I’ve been having a lot of fun in a²fiction while I write reviews, it’s something that comes naturally to me because I already wrote so many reviews of so many things here in HEART STATION, that I love having a space to actually write only reviews. I just created a brand new page that looks really hot with 15 singles/albums I’m going to be reviewing, it’s the Coming Up/Requests page! I hope to hear from people about some more requests!
The internet isn’t cooperating these days over here, but I hope it’s all fine by now. It can be fun having an excuse to not do an assignment, but it’s not fun being away from the magic of the cybernetic world! (Poetic moment)
I love chatting with the Utada.com.br staff after school is over and my homework is done. They’re always really humorous and fun and conversations with Rapahel are just priceless. Hikki not only brings good music for the listeners, but also good times for the fans!
School has been draining my mind and body because of the amount of homework, projects and tests. Here I was thinking that it would get easier because of the number of holidays we have on the second semester. Even though school takes a lot from my schedule, I translated two whole posts for Utada.com.br last night and I’ll be working more later today to satisfy Hikki’s Brazilian fans’ thirst for Hikki news!
I’m really into BoA these days. She’s amazing! The A-side for her latest single, 永遠, is amazing! Here is the music video for 永遠!
Another great song by her that is completely recommended is BEST HIT MEGA BLEND (Visual Remix).
Last night, I was talking to Raphael (Workmate from Utada.com.br and the brithday boy) and we got to the topic of terror games, for some reason. He went on and on about his favorite one, Fatal Frame. He really sparked back my interest in horror tales through the trailer of the game and things surrounding it. I was looking up the game and saw it was based on Japanese folklore, but a couple of minutes later, he told me it was based on a true story. I was a bit skeptical at first, but then I did some researching of my own and it turns out he was right. Fatal Frame is actually based on the twisted urban legend of the Himuro mansion, located in the woods right outside of Tokyo.
The Himuro Mansion
It is still unsure if this is just an urban legend or if it did actually happen, but the story of the game was based on the story of the family after the creators went to the actual mansion and did research on their wicked rituals to determine the story line of Fatal Frame. The rituals usually consisted of sacrificing young girls. First, a girl that is 7 years old would be chosen to wear a mask with spikes on the eyes, to permanently blind her through a ceremony. After this is done, the ritual takes a whole other level, where childhood and a grotesque fate come into one and the blinded girl has to tag all girls out of 7 in a game of tag. The first one to be caught will be the next blinded maiden, while the last one will be the “Rope Shrine Maiden.”
The “Rope Shrine Maiden” will be isolated from the outside world so her spirit and blood aren’t tainted, since she will later be sacrificed. A rope will be tied around her ankles, wrists and neck, so then the master of the Himuro family will pull on one of the ropes along with other priests. The girl will eventually die and the ropes will be saturated with her blood and hung upon the gate of bad karma for it to remain sealed until the time of the next ritual.
Apparently, the last “Rope Shrine Maiden” had seen another man before she was sacrificed, and fell in love instantly. This stained her blood and soul, therefore, the ritual was unsuccessful. The master of the family had his pride hurt, so he went from room to room of the mansion, killing every single person who happened to be there, and at last, committed suicide. The shrine remains there until today, and there are handprints of blood through the walls of the mansion. Many deaths surround the house, though, including the death of a wood chopper who chopped down the tree where a victim used to play when she was younger.
I don’t know if the information is correct or not, but it is scary! I get chills when I think about it. I was talking about it with my friend, Carole, and the story reminded her of a movie she had watched, Stay Alive, that also seems to be really scary. The game seems really awesome, but I don’t think I’d have the courage to play it.
I sure hope that it’s not true, because it’s just too wicked! Nobody deserves what the rumored sacrificed maidens received… and it’s just too macabre to think about! I don’t know how Raphael was able to play Fatal Frame.
The day has come, and a²fiction, is finally up and running! It was created on February the 17th, but due to technical difficulty and school, I was only able to publish the first post today. The #1 album/single/compilation according to the votes I received is…
Come Back To Me
So my first review is of Come Back To Me. I will surely be doing more pages to explain my grading system and all, adding more blogroll links later and stuff like that to keep it all neat and pretty, but I haven’t had time lately, so look forward to that in 1 or 2 days!
This project is also exciting for me because I had the support of many awesome people to get it done… I basically just do the reviews, but the beautiful cover art you’ll be seeing in a2fiction is all the work of 愛･CANDY, who permited the use of their artwork for the website.
The beautiful header, based on Namie Amuro’s album, BEST FICTION is the amazing work of my workmate, Adonias Junior from the Utada.com.br website. It’s the most amazing header I’ve ever seen, so I’m really glad he took his time to make it look really good! I really love the work I do over at Utada.com.br, which leads me to other news, which is that yesterday was Raphael’s birthday (Another workmate of ours), so happy birthday to him!
I hope everyone enjoys the new blog and you can recommend as many singles/albums/compilations/artists or anything else as you’d like, as long as it’s promoting some Asian music!
