Sakai no Labyrinth

Saikai no labyrinth – Kawai Sonoko

Want to see someone on top of their game?

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Jessy

Jessy – Kawai Sonoko

It’s a rule i usually follow, that once a band, group or artist reach their “mature” stage, i let them go, keeping them to all they did before and nothing after. It works more often than not, but i would lay the mature work of Kawai Sonoko as an exception on the side of that not. It just seemed a transformation she had been waiting to make; that every sweet, cute, hopeful thing she had sang about before was transferable wholly to the storm, despondence and loss of faith that hits growing up. These are the last breaths of it, after which comes not resignation.

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Koi no Chapter A to Z

Koi no chapter A to Z – Kawai Sonoko

The Onyanko Club were not known for their dancing. They weren’t known for their singing either, but dancing for them consisted never more than a shuffling of the feet and meaningful hand gestures, and then done rather clumsily. But there’s magic working around that. Today’s case is what is done during this song. Starting with all members in front of Sonoko and her four back up singers, they shuffle off to the wings when the song enters its verse. The camera closes in on Sonoko as she sings her solo, and then in some miracle of time and space the camera zooms out to reveal everyone now behind her. It’s the smallest thing, really, but it took my breath away the first time i saw it, it did.

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Aishuu No Carnaval

Aishuu no carnaval – Kawai Sonoko

(sic) It is spelled like that on the cover, but it should be “carnival.” It’s the cataloguer in me that mandates it being replicated it as written. Carnival of Sadness. That sure is a Kawai Sonoko song title. And it sure is a Kawai Sonoko song. This was off her Rouge et Bleu album which puts it at the height of her Idol flowing with European Romance stage. And she was, in everything. Her stage outfit for this song’s promotion might be my favourite of all. All clothes ever sewn.

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Sunday, June 2nd:
Loveable – Kim Jong Kook

Monday, June 3rd:
50th and Bay – Dirt Bike Annie

Tuesday, June 4th:
Aishu no carnaval – Kawai Sonoko

Yup.

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Jessy

Jessy – Kawai Sonoko

The person who posts Onyanko Club videos on youtube for only a few hours every night has been scraping other barrels recently, and for the past few nights has been posting video of a kind of televised Evening with Sonoko. She talks to the small audience, introduces her songs and then sings them. Perfect. Last night it was this song’s turn, hence it being here now. The instant she takes to snap from her goofy introduction to the pose and propensity to carry this song is the instant it takes to birth a universe.

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Saikai no Labyrinth

Saikai no labyrinth – Kawai Sonoko

I don’t have any great new insight on this song like i did yesterday’s. I wish i did. I wish i knew everything about it. This was Sonoko’s fourth single and her third number one. It was one of her first singles released after she had graduated from the Onyanko Club, and i think it’s the first indication of the more mature path she would take throughout the rest of her career. No longer tethered to the requirements of the Onyanko image, she was then now able to grow away from her sad girl still in hope and faith of rescue to the lone, despondent figure carrying every perfect, painful, plaintive innervation love conditions on us. 欧風ロマン溢れるアイドルポップス.

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Ochiba no Crescendo

Ochiba no cresendo – Kawai Sonoko

As sketchy as a lot of the Onyanko Club singers were, especially when removed from the frenzy of the club, at least there was Sonoko. This doesn’t extend to their songs, they universally being all kinds of fantastic. Just without the personalities behind them a lot of these recordings would admittedly be a little grating. Moreso though they aren’t channeled as divinely as they should be. At least there was Sonoko.

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Ochiba no Cresendo

Ochiba no cresendo – Kawai Sonoko

I don’t know how the rest of the Onyanko Club felt about Sonoko, nor how any of them felt about any other, but she seemed very much to be on her own, isolated from the rest of the group. Her popularity from the fans and her solo opportunities may have aided setting her apart, and i can’t imagine as many people as the Onyanko Club working together without incident of rivalry, but i’d like for there not to have been. I can’t declare either way, but obviously it’s eating up at me. Not Sonoko! She’s always detached, whether not joined in on the downtime revelry and mischief, sitting alone, or at her and Nakajima Miharu’s graduation concert, where one of the club (i think one of the Watanabes) runs to hug Miharu when she was meant to hug Sonoko.

She dormed with Sanae Jonouchi, and they seemed to get along quite well. Mamiko seemed close to her as well. Maybe Sonoko is just a quiet, reserved person and the others respected that, or couldn’t get past it to get to know her. That’s what reasoning i use to explain my own solitude. Anyway, this is all speculation, and i might be projecting the melancholy Sonoko of her songs on to her as a person, if they were ever that separate. Speculation again. I just want everyone to get along.

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Saikai no Labyrinth

Saikai no labyrinth – Kawai Sonoko

I watched a million different videos of this song last night, but of course none of them are still online. There goes my plan of posting a video to get out of writing something for a repeated song. What is online is a karaoke video of someone singing this song, the camera pointed at the video screen holding their point of view so you can pretend its you. People have their entire channels dedicated to their karaoke performances. People have their jobs dedicated to filming the videos that play under the songs and lyrics. It’s a wonderful thing.

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