As you may know from about a month ago when I reviewed EXIT TRANCE PRESENTS BEST エクスタシー ~Second Season~ I am a big fan of the EXIT TRANCE series. There are many CDs in the series, some of which contain anime related tracks, and others are just J-Trance mixes. For the sake of this blog I decided I would only review the BEST エクスタシー (Best Ecstasy) and the アニメトランス (Anime Trance) series.
Anyway, as much as I hate to admit it, I think that gradually the Anime Trance series has gotten worse over time. 1-4 was excellent, there wasn't a track I disliked. 5 was amazing, but there was maybe 1 or 2 tracks I didn't like (not a problem though) then there was 6. 6 had some good tracks, but I think there were more I didn't care for than there were those that I really liked. Not to mention while I love Toradora (トラどら) and the remixes were great, I think that it was overkill to have more than one song from a small series. Anyway, I'll get on with the review.
Track List
01) Cagayake!GIRLS (K-ON! OP) / Helvetia(DJ Sa9+Hommarju) feat.CAMRY
02) キミシニタモウナカレ (Shangri-la OP) / MK feat.R.Cena
03) Wonder Wind (Hayate no Gotoku Second Season OP1) / Hommarju feat. YURiE
04) 経験値速上々↑↑ (Minami-ke ~Okaeri~ OP) / DJ Sa9 feat. MAKI
05) Spiral (Asura Cryin' OP) / MK feat. YURiE
06) SHUT UP AND EXPLODE (Bounen no Xamdou OP) / B.U.S feat.YUKI
07) RIDEBACK (Rideback OP) / Icon feat. Latte
08) silky heart (Toradora OP2) / MK feat. MAKI
09) Prototype (Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season ED2) / Icon feat. PECO
10) What 'bout my star? (Macross Frontier IN) / B.U.S feat. MAKI + R.Cena
11) 天使のゆびきり (His & Her Circumstance OP) / Dizzi Mystica feat. YAH
12) プリズム (Dennou Coil OP) / Starving trancer feat. R.Cena
13) being (Shakugan no Shana OP2) / DJ Sa9 vs. Judas feat. PECO
14) masterpiece (To Aru Majutsu no Index OP2) / Hommarju feat. Latte
15) 笑顔の理由 (Asu no Yoichi OP) / CAMRY
16) HANAJI (Maria+Holic OP) / Hommarju feat. MAKI
17) ？でわっしょい (Hidamari Sketch × 365 OP) / Ryu* feat. MAKI + Ma15 + CAMRY
18) JAP(Sengoku Basara OP) / Acid=Stone Valley feat. YUKI
19) Don't say "lazy" (K-ON! ED) / Helvetia (DJ Sa9 + Hommarju) feat. Latte
20) ずっとみつめていて (Ryu* Remix) / DJ UTO vs. Starving Trancer feat. 森永真由美
I don't want to launch into attack right away, but with the exception of some nice suprises there, I think that they have tried to cram in as many OPs, EDs and INs from the newest series possible, and I think that K-ON! has gotten the Toradora treatment this time around. There are some suprises in there too, Prism (Dennou Coil OP) and HANAJI (Maria+Holic OP).
Cagayake!Girls does work well as a remix, but I think it drags on a little, they could have cut it down by one chorus. But then I think that with the popularity of K-ON! This and 'Dont Say Lazy' were the intended highlights of the album, so it is to be expected. I'll also cut in quickly with this comment: it is actually well mixed. Not that the others were poorly mixed, but most tracks have really good transitions with each other.
I think that the length of tracks on the album was slightly irritating and made some tracks that could have been really good just a little bit boring. I was let down by Wonder Wind (ハヤテのごとく OP) because I expected it to be much bouncier, plus it suffered from length problems as well.
I feel I might be being too picky here, but many tracks were either too long (No I wasn't listening to the extended track version), simply not interesting or for some reason had crossed over in genre. SHUT UP AND EXPLODE for example sounded more like electro-house and HANAJI was like a speedcore/Gabber crossover. I'm not going to mince words here; it was horrible. I was really looking forward to a trance mix of it too.
But there are some nice things to say about the album too, prism (dennou coil OP) was a completely unexpected choice but wasn't bad at all, and being (Shakugan no Shana OP2) was a really perfect track, perfect length and sounded really good. You could have slipped it into one of the older albums and it would have fitted perfectly.
I thought Macross F music was impossible to sound bad in the EXIT TRANCE series, but What 'bout My Star? Was just...disappointing I think. Really, it is not nice to have to say, but I think that there were many tracks that I really didn't like. being was good, Prism was nice, Hidamari Sketch OP (？でわっしょい) was upbeat and nice, Dont Say Lazy was...pretty bad really. The final track ずっとみつめていて (Ryu* Remix) (I'm sorry, I don't know where this is from either). Was just Okay, I thought with DJ Uto himself involved, it may have been outstanding, but it was just listenable and not much more.
Overall, I'm disappointed. It really wasn't a very good album at all and I think the genre crossovers were a very bad idea. I sincerely hope this isn't the destiny of EXIT TRANCE. I'm not saying 'Don't buy this' but instead, take great caution before doing so.
Favorite track: being (Shakugan no Shana OP2)
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I don't want to write a review about it because I don't feel it really fits in here, but Perfume have released their new album: ⊿ (Triangle) and it is not bad at all, there are some great tracks on there!
In other EXIT TRANCE news, if you're quick to buy the ウマウマできるトランスを作ってみた COMPLETE BEST box set, you'll get a figure of the mascot character of the series! Sorry I couldn't find a bigger picture:
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