Thanks everyone!
secret
Before, when I started listening to Koda Kumi’s work, I was more drawn to her modern work and her grow into one album due to its success through a game I had, Final Fantasy X-2. I was never really drawn to secret despite the constant compliments done by fans, I felt like it was too noisy. When I was looking at her secret tour, I fell in love with Chase because of its really pop energy mixed with a beautifully incessant saxophone that plays through basically the whole song. I looked more into her secret era and it was more of time in Kumi’s career when she was revealing her image as a controversial singer, wearing less clothes and making her music videos more provocative, while her concerts went beyond that, even. She even created a new style, the ero-kawaii style, literally meaning erotic-cute, as she named it herself. This made her stand out to the audience, but not only for her clear sex appeal, but also for her talent as a performer and singer. For secret, Kumi also revealed another talent of hers, that of songwriting! Making her fans more than satisfied.
Before, the only two songs I listened to were キューティーハニー (Cutie Honey) and 24, キューティーハニー being a pop song, it grew on me easily but grew out of me just as easily and I left it alone for a while. 24 is a beautiful R&B ballad that I fell in love with from the start. It’s really romantic, her voice is soft and beautiful, displaying her vocal range. Now, my two favorite songs off the album are 奇跡 (Kiseki; Miracle) and Chase. This album was quite a discovery for me, since at first listen it was so noisy to me.
奇跡
At first, I found 奇跡 to be just one more of these boring ballads, but being a huge ballad fan, I had to take a closer listen. The song didn’t impress me much until the first verse and chorus. The backing vocals are amazing, really completing the song with its softness, and the growing range of instruments and sudden explosion of beautiful sound just made me fall in love with it.
While I was getting used to the song, something that completely wow-ed me was the use of the whistle register for the song. I’m a huge fan of the whistle register because I think it’s so beautiful, and when I heard Koda doing it, I just fell in love with 奇跡. It became my favorite ballad of the album, followed by 24. Kumi certainly has the ability to create many ballads and still have them be really distinct, beautiful and always refreshing to listen to.
Chase
Chase, on the other hand, is a really good pop song, almost like a mixture of Butterfly (But Butterfly has a more “polished” feel, with less going on through the song) andキューティーハニー. The music video is really beautiful and fun and makes the song have a really good vibe because of the pink tones and the fun choreography.
I love saxophones, and whenever I listen to songs that include lively, melodic saxophones, I fall in love with it. It’s what happened to Mandy Moore’s I Feel The Earth Move and Chase was no different, beginning with a beautiful, fun saxophone and ending with it even more lively and beautiful. The song blends elements of pop and jazz to make a mixture that I’ve never listened to before outside Koda’s work.
At first, I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of the song since it had many intruments at once and it contributed to my first impressions of secret, but as I saw her performance for her secret tour, I noticed that it was a really good pop song, I just didn’t give proper attention to it, and the video adds an extra vibe to it that makes it just so much more fun.
奇跡 and Chase might be really different but they go really well together because of that contrast in a really good pop album, secret!
There are many exciting news over at UHb, and I can’t help but share them!
Since the day that Utada revealed that she would be working on her sophomore English album, we’ve all been waiting for this. One month before its release, the title has been determined. Utada’s new album is to be named This Is The One!
I have my Utada groove on after translating quite a big interview (Conversation With Utada) for UHb and this interview was really good to translate because not only does it include basic information for the new Utada fans, but it also includes 7 completely unrelated questions at the end that are quite random and entertaining. I also feel like it’s my best work in UHb so far! It was quite fun to translate. Utada is just so amazing, and to see how many artists, producers and other professionals in the music business (Like Ne-Yo, Stargate, Timbaland) respect her and her work is so rewarding and it gives us each time more and more reassurance that Utada is all the we think she is: Out of this world.
Utada used to manage a radio show in the beginning of her career called the Tres Bien Bohemian transmitted through JFL Networks, airing from October 1999 to September 2000, and it will be returning for one night only in Japan to celebrate Utada’s 10th anniversary. The show will air once again on March the 22nd at 20:00 in Japan.
Along with the new album title and the news on Tres Bien Bohemian, there is also wonderful news on her brand new books, 点 (Ten [Point]), and 線 (Sen [Line]) are coming out as well. The covers have been revealed and also details of each book. Here they are:
点 (Ten [Point])
Contents
* Original text (15,000 characters) written by Utada Hikaru
* Summary of Official Interview 1998-2008 (Text by Yasue Matsuura)
- From her debut to the album “HEART STATION”
* Utada Hikaru quotations
- Collection of quotations spanning over 10 years
* Photographs
about 200 images
512 pages
Price: 2,499 yen (tax included)
ISBN 978-4-930774-22-4
C0073
線 (Sen [Line])
Contents
* All entries dating from Feb. 19, 1999 to Dec. 9, 2008 from the WEB diaries “Message from Hikki” and “Message from Utada Hikaru/Utada,” which Utada Hikaru has been writing since her debut.
* The latest original photographs by Yasuhide Kuge, photographer for her album “First Love”
512 pages
Price: 1,995 yen (tax included)
ISBN 978-4-930774-23-1
C0073
Scheduled Publication Date: March 10th, 2009
If all this isn’t enough to satiate your thirst for Utada goodness, then you should also know that there are three songs confirmed in the album, F.Y.I., Apples And Cinnamon (Previously rumored track) and Me Muero (Note that the title is in Spanish!). In Utada’s interviews of why she’s exploring the American market, she makes it clear that she doesn’t want to remain somewhere forever, she wants to fight for her merit in other places and make it fun, unique. Well, with all this brand new material, she’s certainly proving herself to be more unique as each second passes by!
A promo kit has been upload by Utada’s label with footage of her Utada United concert and of her making the album! She looks so amazing!
