Miki Ito, Aino Nanjo, Yuri Komagata, and Reina Kondo - Seiyu's unique worldviews burst forth in their lyrics! Seiyu Artists Bulletin January 2022

This is a series of articles in which we review works released by voice-over artists that we want to pay attention to.

The theme this time is "lyrics written by voice-over artists. We have already introduced works by Harmoe, Yui Ogura, Akatsu Saito, and others in this series from the same angle, so we hope you will review and compare them with the four works released in December 2021, which we will cover here.

⇒ This month, we focus on songs written by voice actors: Harmoe, Yui Ogura, Akatsu Saito, Rena Ueda, Kanako Takatsuki, and i☆Ris! Seiyu Artists Bulletin August 2021

■Mirai Ito 9th single "Pasta" (December 22, 2021)

All of them are vividly colored, fun to look at, stylish, and with ready-made sauces, anyone can enjoy cooking delicious and easy dishes. Simplicity is justice. If you live alone, everyone will rely on it. Because we tend to live in a hurry and are on a tight schedule every day, we want to find joy in being instant at least at mealtime. This gentle sentiment is condensed in the first chorus of the song, "Let me remind you, easy is happiness/I don't care about time so soon.

This is the title track of Miki Ito's new single, "Pasta.

In this song, she wrote the lyrics herself on the theme of pasta, which she loves. It is common for singers to sing about their love of pasta, but Ms. Ito is a little different. The lyrics of this song were written from the perspective of pasta, in other words, from the personification of pasta.

It is a song that reminds us of the importance of mealtime as a healing time in our lives, and its naturalness makes it a comfortable song.

This song is also Mr. Ito's first attempt at composing his own music. This is probably because the arrangement is by Koji Mizuguchi, who has worked on "PEARL" and "hello new pink" in the past. The track has an urban neo-city pop taste similar to his past works, but the characteristic feature of the song is the structure of the chorus. The composition in which the instrumentalists make a mountain in the middle of the chorus is very hooky, and the melody rises and falls in a way that has never been done in her previous track listings, making it different and ear-catching in a good way.

To return to the lyrics, the first B melody, in which she sings, "I want to relax, I want you to melt me to the core / ah I just want to be cool," can be understood more smoothly if one thinks of the process of completing pasta. Having said that, the sense of combining the words "cool" and the exhausted state of the noodle, which would normally be opposite images, is unique. This may also be a result of Mr. Ito's rich sensitivity to the natural way of life.

In addition, while the song is from a pasta's point of view, the phrases that evoke the daily life in the city and a girlish girl who can't get the person she likes to look at her seem to be an extension of the aforementioned "PEARL" and "hello new pink".

This single was produced as an "extra" non-tie-in single to commemorate the 5th anniversary of her career. Nevertheless, it is a continuation of her past activities, and it is a piece that shows that the brand of "Ito Mirai's pop music" has been established to the extent that it oozes out without deliberate awareness.

Incidentally, the music video should be seen by all mankind, as Ms. Ito's smile is too cute as she gets tangled up in the woolen threads that resemble pasta.

■Nanjo Aino 4th album "A Tiny Winter Story" (released December 22, 2021)

At the end of 2022, Aino Nanjo will celebrate the 10th anniversary of her music career. Her first original album in about four and a half years, "A Tiny Winter Story" is one that focuses on the theme of "winter," the same theme that was featured in the previous issue of this series.

⇒Tomori Kusunoki, Nanaka Suwa, Yui Ninomiya, Miho Okazaki - Christmas is just around the corner! We introduce a new album with a seasonal theme and the first review of a new album by a voice actor! Monthly Seiyu Artists Bulletin November 2021

Ms. Nanjo wrote the lyrics for four songs on this album. Among them, the title track "A Tiny Winter Story" is an answer song to "Shiroi Season no Yakusoku," another song she wrote about four and a half years ago. The two lovers looked up at the night sky in early summer and wished that they could be together this winter and feel the same way.

The lyrics of the chorus, "I felt as if the snow in my eyes was shining like a piece of a star/I felt as if it was lighting up our tomorrow," are interspersed with descriptions similar to "White Season's Promise" and key words taken from the same song. This is a phrase that listeners who have loved this song since its inception will find irresistible.

As in "Someday, this sky, in the season when white snowflakes are flying, I wish to keep seeing your profile / with the same feelings / as if it were natural" in "The Promise of the White Season," the song goes through "those days" when the girl sang her wish from her perspective, and now the boy sings about the happiness of being with his special someone. The boy side now shares the same feeling of happiness of being together with the person he cares about, and gazes at the face of the girl who shines like a star. Is the time that has passed only half a year, or is it four and a half years in accordance with the time axis of reality, albeit from a meta-viewpoint? Either way, a story is spun and continues to be spun. I think the "Story" in the title "A Tiny Winter Story" is a wish that the time between the two of them will continue forever.

