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『Wakana Shark Festival Special 2022 ～Talk &Mini Live～』Live Commentary

Wakana’s event is about to start. As always I will be providing my live reaction. If you are interested, there is still time to get a ticket. Tweet by Wakana staff | Instagram post by Wakana | Tweet by Yurie

‖Details Botanical Land Member Exclusive Event 『Wakana Shark Festival Special 2022 ～Talk & Mini Live～』 Date：2022/02/06 (Sun) Time：15:30～(JST) Appearance by：Wakana Piano：Yurie Sakai‖Ticket details Ticket sales: Bitfan tickets Livestream: Bitfan Live Ticket sales period: Jan 21 to Feb 10 (Archive until Feb 14)

● [FC ONLY] Premium viewing ticket with autographed 3rd Anniversary Card and T-shirt ¥ 7,500 ● [FC ONLY] Regular viewing ticket ¥ 3,500

❗ Join her FAN CLUB NOW! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗ Japanese tutorial for BITFAN | My tutorial for BITFAN

•————— ♬ —————•

Wakana is wearing a gorgeous floral dress. They are starting with the live corner. *excited*

LIVE CORNER: 01. 時を越える夜に (Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni): Love the sounds. They have pretty good acoustics, Yurie’s piano accompaniment is beautiful. Wakana sounds solid for a studio live. Loved it! 02. 愛の花 (Ai no Hana): OMG, did not expect that! SO HAPPY! One of my all time faves as you know!! 03. 夕焼け (Yuuyake): Such a good set list so far. Loving all these ballads! 04. 夢のゆくえ (Yume no Yukue): Glad we also got one of her anime covers! Great pick! 05. Happy Hello Day: This always makes me happy. Wakana has so much fun performing it. It’s the final song (hopefully there is gonna be a little encore). I was hoping she would be singing her new song. Would be fitting for her anniversary. 06. Shark Song: With Wakana on piano! So cool. it’s the first time I am hearing her play the piano. She struggles quite a bit but is definitely trying her best XD So freaking cute! She is just too nervous. Yurie is a kind teacher and being super supportive, she cheers her on! Ganbare!!! LOL, this totally turned into a piano lesson XD Wakana is embarrassed that this will be available in the archive for everyone to see.

DESIGNING T-SHIRT TOGETHER CORNER: Ohhhh, fans get to design her 3rd Anniversary t-shirt together with her. We get different options for the design: 1. T-shirt with a drawing by Wakana 2. T-shirt with her cute characters (shark-chan, leaf-chan, hippos, gyoza-chan, etc) 3. T-shirt with Wakana’s face 4. T-shirt with with a Wakana badge which you can remove 5. T-shirt with a print of the shark song music sheets Waaaaahhh! I want #3 so bad!! Give me her face on a t-shirt! I will wear it proudly!! Some fans are suggesting a set of all five t-shirts. YESSSS!! Give it to me! Btw, Wakana’s favourite is actually #5. Wakana is a bit surprised and embarrassed that so many fans want her face on a shirt. Right now they are thinking about using one of the designs for the front and one for the back so we have more options. Seems like the front will be a drawing (#1) and the back will be the shark song (#2) [No big fat Wakana face on my t-shirt *forever sad*]. They want Wakana to draw the picture right there in front of us, she is doing a dinosaur (which could possibly become a new character). Wakana will do a proper drawing later, this one turned out a little funky. Now it’s time to decide on a colour. Most people want blue or (mint) green which would be fitting I guess. It’s gonna be mint green (good choice!). Wakana also decides that her dinosaur character will be a velociraptor (Rap-chan) so everyone, please look forward to it ^_^

LOTTERY CORNER: She throws a dice to decide how many people get a present. First she throws a 4 but she feels like that’s not enough. She throws again and gets a 5 so she decides that a total of 9 people will get a present. 5 people will get one of her goods with a signature. 4 people will get a polaroid from today’s event. Unfortunately I didn’t win anything. Used up all my luck with the Keiko hat XD

No new announcements of a release or future event T_T Guess we will have to be patient.

#kalafina #wakana #fan club exclusive content #report #shark festival special #botanical land #wakana 3rd anniversary

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putschki1969 · 3 years

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Wakana Spring Live ～magic moment～ 2021 Review

Note: I FINALLY got my package. Now that I watched the full live in HD, I thought I would share m thoughts and a little present below the cut ^_^ As always, I would like to encourage everyone to SUPPORT Wakana by BUYING her Blu-ray!!! Her sales numbers aren’t the greatest which is a huge shame since this is a solid release.

