Did you ever lose something only to find other things before you find what you were looking for? Yeah, that happened to me recently. I was feeling the strong spell of nostalgia and wanted to pick up one of my old video games again (thanks to that last post I did for the video game challenge). And I realized I couldn't find my PS2 memory cards!
I originally had plans today but they got ruined...
So I stayed at home to try to finish up some secret projects for the Rainbow Star Candy shop. I can't reveal anything until they're done but I'm really excited. It's something I've never done before so I hope you like them!
Anyway, I couldn't finish them today because I needed some tools that I can't seem to find atm. So while I was looking for them, I found a couple of CDs from one of my favorite artists!
Have you ever heard of Angela?
Angela is a Japanese pop band that started in 1993 but didn't get their break till 2002. The pair, Atsuko and KATSU, sang for a lot of anime series including Stellvia, Soukyuu no Fafner and Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture – Prince of Darkness.
Sadly, I haven't watched a lot of anime series that they made themes for but their music is amazing! Maybe I'll add the series to my list to try out too XD
Here are some of my favorite songs and hopefully you'll enjoy them as much as I do!
I've been completely binging on anime recently and am always looking for more. Since I found (and watched the whole series of) Michiko to Hatchin on Tumblr, I found more gifs and pics of another series I fell in love with. Tumblr has been really helping me find good series that I can get into. :3
Have you heard of Show by Rock! ~?
~ Mega Moe Warning ~
It's a series about an extremely shy girl named Cyan who can play and write music. She wants to join the band in her school but her anxiety just won't allow her to try. One night, while playing a music game, she gets the special guitar Strawberry Heart which actually takes her to a different world!
We all find out, including Cyan herself, that Strawberry Heart can talk and basically brought her to this other world to help save the people (the Myumon) from dark monsters. But to do that, she needs to boost up her musical skills because music has power. All of the citizens have a core called a Melodisian stone that's kind of like their soul. The ones that are musically talented have ones that can absorb positive energies to power up. But it can also have the reverse effect when there are negative energies.
After Cyan arrives, she's asked by the president of Banded Rocking Records, Maple, to join his newest female group called Plasmagica. Oh and all of the Myumon are animals! So when Cyan arrives, she's no longer human but a super cute cat girl in Gothic Lolita! I have no idea what Maple is but most of the other characters call him an egg. XD
Maple Sacho~!
Plasmagica is made up of a bunny girl (the leader) named Chu Chu, a dog girl named Retoree and a sheep named Moa. Of course I love the bunny girl! She's super cute!
Maple also manages for his male group called ShinganCrimsonZ.
I still can't get over that this series was made by Sanrio! It's super cute but it also has it's dark moments. But overall a definite must watch!
You can hear all kinds of music by each of the different bands. The members of all the bands do get to go in super chibi mode, which I squeal so much at. And it's just all so nice to look at. The art is super moe but done really well. There's only 12 episodes but I was hooked.
If you saw this series or wanna check it out, let me know what you think of it!
After going through my collection and much thinking, I think I love this game's soundtrack the most. It's pretty much the only one that I listen to 90% of all the tracks.
A problem I have with basically any kind of music I listen to is that I only find a few songs I like out of the whole album! But with the Drakengard 3 soundtrack, I love almost every single piece. Even if you don't like the game series, it's a beautiful thing to listen to.
Tracks:
Disc 1
01 Better End - 02:31
02 忘彼 The Forgotten - 02:30
03 勇雷／戦場 Ray of the Brave / Battle Ver. - 04:43
04 侵贖／戦場 Redeemed Invasion / Battle Ver. - 03:45
05 神降 The Fallen God - 04:44
06 不情／戦場 Uncertainty / Battle - 04:46
07 踊祝／戦場 Leap Wishes / Battle Ver. - 04:37
08 偏罪 Biased Crime - 03:03
09 応撃／戦場 Reinforcement’s Attack / Battle - 04:04
10 防来／戦場 The Upcoming Battle / Battle Ver. - 04:03
11 空音 The Empty Tone - 03:59
12 奇霊／戦場 The Odd Souls / Battle - 03:59
13 出蠢／戦場 The Rising Fool / Battle Ver. - 04:00
14 転歩 Turning Back - 03:17
15 乱葉／戦場 Leaf of Chaos / Battle - 04:21
16 友歌／戦場 The Comrade’s Song / Battle Ver. - 04:23
17 底闇 Deep Darkness - 02:40
18 尽きる3 Tsukiru 3 / Exhausted DOD3 Ver. - 04:11
19 倫理の為のピアノ曲 For the Sake of Ethics Piano Track - 03:12
Disk 2
01 クロイウタ Kuroi Uta (The Black Song) - 06:22
02 出蠢／ファヌエル The Rising Fool / Phanuel - 04:10
03 防来／アルマロス The Upcoming Battle / Armaros - 03:33
04 侵贖／アルミサエル Redeemed Invasion / Almisael - 02:57
05 踊祝／エグリゴリ Leap Wishes / Egregori - 05:07
06 友歌／ガブリエル The Comrade’s Song / Gabriel - 04:03
07 踊祝／ラファエル Leap Wishes / Raphael - 04:28
08 友歌／アブディエル The Comrade’s Song / Abdiel - 04:15
09 防来／ゾフィエル The Upcoming Battle / Zophiel - 03:33
10 出蠢／ガルガリエル The Rising Fool / Galgaliel - 04:56
11 侵贖／イズライール Redeemed Invasion / Ezrael - 04:35
12 クロイウタ／日本国外向け製品収録版 The Black Song/ Included Product for Outside of Japan - 06:05
13 最後の歌 The Final Song - 07:56
14 This Silence Is Mine - 07:06
Some of my favorite tracks are:
クロイウタ／日本国外向け製品収録版 The Black Song/International Version
防来／アルマロス The Upcoming Battle / Armaro
最後の歌 The Final Song
Hope you enjoy this soundtrack as much as I do! And maybe give the game a shot?
