Kalafina ~ THE BEST "Red" / "Blue" - un-boxing (completed)

I'm writing up the post now but it'll take a little time... I have to sort thru' the photos etc.  I'm going to need more coffee now. :P

UPDATE 1 ~ 1:30am

I'm going to do this in parts and just update the post as I go along, in case this takes too long and I crash out because unfortunately... I'm tiring a little faster than I like :(  ... if I do it in bits at least part of this post will be completed should I really need to give up and sleep. :)

First up... the mousepad First Press bonus from CDJapan.  Unfortunately for those of us who live outside of Japan, we don't get anything special for purchasing both the Limited Edition albums.  So while I would have killed for the box case that Animate is giving out with the purchase of these two albums, I will just have to settle for two of the same mousepads... sigh...

Still... these are nice mousepads even though they are pretty impractical. :)

  

The above are the photos of the mousepad.  You have the front with the photo of Kalafina.  I'm too lazy to pull out the previous mousepad tokutens from their previous albums. But if memory serves me well, this is the mousepad with the nicest and sharpest print yet. :)

I shot close ups of the front and back to give you an idea of the texture on the front and back.  There is a very slight texture on the front of the mousepad but it's pretty smooth when you touch it.



This is what the mousepad looks like with a regular size mouse on it.  Pretty useless right? :)  But I don't intend to use this mousepad and I actually don't use mousepads at all.  Laser and optical mice don't really need mousepads so I haven't used one for years.

NEXT UP.... "RED" album.

UPDATE 2 ~ 2:30am

Here are the photos for the Red album. It's looking like it'll be a very picture heavy post actually.  Since I'm only at the Red album and it's 2am already. Yikes :P

   

First up, photos of the slipcase and the jewel box with the insert booklets in them.  I shot a close up of the slipcase to try and show u the texture of the paper that they used.  It's pretty standard actually, smooth and glossy and not too thick.

      

The above are the photos of the insert booklet.  It's has the lyrics, credit page and a few nice close-ups of the girls.



This is the lyrics page for "prelude" the new song that's included in the "Red" album.  Yup, no lyrics. :)  It's pretty much a 1:30 min instumental piece with some kajiuran in it, I think.  I had to play it pretty softly on my speakers, so I'm not sure if it's kajiuran or just some female chorus work.  Suffice to say, this is reminiscent of the work Kalafina did on the OST of Kara no Kyoukai.  It's nice stuff but nothing to write home about because on first listen, it sounds like something that belongs in a OST album for an anime rather than a Best-of album.  Let's just say... "prelude" is the perfect name for this track. :)




These are the photos of the CD, the BD and the back jacket for the jewel case.

         

The above are some sample photos of the deluxe booklet that comes with the Limited Edition.  I like these photos.  Lots of nice close-ups and I must say they seem to be playing up the sex appeal of the trio. :)



Just look at this silhouette picture of Hikaru and Keiko.... now.... isn't that suggestive? :)

NEXT UP.... "BLUE" album.

UPDATE 3 ~ 3:05am

Gosh, it's almost 3am and I have to up at 630am later today... am going to really speed through these... the photos took a while to upload. :(  Good thing, there isn't much difference between the concept for the Red and Blue albums, so I won't describe the Blue album that much.

  

First up, photos of the jewel case with the insert booklet in it.

      

Those are the photos of the insert booklet.  Nice pictures of the trio. :)

  

There are photos of the CD, BD and the back jewel case jacket.

          

And these are the photos for the Blue Limited Edition's deluxe 60 page full colour booklet. :)

I've also now heard the full version of Heavenly Blue, the OP for the currently airing anime series Aldnoah Zero.  I still like it.  It's really my kind of song.  Wakana fans will be happy to know that as far as I can tell, this is pretty much a Wakana centric song with Keiko and Hikaru proving support for the greater part of the song.  The harmony of their voices is lovely as usual and even though I always want to hear more Keiko because I'm greedy :P, even without more Keiko, I still like this song. :D

Okay... that's it.... I was thinking of talking about the contents of the BD but that'll have to wait for tomorrow night. :)

I hope you enjoyed this un-boxing post. :)

Don't forget, if you can afford it, do buy their albums to support all who worked on these albums.  You are welcomed to use the webstore I use if you want to. :)

THE BEST "Red" Limited Edition

THE BEST "Blue" Limited Edition

THE BEST "Red" Regular Edition

THE BEST "Blue" Regular Edition

That's it from me... off to bed... good night!! :)

p.s. if there are any grammatical errors please ignore them. :)