Sakamoto Maaya: Shiawase Ni Tsuite Watashi Ga Shitteiru 5-Tsu No Hoho/Shikisai (LE) + First Press/External Bonus (01/28/15)

AFFILIATE, PURCHASED

Okay everyone, say it with me: Shiawase Ni Tsuite Watashi Ga Shitteiru 5-Tsu No Hoho -

/ Shikisai. God damn.

That mouthful up there, out just over a month ago on 01/28/15, is Sakamoto Maaya's first release for the year of her 20th anniversary, and currently her most recent single. I preordered my limited edition copy back in November and received my precious package the first week of February. As such, I've been listening to this single for a generous month. I should have published this review a long time ago, clearly.

Due to the enormous delay, I'll be publishing only one post for this single, as it would be embarrassing to delay the full review further by splitting it into two parts. Today, then, we will be admiring the limited edition copy with its first press/external bonuses, and I will share my thoughts on that which matters most: the single's content, some of Sakamoto's latest work.

Ready?!

Sakamoto Maaya, Part 2 of 2: Replica (LE) Commentary

PURCHASED

Hello, hello. Right now I'm not home, and will in fact be out most of the day, but I've taken with me my wonderful laptop and pre-uploaded pictures for two posts. While I'm not sure if I'll be getting to the other one, at least I know that this one will be up shortly and my review of Replica complete.

Sakamoto Maaya's newest single, Replica, was released a week ago and I posted Part 1 - with pictures of and details regarding the limited edition packaging and first press bonus - of a 2-part review this past Sunday. Today I'm ready to get to the heart of my review in Part 2, where I'll be sharing my thoughts on the songs themselves - both the songs of the actual single and the songs from the limited edition mini live album.

Yes, I'll be reviewing all 8 songs.* Brace yourself.

*Don't worry, 2 of them are instrumentals. It'll still be long, just not that long!

Sakamoto Maaya, Part 1 of 2: Replica (LE) + External Bonus (08/20/14)

PURCHASED/AFFILIATE

It's that time again when I have a new release from Sakamoto Maaya, and I'm both extremely excited and once again anticipating the next one. The never-ending cycle...

Anyway, not even a month ago I wrote this post sharing some information regarding Sakamoto's newest single, Replica. This past Wednesday, 08/20/14, it was released, and my copy ~that I preordered a long, long time ago~ (not really - the end of June) arrived from CDJapan on Friday.

I've thought about it, and even though my last Sakamoto review - Be Mine!/SAVED - was a single post, I've decided to break this one up into two parts. The first - which you're reading right now - is about the limited edition single's packaging and any first press/external bonus(es), and the second will be my actual review of the songs on the single. I'm going to try to get Part 2 up later this week,  but for now let's enjoy some pretty pictures!

Coming Soon: Sakamoto Maaya's Replica

AFFILIATE

Hi everyone! In honor of today being the first of August, I've decided to write a short post to amp up the excitement for Sakamoto Maaya's newest single, Replica, scheduled to release later this month - the 20th, to be exact.

This isn't really news, as most fans have seen information about this single circulating around the internet. The CD itself, both regular and limited editions, has been available for preorder from CDJapan since the end of June, too. I mainly wanted to document the information here on my blog for two reasons.

Cover: Sakamoto Maaya's "Saved"

Hello again! I just wanted to write up a quick post regarding a vocal cover I've been working on. One of my top hobbies since as long as I can remember has been singing, and although I didn't follow through with my original intentions of pursuing a music degree in college, I still take my singing seriously.

...That's not to say that it's any good, but I do try to improve on it and I hold myself to high standards, as is true for everything that I do.

Sakamoto Maaya: Be mine!/SAVED (LE) + External Bonus (02/05/14)

AFFILIATE, PURCHASED

Last Wednesday, February 5, 2014, Sakamoto Maaya released her newest single(s), yay! Not surprisingly, I preordered my limited edition copy back in, oh I don't know, December or so, and I finally picked it up from the post office this past Saturday. I had it shipped to California, since I was there during the release and didn't want to wait 'til I got home to open it, haha.

You might be wondering why I say newest "single(s)," and I'll clarify that now: technically speaking, Sakamoto released two singles last Wednesday. But, when it boils down to it, the only difference between the singles is the official single title - Be mine!/SAVED for one, and SAVED/Be mine! for the other - the arrangement of the tracks, and the anime artwork sleeves. Otherwise they're identical, down to the limited edition extras.

You do not need to own both, content-wise. The only reason to order both is to own both sets of anime artwork, as the two main tracks are from different anime. But that is wasteful in my opinion, hence why I only purchased one.

The differences could have been slightly more interesting, but whatever. I can only see one logical point as to why this decision was made - and I'll get into that briefly later - but, besides that, I'll never understand the marketing behind it.

Anyway, so the copy I decided to pick up was Be mine!/SAVED, purely because "Be mine!" is the opening song for an anime and "SAVED" is the closing song for another anime. It chronologically fit.

Sakamoto Maaya: More Than Words (LE) + First Press Bonus

I intended to review this newest single from Sakamoto Maaya back when it was just released and arrived at my house from CDJapan (07/25/12), but never got to it. So here, finally, is my full-of-praise review. What a surprise right?

Because I love all things Maaya and have very few songs that I don't care for from her. I thought the secondary track on this single was one of those songs but, like many others that did not stand out to me right away, it grew on me with time.