Breaking down two character song albums at once... 🤷‍♀️ Part 1

Welcome to my first actual blog ENTRY  (😝)... and character song album review. Whoo! I am excited!

I will do two Toku character song albums that have come out this year: KR Geats and Donbrothers. 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 1: KR Geats Character Song Album

First of all, I am sorry for the delay. I am mostly sorry to myself because I wanted to write this one last month, around the time this album was released. But that did not happen. So, a month later it is. 😕

So, a Kamen Rider "character song album"… I am probably one of the most surprised people here. Because I was expecting Avex to release the songs as separate singles like the KR Revice character ones. But I was proven wrong, much to my pleasure. So a huge thumbs up for that. With that, I will dive into the character songs. I will rate each character song based on three factors: music, singing, and lyrics. But first, I want to talk a bit about the album cover.

Album cover: If you are not interested, skip this part and scroll down

Yes, it is essential. Why? I will talk about it in a separate post for that. If you are interested, stay tuned.

So, the character song album cover is pretty simple. Too simple, even. But of course, I would not know anything about that since this is my first time seeing a KR album dedicated to character songs. If you know about a KR character song album that was released before this, let me know in the comments. Back to the topic, it features illustrations of the characters’ helmets and their respective colors in the background and a disc. The 4 colors are separated by metallic wires, which is a nice touch. Now, this matter is not 100% relevant to the musical content, so I will not include it as a factor that affects the rating. But if I were to rate the cover, I would give it 6/10. The color combination and simplicity are good enough to get a 6. But that is all there is to it… So 6/10.

Yes, that is all I have to say about that topic. Now I am moving on to the songs.

1. Ace Ukiyo: Stars Of The Stars Of The Stars

First off, let me laugh at the title. Really, out of all the aspects of Ace, this is the one that they chose for his song title? But yeah, I wouldn’t judge a book by its strange title... Or a song in this case.

• Music: Ugh, jazz. One of the musical genres that I don’t like so much. But then again, some of my friends don’t either. But, yes, it can grow on me in cases, even if I don’t like it immediately. Some examples are "Tsuki No Mizo Shiru", "Kiseki Wo Yumemiru?", and "Chikai" (LupinBlue’s character song). And after listening to "Star Of The…" (too long, did not write) about ten times, it had grown on me, aided by the performance of the song at Chou Eiyuu Sai 2023 (which I LOVED, by the way).

Rating: 7/10

• Singing: Hmm. Hidetoshi’s inexperience in singing shows. The singing feels slightly forced. I wish he did not try too hard and was more relaxed. Of course, I can not be too harsh. Character songs rarely have been sung by professional singers. It is the same for Hidetoshi. The worst part (for this song) is that the singing for other tracks in this album is better quality. Poor guy. But, as I said, the singing also grew on me, aided by the live performance. I particularly like parts 1:53-2:01 and 2:53-3:26. Also, I must comment on the pronunciation of the English words. He pronounced ‘Floor’ like ‘Follower'. 😑  If you think it is just me being nitpicky, let me know.

Rating: 7/10. It could have been way worse.

• Lyrics: Ah, the legendary Shoko Fujibayashi wrote the lyrics. Expectations are high. Did it meet my expectations? Yes, for the most part. I am not fond of the fact that Ace’s celebrity lifestyle has taken the spotlight here. But, it also focuses on other parts of his character and story, like how the DGP is about 90% of his character and that many things, *SPOILER ALERT*, in his world are fabrications. Therefore, overall satisfaction has been achieved.

Rating: 9/10. As expected of Fujibayashi-san!

• Overall Rating: 7.67/10. Again, this could have been way worse. This song stays on my Tokusatsu playlist.

2. Keiwa Sakurai: I Peace ~ Rant incoming ~

This song should’ve been good, I have heard Ryuga Sato sing, so I had high expectations. But did it meet them? No. My reaction after listening to it: Whose song is this, again? Oh, Ryuga Sato’s. No, I mean, who is he singing as? Himself, duh! Because if someone comes up to me and says this is how Keiwa’s character song sounds on the surface (lyrics aside, just singing and music), then I’d say they don’t know Keiwa. I was expecting a soft, sweet TOKUSATSU song. Not some random J-pop song with the banner of Tokusatsu! I had the same reaction at Tametomo’s "Dangan Shooting Star". But then I grew used to it. Do I like it? Maybe. Do I think it’s a Toku song? NO. Have I mentioned that every time Rui Kihara performed the song, they were similar to Ryuga Sato’s performance at the Chou Eiyuu Sai 2023? They were accompanied by dance numbers. Now into the gory details.

• Music: Yes, “it’s too J-pop”- is my first complaint. It’s got no oomph that I feel in Toku songs. It loses its position as a Toku song first off. You can’t have a character song like this and convince me it’s a Toku song. Not anytime soon. Other than that, thumbs up… Which doesn’t amount to much in this case.

