finally, 1 more week to the release of nana-chan's 21st single. ever since news of phantom minds was released (and which the first thing i did was to get hold of the first edition of that single, even though my bank account had been screaming at me not to take anything out anymore), i had been waiting quite eagerly.

well as to why is that, that has to be attributed to the wonderful cover of the single. the first look i had on the cover i almost fainted from the とても綺麗とsexy (very pretty and sexy) nana featured there. it would definitely be a crime worthy of the electric chair for any nana-fans not to get it.

well although the pv for phantom minds had been out for quite some time, i did not go listen to it. i think i will wait for the singles. and the video, i will see it some time later.

well 1 week more. school starts on the 11, and phantom minds will probably reach me here at 14, having to fly all the way from japan to singapore. i want to get the single soon, but don't want school to start.

anyway, first press edition has been sold out. too late for all those who had missed out. however you still can get the singles, which are still selling.

so, here are 3 promo pictures for phantom minds (the first one might take some time to load). don't die.

yeapx i received the mizuki nana single, 夢幻 (mugen), today. hehex. cover looks pretty cool, with nana acting a bit cool in it. hehex. will do a review when i have the time.

and pwn... on the day i received her latest single, i got news via email that her 21st single will be coming out soon, on 13 january 2009. wow. the rate she is coming out with singles and albums makes fans happy but makes my wallet sadded (intended grammatical mistake).

the title for that new single is not yet decided though, but you can place your orders now. too lazy to post the link here but if you want to know where to order it just leave a comment here (shh... i am trying to make people put comments. hahax). first press gets bonus! hahax.

okiex off to listen to the new single. hahahax.

and from danie's shopping log, i found this! *cries* i want to buy it.... but i have no idea how to order.. will figure it somehow and decipher the webpage using my kindergarten level japanese proficiency.

edit: *cries* i am not buying the magazine anymore. the magazine itself is 1143yen, but the shipping is 2200yen. total would be 51.6668SGD. i dont think i will bear to part with that money. it costs more than a mizuki nana single with shipment! what on earth is amazon doing?!

i shall go one corner, sit down, cry and emo. don't bother about me...

i had said before that after listening to mizuki nana's latest album ultimate diamond, i will do a review. well so here is the review, although i am very very sure that some other hardcore nana fans would have already done this long ago.

but well, i am still doing this, semi-objective and semi-subjective review.

after listening to the album no less than 20, or is it 30 times(?), i think i am ready to write something about it. of course i had dragged this piece of self-given work for a long time. blame the computer games. hahax.

of course, when the pv of 悦楽カメリア (etsuraku camellia) came out, many of the fans wondered if nana was really intending to shift out of her normal genre of music. for now, i can say that nana-chan is still giving more priority to the genre she is well-known for. afterall, she needs to keep her fans from going away.

i mean, if one day nana-chan starts singing songs that i don't like (such as hard rock, which i don't think she will) much more than the type of songs she is famous for, even though i like her, i may start to listen to more of 堀江 由衣's (horie yui) songs or maybe 下川 みくに (shimokawa mikuni).

most of the album's songs are still of the 'nana-brand'. hahax. as with many of other nana songs, to me, this album takes quite a few listens for me to like it.

maria&joker - well this song, when i first listened to it, i was like 'wow, old!' i dont know the music scene in japan, but this kind of music, in the chinese circle, it certainly feels old, giving the retro feel. hahax.

悦楽カメリア - like i said before, it has the same feel with pride of glory. yeapx, like pride of glory, after a few listens, well maybe 10, i started to like it. maybe it is that i start to get the beat or whatever you call that. it certainly is not because that nana sang that song, so i will like it. no i don't do that. i mean i don't like well, many of her songs too. this song, will be in my ipod.

perfect smile - when i was doing the preparations for the review and listening to this, for some weird reason i thought it sounds like a mix of 宝物 (takara mono) and 恋してる (koishiteru). like it has the feel of a sad, yet light hearted emotion. i don't know why, but after that, when i listen to that again, that feeling disappears. hahax. well this song is going to appear in my playlist as well.

trickster - well it is self-explanatory. taken from her singles. i don't need to review on that anymore.

mr.bunny! - a light hearted song. typical nana song, i think.

沈黙の果実 (chinmoku no kajitsu) - i think it is pretty normal. not too nice, not too bad. add it to your playlist.

brand new tops - light hearted and happy song, i think. since i cannot say i am even remotely proficient in japanese. i like this.

少年 - hahax, this song had attracted me ever since i first listen to it. it gets better with every listen.

gimmick game - well typical nana song. but i like this, a lot.

dancing in the velvet moon - no need to say anything much. it's in her singles. when i first listened to it, i don't really like it. when i heard it in rosario + vampire, i didn't really like it too. but for some reason, now this sounds pleasing to my ears. hahax

ray of change - not too bad, not too good. will add it in my playlist though.

深愛 - well, i believe you have already heard this song till you can memorize the lyrics.

