Kalafina x Tanimura Shinji ~ Alcira no Hoshi - unboxing

アルシラの星 is Kalafina's newest song and is a collaboration with Tanimura Shinji ( 谷村新司) who is a veteran singer-songwriter.  They collaborated with spectacular success on an episode of Music Fair in 2015.  Well, at least I thought they sounded great together. :)

This is a very simple release.  There are two versions, the RE and the LE.  The RE just comes with one CD and the LE comes with a CD+DVD which contains the music video.

First, let me put up the photos of the release. :)

      

The cover of both the RE and the LE is EXACTLY the same.  The back is only slightly different. The back of the LE's track list is different because it also lists the DVD's tracklist.

I actually only did an unboxing of the LE version because I'm pretty sure that there isn't much difference between the LE and the RE version.  The insert page is only a single sheet that's folded in two and contains the lyrics and the credits, aside from the cover picture.  Because the only photos of our vocalists are on the back of the CD jewel case, I did what I usually don't do and pried out the back jewel cover page to shoot a non-reflective photo and a closer photo of them. :)

I have absolutely no regrets of buying both the RE and the LE version of this CD.  Part of the proceeds go to charity and it's Kalafina and I've made it a habit to buy all versions of their CD.  However, as I didn't open the RE, I am toying with the idea of maybe giving it away, rather than selling it.  We'll see, I haven't decided yet. :)

If you're wondering what the MV looks like, Universal Japan has kindly uploaded and made available worldwide the short MV version of this song.  So please do watch it. :)

I will embed it here again.  The whole MV pretty much looks like that mostly.  Shorts of Kalafina & Tanimura Shinji are interspersed with shots of the schoolgirl walking around at night and a few shots of the night sky.  That kind of thing.  The short MV will give you a very good idea of what the whole MV looks like.



Okay, I will go on record and say that I REALLY like this song. :)  It's very different from what Kalafina usually sings of course but then, this is them lending their voices to Tanimura Shinji's song so that is to be expected.

Their harmony is really lovely here and their voices blend beautifully with Tanimura's voice.  He has a lovely voice too, very smooth and easy to listen to.  The song itself is very catchy and I find myself humming bits of it in my head even after I have stopped listening to it.

Of course, I have a very eclectic taste in music thanks to my awesome mother who loved music with all her heart and exposed me to all kinds of music as a kid.  So even though this song doesn't have all the vestiges of a modern J-pop song, I can completely appreciate its pleasing melody.  I love the solo lines the girls get as well and they all sing it very well, really fits with Tanimura's style.  Seriously, Kalafina comprises of a really talented trio of vocalists.  Of course, I'm sure they were produced to sing that way to blend better with the song but the thing is, they not only can achieve that result, they actually sound almost like they were made to sing this kind of genre of music.

It's a simple release and only has this one song so there's not much more to say besides what I already have so that's it from me for now.  Let me leave you with purchase links from CDJapan.  I do think that as fans, we should try and buy to support the music.  So I do encourage everyone to IF you can afford it. :)

Alcira no Hoshi ~ Regular Edition
Alcira no Hoshi ~ Limited Edition

And finally, I leave you with a parting gift.... a screen capture of one of the later scenes in the DVD of Kalafina in the studio working. :)

I liked seeing them working and singing in the studio together. :)  Made me smile, I don't know why.  I just liked it. :)

Okay....that's it for now.  I'm still not supposed to sleep too late for this week.  I was feverish for 3 1/2 days last week and only just finished my final dose of medication today.  So rest is still very important for me. :)

I'll get to the other posts like the FictionJunction Club live goods and some other stuff another day. :)

For now, before I sleep, I want to rip this song into FLAC and bring it with me to work tomorrow. :)

Good night. :)