Overall thoughts: I got the Limited Edition of course since I couldn’t resist the pretty sleeve packaging, the bonus documentary (so insightful) and the photobook (scans coming up soon). It is quite pricey but totally worth the money, especially if you are among those fans who liked “Magic Moment” much more than Wakana’s debut album. The release comes with a gorgeous clearfile as tokuten so be sure to get it! Try going for the Regular Edition if you want to save money. As for the live itself, it was a pleasure to watch and I can see myself rewatching it a lot (skipping a few songs though :P). Wakana’s voice coaching lessons are definitely starting to pay off. She has so much stamina these days. Can you believe that this was her SECOND live performance of the day? Her vocals were solid, even during her high-demand power ballads. At rarely any point did she sound overly-screechy to my ears, there were certain sections that didn’t sound 100% smooth but those parts definitely didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment. On a side note, this live was a feast for the eyes, Wakana looked absolutely beautiful in her white dress and I even liked her encore outfit even though it was a little “out there” XD During the more up-beat songs, her smile literally lit up the entire hall. Seeing her have so much fun on stage is healing. I feel like they may have gone a little overboard on the blurry filters from time to time but I guess that was on purpose.

1.揺れる春: 6/10. This is obviously the perfect cute intro for a Spring Lives so I understand why Wakana put it here but I would have much preferred “breathing” as a grand entrance. Still so sad that this is the only song from the “magic moment” album that didn’t make it onto the setlist of this live. I know, we already got an official audio recording but I would have loved some video footage to accompany it :P Anyways, back to Yureru Haru. I haven’t really warmed up to the song yet. It’s not bad and I honestly love the verses since they are super precious and feel kinda nostalgic but the chorus doesn’t stand out imo. Also, her singing style during parts of the chorus isn’t my favourite and not overly flattering. 2.where: 4/10. Oh no!! I was hoping Wakana would be singing the “ohhhohhhs”. She could have easily done it during the start and middle part of the song since it wasn’t overlapping with her other vocals. This seems so rushed? Is it just me? I haven’t listened to the studio version in a while but I know that I quite enjoyed that and it definitely didn’t make me feel as fidgety as this. Don’t know what it is exactly but it keeps me from getting into the song. I guess this is the biggest disappointment for me because I wanted to like it. 3.君だけのステージ: 4/10. I will admit it, this is not my favourite song. It’s just way too long :P But it is a very good and energetic performance, really no complaints when it comes to Wakana. But experiencing it live at the venue would have made it so much better for me. Oh well, nothing that can be done about it. The scat part at the end was a pleasant surprise. Would have loved to hear more of that. 4.442: 100/10. Honestly a masterpiece. One of Wakana’s best solo songs up-to-date and so very perfect to show off her vocals. Hearing it live like this with a band arrangement is a revelation. I love the wailing in the beginning and all the strength she conveys throughout the rest of the song. 5.ひらりひらり: 3/10. Another song I haven’t warmed up to yet. No real thoughts. It’s one of those songs that’s just very forgettable, not bad per se but there is just nothing at all that attracts me to it. :-( As you can tell, I wasn’t entirely happy with some of the setlist choices. Wakana obviously wanted to include all the album songs but some of them are just not my cup of tea T_T 6.夕焼け: 6/10. This is one of the pieces that gets better every time I listen to it. And the latter half of the song is generally much nicer. I am always surprised by how much I actually like it when it’s over :P 7.アキノサクラ Acoustic ver.: 7/10. I am distracted by that harmonica sound-alike thingy Satoshi Takebe is playing XD Still, I have come to really like this song last winter so it is always appreciated, especially the acoustic version. Wakana is struggling a bit during the ending but nothing too bad. 8.myself: 100/10. Utter perfection. So much better than the studio version. And I am not saying this because I disliked the studio version, quite the contrary actually, I LOVED it but these two versions are honestly miles apart. Wakana’s live performance feels so much more raw and emotional. And her vocals in this are pretty much flawless, I can’t even begin to describe how this song makes me feel. A perfect ballad for Wakana. 9.メロディー (Cover): 8/10. My first reaction was boring. But by the third listen I was totally smitten and now it’s among my faves from this live. Be sure to give it a few tries, it really grows on you. I can tell why Takebe would choose this for Wakana. 10.元気を出して (Cover): 8/10. Ahhhhh, so freaking cute and old-school. Nothing beats a nostalgic, fluffy pop song from the 80s. I am here for this content. The “lalalas” at the end are LOVE. 11.オレンジ: 6/10. I like the song but I have to be in the mood for it. And here we have that fake harmonica thingy again. I enjoy the sound of a harmonica about as much as the sound of an accordion (which means not at all :P) but it fits the vibe of the song so I am okay with it. The bridge is usually my favourite part but Wakana’s delivery wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. It was nice to have this right after “Genki wo Dashite” because both are encouraging pick-me-ups. 12.恋はいつも: 10/10. One day I wanna hear her sing the “baby, baby” part!! Please! Another absolutely highlight, you all know that I ADORE this song, I could listen to this FOREVER. It’s such a shame the corona guidelines do not allow the audience to sing along because the ending is so much more powerful if everyone is actually singing instead of just clapping. 13.Happy Hello Day: 8/10. Such a feel-good piece. Initially I didn’t like it much but seeing it performed with an audience during her Music Party and now here, has really made me fall in love with it. I have mentioned it before in my initial reaction to the YouTube leak but I wish she would have sung some lalalas at the end just as she did during her Music Party. 14.magic moment: 9/10. I KNEW I would love this song more once I got to hear it live. I still feel like the composition is a bit choppy and thus not as flowy as I would have liked from a power ballad like this but OMG, Wakana’s live performance is EVERYTHING. Blown away by her powerful vocals, she OWNS this song 15.時を越える夜に: 10/10. Two power ballads back to back. What more could I ask for? I know not many people liked Wakana’s solo debut but I personally always thought it was perfect for her. I consider this to be one of her best songs. Say what you will about Takebe but he certainly knows how to make Wakana shine, at least in my opinion. And the song has only gotten better with every live performance. Although I think I preferred the version from her Voice Tour. So very glad we got at least one track from Wakana’s first album. The original setlist actually included Kinmokusei and Kioku no Hito which are two of my faves (they were later exchanged with the two covers). 16.春を待つ (Kalafina Cover): 8/10. Despite this being one of Keiko’s favourite Kala-songs I never could bring myself to really appreciate it. It’s just an okay song for me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it quite a bit but I don’t go out of my way to listen to it. However, I very much loved Wakana’s cover though, she does a good job singing everyone’s lines and since the original doesn’t have any harmonies her solo performance doesn’t feel too lacking. 17.あとひとつ: 10/10. Always a treat. Can’t believe this STILL hasn’t gotten an official release :P But I understand Wakana’s reasoning, she wants to keep this song a unique live experience and it really is. I can’t help but tear up whenever she is singing this.

