Re: Japan | 日本 | WV95: Two-Song NF (Rock vs. Ballad)
Okay, time to get some life back in this thread! I'll put some comments on the editions I've been quiet for and then a mini-NF, so buckle up.
WV93: Eri Sasaki - Fuyu Biyori
I adored this warm little folk piece from the first time I heard it - which was just about at the turn of the year. The strings, the vocals, the gentle guitar riffs; this is the perfect song to just sit back and relax to as you're all rugged up on a lazy winter day! Which just so happens to be what the song's all about. And hey, it might not have been thematically accurate to send it in May for most of the world, but I'm in Australia, so it's fine xshifty
Similarly to many of my previous entries, I came across this when it was used for an anime theme (here, the ending to
Yuru Camp), but this time, a miracle happened: the Japanese record label was actually willing to upload a music video, for free, on YouTube, without region blocking! Seriously, it's way too rare that we actually get that from Japanese music labels of any kind, anime or regular, and I'm hoping to see more of it in future. It's nice to be able to send entries with an actual moving, non-Vimeo music video.
As for the results... well, it sure did flop! Second-last in regular, second-last in REJU, and my new record low score. I didn't expect this to light up the scoreboard by any means, but I was surprised to see it finishing
that low. Nonetheless, I'm glad to have given it a try - and the pain of this flop was soon alleviated, because...
WV94: Yoshiaki Fujisawa - Shinsha
Fifth place! That might not be too amazing for some of WV's more successful players, but I was very pleasantly surprised indeed to make it, and it marks my highest-ever finish in the contest since joining 30 editions ago (and Japan's highest WV finish, period). Granted, I've had higher scores before - on three occasions, in fact - but with this being a very tight final, I suppose the still-impressive figure of 136 points was enough to reach fifth.
To talk a little about the song itself - it's a beautiful string piece, I think it's about a minute too short, I found it via an anime soundtrack (
Houseki no Kuni), et cetera et cetera. The usual.
Really, though, I do absolutely love the haunting, restrained sound of this one, and the Chinese-inspired ethnic elements add an extra special something. I never thought it'd do this well, and truth be told I do prefer some of my previous instrumental entries at the contest, but this is still something I've had on repeat for a while now and I'm thrilled to see it do so well.
Don't be too surprised if you see the composer back at some time in the future - I've got a few more Yoshiaki Fujisawa pieces of the same quality where that one came from!
Thanks a heap to all who supported the song:
de
::lein::kyiv
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::midt
WV95 Two Song-NF: Rock vs. Ballad
It's finally time for another Japanese NF after far too long away - and we're starting off small, since I know I've left it a little late to put this up. I was considering doing a larger genre-specific NF, either for ballads or rock songs, but decided at the last minute to choose one of my favourites from each of the planned NF lineups and put them head-to-head.
Both of the two are returnees, in a way. I first sent bilingual rocker
nano back in WV83 with Bull's Eye, which
was #robbed came a fairly respectable 11th in its semi. She returns with Nevereverland, a similarly epic orchestral rock piece that flits between genres and languages alike and is perhaps the singer's biggest hit.
Rita herself hasn't been at WV before, but Jun Maeda - who composed this new NF entry alongside Manack - was also the composer for my WV76 entry Distant Years, WV72's Aozora and a smattering of previous NF entries. The entry as a whole also has ties to Ryo Mizutsuki - who composed my WV67 and WV81 entries - through the studio Key. They return here with the singer Rita to present Haruka Kanata, an atmospheric and emotional piano-based ballad.
1. nano - Nevereverland
2. Rita - Haruka Kanata
Voting is simple: as with my last mini-NF, simply give each song a score out of 10. That's all! Decimals are allowed (though I'll round them off if you get
too weird), comments are highly welcome but not necessary, the usual. Votes will probably close around a day before the entry submission deadline, but it depends on when specifically that's going to be.
I look forward to your votes!
