Supercell: Today is a Beautiful Day

Rather Ironic considering how Japan has been the recent few days… Its far from beautiful.

I don’t usually talk about music (unless you mean Nana Mizuki) but I thought, why not? Its not like I have anything to write about anyway (there is my English essay but…), with all the anime being delayed and all.

If this turns out good I might start writing about music more, hurrr.

Th general opinion about Supercell is that they are awesome and all: Ryo write sappy silly love songs that somehow everyone seems to like and Nagi’s sharp vocals add soul to the songs.

The main hoard of Supercell fans would have consisted of fans of Ryo and pre Nagi supercell which composes vocaloid songs. I’m not one of them. I absolutely dislike Vocaloid, I like the designs a lot, but the singing doesn’t appeal to me much.The other supercell fans would have to be the original fans of nagi when she was Gazelle on nico Nico douga. Turns out Ryo was one of them. And nagi was a fan of Ryo. After Nagi sang a cover of Melt, Supercell + nagi was born when Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari came about.

I honestly have yet to watch Bakemonogatari (my biggest missed moment of anime awesome so far) and the only Nico Nico singers I know at that time were Valshe, clear and nayuta. I only came across nagi while listening to her version of Kumikyoku Nico Nico douga (yea I’m just that weird). Thean I listened to my first vocaloid songs, minus miku vocals. I insisted to only listen to those Nagi covered. I only truly goot interested in Supercell when I noticed the cover of Sayonara memories looked kinda like Redjuice’s work (turns out it is) then I did a little more diggoing and started listening to their songs. Been following ever since.

I spent the entire afternoon yesterday listening to the album and live tweeting my thoughts track by track, on second listen, the opinions tend to differ a little.

1. Owari e Mukau Hajimari no Uta - Is a slow piano ballad-like song. I normally can’t stand slow paced songs. I did enjoy the chorus and the lyrics though. But usually, shouldn’t the starting track be more impactful? This one just sort of gave me the impression that the rest of the album is sleep inducing. Not that its far off, seeing how there’s a sheep counting song…[4/10]
2. Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari - The Inception of Supercell + Nagi as their vocalist. Epic of all epic music from Bakemonogatari, probably the song Supercell is most commonly associated with (minus the vocaloid songs). Still sounds epic months after first listen; this SHOULD HAVE BEEN the first track.  [8/10]
3. Hero – Another song from a past release (the revival of Shueisha’s Aoharu). I personally found the song’s music rather repetitive. Some parts just sounded a little odd and forced, but certain parts before the chorus and the ending of the chorus sounded good. Could be better if they went a little lesser on the guitars. The song sounded kinda messy with Nagi, the many guitars and drums together but thats just me. I enjoyed the lyrics but your milelage may vary since this is another one of Ryo’s usual love songs. [5/10]
4. Perfect Day – The song of the PV used to promote this very album.On first listen, this song was rather boring but after looping the PV, I grew to like it; albeit I still think the song is lacking of something. Ryo could have done better. The lyrics match the PV really well though and the catchy music sort of makes up for it, just, the lack of excitement. And Hero should have sounded something like this, just enouigh emphasis on guitars, drums and vocals. [6.5/10]
5. Fukushuu – I really didn’t want to listen to this song again. I was desperately hoping the 2nd listen would make this song sound better: I don’t want to hear supercell attempting Rock again. The 1st few verses were below average, but not that bad. The chorus was just plain odd. At least it isn’t painful to listen to. [3/10]
6. Rock’n'Roll Nandesu no – I really meant what I said above: Disappointing. At least it wasn’t as bad. Nagi sounded pretty happy in the vocals and the overall music had a more upbeat feeling to it. Nothing weird about the song, just not that up to expectations, Ryo should stop trying Rock, seriously, and it ruins Nagi’s vocals. Stick to pop and ballads! Even K-On sounded better… [4/10]
7. LOVE & ROLL - Old song, released with Kimi no shiranai Monogatari as the theme song to Cencoroll. Its pretty catchy and head nodding inducing, with a slightly electric pop feeling to it, thank god they didn’t over do it. I’d love to hear this song remixed. This has got to be my favourite track from the album and my favourite Supercell song along with Sayonara Memories. I think many people were sort of turned off after they found out what the lyrics were saying. You’ll never know whether a song is about sex until you read translations. Luckily I managed to catch some of the lyrics and had a rough impression of the song.  [9/10]
8. Feel so good – I was saying yesterday that this song ‘sounds so good’. It had a catchy intro. The chorus sounded a little cliche though, seeing how its their first try at jazz and most jazz tunes just sound like that. And the song isn’t sexy enough. *bricked* I want to see Supercell try more jazz in ryo’s style and stop doing rock. [7/10]
9. Hoshi ga Mataku Konna Yoru ni - Old song AGAIN, released with Utakata Hanabi, the next track. I think this song was meant to be Kimi Shiranai no Monogatari’s successor or something. The structure of the song sounded rather similar to the former; just not as good. Some parts of the song is really likeable, others just meh.  And I found the intro was detestable. But I’m overall neutral towards the song. [5/10]
10. Utakata Hanabi - Old single released with the above track, one of Naruto’s many ending themes. I liked the song overall but like Perfect Day, the song just lacks the deciding factor… Nagi’s vocals was really well used in this song; some may find it a tad too high pitched and piercing but that just shows Nagi’s high vocal range. I personally felt that it sounded like some dramatic theme song to a sad heart breaking romance drama or something. [6.5/10]
11. Yoru ga Akeru yo – The long awaited Sheep counting song. I found the chorus ridiculously hilarious, on top of the tune which I didn’t really enjoy. The verses however  sounded pretty great, especially pre chorus. I can’t really grasp the lyrics, sheeps aside. The title literally means something along the lines of how the night will end. The character is possibly insomniac due to sheep counting and rambling about people and love, then goes on to saying that he/she wants to meet a certain someone… I don’t get it… [6/10]
12. Sayonara Memories - “Sakura ga saku yo~” Yea, another old song. I personally found this song highly likeable, especially the vocals and music. The lyrics are basically a variation of Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, except that it ends of on a happier note where the character finally manages to be honest about her feelings.[9/10]
13. Watashi e – Kimi no Shiaranai Monogatari part 2. Ballad-ish Acoustic version with different lyrics. I personally like to think that this song’s events take place when the heroine meets the person she likes again after the events in Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, where the character reflects on it or something. Someone translate it already. I actually like this version more than the original… [8.5/10]

I personally think that overall, the album didn’t meet my expectations. Too many disappointments like the 2 rock tracks.The new tracks weren’t very special or epic in particular as compared to the older releases. The only decent new song from the album is probably feel so good maybe Pefect day (to some extent) and Watashi e (but it uses the same music as Kimi no shiranai monogatari)…

I’m mildly disappointed that Yakusoku wo shiyou or even Worldwide love wasn’t inside the album instead of Hoshi ga Mataku Konna Yoru ni but its probably some  production issue: seeing how only songs affiliated with anime or game were included, Sayonara Memories being the only exception.

I wish that one day, Nagi could do cover of Black Rock Shooter.

And well that was a long thought on Supercell’s new studio album Today is (not really) a Beautiful day.