My apologies for no post last week. I was sick the week before and had a relapse because of the snow. But I am doing a little better and promise to be back on track now!
Today's post is:
Day 8
10 Songs That Inspire You for Lolita
This one was a little difficult for me. A lot of music I listen to doesn't necessarily work into Lolita and certainly doesn't remind me of it. So there are very few that inspire me. But I did my best in making this list and hope you will like some of the songs I have chosen. And if you are a gamer, a lot of these will be from video game soundtracks!
Happy Friday! You might be expecting a Lolita Blog Carnival post today but I have chosen not to participate this week. Hopefully for the next one I will! Today will be more of a thought/review!
As you know, I own the XBOX360 version of Eternal Sonata (aka "Trusty Bell - Chopin's Dream"). It took me a while to finish it because my first system broke down on me. I was so upset because it was the system (thankfully not the hard drive) and I really wanted to continue playing this game!
I am a big fan of classical music but I don't know a lot about the history of the composers. Eternal Sonata actually gives the player the opportunity to learn about the life of one of the most famous composers - Frédéric François Chopin. Yes, the Polish composer that lived in the early 1800s and created beautiful pieces like "Funeral March in C Minor" and "Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp Minor".
In Eternal Sonata, welearn that Chopin is in his final hours, his body very weak from having Tuberculosis. He's unconscious in his bed as the doctor and two women (probably one of them being his lover) watch him as it was explained that this night would be his most trying time yet.
We soon go into a world that doesn't seem to match where Chopin is. There, we meet many different characters. We have the heroic Allegretto. The innocent Beat. The pure Polka. (Sounds very fitting for a game about a composer right?) There are more characters named Viola, Serenade, Crescendo, March, Salsa, Claves, Jazz and Falsetto.And would you believe that all of these are playable characters?! (The only sad part is that Prince Crescendo and Princess Serenade are only available to join your team on the PS3 version of the game.)
Each character has their own part in the story but all reach to the same ultimate goal and each have their own skills. Polka is a great healer while March is a power hitter (and great for combos). I just love the fact that they are all named after musical terms!
The game has a pretty good story. Basically, each of the characters have something they want to protect but feel threatened by the evil Count Waltz. The Count has a plan for the people of the world to use a harmful substance called Mineral Powder. It's supposed to be used as medicine but has bad side effects. Polka has a more natural version called Floral Powder which actually is a medicine.
As you can tell by the original name of the game, the events of these characters' story takes place in Chopin's dream while he sleeps. During the course of events, we also get nice interludes that feature not only a select piece by Chopin, but a story of the composer's real life. Honestly, if it weren't for this game, I wouldn't have learned so much about what he's been through.
I won't say everything but Chopin has been through a lot. He escaped the coming revolution in Poland and could never get back home. He was homesick and sad that he lost the place he belonged. A lot of his music was based on his feelings and how much he missed Poland. He was glad to be alive but it's still difficult to go on when you can't go home. Many themes like being homesick, running away, fighting for what's right and friendship are big things in this game.
I think Eternal Sonata did a great job of not only teaching us about such an amazing composer, but teaching us about music and fighting for our beliefs. I didn't go a lot into details because the experience I got from playing is something I'll always treasure.It has a beautiful soundtrack and amazing visuals. And the clothing design even looks like variations of Lolita! ♥ Even the battles are fun. I highly recommend this game to any RPG and/or music lover! Won't you give it a try?
