Welcome back to my blog. This post is kind of a continuation of my first blog. In this post, I will discuss the Donbrothers character song album and everything relevant. Again, I apologize for the delay. I meant to write this sooner. But we are finally here.
Once again, if you have not checked out the songs yet, I hope my review can be taken as a reference to check out the albums. Sorry, I will not be providing any download links in my posts. 😶
DISCLAIMER: This review is about my opinion and mine alone. And I hope that is respected by others, just as I will respect theirs.
Part 2: Avataro Sentai Donbrothers Character Song Album
This one is a doozy. It has NINE character songs. So obviously, my review (+rant) will be lengthy. Therefore, brace yourselves, and I hope you guys stick around till the end. Like my previous review, I will rate each character song based on three factors of the song: music, singing, and lyrics. But for this post, I will share some thoughts about other related stuff. For convenience, I'll divide this into two parts: related stuff and review.
1. Related stuff:
- Album cover: Unfortunately, this year's Sentai character song album cover was not good enough. They have put minimal effort into making the cover. The images of the characters they used are the ones that came out when they first announced the cast. The lighting isn't good. Though, the background is interesting. The backdrop is the virtual Ideon world visible over the regular dimension. That is a nice touch. The biggest issue, they left the NOUTO TRIO out of the album cover. I can't let that one slide. That's why I give it a 5/10.
- The preview: The previews are always super important to me. Ever since I discovered the album previews on YouTube, I have been super happy and excited for them every year. And that is not only because they are the prelude to the album but also because they include commentaries by the actors who sing the songs. And the latter is a gem I cherish every time I listen to the songs. I have done that by editing the song files and adding the commentary parts to the beginning of the songs. Last year, they botched this by having the actors do commentaries as the characters instead of as themselves. And this year, they left that out of the preview. That is so cruel. in my opinion. In addition to that, the previews of the song were significantly short. I can let this one go because there are nine tracks this time. But the commentary part, I cannot let go. What I also didn't like is how late they released this album. They postponed the release date of this album by about one month. Also, the release date was after the season finale. So I was sad and annoyed by this. On a side note: we got our first-ever live character song previews this year at Chou Eiyuu Sai 2023. And I have to admit, that was the best thing ever. My fear of the Donbrothers cast not performing their songs didn't come true. And I am grateful for that.
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- Recording & interview: This is the most recent addition to Nippon Columbia's SS character song album releases. They started this with Zenkaiger for the main four face actors. And they continued it this year. The good part: we got all nine actors' thoughts about the songs they sang and some other fun information. The bad part: they didn't include any image of the actors from the recordings of the songs. They did it last year and this year for the Tsuki No Mizo Shiru interviews. I was looking forward to them this time. But then I felt bummed out that they didn't include them. 😔
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2. Review:
This one gets an award from me for being the biggest surprise. Since I had heard Kouhei sing twice before this one, I had low expectations from this one. And because I set the bar so low for this one, the high quality of this song did nothing but surprise me. And now I'm glad it turned out this good.
- Music: Great. Simply great. They started it with slightly traditional music, and the rest was modern pop with a bit of traditional Japanese music blended with it. It is beautiful as an instrumental track.
Rating: 10/10. I did NOT expect this. NOT AT ALL.
- Singing: Continuation of what I said earlier, Kouhei's singing has not been good in the past, both times he has sung. The fact that his singing is so good in this song shows that his previous singing experience has paid off. The singing was good and perfectly fit Taro's character and the music. It blew me away the first time I heard it at Chou Eiyuu Sai, and it did again when I listened to the full version. I love the chorus so much that I want to sing along to it every time.
Rating: 8/10. Not a perfect score as Taro had claimed, but excellent coming from Taro.
- Lyrics: The lyrics are great too. Perfect for Taro's character: condescending, cocky, trying to be helpful, talking about happiness, and most importantly, they include his character's lessons and growth.
Rating: 10/10. Extra points for the lyrics being simple enough to be easy for me to understand.
- Overall Rating: 9.33/10. A reputable score. Kouhei wanted to sing a song befitting both Taro and Don Momotaro. And I think this song was perfect for both. This song was labeled 'HIT' on LINE MUSIC on the day it debuted, and I get why.
2. Shinichi Saruhara: Kuusou Dangi
These are what I got from searching in a dictionary:
- 空想 (kuusou): Fantasy
- 談義 (dangi):
1. (informal) discussion; talk; conversation; chat
2. (formal and tedious) talk; lecture; sermon
3. consultation; conference
How sophisticated! More like, COMPLICATED... (rolling eyes) Let's presume these two words mean "fantasy conversation/talk." It can't be real anyways because if it were, people would fall asleep as soon as he started talking... Or walk away from it.
- Music: It is good. It's calming and soft. It has traditional music in it with a modern touch. And I can bear to listen to it more than once.
Rating: 8/10.
- Singing: It is decent. I can bear to listen to it multiple times, and I don't get sick of it fast.
Rating: 6/10.
