Pieces of Tomorrow: the Image Song
The Review

I love the Kenshin soundtracks. I love Gentatsu. So why was I hesitant about listening to his image song again, besides the disastrous first run-in when I HATED it? "We Are." "More than Words." "Blue Eyes Blue." Gourry's image songs. Tamahome in general. In other words, some voice actors can't sing. Example: Midorikawa Hikaru has a great speaking voice- there's just something so neat about it! But the second you put it to music... Torture. I heard Zel singing, and that was the end. The boy just isn't nearly as cool anymore. I was rather wary of image songs for a while.

The first time I heard "Ashita no Kakera", I listened to it streamed off a site. In mono. On crappy built-in computer speakers. (*sniffle* isn't that awful? It makes me want to cry!)

Once I got past the awful quality, it's kind of your stereotypical anime pop song. When Sasaki Nozomu starts singing, it's very soft and kinda introspective sounding, like Gentatsu is portrayed in the movie. It speeds up a bit at the bridge before launching into a horribly catchy chorus. And I mean horrible, because the damn thing got stuck in my head for a week and I didn't know any of the words! (I know some now:) I fell in love with it because there's something about "tsubasa" in the first chorus. "Tsubasa" is one of my favorite Japanese words, and any song with it in it is guaranteed a place in my heart.

The chorus, although catchy, isn't as pretty as the verses in terms of the music. But Sasaki-san's voice is pretty nice, with a throaty/nasal quality that I personally love (hence my adoration of La'cryma Christi's Taka and Lariene's Kamijo). It's sweet. He strains a bit at the higher notes, but it doesn't ruin the effect unless you know your music. Gentatsu is very much a piano person, I think, so the music suits him.

I love this song, now. The first time I heard it, I thought it was awful, especially compared to "Ice Blue Eyes", which is one of my all time favorites. But hearing a better version of it, and sitting through the whole thing without the buffering kicking in, and then FINALLY getting a CD with it on it (thank goddess), I appreciate it much more. It's one of my favorite driving songs.

And yes, I despise Tamahome. I've only seen four episodes and was already hoping someone would strangle the little brat. Although I love some his lines -_-;;