Anime Karaoke Collection 1

By Lauren Goodnight     May 06, 2005
Release Date: July 05, 2005



What They Say
The next best thing to enjoying great anime songs is actually performing them yourself! And now it’s possible with this new CD, featuring karaoke versions of the hit songs from famous anime series such as Evangelion, NOIR, Chobits, Ai Yori Aoshi, Utena, and more! This unique 17-track disc also includes songs performed by newcomer STEPHANIE and J-Pop/trance artists KOTOKO.

The Review!
Now, this album is VERY strange indeed. The first 11 tracks are nonvocal versions of various anime themes, some from A-titles (Evangelion, Chobits), some from B-titles (Ai Yori Aoshi, Utena), and some from C-titles (Texnolyze, Mahoromatic). The tracks all have incomplete backing vocals, this being most apparent in Coppelia's Casket, the theme from NOIR. These are fun oddities to own, I do admit. The rest of the album cranks up the strange factor for me: Four tracks are sung by AX-Anime Idol winner Stephanie (who I had to do some research on, as I thought, at first, she was the same Stephanie who did English vocals for Urusei Yatsura two decades ago...see "Born to Be Free", "Remember My Love" and "Rock the Planet"). One track is the AX theme song, sung my KOTOKO, a talented vocalist who has done projects ranging from H-game themes to mainstream OPs. Now, why, you might ask, would you buy an album with tracks in Japanese sung by an American (and no, let's not bring up Utada right now...)? Especially when that is a BIG selling point of the album? After listening to this, I would have skipped this release completely but for the KOTOKO track and the semi-instrumentals. Stephanie's vocals are earnest and technically fine, but it sounds like she's just a professional karaoke singer. That could be the fault of the producers; Britney Spears has an awful voice, but her "In the Zone" album was very slick. Here, we have a passable voice. . . I feel so much more could have been done here. Even the English song she sings feels forced.

Where I took this: Out on the road, no one can hear you sing along.
Where it took me: This was a mixed bag. I wanted to get my copy of ProTools and do so much better....
Standout track: KOTOKO -- Wing My Way - Lovely! This is a great track to introduce such a unique voice to America. One track is not enough to save an album.
Skip-it track: Stephanie -- SHIFT Cross Over Generations (English) - Save me. I just know this could have been better.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Features
Eternal Flower,A Cruel Angel's Thesis,Hemisphere,Walking through the empty age,LOVE WILL LIGHT THE WAY,Brilliant Road to Tomorrow,truth,I hear you everywhere,On the way home,Coppelia no Hitsugi (Coppelia's Casket),You know, I don't have an umbrella,Ningyo hime (performed by Stephanie),SHIFT - Cross Over Generations (Japanese version),Sabaku no yuki (Snow in the Desert),SHIFT - Cross Over Generations (English version),Wing My Way (performed by KOTOKO)

Review Equipment