Review: Disney Date "Prince no voices"
Finally got to listen to them, thanks to a dear friend.^-^
And since I'm listening to them right now, I want to write down my thoughts.
I think, there's nobody who has no nostalgic feeling when listen to some of the Disney classics or watch the movies. Because it's same for me and I still love the Disney Classics and the unforgettable songs. Before I knew about Anime and Manga I relate my earliest childhood memories with the Disney classics.
So that's why I get where all those mixed reviews of this CD are coming from. Yes, we are talking about Seiyuu (actually non-professional singers in the first place) singing Disney Classics, which were originally performed by broadway-singers and professional musicians. And therefore we can't expect the same level of singing skill. And second, the songs are all more or less alternated, maybe due to marketing reasons or copyright issues (since Disney has this kind of odd habit to sometimes change the songs or VA's in re-releasings).
But particularly Seiyuu-fans won't mind that much, and since I'm also one of them, my review is surely lesser harsh.
Anyway, here my thoughts of each of the songs:
1. "Fly with me" (Peter Pan) by Kamiya Hiroshi
I honestly can't remember the original song since the movie as well as the songs were not much memorable for me. (Well, I've only watched the movie once.) So I'm not so sure whether the song itself is already monotonous or it's HiroC's singing. Maybe the editiors or whoever is responsible for the rendition of this song may have written the notes too deep for HiroC, as I think that a little bit higher in pitch would be easier for him to perform the song.
But what I notice about HiroC already,from some of his songs, is that he tends to sound uninflected, especially when he sings in lower pitch. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, since I know some other singers who also sing monotonous but still are quite enjoyable and pleasant to listen to. HiroC has undoubtly a nice voice but as I once stated b4, he can still improve his singing skill.
Maybe they should've given him a more "cheerful" song like they did in Junjun's and Sugitan's case. Like "Hakuna Matata"? I can imagine HiroC singing this song well.
2. "A Whole New World" (Aladdin) by Suzumura Kenichi
One of my most favourite Disney Classic song. And so I was totally happy about the choice of the Seiyuu, of course. But after listening to it fully I initially felt a bit weird to hear it as an one-man perfomance of a song that it's clearly meant to be sung by a female-male pair. Especially since they didn't even take the effort to change the lyric more fit for a solo perfomance.-_- Why was this chance not used for a long-awaited duet of Maaya-chan and Suzu?! But well, since it's called "Prince's voices" (-> proves, that this CD is mainly aimed at fangirls), it would pretty much defeat the purpose, I guess.
But then I would prefer another Disney-classic if it has to be a solo. Like, I could imagine "Part of your world" (Little Mermaid) as a perfect choice for Suzu too (and with this remark I'm sure that a certain friend here would totally agree with me ;D).
But enough of ranting, aside from the points above I love Suzu's rendition nonetheless (his voice in that song reminded me a lot of the german singing voice of Aladdin I'm used to <33). On a little note though: maybe I'm too used to his (improved) higher-pitched singing voice (as I was and still am a fan of his deeper voice), but I've kinda got the feeling that he could sound even better if he did it on an octave higher. But even though he performed in a lower pitch than usual, he still managed to put a lot of emotion in his singing. Surely one of the more capable, flexible seiyuu-singer (to quote someone's opinion about Suzu I've heard).
3. "Bibbidi Babbidi Boo" (Cinderella) by Fukuyama Jun
The classic of the classics, I guess. A catchy song in the original, and not lesser hilarious in Junjun's version. Can't say more than that I totally love how Junjun sings "Bibbidi Babbidi Boo", it sounds even more cheery than in the original one. ^-^
4. "When you wish upon a star" (Pinocchio) by Sakurai Takahiro
Sakupyon, WHY ON EARTH DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR SINGING SUCKS!???o_O
I don't know how the maker of this CD persuaded Sakupyon, but I'm pretty sure that every seiyuu-fan is (forever) grateful to them that they managed to get him for this project. And that's not only, bc he's one of our most beloved seiyuu whose singing voice we all dearly miss, but also bc he's just talented and great at literally everything he's doing, including singing. Once again, I would SO love to see him paired up with Suzu as a singing unit like CONNECT. What a pity...
This is also one of the least memorable Disney-classic for me, but I can safely say that Sakupyon's rendition one of my favourite song of this CD.<3
5. "One jump ahead" (Aladdin) by Sugita Tomokazu
Anyone else also got the image of Gintoki jumping and running in Aladdin's demeanor while listening to this song?XD Well, I certainly do.
