Serment is Kawada Mami's comeback tie-up with the final installment of the Shakugan no Shana series and her first and probably only release under a different label, Warner Home Video. It was used as the second opening theme and was released on February 1, 2012 as her 11th Maxi Single.
Being the last OP for Mami's classic anime tie-up, Serment definitely has a lot of expectations to live up to. After not releasing anything for almost a year, did Serment manage to relive otakus' interest in her music? Was it any better than the past Shana OPs?
Being the last OP for Mami's classic anime tie-up, Serment definitely has a lot of expectations to live up to. After not releasing anything for almost a year, did Serment manage to relive otakus' interest in her music? Was it any better than the past Shana OPs?
Tracklist:
01. Serment
02. u/n
03. Serment (instrumental)
04. u/n (instrumental)
Serment
Lyrics: Kawada Mami
Composition: Tomoyuki Nakazawa
Arrangement: Tomoyuki Nakazawa, Takeshi Ozaki
Serment certainly reignited the "Shana feel".
Serment certainly reignited the "Shana feel".
The song kicks off with a tune that gives the fans of this series a nice, euphoric walk down memory lane. While it may sound generic as per I've's standards, it may also seem like the NakaZaki duo did this on purpose, to generate a sense of nostalgia. And this feat indeed was achieved and the song composition managed to redeem itself.
Serment indeed has the spirit of the past OPs. It lies somewhere between the light, emotional Hishoku no Sora and the rock, badass JOINT. The upbeat progression of synths and guitar riffs at the intro builds up the hype and give you that jolt.The instrumentals were just as expected of I've Sound: catchy, techno-ish, and brilliant.
Kawada Mami then settled with what she does best with her emotional vocals. She definitely needs some praise for both writing the lyrics and the vocals. The lyrics were much suited to the latter half of the series, even moreso her vocals. The emotional ties between Shana and Yuji were best represented by the song, how they've fought through the odds and subsequently being with each other.
A nice song with a nice promotional video. Warner Home Video proved to be better in this aspect than Mami's original label Geneon. As Shana Final's story widened its scope to the whole world, WHV tried to mimic this and filmed Serment in a foreign country instead. And that's a great thing in itself.
The PV is more dynamic and has a logical flow with a planned story to convey. Mami appeared more beautiful than ever. PV-wise, WHV beats and ultimately crushes Geneon with its crappy works in the past, which seemed poorly funded.
Kawada Mami once again came up with a great song as Serment. Nostalgic, lovely, and full of emotions.
Rating: 9.3/10
The B-side is a great track too. u/n is a seamless song offering a country-like feel and a unique tune, probably the most unique sounding song I've Sound has come up with in a while. The instrumentals were light and not overpowering yet enough to keep the listener's attention up until the end.
A toned down pop song almost like a ballad. The vocals were light and gentle too. Calming, actually. It may not be loud and rockier like her other works, and that u/n may seem like a weak and dull track. However, it seems with being soft comes greatness too. The type of song one would like to listen to when in need of classy, jazzy stuffs.
Likeable and nice, yes. u/n managed to cope up and pair with Serment to give a coherent single.
Rating: 8.8/10
Serment is such a strong, solid single that should have been appreciated. I know it was and still is. Unfortunately, sales-wise and rank-wise, that was not the case. It debuted at #13 in the Oricon dailies and #16 on its first week, with 3,864 copies sold.
The 13th spot isn't that low but this single definitely deserved a top ten debut. What's more disappointing was the very low sales. Personally, I don't throw the blame on I've Sound for not making a nice single or WHV for the possible lack on promotions and advertisements. The fact that Shana Final isn't that popular in Japan anymore may be the one to blame. Note that KOTOKO's Light my fire, which is a great track too, debuted at #15 in the dailies.
At times like these when the tie-up gets too weak, I do think sales would be heavily dependent on the fans of Kawada Mami as an artist, those who follow her works. This low sales may be indicative that Mami is yet to be a mainstream artist. If that will happen or not in the future is still uncertain.