- Lyrics: It is the same philosophical stuff, most of which is beyond my comprehension. The words are not stuff used in regular conversations. So...
Rating: 6.5/10. I didn't understand much. The understandable part of the lyrics captured the character nicely.
- Overall Rating: 6.33/10. This score is decent, I think.
3. Haruka Kito: Try it!
Haruka's singing was great in the Avatar Party song. So I was hoping this one would turn out well too. On top of that, we want our beloved character to get nothing less than a great song to bid her farewell.
- Music: The music is a peppy pop and rock song befitting our beloved quirky character. It is the kind of music that naturally gets someone excited. I purely love the music as I love her character. I can not wait for next week when the "Donbrothers Complete Song Collection" containing the instrumental track for the character songs is released. This song goes to the list of songs that I want to cover in the future.
Rating: 10/10.
- Singing: I had expectations for this one, and Kohaku has fulfilled them! I loved her singing as much as her acting. In the interview about this song, she said she knew she was not good at singing. And I can not tell why she thinks so. Her singing has been consistently excellent, and I loved her live performance at the Chou Eiyuu Sai 2023. I loved how excited she was, and it was fun seeing her teammates (Kouhei more than anyone 😝😆) cheering through the live performance. This girl rocks. I am sure she knows and is proud of it. I hope she has a great career in the future.
Rating: 10/10. Haruka deserved it better than the others. Except for Sonoi, maybe.
- Lyrics: Ah, Haruka. What goes on in that quirky and fun brain of yours? We would love to know more. Yes, more than what we've already seen in the tv series. She should get her spin-off with Sonoza. Fortunately, we learned a bit about that in these lyrics. Haruka is a high school girl with dreams and hopes. She is young and continuously learning what real life is. One day, she lives the life of an award-winning manga artist. The next day she is waitressing at a strange coffee shop under a super (literally, for all the black, gray, and silver on his suit) shady boss after getting accused of plagiarism. And the same/next day, she is fighting people-turned-monsters with her rag-tag group of... Let's go with 'comrades' here because I don't understand their relationship well. Our reality may not be "Donbrothers level" weird, but we got out of a pandemic last year. So it is relatable. But our protagonist doesn't give up. She keeps "Trying It" until she can succeed and continues to grow.
Rating: 10/10. Bonus points for the lyrics being easy enough for me to understand.
- Overall rating: 10/10. A perfect score. This one is the only song in this album to have achieved that. So this gets a round of applause from me. This song is the kind of song I want to sing along to and cover. And it makes me tear up from time to time.
4. Tsubasa Inuzuka: Oboro
Well, Well, Well. In a word, I am disappointed. I liked Totaro's singing voice in Avatar Party. So I was hoping to get something good from his character song. But it let me down. I was hoping for a soft, slow song like Bamba's song. I didn't get that. What I got instead is neither likable nor enjoyable to me.
- Music: Like I said, I was hoping for a sweet song. But I got a metal rock song instead. That's one letdown. That is because I am not fond of the metal rock genre.
Rating: 5/10.
- Singing: It's not that his singing is terrible in this song. But it is not likable because he has proven that he can do better than this. And especially in the last stanza, it is weird when he sings "Yakusoku shiyou." It is so bad that I laugh every time I hear that part.
Rating: 6/10.
- Lyrics: Man, such complicated lyrics... Like his life. I was almost convinced it was written by Inoue, like "Honoo No Condor". Fortunately, it was not (whew). But that does not change how hard it was for me to understand the lyrics. I barely understood any words in my intermediate-level Japanese since it has many obsolete Japanese words. After running it through Google Translate, I understood a little bit more. The lyrics were as sad as his life. And it seems he is far too used to his depressing and pathetic life (not that I'm happy about it after watching the Donbro vs. Zenkai movie). It sums up his character and Donbrothers life well. The lyrics are the only good side of this song.
Rating: 10/10. Yes, the lyrics are good.
- Overall Rating: 7/10. If the lyrics were not as good, the score would be lower.
5. Tsuyoshi Kijino: My Wife Is My Life
Wow, I CAN NOT believe the song mentions his wife. I am speechless. A big part of that is because it is on point. There is not much to Tsuyoshi besides his wife for about 40 out of 50 episodes in the series. I had no expectations for this song. Tsuyoshi is the 'ugh' character for me in Donbrothers. So I don't have much to complain about. This song gets credit for whatever it gets right. For what it doesn't- I don't care. I'll judge it only as a song with less to zero connection to the series.
- Music: It is nice to listen to, I guess. It's soft and sweet. It goes with Tsuyoshi's laid-back self. But maybe not suitable for listening to more than once. It gets annoying at one point.
Rating: 5/10.
- Singing: Not the best kind of singing, befitting Tsuyoshi. But it does not make me want to come back to listen to it.
Rating: 4/10. Shrug
- Lyrics: The lyrics are probably the only good thing in this song. It talks about his 'normal' self, his uneventful life, his wife being the only important thing, the source of strength in his life, & as long as he has his wife, he can overcome any hurdle in his way. All of this is on-brand for him. And that is alright.
