in all seriousness though, it's pretty amazing seeing how somebody with no idea who these characters are, their history or relationship to each other, can so accurately pinpoint such precise details about them just through their vocals. it really goes to show how much work hiroki-san and jun-san (and all the enstars VAs) have put into developing their character's voice both separately and as a unit.
The way he was on point when he said how their different voices become one and that they are each other’s half is basically what their development has been about 😭 remember how in the official relationship chart they are linked as “my only partner in this world” and “my one and only”
PLEASE listen to their other songs "Shukufuku no Library" or "Acanthe"! Both showcase their voices really well and I would LOVE to hear how they can make their voices sound like how they do. Valkyrie's music always tells a story so listening to one of their songs is a new experience everytime. So glad you did Valkyrie !!!
You got the title right. The Time of Flowers. 1:24: No, only one character (Aira Shiratori) in this series is quarter French. The leader of Valkyrie, Shu Itsuki, just really loves French culture and his character is centered heavily around French aesthetic. He basically moved to France in current years of the story. His catchphrase is "Non!" and he uses "Très Bien!" frequently so... He's basically a French weeb. lol 2:43 Shu (pink hair) is the leader of Valkyrie and has historically had issues with power and control with his unitmates. This got so bad it made his unitmates miserable. Nazuna Nito (blonde hair) was originally from Valkyrie and left to join Ra*bits after Valkyrie faced a humiliating defeat during a concert showdown of sorts where two or more units face off and win based on votes. So this is great that you were able to get that feeling in the first few seconds of listening to them! You're very skilled and I love your grasp on music and voices. 4:49 Valkyrie is based around perfection and portraying art in Shu's ideal vision. They have a strong war/anthem theme which you would be able to hear very strongly in the song Raisanka. 8:25 Love that you got the feeling that Mika supports Shu. Mika follows and supports Shu in the story even when Shu was having an intense breakdown and Nazuna left. The turning point of the story is now that Shu is trying to help Mika grow as a human and artist. 10:10 It's a mobile game so you can enjoy it on iOS or Android, but you can play it on PC as well. ensemblestars.com/ If you decide to check Valkyrie again, PLEASE check out Sei Shounen Yuugi and Sajou no Roukaku. This includes Nazuna, and Nazuna's voice actor had to train really hard to get that countertenor sound for the chorus as Nazuna in Valkyrie was supposed to be a treble. In the story, as his voice was changing, he was suppressed from singing live on stage (to the point that he was discouraged from speaking at all) because his changing voice did not suit Shu's vision for Valkyrie. The reason people were so intent on having you review Valkyrie was because the fandom unanimously agrees that they have the best music and vocalists.
No, but srsly, you accurately described the bond between Shu and Mika just by listening to them and watching the mv. I always believed that Mika's voice is overshadowed when he sings with other characters but now with what you said everything makes sense, Mika's voice really complements Shu's voice very well, they are half of the each other 🥺
@@proudpichamon460 Nope, in the story Shu's grandfather wanted a living funeral so he made the entire family do a 'funeral contest' and Shu and Mika won and preformed an opera based on Shu's grandad's life (it was a gay love story) le temps des fleurs was a song made for the performance
I'd really love it if you checked out one of 2wink songs; they're a duo of twins (identical) but they're voiced by one man (Souma Saito) so it's really fascinating to hear how he switches between the two of them when they (he) sings :D a suggestion is to listen to one of their earlier songs and then one of their more recent ones, like Turbulent Storm Edit: The twins' names are Hinata (Older brother, hair clips on the left, right handed) and Yuuta (Younger brother, hair clips on the right, left handed) Here are some proper suggestions! Kangei 2wink Zatsugidan ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--Z-hgUnoR_s.htmlsi=-6mhvo2P4Fl_SEZp Play "Tag" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--f4gvmbpTwk.htmlsi=5VE3FKNX8JHUusE2 (both early songs) And then a few of the later ones: Turbulent Storm ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8zgzVLVIAUU.htmlsi=PbzVmLudxbH2UB5h and Love×me⇄monsteR ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z6aRRd_3X7w.htmlsi=0yauBaePdkartuxL
watching these videos as an ensemble stars fan is so fun to me because i also love how much extra personality the voices give the characters!!! especially the twins, they have the same voice actor and very similar voices but yet they somehow still have very different voices. but im not a professional i cant really explain it lol its sooo interesting i love analyzing vocals/voices
Acanthe by Valkyrie 👀 another classic from them.. all valk discography is just too good i could keep talking about it aaaa great analysis! very happy to see it!
