Daiundokai - "Athlete Sound Tracks" - Hop
You can purchase the SonMay version
of this CD from www.animecastle.com
Okay, I'm going to say right off the bat that I have never seen Battle Athletes (Daiundokai) and had scarely heard of it until I got this CD. A friend saw the "pretty japanese anime pictures" in an Oriental Goods store and decided it would be a good gift (btw, this is the SonMay version). And it was! However, this is not a CD I recommened buying if you don't know a thing about the series. Since I don't, I can't say I'm in love with the music. It's not *bad*, but it's not the best anime music I've ever heard. I actually tend to skip most of the vocal tracks in favor of the BGM, which isn't bad.
This CD contains 4 vocal tracks (one is over 8 minutes long!) and plenty of BGM. Under the tracklist, you'll find reviews for the vocals which are listed in boldface. This CD has a total of 22 tracks. I'm pretty fond of this energetic BGM music. Notably good instrumentals are tracks 5, 10, 18, and 20.
TRACKS:
1. Battle
Athletes
2. Wing (TV Sized) - Asakuri Yukari
3. In the Tear-Colored Sky - Natsuki Rio
4. Road Pursuit
5. There's No Point Unless You Goal
6. Rehumanise Yourself
7. Adagio of Despair
8. See You Again at the Other Side of the Tape
9. Akari - Waltz - Dance
10. Path for Winds, Time When Seasons Change
11. Honey Bee "Half Size" - Jamic Spoon
12. Peaceful Days of Akari
13. Stomp With Shisen, Canton and Peking
14. Battle Program X
15. Theme Of Ngaji (Tanya)
16. Love is Wonderful... Is This Satisfactory, Ueda san?
- Rio Natsuki, Aya Hisakawa,
Aya Sakaguchi, Miki Itou, Youko Sawami, Taeko Kawada
17. Theme of Tomoe Midou
18. Lively Exercise
19. Glory of My Country
20. Wanna Wanna?
21. I'm Ichido of Naniwa
22. Theme of Akari
Reviews:
2. Wing - This starts off nosily with instruments and then a pounding voice comes in and sings (well, I might add). Despite Asakuri-san's unusual voice, this song doesn't go anywhere and the music sounds very synthesized. It's kind of catchy and after a few listens, it gets stuck in your head. However, it's not my new favorite song. Redeeming qualities: It's only about a minute and half because it's the short TV version. (I don't really know if there is a longer version...)
3. In the Tear-Colored Sky - Slow music with a nice beat equals a good intro. However, despite the vocalist's best efforts to make the song sound pretty, it really doesn't. It's slow, yes, and somewhat dreamy. I actually like it better than track 2, but it's not going to win any awards. This vocalist, Natsuki-san, has as much trouble hitting the high notes as I do... I can respect her willingness to try, but it doesn't sound as nice as it could. I'm apt to believe this is a character image song, but I don't really know. It could have been used in the show, I guess.
11. Honey Bee "Half Size" - I'm not sure if "half size" means TV size, but this track is only a minute and a half. With a bluegrass feel, this song is interesting... After a while, it picks up and shouts the chorus which contains the English words "Honey Bee". However, the vocals aren't terrific and the entire song is one of those I think I will always skip.
16. Love is Wonderful, etc. - This song is 8 1/2 minutes long! Yikes! It starts off as a slow choral song with all the girls singing until two of them start speaking and then the beat picks up and becomes a more mainstream pop style song. The other girls talk to each other and each one takes a turn at singing. The girls also respond to the singing... It's actually very cute and probably the best track on this CD. (It kind of reminds me of a Japanese Pokemon song my brother has on CD and listens to all the time.. with characters in the background of the song.) At any rate, this song is very well done. Other than that, most of the vocals on this disc aren't exceptional.
