OLIVIA really loves Reira
OLIVIA inspi’ REIRA (TRAPNEST)
OLIVIA inspi’ REIRA (TRAPNEST)
cutting edge
February 28 2007
OLIVIA really loves Reira
Extremely sorry for the super laziness, life caught up to me. Specifically, Suikoden V, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and of course, university. Anyway, on to the review.
It could have been part of her NANA contract, or she just simply adored the character of Reira Serizawa, but dedicating a whole album to a fictional character is both nerdy and impressively conceptual. Not that there’s anything wrong with nerds. Astounding results it produces, because not only is this NANA-inspired album her best, but OLIVIA is at the top of her arena J-Rock status. The only other one to rival her spunk and power is the other NANA-tied J-Rocker, Anna Tsuchiya. Admittedly, Tsuchiya has yet to catch on to me, but nevertheless, you can’t deny that the two NANA rockers fit their characters to a tee.
Probably her most popular song, the arena J-Rockness of “a little pain” is unmistakable, opening with acoustic guitar pickings, strings and synth backgrounds, building up to a well-fortified song, complete with crystalline vocals from our real-life Reira. Being the ending theme of the NANA anime, it’s popularity isn’t to be trifled with. “Wish,” the second opening theme to NANA, equals the fame and musical greatness, following along the reins of top band pop rock, loud, angry and undeniably catchy. “Starless Night,” another NANA ending theme, and “Tell me” sound pretty similar to “Wish,” which can either be good or bad, depending on whether you enjoy pop rock or not. The slow rock ballads are the shining stars on this gem, though. “Shadow of Love” is an atmospheric piano-led rocker, very pristine and easily likeable, while all-English “Winter Sleep,” yet another ending theme to NANA, is definitely a recall from OLIVIA’s experimental rock days, also being the best track on the album. Three live tracks are tacked on to the end of the record, making the album more of a mini-album than anything, with only seven tracks. Unfortunate, I wanted OLIVIA to keep posing as Reira, she fared better that way.
OLIVIA should keep acting as Reira Serizawa, it suits her better than the experimental tone she took with the countless mini-albums she had before. Props to her for making a character seem more human, especially since anime Reira really wasn’t that interesting to begin with. She did better than Yuna Ito as her.
ONE WORD: CHARACTER-LOVE
I love both Olivia’s experimental and anime works equally (I believe I’m the only one!), but I agree with this review quite a bit. Her pop-rock sound fits Reira much better than Yuna Ito’s urban pop sound. She definetely brought a lot to the character. She has mentioned in many interviews how she enjoyed putting on a charcter and digging deep into who she is to right the songs. If they continue the NANA anime, she’ll definitely be back. She loves the character too much.