音時雨 ～Regentropfen～

I bet my copy already arrived, yet again, I'm crying for that I can't touch it until next month. (>_<)
Anyway, at least I found a 128kbps version just now, so guess I'll loop this super loopy edition for now (I'm coming gorgeous string arrangements of Kinema Mosaic~~).

But the reason I'm writing here isn't simply making a record of this crappy version. I didn't realise there is a Noriko interview (well, I suppose every album would have a piece of interview somewhere ^^;). So I'd like to give it a quick (= not everything) translation, focusing on the liner notes (don't know if anyone else had done it though, I myself hate repeated work).

Source: みとせのりこ最新アルバム『宵待ロマンチカ』を本人が語る

◆01. 桜散ル夜 ～ハナチルヤ～ / Hanachiruya / The Night When Flowers Scatter
*lyrics: Noriko Mitose, music&arrangement: Yoshitaka Hirota

This song is the pith of Hanayaka. It is a mixture of Japanese-styled lyrics and Western-styled melody, together with "moment", they are the keywords of Hanayaka.

◆02. キネマモザイク ～薔薇の筆跡～ / Kinema Mozaiku ～Bara no Fudeato～ / Kinema Mosaic ～Trace of Rose～
*lyrics: Noriko Mitose, music&arrangement: Yuuji Yoshino

The uniqueness of this song is that it's performed completely by acoustic string quartet. Different from the first song, it has western-styled lyrics, while the melody has a strong retrospective aura, making this work another type of "Taishou Roman".

◆03. ナヴィガートリア ～北極星～ / Navigahtoria ～Hokkyokusei～ / Navigatoria ～Polar Star～
*lyrics: Noriko Mitose, music&arrangement: Ken Nakagawa

The melody begins with a familiar and rather quiet phrase, and then develops like a blooming flower. Its fragile yet also strong ambience also attracted Takagi the original author.

◆04. 天球トロイメライ / Tenkyuu Toroimerai / Träumerei of the Celestial Sphere
*lyrics: Noriko Mitose, music&arrangement: Dani

The title of this song came out first while I (= Noriko) was enjoying reading "Tasogare Polarstar" scenario -- A ballad that embraces everything.

◆05. 君知ル哉、此ノ華 / Kimi Shiru Nari, Kono Hana / The Flower You Know
*lyrics: Noriko Mitose, music&arrangement: Yoshitaka Hirota

Here we meet Hirota Yoshitaka again who wrote the ending theme of the 3rd work and the opening theme of the 1st work, which makes the connection between the beginning and the end.

◆06. 宵待ロマンチカ / Yoimachi Romanchika / Evening Romantic
*lyrics&music: Noriko Mitose, arrangement: Morrigan

This song is for all maidens who fall into the world of Hanayaka (including me? XD): Forget all the sad thoughts, and serve your entire soul to the one who you love -- "Koiseyo Otome".

-- These songs were written with the exciting moments of Hanayaka, and here, I (= Noriko) wish they give you a strong impression of the world of Hanayaka, and also bring you closer to this world.

Songs of Hanayaka are all gorgeous. Like what Noriko wishes, these songs do give me a strong retrospective aura and link me to the world of Hanayaka even I've never get a chance to touch the original work more.
Hanayaka => A blending of Japanese and Western styles <= the taste of Noriko's lyrics
Every artist has his/her own style that will fit to a specific world, and Noriko is probably the best one in terms of presenting the image of Hanayaka (as how Akiko does for A.T. series :3).

and finally,
- "Kinema Mosaic" quartet is the best! (ﾟ∀ﾟ*)

つい最近、「サイレントヒル２」をクリアしました！！ (≧∇≦)/
初代や３代の経験にして、ゲームの遊び方が大体知ってたんですけど、やっぱり「サイレントヒル」シリーズは面白い怖いです。「３」の裏病院のような世界がなくても、音が相変わらず怖い、川井憲次さんがいなくても怖い。なんだか、「２」は「３」よりもっと怖いような気がします。わけもなく出てくる▲頭さんのせいかな。＾＾;
I just cleared "Silent Hill 2" a few days ago!! With the experience from "SH" and "SH3", I didn't worry too much about how to play it, yet for sure, Silent Hill series is interesting scary. Without the grotesque otherworld of the hospital in SH3, the sound effect is still scary -- right, so scary even without Kenji Kawai. Somehow, I feel like SH2 is scarier than SH3. Perhaps it's due to our Mr. Pyramid Head who comes out sometimes with no reason.