Documentary: I haven’t watched all of it yet but OMG, this is so cool. The first 20 minutes are dedicated to rehearsals. I love seeing Wakana like this, just being her cute dorky self. But poor baby, it was hard seeing her this exhausted after the big studio rehearsal (that’s what the gif is from - being her overdramatic self, she literally dropped dead to the floor). The second half of the documentary is Wakana talking about the production of the live and the different songs of the setlist.

*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:

Wakana Spring Live ～magic moment～ 2021 Google Drive (3,11 GB) 🎁

Documentary of Wakana Spring Live ～magic moment～ 2021 Google Drive (1 GB) 🎁

Wakana Spring Live ～magic moment～ 2021 MP3s Google Drive 🎁

FOR ❗PERSONAL❗ USE ONLY DO ❗NOT SHARE ON OTHER SITES WITHOUT PERMISSION❗

#kalafina #wakana #review #video #Wakana Spring Live ～magic moment～ 2021 #it took forever to encode this T_T #audio #mp3 #mp3s

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putschki1969 · 3 years

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「KEIKO Live K002 ＊＊Lantana＊咲いたよ＊＊」Live Report

■KEIKO Live K002 ＊＊Lantana＊咲いたよ＊＊ Day & Time：2020/12/16　Doors open: 18:00／Start: 19:00 Venue：Zepp DiverCity TOKYO Live Stream Option: https://stagecrowd.live/4182631157/ Streaming Ticket Sale: 12/1 12:00～12/23 13:00 Ticket Price: 3,000円 Archive: 12/16～12/23

Everyone, SUPPORT Keiko and GO BUY a ticket if you haven’t yet!! (TUTORIAL) It was a REALLY cool live! Keiko was adorable! Koichi Korenaga and Hitoshi Konno added so much to so many songs with their guitar and violin. Also, we got May’n and KEIKO singing to the beginning, a May’n song AND a Christmas song together, all those collabs were AMAZING!!!

KEIKO in a leather jacket on stage. YESSSS!!! What more does a fangirl want? :P And she is wearing what seems to be a red skirt an embellished Christmas-y black top.

Find my first impression below the cut 〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

1.Be Yourself: Still doesn’t sound good live. Not at all. Her version from the first live performance might actually have been better than this. I think she shouldn’t start her lives with this song. I feel like she needs to be more warmed-up to go this high.

2.ミチテハカケル (?): New song. She did tease us on Twitter that there would be some new songs performed at the live but I wasn’t expecting this. Meh...Another more or less forgettable up-tempo song that is not really up my alley. Kinda like Change the World’s Color. Her vocals improved a bit though compared to Be Yourself.

MC: She promises to interact with her online audience once May’n comes on stage. YAY!

3. Hajimari wa: Finally we are getting somewhere. The start of the concert was a bit bumpy but this is a solid performance.

4. 溜め息の消える街 (Tameiki no Kieru Machi): Another solid performance. By now you know this is not my cup of tea but the live version is enjoyable enough (especially since she is not singing super high).

MC: Hitoshi Konno comes on stage. Keiko remembers their first meeting back in the day. It was for a recording for the Sound Horizon live in 2008. Keiko was super excited to have live strings at the studio and she really idolised Konno back then for his gorgeous playing. She was dying to meet him because so far she had only heard his playing. She was imagining a figure like Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon coming out of the recording booth. But then only Konno came out XD Needless to say, Keiko was quite disappointed. Konno doesn’t seem to remember or he was barely listening to Keiko it seems XD He really has no idea why Keiko is telling us all of this. Keiko says she just wanted to try talking freely about something random.

