I’m in uncharted territory. Not only am I here to write a text review for a CD – something I have never done before – but it a CD that I imported from Japan, and to say I am not entirely fluent with the Japanese language is a bit of an understatement. This CD is a single so it is only four tracks long, but the lack of song quantity is more than makes up in quality. It is my opinion that good music transcends all language barriers, and this track exemplifies that.
The first track is the opening theme song, creativity titled “Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger” which is the name of the show itself. Listening to the song itself, it’s clear that there is some influence being taken from “We Are!” -- The best known opening song for the similarly pirate themed anime One Piece. While I feel as if I should simply trash the song just because it reminds me of One Piece, which is the only anime that I have seen that I have outright hated and gave up on after forcing myself to watch ten episodes, even I can’t take away that “We Are!” is a great song filled with energy and a great way to get people excited for the show. If they had to take anything from One Piece, I’m glad they took the one thing that was actually enjoyable. “Kaizouku Senati Gokaiger” is performed by Tsuyoshi Matsubara with Young Fresh, both members of the music group Project R.
The second track is the Ending song, titled “Super Sentai, Hero Getter” is quite frankly my favorite song on the single. The song is fast paced, catchy as all hell, and just plain fun. The best comparison I can make for it is that it is essentially the Pokemon Poke-Rap that aired after the episodes had finished that covered the then 150 Pokemon with the song being broken up into segments. That’s pretty much what “Super Sentai, Hero Getter” does with the previous thirty four Super Sentai titles, going through the names of the previous thirty four and a brief one line description of the show’s theme. “Super Sentai, Hero Getter” is performed by the various members of Project R.
The third and fourth tracks are instrumental versions of the first two…. sort of. They start out as instrumental versions, but then the background vocals kick in. It just sounds weird, and since I can’t read Kana, I have no idea if they are actually Karaoke tracks that you are supposed to sing with, or not. It definitely makes more sense that way, but I would need much more practice with Japanese before I attempt to use the track as it was possibly intended, but they are worth a listen nonetheless.
All in all, I have to say this was a very satisfactory purchase. I got a CD that has some great music, and because I pre-ordered it, I got some free gifts as well. The CD came with a poster, a Dice-O card (which is useless because they don’t have Dice-O machines outside of Japan) and a Ranger Key (which is useless without out the toy of the Gokaigers’ transformation device, which I do not have, and despite my irrational want of one, I don’t really feel like spending $100 to get it). I am very happy with the CD, but unless you are already a fan of Tokusatsu I can’t really recommend importing it.
Now if only the show these songs were made for were half as enjoyable…
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