We’re halfway there with the song samples from BEST OF HERO. Despite Mr. Ozaki’s spoilers we weren’t really sure what to expect…

“Thanks, and thanks again!” by Sky High (Inoue Go)

Sky High’s song was pretty hyped on Twitter (Inoue and Ozaki chatted about it the week it was up for sampling on radio), but it doesn’t really hit the mark with us. It’s a good match for Inoue’s voice, and the background vocals are amusing. Maybe we expected too much, or maybe full version will be more interesting? The sample doesn’t get us very excited.

“ICE DOLL” by Blue Rose (Kotobuki Minako)

This is a huge improvement over Blue Rose’s single. The song sounds kinda European style, and Kotobuki’s voice works great with it. This is the kind of music that would be found on my playlist so I guess I’m really partial to it.

“Shougai wairudo sengen” by Wild Tiger (Hirata Hiroaki)

Swinging, but considering Kotetsu’s taste in music it was to be expected. Hirata is a good singer and this is fun to listen to. We both agreed that this is our favourite of the song samples so far. (I may have been affected by the MMD above, it puts a huge grin on my face.)

“Koisuru Heroine” by Girls☆Club (Kotobuki Minako, Ise Mariya, and Tsuda Kenjirou)

The first word that came to mind was “cute”. Especially Ise singing as Pao-Lin is just incredibly cute-sounding. The full version will hopefully have more Nathan, now his part was way too small and the song ends up being a bit on the forgettable side judging from the sample.

“Sake to nakama to otoko no baraddo” by Rock Bison with Wild Tiger (Kusunoki Taitem and Hirata Hiroaki)

This is not a duet unless there’s actual singing from Tiger in the full version. In the sample he’s just making quips from the background and ordering more alcohol. I was trying to come up with an adjective to describe Kusunoki’s singing but I can’t think of anything but “manly”. Because it is manly. And listening to it makes us feel manly too. I guess that’s the “old man flavour” that Ozaki advertised.

We’re not going to go into how well lyrics fit the characters, I think it’s best to have the full versions for that. (And there might be a spontaneous discharge inducing surprise hiding in these songs, just like Barnaby’s part in the B.T.B. song.)

As for the samples not played yet, we’re looking forward to Barnaby’s new solo song the most, because Morita’s voice is really well-suited for ballads. We also want to hear the new duet although it will have a hard time beating “Seigi no koe ga kikoerukai”.

How about you?