蒼き光の果て-ULTIMATE MODE- (Aoki Hikari no Hate -Ultimate Mode-)- well did this song appear in any anime? it certainly sounds like an anime opening or ending (maybe opening). ok i admit i am not the most hardcore of nana fans and wouldn't know which of her songs appear in which anime. this is a nice song.

astrogation - same as dancing in the velvet moon. didn't like it at first even after listening to the n-th time, but after listening it to the n-th + n-th time, i actually like it. surprising why i am so much slower in catching the attractiveness of the song.

夢の続き (Yume no Tsuzuki) - in my opinion, the best song out of the whole album. well i think you can roughly know which type of nana songs i like best. 宝物、refrain, 夢の続き, last scene, window of heart... i think you can find a common feature in all these songs. of course i do like other songs like crystal letter, replay machine -custom- etc. if i can only add a single song into my collection from this album, definitely, absolutely, it will be this song.

now, i don't know if this review is even semi-objective. it looks like 10% objective to me. well get the cd, and listen to it. since i am her fan and since i am writing this for public view, i would definitely encourage you to buy instead of downloading the album. well just buy it, it is worth it. lol.

ok that's it.

yeapx i just got the latest album by nana-chan, ultimate diamond today. just unwrapped it and going to listen to it soon. hopefully there will be some songs that can make me get addicted. i will do a review after i listened to this album.

ok this is late. and yeah, if you are any real fan of nana-chan, you probably would have already memorized this whole pv to the extent you know exactly what she is doing or singing which particular word at any second.

why is this late? because i screwed up my blog and the most recent backup i have is that of 1 month ago. and therefore i have to repeat this post. well, at least, semi-hardcore fans or just normal fans of nana-chan might see this pv for the first time. so i am still putting it here.

nana in kimono, it really made many people excited. although i think she looks more kawaii in that famous nazi suit of hers. yeah don't flame me, i don't care about nazi and all those idealogy and morals. i only know she looks good in that uniform.

heh, i guess even girls get turned on by her, not to mention guys. she is certainly extending her sexual appeal to even the female domain. if you think i am joking, maybe you can ask around and you will know how many female fans get turned on just seeing her in that kimono.

sexy, this is the word to describe her. the way she behaves, looks, even her voice are all sexy. i wonder in real life how many hearts of men (and probably women) did she break. aww. but i think what is best about her is that she smiles and laughs a lot. i think that is infectious, in a good way. she is not proud, and she is not overwhelmed by her fame. she just takes it like that. she doesn't put on airs, at least according to my knowledge. yeah, many people do smile, but few are hyper-active like her. hahax. just watching her non- music videos (such as makings, commercials, or variety shows that she appeared on) really can make one lighten up a bit.

regarding this song, to me i don't really like it after the first listen. meaning to say, chances are i won't put it in my windows media player or ipod playlist. but i am looking forward to like it. not that just because i like her i want to like all her songs. it is just that not many of nana songs attracted me at the first listen. i usually take 2, 3 or even 4 listens just to like it.

songs like last scene, replay machine -custom-, crystal letter, pride of glory, trinity cross...etc these are some songs which i don't get it at the first listen, but i really like them a lot. crystal letter is old, and replay machine is even older, but after so long, i am still kind of addicted to them. yeah. of course those songs that probably can attract anyone at first listen would be... hmm let me guess, takara mono? that is one really nice song.

about the pv, for some reason japanese pv looks really boring sometimes. oh well the main focus is nana-chan anyway. but i feel it could be better. compared to western music videos, i guess japanese have a long way to go just to catch up to them. or maybe it is a culture thing. you know, the westerners have these kind of videos, the japanese have that kind of videos. who knows? it may be just their style. but still...

ok let me compare between singers in japan. among those pv that i have watched, i shall list those of around the same genre. otsuka ai, horie yui, mizuki nana, kitade nana. ok i know kitade-san is a j-rock singer, yeah but well i guess it could still be compared. hoc-chan would be the most suitable comparison though. as for ai-chan, hmm... yeah her music videos do still belong to the japanese music videos category.

comparison: hoc-chan and nana-chan videos are kinda similar. well how do i say? it is just that the music videos focus too much on them, instead of having something like a story in it. the same for kitade-san too. at least i find that some of ai-chan's videos such as amaenbo and daisuki da yo more entertaining. if i am to take just nana-chan's video to compare, i like the music video for crystal letter, brilliant star and love & history.

some of you might also have noticed that nana-sama is getting out of the otaku and j-pop circle slowly. i read online there are some comments that this pv bend towards visual kei more. well i don't know much about visual kei, but i can say this is definitely out of her usual style. of course if you want to compare the pv of power gate and this, well i think there is a significant difference in the way the musicians behind, hmm... act? for someone who had asipired to be an enka singer, she really had deviated a lot. hahahax.

well that is all for now. if you are a fan of nana-sama you would have noticed the difference. for now, enjoy the song, enjoy the video, and get stunned by our idol. her smile is simply, sexy. and that sexy smile can make many die for it.