One Off ~ one off...

while watching I had several ideas how to start my post. I could start it like this...

plot and characters

variant #1

if you want to ask me what are the main points of this anime. here they are! 1. Sato-sama as the director, 2. young student as the main heroine, and 3. mopeds - the three key elements of 'One Off' which only combined together produce a wonderful effect like this

variant #2

this OVA goes slightly overboard with ads, does it not?

however, I do not particularly care!

variant #3

this is a very short piece, and thus it cannot discover an America for us in an hour. however it manages to reaffirm one important idea

variant #4

being a typical TYO creation with an obvious school-everyday-slice-of-life air, 'One Off' can only describe a few relationship, but this does not mean those relationship were not worthy of attention

graphics

variant #5

extremely beautiful small town in the mountains. this anime stroke me with its beauty from the very beginning

and I just could not tear myself from admiring the views again and again, mesmerised

seiyuus

music

variant #6

since I am lazy, and there is nothing special to describe, I would name these two aspects as 'good'. however, this 'good' is not 'satisfactory', 'tis closer to 'really good, with a special atmosphere'. it could not be otherwise, huh? a company of 4 cute girls, including KitaEri, plus Kobayashi Yuu with her very special timbre. OPEDs are so in style that I recognised at once the special mood of Round Table and Nino's cute vocals. naisu waaku! ~ or so Cynthia would say

conclusion

fans of Tamayura would probably enjoy it the most. I enjoyed it, too, but on the other hand, I cannot exaggerate One Off's impression on me. 'twas nice. that's all

me loves finding links

though me was never interested in labels and companies, me happened to open the website of 'Flying Dog'
and me would like simply to list the performers who caught me attention there
first, Arai Akino
then, ALI Project
nothing in common, but for the quality of their songs
then, Chiaki Ishikawa
do me honourable guests get what her presence in the list means? oh yes, we have Kajiura-sama also in 'Flying Dog', therefore Yuuka-chan should also be there, why shouldn't she be? me daresay, the list of artists connected with them doesn't end here, but let us proceed in alphabetical order
Lisa Komine, that's again a coincidence, but she also deserves our attention, eh?
Natsumi Kiyoura is also here, well, counting the previous variety of genres and community of quality we are starting to expect certain persons there as well...
then we see the name of Maaya Sakamoto, and hey! if Kiyoura and Sakamoto are here, then... just wait!
oh yes! me missed the name of Kanno Youko, which was written in kanji, and me was a little absent-minded
then we see the awaited ones - savage genius and See-Saw! if the latter is a simple combination of previously mentioned Kajiura-sama and Ishikawa-sama, savage genius may seem a little odd to some of me honourable guests, but me should remind that Kajiura-sama wrote the 'kaze no yukue' song for them
then we see finally Yuuka-chan's name, of course, as me stated previously, and FictionJunction, of course
and finally - Round Table featuring Nino. again a coincidence, but a pleasant one, eh?

some discoveries

somehow I managed to find Rurutia, but I'll write 'bout her next time.
I wanna share my thoughts about Round Table (feat Nino as well)
first I searched everyone whose name starts with the letter R and so I found Round Table, who were performing a Chobits theme song, as well as Tanaka Rie whom I listened to last week. and then I tried to learn something 'bout them 'n I found a web-site I shared in my Google+ page, which told me some similar performers. I also read wikipedia pages a little to understand I'm a fan of Shibuya-kei.
well the Round Table itself is great. however I realized, their compositions for Aria were really the greatest. IDK, maybe I was overimpressed with Aria itself? I don't think so however... I was sober enough to distinguish. so I shall tell you those are really the best ones - Yokogao and the others.
to speak of the early tracks, they're mostly so alike, I can't recognize them very well. most are either those of 'Bossa Nova' or some smooth jazz, or not very smooth but jazz again - like 'battle cop' (I'm not good in the styles y'know ^^`) and also some kind of erm... IDK what... rock'n'roll? ambient? I mean those tracks like 'so many colors' and the others I can't remember the names of...
but there are some outstanding tracks like 'fly' or 'timeless' which offer some different mood.
on the whole i should name the 'cannon ball' album as the most unusual one 'cause then we hear the same light songs 'bout nothing particular with those names like 'world's end' (I wish world's end was really like that...) and 'picnic' and 'chocolate' and 'viva samba carnival' and 'baby' and all the sweet stuff...
then we gradually come to the 'let me be with you' single which sounds exactly like the previous light cute songs. except for the fact that Nino is already mentioned in the name of the band.
what distinguishes 'featuring Nino' songs from the previous ones? Katsutoshi-san is not singing in every song anymore. to be honest, among the Nino's songs I love those ones most where we hear that men's nice and pleasant voice along with Nino's. can't help it.
there are also ballad styled songs like 'where is love' which seem the most boring for me...

you may kill me or do whatever you like, but when I come to those songs from Aria like 'rainbow' I can't stop. they are SO different even though cute as always...
'just for you' seems one of those cute and cheerful songs. it reminds me of 'let me be' for example.
to be fair and to show you I'm not idolising Aria soundtrack, 'natsu machi' and 'shiosai' are not that great, I should admit.
'koi o shiteru' is also cheerful and lively, so I like it more than the others.
my only disappointment was 'symphony' which was really spoiled by the change in style, though it was really hard to imagine that one of the Aria performers can spoil the other's song. I love 'symphony' in Yui's version but I can't advise you to listen to the version of Nino
then we go on listening to the same songs - cute and light and jazz and blues and bossa and sometimes a liiiiiitle of j-pop-rock - so that in the end I got tired of Nino's vocals.
in the whole I'm happy, however, to have listened to this band. thay have their own style and they are unique. I think such music is also necessary for us when we read or when we are busy with somehing else, 'cause it doesn't distract us from what we try to focus on
my verdict is - please get acquainted with this band! it's wonderful and calm.