The whole thing you're talking about with the unison and regiment is really accurate to the types of stuff Valkyrie sings. One of the reasons they're so perfectly attuned to the other is that they used to play the roles of puppet (Mika - black hair) and puppetmaster (Shu - pink hair) and as their story progresses, Mika learns to become more human and Shu learns to treat him like one (long story, they've been through a lot) In their earlier songs you can literally see Shu's hands guiding him like he's holding the strings. Another thing about their synchronization: Shu is the leader and puts a lot of emphasis on the traditional/classical arts, so the songs are a big reflection of that, being big performances with the set designs compared to a lot of other groups. (and the French thing, Shu is a big fan of the country and the art/fashion scene. in the current part of the story, he's living in France and going to university there to study art and fashion)
Would love to see your thoughts on 麗しのナイチンゲール (uruwashi no nightingale), it's my absolute favourite song of Valkyrie that finally got added to the game as playable. Thank you for this great review! I don't really have much else to add from what others have already commented, I hope you enjoy more of Enstars music, there's a lot of great songs in the game. Valkyrie holds a special place in my heart, so I'm happy to see more people hear them! Especially outside Japan. 😊❣ As for where to play the game, it's a mobile rhythm game! It's available on iOS and Android. I believe the English version also has a PC version? Hope you enjoy it!
If he will do Uruwashi no nightingale don't take the MV version please 🙏 The MV version is beautiful, but it cuts out beautiful parts that give me goosebumps Sam Scott-Thorne, if u read this, NECESSARILY listen FULL Uruwashi no nightingale, this perfection
Ensemble Stars is a rhythm game that you can play on mobile ! To sum it up shortly : you tap-tap notes to win games (or rather, to make your idols' lives a success lol) and you can read their stories. The story is cool and well written ; the gameplay is fun and pretty easy to understand. And since there are so many groups (51 idols in total), it is impossible not to find one that you like 👏
"Is there a story" Yes, but its rather complicated. The story actually starts in a game called Ensemble Stars! Basic which is an idol training game where you play as the very first student of the Producer Course in an Idol School called Yumenosaki Academy. The songs and music videos are from its sequel game Ensemble Stars!! Music, where you are still the same student but now work in Ensemble Square which is an establishment meant to be a utopia for idols. Both of these games are mobile-based, but Ensemble Stars! Basic only has a japanese version while Ensemble Stars!! Music has a jp, eng, ch, and kr version if im not mistaken. Though like many others said, the story gets wild and sometimes you might not even be sure if this is still an idol story but thats whats fun about it. These idols get very... eccentric :D
With all the criticism that Black Out See Saw had at the time, I'm very curious to know what he would say about the rhythm and the voices hahahah I wish I had Patreon
please please please do meikyuu denshi kairo by valkyrie it's so good and a complete different vibe from this one . valkyrie has really good range in terms of aesthetics ( ?? ) or just sound in general especially in the last few years . the older songs are definitely more militaristic , my boyfriend and i like to make jokes about some songs sounding like boss music . in terms of older songs i'd definitely check out last lament and when it comes to the newer ones , aside from meikyuu denshi i'd say uruwashi no nightingale is DEFINITELY worth having a listen to . truly beautiful song and , like with le temps , the choreo perfectly lends to the musical story being told
I am so happy that you did Valkyrie!! They are my absolute favorite of all time and I was smiling like an idiot the entire time while watching this video 😂 Your comments are so insightful, thank you for this video!! 🥹💞💞
its majorly impressive how much you were able to gather about them from one song- and this one also happens to be very important to them as a unit so it makes a lot of sense!!! i think that most valkyrie songs are very vocally charged but uruwashi no nightingale has some absolutely incredible moments. i definitely think undead (a different unit) would be worth looking at because their voices have distinctively different vibes, at least to me xd
I love how you break down the songs! The way you seem to predict so much about the characters and their relationships just from their singing/the music comes to show just how well thought-out this game is. I would love to see you react to more enstars! For Valkyrie I would love Miwakugeki since its a classic of this unit (and a song they did at the very start of their journey so it would be a fun comparison to shit one!) and Seishounen Yuugi from before the disbandment (they used to be a 3 person unit in the story of the game). For other units I would love to see your reaction to old-Fine's Genuine revelation, Eden's Genesis, Exceed and Melting Rouge soul, Crazy B's Yubisaki no ariadne and Akatsuki's Hyakka Ryouran. Also as an Izumi fan I would love to see you cover Or the Beautiful Golden Drop from Knights or Izumi's newest solo Alta Moda
I’m so glad you reviewed Valkyrie!! A very large part of the Ensemble Stars fanbase believes they’re the best unit in the game (including me). Out of all of the idols that sing in the game, Shu Itsuki (pink hair) is my favorite character, and both him and his partner Mika Kagehira are personally ranked in the top 5 best voices in the game for me. The power that Shu’s seiyuu puts behind his voice is amazing!! Another one of Valkyrie’s songs that I’d recommend is Shukufuku no Library (aka Library of Blessings in English). Valkyrie is moreso known for their baroque rock songs, so ironically Le Temps Des Fleurs is kinda unique for them 😂
If someone hasn't already left behind a comment, the story can get complicated, but the premise is that; there's a school Academy for producing idols and idol groups. And those bands in the games are the bands that the students develop. Theres some history to the story, like infighting and rule changing that caused alot of trauma and drama between alot of the characters and groups. For example , Valkyrie actually USED to be a trio, and the old member is now a member of the group "Rabbits". So some of the characters kinda moved around a bit or have history with others. Valkyrie, in my opinion is definitely one of the best groups. But my favorite is actually "Alkaloid" 😂 I recommend Alkaloid's "Undying Holy Love" a Halloween song but is very fun and different in sound. But I also love "Vermillion" which I feel shows off the theme of their band overall.
the way you described that rise in pitch 7:49 sounds like church music. but thank you for reviewing valkyrie, they're one of the best sounding groups in ensemble stars. can't wait for you to discover the game in its entirety.
oh my god this video was excellent from the beginning to end, especially the part where you explained how moving the larynx can create that effect of "higher pitch" with an actually small progression, the fact that the human body alone can create such an effect is mind blowing to me, thank you for the video!
