Azumi Wake, Run Girls, Run!, Valkyrie - The latest wave of the "Future Bass" music genre has arrived! In-depth Review of New Albums by Seasonal Female Seiyu Artists [Monthly Seiyu Artist Bulletin, May 2020 issue].

This is a series of articles in which we review the works of notable voice-over artists to be released in the current month. Due to the recent severe effects of the new coronavirus, May 2020 has been a month with very few releases of singles and albums. Some artists, such as Azumi Waki (introduced below), released their CDs and albums at different times. This month we will review a total of three releases, all of which are gems, so be sure to check them out.

Azumi Wake's second single "Hurry Love / To Call It Love" was released on May 13. Less than four months after her debut as an artist, the song has already attracted top creators in the anisong world, including Shunryu, hisakuni, SUIMI, and Takamitsu Ono, and after listening to the song, it made me believe that her future activities will be smooth sailing. The album is a work that makes you believe that her future activities will be smooth sailing.

Among them, the opening song for the TV anime "Boss, It's Time for Battle! (TOKYO MX, etc.), the title track "Hurry Love," which is the opening theme song for the TV anime "Boss, It's Time for Battle! The theme of the song is that Ms. Waki, who prides herself on her love for "love stories," takes on the role of a radio DJ to receive advice from listeners on their love problems. The song is a song in which she can demonstrate her strengths as a voice actor by singing while "impersonating" her character, and as she has mentioned in interviews with magazines and other media, the lyrics, which are similar to those of Porno Graffitti's "Music Hour," are also notable for their radio-friendly qualities.

The song has an interesting structure, starting with the melody of the chorus. The beginning of the song starts with the chorus melody, which opens with the listener's worries (a kind of lighthearted banter), which continues into the chorus, and the melody, while lighthearted, is slightly different from the previous one. Then, as he finishes reading the listener's letter, he returns to the melody of the beginning of the song, which makes you grin at the two-step structure of the chorus. After that, when Mr. Waki gives advice to the listener, a lively synthesizer melody is played as if to congratulate the listener on a perfect answer, and so on.

The placement of words in the lyrics, the melodic guitar, and the attraction-feeling synthesizer sound, all of which could be called "catchy" in nature, should make the listener instantly understand that Shunryu is the creator of the music. The tracks are full of energy and fun. The aforementioned singer's role setting and irregular song structure, as well as the bottomless and lively tracks, are the result of the high degree of freedom that can only be achieved with ani-songs.

If it were true, I would introduce all the other tracks, such as the future bass-driven "To Call it Love" and the mid-tempo R&B-tinged "Touch the moon," but I would like to mention one point that caught my attention throughout the entire album. Although the couplings are all love stories, the "pretend" position of Ms. Kazuki as a radio DJ in "Hurry Love" gives the single an outstanding "sense of unity" as a whole. The result is a single that is a perfect match for the music. In addition, the nuance of his singing in each song is slightly different, so please be aware of this when comparing the two tracks.

Run Girls, Run!", which celebrates its third anniversary this year, is a unit that has attracted the attention of voice actor music fans since the beginning of their activities. The girls were formed by three successful applicants of the "Wake Up, Girls! AUDITION - The 3rd Animation Song Vocal Audition" held in 2017, and can be said to have inherited the DNA of Wake Up, Girls! If you have a good intuition, you may already know that the girls are not only popular among their own fans, but also among the general public. The girls themselves are popular, of course, but their music production is supported by lyricist Natsumi Tadano, who was also a close friend of Wake Up, Girls! The first album, "The Last Song," will be released on May 20.

The first album "Run Girls, World!" to be released on May 20 will include the unit's first solo song as well as "Swimsuit and Watermelon," the conclusion of the "Four Seasons" song series by Tadano and Ishihama, which has continued since their debut single. The album will also include "SAKURA Gelato" and "SAKURA Gelato". In "Sakura Gelato," "Aki-iro Tweed," and "Snow Glider," the two have expressed the frustration of a girl who is unable to approach her childhood friend with whom she is in love. The song "Swimsuit and Watermelon" finally reveals the end of the story.

The song is also full of contextual elements from previous songs, such as lyrics that reference past songs and a bubbly pop sound that is reminiscent of "Kawaii Future Bass," despite its "nostalgic atmosphere," according to Ishihama. The "nostalgic atmosphere" of the music, while the bubbly pop sound of the "Kawaii Future Bass" is filled with the context of previous songs, and the enrichment of Mr. Tadano's and Mr. Ishihama's works will surely increase your trust in the contents.

Finally, Valkyrie finally returns after a two-year and three-month absence with their single "Mirai ha Onna no Tame ni Aru" (The Future is for Onna), to be released on May 27. The title song is "Macross Delta the Movie: Absolute LIVE!!!!!!" JUNNA (played by Migumo Ginneemaire) says that it is a badass song. Like the lyrics and melody, the music video also has a Showa-era taste, which is a staple of the girls' music videos (perhaps the name "Sento" was chosen to reflect the fact that they are a tactical music unit (i.e., combat). ......).

After their last album "Valkyrie Never Turns Out", all the members started their solo artist activities. By confronting their own singing voice and its characteristics in a different way from that of the group, each voice seems to have taken on a more distinct character and become easier to hear than before. The solo part by Minori Suzuki (Freya Vion) at the end of the chorus is a symbol of this, especially the part by Kiyono Yasuno (Kaname Buccaneer), who sings with her own soft voice but with more dignity, which is an important point of this song.

With the weather getting hotter by the day, it is time to hear some refreshing summer tunes before the long-awaited summer season. We will continue to look forward to what kind of wonderful music we will be showered with from next month onward.

(Text by Kota Ichijo)