Friday 6 March 2009

New KOTOKO eroge OP is anything but 「fickle」


Due to I've Sound's ongoing decennial celebration (which is currently drawing some less-than-enthusiastic criticism from its own fanbase), KOTOKO's latest eroge opening theme has all but slipped under everyone's radar. Composed by the oft-maligned 井内舞子 (IUCHI Maiko, who went by her alias UETSU Miyu until late 2006), 「fickle」 does not live up to its title (luckily for us!). Instead of being inconsistent, it is a fairly stable and enjoyable piece of music that does not break any new ground but instead brings us back to the better moments of the SHORT CIRCUIT series. Download it now and see for yourself.

It opens with a short guitar riff that is suspiciously similar to MELL's engrisherrific 「RED FRACTION」 and could presage another OUTER failure, but quickly moves into its own thump-heavy entity that is neither hesitant nor ostentatious. The rhythm is pulsating, the guitars create an enticing melody and of course KOTOKO delivers an engaging set of vocals that display the emotion and passion that our favorite singing starlet is usually known for. Do we have a winner yet? Well kind of like the Hurricanes taking the Stanley Cup in 2006, it's not what you'd expect, but it gets the job done.

Between denpa-rock tracks such as this one and last year's 「bumpy-Jumpy!」, (the spectacular) 「Crash Course 〜恋の特別レッスン〜」, 「Stars Biscuit」 and the previously-reviewed 「Swift Love ~健全男子に物申す~」 and 「I need magic ~解けないマジ☆キュン♪~」, we may yet get our damned SHORT CIRCUIT III sometime in late 2009. Think about it for a moment: GWAVE are just exploding onto the scene with U and 井上みゆ, ave;new have a brand new 「A LA MODE」 volume just around the corner and MOSAIC.WAV are strengthening their hold on the genre with the release of their 4th album. This leaves I've Sound out in the cold with the odd eroge OP; they just HAVE to do something major soon if they wish to stay in the race, out of respect for their fans and to honor their "Pioneers of Denpa" title that was rightfully earned when they released 「恋愛Chu!」 back in early 2001.

Coincidentally, game studio SELEN also lists I've Sound as BGM composer for the game 「はらみこ」. This is interesting because they have not traditionally dabbled in game music, strictly their opening/ending themes, but correct me if I'm wrong. Also can someone help me translate the game's title? It either means "Skirt Steak Girls" or "Pregnant Virgin Maidens". On second thought, don't help... this is as good as it gets!

4 comments:

Nadirah said...

Sounds good. Yes please to SHORT CIRCUIT III.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I've has done BGM for many an eroge before (and a few anime series, too). You can find a list of games/shows they've done BGM for broken down by year over at http://www.ivesound.jp/bgm/index.html

Anonymous said...

ahhh. The only thing more fantastic than that website is my inability to consult it before running my big mouth. I stand corrected.

Anonymous said...

SHORT CIRCUIT III ??

hope so =3 it's been a long time since Short Circuit II and there are a lot of Denpa song from KOTOKO.

but I love Kaorin's 'Love is Money ?!' :p