5. Ray: Ohhhh, the first song I REALLY love from the performance. Ray benefits a lot from the added violin. And Keiko sounds great.

6. 夕顔 (Yugao): YESSSSSSSSS! I was hoping they would use Konno’s violin for this. The intro and bridge were so gorgeous. And the end literally killed me. I LOVED Keiko’s live rendition so much, her expressive vocals hit me right in the feels.

7. 茜 (Akane): Live violin FTW. Will forever love the verses. The chorus sounds better than in her first live (still not good though - that nobashite mo and kawakasu are just a little too painful for my poor ears).

MC: Let’s say hello to May’n. May’n is happy to have been asked to appear as guest in Keiko’s live. She is nervous and excited because it has been a while for her to do a live with an audience (+ a live stream). Keiko is going to sing Kalafina together with May’n! BANZAI. On a side note, they are so freaking cute together. May’n is complaining because Keiko so nonchalantly announced that they would be singing a Kalafina song. She thinks this is very special for all of us so it sould be announced accordinly :P Keiko is in a hurry to start singing :P

8. to the beginning: WOW, WOW, WOW! Keiko SLAYS!!! *sobs* The feels!!! And I don’t even like ttb all that much. Keiko got so emotional towards the end. And she sounded better than ever and was obviously so excited to sing a Kalafina song again. Didn’t reallypay much attention to May’n’s vocals. Obviously she is not Wakana.

MC: The excitement is real. May’n loves ttb and has listened to it MANY MANY times so to get to sing it together with Keiko was awesome. Keiko seems to share the sentiment. She is impressed by May’n stage presence and steadiness. Keiko then congratulates May’n on her 15th Anniversary. They finally take a look at the chat for a little while. Keiko is greeting everyone with “yahoo” which everyone in the chat seems to find hilarious because we have never really heard her say this. Someone watches from Korea so Keiko shares some Korean words she knows :P Lots of Macho-senpai talk XD Keiko explains the origin of macho-senpai. It’s from a program Kalafina atteneded and May’n hosted back in the day. Both of them like muscle training so May’n came up with the nickname of macho-senpai for Keiko even though Keiko isn’t even macho or anythin. May’n was shocked to realise that the nickname gained so much popularity and now it is even on Keiko’s Wikipedia page! May’n looks up to Keiko and wants to become macho like her which is why Keiko is “macho-senpai” for her. Keiko denies being macho but May’n is like, “you do so much sports, you are so cool, you love to eat meat, you generally eat a lot (and still stay so thin), you are definitely macho!!!” LOL Keiko thinks about calling May’n Maycho but May’n isn’t into it and she thinks the audience doesn’t like that nickname either even though they can’t see anyone’s face but she sees it in their eyes XD Her HOLA to Mexico is so cute. The tablet is getting heavy so they decide to return it. They are so touchy-feely with each other. And now they are singing a May’n song.

9. graphite / diamond: Never heard it but they rocked the stage together. SO COOL.

MC: Time for Koichi Korenaga. Lots of cat talk (fyi Kore-chan owns a cat). It’s called JOJO (Jocchan) and Kore-chan often posts pictures on Twitter. Keiko could talk forever about JOJO with Kore-chan.

10. 笑ってやる (Waratte Yaru): Another new song! With lots of English lyrics! Liking this A LOT more than ミチテハカケル I think. So badass. I am into it.

11. エンドロール (End Roll): Is still freaking cool. A mic-stand makes everything better!! Great transition from Waratte Yaru.

12. Change the World’s Color: While I am not a big fan of the studio live I do quite enjoy her live performances due to her being so enthusiastic. But End Roll and Waratte Yaru are much superior!

MC: Korenaga is about to leave when Keiko reminds him there is one more song to sing XD But before that: Band member introduction. She forgot the guitarist’s full name :P

13: 七色のフィナーレ (Nanairo no Finale): With both Koichi Korenaga and Hitoshi Konno. BANZAI. Sounds even more like a YK song now. Konno adds so much to the arrangement. Although I think they should have gotten rid of some of the super pop-ish elements of the arrangement to fit the violin more but oh well, it didn’t take away from my listening pleasure. Her final lalala part and the last bit hit differently. So emotional. She obviously felt at home with Konno and Korenaga at her side. So beautiful. Her vocals were a tiny bit better during K001 though and she did make a mistake at one point where her voice literally broke but I am not sure if it was because she was emotional or if she was just exhausted from singing so many up-tempo and high-key songs in a row.

