misono – Ninin Sankyaku (a J!-Ent World Groove CD Single Review)

August 5, 2008 by Dennis Amith 

“Rock music really suits misono’s current style and everything just works for her with “Ninin Sankyaku”, the theme song for the latest ‘Tales of Symphonia’ (Dawn of the New World) video game.”

ARTIST: misono

CD SINGLE: Ninin Sankyaku

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-21433/B

DURATION: 18:24

RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2008

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

1. 二人三脚
2. Rock Project Medley
3. 二人三脚 (Instrumental)

DVD: Region 2, 4:3, Duration: 9 minutes

1. Ninin Sankyaku Video Clip
2. Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk edition of the video
3. Intro anime for the GameCube/PlayStation 2 version of “Tales of Symphonia”
4. Intro video for the Nintendo DS game “Tales of Tempest”
5. misono “Tales of” Video Clip Medley (“Soshite Boku ni Dekiru Koto,” “Starry Heavens,” “VS,” and “Lovely Cat’s Eye”)
6. misono comment
7. “Ninin Sankyaku” TV Spot (15 second and 30 second spot)

I know that I’ve been one of the harshest critics towards misono’s music of late. The CD singles and the rocking music, I’ve never had a problem with. It’s more about her presentation.

If there was anything that riled me up is how she’s featured in many of her music videos as a corny character or a rock diva with an electric guitar and just fake-playing it. It’s obvious the direction for misono’s music career is to feature her as a solo rock artist and to distance her away from her years with the group day after tomorrow and from her older sister Koda Kumi but with Japan featuring so many talented women who can play the guitar, I still would like to see that moment of misono just jamming on the guitar alone rather than being featured in all these music videos with one.

Her 10th CD single “Ninin Sankyaku” is a catchy, rock song that is used for the Nintendo Wii video game “Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk” (or Dawn of the New World).

Misono’s music as a solo artist and with the group day after tomorrow have had her music featured in various NamcoBandai “Tales of” games such as the Nintendo Gamecube game “Tales of Symphonia” (“Starry Heavens” by day after tomorrow), the PS2 port of “Tales of Symphonia” (“Soshite Boku Ni Dekiru Koto” by day after tomorrow), the Nintendo DS game “Tales of Tempest” (“VS” and “Lovely Cat’s Eye”) and now with this current CD single for the Nintendo Wii’s “Tales of Symphonia” sequel.

The song features very good vocals especially with misono’s unique vocal style which you can easily distinguish from other female performers.

The music has always been good with misono’s rock songs which has been electric guitar driven and a good dose of clanging percussion and bass.

As for the coupling song, the second track is a medley of misono’s seventh CD single “Zasetsu Chiten”, her eighth CD single “Juunin Toiro” and her ninth CD single “Mugen Kigen”. So, for those who are fans of the “Tales of” videogames, a smart move by avex trax to market her music to the video gamers.

The third track is an instrumental version of “Ninin Sankyaku”.

Where this CD single shines (this is the CD+DVD version) is that it comes with a 21 minute DVD filled with misono and “Tales of Symphonia” goodness.

As mentioned in previous reviews, the problem that I had is how she’s marketed especially with some of the ridiculous music videos that she has been in.

Fortunately with “Ninin Sankyaku” is pretty cool, no animal costumes and no sugary sweet scenes and the rock music compliments the footage. In fact, misono is shown playing the electric guitar and strumming. Of course, I hope this means that we may see a concert video of her performing the guitar. Who knows?

The video is somewhat of a sad song that features misono nearly crying with shards of a mirror is broken and one side of the mirror, you see a misono who looks like she’s going to cry and another mirror with her acting normal. And of course, there is a bit of footage from the “Tales of Symphonia” video game that seems out of place, since it’s featured briefly on the music video.

But I’m glad that director Saito Akira (of Parks) featured misono strumming the guitar instead of just holding it in her hands. These scenes fits her rock persona rather than having her portrayed in corny outfits.

The second clip features the opening theme “Starry Heavens” for the “Tales of Symphonia” Gamecube game by misono’s former group day after tomorrow.

The third clip features the opening anime scene for the PS2 version of “Tales of Symphonia” and featuring the day after tomorrow song “Soshite Boku Ni Dekiru Koto”.

The fourth clip features video footage from the DS “Tales of Tempest” video game that came out back in 2006 and featuring misono’s “VS” (which was used as a theme song for that game).

The fifth clip features a video clip medley of misono/day after tomorrow songs used for “Tales of” video games. Music videos featured are “Starry Heavens”, “Soshite Boku ni Dekiru Koto”, “VS” and “Lovely Cat’s Eye” (this song was used in the commercial promoting the Ninteno DS “Tales of Tempest” game).

The sixth clip features a comment from Misono and listening to this, I was just amazed how misono and her sister Kumi almost sound alike when they talk.

The seventh clips are the 15 and 30 second commercial clips for the “Ninin Sankyaku” CD singles.

As for the CD insert, the insert is a tri-fold featuring the “Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World” characters on one side and lyrics and production credits on the other.

Also, included are stickers from the video game series featuring the CD single cover (large sticker), two of the main characters and a sticker of Misono (the three are mini-stickers).

This CD single is actually pretty good and the DVD content was not bad as well. I really like misono singing more rock-based sounds but in the past, she would have this sound and act too cutesy and would wear some weird outfits and I know she has a quarky persona but it just didn’t match up with the overall music.

She kind of reminds of a transition that model/singer hitomi (from avex trax) made during the mid-90′s as she sung sugary pop songs but then later on, she wanted to do perform her style of music and seen playing a guitar (and it didn’t look right). Eventually, she managed to carve a niche and learn how to play guitar and even perform it live. I hope to see the same with misono because with her involvement in the Avril Lavigne tribute and the music videos of hers continuing to show her with a guitar and create this rockstar image, things just didn’t look right back then.

With the release of “Ninin Sankyaku”, I think that Saito Akira did a good job trying to show the rocker girl image side through this music video and of course, the musicians paired with misono for her last CD singles have been rather cool, it’s just that the image never matched the music. This time I think it does.

The other thing is that for NamcoBandai fans of the “Tales of…” series, I’m so happy to see so much included on the DVD and also, there has been a resurgence of day after tomorrow downloads on iTunes for “Starry Heavens” which is cool to know. So, whether or not that is because “Tales of Symphonia” fans started knowing about her music or perhaps more and more people are discovering misono and her past work with day after tomorrow.

But all in all, a solid CD single for misono and I’m glad to listen to a CD single that I thoroughly enjoyed, especially to watch a DVD featuring a music video of hers that I also enjoyed.

All in all, misono fans should be happy with this CD and “Tales of Symphonia” fans will definitely enjoy the additional video footage included on the DVD. Check it out!

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