LogFAQs > #985566156

Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE - Katamari on the Dream
Heaven Burns Red - Shiva (Glacier Remix)
Dreamin' Her -Boku wa, Kanojo no Yume o Miru- - Oyasumi Monochrome

MATCH 1

Katamari on the Dream is really nice melodically. I like some of the modulation but also the individual melodies themselves that are in the new key. Like at 0:42-0:47 and 1:11-1:14. Cassie Wei is a great singer as always.

Neural Divergence is pretty neat melodically and with the vocals, especially towards the end like at 3:21. Though, I feel like I enjoy it less today than the other day when I was first listening to the songs for this match.

MATCH 2

Not exactly my favorite kind of chill song but I like it!

Jun Maeda and Hayato Asano are two composers I have a lot of love for, so it's really cool to see the two of them involved in a song together! Although To You in the Dying Season was more emblematic of my tastes, Shiva (Glacier Remix) is really good as well! I certainly can't get enough of Yanagi Nagi vocals. This has a really cool hype feeling to it, especially during the pre-chorus and chorus sections, which are also my favorite parts of the song. There's something about the "gamusha" repetition in the pre-chorus that feels satisfying in a way. That and the fast-paced vocals. Oyasumi Monochrome is my tentative Bracket D winner, but I'd take Shiva to the finals if Monochrome wasn't there, assuming no surprises from D4.

MATCH 3

The Valkyrie has some parts that stand out more than the others like at 2:07, but for the most part, it's not really all that remarkable to me.

I love this singer's voice! It has this light and slightly breathy quality to it that feels really appealing to me. The chorus is I think where her voice shines the most because you can hear this really nice vibrato in her voice during that part too. Melodically, I really like the bright strings in this, and of course, the piano is great as well. This is the second time in this year's contest that I'm bringing this anime up lol, but something that popped in my head as a comparison regarding the strings is the first OP to The Pet Girl of Sakurasou (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcwzDxqzpo0) that also has this really bright violin melody in the intro that I really like. Back to Oyasumi Monochrome, the only other thing to note is that I really like the key change at the end too. It's a common thing to hear in jpop, but I'm typically a big fan of it regardless. This song was something I discovered a decent while ago after the end of last year's contest and I thought that this was really good and something worth considering nominating. But then I just forgot about it for some reason until like the day before this year's contest started when I found it again and realized, "wait, wasn't I thinking of nominating this?" So, it's a good thing I found it again haha! The composers for this song and the singer, Isui, actually went on to officially form a group together named tayori. I haven't had the chance to check out a lot of their music, but it seems pretty good! Some examples here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k_csTdypRQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWff60PZytQ. But Oyasumi Monochrome has still been my favorite, so if anyone happens to know these musicians, please send some recommendations my way! I actually just saw the other day that this VN OP that I've listened to before was composed by Islet but with a different singer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5D4X_C22do. Honestly, I should've nominated this at some point because this is very much my thing. Possibly coming to a VGMC20 near you!

Oyasumi Monochrome > Shiva (Glacier Remix) > Katamari on the Dream > Neural Divergence (Saturnian Version) > diamond meditation > The Valkyrie