ディズニー 声の王子様第2章～Love Stories～
Company: DisneyBased on: Disney song covers
Released: 2012.09.19
Official site: http://www.disney.co.jp/records/DLS/
This CD is all about popular seiyuu singing various Disney songs. The theme this time is love stories, although only some of the songs fit that theme. Other.... not so much. There are two versions: a regular edition that has only one CD, but an extra track that isn't on the limited edition. The limited edition on the other hand, has a second CD with duet songs.
Normally I'm not that much of a fan of seiyuu songs (with some exceptions) but this was just too interesting to pass up on. I'll review the CD track-by-track.
01. 白雪姫 ―朗読― (Snow White -Reading-) / Ishida Akira
This is a reading of Snow White (Disney version) done by Ishida-san. They did a good job of condensing the entire movie into just 20min of talking, although sometimes the lines that Ishida-san voiced as one of the characters seemed a tiny bit random. What I absolutely loved though is that they seem to have used the actual music from the movie. My nostalgia meters went to the max hearing some of the BGMs, and I instantly remembered the scenes from the movie. So all in all, a very good reading.
02. ハイ・ホー (Heigh-Ho)(Snow White) / Kamiya Hiroshi.
This song is so addictive!! I had completely forgotten about the first part of the song, so I hardly recognised it in the beginning (not to mention that the lyrics are completely different than in the original English version xD). But this song is so cheerful an addictive. Really, when you listen to it you become all cheerful and you just to have to sing along. One of my favourite ones.
03. キス・ザ・ガール (Kiss the Girl) (Little Mermaid) / Shimono Hiro
I predicted that this would be one of the cutest things ever - and it is. The entire song becomes so cute, and I love the arrangement. But more than anything: it is so incredibly cuuuuttteeeeee. That is all that needs to be said.
04. ユール・ビー・イン・マイ・ハート(you'll be in my heart) / Seki Tomokazu.
Was Seki Tomokazu his voice this high? I feel like I'm mixing the images of the different Seki's in my head. This is a good song, but the original has been locked into my heart so deep that there is simply no way that it can compare to that. But it is still good.
05. ララルー (Lalalu)(Lady and the Tramp) / Sakurai Takahiro
In case you are wondering, this is the lullaby from Lady and the Tramp. No idea whether it was written for the movie or already existed though. As cute as this song is, and no matter how much I love Sakurai his voice, singing doesn't seem to be his forte. But this is Sakurai singing a lullaby, so all my arguments are invalid, even against myself xD
06. 愛のうたごえ (Love is a Song)(Bambi) / Midorikawa Hikaru
I'll have to admit that I only saw Bambi once when I was very little, and I have as good as no memories about it. So obviously I don't remember thing song either. As a result it has no nostalgia value what-so-ever, which has the end result that I don't really like it. Least favourite song on the CD.
07. ベラ・ノッテ (Bella Notte)(Lady and the Tramp) / Okiayu Ryoutarou
This song is perfection. Sue me, but it is. The arrangement is beautiful, but even more than that Okiayu-san his voice is perfect for this kind of song. Definitely my favourite song on the entire CD.
08. いつでも一緒 (Good Company)(Oliver&Co) / Okamoto Nobuhiko
Cuteness attack number two. What I love is that the music breaks into an semi-epic arrangement somewhere halfway though, and then returns to the simple piano tune to repeat the beginning again. But as can be expected from Okamoto: cuteness all over the place.
09. グレイト・スピリット (Great Spirit) / Yamadera Kouichi
Yamadera-san seems to be getting all the truly epic songs (he did The Circle of Life on the first Koe no Oujisama). He gets away with it though. He really has a good singing voice for these kind of songs, although my real surprise came on disc 2. I can't recall the original song (besides it being epic) but I love this one anyway.
10. 塔の上のラプンツェル ―朗読― (Tangled -reading-) / Yamadera Kouichi
As good as the first one was, this one felt far too hasty. I almost ran out of breath just listening to it. I'd also like to ask how much someone who hasn't seen the movie actually understands what is going on, because I don't think it is the most logical way of telling the story either. What really surprised me is that they used the original English version of the healing incantation ("Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine", etc). It sort of felt out of place, although it is a very pretty song. If they would have cut all the lines that Yamadera-san reads in character, I think they could have avoided the rushed feeling that the story has now.
Like I said, the second disc is full of duet songs. It has only four songs, but they are each featured three times: the first time it is a normal duet between two seiyuu, the other two are like karaoke versions in which you yourself can sing a duet with one of the seiyuu. I'll only review each song once though.
01. 美女と野獣 (Beauty and the Beast) / Seki Tomokazu & Okiayu Ryoutarou
They somehow managed to turn this song into a duet. Seki-san his part is amazing, he nearly makes a convincing woman here. Unfortunately their voices don't really seem to match... Okiayu-san his voice sounds far too low in the duet version, but in the version with him alone it doesn't feel unnatural at all.
02. ハクナ・マタタ (Hakuna Matata) / Shimono Hiro & Okamoto Nobuhiko
Cuteness overload here. One of them sings Timon and the other Pumba, and they switch roles and repeat the song halfway though. Unfortunately, neither of them makes a convincing Pumba xD. And they left out some of the jokes, which is a pity. The refrain is incredibly cute and catchy though. Trying to sing along in one of the karaoke versions is a bit tricky due to there not really being a melody.
03. 輝く未来 (I see the Light - Tangled) / Midorikawa Hikaru & Sakurai Takahiro
This time it is Midorikawa his turn to sing a female role. Which he does rather convincing. Maybe this is because I love the original too much, but Sakurai his voice seems a bit to high for his part. In this song it also more obvious that singing isn't really his thing. Also, in the duet version it doesn't stand out too much but in his solo version you can clearly hear him going "sekaIIII ga maru de..." xD As far as the love songs go, this is one of the better ones though.
04. みんなネコになりたいのさ (Everybody wants to be a cat) / Yamadera Kouichi x2
This is the song that completely blew my mind. Not just because it has an amazing arrangement and I love this kind of jazzy music, but because I would have never guessed that this is sang by one person (although I'm not sure about the voice of Marie -the little cat- in the end...). I swear, one of the singing voices could be a convincing imitation of Louis Armstrong, while the other one is completely normal. If you compare all the different tracks in which Yamadera-san speaks/sings they all seem so different it just amazes me.
I like most of the songs. I still think that most seiyuu -save for some exceptions- aren't the best singers, but the fact that these are all Disney songs, nice arrangements, and/or just incredibly cute makes up for that. Some of these songs are just so cute and addictive I can't help but to love them