8:37: "feeding off of one another" is actually the perfect phrase to describe both their music and their characters/story! 10:06: "is there a story" sorry my guy, even the actual players only know whats going on like 30% of the time. there is a story though! about 9 years in the making across 50+ characters, so its super complex. super nice watch, I was excited to see you do more enstars :D valkyrie truly has beautiful music, one of my three favorites in game
Le temps des fleurs was absolutely one of the BEST Valkyrie songs ya could have used for this, its such a powerful song with a bittersweet story nd the vocals are just astronomical, your opinions and explanations of this are so spot on i was smiling at my screen like an idiot the whole time, i did want to go into much more detail with this comment but i decided ta keep it short, when i saw ya finally did a video of Valkyrie i never added something to my watch later so fast, the second i found time i ran to this video, your analysis is very spot on! it just shows how experienced ya truly are in this art, i hope to see more ensemble stars in the future!!
I think if you wanna see something that is more vocal heavy (idk how to describe it) from the game you should try listening to songs like Swingin Paroniria from Undead or Black Out See Saw from Alkaloid, maybe also Absolute Perfection from Eden and Romantic Xday! from Trickstar?
@@hbiscua6127 the solos would give him a chance to get to know the idols lol and to help him gauge their voices. The TRIP solos might be the best to do that with since the main 49 all have one
sam is really amazing, he knows 0 about the game, yet in both his reaction to knights and now to valkyrie he could guess each characters' personality (and even backstory) just by their singing alone. like how he said shu (pink haired) has a leader/imponent voice and how their voices sound almost military-esc in the chorus (thanks to shu's spartan training), or in knights how he figured out that tsukasa and leo share the spotlight in a leader-kinda way (in the story, leo passes his crown to tsukasa). i swear I cried when he talked about ritsu in little romance as he's my favorite character ever, about how his voice is soft like a blanket wrapping you and leading into the world of dreams bc yes!! that's exactly what little romance is about and who ritsu as a character is moved by, he's the vampire knight who watches over you in your dreams TToTT I'm loving these reactions, sam you're such a precious guy and you're so respectful to every genre and media, I'm so glad I found your channel. please react to more enstars (and maybe other idol games). for valkyrie i'd super recommend acanthe and uruwashi no nightingale (beautiful nightingale). as for other units, i hope you can react to ALKALOID, I love their songs so much!! for them i recommend vermillion, kiss of life or believe 4 leaves
I really love all the details you pointed out about their voices, especially that when they sang the chorus in unison they sounded like one person! I love that their voices have such a lovely contrast individually but can blend together so wonderfully. As a person who's been in choir for a very long time its things like this that make valkyrie my absolute favorite unit from enstars, their singing and the composition of their songs are just too beautiful ❤ I would absolutely LOVE if you reacted to "uruwashi no nightingale", "meikyuu denshi kairou", "shukufuku no library", or "gaisenka", also by valkyrie. But really, i would love if you listened to any of their songs, all of them are stunning
First of all, a HUGE thanks to you for continuing to check Ensemble Stars! These characters and songs, plus the stories behind them, mean A LOT to us fans of the series, and seeing a professional take a look at their singing with this much respect and nuance is beyond wonderful! At this point Im assuming youve been recomended most Units (what we call the bands in this franchise), the ones Im going to recomend are the ones that I believe will bring something unique vocals wise, or just different from the first two you already analyzed! Im also adding short blurbs of what to expect from them. For the songs, I try to pick ones that have a healthy balance of solo lines and group singing, as well as showing off the different styles of each unit! Also feel free to completely ignore this and just go in blind, if ever. I just wrote this down out of a sense of passion for these characters and a very genuine interest in seeing what you have to say about them! Unit: Switch EDM but with a more neon, colorful and sometimes magical twist. This one I recommend because the 3 characters in this unit have VERY diferent tones and vibes, so it would be interesting to see how you feel about their sound. Songs: -Magic for your Switch -オモイノカケラ (Omoi no Kakera or Fragments of Imagination) Unit: Undead You will mostly find rock from them! Although they tend to also do more jazzy and or orchestral sounds from time to time to add variety. This is good if you wanna get into Ensemble Star´s more gritty sound. Ill admit Im mainly adding them because they are my favs but lots of people agree their vocals are very strong! Songs for hearing Undead´s vocals: -Nightless World -SWINGIN' PARONIRIA Unit: Ra*bits The cutesy, childish, very anime idol type unit. Even though all of the voice actors are adult males you will find some REAL interesting vocals here. The music style can be a little strange if you're not used to this type of thing, but I think its worth it! Songs for hearing the Ra*bits vocals: -ヒカリスペクトル (Hikari Specter or Light Specter) -FALLIN’ LOVE=IT’S WONDERLAND (A BIT OF A THING WITH RA*BITS. One of their character´s voice actors was convicted recently for credit fraud, so he had to be replaced and all of the songs were re-recorded with a new voice actor. So if you look up the songs, you will probably see two versions of each video, lots of people agree the old voice actor had a stronger voice, but the new one isnt bad at all. Its up to you if you go for the one thats been around longer, or the new one! You may even just pick Fall In Love Its Wonerland and hear both versions, since that song was made for that specific character to shine and it really showcases their differences.)