Except for "The Promise of the White Season," the only previously released song on this album is "All is Uncertain World," which was just released in November 2021. Looking at the contents of their releases over the past four and a half years, "The Promise of the White Season" should not originally be included in the album at this time (rather, the title track of the single containing the song was already included in the previous original album "Saint Trois ∴"). In light of this situation, we may be able to get more and more of the artist's view that values concept and unity in the first of Nanjo's works.

The phrase at the end of the chorus, "I know that it is special to be able to spend time together, feeling the same time together," could be taken as a message from Ms. Nanjo to her fans, but it is not only the fans who have spent time together. The same goes for the "old man" (CV: Ken Washizaki) who appears in "Nanjo Isshima," the most powerful video content in the world of female voice actors, included in the limited first edition of this album.

Even in the latest season, the self-defeating Mr. Nanjo's appearance is extremely soothing. If you pick up a copy, be sure to get the limited first edition.

Yuri Komagata 1st full album "stella" (released December 15, 2021)

Yuri Komagata released her first full album "stella" on the theme of "past and future" on the third anniversary of her debut as an artist. Although she has had a wealth of experience in writing lyrics, she has written three new songs for this album, including one that she co-wrote. In this article, we will delve into the content of "happy weekend," a song written solely by Komagata.

Happy weekend" is a cheerful love song with a sensibility similar to that of Maaya Sakamoto, whom Komagata herself admires. The lyrics, which depict an exchange between two lovers at dusk on a Sunday evening, are so full of smiles that you can't help but notice them, in a good way. In the same part of the second verse, the lyrics are arranged in a casual manner, but they are very impressive and "techie".

The end of the first chorus is also characteristic, and the blank space before and after the story spun by the lyrics is also a part of the song's comfort in listening to it. In the lyrics depicted in the song, the other side is sulking and being sarcastic, but I imagine that the protagonist is also making a move on the other side or reacting in a casual manner. The two are "both of them," but "both of them love you.

Reina Kondo concept album "11th Dimension Lena" (December 1, 2021)

In the second album of her career, Reina Kondo has created one of the most problematic works in the voice actor music scene in 2021.

In "Lena of the 11th Dimension," produced by hisakuni, Kondo has created a clear character, as she is a "possession-type" performer who assumes the role of someone else when she acts or sings. The characters are "I," a junior high school student, and my classmate "Lena. Lena" is the other self of "Reina" who exists in the 11th dimension (i.e., the universe), and the three reveal their feelings.

The main framework of the work is formed by the bullying of "me" and "Lena" by those around them. The work is based on the mental pain inflicted by those around them and the helpless despair they feel when they feel "difference" or "inferiority" to those around them. They blame themselves for their own actions, or vent their frustration at their abusers, saying that they "don't understand" their behavior. The most frightening part of this work may lie in the fact that these heart-wrenching acts could have (or might have) occurred in the listener's daily life.

The entire "11th Dimension Lena" is a story until the final song "Laika," in which "I" undergo a change that transcends me mentally. The episodes surrounding the "certain incident" are included in a short story in the CD booklet. This article focuses only on the melodious guitar rock song "Boku ga Aiwaeru Hi wa" (The Day I Will Be Loved), for which Mr. Kondo himself wrote the lyrics.

In the song "Boku ga boku wa aiharenna hi", "Boku ga boku wa aiharenna hi" is about "me" expressing my feelings for the perpetrators in the wake of the aforementioned "certain incident". The chorus, "I don't understand you selfish people / who are living without any inconvenience," is symbolic of the irony of the phrase "I want to be part of the 'normal' crowd," which is directed at those around them who kick down someone who should really be a "person" like them. The phrase is symbolic of the irony of those around us who want to fit in with the "normal" crowd and kick out someone who is really "the same" as them. It is also a phrase that shows the richness of Kondo-san's linguistic ability to paraphrase in concrete terms what he "doesn't understand" in the attitudes of those around him, as if he were being bombarded with such attitudes one after the other.

And what makes "Boku" so strong in a real sense is the fact that it has a sense of mastery and even resignation, as in the second chorus, "Do you find it demeaning to admit to each other? This is the point that the song "Raika" (......) is a good example of this.

In addition to "The Day I Will Be Loved," the entire work is not something that can be listened to in any situation or at any time of the day, even if it is flattering to say so. Because it is such a one-pointed work, it can definitely bring relief to someone who is suffering from the same problems and pains depicted through the lyrics. The song "Boku ga Aiwa Na Na Hiwa" written by Mr. Kondo seems to be one of the songs that determined such a possibility.

(Text by Kota Ichijo)