Rating: 5/10. Sigh…

• Singing: Whoo! Ryuga Sato! Dang, that guy is talented! And I cannot but be happy knowing that the guy is good at what he does. I want to hear more of his solo songs (that aren’t related to Toku) in the future. With that said, the singing in this song was also fantastic. Too good, even. And that’s the problem. He was so good with the singing that, in my opinion, the singing represented himself instead of Keiwa. Which resulted in another place where this song failed. Sorry, Keiwa…

Rating: 6/10. I’m sorry… 😭

• Lyrics: The song title and lyrics- are the only cases where this song excelled. The lyrics are perfect, representing who Keiwa is and that he is such a pure Kamen Rider. Although the laughing part in the lyrics where he goes, “A ha ha ha,” is weird. I found it funny when I first heard this song and this sounds weird now. So, point deduction for that.

Rating: 9/10. The best it could be.

• Overall Rating: 6.67/10. Probably the worst-rated song in this album… 😞 Stays on my playlist. But NOT on the Tokusatsu one.

3. Neon Kurama: Beat Of My Life

I heard Yuna Hoshino sing a few cover songs earlier, and I liked them all. So high expectations for this song too! Did it meet them? YES!

• Music: I loved the music. This song is the song with the best music in this album. Enjoyable, soft, sweet, perfect for any mood. Eeven as just an instrumental track, it is great. It may have a bit less Toku oomph, but I’ll forgive it. "I love it," is all I have to say.

Rating: 9/10 💛

• Singing: Also great! Expectations: met! Satisfaction: reached! Sweet and soft. So no complaints. The kind of song I want to sing along to and even cover!

Rating: 11/10. A tad overboard because I like it so much.

• Lyrics: Poor Neon… This song is the opposite of Keiwa’s character song. Keiwa’s one only excels in the case of the lyrics. And in the case of Neon, the lyrics are not very satisfactory. It is about love… Romantic love, I believe. Just when we started to learn that the kind of love she seeks is not limited to romantic love… They made the song like this. I think Fujibayashi-san should’ve written the lyrics for this song instead of Ace’s. I wonder what she would’ve done. Of course, that’s not the only thing in the song lyrics. It talks about her harsh lifestyle as well. So, I’ll let it slide.

Rating: 7/10. I wish it focused a little less on romance.

• Overall Rating: 9/10. Yes, the best song from this album.

4. Michinaga Azuma: Undead Fire

Before hearing this song, I had no idea about what to expect. And after I heard it and did some digging, I was blown away. Kazuto Mokuda is a singer in a boy band. 😱😮 So, another surprise from the cast and this album. Keep surprising me with good stuff like this, Avex.

• Music: The music is great. In-character for Michinaga to have a rock song like this. It gives me the "evil Rider" vibes and his desire for revenge. Very satisfied.

Rating: 8/10.

• Singing: Kazuto is a singer, something I learned about two weeks after listening to this song. Excuse me for not being well-informed. And yes, he does a great job. His singing for his character's song is the best among the three guys. And that is perfect. It works with the anti-hero/villain Rider theme.

Rating: 9/10. Again, this one delivers.

• Lyrics: Yes, another one from Fujibayashi-san! And she ROCKS this one! The perfectly written lyrics for Michinaga's song. And it's for the same reason I talked about in the music part. It works perfectly with the "evil Rider" theme. And that's probably all I'll say. If you want to know more, please listen to the song.

On a side note, I'm glad Fujibayashi-san is writing lyrics for Toku songs again. But I want her to return to write the lyrics for Super Sentai songs (especially character songs). I miss her character songs.

Rating: 10/10. Yes, perfection. 

• Overall Rating: 9/10. It has tied with Beat Of My Life. But I like Beat Of My Life better.

Conclusion: 

Great album. 8.09/10. Not only is this the first Rider character song in forever, but the songs are also enjoyable. Keep this up Avex, and keep giving us character songs and songs by the cast members of Geats. I know I want Tsumuri's character song for sure. Put in some group songs, like:

• The DGP participants side: The main three Riders and Sae/KR Lopo.
• The good old cast song: Singers are the main four Riders and Tsumuri.
• An eye-themed song for the DGP authority side: The singers are Tsumuri, Chirami, Niramu, and perhaps even Samasu. It is eye-themed because of their names.
• The emotion-themed song for the sponsors: Ziin, Beroba, Kekera, Kyuun, as well as, Neon's dad. Emotion-themed, again, like their names.
• The JGP, a.k.a the Jamato side's song: Michinaga, Beroba, Michinaga's friend, Daichi, and maybe the Jamato Ojisan.

And blow me away as you did with Revice last year! 😄😁 What, you think I'm getting ahead of myself? Hah! No way! Because I got a ton last year, and I want it to keep coming. Yes, nothing is wrong with being carried away when some, or many of them, come true.

And that concludes the first part of my character song albums review. I will post the second/Donbrothers album's review soon, hopefully within a week. Please stay tuned for that.

This was Ruffinn. See you soon.