Review : Mizuki Nana as Jenis Quatlane – The Eternal Diva

Some bunch of new songs from Mizuki Nana today, starting with the Opera theme of Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (レイトン教授と永遠の歌姫), a movie based on the Professor Layton series.

I’ll say it clearly now : I personally think this single made my year. Of course Mugen was a really really good single, but this Opera song is so damn crazy and epic (I think the word epic is so well adapted for this matter !), overwhelming, astonishing, etc…

I think most of you people should know by now that a Professor Layton movie has been released in Japanese theater a few days ago. I don’t know its plot, nor I was really a fan of Layton games, but the fact that Mizuki Nana is playing one major role interested me.

Jenis Quatlane, the character Nana’s playing, is an opera singer, The Eternal Diva, and at some parts of the movie she has to sing. We didn’t get to know first if Nana would sing the Opera or not, cuz she’s never done that. It was decided she indeed would, and here you go !

The single is consisting of 8 short tracks (lenght from 30sec to 2min) and a 7 (nana!) minutes long track. I was really surprised at the number of the tracks ! Many are shorts though, but it gives to the single another total feeling than if it was a single track.

The 9 tracks are similar between them : the melody stays at some extent the same for all the tracks, but the dynamic, the way instruments are played, the pace are different. I find this very great, since you are given some other feelings to experience, and not a unique track.

First track (思い出のレコード) is 1′19 long, starts quite slowly, and Nana’s starts singing very soon. You are given here some piano, and a long part of accordion ! That first taste of Nana’s opera voice is incredible. I was like “hey wait, it’s only the first track !?”.

The second track (この幸せよ永遠に) is somehow the continuation of the first one, but here you are given a much better taste of Nana’s voice. And there one can say : “does Nana’s awesomness know no bonds ?”. Even though her singing part is very short in this track, which lenght 1′46, you can already tell that this single is going to be amazing : violon and piano always make my day.

Go on to the third track (はかなき命の旅立ち) : harp makes its appearance while Nana starts singing directly, with a deep and low voice, along with a slow pace behind. She’s singing during a long part, and manage to reach high-pitched notes so easily and beautifully that it makes me going nuts. And of course, Nana’s listeners know that Nana+Harp is a deadly 100% health bar combo.

And it’s exactly the purpose of the fourth track (ジェニスの涙) (1′38 lenght) which is a duet harp and brass (don’t really know which one, sorry orz). Nana is not singing in this track though, but…

…but here now the fifth track (永遠の歌姫 – Eien no Uta Hime) already : the real deal. Lenght is about 7 (nana!) minutes, and it starts very low and deep, making the appearance of an organ with Nana singing Aaah~Aaah~Aaaahhh~ for almost 2 minutes ! At 1′55 start the harp, violon, and Nana’s singing lyrics. There are also some deep beats behind. Nana is singing very slowly. Of course the usual opera singers can go very crazy with high-piched or very deep and low notes, but Nana did a good job for this Opera theme : I personally think her enka skills give to this opera a unique feeling.  The epicness of this song is something I’ve never heard yet -I assure you, this statement was not totally biased-. Words are seriously lacking to describe this song.

The sixth (星の歌) is an organ solo of 35 seconds while the seventh (海の歌) is a 47 seconds solo Nana’s singing Aaah~Aaah~Aaaaahh~. Yeah, just after an awesome 7 minutes track, you get a finishing end with a cappella Nana.

Wait, no, it’s not the end yet : the eighth song (太陽の歌) is the mixing of the sixth and the seventh, with violon and beats added. This song reminds me a lot of RPG music, you know, when the story goes epic and crysis. Yeah, epic. So damn epic.

And to end this beautiful experience, the ninth track (藍の思い出) is a duet harp+Nana’s Aaah~Aaah~Aaaaahh~+Chorus. If you are not already dead from awesomness at this point, I think this one should end you properly.

Now after having read that I hope you will buy this single (only a few remaining !!), because it is definitely worth it. If you can’t, then… download it, but… @_@’