I received my shipment from CDJapan today and boy, am I pleased or what? The sole reason I went through them instead of Amazon this time was because they were going to bundle a B2 poster along with any first press orders. I’ve never gotten anything like that from Amazon. This naturally piqued my interest (since I’m a sucker for merchandise) and of course, once I saw the cover of the single, I wasted no time in filling out an order.

Unfortunately, I don’t have my camera on me so I can’t take any photos. :(

The CD single for “Find the blue” is now available at the usual place. I highly recommend you give the single a try as both songs are very good.

I have to admit that it is proving difficult for me to get used to the full version of “Find the blue” since I’ve heard it so many times in its shortened form from rewatching CHAOS;HEAD’s opening sequence. This is a frequent problem I encounter since I always get too used to the shortened version of an opening or ending theme from repeatedly listening to it.

The B-side of the single, “Desire Blue Sky”, is a totally different story though. The song is really, really good. I’ve been listening to it quite a bit since yesterday.

Like with most CD rip releases, the single isn’t actually out yet, it will be on the 7th though. I have an order with CDJapan and should be getting my copy early next week at the latest.

I didn’t check their website in a long time so I was actually not aware of the fact that their new album, “LOCKS“, was going to be released today until Amazon.co.jp sent me a notice a couple of days ago. I guess those emails do come in handy once in a while.

Not counting the tracks that were released as singles (as I’m only evaluating the new tracks), I think my favourites so far are 「もう一度笑って」, 「ふたり」, and “Love is a Bird”. Of course, my opinion isn’t really worth much since I’m heavily biased towards them, having followed them since late 2003. Being in possession of every single, album, and DVD they have ever released doesn’t help either. ;)

If you haven’t checked out Kalafina yet, I’d highly recommend that you do if you’re a fan of Yuki Kajiura’s music. Their first single’s title track, “oblivious”, is the ending theme for the first chapter of 「空の境界」.

The text below is a basic transcription of the romaji subtitles by Eclipse Productions for the insert song in the most recent episode of Rental Magica. I’d like to apologize in advance for any errors that may be there.

白い雪を駆けて
鈴の音聞こえる
どこへ森を抜け
橇が遣って来る
聖なるこの夜に
星に願い祈ろう

さぁ喜び歌おう今宵を
星は輝く照らす
楽しい鈴の音近ずく
柊のリイス目印にして

さぁ楽しく歌おう今宵を
星は導き照らす
聖者の子を信じ近ずく
樅の木のツリー飾りつけて
靴下には夢を詰めて眠ろう

さぁ皆で歌おう今宵を
星の夜空へ響く
サンタも歌うよこの歌
笑い声をメロヂイにして

さぁ一緒に歌おう今宵を
雪降るの地へ響く
歌声重なり広がる
込めて今日と心込めて
笑顔でまた過せるように祈ろう

I always enjoy transcribing romaji as it almost always helps expand my Japanese vocabulary. The main reason I did this though was really just for my own benefit as I tend to prefer “singing along” with Japanese lyrics over romaji lyrics (of course, I don’t actually “sing” since I suck, but anyway…). I also did this because I wanted to put in another jab at promoting this great episode to my readers. ;)

I can’t get over how awesome the music from the Touhou games are. I’m really liking “おてんば恋娘” right now and I dare say that I’m probably spending too much time enjoying the tunes instead of working on my novel.

GARNET CROW will be releasing their 26th single next month on the 14th entitled 『世界はまわると言うけれど』.

1. 世界はまわると言うけれど
2. 彼方まで光を
3. Argentina
4. 世界はまわると言うけれど (Instrumental)

I’ve only seen a commercial for the song thus far but it sounds like it’s going to be another killer track. Though, since I’m a die hard fan, you should probably wave it off and check it out yourself when it gets released.

One of the best things I like about GARNET CROW is that they’ve been consistently releasing two B-sides with their singles since their 15th single, 『僕らだけの未来』. This obviously translates into more new songs to listen to whenever they make a release (as most artists tend to only include one B-side or none at all in place of remixes of the A-side). I just laid an order with Amazon on Friday but I’m probably going to have to slap down another one in the near future for this single.

ZARD has always been one of my famous Japanese bands (or singer, if you will) and a frown immediately appeared on my face upon hearing this news from my cousin. She may be gone from this world…but her songs will always stay with us. May she rest in peace.

It’s been a while since I’ve listened to KOTOKO’s Re-sublimity and agony, the opening and ending tracks for 『神無月の巫女』 respectively. Having just given the two a whirl again (and wow, I’ve forgotten how awesome these two tracks were), I realized how the beginning of agony was somewhat like Love Planet Five’s 『天壌を翔る者たち』 in the sense that both tracks didn’t get going with the lyrics until over a full minute has passed. Upon closer inspection, I realized that both tracks were actually composed by the same person, 高瀬一矢. Seems like the fellow also composed Suppration-core-, an insert track for 『神無月の巫女』, and here we also have this one minute opening of full techno before the lyrics rolls in.

So what does this all mean? Nothing in particular, really, I’m just trying to avoid studying for the ECON 102 final. I’ve actually had thoughts of blogging the first episode of sola today but have not done so because I figured my time would be better spent on preparing for the final. I guess I have not lost my sanity and sense of priorities completely since those entries always takes a while.