Musical Impressions on 19 Colors by Natsumi Kiyoura

I first started paying attention to Natsuki Kiyoura after hearing her sing the OP to Sketchbook, and I haven’t gotten tired of her voice since then. Maybe because of that song itself, I like to think of her singing as soothing, regardless of how she’s been using it since, for power, for fun, or for awesome. That quality is something that I don’t usually hear in people who perform OP/EDs for anime, so it was captivating for me, especially after hearing the OP from Spice and Wolf for the first time.

I also haven’t met a song of hers that I haven’t liked in some capacity from the singles that she’s released. So after hearing from omo that she recently released her first album which also happened to contain a lot of her singles from anime, I jumped at the chance, bought the album, and decided to write about it (or at least my fanboying of her). I also know that the people that composed or produced some of the songs were a big part of what made them special. But her voice was what got me more than anything else. It was definitely at least 40-something bucks worth my time.

Not the best cover picture, but hey. Colors.

Impressions on Sketchbook ~full color’S~: I Still Think It’s An Awesome Title

Written by TheBigN

Maybe it’s because I like YKK so much, but I frankly wouldn’t mind having an episode of Sketchbook ~full color’S~ where Sora spends all of the time drinking tea in a state of repose.

Look at her go. I can see the double feature now: ‘Alpha Makes Coffee, and Sora Drinks Tea!’ Beautiful. 🙂

Impressions on a Year 2007: Happy Action Fun Time

Written by TheBigN

This installment contains SPOILERS. I repeat, SPOILERS, so read at your own risk. This is also hella long, so again, read at your own risk. :3

With that being said, these are the episodes or moments in series this year that made an impact on me; the “definable” stuff.  I guess, in a way, you could say that as an extension, these are the memorable series for me for the year. Not all of them are my favorites for the year, and all of my favorites aren’t on this list, but these are the ones that stick in the mind long after the show’s over. 😛  

Impressions on a Year 2007: Awesome OPs and EDs

Written by TheBigN 

Self-explanatory really, though my writing might not be. Whether because of the song, the visuals, or both, these intros and outros worked for me this year. Using youtube, I tried to get all raw versions, but some only had a subbed version. But that shouldn’t be too important, should it? 😛

BTW, this probably is a long post, which also explains what happens when you aren’t too selective. :3

Impressions on a Year 2007: Beginning With Interesting People Not Named Manami Amamiya or Miyako from Hidamari Sketch

Written by TheBigN

Hopefully you guys have had a good Christmas and an even better Boxing Day/Start of Kwanzaa. And in case you’re wondering, I’m not Canadian, nor do I actually celebrate Kwanzaa. Now on the actual post. 😀

Even though I’m making a list of what I found to be the most interesting, impressionable, immaterial (and missing power), and impressive things I’ve seen in anime and anime blogs this year, the reader should take everything I write with a grain of salt (</common sense>).  I haven’t seen every anime this year, nor listened to every OST, ED/OP this year, and so on, which is why you won’t see things from shows like Code Geass, Gundam 00 or Idolm@ster: Xenoglossia, for example (erm…). And I certainly don’t think I’m qualified to highlight something as the “best” overall, so I’m just going to go for things that worked (or didn’t) for me.  These are by no means complete lists or completely accurate lists, as I know I’m going to forget some things or others in the process. Also, if you’re expecting quality, be prepared for more of the Musashi stuff than the really good stuff. 😛  Try and enjoy the show… and the snow if things work out correctly. :3

Today, I’m focusing on some of the characters that made anime this year interesting for me. This is limited to one per show to keep this post briefer than it could have been, including the characters in my post’s title (why not Miyako some may ask? Hopefully you’ll see why in a couple of weeks – definitely my favorite character of the year BTW). And I’m not done with the title characters yet, but I feel like I need to pay attention to others; they need love too. :3

A Minor Gripe: Soo Nan De-su Ker?

Written by TheBigN

Another example of why I’m a hypocrite:

Musical Impressions on Sketchbook ~full color’s~ sound sketch book

Written by TheBigN

I’m a peculiar person with peculiar tastes. So it shouldn’t be a surprise to you if I consider the Sketchbook ~full color’s~ OST, sound sketch book, to be one of my top 3 favorite albums of the year (the best still goes to TTGL, but I might expound on that another time). For a show that focuses on an art club, and more on the club itself than the art (though we never usually see the art produced, save for Natsumi’s drawing of Sora and whatever Kuga-sempai has on her mind), the background music does it’s job, providing a proper accompaniment to everything else but never really taking our attention away from the rest of the show. Despite this, I don’t think that sound sketch book needs the show to completely work, and I find it a pretty good standalone album.

Thankful for Anime, 2007

Written by TheBigN

Granted, this will be bit earlier than usual for some, but why not get that head start in anyways? 😀