K-ON2! Character Image Songs – Hirasawa Yui – Review

Hey, this is chikorita157, the author of Chikorita157’s Anime Blog. I was moved by the events that happened in its last episode of K-ON!! since it brought me a lot of happiness. On the same day, I got an idea of reviewing Yui’s character single since she is a popular character in the show and would be fun to review the latest single from her voice actor, Toyosaki Aki. So, without further ado, sit back and enjoy what I have to say about the single.

Review: The second season has come to an end, and the girls have finally graduated. It had some emotional scenes that involve Azusa breaking down at the end and the four girls performing a heartwarming “thank you” song at the end to cheer her up. In comparison to the first season, the second season brought some great insert music such as “Pure Pure Heart,” “Gohan ha Okazu,” “U&I,” and “Tenshi ni Furetayo.” Even though Toyosaki Aki may be the weakest out of the four girls at singing, she does rather well when she performs the insert songs (excluding “Pure Pure Heart”); it seems like the only time you can hear the imperfections in her singing is when she performs the opening themes “Go Go Maniac” and “Utauyo!! MIRACLE.”

“Oh My Gitah!” starts off with a strong, catchy intro. However, that is pretty much undone by Toyosaki Aki’s singing 20 seconds in. Compared to “Guitar ni Kubittake,” a song that also dedicated her “Gitah”, “Oh My Gitah!” feels weak because the former had slightly better singing and the instrumentals were exciting. Here, Toyosaki Aki’s performance lacked clarity and it sounded pretty flat. The flatness from her singing does not go well with the energy that the guitar produced, which leaves the impression that the energy was unused and wasted, causing the song to feel dull and boring. As a result, each subsequent listen is less enjoyable than the last until it becomes rather forgettable.

The second song, “Shiawase Hiyori” has the ability to be calm and catchy, yet Toyosaki Aki’s delivery is dull enough that it treads dangerously close to the point of putting me to sleep since her vocals lacked any energy and it did not feel like she was singing. Thirty five seconds into the song, there is a twenty second section where Toyosaki Aki goes slightly out of tune:

Fukufuku koinu fuwafuwa na kumo purantaa no hana ni mo ne
Egao ga koborechau yo doushite ka na?
Wakannai demo ne… ufufu

In a similar section with slightly different lyrics, it happens again at the two-minute mark and after the small monologue, but it is not nearly as noticeable as it was in the beginning. All in all, it’s more mediocre than terrible, mostly because it has some feeling put into it and not executed in an obnoxious fashion like in “KEEPING SMILE” from Anata Shika Mienai.

Lastly, we have Yui’s version of “Come with Me!!,” which is the second season’s version of “Let’s Go!.” Like its analog, the song is catchy and has good instrumentals, making it the best song out of the three on this single. If you noticed in “Let’s Go!”, the chorus in background says “Come with Me!” in the song and it resembles country music. I have to admit, this was probably the best performance from Toyosaki Aki from the whole single since it had energy. However, towards the end of the song (around 3:07), some of the phrases she was trying to sing are not clear. I am not sure if this is due to her singing or the composition, but hopefully it will not be an issue with the other versions of the song. That’s said, I am still pretty interested in seeing how the other characters will perform their version of “Come with Me!!” in their respective singles.

Overall, this album is a disappointment compared to Yui’s character album in the previous season. Besides “Come with Me!!,” the other two songs are either messy or sounded dull. Even though zzeroparicle finds Toyosaki Aki’s singing “sub-par,” I believe that she is a mixed bag. She can sing decently; her performance of the insert songs and the last character single attest to that. Here though, the greatness did not came and I was let down by her lack of effort. She really needs to put more energy and effort to make the song rise above the feeling of mediocrity it currently gives off.

Rating: So-So

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