violetchain

Wow, you can really hear the indifference in that Kyary song.

I like best-of releases. They usually give a clear and concise overview of how the band's sound has changed over the years, and I find that's usually a better first impression of an artist than any specific album. Dragon Ash's "Best of with Changes" is a really good example. If you were to listen to "Mustang!" first and then go straight to something like "Independiente" it wouldn't make any sense, but the compilation gives you a smooth transition from their early stuff into the rap era and the more Latin-inspired sound.

Oh that horrible visual novel dialogue.

No, geek sleep sheep has a male vocalist as well. They split the vocals, but he probably sings a bit more than Miyoko does overall.

Pocky from NOA is also super cute

^Yes, I would start most people off with L'Arc as well. ELLEGARDEN is a good choice too

Frederic - OWARASE NIGHT The whole mini-album is super catchy, vaguely funky and a little ridiculous, and I'm still surprised by how much I love it. Runner-up so far is 04 Limited Sazabys' "CAVU". It's hard to make a whole album of pop punk stay interesting, and I think they were really conscious of that with CAVU. I was pleasantly surprised by how hard they tried to mix things up for their first full-length release. I never expected them to try something like "knife", and while I think their cute and cheerful stuff is way more memorable, the darker songs really need to be there.

The shuffle thread reminded me of this one: Himuro is dreamy and all, but I have no idea what the director of this video was trying to achieve by just randomly projecting video of him onto things for three minutes.

^Sorry, I've never heard any of those. 1. Wyse - ~trance fusion~ 2. Kyosuke Himuro - KISS ME 3. ADAPTER - Matsuri 4. Good Charlotte - Keep Your Hands Off My Girl 5. SNAKE ON THE BEACH - TOMBO 6. Lynch Mob - Hell Child 7. Izzy Stradlin - What I Told You 8. Goo Goo Dolls - You Never Know 9. Johnny Thunders - As Tears Go By 10. Kyosuke Himuro - ANGEL This shuffle is so-so. Himuro is the obvious standout here - both of those songs are glorious. The Johnny Thunders track is a really cute cover, though.

The demo version of "from MOON" on NOA's old Audioleaf account is the cutest thing ever. http://www.audioleaf.com/noa-3/ "This story's about the rabbit who loved human all her liiiiiiiife."

Glad to see that WANIMA track on the list.

Loving the new video. Everyone looks so happy and full of life. <3 I'm amazed by how well seek can move in that costume

GLAY's "Love Is Beautiful" album is the first one coming to mind. It's not my absolute favourite, but I think it's a very solid one for around 15 years into their career. The collaborations with Kyosuke Himuro and EXILE are both really refreshing.

Psycho le Cemu's Frontiers look

^Whenever I see the name KEEL I assume it's this one and get incredibly confused about why people are talking about them here

I still say Dirty Old Men was gold. SHIT HAPPENING, on the other hand, is impossible to take seriously.

It's nice to see Suck a Stew Dry getting to the point where they can have actual actors in their videos instead of Kosei just staring awkwardly into the camera all the time. The new song is really cute too.

Seek is gold imo, it's the exposed boobs on aya that made my eyebrow raise. Daishi and Yura look great though

I don't think I've ever heard Teru sing this high before. Endless Rain is definitely not the right song for him, but you can really hear him trying, and I think it's sweet. His sincerity really shines through. The "without you" is pretty awkward, but oh well.

Present: 1. Teru (GLAY) 2. Chiba Yusuke (TMGE, The Birthday, ROSSO, etc.) 3. Kenji Furuya (Dragon Ash) 4. Tetsu Takano (ZIGZO, nil, etc.) 5. Daishi Kajinaga (Psycho le Cemu, the ROMEO, etc) Past: 1. K (Pay money To my Pain) The "past" list was a lot harder than I thought it would be...I guess all my favourite singers are still active? Even Missile Girl Scoot randomly came back this year, so I can't say Junn and U-ri. I feel like K would have kept singing for at least another decade too, if he could have, so it feels weird putting his name on this list. I remember reading something about Kyosuke Himuro retiring from live activities, but the way it was worded made it sound like he might still keep making music, so that probably doesn't count.

TRACE Music and Lyrics: KENTA Dare ni mo iezu kizu wa fuete Kurikaeshi suriherasu hibi Furikirezu ni kakaeta mama obiete taeru dake Kono itami ni nareru made Itsumo kitai shite wa machikutabire Soredemo mada machi-tsuzuketa (Demo) donna toki mo wasurenaide Ato sukoshi… Kiki-nareta SERIFU da to shitemo Anata ga ireba (sore dake de) Itsudatte omoidasu koe Nando furikaette mite mo… Yobi-tsuzukeru koe ga (todoitara) Nakanaide namida fuki emi de Mata aetara ano koro no mama… Asa no hikari ga mabushi-sugite Yoru no kurayami ga kura-sugite Sugiru jikan mo kawaru kisetsu ni sae Oite ikare Kono jidai ni nareru made Itsuka Motodoori modoru you na Arifureta yume o miteru (demo) hito wa iu “me o samase” Mou sukoshi… Dare ni mo mitomerarenakutemo Anata ga kureta (ano kotoba ga) Itsudatte senaka o oshite Nanto koko made tadoritsuketa Soba ni iru ki ga shita (itsumademo) miageta sora Mata aeru you ni Inori hitori arukidashita Omoiegaku kono saki mo Deai wakare yorokobi kanashimi wa tsuzuku no deshou Tabikasanaru fukou wa mukou de matsu Kimi ni hanasu Wasurezu oboeteru kioku ga yomigaeru Demo… Anata ga ireba… Ima nara ano hi no uso mo ano yoru mo koe yuruseru kara… Yobi-tsuzukeru koe ga (todoitara) Miageta sora Mata aeru you ni Inori hitori arukidashita Anata ga ireba (sore dake de) Itsudatte omoidasu koe Nando furikaette mite mo… Yobi-tsuzukeru koe ga (todoitara) Nakanaide namida fuki emi de Mata aetara ano koro no mama… Kanji: http://mojim.com/usy135623x2x4.htm

