Note to anyone considering buying the special edition of KOTOKO’s upcoming anime-song compilation: the tracklisting on the bonus DVD is somewhat… bizarre.

1. ひとりごと-2009 ver.- (Hitorigoto)
2. Re-sublimity
3. BLAZE
4. ハヤテのごとく！ (Hayate no Gotoku!)
5. bumpy-Jumpy!

All songs taken from to October 16th date of her recent tour, performed at SHIBUYA-AX in Tokyo.

And now, it may be blasphemous to say, but I’m sure I can’t be the only one thinking it: would you all be perfectly content to never hear Re-sublimity ever again? It’s a great song and all, but it’s been on so many KOTOKO releases by this point that it’s hard to get excited about hearing yet another version of the Kannazuki no Miko opener. The presence of recent highlight bumpy-Jumpy! is a pleasant surprise, though, and may be just enough of one to make up for the somewhat uninspired selections it’s been surrounded with. Regardless of that one gem of a song choice, however, nothing on the bonus DVD really seems to be enough to elevate this one to “must-buy” status.

Well, no tracklisting (except for a hint that it’ll be 14 songs) yet, but we now know that there will indeed be an I’ve Mania Tracks vol. II, to be released on December 29 at Comiket 77. Additionally, the Visual Art’s booth will be boasting an EP by the name of “Panorama”, set to feature a ‘remastered’ version of KOTOKO’s Zutto Soba ni… in addition to songs from popular non-I’ve vocalists Lia, Rita and Haruka Shimotsuki. Exactly how much the new version of the song will differ from the 6-year-old original remains to be seen, but the smart money’s on “probably not a whole lot”.

As an aside, I’d like to note that Mania Tracks vol. II boasts some of the strangest cover art in I’ve history. Cartoon versions of Nakazawa and Takase? With Nakazawa’s shirt reading “We are Outer” and Takase flipping the bird? Who thought that up?

It’s a bit premature, as the guys at I’ve Sound Explorer acknowledge themselves, but here’s the I’ve Sound Explorer year-end ‘best-of’ poll, where you pick your favourite song from 2009’s offerings. It’s a shockingly comprehensive list, so anyone who wants to use this poll as a chance to express their undying love for, say, Everything is assumed to be connected can feel free to do so. And please post your vote in the comments thread, it’s more fun that way.

A bit late on this one, but hey, better late than never. Right?

The time has come! Our beloved I’ve Sound’s new utahime, Airi Kirishima, can be heard now! Futa ane OP movie, featuring A-chan’s two HeaRt, is now available for your pleasure both in its official website or in YouTube.

A nice work from Maiko Iuchi… and a very promising start for A-chan. XD

EDIT NOTE:

Another news update. Good news for fans of MELL-sama out there. Selen will release Shakkin Shimai 2 After Story and it will feature a song by MELL-sama.

Credits:
Title: Noblest love
Lyrics: MELL
Composition & Arrangement: C.G mix

This song will be released along with the previous theme songs from Shakkin Shimai series, seduce by Mami Kawada and Love is money?! by Kaori Utatsuki, in the limited edition Shakkin Shimai 2 After Story with Soundtrack.

Now… Now… Shakkin Shimai is not Maiko Iuchi-exclusive anymore? I want more Maiko Iuchi in Shakkin Shimai :O

In which all accusations of fanboy favouritism are (hopefully) put to rest.

川田まみ (Mami Kawada) – Prophecy (2009, Geneon Universal)

Tracklisting:

1. Prophecy
2. a frame
3. Prophecy -instrumental-
4. a frame -instrumental

The review:

Well this is somewhat unexpected. Tomoyuki Nakazawa, apparently obsessed with the idea that PSI-missing was pretty bad but not quite uninteresting enough, has pulled out all the stops to make sure that his latest collaboration with trusty guitarist Takeshi Ozaki and vocalist Mami Kawada is the dullest thing I’ve has put out since U make Ai dream, and with that in mind, this new single is undoubtably a resounding success. It’s also a winner for making its awful predecessor sound like a decent song in comparison, as KOTOKO’s abysmal BLAZE at the very least had a pulse. Prophecy is on life support, and if this is what it’s come to then perhaps it might be best to pull the plug.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly who is most at fault for this latest mistake, as the people involved are all generally amongst the most consistent of the I’ve musicians and more than capable of rescuing an otherwise-dire composition from the oblivion of mediocrity. Kawada comes to mind as the most immediately-likely candidate simply by virtue of being the most noticeable figure, but further investigation has her largely doing about as much as can be done with the unimpressive composition. Her cracking voice on the chorus might grate on some more sensitive listeners’ ears, but fans are used to as much from I’ve: passion is often left unmatched by the girls’ pipes, and a strained vocal here and there is par for the course. And, really, seeing as songs like JOINT managed to become instant classics regardless of Kawada’s somewhat unfortunate lack of vocal power, it seems highly unlikely that it would be her performance sinking this one.

Similarly, guitarist and co-arranger Takeshi Ozaki makes an unlikely killer, considering the sheer number of songs (and, arguably, C.G mix’s sophomore album in its entirety) saved simply by the virtue of his guitar work, yet at the same time it seems hard to find much to like about his uncharacteristically muted playing on Prophecy. The lifeless mess of textural guitar riffing that permeates the song fails to elevate it above the level of “easily-forgettable mistake”, and bad mixing lends the guitar line a truly lamentable air of “Maiko Iuchi”. Treble-heavy when it should lean more on the bass, the electric guitars are far more unpleasant than they have any right to be, making it seem like Ozaki might just be the one who did the song in. But, seeing as we all know that Ozaki just provides window dressing for the songs he appears on, it becomes fairly obvious, upon further inspection, who the real culprit is here.

