This is another first – we’re getting a lot of them this year – as I wanted to review a CD I got a while ago (read over a year ago) because I liked the A-side in Rejet’s PV. But I haven’t got around to it because Mini-kid turned out to love the A-side so much I heard it on repeat for months and couldn’t bother to break it down technically because I’d have to play the tracks on repeat myself. I’ll take the opportunity here to mention that I’m a classically trained flautist, so I have a background in music and hence might break down the music more than seems normal. If so, just let me know I went to technical. Lol.
This is part of the Marginal #4 series, but I haven’t actually played Marginal #4. Or seen the anime. So I’ll review this from someone who just happens to like KENN a lot. Or something. Lol. I mention lyrics, but I didn’t want to make this post super long and I don’t think it’s something you absolutely need to know. But I translated them, and the translations can be found here. There’s also a drama, and you’ll find a summary of that below.
The single consists of an A-side called Magical Lulululu (まじかるルルルル, Magical Rurururu) and the B-side Through the Looking Glass (カガミノナカ, literally: Inside the Mirror), which both are just over 4 minutes. Both have karaoke tracks, which are tracks 3 and 4, and last, there’s an 11-minute mini-drama set after the recording of the single.
MINI DRAMA
After the recording, Teruma is texting Tsubasa and Alto to tell them it went well because they’re worried when L scares Teruma, wondering what Teruma’s up to. He explains he texted Tsubasa and Alto because he had got a text asking if it had gone well. L thinks they are surprisingly worried, but that Teruma really did try his best. However, Teruma was worried he brought R and L down with his performance. R assures him that it went fine and that the staff also thought so.
The Manager then comes in and L says he’s been waiting for her. He obviously wants to hear how it went. Teruma wonders about it, and L says he wanted to know how My Milky Way was. They are told it was awesome and it calms the nervous Teruma down. L leans close to the Manager (I suppose) and asks what was cool about him from her perspective. R then tells L to stop bothering the Manager, but it’s not exactly helping, because L really wants to know. The manager starts telling him, but he gets embarrassed and Teruma is surprised because L usually seems to have his shit together.
L kisses the Manager. R asks him what he’s doing and L just answers he needed to thank her for the compliment and says it’s cute she’s blushing. Teruma points out the Manager is petrified though. L wonders if that maybe was too much for the Manager and R tells Teruma to not trouble the manager like L does. But Teruma wants to be praised too! He gets praise, but he knows there must have been things he needs to work on. The Manager tells him she noticed he was nervous, and he says he won’t be able to get his emotions through to others if he’s nervous. But it did reach the Manager, and that makes Teruma very happy, so he gives her a thank you kiss as well.
L tells the Manager to praise R too because he also did his very best, but R says it’s fine. She did already say it was awesome. But that was about all of them, so the manager praises R too. He finds it a bit embarrassing, but is also very happy about the compliments. He wonders if it’s alright that he shows his gratitude as well and thanks her for always watching over them before he kisses her. Then he quickly apologises.
L jokes about another kiss, but the manager runs off. R tells L to properly apologise to the Manager later, but L says R also kissed her. R says it wasn’t like he was teasing her, though. Teruma stops their bickering saying they have to go find the Manager. R says they all should apologise. L then wonders if she’ll pet his head if he apologises, and Teruma says he’d also want that. R repeats they’re going to apologise and Teruma says he knows and the three leaves to find the Manager.
THOUGHTS
If you didn’t catch it before, here are the translated lyrics for the songs Magical Lulululu and Through the Looking Glass. I’ll go over these by track (though I’m skipping commenting on the karaoke tracks).
Magical Lulululu is so nonsensical. Which is actually typical for the genre denpa. Most often than not the lyrics make absolutely no sense, though there is a few where the lyrics make sense but the music is completely nonsensical. But KENN (L), Yuuto Suzuki (R) and Toshiyuki Someya (Teruma) work very well together in terms of voices, and I think they get across their characters very well in the song. The music track is fun with lots of instruments, and the bagpipe (sounds – I know there are other instruments that actually sound like bagpipes) followed by 8-bit sounds (or something) in the instrumental part actually is my personal favourite. It’s just so out there. But the entire track has some random instruments and sounds here and there, and there is actually a lot going on in it which would by themselves sound horrible but still somehow came together to a very fun and joyful sounding track, while still as nonsensical as the lyrics. Oh, the flute is wonderful. That’s likely just my bias to flutes because, well, I’m a flautist.
Through the Looking Glass is very obviously referring to Alice Through the Looking Glass (which is a sequel to Alice in Wonderland — I’ll review both those two some time, as I own them both). While most of the song is pretty regular sounding some-mainstream-genre-like-maybe-pop? (I mentioned I was a classically trained flautist. I basically divide music with technical terms – instrumental, orchestrated, vocal, untz-untz, wub-wub… because that’s easier.) with some haunted house parts in the beginning and middle. The guitar during the middle part is fantastic, I must say. So is the impression of a clock at the beginning. The song is, unlike the first one, heavier on the bass, which might be just a bit too much for me because I feel it slightly overpowers the singing. There are more parts where all three sing together, which means you can definitely hear the similarities in their voices during those. I didn’t like this as much. It’s closer to the type of heavy music I listen to, but it’s a bit boring, musical-wise. I appreciate the Alice themed lyrics, but eh.
The mini-drama was… interesting. I think I got a pretty good idea about the characters through it though, and if I was to say who my favourite character is, I guess it would be Teruma. I prefer KENN’s voice, though. It took me a few listens of the beginning (since I listen to the drama in parts to write about it above) before I could tell Yuuto (R’s VA) and Toshiyuki (Teruma’s VA) apart though. I honestly think part of it was simply that I memorised whose line was which, or which character was more likely to say what, but I still kept correcting myself. So that’s a downside. I need to be able to hear the difference! But I did get a good laugh, even though I also got a bit uncomfortable because, eh… I don’t really like sexual harassment surprise kisses.
Overall… Kinda a meh CD? Points for Magical Lulululu, negative points for parts of the mini-drama, and then just kinda neutral with the rest. But I really do love the A-side. Mini too. Before they could walk we got butt wiggles, and nowadays we get dancing (which still includes some butt wiggling). Or just staring at the PV, which has been strangely fascinating the entire time. Babies don’t usually see pastel colours when very, very young, but this kid certainly has loved them since just a few months old. So, I guess Mini’s verdict is: get the CD for the wiggles. And art. And PV.
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