Reeeeeebel System! Incompreheeeeeensive Engrish!
「キバのボタン…」
Since Nago has a huge button collection from his bounty hunting, and he's so set on killing Kiva, I wonder how he's going to get his memento from that event. (Sorry for the bad quality; I don't have my scanner anymore, so I'm using a digital camera to shoot my sketches.)
Nago's version of TETRA-FANG's Individual-System recently came out! I'm so going to buy the CD later... the limited edition probably would be sold out by then, unfortunately. (;~;) Individual-System is the theme song for Kamen Rider IXA from Kamen Rider Kiva, and in the original single, there was a 1-2 minute preview of Nago's version, titled Individual-System NAGO advance fist. The full version is now available, and man, is it glorious. Well, you know how Nago is a devout perfectionist? This song describes his goal to achieve that perfect world he dreams of.
Guh, I don't know why Nago is now one of my favorite characters. Before, in episode 10, I didn't like how he, with his Kusaka-style prejudice, killed Oomura, and was all completely asshole when he "defeated" Kiva. He's also pretty mean to Wataru and Kengo sometimes. But, I guess in the couple of episodes where IXA didn't appear and Mio got the spotlight, as well as Nago going crazy over buttons, I kind of missed him and his mechanical "RE-A-DY FI-SU-TO O-N" transformation.
In the preview track, it had the first verse, chorus, and lines of Nago talking in between. Some of the lines were retained in the full version, however, not all of them were. The song starts when he says, "Mmmm, the weather is excellent. Today, I have a good special feeling." Then he starts blabbing about how his song is better than Kiva's, and how you should buy his CD. He even ends it with, "Now, listen to it!!"
I listened to the actual version, and it seems that "Reeeeebel System! (more incomprehensive Engrish here!)" (okay, so it's actually "right for the system", but his English is so incoherent it sounded like that at first) was added to the lines of the beginning verses. Now that Katou Keisuke is clearer than in the preview track, I noticed that singing kind of fell flat during the last lines of the chorus. It sounded really awkward, strained, and somewhat mechanical when he sang, "(Fight for justice) seigi no tame ni nara..." [Fight for justice, if it's for the sake of justice...].
There are four tracks to this single: the normal, full version, Serifu NAGO Story ver., Serifu NAGO Justice ver., and the intrumental version. The story version just has Nago's lines from Kamen Rider Kiva (episodes 3-20) added to the song, such as "Listen only to me", or "Stop it. Stop it!!" The justice version has lines of Nago blabbing about how his song is better than Kiva's. Blah, blah, blah, yeah, we get it... he also talks about justice, and I could've sworn he was talking about illegal music downloads... hmmm...
I'd say the story version is my favorite, although I would rather like it if they added those mechanical voice and sound effects of IXA's transformation. I love listening to talking overlaying the song, and Nago's lines illustrate his "story" perfectly! If you've watched Kamen Rider Kiva you'll recognize some of his words... like, "Do not make me repeat myself!" Unlike the preview track, the "Mmmm! The weather is excellent!" line was moved after the instrumental part, so that it's chronological with the rest of the lines Nago says. It actually fits because in the instrumental part, the climax of the song, Nago says, "I won... I won against Kiva... I WOOOOOOOON!!" And then he's super happy because he beat Kiva.
The most hilarious lines in the song happened to be near the ending! Remember when Kengo was pestering Nago, calling him "Occhan" (old man)? Near the end of the song, you hear Nago say, "I am 22 years old. Stop calling me 'old man.'"
The justice version is actually pretty amusing, in a speechless way. This time, Nago talks of... basically nonsense, in my words. He talks about how his song is so much better than Kiva's, how everyone should sing it, and blah, blah, blah, his usual ranting about the sinful world... I could've sworn he said something about illegal music downloading and making illegal copies of his CD. (>v<) He also forces you to sing his song in lines such as, "Sing with me in a loud voice. Listen to only my song," "Sing. SING!", and "Hurry up and sing to me."
There was also a PV of this song with very good camera angles. However, I thought it was a lacking something and seemed not to be so full of action. Katou Keisuke didn't seem as expressive as Seto Kouji did in the original Individual-System PV. I was hoping for scenes of Nago from the actual show would be added in, but that there weren't.
But, oh, well. At least the song was good! It's the definition of Nago - perfect!