Probably the main reason why they chose Sugitan for this song.XD Though the original japanese version of Ishii-san (gosh, what a pretty voice! <3 And no, it's NOT Mikishin as he's "only" the voice actor) will be always my favourite version, Sugitan's is quite hilarious, especially for Anime/Gintama-fans for sure, alone with the hilarious perfomance of him (for each character appearing in the original one he even changed his voice accordingly and acted. A seiyuu, truly as he is ;D).
Makes me wonder though, how Mikishin (Aladdin's speaking voice in the japanese version) would perform this song. When I heard about this release but didn't know details yet, I actually thought first, that Mikishin would be a part of this project, along with Inoue-Papa (Eric in Little Mermaid).
6."Can you feel the love tonight" (Lion King) by Midorikawa Hikaru
Though Midorin surely has a nice voice and I'm familiar with his singing as well (as he's one of the first seiyuu I've heard singing), he couldn't really leave a long-lasting impression as a singer for me. Like Kamiyan, he sounds too monotonous, honestly. Thus I merely listen to and like this song because I like Midorin, as a seiyuu-fangirl.^-^°
7. "Once upon a dream" (Sleeping Beauty) by Morikawa Toshiyuki
Some may not like a too much alternated version of the classics, this is one of the best-alternated song to me. Morimori is, as most of seiyuu-fans certainly know, member of a rock-band, and he is perfect for rocky songs for sure. I do like the opera-version of the original, but as a fan of rock-pop I don't mind the change of style of this song. And Morimori also is one of the skillful seiyuu-singers, so no complain in terms of singing as well.^-^
8. "Go the distance" (Hercules) by Seki Tomokazu
There are some singers you never get tired of their voice and perfomances, and Seki-san is certainly one of them. He's one of my first favourite seiyuu-singers (I fell in love with his singing voice since Fushigi Yuugi), even before I got to know Suzu. His singing, which was already quite skillful in his earlier days as a seiyuu, is captivating and charming. And I notice that there is NO single song of him I don't like. Even if the music style and song itself is usually not my taste, Seki-san always manage to win me over for the respective song alone with his very nice singing voice.
I've never watched Hercules, so I can't compare Seki-san's rendition with the original one, but this song is one of my favourite of the CD. Very, very nice song and voice indeed.<3
9. "Under the sea" (The little Mermaid) by Miyu Irino
Miyu-kun = cute face, cute voice and cute singing
As an approved good dancer Miyu-kun also got rythm in his blood and that is evident too when he's performing a song. He's got a cute, smooth, flexible singing voice and always sounds like he's having much fun while singing. And his "Under the sea" can truly let you feel the joy and convincement of how much fun a life under the sea is. Again, they made a perfect choice with the song and seiyuu.^-^
I can listen to Miyu-kuns rendition of this cheerful song all-day. One of my favourites!
10. "Circle of life" (Lion King) by Yamadera Kouichi
And last, but not least: "Circle of life", one of the most memorable, beautiful song with equally beautiful lyrics.
Lion King was the first and up to date one of the few animated movies that made me cry and still can cause me teary eyes today. And "Circle of life" can convey the movie's deep meaning and emotions to the listeners.
It's a difficult song for female singers, but probably easier to perform for male voices. And Yamadera-san's deep, soulful voice sounds exactly like a japanese version of Elton John. They couldn't choose a better seiyuu fit for this song, really!
Listed as one of my favourites as well!^-^
In conclusion: Overall, I'm quite content with this CD. Probably wouldn't recommend to hardcore-Disneyfans, but it's certainly a must-have for seiyuu-fan(girls).
What bugs me a bit though is, that it didn't feature acknowledged skillful seiyuu-singers like Mamo-chan or Taniyama Kishow-san, both certainly on the level of professional singers above all. And popular too. It would probably make the CD more appealing to even non-seiyuu-fans too, as they both would certainly raise the level of quality in terms of singing skill. And I'm actually very surprised that OnoD is not featured either.o_O
I personally love to see Noriyaki Sugiyama performing a Disney-song as well. He might not be a seiyuu-idol, but he's well-known enough (his Anime-related CD's are on top 5 of Oricon weekly charts) and certainly is one of the skillful singers as well (just check out his Hetalia-charasongs or Heart no kuni-image songs). At least he's more of a capable seiyuu-singers than some others. Plus, he's got a prince-like, soothing voice (perfect for the theme of the CD) and in my personal opinion, his singing is quite charming-sexy in an unique way.
But then again, there are certainly many seiyuu with nice voices and are skilled, but for marketing reasons it's logical that they pick the most popular seiyuu (noticed, that the first four seiyuu are actually the top seiyuu in latest Animage-ranking, even in order? Except, OnoD is not included, surprisingly enough.).