Tomoyuki Nakazawa. The golden boy’s been racking up quite the body count recently, first taking out Mami Kawada’s previously-spotless track record with the abysmal PSI-missing before moving on to tarnishing the good name of Eiko Shimamiya’s Higurashi singles on the endlessly dreary Chikai. Here, he’s taking out his own professional credibility, and if there were ever a Geneon single to suggest that, yes, Tomoyuki Nakazawa was indeed the same who created Ha!!!ppiness, it would be Prophecy. The song stands steadfast in its refusal to be interesting in any aspect, and as the mastermind behind its unholy conception it’s only natural for Nakazawa to take the blame. Muted synthesizers, muted backbeats, every aspect of this horrifically dull composition is inexplicably muted, and whatever the reason such a bizarre approach was used, it was almost certainly Nakazawa responsible for the decision. The song is deliberate in its lack of inspiration: whatever its reason, it wants you to forget it. Perhaps Nakazawa’s saying he wants out of Geneon, perhaps he’s saying he just doesn’t give a shit anymore. But whatever the reason behind his apathy, it’s hard to deny that it’s led to one hell of a boring single.

Things perk up slightly, but only slightly, on similarly-dull B-side a frame. If one were to be generous, a frame could almost be compared to a lighter version of SAVIA’s already airy sense, but even that faint praise seems excessive when dealing with a non-entity of this caliber. It’s an improvement on its A-side in every way, doubtlessly, but the comparison is somewhat akin to one blank canvas being superior to another on account of the fact that one had been left in the sun a minute longer than the other. Yes, the one that’s been left out for a shorter time might have the tiniest bit richer a hue, but to the untrained eye they’re still both just blank canvasses and neither are terribly interesting without anything painted on them. And, even though a frame is the better song, it still doesn’t quite achieve ‘memorable’ status. If this is really what the once-golden Nakazawa/Ozaki/Kawada team has come to, I’ve’s hopefully-inevitable split from Geneon can’t happen soon enough.

As the predecessor Real Onigokko had, Geneon thought ASSAULT GIRLS should be given a special page as well. You can see it here along with the PV preview of KOTOKO’s SCREW.

The cover single has also been revealed now. You can see it below.

It’s interesting that they actually recycled Epsilon’s costume for the cover, although KOTOKO’s appearance in the PV was much better than this OMG-it’s-so-awful-like-Real-Onigokko’s cover.

one more time. SCREW? SCREW.

Well, it’s still lacking a few names, but here’s the list of songs and remixers as it stands, augmented with Myspace links because they’re fun:

Collective [JUNO REACTOR]
BLAZE [G.M.S]
Lament
intron tone [SINE6:MAZDA]
PSI-missing [Shiva Joerg]
Way beyond there [SORMA No.1]
KILL [G.M.S]
SCOPE
ULYSSES [Eric Mouquet]
奈落の花 (Naraku no Hana) [Eat Static]
Shining stars bless☆
Spyglass [SORMA No.1]
天壌を翔る者たち (Tenjou wo Kakeru Monotachi) [Dj MASA]
DETECT [SINE6:MAZDA]

Well, it appears that unbeloved DJ SINE6 is now working under the alias ‘MAZDA’, and the only new guy on this list is Dj MASA. As there are quite a few DJs using ‘Masa’ in some form or other as their name, it’s unclear on exactly who it’s going to be, but the most-likely candidate would seem to be DJ MASA -angrybear-. Thoughts, anyone?

News update for Mami Kawada. The supposedly-I’ve-rock-princess will sing the theme song for 恋と選挙とチョコレート, eroge by Sprite. The credit is already available:

“INITIATIVE“
Lyrics: Mami Kawada
Composition & Arrangement: Tomoyuki Nakazawa
Vocal: Mami Kawada

Old combination of Mami & Tomoyuki. Without Takeshi Ozaki. Trance-y or Rockish? Most probably trance-y.

As to other news update, it’s really late update though, Futa-ane now has release date. It will be released on January 29, 2010. Too bad there’s still no more information (and moreover, download) for the theme song by our new I’ve-utahime, Airi Kirishima.

So… I’ve has set their sail, huh? Departed to the Future, anyone? Not really. Since they still depend too much on KOTOKO.

Ps. Thanks to fred for bringing this up in the forum.

Well, it’s unknown if this will be the actual order of the songs, but from Amazon Japan:

■KOTOKO
1. Collective
2. BLAZE
3. Lament

■Mami Kawada
4. intron tone
5. PSI-missing

■MELL
6. Way beyond there
7. KILL
8. SCOPE

■Eiko Shimamiya
9. ULYSSES
10. Naraku no Hana (奈落の花)

■Kaori Utatsuki
11. Shining stars bless☆
12. Spyglass

■Love Planet Five
13. Tenjou wo Kakeru Monotachi (天壌を翔る者たち)

■C.G mix
14.DETECT

Remixers still unknown, so nobody knows who will be doing what just yet. However, I find little to complain about with this tracklisting, particularly the pleasant surprise of Lament resurfacing; here’s hoping they’ll do a better job on the actual remixes this time.