I think the Charisma.com one is the most eye-catching because of the bright colours, and I like the inclusion of the black and white versions of them in the background. Also voted for B-T because they're the only band on this list I actually listen to.

Looks about right. I usually don't play anything that requires reflexes or quick decisions, and I'd rather play as a team than compete. I like RPG and strategy games where you can raise the characters in different ways or follow different paths within the same world. I like party games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros too, but I only play them when I have friends over.

タイムスリップしたみたいに / It’s like I’ve gone back in time A student doing physical training On the high school field right behind my house The way he was running Reminded me of you The dream we had back then, Are you even a little closer to achieving it? The barriers in the way are higher than we thought Are you struggling to get over them like I am? You’re out there somewhere too Surely you’re out there somewhere I wonder if you’re continuing to fight, hiding your feelings of bitterness In that case, I In that case, I definitely can’t give up One day, we’ll laugh together again Because I want to see you It’s like I’ve gone back in time I look at the changing landscape of our town with a sidelong glance Today as well, our lives are getting a little shorter Our hearts are burning up with passion And we’re heading towards that distant future You’re out there somewhere too Surely you’re out there somewhere I wonder if you’re continuing to fight, hiding your feelings of bitterness In that case, I In that case, I definitely can’t give up One day, we’ll laugh together again Because I want to see you It’s like I’ve gone back in time We’re talking about things like our dreams and ideals, And together, we’re growing up a bit We look down at our knees like we did in the past* It’s like I’ve gone back in time We’re talking about things like love and hope And it seems like we’ll keep doing our best tomorrow as well We’ll both keep doing our best tomorrow, right? Notes: * This line is probably wrong. I thought it might be an expression or something, but the only thing that comes up when I google it is this song, so I just wrote my best guess... タイムスリップしたみたいに / TAIMUSURIPPU shita mitai ni Ie no maura ni aru Koukou no undoujou de Taiiku shite iru Hitori no seito Hashiru kuse ga Kimi ni nite ita Egaite ita Yume arekara Sukoshi demo Chikazuketa kai? Omotta yori Kabe takakute Noboru no konnan Na no wa onaji darou? Kimi mo dokoka de Kitto dokoka de Hitoshirezu kujuu name-nagara Tatakatte iru no darou Naraba boku datte Kitto boku datte Makete irarenai Itsuka mata Warai-atte Aitai kara TAIMUSURIPPU shita mitai ni Kawari-yuku Machinami o Yokome ni mite Kyou mo bokura Inochi kezutte Kokoro moyashite Haruka mirai e Susunde yuku Kimi mo dokoka de Kitto dokoka de Hitoshirezu kujuu name-nagara Tatakatte iru no darou Naraba boku datte Kitto boku datte Makete irarenai Itsuka mata Warai-atte Aitai kara TAIMUSURIPPU shita mitai ni Yume ya risou o katariatte Tagai ni sukoshi otona ni natte Mukashi mitai ni hiza mukeatte TAIMUSURIPPU shita mitai ni Ai ya kibou o katariatte Asu mo ganbarou nante omoetara Asu mo ganbarou tte omoetara naa Kanji: http://j-lyric.net/artist/a057922/l02ce32.html

^Yeah, I'm pretty much the same way with Tetsu. I let a lot of mediocre stuff slide because his style is so charming, but yes, nil hasn't been very good recently at all. I listened to the first two JJA releases around the time they came out, but nothing really grabbed my attention. I don't hate it, but it's just not really my style of music. I lied when I said the only JJA song I liked was Shounenhei, though. ruten was okay too. I think my favourite thing Tetsu has done in the past five years is actually ZIGZO's THE BATTLE OF LOVE. I like TRUE IMPULSE quite a bit too. The songs aren't quite up to the standard of their first few albums, but i think they're a lot more memorable than the stuff he's been producing on his own. (Although that's probably because he didn't write it all himself) I agree that he's probably been stretching himself too thin recently with all these projects, and I think he must have realized that too since he's decided to merge nil and JJA into one. Hopefully the rest of this band's music will be better. But, then again, it's Tetsu, so maybe he just has two more projects lined up or something and needs to free up some time. Thanks! My Japanese is really bad, but I'm happy to hear that. I like seeing the way other people interpret the same songs sometimes too (it helps me check if I've gotten something horribly wrong...).