You'd think that the most vocal anime fan of the group (and arguably this site) would instantly be over-the-moon for J-rock (as well as J-pop and their Korean counterparts) due to being familiar with anime and being relatively plunged in to an anime community, specifically MyAnimeList in my case, and that I would have been the more appropriate person to add this to the list. Well, the truth is often stranger than fiction. Though anime is within my top three interests, that interest is topped by tech death and prog metal by a relatively wide margin (with video games between the two), partially as a way counteract the negative stigmas that some people still hold on to about anime and anime fans. It goes as far as my wardrobe mainly consisting of band t-shirts of groups that I actually listen to, and, back in 2019, I bought an Ibanez GRX20 with the aspirations of being another disciple of Chuck Schuldiner. Balancing anime and death metal is a dichotomy that I've enjoyed about myself for over a decade; sort of having my cake and eating it too between appearing as one of the "cool metal guys" while keeping anime as a relative guilty pleasure depending on who I'm talking to. I mention all of that to say, despite wanting to take the reins on hosting for the music club for this week because of how J-rock is closely associated with anime, and I do a bit more than just merely wear being an anime fan on my sleeve in online spaces, my expectations were pretty low due to me wanting to maintain the separation between a type of media that I like but still has a nerdy stigma attached to it, and my musical interests which feel like they're on the opposite end of being a nerd. But, I might as well let the cat out of the bag: Despite me not wanting to like this album, I ended up liking this album.
This would be the point where I'd go through a few anime OPs and EDs and use J-rock to showcase my familiarity with the genre and give favorable comparisons to PassCode as a way to describe what I like about the album. And, sure, there are a couple here and there like Don't Say "Lazy" from K-On and Endless Soul from Ikkitousen, those are the only two that I can bring to the table. The groups that actually come more to mind are Anamanaguchi (for the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game soundtrack) and Mindless Self Indulgence for the electropunk portion of the group, and bits of Jinjer, Kittie and Halestorm to represent the loud rock elements. Since my anime references are already outnumbered, I doubt that needing to be familiar with anime is necessary to become accustomed to J-rock, and I instead purpose the idea that there are groups of non-Japanese artists that can be likened to J-rock and have possibly influenced the genre; especially now-a-days where various communities and fandoms can easily be seen by one another thanks to various music and video streaming sites and social media. Also, Lady Gaga teaming up with the K-pop group Blackpink for Sour Candy was a thing two years ago, so I think it's fair to say that more eastern and western artists are becoming more interested in collaborating with one another these days, which further supports my theory.
Now, to finally talk about the music itself: I am very glad that the vocals don't resemble Motteke Sailor Fuku from Lucky Star, but instead played it straight with vocals. Instead of being shrill and annoying, they more or less err on the side of being the usual female-fronted rock vocals, albeit with some growls to have the bit of edge to the album, the latter of which signified to me that this album was going to be more enjoyable that I expected. The second signifier were to the synth passages and drum patterns. Again, I'm likening them to Anamanaguchi and Mindless Self Indulgence as my points a familiarity with electro rock and chiptune, and that same type a variety also works in Clarity by being the highest points of excitement for the album which lets the sung vocals and guitars be resting points. So even with the first two tracks, Projection and Dive into the Light in mind, this album surprisingly has a good amount of qualities that I generally want in music. Though I predictably like the high-octane track the most, Horoscope is an appreciated moment of calm for the album. It's very reminiscent of Chieko Kawabe's Be Your Girl from Elfen Lied.
So, with all of that said, despite my doubts, reservations, and expecting to place this album in the same tier as Michael Monroe, this album has a very high likelihood for being my greatest guilty pleasure of the group playlist so far. However, despite me making a case for separating this album and J-rock from anime soundtracks (and referencing four shows), I can only see myself listening to either this album or J-rock when I'm in the very specific mood for it, like when I'm playing a racing game and I apply anime liveries to my cars. But even if I don't put this album in rotation very often: Instead of just writing off J-rock because of how cringey the anime community can be about Japanese and Korean artists, especially the female-fronted bands, I can now say that I've listened to at least one J-rock album and I ended up liking it.
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