And since I'm listening to them right now, I want to write down my thoughts.
I think, there's nobody who has no nostalgic feeling when listen to some of the Disney classics or watch the movies. Because it's same for me and I still love the Disney Classics and the unforgettable songs. Before I knew about Anime and Manga I relate my earliest childhood memories with the Disney classics.
So that's why I get where all those mixed reviews of this CD are coming from. Yes, we are talking about Seiyuu (actually non-professional singers in the first place) singing Disney Classics, which were originally performed by broadway-singers and professional musicians. And therefore we can't expect the same level of singing skill. And second, the songs are all more or less alternated, maybe due to marketing reasons or copyright issues (since Disney has this kind of odd habit to sometimes change the songs or VA's in re-releasings).
But particularly Seiyuu-fans won't mind that much, and since I'm also one of them, my review is surely lesser harsh.
Anyway, here my thoughts of each of the songs:
1. "Fly with me" (Peter Pan) by Kamiya Hiroshi
I honestly can't remember the original song since the movie as well as the songs were not much memorable for me. (Well, I've only watched the movie once.) So I'm not so sure whether the song itself is already monotonous or it's HiroC's singing. Maybe the editiors or whoever is responsible for the rendition of this song may have written the notes too deep for HiroC, as I think that a little bit higher in pitch would be easier for him to perform the song.
But what I notice about HiroC already,from some of his songs, is that he tends to sound uninflected, especially when he sings in lower pitch. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, since I know some other singers who also sing monotonous but still are quite enjoyable and pleasant to listen to. HiroC has undoubtly a nice voice but as I once stated b4, he can still improve his singing skill.
Maybe they should've given him a more "cheerful" song like they did in Junjun's and Sugitan's case. Like "Hakuna Matata"? I can imagine HiroC singing this song well.
2. "A Whole New World" (Aladdin) by Suzumura Kenichi
One of my most favourite Disney Classic song. And so I was totally happy about the choice of the Seiyuu, of course. But after listening to it fully I initially felt a bit weird to hear it as an one-man perfomance of a song that it's clearly meant to be sung by a female-male pair. Especially since they didn't even take the effort to change the lyric more fit for a solo perfomance.-_- Why was this chance not used for a long-awaited duet of Maaya-chan and Suzu?! But well, since it's called "Prince's voices" (-> proves, that this CD is mainly aimed at fangirls), it would pretty much defeat the purpose, I guess.
But then I would prefer another Disney-classic if it has to be a solo. Like, I could imagine "Part of your world" (Little Mermaid) as a perfect choice for Suzu too (and with this remark I'm sure that a certain friend here would totally agree with me ;D).
But enough of ranting, aside from the points above I love Suzu's rendition nonetheless (his voice in that song reminded me a lot of the german singing voice of Aladdin I'm used to <33). On a little note though: maybe I'm too used to his (improved) higher-pitched singing voice (as I was and still am a fan of his deeper voice), but I've kinda got the feeling that he could sound even better if he did it on an octave higher. But even though he performed in a lower pitch than usual, he still managed to put a lot of emotion in his singing. Surely one of the more capable, flexible seiyuu-singer (to quote someone's opinion about Suzu I've heard).
3. "Bibbidi Babbidi Boo" (Cinderella) by Fukuyama Jun
The classic of the classics, I guess. A catchy song in the original, and not lesser hilarious in Junjun's version. Can't say more than that I totally love how Junjun sings "Bibbidi Babbidi Boo", it sounds even more cheery than in the original one. ^-^
4. "When you wish upon a star" (Pinocchio) by Sakurai Takahiro
Sakupyon, WHY ON EARTH DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR SINGING SUCKS!???o_O
I don't know how the maker of this CD persuaded Sakupyon, but I'm pretty sure that every seiyuu-fan is (forever) grateful to them that they managed to get him for this project. And that's not only, bc he's one of our most beloved seiyuu whose singing voice we all dearly miss, but also bc he's just talented and great at literally everything he's doing, including singing. Once again, I would SO love to see him paired up with Suzu as a singing unit like CONNECT. What a pity...
This is also one of the least memorable Disney-classic for me, but I can safely say that Sakupyon's rendition one of my favourite song of this CD.<3
5. "One jump ahead" (Aladdin) by Sugita Tomokazu
Anyone else also got the image of Gintoki jumping and running in Aladdin's demeanor while listening to this song?XD Well, I certainly do.