Will sub for more enstars analysis videos :0 I loved this reaction. This is one of my favorite Valkyrie songs!! I felt the same way about it being all over the place in a good way lol.
"Is there a story" hoo boy is there 😂 The basic run-down is that it's a game with a story centered around Japanese idol groups. It is over-dramatic at times since it is a very "typical anime-level drama" storyline (and it has its own anime actually!), but it follows a classic "determination, love, and friendship will see you through" theme, and it uses convoluted scenarios/plots to explore genuine issues like: mental health, the pitfalls of the idol industry, and politics (like issues with LGBT+ rights/perception) in Japan. My favorite group in this game is "fine." They're a four-man group with a pop-ish gospel sound, and "Feathers of Ark" is a good example of that. As an alternative, "Tempest Night" is something jazzy they did if you'd rather go for something that's just a fun listen. Very nice video by the way, tysm for sharing 🫶
i love the assumptions made on characters and their dynamics based on their voices alone... it's really interesting to see these impressions since as fans i think it's hard to make unbiased assumptions ourselves. i would love to see an eden song in the future, specifically awakening myth!! also just a note that the MV versions of the songs arent actually the fully thing - since it's a rhythm game, they cut down the songs in the mvs to reduce the time of each beatmap. im pretty sure all enstars songs are global on spotify by now, so i would recommend listening to the full songs!! you can also find colour-coded lyrics on youtube often if you want to distinct voices (:
Bro first Knights and now Valkyrie! Two of some of the popular units of Ensemble Stars! You just summoned waves of their producers, good luck! Hahaha. Enstarries! Assemble! Let's turn Sam as an Enstarrie!!! Go on!! 😂😂
I'm learning more about vocal posture, so thank you! Would love an analysis of "Believe 4 leaves" by Alkaloid, especially to hear your thoughts on Mayoi's voice (the purple-haired one). He's got my favorite voice in the game
Eden "Absolutely perfection"!!! I NEED reaction for this song!! And other Eden songs! And fun fact, Eden consists of two units "Adam" and "Eve" so if u you will do reaction for Eden dont forget and about its individual units!
Or any other Eden song! But if u want another unit, I can recommend ALKALOID. They all have unique voices and their songs popular even outside the fandom
omg if youre willing to can you review the ensemble stars unit, "fine", next? my personal recommendation would be "Hajimari no Fantasia", but their more recent songs could work, too... ("Dreaming Ocean", "Angelic Grace"). a lot of people like "The Tempest Night" as well!!
I loved this video!! Thank you so much!!! It's exciting to see that someone outside of the fandom seems to enjoy the songs and I feel like I learn a lot from your reviews And and I strongly recommend *"Black Out see saw"* (from the unit Alkaloid) I think that within the game, the style/rhythm of that specific song is unique!! It would be super interesting to hear your opinion
Pleeeease, I implore you, you should analyze “Acanthe”, and if possible, the extended version, that song just screams love...... I'm SO happy to hear other perspectives about Valkyrie, good video!
Seeing this makes me so happy omg😭💗 both of the characters in Valkyrie have grown a lot and le temps des fleurs has a different vibe from their older songs as you said this sounds hopeful, they express their emotions through their songs so it's really fascinating to see you being able to pinpoint many aspects about them correctly despite not knowing the background! When it's about Valkyrie I recommend Raisanka when it's about their older songs and Uruwashi no Nightingale as a contrast to it,a newer song. If you compare those two songs their growth becomes very evident too! Outside of Valkyrie, like many other comments here😂, I recommend 2wink, a duo-group of twins who have the same voice actor, but each twin sounds different yet similar(?) It's very interesting to look at!
