Discussion time!!

fripSide began their career making music in a home studio in 2002. From 2002-2005, they produced track after track and shared it with the world on their artist page on muzie, a Japanese indie music community. Many of their songs were popular with muzie users. Combined, they had thousands of downloads.

This post is to celebrate and appreciate the songs of 2002-2005. Let’s have a look at only first odyssey, 2nd fragment, and 3rd reflection of fripSide (and a few strays)! You can answer some of the questions or none and of course add anything you like!

What are your favorite songs? What album is your overall favorite? Which album cover do you like the most? How do you feel about the introductions of first odyssey and 2nd fragment? What songs do you think would make a great music video?

You may also choose to talk about the following songs from nao complete anthology since they are 2002-2005 productions: a little christmas time (reset+fripSide version only), melody, my graduation, and the original versions of be sure…, in the future, Your Ocean.

Bonus! Downloads!

Free downloads of old songs, all full versions! Muzie changed their rules: in order to download, you must be registered and logged in. Non-registered users can only stream.

fripSide Collaborations:

vanity destroyer-fripSide+vin-PRAD-
velocity destroyer-fripSide+vin-PRAD-
a little christmas time -reset+fripSide-

fripSide Remixes:

Love to Sing(R&T Factory Remix)
Love to Sing-HEAVENS WiRE RMX-

Original Songs of fripSide covers:

Crying moon (Mintjam vocal version) *original
Crying moon (a2c’s guitar version)
Crying moon (masa instrumental version)

Detour ~UNPLUGGED version~ (reset)

escape -ver.2001- (reset)
escape -TRI-HEDGE RMX-

Today’s review is all about sister’s noise. I currently do not have the live concert but I will give my impressions when I finally purchase it.

sister’s noise is selling well and I’m very happy! Hopefully some people who are unfamiliar with fripSide will see their place on Oricon and look ‘em up.

CD Design

I have waaaaaaaaaaaay too much to say about this cover.

The blue is gorgeous. What I really want to talk: the customary fripSide circle thingamajig! It is integrated so well with the theme that the jacket illustration could seriously just be that logo area. I would probably like the jacket even better if it were!

Of course, it’s not just the cover, haha. The logo and title are very smartly placed in the corner and balances the composition. No matter where one’s eyes start on this design, they will always follow a smooth invisible path around it and thus be able to see every piece of the work. I love its simplicity. The circles bold lines are a nice contrast to the thin lines in the grid behind ‘fripSide’ and the sound waves above ‘sister’s noise’. It also looks like the logo is emanating more circles and it reminds me of a radar. Although I am unfamiliar with the Railgun series, these are all things I can connect back to the song’s lyrics.

I also enjoyed the design of the rest of the single. The photograph on the back cover is also tinted in that beautiful blue color. I love the font choice. I’m so glad that the inside jacket includes a photograph like the image given out by one of Japan’s stores.

(Can you tell I took a two-dimensional design class this semester? My professor made us submit design samples every week and talk about the design.)

After taking in the stunning visuals of the packaging design, I immediately went straight for the DVD! So you can imagine my disappointment when I saw the DVD menu…

What happened to the font used on the cover?! I’m pretty sure the track listing is the same font of the title. But what is that Times New Roman-wanna be font?! I would have preferred them to use the same sans-serif fonts from the back cover.

I know I know, it’s just a font. It’s just a DVD menu who cares. Let’ move on to the DVD contents since that was the first disc I indulged in.

….do not say anything about….

ANYWAY…

The DVD

I love commenting on fripSide videos!!

There were a lot of scene changes. For referencing below, I split the video up into total of 9 different scenes. I included all the story scenes as one but separated the dance scenes as their own. I ordered them below in the order they appear and I’ll refer to them as I have lettered them.