ENCORE: An instrumental of Jingle Bells. May’n is back on stage with Keiko. They want to eat yakiniku for Christmas, not chicken but beef! YAY. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Keiko loves May’n’s pants and is close to stripping her XD Keiko points out that the slit is very high. I think what she is doing counts as molestation :P Anyways, May’n is super excited to see a new side of Keiko in the future. She has known her for so long but there are still so many new things to discover and that makes her very curious and she feels like it will be the same for all of her fans. Keiko is touched by May’n’s heartfelt little message. Since it’s almost Christmas they need to sing a Christmas song

EN 1. 荒野の果てに (Angels We Have Heard on High): AHHHHHHHHH, one of my favourite Christmas songs. The beginning was FLAWLESS!! Actually loved the pop arrangement even though I usually prefer a more classical one. How I wish I had gotten to hear Kalafina sing this T_T But either way, their collab was great!! I will never like May’n’s voice and it doesn’t go too well with Keiko’s imo but hey, she still did fine.[What I would give to hear Wakana sing this with Keiko. We got a mini version during Kalafina Club once and even that sounded amazing]

EN2. 命の花 (Inochi no Hana): Really loved it.

MC: Keiko says she has many fun things planned for next year so we should look forward to it.

#kalafina #keiko #report #KEIKO Live K002 ＊＊Lantana＊咲いたよ＊＊#KEIKO Live K002 #to the beginning #konno hitoshi #korenaga koichi #may'n #I added a detailed summary to the MCs

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putschki1969 · 6 years

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Hikaru Birthday Event 2018 – Live Report

So…since my last report was stupidly deleted by yours truly and I only provided a mini-report, I thought I would write a proper one for you now. This time around I am using google docs so I hope nothing will be deleted. Without further ado, let’s get to it!

The day of the event was my second day in Japan. I was still quite exhausted from my travels but oh well, it wasn’t too bad. I got up pretty early and met up with my friend Sai to line up for the merchandise. We were at the venue (Suntory Hall Tokyo) at around 10 am to make sure we got everything we wanted. Thankfully the wait wasn’t too bad since we were protected from the sun underneath the building. It was still humid as hell but pretty bearable. Some Japanese Kala-fans from twitter said “hi” to me and as always I was super awkward. Sorry!! Anyways, after the wait was over, we finally got to buy our goods. I bought pretty much everything except the towel because meh, I am not a fan of towels. So yeah, I got the white shirt with the pink triangle, the cap, the ticket file and the booklet\clearfile set. Here’s a sneak peek at the booklet in case you haven’t seen it yet 〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→ CLICK ME

By the way, the goods are available on the Space Craft Online Store since yesterday so be sure to get them quickly!! https://spacecraft-shop.jp/kalafina

Afterwards we headed to “La Maison Kioi” (the Kalafina SPICE interview location) to enjoy some cake. Then we headed to Shibuya to check out the Starbucks seat Keiko sat at in the 10th Anniversary Film. Just a while back, Hikaru had tried out a Calpis drink so e decided to have it too. The place (Afternoon Tearoom) was close by so that was very convenient. The lassi was certainly interesting, it had quite the unique taste, not sure I would order it again though XD.

Slowly heading back to the venue, we came across a bunch of fellow Kala-fans who had just gotten out of the afternoon event. We only heard good stuff so of course we were more than excited. At the venue we met up with lots of other Kala-fans and made some new friends. Then after another hour or so we were finally allowed inside. I delivered my letter and the ones by @theraspberrybushes and @mello-chi and then I went to my seat.

The event started on time…with a more or less unspectacular power point presentation regarding all the questions Hikaru had been asked in the questionnaire. I am pretty sure they used all the questions because there were at least 40 or something. No way in hell I could memorise all of that, especially since the questions/answers went by way too fast. Some random stuff I remember. • Hikaru’s favourite numbers are 2 and 7 • She owns around 1000 mangas • She can read a volume in about 30 minutes • If she hadn’t become a singer she would have wanted to become a mother in her 20ies • The type of character she likes in games: Men-tough; Women-peculiar and beautiful • The type of men she likes: Kind and calm • Favourite colours: Monochrome, blue and red • Favourite game: Momotaro Dentetsu • He favourite castle is Himeji • Her favourite characters in FGO are Gilgamesh and Shiki

Sorry, I can’t think of anything else. She also replied to my questions about recommendations in Toyama but she wrote like ten places or something and there was just no way for me to read it that quickly (especially since I suck when it comes to location kanji) But really, the questions weren’t exactly the highlight of the event but the most amazing part about this section were the childhood pictures of Hikaru which were randomly thrown in between questions. Like seriously the cutest pictures ever of baby Hikaru (and her little sister). Chibi-Hikaru was so freaking adorable, I could barely contain myself. We saw her wrapped up in cute winter clothes with her cheeks all red from the cold. With pig-tails! (♥ω♥*) We saw her in her pjs at home watching TV.

