Hurray! Kajiura’s first Live DVD including the complete Yuki Kajiura LIVE VOL#2 concert from July (excluding Kalafina). The songs were performed by Wakana Ootaki, Keiko Kubota, Kaori Oda, Yuriko Kaida & Eri Itou. December 24, 2008.

Details: 16x9 video, LPCM audio, NTSC, region free (according to JVC)

mmmk, update2: Official tracklist and cleaned up post. :)

「 Yuki Kajiura LIVE 2008.07.31 」   Yuki Kajiura 2008.12.24 : VTBL-2

There’s more after the jump~

New ALI PROJECT single (LHCM-1048). January 21, 2009 release.

「裸々イヴ新世紀 」 Rara Eve Shinseiki   ALI PROJECT 2009.01.21 : LHCM-1048

After listening to all the ~15 hours of Aion open beta music over the last week and the actual OST CD, I’ve come to the conclusion that Aion OST is, indeed, awesome.

Just got back from it. I think it’s safe to say the movie is certainly not going to be everyones cup of tea. ^^

“Achilles and the Tortoise” is Takeshi Kitano’s latest movie. It tells the story of Machisu - a guy that loves to paint but struggles to create something that might get him recognized as an artist. Let’s say the story is as simple as that to avoid spoilers.

The first half of the movie deals with Machisu’s quite sad and depressing childhood. It is a rather lengthy and quiet part of the movie and Yuki Kajiura’s score is unfortunately sticking out like a sore thumb in all the quiet scenes (plus half of the BGMs used start out the same). The 2nd half is Machisu’s “manhood” - a laugh out loud funny riot thanks to the quirkiness of the leads (Machisu and Sachiko) - be warned that it’s black humour, as the events presented are still really sad. Music is also utilized better here, perhaps because there’s more going on.

If I had to critisize anything it’d probably be the rather off-beat optimistic ending and the length of the childhood parts - things really don’t pick up in any way until the “manhood” half, but that could be because the movie was not what I was expecting - I thought it would be a whole movie with Kitano & Higuchi (most of the advertising was with them, and they don’t appear until the last 3rd of the movie or so), rather than Machisu’s life story. I probably didn’t get the title metaphor (was it supposed to be Machisu’s attempts to be recognized as an artist or something else? He did apparently catch up with the Tortoise in the end… so Iono…), but was happy to recognize several actors and would love to see the movie again - DVD on February 20. ^^

Edit: Tracklisting added. ^^

Well here’s a surprise - a FictionJunction compilation album. 15 tracks are expected, so I suppose the still unreleased “Hanamori no Oka” from KAORI will be one of them, but because it’s FictionJunction, Emily Bindiger’s Xenosaga song is still left on the cutting floor. :(

The JVC announcement lists YUUKA, KAORI, KEIKO, WAKANA, YURIKO KAIDA as vocalists of the project. One missing is ASUKA so it makes me wonder if the also mentioned self-cover is of ASUKA’s “everlasting song”. Nevermind, ASUKA is also listed on Yuki Kajiura’s blog.

Anyways, February 25, 2009. :D

「 Everlasting Songs 」   FictionJunction 2009.02.25 : VTCL-60106

There’s more after the jump~

B-side from the Kitei no Tsurugi single. Blue-kun says it’s similar to their strings album stuff and, well… that surely can’t be bad, huh? ^^ If you notice any errors, do point them out in the comments. There’s more after the jump~

Linebarrels OP and another awesome single from ALI PROJECT. ^^ If you notice any errors, do point them out in the comments. There’s more after the jump~

Kenji Kawai, nuff said. December 24, 2008 release.

「 機動戦士ガンダムOO 」 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 03 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 OST03   Kenji Kawai 2008.12.24 : VTCL-60088

There’s more after the jump~

Opening to “Boku ga Sadame, Kimi ni wa Tsubasa wo.”. Thanks to Blue-kun for mentioning this song. There’s more after the jump~

Again… was rewatching bits and had to start wondering…

Kemeko says “TMR” here, so that makes this outfit the HOT LIMIT one. LOL, even the wrist/arm bands are right.