2018.3.24 Recent CD Haul Mini-Reviews

I’ve been buying a lot of CDs lately…

First, let me hype up a singer: Koharu Meu.

I’ve bought three of her albums one after another, and honestly each one has a different style.

Let’s start with the first:

under the starry

Not much to say about this one. It’s more or less at the level of a standard doujin album—neither good nor bad.

Then came the second album:

Rhythmic Emotion

The lead tracks are still standard mass-produced solfa songs, but a few tracks start to stand out and show some of Koharu Meu’s individuality. The most famous is silent ashes—the driving beat paired with her distinctive voice really brings out a unique charm.

Maybe the producer noticed something about Koharu Meu: her voice is distinctive and blends really well with strong electronic beats. It’s clearly different from those quiet-style female vocalists—her voice suits energetic electronic music much better.

One more thing worth mentioning: the title track rhythmic emotion is literally identical to the OP of Hatsukoi Sankai Me. Template composing at its finest.

Then the third album:

una wave

The promo tagline for this one was: “Odoreru, Koharu Meu” (Koharu Meu, you can dance to her).

Clearly the producer had figured out her vocal characteristics and the music that fits them, so this album leans fully into that strength—at least half of it is high-energy dance music.

The title track una wave is exactly that: heavy electronic sound and a driving beat.

Lots of the other tracks follow a similar style. The one that stuck with me most is the ED of Primal X Hearts 2—after hearing it I wanted to play the game…

Anyway, Koharu Meu is a singer worth watching, and she’s already carved out her own style. If she keeps developing, she might become a shining star.

『Imouto Paradise! 3』 Complete Sound Album

The CD for Imouto Tengoku 3. I wrote about my buying experience before.

This album doesn’t really have any highlights, but luckily the game’s EDs are really good. I still recommend the Chata version, and Koharu Meu also sings the harem route ED, which is solid too.

Next is a somewhat bigger release:

Fuyutsubaki - Xceon

Xceon is probably a collective—this is an album by many creators, with a bit of arrangement and a lot of vocals. You can actually find another Xceon album online; the two don’t differ much in style, but listening to them you’ll find it all sounds very familiar. The beats, the melodies, the arrangement—it’s easy to associate with another group: fripSide.

Sometimes I think Xceon is more like a budget fripSide. Why budget? Because Xceon is doing what fripSide has already mastered, and fripSide’s overall sound is still a bit more varied than Xceon’s.

That said, the album still has plenty of distinctive tracks. My top two picks: Himawari and Bantou no Rikka.

Last, some albums everyone already knows: the RIDDLE JOKER character songs.

• RIDDLE JOKER Character Song Vol.3 “Tsuyogaru Otona no Secret Labo” | Mai Gotou |
• RIDDLE JOKER Character Song Vol.2 “Sympathy” | Mai Ishihara |
• RIDDLE JOKER Character Song Vol.4 “Yamato Nadeshiko wa Akogare” | Sendai Obasan |
• RIDDLE JOKER Character Song Vol.1 “PERFECT GIRL” | Kiritani Hana |

I won’t bother with pictures, and I won’t describe the songs either—they’re everywhere. As for why I bought them: nobody was ripping the character songs this time, so I just went ahead and bought them. And buying just one felt lame, so I got the whole set.

Also, only the first three are any good. Sendai Obasan’s track is offensively bad—even my girlfriend said it was terrible, completely unbearable. I regret spending money on it.

You might have noticed Kiritani Hana’s single is missing from my photo. That’s because it was out of stock—on Japanese Amazon, no less. I’ll just pretend I have it; the resources are online anyway.