I think this does deserve a little post-national thread celebration! Cracking the top 2 finally! I have been smiling about it all day. And making up one part of a really really good top 3 too.

 

Now how to follow this :kink:

I think there have been many other similar entries of yours that deserved this kind of result more but of course I liked this one just enough to deem it worthy of a point, and it's great to see Séyetana finally improving on their peak after so many years! (And with a much more appropriate track than 'Love Stuck' as you said yourself). Feels like a while since the last big rock crossover entry.

 

Good luck with the theoretically 50/50 shot at an AQ next month :P

Congrats, one of your best entries for a long time for me and well deserving of 2nd place! Good luck on getting the AQ, may you be more successful than I was!

Yuka Iguchi - Platinum Disco

 

(not the full song but I want somewhere to show off the visuals, sadly the rather beautiful OP isn't available along with the full song)

 

It feels like following a second is the most risky event in the contest, you want to take advantage of a potential opportunity but you also want to still show off something people will possibly like, I'm not quite feeling as emo as I was last year. And I wouldn't have enjoyed the experience of finding myself in the semis and crashing out in last because I wanted to troll you all with death metal, I've done that before. Plus something about Cody saying [paraphrasing] 'you should have learned by now that anime will never do well' riled me up enough to attempt to PROVE HIM WRONG. Help me prove Cody wrong :)

 

Platinum Disco is the last opening for Nisemonogatari and when I watched that last year it instantly stuck in the brain as one of those quietly catchy tunes (that is apparently a little bit disco indeed) that you just have humming every now and then and I have had it in my head a lot this week, it feels really right as a celebratory moment, something that I think some of you may be surprised to find you like. And is really very anime but not in the j-rock sense, but in the cutesy j-pop sense. Make sure to listen to it so it grows on you for the final x

 

~

 

editorial moment: I just want to give a brief bit of attention to some of the other tracks I was bouncing around my head for this as I had quite the dilemma in selection this month and probably wouldn't enter them to a normal contest (never say never though)

 

- My first confirmation, a 2018 updated remix of a 1972 cartoon theme song, to go along with the gory Netflix version of Devilman (Crybaby) that was released this year. Really funky stuff, composed by Kensuke Ushio with Ava-chan on vocals.

 

Gabriel Dropkick - an utterly crazy pop track that just sounds like a mess of voices unless you've watched the associated anime, Gabriel Dropout. Really interesting song if you know the context, probably a right cacophony if you don't. Sung by the voice actors.

 

- another Monogatari OP and self procaimed 'national anthem' of anime by certain members of the Monogatari fanbase. It's very catchy but Platinum Disco does nearly the same thing and is more catchy. Sung by Kana Hanazawa (also one of the voice actors on Gabriel Dropout, she gets around the anime world).

 

Sayuri - Anonymous - not an anime OP but that same sort of Japanese girl with guitar and emotional voice that would net an instant DNQ even if it didn't have the obvious joke involving the title. Lovely guitar work and vocals even if she gets a tad on the screechy side at times.

 

- if I were to send a non-anime song for an AQ, it would have been this, a power metal stormer (and yeah, you know how this sounds really).

- if I were to send a non-anime song for an AQ, it would have been this, a power metal stormer (and yeah, you know how this sounds really).

I actually really liked this one! Maybe you can revisit it at some point in the future?

Inova - Sunken

 

 

A dark electro piano instrumental that's incredibly addictive. A bit downbeat of a mood but it feels uplifting as I well, I guess? Anyway, I considered a few Inova tracks for this but the one I ended up loving first was the right one to send.

 

Also, pointless trivia: it's the first time I've entered a track where 'artist - song' matches my initials. Other bit of pointless trivia, Inova is a very similar artist name to the artist I won UP with.

okay I’m lowkey stanning this?

Great to hear! I hoped I'd snag a few people with this one.

HISASHIz - Feign Madness

 

So for 108 Séyetana has entered a bit of a bridging point between 90s inspired hands up music and modern synth heavy core. I’ve been a bit obsessed with this for much of the year and it’s finally given me a chance to enter HisashIz, who’s been on my radar for a couple of years now. Hope you’re all enjoying!

 

(Forgive the lack of a YouTube embed xx)

you always know my guilty pleasures *.*

Ah so not *just* because it contains your user name? :P

 

Yep, bit of a banger this is.

Temperance - The Last Hope In A World Of Hopes

 

 

Back to being like myself again, or at least the area in which I’m most accomplished, Temperance are a newish band that put me in mind of being a contender for a next generation Nightwish, and I don’t use that lightly. Mainly because their previous single, Of Jupiter And Moons, has an instrumental flourish that feels very much like Alpenglow. A good thing of course but mere imitation isn’t an auto-send. This song, with this brilliant title, however, ups the ante to provide a mesmerising and fulfilling pop song experience and I’m sorry for selling it. It’s a banger and I hope you’re enjoying, I love sending symphonic when I find the right one.

Every time I think you've reached peak Séyetana you have to prove me wrong!

 

(what a choon tho *.*)

Moe Shop - Love Taste

 

 

From that intersection of electronic music and nerdy-but-banging music, I bring you the addictive Moe Shop, with, in Séyetana style, their most brash song, Love Taste. Features a rap that makes you pay attention even if you don’t recognise initially that it’s referencing horror anime Another and Future Diary in the lyrics. Which is the sort of shit I live for.

 

I think there’s been too little of that sort from me lately, and in the spirit of balance and because it’s rather great in both song and rap, I hope you enjoy this as my final entry in a really good year for me.

Japanese Breakfast - Boyish

 

 

Look, I know you're quite used to seeing Séyetana and Japan in the same general vicinity. But this is very different from any of my normal fare. Japanese Breakfast isn't Japanese for a start. She's Korean-American, and is quite fond of false advertising. She's also fond of making really excellent lo-fi indie pop and it's rare I get behind something like that. So I hope you enjoy something very different from Séyetana to start the year off.

 

The Eagle Flies Alone, as does Séyetana

 

I was struggling to think what would excite me about BJSC, then it hit me, why don't I see how a fully growled metal song goes down? I bet a landslide win. Even Let Me Hear had autotuned pop in it. This... just pure, fantastic, brilliant, rock. Vote for me, you know you want to (probably rank this last) xx

 

Now, it's got to be something I enjoy and as I'm not so hard metal, that's got to be something with a bit of a pop leaning to it. So I hit up Alissa White-Gluz's band, Arch Enemy. She is one of the best harsh metal singers I know of, I've enjoyed her work for a long time, and this is the one I most enjoy.

 

(side note: sadly, most of the people who I was really interested in seeing how they would vote for this have ended up in the other semi, so do listen and tell me what you think if you are a rockbloc sympathiser)

I didn't expect you to take my advice seriously when I said you should send trve kvlt black metal on Skype!!

Oh yes, that was quite inspiring! *.*

 

You said it as a joke, but I just thought... 'what if'...

I recognized the name from scrolling through playlists containing female fronted bands. Screamo is not my thing AT ALL, but she’s a good growler.

This is what I like to see, sending something that excites you, even if "different", combined with being curious how others take to it. Skimming through with my shitty laptop speakers at the moment, this sounds epic, even beyond the growling (which is probably actually my least favourite part oops, although I'm not at all opposed to it in general)! Obviously I'll need a full listen tho.

 

(Did Japanese Breakfast Q btw? Apparently I have a short gig of hers bookmarked in my 'watch later' playlist... I must've stumbled upon her and been intrigued :D)