残念ながら、「３」が終わった頃こんなスクリーンキャプチャ忘れちゃって…まあいいや。
It's a shame that I forgot to get a screen cap for SH3 when I have just done it, well, anyway...
↓

えっと、ビギナーモードです、はい。
――しようがないもん、これが一番楽だし、ノーマルさえ「無理！！」って叫び続ける私なんだもの。お陰でボス戦はほぼボス戦っぽくなくなちゃった。(￣ε￣；)　でも、難度はともかく、▲頭さんは「２」の一番怖い存在です。度々、「なんでもいい、三角さんじゃなかったらいいの」って祈り続いた私だった。
As you see, it's beginner mode.
-- I can't help, it's the easiest way for me. I'm the type who will fail under "normal" mode. Thanks to it, boss fights were not like boss fights any more. But, regardless the difficuty, the most frightening existence is our Mr. Pyramid Head. For times, I just prayed, "I don't care what kind of monsters being in front of me, as long as it's not him!"

そして、謎解きが好きな私が、もちろんリドル難度はハードに設定した。ただし、「３」のほうがよりマシだと思います。「２」において、一番印象的で「怖い」謎は多分、牢屋エリアのある小さな部屋にある南京錠見たいなものかな。ここで「怖い」を使ったわけは、電池切れのパケットライトを電池替えたあととともに、部屋を飛び回る無数の虫だった。キモくて怖かったもん！で、どの謎が分かってくれましたかなぁ～
I like to play with riddles, so I set the riddle level to hard. However, I believe riddles in SH3 are much more difficult. In SH2, the most impressive and "scariest" riddle would be the lock in the small room in the prison area. I used "scary" because when you changed the battery for the pocket light, the small room where you were in was filled with countless bugs! Darn, it was so disgusting! And I guess you know which riddle I was talking about~

で、エンディングについて、クリアしたあとすぐに全部のエンディングをネタバレされように行った。私のできた「Leave」ってやつは個人的に好きです。死にたくなくて、回復アイテムが十分である以上、攻撃されたらすぐに回復するってこと、「Leave」に達する第一条件を満たしたから。まあ、思うとこんなもんか。
About the endings. I went to be spoiled right after I cleared this game. Among these, I myself do like this "Leave" ending. Well, in my case, since I didn't want to die and I had enough restorative items, I restore my HP soon after I got attacked, which fulfilled the very first requirement of reaching the "Leave" ending. At least I guess so.

それと、セーブとか、プレイ時間とか、初プレイなので長かった。何度も目的地知らなくてウロウロしていたのか今はもうわかりません。船の時もそうだった。良くも迷子になちゃったわね、二三歩歩くと地図見なければならないほど方向音痴のあたしなんだから。
受けたダメージの方なら驚く最高得点らしい…と言っても、ビギナーモードで殺られたら本当に泣くぞ。
Then, about other things such as saves and play time, it's long for my first time. I've already lost count of how many time I was unsure about which way to go and wandering around. So was the time for the boat stage. I'm very clear that I have no sense of direction, so I tend to get lost and had to read the map for every 2-3 steps.
Seems I got rather high points for the total damage I received... well, I'll cry if I die under beginner mode.

とりあいず、次の目的は「３」と同じく全部のエンディングを集めようとする。今度はイージーノーマルでやろうかなぁ（ハードなんて死んでもやらないけど）…そして、そろそろ「４」をも始めようかなぁ～
Anyway, like SH3, my next goal is to get all its endings. Maybe next time, I should try easy normal mode (no hard mode for me no matter what!)... also, I'll probably start SH4 soon~

ああ、▲頭さんといえば、多分まだここで貼っていないだと思います。「２」をやる前にも勝手に塗ったもの――
Speaking of our Pyramid Head, I think I haven't posted it here, a random scribble I made before starting SH2--

↑「サイレントナイフ」です！――いやいや、うちの三角さんがこんなに可愛いわけがないです！(/･ω･)/
"Silent Knife"! -- Noo, our Mr. Pyramid Head isn't supposed to be that kawaii!