Serment single came up with complementing tracks, which are both great in their own ways. Both tracks, being used in the series, represented Shakugan no Shana Final perfectly. It was as if Shana isn't Shana without Kawada Mami singing some of the themes.
With the conclusion of the series, tracks like these will be surely missed. Serment may not beat Mami's past involvements with the said series like Hishoku no Sora and JOINT, but still, it was a great predecessor and it sure managed to live up to expectations. Yet another masterpiece.
Kawada Mami then settled with what she does best with her emotional vocals. She definitely needs some praise for both writing the lyrics and the vocals. The lyrics were much suited to the latter half of the series, even moreso her vocals. The emotional ties between Shana and Yuji were best represented by the song, how they've fought through the odds and subsequently being with each other.
A nice song with a nice promotional video. Warner Home Video proved to be better in this aspect than Mami's original label Geneon. As Shana Final's story widened its scope to the whole world, WHV tried to mimic this and filmed Serment in a foreign country instead. And that's a great thing in itself.
The PV is more dynamic and has a logical flow with a planned story to convey. Mami appeared more beautiful than ever. PV-wise, WHV beats and ultimately crushes Geneon with its crappy works in the past, which seemed poorly funded.
Kawada Mami once again came up with a great song as Serment. Nostalgic, lovely, and full of emotions.
Rating: 9.3/10
u/n
Lyrics: Kawada Mami
Composition and Arrangement: Tomoyuki Nakazawa, Takeshi Ozaki
The B-side is a great track too. u/n is a seamless song offering a country-like feel and a unique tune, probably the most unique sounding song I've Sound has come up with in a while. The instrumentals were light and not overpowering yet enough to keep the listener's attention up until the end.
A toned down pop song almost like a ballad. The vocals were light and gentle too. Calming, actually. It may not be loud and rockier like her other works, and that u/n may seem like a weak and dull track. However, it seems with being soft comes greatness too. The type of song one would like to listen to when in need of classy, jazzy stuffs.
Likeable and nice, yes. u/n managed to cope up and pair with Serment to give a coherent single.
Rating: 8.8/10
Serment is such a strong, solid single that should have been appreciated. I know it was and still is. Unfortunately, sales-wise and rank-wise, that was not the case. It debuted at #13 in the Oricon dailies and #16 on its first week, with 3,864 copies sold.
The 13th spot isn't that low but this single definitely deserved a top ten debut. What's more disappointing was the very low sales. Personally, I don't throw the blame on I've Sound for not making a nice single or WHV for the possible lack on promotions and advertisements. The fact that Shana Final isn't that popular in Japan anymore may be the one to blame. Note that KOTOKO's Light my fire, which is a great track too, debuted at #15 in the dailies.
At times like these when the tie-up gets too weak, I do think sales would be heavily dependent on the fans of Kawada Mami as an artist, those who follow her works. This low sales may be indicative that Mami is yet to be a mainstream artist. If that will happen or not in the future is still uncertain.
Serment single came up with complementing tracks, which are both great in their own ways. Both tracks, being used in the series, represented Shakugan no Shana Final perfectly. It was as if Shana isn't Shana without Kawada Mami singing some of the themes.
With the conclusion of the series, tracks like these will be surely missed. Serment may not beat Mami's past involvements with the said series like Hishoku no Sora and JOINT, but still, it was a great predecessor and it sure managed to live up to expectations. Yet another masterpiece.
Serment sounds like a mix of JOINT and Hishoku no sora.
ReplyDeleteThe sales of the single is weak compared to her previous Shana tie-ups (same with Kotoko). But yeah, who cares, i will always love Kawada no matter what.
Thanks for the visit and the comment Janelle!! :)
ReplyDeleteSame here. I don't care about the sales as long as she releases great music.
Hi... A nice blog!