Then she finally came on stage wearing the gorgeous outfit you saw in the blog post. The top is by IENA in case anyone is interested. Of course I ended up buying it because how could I resist???? http://zozo.jp/?c=gr&did=55355842

She sat down and personally replied to three more questions that were asked frequently. The first one was about her in-ear-monitors. Someone was curious what they always hear when they wear them. Hikaru explained how they work and how they tune out unnecessary noises etc. Next question was about which merchandise she designed was the most memorable for her. She didn’t actually reply to that question iirc but she used that opportunity to introduce this event’s goods. A staff member rolled up a cart with all the merchandise and she introduced them all similar to what she wrote in the Harmony countdown. Sakurada Hirotaka helped her come up with the goods so he deserves credit as well. She also explained that the colours of the shirts represented Kalafina’s origin colours. The final question was about mobile games and how much time she usually spends playing them. If she is into a game and there is an event going on, she will pretty much play all day long. As soon as she gets up, on the train, during breaks, in bed…until she falls asleep XD

Next up was the manga corner. I spaced out a little here. She always read a page out of one of her beloved mangas and then she talked about why this section felt so special to her. ・xxxHOLiC ・My Hero Accademia ・Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai

Please don’t ask me what she talked about. I have literally no idea. I have never heard of these mangas so it didn’t make much sense what she was talking about. But still, it was very nice to see her talk about her passion.

We played Janken afterwards and two lucky winners (one of them my friend Sai) got a present from Hikaru and got to go up on stage. While I can’t say I care much for the mangas they received as present, I would have killed to get a chance to go up on that stage. Oh well, turns out I suck at Janken. XD Somehow I completely forgot how to play it T_T

The Live

宝石-Houseki: WOW! Just wow! I didn’t know that this was the song Hikaru auditioned with. But hey, that explains why she was eventually chosen because man, she slayed! She sounded amazing! I think the song was slowed down a bit, yeah, it definitely was. Her performance was so powerful and tragic, she almost sounded like she was using elements from Keiko’s and Wakana’s voices. She had the same oomph as Keiko and yet there was a hint of tragedy (the same tragedy you usually get from Wakana). Flawless, absolutely flawless. Honestly, I am not even sure which version I like better, Hikaru’s or Keiko’s.

プラチナ-Platina: This is apparently one of her most frequently sung songs at karaoke. She absolutely loves it. It was an okay performance, I can’t say I like that song very much (it’s too cutesy for my taste) and I don’t think the song is particularly suited for Hikaru’s voice but Hikaru was super adorable and all smiles and she obviously had a blast with it so I was happy for her.

北ウイング-Kita Wing: Wow!! Just. Wow!! Hands down one of my favourite performances of that night. I had never heard that song before but Hikaru’s rendition was absolutely gorgeous. I just got to listen to the original version and OMG, they changed it SO MUCH. They slowed it down a lot and made it sound so much more tragic and sad. It left a lasting impression and I think I will have to buy it now. So beautiful.

CAT'S EYE: Sakurada wrote a special jazz arrangement for this song. I wish there was footage of this performance. Hikaru was so freaking sexy here. The way she moved to the lyrics, especially during that “sexy” line! Oh boy! Nosebleed!!! And it was a song I actually knew so YAY about that. If I remember correctly, I think it was actually one of the songs I voted for so double YAY.

ARIA: Finally, the song I had been waiting for. I obviously voted for this because it’s one of my all-time favourite Hikaru songs and I loved the 10th Anniversary version so freaking much (everyone else also voted for it so I kinda knew this would make it onto the setlist). This version was in a slightly higher pitch I think but not as high as the original version. She sang it with so much emotion, at this point I first started crying. Once again Hikaru mentioned that this song means the world to her and it has taught her so much. It’s always special if she gets to sing it and every version is different/unique. I was a bit sad because all the Wakana/Keiko/Kajiurago parts were left out. I had hoped she would sing that WaKei section after the bridge. It’s literally one of my favourite parts of the song because of the lyrics. But oh well, it was still a mind-blowing performance and Hikaru knocked it out of the park. She struggled a bit during the 10th Anniversary performance (especially during the final verse - although studio magic made sure it sounded well-rounded on the DVD/BD) but here she hit every note.

Blackbird: Hikaru mentioned that we would all recognise this song once we heard the chorus but meh, it seems I am the only one who has never heard of this song. Guess it’s because I have never really listened to the Beatles. Sorry to everyone who thinks that’s blasphemy or something. Either way, Hikaru made me really like this song although it will not become my favourite. Nothing about it was very memorable so I have a hard time remembering any details. I just know that Hikaru sounded really chill and cool. She obviously enjoys to sing this type of song.

Honesty: It’s honestly embarrassing how few songs I knew during this live. This was another one I had never heard before but boy, Hikaru made me fall in love with it immediately. I don’t know what it was about her performance but it was just so touching and emotional, it seemed like she meant every word she was singing. Everytime she sang “honesty” my heart broke a tiny little bit. The feels! Oh, the feels!!