"Even though it's a lie, don't tell the truth. Sometimes, forget the reality, and enjoy the world of imagination."

-- And today I'm still in dark mode. :papasmurf:

Light rain, misty sight, scent of flowers, transparent umbrella, and a white bunny in tuxedo and top hat. KOKIA's "liar liar ～ロマンティックワルツ (romantic waltz)" is one of my falling-in-love-within-one-second songs that triggered me two pieces of drawing in this April. In last afternoon, I finally finished one of them after spending around 7 hours.

@pixiv

But I had trouble with giving it a final name, so I ended up combining the background misty ambience and the song of inspiration -> Misty Romance. Think again, maybe replace Romance with Secret is better.
--And the reason of using "secret" is a secret! :tongue:
Her transformation tool is the glasses! :cool:

I wanted to write about it before, that I feel like it's nothing but nuts to put music into detailed genres. Like a few weeks ago, when I was trying some I've sound music, the wrote "Low Trance Assembly" on the CD jacket at the position supposed to be genre. Alright, I'll assume the I've style is the so-called "trance" (although I've never been droven into trance status by this type of music). But I can't have a clearer picture of what exactly trance music is even after reading wikipedia in three languages. :rolleyes:

Then I asked a friend who listens to trance a lot. He said the I've trance is SO DIFFERENT from most trance music he listens to. Not surprising but interesting enough. After J-pop, J-rock, shall I call I've music J-trance? :left:
Anyway, what got my focus was that there is something (I don't know what that is exactly) repeating in trance. But as what I've read before, there is also something repeating in funk music.
So, trance =~ funk? :bigeyes:
I know they are different! But don't break my illusion!! -ω-

1. Waiting is painful.
My copy of "みとせのりこ／宵待ロマンチカ(Mitose Noriko - Yoimachi Romantica)" is on its way, but I can't wait for the instrumental version of "Kinema Mosaic" (I'm not buying this CD for this track only though)! Now, the only thing I can do is to loop this crossfade preview and let my strong desire burning... :zzz: The worse thing is, I won't be able to touch my copy until this September. :awww:

2. My daughter's day of birth
As the representative of this blog, she is supposed to have the same day of birth which is Aug. 6th. Although I was very happy at the very beginning, this feeling already faded away completely. Plus, Leo apparently doesn't have good compatibility with Aquarius! So I can't stand that setting the same day for her. (I'm aware of my strong Yuki Kajiura complex now.)

So, is that possible to change the date anyway? :bug:

What about June 12? With a solid proof, and belongs to Gemini, which is good, most of people who get along with me are under this sign. :smurf: But still, it's too absurd to make this change. So I'll probably end up with this date for her only.

And now the problem becomes how I should celebrate it. In August? or in June? or both?? Well, lemme think about it more, maybe I'll eventually persuade myself to change everything to Jun. 12~ :party:

3. みちゃんが来てくれるって！
Mi-chan said she's gonna visit me during this summer -- I bet you don't know who Mi-chan is, and I'm pretty sure I didn't mention her that much as KOKIA, Akiko or Noriko. Perhaps the last time I mentioned her was years ago, on Halloween. :tongue:
I wonder how long her hair is now? Maybe we have the same length now. I want to braid her hair again~ Let's cosplay Amano Tooko together! :wink:
--Well, this thing doesn't really bother me, but I have to be on guard to avoid going into yuri-mode.
And now just let's wish everything going well♪ :bigeyes:

I'd first introduce my normal world: together with my broken mood, I finally got something for my blog banner.

