A I K O

Now known as ReinaLoverai because of account suspension, Aiko has been a busy little bee. So much that I was constantly seeing her username pop up among the others on my subs list. I was and still am way behind on things, and I was thinking; I could bang out an entry about all of her latest releases and kill two birds with one stone! Well, I mean A) I'd catch up on Aiko & B) my subs list would be a little clearer, lol.

As y'all have noticed, there have been some other dubbers writing some reviews here and there. Things are still in the works, and Kappa has been nice enough to steadily help me while they are. For this entry I have asked some of the team to review a recent dub of Aiko's, so it's not only me blabbing on, but also so y'all get a variety of points of view & comments. So without further rambling, here we go;

These just ended up being all duets~




SONGS by A2 [Reinaloverai / LovelyBeige] / Review by Hikki / Let's get this review thang starteeed~! Well, I have SONGS covered by A2 on my platter. So without beating around the bush, I'll just get started on my review! Anyway, A2 is a duet group by ReinaLoverAi and LovelyBeige, and their name comes from the fact that their stage names are both Ai.

So, the first person to sing is LovelyBeige! First thing that came to my mind, which people are probably going to hate me for saying is that I think that the instrumental was a tad bit too loud. Or maybe it's just my lame headphones, I'm not sure. But besides their volume level, I need to say that I heard LovelyBeige's voice a bit back and I'm absolutely amazed at how much she has improved! Her voice is so mature and strong, and do I detect a small vibrato there? I really love it. It's not going overboard, and it sounds really great!

So well, after Beige's solo, I had already gotten lost and had to open up their handy-dandy color-coded lyrics. Then I found out they color coded the names "Ai" and "Ai". WHICH WAS CONFUSING! Well, I believe that Beige has the blue lines and Aiko has the red lines, so I'm just going to base everything on that.

Well, back to the dub. Aiko's solo (0:55) is absolutely amazing! I really adore her voice! She has so much energy and attitude! And her voice sounds similar to Reina's. I don't know if she was imitating or not, but nonetheless, it still sounded great! Another thing I noticed is the amount of static in the lines, so that caught my attention, however I don't believe that it's enough to diminish the quality of the dub (well, not alot at least.) Their voices blend fabulously though.

If I didn't have the color coded lyrics, I wouldn't have known when they were singing together or not. I think Beige's voice was overpowering Aiko's a bit though, because I hear her voice the most during the duet lines. Back to Beige's solo at 1:21, I could hear her strain her voice at "Sing a song", but once again, it didn't stand out to me like: "OMG. THAT KILLS THE DUB".

Okay, I think I just realized, if I comment on every single solo, this entry is going to be insanely long. On a side note, Aiko's first "Yes", is like....the sexiest thing on the planet. The solos after the instrumental break are great, high energy, good pitching (or at least I didn't hear any big mess ups) and sassy attitude! By this point, it's clear to me that these girls are really strong singers (I'm quite slow, ahaaa). And finally, the song ends with another sexy "Yes" by Beige, and Aiko closing with a powerful 'Let's sing a song'.




Takahashi Ai - Ai [lovelybeige]
Tanaka Reina - Ai [reinaloverai]

Kioku no Meiro by [A2] / Review by Aya / Double Ai! How's that commercial go? Double your pleasure, double your fun! I would say that applies now, except these two are way better than some minty gum. But for this I shall be refering to them as Aiko and Ai. I really like this song, it's super catchy!! I am a little disappointed that the crowd sounds and stuff weren't added, but the amazing vocals make it worth listening to.

Ai starts the dub off fabulously! I adore the melody of the beginning (which reoccurs again too). Her first solo is a soft start to the song with quick lyrics that she does a good really good job on. I loved her "nioi" !! Right after her is Aiko, on the same melody. lol, I actually liked the same exact parts by both girls - the end of their first line; though the lyrics for Aiko are "koto yo."

There are times when Aiko really suits Reina; it's not that she sounds like her, but a few times when I'm listening / watching, I'm like; 'wow she really sounded Reina-like there.' If that makes any sense, lol. Like at 1:10 on her "Dakishimeta yoru." Ai nailed her Ai lines (LOL AiAi)

And I like the 'Ah's a lot (1:27), they turned out really well. The chorus of this song is so freaking catchy!! & Ai and Aiko totally rocked it! Both of the girls sound fantastic, and have many awesome solos throughout the song. Aiko's "sugita wa" at 2:29 was EPIC! I adore her emotion! Ai's solo at 2:42 is probably my favorite of hers overall, she sounds fabulous. I really like her mature voice. Even though this review is kind of lame, I really did enjoy this dub!




DESTINY LOVE by ReinaLoverai ft. airuchu / Review by Kappa / I absolutely. loathe. this. song. I think it is like the most half-baked idea of Tsunku's ever and it frustrates me to no end. Nonetheless, I chose this one to talk about because I felt I would... actually HAVE something to talk about, so. Here we go! I'll try to be unbiased about this dub despite my bias about the song itself.

I thought both of these girls did a really good job handling the tricky tempo of this song without sounding too energetic or completely dead. Songs like this can be really hard to figure out how to sing, but they both did a great job here. I have to admit that I can't tell who is who in this, because of a lack of information in the description box, and because both of them sound really similar to my ear, so forgive me from not picking out girls individually to talk about. Even though I can't tell who is who, they both sound really good. I am especially a fan of whoever did the rapping solos in the first half of the rap.

One thing that I didn't really like/understand was what was done to the Reina solo at 3:39. I can see where she was going with that, but the extra notes on that solo made it a bit overkill since Ai does something similar in the next line. The microphone maxing out also was kind of harsh and that probably bothered me more than anything, I think.

The mixing on this is pretty good. I liked the echos a lot and they were actually in time, which is a plus. I would have liked to see an actual live mix out of this, but I'm also biased there because I think... everything should be a live mix if there's a live video to go with it. Overall, a good job though, and it's worth listening to!




SEXY BOY by Aiko [ReinaLoverAi & japangaruuz] / Review by Ayu / This is totally catchy, right from the very first verse. Energy is 100% and excellent pithing overall. BLENDING is the word to describe this duet. From 0:28 to 0:37 amazes me a lot. The "shizen nara" at 0:45 is so good, my favorite solo in the first part. Followed by the "nao waru yo ne." It sounds like more than 2 people- Very energetic and blended. "yasashisa wo tsurete kita" at 0:57 until 1:00 is very good Reina voice. Cute, nostalgic and powerful at the same time.

The "IPPAI Kitai" parts are WIN!!! Sound so real. From 1:47 to 1:52 "Sugoi no ne akirechau wa" is my VERY favorite part of the dub, loved the energy in the "chau waaaa" part. "Watakushi" at 2:00 is be-a-u-ti-ful! Since 3:11 it becomes more powerful, solos are very good, and the final "soyokaze ni yorisotte" part at 3:42 is awesome, great finale for a great duet.
LOVED IT, definitely favorite SEXY BOY duet.