7:10 this whole talk about the larynx is so interesting and cool :0 it makes me enjoy and appreciate their vocals even more! (also nice singing at the end :D)
very late to this, but the local Crazy:B enthusiast has to spread his agenda. i'd love for you to check out some songs from the unit Crazy:B as they are my favorite (they are comprised of Rinne Amagi (the leader), HiMERU, Kohaku Oukawa, and Niki Shiina)! the songs i recommend are: 1: Helter Spider 2: Yubisaki no Ariadne 3: Honeycomb Summer (although they have other great songs as well)!! i would also be very excited to see you check out more Valkyrie! Acanthe is, in my opinion, their absolute best song. love your videos ♡
If you're looking for more ensemble stars groups to check out... i would recommend fine (pronounced fee-nay). Specifically their song hajimari no fantasia (始まりのファンタジア). Their vocals really go together specifically in this song that shows off their harmony, i would love to hear your thoughts on it!!
thank you so much for your analysis!!!! its incredible how much you can glean from just the vocal performances of the characters... valkyrie's story together is very much about them becoming equals, with shu (pink) having acted much more controlling in the past, so its very charming to hear about how their voices match each other and balance each other out here... its something ive never noticed until having it pointed out to me. enstars is a mobile game! and, it very much does have a story... one ongoing for the past 9 years. its extremely character and character dynamic driven, with the songs and music videos reflecting their growth. i mentioned it in the video about knights, but as youve asked again, id love to hear you check out akatsukis music! i would love to hear what impression they give off, since i think they all have very distinctive vocal performances. in particular, id recommend ito (絲) or natsudori no uta (夏鳥の詩 -サマーバード-).
YEEESSS VALKYRIE!!!! (OH LONG COMMENT I'M SO SORRY I'M JUST RANTING BECAUSE YOU ASKED ABOUT STORY) I LOVE your take on them! Valkyrie is a group that is lead by Shu (Pink haired guy) and he is extremely perfectionistic, he wants everything to go perfect. As someone has explained before, their concept is that Mika (black hair one) is kind of a puppet or doll and Shu is the puppermaster/owner. When the group began, Shu was so over-perfectionist and controlling that he wouldn't allow the group to sing live and would only allow them to perform with a lipsync, when they were doing a live performance their music got cut off and Mika and Nito (an ex member of valkyrie) started singing live, which made fans noticed that they hadn't been singing live before because Nito's voice was different from the recording. Shu was so haunted by the memory of the performance not being perfect he went non-verbal for months, stopped going to school and stopped performing live at school. The mention of Shu's voice being more authorative also falls perfectly with their concept and even their personalities, as Shu is very authorative and Mika is more reserved and just follows Shu's lead. If you ever feel like reacting to other valkyrie songs I 100% recommend Gaisenka, Meikyuu denshi kairo, Eternal weaving or tonight in the moonlight castle, the reason is that this song is more soft, which is very nice and is still a very good song, but due to that Shu doesn't really does the very dramatic voice he does in their usual songs, his voice is more strong and authorative than in this one lol OH YOU SHUOLDN'T HAVE ASKED ABOUT THE STORY! The story in general is basic, it started in a high school that has an idol course where boys who dream of becoming idols train and study, then a company was founded and most of the popular idols from that school signed with the company ES, each group has their own story with their own issues and growth... But...the story has : 1. A psychological and metaphorical war, 2. A mafia involved. 3. Assassination attempts. 4. Crimes? 5. Politics. 6. Mentions and criticism to corruption in business and the dehumanization of workers (?). 7. Meta-narrative. 8. Criticism of society as a whole 9. criticism, or commentarism, in misogynism. 10. There's also a cult? It's a good read tho. There's also a canonincally trans character, multiple characters with illnesses, including Shu who has a mental disability (OSDD-1). And in valkyrie's case, Shu and Mika's personal stories are heavily linked to valkyrie's puppet/puppeteer concept, as Shu growing up was very abused so he doesn't knows how to show care and he believes that over-controling those he cares about he can protect them and Mika growing up was orphaned, so he is terrified of being thrown away or abandoned. so he wants to be useful to others and his way to do it with Shu is by being Shu's perfect doll. They have kind of a toxic dynamic at first, but of course they grow as they go! Btw : I would love to see you reacting to Ryuseitai just because they are my fave lol
Are you sure you never played this game because the way you describe their characters and relationships is so on point. I love these videos because i for one do not know much about vocals and music theory but your insight gives so many new avenues of analyses for these characters, their development and their relationships with each other. Especially with the story heavy songs. I definitely would love more reactions for enstars. Fyi: enstars is a mobile gacha idol rhythm game. Meaning there is a rhythm game but your score in that rhythm game is dependent on your team. That team you have to build, as level them up and upgrade their skills, with ressources you collect from the rhythm game amd other minigames. Also you get cards for your team from gacha (as close to gambling as legally possible). And there is a story but you dont need to read the story to play the game and vice versa. Personally, my morals would forbid me from recommending to actually playing the game because of the gacha and it being a massive time sink. But i can recommend reading the stories. There are also animated series. The original anime you can find on most anime sites. Its not the best and it only goes into the very basics of the main storyline but its fine as a starting of point. The anime movie is literally just fluff. But the 3d animated series that are freely available on youtube are a pretty much one to one retelling of very important event in the story so as an enstarrie those would be must watches. Anyway thats my enstars guide.