Probably the main reason why they chose Sugitan for this song.XD Though the original japanese version of Ishii-san (gosh, what a pretty voice! <3 And no, it's NOT Mikishin as he's "only" the voice actor) will be always my favourite version, Sugitan's is quite hilarious, especially for Anime/Gintama-fans for sure, alone with the hilarious perfomance of him (for each character appearing in the original one he even changed his voice accordingly and acted. A seiyuu, truly as he is ;D).
Makes me wonder though, how Mikishin (Aladdin's speaking voice in the japanese version) would perform this song. When I heard about this release but didn't know details yet, I actually thought first, that Mikishin would be a part of this project, along with Inoue-Papa (Eric in Little Mermaid).
6."Can you feel the love tonight" (Lion King) by Midorikawa Hikaru
Though Midorin surely has a nice voice and I'm familiar with his singing as well (as he's one of the first seiyuu I've heard singing), he couldn't really leave a long-lasting impression as a singer for me. Like Kamiyan, he sounds too monotonous, honestly. Thus I merely listen to and like this song because I like Midorin, as a seiyuu-fangirl.^-^°
7. "Once upon a dream" (Sleeping Beauty) by Morikawa Toshiyuki
Some may not like a too much alternated version of the classics, this is one of the best-alternated song to me. Morimori is, as most of seiyuu-fans certainly know, member of a rock-band, and he is perfect for rocky songs for sure. I do like the opera-version of the original, but as a fan of rock-pop I don't mind the change of style of this song. And Morimori also is one of the skillful seiyuu-singers, so no complain in terms of singing as well.^-^
8. "Go the distance" (Hercules) by Seki Tomokazu
There are some singers you never get tired of their voice and perfomances, and Seki-san is certainly one of them. He's one of my first favourite seiyuu-singers (I fell in love with his singing voice since Fushigi Yuugi), even before I got to know Suzu. His singing, which was already quite skillful in his earlier days as a seiyuu, is captivating and charming. And I notice that there is NO single song of him I don't like. Even if the music style and song itself is usually not my taste, Seki-san always manage to win me over for the respective song alone with his very nice singing voice.
I've never watched Hercules, so I can't compare Seki-san's rendition with the original one, but this song is one of my favourite of the CD. Very, very nice song and voice indeed.<3
9. "Under the sea" (The little Mermaid) by Miyu Irino
Miyu-kun = cute face, cute voice and cute singing
As an approved good dancer Miyu-kun also got rythm in his blood and that is evident too when he's performing a song. He's got a cute, smooth, flexible singing voice and always sounds like he's having much fun while singing. And his "Under the sea" can truly let you feel the joy and convincement of how much fun a life under the sea is. Again, they made a perfect choice with the song and seiyuu.^-^
I can listen to Miyu-kuns rendition of this cheerful song all-day. One of my favourites!
10. "Circle of life" (Lion King) by Yamadera Kouichi
And last, but not least: "Circle of life", one of the most memorable, beautiful song with equally beautiful lyrics.
Lion King was the first and up to date one of the few animated movies that made me cry and still can cause me teary eyes today. And "Circle of life" can convey the movie's deep meaning and emotions to the listeners.
It's a difficult song for female singers, but probably easier to perform for male voices. And Yamadera-san's deep, soulful voice sounds exactly like a japanese version of Elton John. They couldn't choose a better seiyuu fit for this song, really!
Listed as one of my favourites as well!^-^
In conclusion: Overall, I'm quite content with this CD. Probably wouldn't recommend to hardcore-Disneyfans, but it's certainly a must-have for seiyuu-fan(girls).
What bugs me a bit though is, that it didn't feature acknowledged skillful seiyuu-singers like Mamo-chan or Taniyama Kishow-san, both certainly on the level of professional singers above all. And popular too. It would probably make the CD more appealing to even non-seiyuu-fans too, as they both would certainly raise the level of quality in terms of singing skill. And I'm actually very surprised that OnoD is not featured either.o_O
I personally love to see Noriyaki Sugiyama performing a Disney-song as well. He might not be a seiyuu-idol, but he's well-known enough (his Anime-related CD's are on top 5 of Oricon weekly charts) and certainly is one of the skillful singers as well (just check out his Hetalia-charasongs or Heart no kuni-image songs). At least he's more of a capable seiyuu-singers than some others. Plus, he's got a prince-like, soothing voice (perfect for the theme of the CD) and in my personal opinion, his singing is quite charming-sexy in an unique way.
But then again, there are certainly many seiyuu with nice voices and are skilled, but for marketing reasons it's logical that they pick the most popular seiyuu (noticed, that the first four seiyuu are actually the top seiyuu in latest Animage-ranking, even in order? Except, OnoD is not included, surprisingly enough.).