I always wanted to have one but didn't know how I should do it.
Today, which as about one year after her birth, I decided to use her for the banner:
↓ 我が看板娘、ナタリアです♥

@pixiv

Pink harmony, matching with my blog's colour scheme.
-- It's another amazing thing that I didn't change the blog template for months! xD

Below, hidden message, which belongs to my otherworld. :3

I'm sane, yet I'm also broken -- I've been laughing for no reason for a whole day!
And I know it's all the fault of Corpse Party! °w°

Let me start from the very beginning.
I've finished (watching) Corpse Party 2 chapter yesterday. So far, that looks good, although definitely not the type I can actually play (if I want to protect my keyboard). But CP2 is more like a different type of horror. In other words, CP is like Silent Hill, and CP2 is like BioHazard -- you get it?

But it's not what I'm gonna talking about.
If you know Corpse Party, you must know the school name of the main characters: Kisaragi. In CP2, the school name of the main chars is "Minazuki", and the hospital is associated to an university with the name "Fumizuki".
YES, THESE NAMES WERE THE REASON THAT MADE ME BROKEN!! °_°

because...
Kisaragi = February
Minazuki = June
Fumizuki = July

Thus, I started to recall all the old names of months in Japanese.
Start from January, it should be: Mutsuki, Kisaragi, Yayoi, Uzuki, Satsuki, Minazuki, Fumizuki, Hazuki, Nagatsuki, Kannazuki... and the last is Shiwasu.
But what is November called?
This question bothered me for two days. -- It's so amazing that I didn't go to wikipedia. Probably I wanted to recall all of them by myself. And this morning, I was still thinking about it. For about 20 minutes, under the sunlight in the room, suddenly, a singer's name came into my head.

Shimotsuki Haruka.
.
.
.
SHIMOTSUKI!!!

At a moment, I felt like being shocked.
How could I forget her name, in which I got my nick?! I was supposed not to forget at least this one! °A°

Sorry, Haruka, I didn't mean to betray you!! (つд⊂)

Like yesterday's post, not only Silent Hill films, during this weekend, I've put myself into a 100% horror mode.
I mentioned Imai Asami's new single "Hoshikuzu no Ring" last week, and the reason was that one was "Corpse Party" related! But since I couldn't want to ruin the peaceful ambience of a regular post about new music releases, I'm gonna put those gross things in today's post.
Although I know I'm too late to introduce them as news, they are news to me!

New OVA on July 24 = day after tomorrow

↑ Asami's new song's short edition! Too short to enjoy, seriously.
Based on all PV's they have released, seems it's starting from the beginning, and will have new original story.
I'm wondering if there will be a conclusion at the end -- I don't mind they use CP-BS's chapter 8 as the end though.
Anyway, there are only two days till its release, hope I can see that soon~

The release of the OVA is the main reason for me to finish watching CP-BS at this weekend.
--I'm happy I could find a good playing video with a fun uploader.

Also, while I was searching for a good CP-BS video, I noticed some people uploaded their playing of Corpse Party 2.

... CP2? (゜-゜)

Then, after some more search, I realised I'm late again. Information of the new game was out long time ago.
PV's of the new game are cool, and there is a merged version of all three PV's they have so far.

I love the new BGMs so much! Hope this time they release the OST properly. Now, the OST for CP-BC is almost like phantom -- I can hardly obtain info of it and the current OST of the PSP game doesn't sound having all BGMs used in game. x_x

There is only Chapter 1 for CP2 so far, and probably I'll finish watching people playing it tomorrow (yes, watching, I'm not good at this type of game at all, I think I'm better with handling horror games like SH ^^;).
I also found people who know no Japanese playing it. But, wouldn't it be a pain, or you just play without reading the story? XDD

Anyway, as what I know about it so far, CP2's game system reminds me BioHazard 1&2. ==> zombies!
They said this game is extended from "Blood Drive", which is BS' last chapter. The time point in game is 5 years after the main story. Although we don't know much more about what's going on and I haven't actually started watching the game, in the opening...

Tell us what's going on! That's definitely our Ayumi (I'm so excited even though my No.1 character is our Mayu-jamchan :3)!
But who is the black-hair guy? Like the main male char in an eroge who always hides his face. lol
By the way, I like the SD-chars in game much more than their regular pictures. XD;

Official Page Here~
Looking forward more connection to CP's main story. Come on, get me excited~!

Just finished Silent Hill films this (last) afternoon.
What should I say? I really like the scenes of that tainted town, for both the normal world and the otherworld. However...