(im pretty sure i mentioned them in the last video but need to bring them up again) i really recommend alkaloid's music, they have a really nice variety of vocal styles between the four of them that really work well together! one song in particular of theirs that i'm curious to hear your thoughts on is *black out see saw,* since that one had a pretty unique vocal direction as far as that group was concerned imo besides that, theres also *believe 4 leaves,* a song that ive spent Way Too Long analyzing the vocals for since i started working on a vocaloid cover of the song last year, so any insights on that would be very appreciated!! last one i thought i should mention is *artistic partisan,* its actually a collab between alkaloid and valkyrie, so its interesting to compare the two! (especially since you said valkyrie seemed rather militaristic, and alkaloid is themed around soldiers--this theme definitely comes up in that song a lot lol)
I’d be curious to know what your thoughts are on “Melting Rouge Soul” by Adam! I love how their voices harmonise together and the song contains a lot of things I love the sound of without understanding why, so having it broken down would be really interesting
I can't believe I see valkyrie song is being looked at... reacted at by a professional. I'm so happy! there are a lot of deep stuff going around the song esp since one of valkyrie running theme in their event song are it's potraying the event story. And in this song they are potraying characters which takes inspiration on the pink hair ancestor life the pink hair Shu is potraying "boku" ( male pronoun, more formal ) and the dark green hair Mika is portaying "ore" ( male pronoun, more masculine and less formal ) the reason why the song takes you all over the place because it's reenacting the life of a person in their love story aspect. the ups, the down, etc! yes. this song is Valkyrie's style love song.
I love this unit. Their voices go well with each other. Shu (the pink hair one) is the leader and Mika (the one with dark hair) is his partner. Shu wants to show the beauty of his art while Mika is on his own path to find his art (if that makes sense). They have other songs and are one of my favourite units. They used to be a trio but the third one (Nito) had left. Shu was quite controlling over him (Nito). After Valkyrie’s defeat he fell into a bit of a depressed state. Mika was keeping their unit together. Mika was seen as basically a doll but over the story he became more ‘human-like’. Mika was an orphan and didn’t know his parents and he would take care of the children in the orphanage. He has heterochromia with one of his eyes being gold and the other blue. If you have the time I would suggest listening to Acanthe, it’s a song on them but instead of Shu being the main vocal it’s Mika. Or another song by them would be Uruwashi no nightingale, it’s a peace song a the start and gets louder at the chorus and their voices go well together (also one of my favourite songs) It’s a rhythm game, you can find it on the app store or on google play (I think), just note depending on where you are depends on the version some songs are only on the Japanese version for now they’ll eventually release them onto the English severs. I enjoyed your video.
Speaking of harmonies, I really recommend you to check out the group Eden from the same game! I love love LOVE listening to their song "Deep Eclipse" because of how beautiful their voices are mixed together, so I'd really love to see how'd you react to it. Honestly, all of their songs are really good, but if I had to recommend another song, it would be "Awakening Myth" because *to me* their harmonies in that song is also very beautifully done. I could go on and on about Eden (like how its comprised of two sub-units: Adam and Eve), but what I really find interesting about this group is how even in Eden as a whole, you can still sorta notice the distinction between Adam and Eve from their voices. Members in Adam have a more lower, mature voice while Eve members have a higher, brighter voice! So when they sing together as Eden, the way they harmonize this contrast is just... so beautiful. I feel like I rambled a lot hahaha but I can't even put into words just how obsessed I am with their voices (and I'm not even an EdenP!). So I just thought it'd be interesting to see you react to them~
Loving these enstars videos! I would reccomend you check out Akatsuki, they have a lot of interesting bass that makes for some nice harmony in a lot of their songs
The way you accurately described the characters & their relationship within the game just based on the song/mv is truly amazing and makes me realise just how much work they must've put in to portray that kind of vibe for each unit's songs🤭 And you explain it in such a simple and interesting way to understand ! And yes, there is a story in the game which...... would take a very long time to describe since the game's been around for almost 9 years now😂😂😂 Makes me want to hear your thoughts on UNDEAD as well; maybe 'Forbidden Rain', 'Sustain Memories' and/or 'Resurrection of Soul' ? Their songs are mainly rock but they have some other types too hhahahah
valkyrie is absolutely amazing! there are honestly so many great songs in the enstars franchise, and i really appreciate that the games starting to reach a wider audience now. would you maybe be interested in looking into other music projects as well, like maybe dear vocalist? i would love to hear your thoughts about momochi!
I REALLY recommend that you do a deep dive on the whole series!! Despite Ensemble Stars being about idols/idol management, the story is so so deep and interesting!!! The game has been around for more than 8 years so the story is a lot to process, but trust me and the others when we say it's SO WORTH IT!!!!