Just the Way You Are: Can’t say I ever cared much for this song but once again Hikaru brought something special to it that made me appreciate how lovely this piece actually is. It really felt like she was singing from the heart. On that note, I would like to mention that her English pronunciation was really good during all the English songs. You most definitely understood what she was singing and she tried her best to emphasise each and every word. Very impressive. That’s certainly not a given with Japanese artists. Although I guess we all know that Hikaru’s English is very good. After this song, Hikaru told the Japanese audience that even though they probably didn’t understand the English lyrics, she hoped she was able to convey the meaning through her singing (she was!!). She invited everyone to check out all the lyrics because they are all super beautiful.

魂のルフラン- Tamashi No Rufuran: I was one of the people who voted for Zankokuna Tenshi no These so when she started to talk about Evangelion I freaked out a little. Unfortunately she ended up singing this song instead. I haven’t really watched the series so I only ever knew the OP and nothing else. Can’t say this song left a lasting impression. I don’t remember much from it. T_T Sorry, Hikaru. And sorry to everyone who had expected a more throrough report. I think she struggled a bit during the high parts here but it wasn’t too bad.

History Maker: I am embarrassed to say that I once again didn’t recognise the song. It sounded familiar but I couldn’t for the life of me remember where it was from. I was confused because I thought it was a Western song but Hikaru had mentioned she would sing anime songs now. I was like, “ehh???” Only afterwards when Hikaru mentioned it was from Yuri on Ice I suddenly remembered. [I am definitely the most clueless person when it comes to anime] This was most certainly the most upbeat and fun song of the night. Everyone was hyped and Hikaru was running around the stage, trying to connect with as many people in the audience as possible. And it worked. So much power, so much strength. Simply amazing. She really managed to capture the spirit of the song. Can’t say I watched the anime but I know it’s about sports and figthing spirit and boy, after this performance I was SO READY to climb Mount Fuji XD (which is good since I actually did climb Mt. Fuji the day after). Once she was finished Hikaru told us that actually no one had voted for her to sing this song but since it’s one of her faves she thought it would be okay to include it, this was “Hikaru’s vote” so to speak.

sprinter: Hands down my favourite performance of the night. The lights were dimmed and all you could hear was Hikaru’s voice which was already brimming over with emotion. The arrangement was super slow, she sang pretty much all the lines (including Wakana’s and Keiko’s). She didn’t sing the Kajiurago parts though. When she got to the “kimi ni aitai…” part, the hall became completely dark and there was just a tiny light illuminating Hikaru. Her voice was raw and fragile and very quiet. She wasn’t even singing them properly, it was more like she was saying them to us. It’s hard to explain but it was utterly heartbreaking. Tears everywhere. She only sang that part once and I think that’s for the best because this way it was incredibly powerful. And even though you could barely see her face you could definitely hear her voice break. She ended the song with Wakana’s line, “I'm calling your name”. By the end of the performance everyone was in tears and you could see Hikaru wiping away a tear too.

That was the end of the live, Hikaru took a bow and thanked everyone. When she told the audience to give a big round of applause to Sakurada he started playing the first tunes of “Happy Birthday”. It was a bit awkward at first because Japanese audiences never know what to do in situations like that. But they caught on surprisingly fast and so everyone was singing for Hikaru. That’s when Hikaru pretty much broke down into tears and watching this made me cry even more. She desperately tried to compose herself afterwards but nope, she couldn’t. Whenever she started to speak, a new wave of emotions seemed to hit her. She had to use a towel to wipe her tears away. She said that she didn’t expect Sakurada to play the birthday song for her (although I think that’s not true because he apparently played it during the afternoon event too but I forgive her for that little lie XD). Oh well, whether she was surprised or not she seemed to be moved either way and that is the only thing that counts. She thanked us for coming, thanked us for making this night incredibly special for her and finally assured us that she would forever remember this evening and treasure it within her heart…during the whole time tears were streaming down her face. She hopes that the next time we all meet there will be less tears and more laughter. She apologised for crying so much (oh please, Hi-chan, never apologise for that!!!!) Then she left the stage and the audience was asked to remain seated until told otherwise. The individual rows were asked to wait in line and leave the hall one by one.

That’s when we all got our personal greeting and postcard from Hikaru. She was standing outside wearing the white shirt from the merchandise and she handed each and every person a handwritten note and thanked them once again for coming. The staff people were rushing everyone out but fans were able to talk to Hikaru for a milli-second. When it was my turn I was shaking and I started crying again. Hikaru smiled at me and gave me one of her English cards (like seriously, she even prepared English cards for her foreign fans! So thoughtful of her!). I told her that I was incredibly moved by her performance (as if my crying wasn’t indication enough) and it looked like Hikaru was about to start crying too but then I was ushered outside so I can’t know for sure. I was shaking so much and then and it took a few minuted to compose myself.