Rating: 6.5/10. Just good enough to be 'meh.'
- Overall Rating: 5.17/10. It could have been 3 or 4.
6. Jiro Momotani: Try! Good Rival
Wow, two song titles that start with 'Try.' It shows that these characters are young and growing, and these songs reflect that well. I didn't know what to expect. Jirou is the forgotten character every time, and I feel sorry for him. So I either would forget about this song soon, or it would be very memorable. Fortunately, this song had the latter outcome. A very creative piece with many layers is what we got that represents the complexity of Jirou. And that, my fellow fans, is what I love about character songs.
- Music: It is riveting. There is variation in it, and the song has three parts. The music parts were for good, the bad, and the stable Jirou. It is fascinating and creative that all three portions have different kinds of music. It is enjoyable to hear a song that has such diversity in it. It skillfully embodies his character. Perhaps better than in the series itself. It is a delightful song to get you pumped at any time.
Rating: 10/10
- Singing: This part is also diverse, and I enjoyed that a lot. So the singing is good too. This song is the most tricky in this album. And Raizou executed it nicely. The pacing in different parts was fun too. He created three distinct voices for the three sides of Jirou and nailed it. In the interview, he also said his singing is not good. But he has nothing to worry about because he delivered way better than I had expected.
Rating: 8/10. 👍
- Lyrics: I had a hard time understanding this song's lyrics too. And what I got was it talks about him being the destined hero, his changes, challenges, and how he tries hard to be his best for his teammates. We can see the different mentalities of his three sides in the lyrics: the friendliness of the good Jirou, the violent bad Jirou, the extremeness of his former two sides, and why the current Jirou is called "Stable Jirou".
Rating: 8/10. The fourth-best song in this album.
- Overall Rating: 8.67/10. I'm surprised and glad to see this song be this good. It's such a delight.
Now this song is another one I had high expectations from. Yuya Tominaga has shown us his fabulous singing in Tsuki No Mizo Shiru and Avatar Party. And I LOVE Sonoi. So, naturally, I'd want him to have a good song. Maybe I was expecting something like a ballad- it does suit his character better. But I still liked what we ended up with. And it MET my expectations!
- Music: Yes, I was not expecting a rock song. But what I got is satisfying enough for me. It has its soft parts and cool parts. So I'm sold.
Rating: 9/10. It probably would've been a 10/10 if it was a ballad.
- Singing: Yeah, like I said, he was GREAT. No complaints. FUN FACT: Yuya Tominaga had said in the interview about this song that he didn't have confidence because he had not sung a rock song before. I'll say he delivered incredibly well.
Rating: 10/10. It is a well-deserved score.
- Lyrics: This is tricky. Firstly, it is because I don't understand all of the words. But I tried my best. And what I got is the lyrics talk about Sonoi's sense of beauty, justice and judgment, imperfection, art, and character growth of Sonoi in the series. I could not have asked for more.
Rating: 10/10.
- Overall score: 9.67/10. This song may not be a ballad, but this is awesome nonetheless. It made my list of "Top 6 Favorite Blue Ranger Character Songs". Yes, he replaces Shin'ichi as the season's Blue Ranger.
8. Sononi: Jewel Pieces
Did they have to let me down every time I expected something good? Maybe that is a yes. It is a song about love- which I expected from a character who devotes herself to 'romantic' love. At least they could have made this song a bit more sophisticated. But they didn't do that either. I also expected it to be different from Haruka's character song since they are vastly different. But alas, none of those expectations came to fruition with this song. Sigh... Just because she is in an idol group does not mean her character's song also must be like an idol song. Make her do something different!! She always does this! Then what is the point of making her do this again?!
- Music: Amisa has such an impressive voice. I was hoping they would give her a song that could use her voice in a classier way. This song was a typical heroine song, specifically, an idol song.
Rating: 4/10.
- Singing: She can do so much better. The poor execution did not make proper use of her potential.
Rating: 5/10.
- Lyrics: Yeah. Romance isn't on my list of likable song themes. There are millions of those songs, and I am sick of listening to them. I hope I don't offend anyone who prefers those.
Rating: 3/10.
- Overall Rating: 4/10.
9. Sonoza: What's EMO
I love Sonoza. He is a fun and crazy character. And I am glad his song is fun too. It captured so much of his character.
- Music: The genre isn't my favorite. The style feels retro. But the overall song balances it out. There are many ups and downs in it, similar to his character. That is a highlight of the music.
Rating: 7/10.
- Singing: It is spot on! I love it. The singing also has ups and downs that embody the character amazingly. The screaming and laughing fit the song perfectly (unlike someone we previously talked about).
Rating: 7/10.
- Lyrics: The lyrics are fun too. The lyrics represent Sonoza's journey throughout the show and what he learned about humans and emotions. And that makes them wholesome for me.
Rating: 10/10.
- Overall Rating: 7.67/10. It is better than I expected.