Honestly, there's so many good songs in this game, I would be happy with any review from those already suggested (I'm gonna throw my suggestion that you listen to valkyrie's meikyuu denshi kairou or uruwashi no nightingale since it's a contrast to the softer tones of le temps de fleur; we stan valkyrie's variety lol) but I'm gonna quickly mention that there are even more longer versions of some of their songs (the MVs cut up some of the parts for the rhythm game aspects) so it will be fun to see your thoughts on the whole thing if you're up for it! :]
OH MY GOD VALKYRIE CONTENT LETS GOOO!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEASEEEE DO MORE VALKYRIE SONGS I BEG!!!! I love all their songs but i recommed Acanthe, Uruwashi no Nightingale and Shukufuku no Library!! Their music is so beautifully unique to me because as you said, their voices are so distinct and yet they can create the most beautiful unison and harmony together, which also reflects their story a bit. Despite having completely opposite voices (and personalities) they adjust for each other and overcome their hurdles together, and i think its beautiful. 5:14 Actually!! They have a song fans often call their "national anthem", it's called Raisanka!!! You should check it out!!! Edit: The "they're each other's other half" is actually pretty canon!!! Its been pointed out multiple times over many of their stories how they only view each other as their artistic partners. Arashi from Knights even saying that they have a world of their own that no one else can understand. Edit 2: YOU NAILED THE TONE IN THE END
i’m so new to enstars, but this song is one of my faves! i also really love Uruwashi no Nightingale, by Valkyrie as well. i love how the pink hair guy sounds in that one :D
Omg I enjoyed your reaction video to this game! I've always wondered about their songs and singing skills. I'm very happy to hear some professional interpretation and views from you:) I hope I can watch more of Ensemble Stars' song review!
❤ Love this. I agree that you should listen to their song "Nightingale." So beautiful, and now there is a video for it. And yes, there is a story to go along with the music. This group is definitely one of the complicated ones, along with Knights.
Hello I know you probably have so many comments about the game and what's it's all about and various other things but I just wanna explain it lol. So the game that Valkyrie and Knights (you've reacted to them in the past) are from is a rhythm game by the name of ensemble stars which when I describe it to people most compare it to Guitar Hero. So like Guitar Hero you have to tap all of the notes that pop up on the screen at their respective times. You either have to hold notes down, simply click them, and there are swipe notes where you have to swipe your screen to the left or the right depending on which way the arrow is pointing or if your on harder levels such as special sometimes you have to swipe up or down. You can play the game on phone or tablet either work. Some people use their thumbs to play but you can also use your pointer fingers to play. But you do need two fingers because there is also sometimes two notes you have to press at once. If you wish to use tablet it's best to play with your pointer fingers I have found and phone you can use either thumb or pointers. Also there is infact storyline to the game. You can either read the main story where you can at first get to learn about the making of the unit, Alkaloid (I havent read every story so im not sure what all of the main story entails) or you can read other side stories that can be apart of events. There's even stories you can read specifically about each character so you can get to know them and it's especially helpful if you want to see more content of your favorite. But anyways each little group that sings together is called a unit and there are four different agencies or whatever that they may be under the four agencies are Starmaker Production (which is the one that has the units Fine, Trickstar, Ryuseitai, and Alkaloid), then there is Cosmic Production (this one has Eden, Valkyrie, 2Wink, and CrazyB), next is Rhythm Link (and this has the units Undead, Rabbits, and Akatsuki), then finally there is New Dimension ( which has the units Knights, Switch, and Double Face). Most of the time performances are done with their own unit but sometimes varies people from different units sing together in songs, or sometimes two units come together like in the Fusion Live, or just smaller groups are made such as Eve which consists of two members from the unit Eden. I also don't know if your questions from last ensemble stars reaction about if these are real people singing got answered but yes it is real people singing and voice acting for the characters in the game. The unit you reacted to in this video is a very good and interesting one. The pink haired man is Shu Itsuki as the game describes him, "Shu perceives idol as an exquisite art. He is active in France now. Shu is a meticulousl person with a touch of neuroticism. Sometimes he appears to be short-tempered with a strong mood swing. His singing voice and dance are full of emotions, accompanied by exquisite performances." Shu is the leader of Valkyrie. Shu likes antique dolls and various French things. He is very big when it comes to trying to perfect his performances and make sure all of his art is perfect. Though that being a good trait it did cause some problems in the past with Valkyrie causing them to lose a member but Valkyrie is seemably better now with just two members. Shu also caries around one of his dolls with him most of the time which Is named Mademoiselle (which means miss in French) he uses her as an emotional support. He takes her around so often that he has custom made clothing for her that is made to be similar to what he is wearing. He also does a cute little high pitched voice for her at times. Shu is also found to have a identity disorder but I don't know much about it. Also his voice actor is Hiroki Takahashi. But anyways enough about Shu (Shu is my favorite if you couldn't tell lmaoo) the second member of Valkyrie with green hair is Mika Kagehira. Mika's voice actor is Jun Osuka and in Mika's character description it says "Mika was once obsessed with Shu Itsuki's artwork, but now he is pursing his art form. He is a tender boy who sometimes is a little careless and adorably clumsy. Mika sings with a slightly melancholy voice and delivers relaxing and stylish performances." I don't know much about Mika but I believe I have heard that he lacks