Random Musings

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Favorite Anime Songs #08 - School Rumble Ni Gakki - Kono Namida ga Aru Kara Tsugi no Ippo to Naru (by Ami Tokito)

The more I think about School Rumble and although this song may not be the one you think of immediately when you hear the words "School Rumble," it is probably the best OP/ED song of the series. "Kono Namida ga Aru Kara Tsugi no Ippo to Naru" appeared as the first ED song of School Rumble Ni Gakki (School Rumble Second Semester) and is performed by Ami Tokito. The translation of the song title equates to "because there are these tears, they will become my next step." From my understanding, the song is about dreams being realized but one has to take that first step.

As for the series itself, I would recommend the first season over the second season. Since this song appears in School Rumble Ni Gakki, I would say that the duration through which this song is used as the end theme is the better part of Ni Gakki. I believe that Ni Gakki ended rather weakly with San Gakki (Third Semester) being worse since it's only two OAV episodes. It's still a fun series to watch as it seems to form those groups of which ship (relationship) to support (i.e. Flag, Riceball, etc.)

"Kono Namida ga Aru Kara Tsugi no Ippo to Naru" English Lyrics

Favorite Gaming Music #38: Catherine - Revolutionary Etude

Admittedly, I haven't played this game, but would love to. My knowledge of the game is basically through watching other people stream the game and it looks fun as hell. Being as it came from Atlus, the same company that made Shin Megami Tensei, I'll definitely play the game in the future. I like my puzzle games. I have been listening to the soundtrack for this game lately on repeat. If there's one song that I would pick out it would be "Revolutionary Etude." The Catherine Sound Disc came in the Deluxe Edition of the game with a pair of boxers worn by the main character, a shirt, and an artbook. The album was created by Shoji Meguro. To my knowledge, the album is a remix of classical music. "Revolutionary Etude" was done by Frédéric Chopin. Also known as the "Etude of the Bombardment of Warsaw," the song came about during the November Uprising, which was Poland's failed revolution against Russia. I find that this piece is one of the better ones on the album although all of them are good. I would also go back to Chopin's original Revolutionary Etude, which is Etude Op. 10, No. 12.

Catherine

Chopin

Friday, March 9, 2012

Favorite Anime Songs #07 - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Sorairo Days (by Shouko Nakagawa)

"Sorairo Days" roughly translates to "sky blue days." This song was performed by Shouko Nakagawa and was used at the opening theme to the best anime (in my opinion) of 2007 "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann." The story of Gurren Lagann is that humanity is forced to live underground by the Spiral King. Our two main protagonists, Simon and Kamina, form Team Gurren with the goal of achieving the goal of visiting the surface world above which is soon realized with the finding of the Gunmen (mecha) named Lagann. The overview of the story makes "Sorairo Days" fit the anime appropriately as it gives our protagonists a goal to see the outside world and make it so humanity can do the same. The song itself is about looking forward towards creating your own future and not looking back to the past.

Without going into further details about the anime itself, it truly is a thrill to watch. It has its fair share of epic moments. It is one of the few series that I actually go back to and watch from time to time. It really is that damn good. I recommend that you watch it if you haven't done so yet.

Sora Iro Days English Lyrics

Favorite Gaming Music #37: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) - Underwater

When I bought this game, it was basically around the time when I was completely hyped for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s. It was one of the coolest things going on around that time. This game plays completely different than pretty much all of the other games in the series. This game was developed by Ultra Games and was a platformer unlike the arcade style beat 'em ups that you see in the sequels. Admittedly, I had more fun playing the arcade games with complete strangers at a local Pizza Hut compared to this game, but I had fun with this game nonetheless. One of the more memorable stages is Stage 2 which was the Hudson Dam and when you have to go through the underwater section of the game. I grabbed the theme mainly because it is pretty soothing for a section that is supposedly rather tense. In this section, if memory serves me, you had to disarm eight bombs in 2:20 while swimming through areas of electric seaweed and electric zappers. It's pretty funny when watching a first timer do it and get to the end of the disarming section only to realize that he/she forgot a bomb. Although a lot of people hated this section, I found it pretty fun.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Favorite Anime Songs #06: Bleach: Memories of Nobody - Sen no Yoru wo Koete (by Aqua Timez)

"Sen no Yoru wo Koete" is performed by Aqua Timez and the ending theme for the first Bleach movie entitled "Bleach: Memories of Nobody," which in my opinion is the best of the Bleach movies. The song's title roughly translates to "Passing Over the Thousandth Night." The lyrics of the song depict a person who is in love with someone, but is not sure if the person that that person loves feels the same way. The love could be one-sided, but the person is fine with it as that love is cannot be changed by anyone else and that the feeling of loving someone is fine in itself. It goes very well with the theme of Bleach: Memories of Nobody as without spoiling too much of the movie, it features a shinigami named Senna and stuff happens such that Ichigo has to go save her. I guess you can see where this is going. For anybody that has followed Bleach, Ichigo is one of main characters where he has accumulated a harem somewhat without his knowledge. For some reason, girls like him. It's not an obvious harem like in other series like Negima, Love Hina, or The World God Only Knows, but a number of girls have taken a liking to Ichigo over the course of the series. In any event, it's amazing that I picked this song over many of the OP/ED songs from the series itself as although the Bleach series hasn't been great of late, it did have great music.

Sen no Yoru wo Koete English Lyrics

Favorite Gaming Music #36: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening – Tal Tal Heights

This was a Zelda game that I had been putting off for some time. I remember the times when my friend would say that this is the best Zelda game he has played. This game is pretty fun. This Zelda game in particular takes place on Koholint Island as Link is making his way back to Hyrule following the events of Oracle of Ages/Seasons, according to Hyrule Historia, in the timeline that Link is defeated by Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time. The purpose of the game is to wake up the Wind Fish so Link can get off the island. The game itself can go by quickly if you are any bit of a seasoned Zelda player. About midway through the game, Link approaches Tal Tal Heights and it has one of the better themes in the game. I could just leave Link idle in Tal Tal Heights all day.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Favorite Anime Songs #05 - Mahou Sensei Negima - Happy Material

This song is so good there are seven full versions of the song, a TV version with all 31 girls, an acoustic version, and it got played in the alternate retelling of the series Negima!? The basic premise of the anime is a 10-year old boy magician becomes the English teacher of a middle school all-girls academy. This boy, Negi Springfield, is in charge of 31 girls all older than he is. As far as the anime goes, I personally found myself liking the first series than the Shaft retelling. The second series can be great at times, but it's so much different from the canon in the manga. The first series follows the manga more closely, but the deviates in the final 4+ episodes. The way to go through this series is through the manga. It felt awesome for about 300 chapters and is lumbering towards the finish line in the past 50+ chapters towards what many perceive (including myself) as a rushed ending. (I'll address the flaws possibly next week when the series concludes.) But as for the anime, the OP theme called "Happy Material" is one of the more catchier OP themes I've heard in recent years. I stated that there are seven versions of it which features only a part of the class and each version is basically a remix of the original. I'm bias and leaned towards the More Rock version because Shizuka Ito is in it. For the sake of this post, I'm posting all seven since I don't hate any of them and are all brilliant in their own right.

Happy Material Lyrics

Happy Material - Original