Watching Nodame Cantabile has re-ignited that interest, causing me to dig out all my classical music CDs from the aforementioned era. In general, anime fandom – especially when characterized as otaku – tends to focus on obsession with anime to the exclusion of everything else (including other stuff at the base of Maslow’s hierarchy), for me, in the course of anime, I’ve listened to more classical music than I otherwise would have if I had not watched anime. Likewise, learning the basics of photography because of an interest in figurine photography (okay, inheriting a Nikon D200 with 18/200 VR lens was the biggest spur though). Or read a Chinese weiqi beginner’s manual from cover to cover, even though I hate reading in Chinese, because of Hikaru no Go. Or to take a basic course in Japanese language over a lazy but definitely finite and not repeated undergraduate summer. All in all, being an anime fan has enriched my life in some unexpected ways; would love to hear from readers about your experiences in this respect too.

(Aside: I’m also quite glad that I bought the various CDs. I downloaded lots of mp3s too but most of them got wiped out when my last laptop HDD crashed.)

I haven’t listened to the Nodame: Paris OST yet. Waiting until I’ve watched the anime first. Stripey tried to find the first season’s OST during his hunt which bagged one of my favourite StrikerS doujins ever. Good job, bro!

WRT Gensou, I actually thought it was kinda mweh when I heard the Nipponsei rip. Haven’t changed my mind after listening to the CD itself. The best track, as Kurogane pointed out, was definitely Koi no Mikuru no Densetsu. The tracks featuring vocals, particularly Aya Hirano’s, were the weakest. God Knows was a perfectly good rock ballad track, the classical treatment – contra j1m0ne – was both unsuitable and unnecessary. Maybe the orchestra could have made an interesting addition as background support a la Guns N Roses’ November Rain but taking out the electric guitars was just criminal.

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

Ginme no Majo (Masanori Takumi | Claymore)

This background music track always reminds me Galatea’s deliciously wicked musing as she walked off into the darkness of the forest towards the end of Ep 11. And also when Riful intervened against Jean’s attempt coup de grace against Duff.

The dramatic drum beats right at the start are a great hook, thereafter the strings carried me to the embarking on a new adventure, announced by a triumphant brass section. The stirrings of mystery and conspiracy are heralded by piano keys against a background of bass notes and eerie synthetic animal-like calls. The various sounds come together, moving in and out, building into a crescendo that made such a great background to the above-mentioned scenes.

Yamiyo no Prologue (Kajiura Yuki | Mai HiME)

And BGM that features the pounding of drums. Great big ones. The scene in my mind’s eye when I hear this is from Mai HiME 15 when Mai on Kagutsuchi charging up into the heavens as Artemis’ ray surges downwards.

Salva Nos (Kujiura Yuki | Noir)

"Someone is going to die," says this BGM. The prelude and background for yet another of Kirika’s casually brutally, coarse yet strangely elegant killing sprees. The incongruous combination of doramaz singing in some language that I don’t understand and techno-beats somehow works. Despite all the repetition over the course of the series, this was streets ahead of the watch tune because it heralded action rather than repeated flashbacks.

Foxy Doll (EDISON | Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage)

Fresh from her meeting with Chan of the HK Triads, Balalaika issues orders to the Sergeant. Hotel Moscow goes on the warpath. The rhythm/bass guitar (?) starts off and provides the structure for the whole piece, like Balalaika’s steady, unyielding stride while the drum beats evoke foot falls and the beating of raging hearts. The lead guitar conveys the swagger, an attitude that prevades all that motion. Some serious ass kicking.

M19+20 (Yuki Kujiura | Kara no Kyoukai 3: Remaining Sense of Pain)

I’ve already raved about this previously. Still my favourite piece from the superlative Kara no Kyoukai OSTs that are oh so evilly packaged with the R2 LEs.

Suspense 5 (Tatsuya Nishiwaki | Maria+Holic)

Kiss the yuri girl and make her hive. Bells and choral singing to electric guitars and back but working together as one reflecting Mariya’s Janus-faced nature.

Overall, I’m a bit surprised to find that I do like tunes where there’s a lot going on in the same track. Some might describe this as messy or noisy but I prefer to think of them as moving layers moving in and out of emphasis. Lots of electric guitars and drums help too.

Winamp skin by lildragon07 via The Lunar Abyss.

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

As usual, I should have seen it coming. Or rather, I should have heard it coming. The running footfalls approaching from behind. The intake of breadth. Perhaps even the swinging of her arm through the air. There was, of course, no missing either the loud greeting of "HELLO!" and the slap on the back.

‘You sure are late going home today!’ she chirped.

‘You too, Asa-senpai.’

‘Cooking club activities! And now I’ve got to rush back to make dinner. See ya!’

And as she turned to speed off in her characteristically energetic way…

Nature sent a blessing wind. Blue crossed stripes on white…

She spun round, an interrogating gleam in her eye. ‘You saw, didn’t you?’ she crooned.

Crap! Did I say that out loud!? ‘Huh? Of course not! Definitely not! Not even a little!!’

A sly grin crept over her face, eyebrows raised sceptically. ‘That’s a little disappointing.’

By the light of the setting sun, her smile was reflected in mine.

—

This figure can look quite different when seen from just a slightly different angle. My favourite is the one above right where the eye can travel in a straight line from top to bottom, taking in all the design points of interest from her ahoge, hair ribbon, front bow, cleavage, upraised left hand, pleated skirt and underskirt, briefcase (with adorable Ama keychain) and bent knee. Certainly seems to have been sculpted with a very specific placing in mind.

Her back is certainly a lot less interesting. I do appreciate and enjoy all the painstaking details such as the dots borderng the grey underskirt, the belt buckle at the small of her back, the buckles and clasps on her school briefcase, the painting of the brown stripe just above the hem of her white skirt, shirt sleeves and sailor collar but, as with all the points of interest mentioned above, the front view is definitely where the focus is.

Being a green-haired chara, I thought that a green background wouldn’t work at all but it doesn’t seem too bad. Also the light was a bit low. But the hair still manages to stand out from the grass behind. And I think it has a nice contrast against the uniform. Also, for some reason, the pic on the left had a brownish tinge which cleared up after using Auto Levels (right). Not a very successful shoot but a fun one nonetheless.

Still have much to learn especially from other great shoots like Dancing Queen‘s – who used a background with yellow stripes that’s just a tad more elaborate than the packaging box’s. Blue, as seen on 1999.co.jp‘s catalog pics, works great too.

My favourite is Saku‘s photo shoot. He made such marvelous use of a variety of outdoor backgrounds (sky, water, buildings and trees), careful posing as well as low f/stop to create a lovely date mood and the feel of 1/1 perspective. Great to see others enjoying this figure of my favourite SHUFFLE! chara too.

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.