All in all it was a super special event and I am so glad I got the chance to attend it. Hikaru is a born solo performer and she owned the stage throughout the entire event. She made me fall in love with her even more. You could really tell how much she cared about her fans. Right now I am very grateful that she is there for us and wants to be close to us. This event and all her blog posts make me so very happy, you have no idea. My only regret is that Hikaru didn’t mention Wakana and Keiko during the evening event. Why did she only talk about them during the afternoon event? So unfair! But oh well, it’s not like I missed much. She basically just told the audience that they are keeping in touch and that she had received birthday geetings from both of them (duh! Of course she did! Did anyone doubt it?) and that Wakana regularly sends pictures of her plant babies. They are all doing their own thing now so I understand and respect their choice (yes, I think it’s their choice and they are not forced by Space Craft) to lay low and not mention the others too much. However, it’s still nice when they do.

Okay, that’s a wrap. Hope you enjoyed this and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask

#kalafina #report #hikaru #hikaru birthday event #long text post #sorry #I don’t know how to add a read more thingy on my phone

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putschki1969 · 7 years

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Kalafina 27 Week Challenge (♥‿♥ ) ~♪

Week #4: Favourite & Second Favourite Song in Seventh Heaven?

「seventh heaven」 & 「ARIA」

Also, bonus gif for their 『fotw Special Final』「seventh heaven」 performance because I love the way Wakana and Hikaru smile and nodd at Keiko right before she announces their next song. So freaking cute <3 Something similar happened during their 『Arena Live 2016』 right before their 「into the world」 performance. These are truly the most precious moments.

Find out why they are my favourites below the cut! ^__^

We all know that 「Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Iku」 is my favourite song of the album (and altogether) but I thought I’d change things up a little and NOT include it in this post. After all, I don’t want to bore you with the same answers all the time XD.

「seventh heaven」 I am not sure if I have ever told you about this but I actually didn’t care for this song for a VERY long time. For some reason, it didn’t click with me, I think I found it a bit boring. I’ll blame the studio version for that, it did feel a little lacking in my opinion. However, all of this changed when I watched the live version from the 10th Anniversary Type Moon Festival. The girls were really expressive (especially Keiko <3 - her solo parts are to die for) and suddenly the song had a whole other meaning for me. Just read these lines and then watch Keiko’s expressions while she is singing them. Then Wakana joins her and I am literally in “seventh heaven”.

What I want to sing are quiet words of love When I was crying back then it wasn’t your fault You said farewell to me in the light snow that was vanishing into the night

That’s also when I first started to properly listen to the lyrics, wahhhhh, so beautiful! I love how parts of them are reminiscent of 「Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Iku」. This song is truly the perfect continuation of it, I kinda always see them as a package. Then, my favourite part which is towards the end =>

I am no longer alone never again Together the two of us will go to paradise...

Of course I also have to mention the last few lines when they are harmonising perfectly. I can never get enough of that! Soon after the Type Moon Festival we got the 5th Anniversary Live Selection version and then the acoustic one from the Alleluia single. At that point I was pretty much in love with the song. For a while, their Budokan performance was my favourite but then I attended their 『fotw Special Final』, and boy, I was blown away by 「seventh heaven」, it was so beautiful <3 I totally teared up a little (and I swear, Wakana teared up a little as well but the camera cut away from her in that moment).

「ARIA」 Unlike 「seventh heaven」「ARIA」 was instant love for me and of course it was the song that made me fall in love with Hikaru. I was amazed by her fierce and powerful voice, in that moment I knew this girl was a force of nature to be reckoned with. I also consider this one of the pieces where the Hikaru/Keiko combo is most impressive. Keiko’s strong harmony work lets Hikaru’s chorus shine even more! Personally I don’t care for the version with Maya, I prefer Wakana’s way of singing the lines right after the bridge. Coincidentally this is my favourite part of the whole song. The tragedy she can convey with her voice is so much more fitting for the lyrics.

I never knew kindness What you have shown me, it was kindness which sparked an unknown light within the hollow temple that is my heart

And then Hikaru’s final stanza which gives me the chills every time I listen to it, Hikaru’s voice has such a penetrating quality to it, it’s just mindblowing how much she can affect me sometimes.

Rowing a boat of solitude The bonfire is assembling our grief Within the hollow temple that is this world countless ARIAS are resounding

Ahhhhhhh! So much tragedy, so much sadness! And yet a spark of hope!! I just love this song so much!! My favourite performance is hands down the one from the 10th Anniversary Type Moon Festival. Everything is perfect about it! Unfortunately there is no good version of it available on the internet or I’d link to it. I really hope we’ll someday get to hear the new version with the lowered key, I am very curious about it, especially now that Hikaru is saying she is singing the lyrics with a lot more depth and understanding.

#kalafina #kalafina 27 week challenge #it's officially midnight here #new week new entry #my gifs #I think I made a million gifs for this post and I ended up using only 6 of them #7 if you count the bonus gifs #decided to skip kimi ga to give other songs a chance too :P #I had a hard time deciding between ARIA and Natsu no Ringo #but ARIA is just more precious because it made me fall in love with Hikaru <3 <3 <3 #these are my personal translations of the lyrics #they may not coincide with other translations

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