For anyone who's waiting for the next Madoka summary (are there any of you?) I apologize -- it's been a busy week. I'll include my thoughts for episode 7 when I do my write-up for episode 8.

For now, here's some sporadic coverage on J-music, which includes only stuff that I'm interested in because I am egocentric like that:



Pop duo angela, who've churned out some amazing songs for Soukyuu no Fafner, Stellvia of the Universe and Asura Cryin', will be in Singapore for Jplex, along with FLOW (who did OPs for Code Geass). I've gone and blown SGD98 (I am so broke now) for tickets to angela's live, and I really hope it'll be worth it, although the 70 minutes performance time sounds a bit short. But it includes a meet-and-greet session, so that'll sweeten the deal a bit. They were amazing when I saw them at Anime Festival Asia, and I'm counting on them to deliver once again.




Onitsuka Chihiro's announced a new single (Aoi Tori) and album (Ken to Kaede) for release on the 6th and 20th of April respectively. Something to look forward to, certainly -- she's an amazing singer and songwriter, and one of few solo J-pop singers I truly admire. She's also releasing an autobiography on the same day as the album release. I would be very interested in reading that, although I doubt it'd get translated. I can't help wondering about the woman behind those beautiful, painful songs, with their depressing outlook on love. And from what I've picked up she's seen some really rough days, especially during her hiatus. And just last year she was the victim of an assault, by a guy she was dating, no less. Ouch.

She also seems to have switched record labels again, from Universal to For Life Music Entertainment...well, as long as it won't impede her ability to put out great music, what label she's with shouldn't matter.



Versailles Philharmonic Quintet's (or just Versailles) new PV Philia came out a few days back. The single for the song itself will be out only on March 15.

It's...a decent song, I suppose. Listenable enough, but I'm not terribly impressed. Might grow on me. It actually sounds more like something I'd expect from Galneryus, more straight-up metal rather than romantic visual rock. But we get the usual guitar harmony between Hizaki and Teru, and I am always a sucker for dual harmonizing guitars.

Loving the black costumes, though. I don't usually pay much attention to costumes (pretty weird for a Visual Kei fan) other than to appreciate the fact that they're in something more interesting to look at than T-shirts and jeans. But those black outfits caught my eye -- they're pretty low-key, by Versailles's standards, but sleek and classy.


He's been around too long to be a young man. But he still looks pretty hot


I can only dream of looking as cute in that dress. Damn, Hizaki

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'll try to get that Madoka entry up within the next couple of days. Stay tuned!