A somewhat set of predictable outcomes yesterday, as Ridicule never comes close to ever touching Rain, which will face off against lixAxil, who managed to take down Checkmate despite a valiant effort.
It's the final day of the first side of the bracket, and today we get to witness the match up of another 1 seed! In the first match, the emotional charged In The Sun takes on the vocally charged version of Tsubasa and in the other match, Love Examination gets to face the large fan favorite Lastendconductor!
My votes (early this time cause I'm gonna be busy tomorrow!!):
(16)In the Sun
Argh. Why must this be so difficult. I love Tsubasa so much and yet...
And yet, In the Sun is just a better song. Sure, Tsubasa is rockin' and awesome and fun but it lacks enough depth to be placed above In the Sun, which has really grown on me recently. Yet another Umineko song that I've underrated, it starts out peaceful and serene and evolves into something beautiful. And it really has quite a memorable melodic line, if you were to ask me.
(32)Love Examination
Easy match. Love Examination is a very Umineko-esque piece and is one of the final pieces that really has that feel in the main series (although, there's certainly good to amazing songs in Episodes 7 and 8). It's not terribly complex of a piece and there's not a ton of development, but the way it's delivered is great. It has a nice forceful, pressing feel to it and feels quite regal in a way. The clarinet solos are a nice contrast to the main melody and the full orchestral climax is a great way to lead the song to the end.
Lastendconductor...Hmm...well, I really like the beat, it's quite catchy and easy to listen to. Hell, I do enjoy this song...when I'm not really analyzing it. There's a big, big BIG problem with The Executioner and Lastendconductor (and I let TE get away it partially because I like the tone of the piece). There don't go anyway. There aren't musically rewarding. They sound good, yeah, but argh, the climaxes are pretty weak and shortlived, the development is limited and there's just so much filler in them and LEC in particular is a huge offender of this. Hell, the first minute of the song is pretty much just build-up to the first real section of the song. And 3:00 to about 5:30 is the biggest area guilty of this. It literally repeats the same phrase for two and a half minutes!! I know the latter part of this is supposed to be a major climatic point in the song, but jesus, too much! And it tops off by going right back into the repeat with another 40 seconds of build up to the violin section. Too. Much.
Ok, I'll stop for now, I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to continue sharing my thoughts on this song. Consider this Part 1 of why I don't particularly think LEC is amazing: Loads of unnecessary filler.
In the Sun No contest. Tsubasa blows, the vocals are terrible and it's really just not very fun to listen to. A shame it has the amazing Hope's melody. In the Sun is standard dai fare but it's really good, enough to be better than Tsubasa, anyway.
lastendconductor Also no contest, except Love Examination is actually great. LEC is just legendary. The atmosphere it creates is god tier, just like all the other big zts tracks. It has its own unique zts violin melody (god I love these) and is continuously amazing throughout the entire song. I don't think any 'filler' in it is unnecessary at all, especially when you consider how climactic it is and the influence all the other big zts tracks have on it. It may repeat the same five notes over and over, but the variation is more than enough to satisfy me, since it goes through almost every single big zts song, like resurrrectedreplayer, worldenddominator, the_executioner, and dreamenddischarger. Isolating each of those songs' influences on lec is a ton of fun on its own, too! The part where it's WED, TE, and DED all at the same time while having its own original 5-note melody is easily one of the greatest parts of any Umineko song. This seriously needs to get far in the contest.
-- hey I'm not a stalker I just want to be bros - literally zea ~KF~