Maria-sama ga Miteru – Christmas Album – La Vierge Marie Vous Regarde Merry Christmas – Review
| Album Title: | Christmas Album – La Vierge Marie Vous Regarde Merry Christmas |
| Anime Title: | Maria-sama ga Miteru |
| Artist: | Kana Ueda, Haruna Ikezawa, Mamiko Noto, Rie Kugimiya, Kaori Shimizu, Ami Koshimizu |
| Catalog Number: | FCCM-261 |
| Release Type: | Character Album |
| Release Date: | December 10, 2008 |
| Purchase at: | CDJapan |
|---|
Track List:
[spoiler]
| Track Title | Artist | Time |
| 1. Joy To the World | Kana Ueda, Haruna Ikezawa, Mamiko Noto | 2:54 |
| 2. Santa Claus is Coming to Town | Rie Kugimiya, Kaori Shimizu, Ami Koshimizu | 2:53 |
| 3. O Come, All Ye Faithful | Haruna Ikezawa, Mamiko Noto | 3:30 |
| 4. Silent Night | Mamiko Noto, Kaori Shimizu | 3:38 |
| 5. Angels We Have Heard on High | Kana Ueda, Rie Kugimiya | 3:31 |
| 6. We Wish You Are Merry Christmas | Kana Ueda, Haruna Ikezawa, Mamiko Noto | 3:47 |
[/spoiler]
Review: For those of you who still subscribe to Time magazine, you may notice a column with a vertical arrow containing a spectrum of points covering news items that are “Shocking,” “Predictable,” and “Shockingly Predictable.” If one were to take this spectrum and place anime music spinoffs on there, Christmas Album ~La Vierge Marie Vous Regarde~ might not be “Shockingly Predictable,” but it’d be pretty close to that mark. After all, it does not require a big leap of logic to see the Marimite seiyuu cast, all of whom play Catholic schoolgirls, sing Christmas carols.
That said, it is hard to determine whether or not this is supposed to be a joke album. In a nutshell, imagine the cast of Marimite singing Christmas carols in engrish, and you will have succeeded in distilling this album down to its core element.
With names like Kana Ueda and Mamiko Noto making appearances, the renditions of these carols aren’t going to be spectacular. Noto, in particular, lacks that strong presence when she sings, making her performance in “Silent Night” feel just a bit too fluffy for my tastes. As for Ueda, she sings using her Yumi Fukuzawa voice decently, though she does inflict the most damage to the English language, but that could be because she sings two-thirds of the songs on this album. Other than that, the songs themselves are standard Christmas carols and would not raise too many eyebrows if it weren’t for the mispronunciation going on.
Joy to the World
[audio:01 Marimitexmas.mp3]
Silent Night
[audio:04 Marimitexmas.mp3]
If there is any reason why people would pick up this album to begin with, it would be the engrish. Unfortunately, there’s only so much amusement value that one can derive from seiyuu proudly declaring that “Santa Craus is coming to town” before it gets old. At least the producers were kind enough to mix it up a bit in “Angels We Have Heard on High” by having the seiyuu massacre Latin. That’s a novel idea I’d like to see milked for what it’s worth.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
[audio:02 Marimitexmas.mp3]
Angels We Have Heard on High
[audio:05 Marimitexmas.mp3]
In the end, the Marimite Christmas Album lacks staying power. Sure, it’s makes a great gag and a novelty item the first time through, but because there’s nothing truly outlandish, it’s hard to fathom why anyone would give this album a listen-to more than once a year, if even that. For those of you looking for a hilarious joke album, you’d best try your luck with Pun-colle (aff). Seiyuu singing punk rock? Now that’s real comedy!
Rating: So-so
I wouldn’t be so quick to call this a joke album, I have this crazy inkling it might have been serious… (well, about as serious as any Christmas album can be, seeing as how they’re all pretty much seasonal, well-timed cash-ins). The reason why it sounds so tacky to us is the same as why most Engrish sounds tacky… it’s Engrish.
Listening to it, I wasn’t sure what to think of it at first… then I laughed… by the end, I couldn’t believe I lasted through the whole thing.
Engrish isn’t really my thing, pass.
It is a bit amusing though, I’ll give it that.
@Sorrow-kun
Well, it’s only 20 minutes of silliness thankfully, so listening to it isn’t that bad of a chore. :p
@Reltair
Agreed, it’s more or less a one-shot type of album. Amusing while it lasts, but I wouldn’t declare it to be much more than that.
Ah, I’ve been all too familiar with the Jap’s massacre of English. I’m actually more fond of Noto’s, since it feels more mystical and Christmas-y. Ueda did relatively well on ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ though. (No idea what the heck she’s singing, so I’ll just judge on voice)
Still, they’ve got some big names there and I expect will draw some fans at least.
Hahahaha, this is rather cute, in a trite, cheesy sorta way. One time ristening onry.
Hearing Engrish always makes me cringe a bit. I wouldn’t even be able to sit through the samples if it wasn’t for Yumi’s cute voice.
@Jen
I figure that anyone getting this album will be doing it for the novelty factor since the big names on there aren’t a major selling point since most of them aren’t highly regarded as singers.
Also, the phrase is: “In excelsis deo” if you were curious.
@Fuu
Unless you want to torture relatives or friends during Christmastime. Then it becomes fun for the whole family.
@Yi
And even that’s debatable as to whether it’s worth sitting through. I’d just treat it as a comedy album if I were you :p
Man can’t stop grinning (on the verge of laughing) listening to the Engrish. It’s amusingly enjoyable. Not something I’d keep but it’s worth a listen.
@depthcharge101
Christmas comes once a year. This album shouldn’t be played any more often than that :p
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