[Single Review] EGOIST's "The Everlasting Guilty Crown"

One of my current favorite mainstream music composers in Japan is definitely ryo from supercell. He formed the group supercell back in 2007 when he was uploading music he wrote himself to Nico Nico Douga (famous Japanese video site similar to YouTube). He used Hatsune Miku for vocals and might I add that Hatsune Miku’s current popularity was partly due to supercell. The group enjoyed mainstream success after getting a vocalist by the name of Nagi. But by the end of 2011, Nagi left the group and two vocalist joined supercell. Before anyone goes whining how much he or she misses Nagi, she has her own solo career by the name of Nagi Yanagi with an album in the horizon. The currently airing anime Guilty Crown has theme songs done by supercell. Koeda is the current vocalist for supercell and Chelly will be the vocalist for EGOIST, a fictional band from the anime.

Along with Kokuhaku / Bokura no Ashiato, EGOIST’s The Everlasting Guilty Crown was also released on March 7th. Technically the same group, EGOIST was created as a fictional band from the anime. All the music was written and composed by ryo. Other than the name change and a different vocalist, there’s not much of a difference. EGOIST’s previous single “Departures”, was really good, even debuting above the anime’s opening “My Dearest” on the weekly Oricon charts. Would they be able to do the same this time?

Tracklist:
01. The Everlasting Guilty Crown
02. Kimi Sora Kiseki (キミソラキセキ)
03. The Everlasting Guilty Crown BOOM BOOM SATELLITES remix -The Last Moment Of The Dawn-
04. The Everlasting Guilty Crown -TV Edit-
05. The Everlasting Guilty Crown ~Instrumental~
06. Kimi Sora Kiseki (キミソラキセキ) ~Instrumental~
07. The Everlasting Guilty Crown ~ (TV Edit) Instrumental~

Review:
There really is no point to compete with each other in sales when they are under the same boss. However, it was interesting that supercell and EGOIST’s previous releases had the ending theme of the anime debut above the opening. I really felt “My Dearest” was a good song but after giving “Departures” a few more listens, I fell in love with it. Disappointingly, “The Everlasting Guilty Crown” is such a big departure (ha) from Chelly’s soft style of singing. First, let’s clear up the fact that there really is nothing wrong with the song or even Chelly’s voice for that matter. But the song and voice don’t really match. Second, the TV edit of the song sounds so much better; this is really just the anime opening which is usually just a minute or so long. The chorus is amazing, but when you listen to the whole song, the music drowns out Chelly’s voice. All of this might sound negative but overall “The Everlasting Guilty Crown” is still a really great song. “Kimi Sora Kiseki”, a song with beautiful lyrics written by ryo, would have been a better fit for Chelly’s voice. Ballads are really what she excels at, after all. The remix of “The Everlasting Guilty Crown” by the duo BOOM BOOM SATELLITES didn’t really stand out to me. I love listening to good remixes but this is simply just a decent remix in this single.

guilty crown op 2 vietsub

Closing Remarks:
If ryo approached the song differently when he wrote it for Chelly then I’m sure the whole song would have been very good. She has a very soft and high voice. Where Nagi is the middle vocal range, Chelly is just slightly above her and Koeda falling below Nagi. I still believe “The Everlasting Guilty Crown” is a fitting opening for Guilty Crown. Chelly performed it really well, but having said that, the full song falls short in comparison to the T.V. edit version. The overall single seems to be slightly lacking, but seeing as it kind of is a side project to supercell, it’s not entirely bad.

Rating: 3.5/5 ☆☆☆★
(+) “Kimi Sora Kiseki” is a good listen, simple and relaxing
(+) “The Everlasting Guilty Crown” is a good song
(+) Chelly is a great singer -
(-) - not the best for “The Everlasting Guilty Crown”
(-) There is so much more potential; average - disappointing
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