The stories are rubbish, making me irritated! :sqmuka:

Spoiler Alert :thunder:
In the following part, I'm gonna complain about these two films. I guess I'll have some netabare spoilers, so, if you won't wish to be spoiled, you can leave now.

First, I really dislike that they changed the main char for SH1 to a female (and I did read about why they made this decision). I'm not saying I don't like strong women, but as a big fan of the original game, I'm so familiar with Harry's running figure that I NEVER get this change. An ikemen & my-home-papa plus a kawaii little girl are always the best combination! :sqwah: Thanks to that, I don't understand why only the mother, instand of both of them, took Cheryl (and I really hate they changed her name in the film so I insist to use this name) to Silent Hill -- isn't the latter case normal? or at least they should give a better explanation!

Then, Cybil (is that the correct spelling?)... with the helmet she looks super cool, but without it... garhhhh, she got her hair overcut!! Also, on film, I feel like there is something wrong with her head. Isn't Silent Hill obviously irregular?! Yet she sees the mother's words as a joke, and asks a creature to "stop". In SH3, what the hell they got Vecent to be a teen?! I myself prefer the "gentleman" in the original game, with a small pair of glasses, and talking like a 19-century lofty lady and appearing everywhere like a cockroach. :sqhaa:

Guess Daliah is the most dramatic one -- Were the staff insane? Daliah's change irritated me even much more than the replacement of Harry. Moreover, I don't understand why they got such a character while the original Daliah in game was replaced by another lady whose name I don't know. The downgraded Daliah only lives as a remainder of the dark history, and I don't think the story will be affected no matter whether she exists! However, in SH3, Claudia's setting is fine, but her position isn't well described and is unclear expecially to first-time viewers. I don't like how she dies at last.

Mr. Pyramid Head bothers me a lot too. I know he is a famous char in SH2 and the staff may want the films to be "as much of Silent Hill as possible", but not saying the basic background, neither SH1 nor SH3 are related to that red pyramid thing (expect Valtiel, which isn't 100% confirmed being the same being as Mr. Pyramid) and he still appears QUITE A LOT. He did get me excited (I love his scythe), but his existence is near meaningless but a horror triggering device. Especially, if that's him and not Valtiel, I have no clue why he fights with Claudia... even if he's Valtiel, I have no clue why Valtiel fights with Claudia either.

I started laughing at the scene on film corresponding to the part when Harry first reached the dead end and saw the urobutchered corpse. The film fails at scenes like this. It's normal to not follow the original work exactly, but the adaption should at least make sense. On film, the little creatures coming out like swarming bees!! Just making people disgusted apparently isn't a good way to make horror films...
Besides, the distorted "beauty" of Silent Hill is ruined by so many fanatics. What I want is the type of fear being alone in a stange and abandoned town. THERE ARE WAY TOO MUCH PEOPLE ON FILMS!! °A°

Except our Mr. Pyramid Head, some creatures from SH2 are shown on film, like the nurse. But, in the context of SH creatures, they reflect the world's creator's mind, so I got a strange feeling while seeing creatures from other game in Sh1/3. Noo, it's totally weird. :squmm:

Another, Douglas dies too early! I like that character very much!! Does the staff prefer young guys? They replaced Doug and got the younger Vencent as the one assisting Heather. Anyhow, since he dies so early, the film could ignore his task to find Heather -- they will find a way to explain it.

About Harry. He in SH1 reminds me Noah in "The Ring 2". Both sneak into the archive for old documents! XD
Finally, although I'm happy with that Harry doesn't die on film, what's the damn ending of SH3?? Looking for his wife? You think who you are? James??? So if they have another sequel, that would be James' story being told by Harry... :sqmushi:

Conclusion, if you really want to know about Silent Hill, STAY AWAY from the films. If you don't want to play the game, I'd still suggest you watching other people playing them.
Silent Hill films aren't good horror films either. Till the end, it's all about people's scream, so annoying... Want horror? Watch Juon or The Ring or play Corpse Party....

-- Little Alessa does look like Sachiko!!!! :sqpo:

Off-topic: I'm enjoying my restored customised smileys, which cost me two days to fix the code. :swell: