Of Chihara Minori’s Parade…

Sorry for the lack of scans... can't seem to find them on the mighty net

Tracklist:
1. 透明パークにて
2. Voyager train
3. Prism in the name of hope
4. Fairy Tune
5. Rush march!!
6. そのとき僕は髪飾りを買う
7. Melty tale storage
8. 蒼い孤島
9. 光
10. Paradise Lost-at next nest-
11. FUTURE STAR
12. 雨上がりの花よ咲け
13. 花束
14. everlasting…

Um… once again, someone cannot read japanese, thus I cannot romanize the song titles for you. XD  Before I continue, I’d like to apologize for the short hiatus that the blog experienced… both my partner in crime and I were plagued by the evil institution named SCHOOL.  Anyway, without further ado…

The first song did not appeal to me at all.  I think it just served as an intro do the actual CD anyway… but it bored the brains out of me… and I didn’t particularly like minorin’s vocals either.

I liked voyager train.  It reminded me slightly of Shijin no Tabi (I don’t know whether it was the PV, or the actual song itself).  Nonetheless, I loved Shijin no Tabi, which remains one of my favourite minorin songs ever.  So thumbs up for this song.

Prism in the name of hope was a very typical upbeat song… something in the class of Ameagari no Hana no Sake.  Actually… I’m starting to think these two songs sound very similar… but eh, since I liked Ameagari no Hana no Sake (omfg what a handful to type), I have no complaints about this song.

Fairy Tune was quite a shocker actually.  A lot of people I know HATE mellow, poppish music… which is exactly what Fairy Tune is.  However, I’m a sucker for such songs, so Fairy Tune totally nailed me.  I think this song sounds the most “mainstream” of all the songs on the CD (most of minorin’s other songs scream ANISONG!!!).  If I had to choose a favourite song (not including her singles) on this CD, it would be this one.

Nothing particular to say about Rush March.  Didn’t appeal to me… but didn’t completely disgust me either.

そのとき僕は髪飾りを買うis one of the slower, more ballad-like songs on the CD.  I personally always found minorin’s voice more suited for faster songs, or powerful sounding songs like Paradise Lost or Jyunpaku Sanctuary, but this song wasn’t half bad actually.  This is the type of music that people would wave lighters to at a concert. XD

I.LOVE.MELTY.TALE.STORAGE.  END OF STORY.

The intro of 蒼い孤島 threw me off.  I was expecting another ballad, but LOL it picked up and turned into yet another upbeat, minorinistic (I think I just invented a word) song.  I LOVE the instrumentals of this song.  Actually, a lot of minorin’s songs have awesome instrumentals, but the piano won me over in this one.  Still… too many of minorin’s songs sound alike…

光 is yet another one of those “no comment” songs.  I didn’t like it, I didn’t hate it.  It’s a little more sad-sounding than most of the other upbeat songs on the CD… I think it might’ve made a good anime ED XD.

I said before that if Paradise Lost was on the CD, I’d buy it.  Damn… and here it is. XD XD XD So in my attempt to avoid buying the CD, I WILL say that this version of Paradise Lost is not as good as the original.  Technically, it’s almost exactly the same, except they dampened the instrumentals (which was what gave the song power, in my opinion).  So… a mellowed version of Paradise Lost is just not cool.

For some strange reason, Future star really appealed to me.  I can’t even tell you how, but when I was listening to it, I found myself nodding to it happily, or tapping my fingers.  I’d rank this song #2 after Fairy Tune out of all the “new” songs on the CD.

Ameagari no Hana no Sake is exactly as it was on the single.  Enjoy.

花束 is a slightly lower song, but happy-sounding nonetheless.  I didn’t hate it, that’s for sure.  Whether or not I actually like it… I will have to give it a few more runs before I can decide.

Everlasting… is slow, boring, and just… ugh.  I didn’t like it at all.

Thus is my very short, very vague review of the CD.  Actually, I didn’t think the CD was that bad at all… with several good songs balancing out the not-so-good songs.  I may just buy it because #1 I want a poster, #2 it’s about time I supported minorin, and this CD is a pretty good reason to.  To summarize:

Good Songs:
Voyager Train
Fairy Tune
Melty Tale Storage
Future Star

Decent Songs:
Prism in the name of Hope
そのとき僕は髪飾りを買う
蒼い孤島
光
Paradise Lost
Ameagari no Hana no Sake
花束

Songs that didn’t appeal…
透明パークにて
Rush march!!
everlasting…

See… the good songs do outweigh the bad ones.  Anyway, my review was based on just listening to the CD twice… so my opinion may change after I listen to it more… but for now, I think I’m leaning towards buying the CD.  WHO DOESN’T WANT A HUGE MINORIN POSTER HANGING IN THEIR ROOM? XD XD XD