the idea of his own humanity, that he believes that he is simple a doll for Shu but Shu is trying to teach him how to be a person and to take care of himself. He caries around candies with him I'm also pretty sure he's really big on stuffed animals based on various imagery I've seen of him with some. Like I said I don't know much about Mika though I mainly focus on Shu since I favor him. But Mika does call Shu oshi-san which the word oshi I believe means something like "favorite idol" in Japan. Both members of Valkyrie don't seem very stable though if I'm being honest. Pretty sure there is a story where Shu read hate comments about Valkyrie on his computer so he got an axe and destroyed his computer and there was another story where Mika had nearly buried his friend Ritsu (who is apart of Knights) because he believed he was dead (instead of calling the police or something T-T.) If you were to listen to more Valkyrie I suggest the songs Acanthe, Uruwashi no Nightingale, Meikyuu Denshi Kairou, and Shukufuku no Library, all their other songs are amazing as well but these ones the imagery and singing is beautiful and they're so much happier in these performances. Valkryie can also be described as a Visual Kei band (which there Is all kind of sub genres for it but it's mainly with the fashion they wear some examples of Visual Kei bands are Kaneto Juusei, Malice Mizer, BUCK-TICK, Sick2, and Versailles) but other then that it appears their vibes of music videos give of steam punk vibes but also some have symbols of things that hint to France due to Shu's interest in French arts. A lot of people also pair Shu and Mika in a romantic relationship (they are not dating canonically but it is a popular ship and I also personally like it) because of their dialog and various imagery in music videos. Like in their music video Acanthe the name of the song apparently Is close to the Japanese way of spelling sleeping beauty and in that story it was of course the one where the princess is awoken by a kiss. English translations of the song also bring some lyrics like, "A long time ago, the love you once had for me was now on display" or "kisses of eternity that will blow your heart." There's also more that makes the community believe the two are in a relationship like the small thing where Shu is talking about his view on Mika and mentions things such as "The relationship and emotions between the two of us are simply too complex... He is my partner the only partner I can join hands with." Other reasons people believe this are there lines that they have said during the stories that seem a little suspicious like Mika saying to Shu, "I imagined we could chat about whatever we'd like, eat together, put our beds along side eachother and go to sleep together." Or the fre times that Mika has said that Shu has a pretty or cute face. Also if you were to react to another unit I would suggest Alkaloid they're another one of my favorites if you do ever watch some of their music videos the red hair one is Hiiro, green is Tatsumi, purple is Mayoi, and blonde is Aira. But anyways I apologize for yapping so heavily just going on ranting I'm very passionate about this game lol but if you read this I hope this helps you understand the game more and keep up the good content I'm loving your reactions and analysis on the songs very much. Have a good day!
VALKYRIE!! Omg i wasnt expecting this..! If you were gonna do any more songs, Eternal Weaving is definitely one to check out to see a more varied of their singing and Raisanka for the more "military" sound but my absolute favorite is Gaisenka- it really showcases Shu's (pink) voice!
OH MY GODD YAYYY! Thank you so much for reacting to Valkyrie!!!I hope you can react to their other songs, which should have a playlist on RU-vid, including the other units and the shuffle units! I'm also sure the cover songs have a playlist on the Ensemble Stars channel. I hope you continue to react to Ensemble Stars songs!! I haven’t seen people make videos about reacting to Ensemble Stars songs in forever, so it’s really nice to see someone reacting to them, especially their newer songs! Each character also has two solo songs. Also, there is a story! There are actually multiple, and there are more in the older game. Each unit has their own stories, which include some people from other units, and then there is the main story, which is an introduction to the two “new” units, Alkaloid and Crazy:b. There are also events that get their own story, which could include another unit. Currently, on the English version, all the stories are not there since it was released way later, but a good amount of stories were translated, and they will keep coming! Ensemble Stars is also available on iOS, Android, and Windows, if I'm not mistaken, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Again, I would recommend any other Ensemble Stars unit since they are all very talented! Sorry if there are any mistakes. I am kind of half asleep, but I loved the video and got so excited when I saw it!!
PLEASE REACT TO ALIEN STAGE!! It’s a series of 9 videos but only 7 of them are music videos! which is round 1 (my clematis), ALIEN STAGE (sweet dream), round 2 (unkown (till the end..), round 3 (black sorrow), round 5 (ruler of my heart), all in, and my favorite, round 6(cure). You could totally make this into a series if you want! But if I were to recommend one it would be round 6 cure! I love that song a lot and find myself listening to it often. It’s a series told by music videos if you wanted to watch it all! I think you would really enjoy giving it a listen :)
I would love to see more from you! Yes there's a story that goes along with all of the songs, and you can just play the game on your phone. Its basically about ~50 japanese idol singers and you can easily just focus on your specific characters of interest. If you listen to more you should definitely try Valkyrie's fan faavorite song, "Acanthe", or my personal favorites "yubisaki no ariadne" and "stippling" both by other groups. You see a huge range of vocal and musical style with this game, from melodic like this to upbeat pop or rap.
Oh boy I could write an essay on Valkyrie lol. Thank you so much for diving back in and analysing my favorite group from the series! Their songs and vocal performances keep evolving as time goes on, so it would be awesome if you could go over a couple different ones! Particularly Meikyuu Denshi Kairo and Uruwashi no Nightingale have almost polar opposite vocal performances, I feel like they would be interesting to compare and contrast :)
