Love the 2nd CD; not too crazy about the first...
V. Russell | Plainsboro, NJ | 03/11/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this double cd (and waited 5 loooong months for Amazon to finally deliver it) based on hearing "Last Kiss" and "It's Gonna Rain" (both songs were on the soundtracks of a couple of anime I own). I thought these songs were really catchy and since both songs were so diverse (I was surprised when I found out they were from the same artist) I decided to take a chance.
Well, I won't deny that I was really disappointed. The first disc featured songs that mostly blended together for me (except for "It's Gonna Rain"). She did the exact same vocal acrobatics on just about every song on this disc and, what started out as cute, quickly became annoying (this is her best??). I forced myself to listen to this disc a few more times before I stuck it back in its case to stay...forever.
A few days later, with a heavy sigh, I popped in the second disc, not expecting much. I received a pleasant surprise. The second disc was excellent!! From the bubbly pop sound of "So Wonderful" to the swinging "Love is Bubble" and the melancholy (and my personal favorite) "Last Kiss". If you buy this cd (and I highly recommend that you do), it is worth it to take the time to read the lyrics. There is a lot of English (but it is sometimes difficult to understand unless you read the lyrics first) and it is pretty easy to find decent translations for the Japanese online. I don't think I fully appreciated some of the songs ("Sleeping Child" being a good example) until I actually read the lyrics. The second disc alone was worth five stars. But since I am supposed to be rating this entire purchase (which, unfortunately, includes that first disc) I had to take a star away."