The Dance

I was very excited to see dancing in the preview!! After seeing the full version, I’m bummed. I was really hoping to see Nanjolno do a little dancing…

Actually, she moves very little, doesn’t she? Her body looks very stiff. Her minimal movement works really well in the dramatic lit solo shots (scene B). I’d like to see a little more enthusiasm from her gestures and body motion though. I don’t want to see anything like the over-the-top acting of  Ayumi Hamasaki or Kumi Koda. Maybe if she moved both arms at once? Or maybe more expression in her face. I think Misako Uno in this old AAA video strikes the balance pretty well.

Ah, since I did mention Nanjolno’s movements, I’ll mention Sat’s as well. He always looks he’s feeling the music. So animated all the time.

Back to the dance scenes… I  understand that the setting of the dance changes to reflect the location of the story, but one part I think could have ditched a scene. In the second verse, we see the parking lot and first warehouse (scenes E & F). In my opinion, ditching F and just focusing on the parking lot would have been better. The girls appear and disappear in thin air, such a neat effect! I think that was just enough to keep the video interesting.

The choreography was pretty cute. It definitely has the appeal that I expect from choreography meant for this kind of uptempo anime theme. It looks easily replicated. I definitely was not expecting anything as demanding as this and I’m not sure it would have even worked with the song.

“sister’s noise” will most likely be performed this year at Animelo so I hope the stage is filled with even more dancers than the video! It would be really cool to see the amount of dancers increase as the song went on.

Flow of Video

Visual overload!! Too many scenes trying to fight for screen time at once. For example, I would have not used the solo clips with bold lighting during the second verse and following chorus and just used the other solo clips of them in the building. Those other solo clips (scene D) I would have not used anywhere else besides the second verse. And actually, I think I would have excluded them completely from the last two choruses. The ending already has the group shots and gag scene.

Visuals

The visual elements of the video are quite beautiful! I really love the color palettes and the play on light and shadow. I felt like I was watching two spies infiltrating the laboratory of an evil genius.

The special effects were alright. The idea of the girls in that one dance section was good! In the story, one of the clones zaps the scientist’s lab to destroy all the equipment. The lightning bolt was lol-worthy but when does lightning ever look good in music videos?

The Story

This PV is like “only my railgun” in that both were made to reflect the anime by including its characters. But unlike “only my railgun,” “sister’s noise” seems to have some kind of story. You know it does because the video begins with a scene of Sat and Nanjolno walking.

The story is hard to follow. Considering Sat and Nanjo’s roles in future gazer and way to answer, I bet they are just there to steal things and happen to get caught by the girls but easily talk their way out of being electrocuted into oblivion by offering to sing and dance with them IDK I don’t get any of it.

The gag though. I’m not sure what was funnier….

This

or the following

Nanjolno’s face tho.

I have no idea what this PV was supposed to be about.

Those two really know how to put on a ‘r u srs rn’ face. I just can’t at that ending.

Overall

A-, will watch again

Wow, this post is already about 1500 words! If only I could come up with this much to say so easily for college papers. I haven’t even talked about the rest of the DVD or CD yet!!

Basically the one thing I took away from the making-of:

Too bad it wasn’t included in the video!!! Could have been part of the gag scenes, you know? Ahh but I know fripSide is supposed to remain the serious ones in the video; otherwise, we’d be missing out on gems like this:

Gets me every time.

Oh yeah, and when the alarm went off while Sat and Nanjo were talking about filming the PV. That was funny too! Then Sat, holding up the item they used to break into the building and telling us nobody can win it (it reminded me of a game show when the host holds something up and says “this beautiful diamond necklace here will be presented to one winner”).

Ok enough about the DVD.

The Music

So yeah, “sister’s noise” is great and it totally channels the spirit of ALTIMA. Somehow I have nothing to say about it. I like it, lol. Let’s chat ’bout “I’m believing you” instead.

I’m believeing you I’ll be alone

By the way, fripSide plans on performing “I’m believing you” at their special events in June.