ReplyDeleteI think although serment achieve a good composition but it still lack some element and easily be forgotten, but i super like u/n this song! Maybe just the genre of music i like, haha... By the way, well done of this single.
Appreciate to your effort of keep updating the news of mami and i will continue to tracking your blog :)
Thanks a lot for the visit and the comment!
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to keep updating news of Mami's career :)
Good review. While Serment isn't as good as JOINT or Hishoku no Sora, it was still awesome. Actually #13 is quite good already. Too bad the sales were disappointing. I'm actually quite upset about. It only shows that Mami isn't popular in Japan :'( And yes you're right that Shana isn't popular in Japan anymore: Final apparently sold about 2000 copies which is quite poor.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, being affliated with Warner is a good thing. Geneon is not a good label anymore, so she should stick with Warner. But, as sales go, even Warner isn't much of an improvement. Maybe she should be with Avex (which seems to like techno) or SME Records so that she can collaborate with Yuki Kajiura, who is way ahead of Kazuya; Tomoyuki, Maiko and C.G.mix.
If she was at SME, who knows, she could collaborate with ClariS, Kalafina, LiSA, or even FictionJunction!
ReplyDeleteWith that out of the way, I'm quite disappointed about Mami's lack of popularity. I can't think of the reason why. It's not I've (KOTOKO became popular with I've involvement), it's not her tie-ups (all her anime starting from Shana have been high profile), it's not even her label(s) (I think Geneon has a few high-profile artists, and so does Warner).
Why do you think Mami isn't that popular? What is she doing wrong? Is it simply a lack of promotion?
ReplyDeleteHopefully, that will change this year. She has not one, but two releases next month. If the Index movie becomes a hit, then she can reach a new high in her career. It's too bad she keeps her age a secret so I can't consult the Chinese zodiac if she will have a good year. Maybe we can ask Ricky Lo and his psychic friends?
P.S. Sorry for splitting these comments. I'm typing this on my Android phone and it's a pain to type... Also, I find it sad and ironic that Mami's favorite singer Alanis Morissette has been to the Philippines (16 years ago) but Mami herself has apparently not.
I actually have a hypothesis on why Mami isn't as popular as we wish her to be, unlike KOTOKO. KOTOKO gained her popularity when? It was on around 2005 or so, when her albums and singles have been charting so high, even as high as #4 in the charts. And you could notice a significant and consistent drop in the chart positions of her succeeding singles and albums. The reason for this probably was the birth of the now popular idol groups in Japan, AKB48 etc. Now, there are like, about 10 or so, of these cutesy, girly idol groups - the in thing. Or if not for these idol groups, let's say, the birth of new mainstream artists.
ReplyDeleteThis applies to Mami too. Her first album seed, and her first two singles charted high enough, actually her seed album was her highest charting album to date. Then, her succeeding singles dropped ranks in the charts. I say Mami was on her way to be on the level of fame KOTOKO has now, but her career started a bit later than KOTOKO, and Mami experienced the advent of these idol groups earlier in her career, and hence, was not able to reach popularity, up until now.
Another thing, is that KOTOKO enjoyed the fresh and raw works from I've Sound in her early career, since 2002 or so. And you would notice that the I've producers make much better music for KOTOKO than for Mami, even until now. It seems they play it safe for Mami probably because they fear it would not sell as high. Plus, they always give KOTOKO all the tie-ups back in the days, which is so unfair for Mami and the rest of the group.
As much as I also like Mami to switch to WHV for good, or on another label like Avex, I don't think that's possible. I don't know, I just don't see it coming.
So, there goes! Now, Mami's releases only rank at an average of about #15 to #10. I hope the Index movie will be a hit too, I have my fingers crossed but I'm not expecting much, since JC Staff is taking a hell lot of time to release more of their probably most popular anime series today. They should have made this movie or released this movie last year, and make the season 3 (if there will be one) this year. They're so slow that the fans may get tired of waiting, just like what happened with Shana. And with that, the sales for Mami's singles tied up with Index in the future will drop low in the charts.