“I’m believing you” is the classic fripSide mid-tempo ballad. The lyrics were written by Yoshino Nanjo. A painful love song.

The theme of this song is very common but I really do like some of the words she chose.
‘I knew I saw something different in your eyes’
‘I can’t oppose the flow of time’

Haven’t we all felt like this at some point in our lives? Thinking that someone will always be there but something changes and suddenly the future you thought you’d had is no more. “I’m believing you” is definitely easier to relate to than “sister’s noise” (unless you have hundreds of clones of yourself walking around all with telepathy or something idek).

After a full listen of “I’m believing you,” it is definitely a ballad like “last fortune.” The nostalgic arrangement pushes 6 minutes. The song compliments the title track very well. A flute-like synthesizer in the beginning brings memories of old NES games to mind.

In Conclusion

A- single, would buy again.

sat on look out

What I’d Like to See for a Future Release

sister’s noise was awesome, Decade was beautiful….

I’m ready for a fresh ballad style. One that combines the slow melody of “refine progress” and the trance feeling of “snow blind.” Really drawn out notes in the melody, minimal lyrics, over a very ethereal pad, simple drum beat. There is so much beauty in the simplicity of “refine progress”… I’ve had my fills of misery/split tears/everlasting/The end of summer-type of tracks.

For a fast track, I have two words: “vanity destroyer.” ALTIMA seems to be in charge of this type of song but it’s time for fripSide to challenge them once again (have we figured out the rap to vanity destroyer yet? I could swear he’s saying ‘I ride you as a mule!’ before the last chorus)! vanity destroyer is such an amazing song, one of my favorite collaborations of all time. Ugh ok I’ll spazz about it in the comments.

I know Sat has done that one currently popular trend in his compositions… I’m not sure what it’s called. When a chorus has two different parts. Sat did it with “SHOOT!” and sort of with “You & I” and “Light to Unite.” Best examples of recent J-pop songs are AAA’s “PARTY IT UP” & “Still Love You”, Namie Amuro’s “Big Boys Cry” & “In The Spotlight(TOKYO)”, and Koda’s “Whatchu Waitin’ On?”. I know I know, all those songs are mainstream dance tunes.

I wouldn’t mind a challenge to a new style, either. Did you know “in the future” was an attempt at R&B? It’s one of my favorite pre-2006 songs actually. Maybe a revisit to this style?

For lyrics, I’d love another track that comments on the state of the world like “stellar” or “the chaostic world.”

→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→

My, what an incredibly wordy post.

What did you all think of this single??

5/07　　#2　　9,431
5/08　　#2　　5,041
5/09　　#1　　3,151
5/10　　 #1　　2,464
5/11　　 #1　　2,783
5/12　　 #1　　3,055
5/13　　 #2　　1,097

Week 01　5/14 – 5/20 　#1　　27,275

The DVD version of fripSide 10th Anniversary Live in Tokyo sold 565 copies and charted at #22 for its first week. However, more fans went for the Blu-ray version as it sold 1,808, more than three times the DVD! The BD ranked #2 on Oricon’s weekly Blu-ray chart. Not bad for their first concert release.

fripSide also topped SoundScan charts this week with sister’s noise. The CD+DVD version between May 6 and May 12 sold 23,865 copies and the CD-only version sold 3,406 copies.

I feel so happy for fripSide! Congratulations!

Sources: Oricon; fripSide Official Site; JPC 1, 2; SoundScan

Daily chart since release

5/07　　#2　　9,431
5/08　　#2　　5,041
5/09　　#1　　3,145
5/10　　 #1　　2,464

Right now it’s very possible they can achieve the #1 weekly! It has sold over 20,000 copies so far.

Both members tweeted their thanks on Twitter!

Source: Oricon

The live DVD of the anniversary concert debuted at #15 on the DVD chart, very exciting.

A 45 second preview of the music video. I didn’t watch since I’ll wait for my copy instead!

Source: Oricon