Happy Freakin' Material

Blowing off steam because Simcity 4 (playing a multiplayer-region with Ed) is seriously annoying me.

So I'll do something utterly pointless to calm down! AND THAT IS THE COMPARISON OF THE HAPPY MATERIALS:

 

Yes, Happy Material, a very catchy song and the theme song of the first anime for Negima. Do not believe what others say, Negima is a terrible anime, but an especially decent manga if you ignore the last fifteen chapters or so. Nonetheless, despite the mediocrity of the animations, the music is actually quite good, or at least some of them are. Sadly this does not include the music from the Live Action because 80% of that music is plain amateurish and bad, like the Live Action itself!

Moving on, if you don't mind listening to six or seven versions of the same song, continue reading! Happy Material is a very happy (as the title says) song, kind of poppy or techno-y...or well, I'm terrible with genres. Anyway for the sake of including all the class members, there are several versions sang by a different set of students organized by seat number. That means characters will sing with other characters you never thought would, like Chisame and Evangeline! This post is basically my ranking and especially of such rankings of which Happy Material is the best sounding. As always, shameless bias is present.

Let's start with the original, the good ol' original Happy Material likely listened to the most, what with being the original. Being the first song, the singers are the first few students in the class roster going by alphabetical order. Now already there is some bias floating in my head and likely most people's heads because being the original, it is the one you hear first, the most often, and therefore the one you expect...so obviously one will like it more already. There is further bias on my part because four out of my top five favourite characters sing this version, not only that but a previous absolute favourite character AND someone heavily associated with my favourite characters meaning I do not dislike and do in fact care about each and every singer, including their voice actresses. For the last one, do blame Aoi-dono for that just like everything else.

So yes, it looks like we don't even need to look upon the other versions what with that insane amount of bias already, but rather than just moving on without explanation, let's listen to the song as objectively as possible. It's not only the singers that we're used to, but how the music itself is played. The other versions have some variety in having different instruments and trying to differentiate itself from the original. So the original even sounds like the original, nothing added that may or may not catch you by surprise or anything that will annoy you if you hear it too often (example, a sound in the song like the intro or some character yelling something being very gimmicky and therefore rather tiring on repeated listens)

As for the singers themselves, not only do we have a nice variety of singers, this original also enjoys the privilege of six and not five singers because of the odd number of students for even further variety. The next bit of variety is where and what part the singers sing, it is actually different throughout every version and not static. If you're confused, say Yue sings one part of the song solo, whereas in the other songs that isn't actually a solo, but sometimes sung by two people at once, or the entire group, or only half of it is a solo, etc. I think the original is also benefited that the singing shared amongst the singers, and where their solos are placed are well balanced in comparison to the rest of the versions.

Now we can actually talk about the quality of the singing which will obviously, unless it's live, try to sound the best it can via the wonders of technology, but there are faults. While the voice actress of Yue, Natsuko Kuwatani is an amazing singer and perhaps one of the best in the entire cast, others aren't quite as brilliant as her. I will have to harp on my favourite character's voice actress, Ayana Sasagawa who can't seem to reach high notes at times, in particular her last solo before the song ends. That is a bit of a weak point in the song but luckily only half the song is in the opening of the Anime and Kazumi's solo there sounds fine, even cute and very fitting. Everyone else sounds average and can reach their notes properly. Akira's solos are nice to listen to and we are also luckily to have voices that harmonize well and aren't generic. While Ako's (non-fake) singing can be very ordinary, she is the only ordinary-sounding singer within the song due to Sayo, Yuuna, Kazumi, Yue, and Akira all having either very unique voices or excellent range in their singing or even both. Yue is both, but Akira is an example of the latter. 

 

So after that pointless analysis, I give this Happy Material a 9.5/10. There are a few faults, but the composition is done well enough that you can easily overlook such faults. Everyone's solo makes sense and sounds nice, so there we go. I can't really comment on the lyrics (the second verse is different each version) but even if I did know the words or cared enough to go look it up, they're all probably rather generic anime lyrics anyway. The final thing I must add is that while this song is the original and therefore there are no deviations, there is one. Near the end of the first chorus, you can hear Yue trailing off a bit from the others yelling "Go!" or some such, which is actually quite cute and a bit of an easter egg since people not paying attention can easily miss it unlike the other deviations in the other songs. So let's move on to the second Happy Material!

This one is sung by students Misa to Madoka. I must start off by saying it is unfortunate two cheerleaders are lumped in this one because due to the SHAFT Anime they were almost treated as one entity and spoke at the same time constantly, which made their voice sound very, very generic (just "loud" if anything). This is highly unfortunate because Madoka is supposed to have a "husky" voice in canon (obviously didn't happen) and Misa's voice actress, Shizuka Itou, is a very highly regarded seiyuu and for her to be reduced to such a role in Negima is wasted potential. Oh well, it's not like the casting directors knew the cheerleaders would have incredibly flat personalities when they were deciding on who to play who. Anyway, also thanks to having two cheerleaders in this song, the deviation for this one is everyone yelling GO! GO! whenever they're meant to only say GO! So...not a bad thing or anything, but the deviation might be annoying through repeated listens. (Not that anyone would actually be listening to this repeatedly unless they're doing a pointless analysis like I am at the moment...)

The second version also features the main character Asuna, so you'd think it might sound a little more special in some way, but it does sound oddly generic compared to the original. Madoka not having a husky-sounding voice actress does not help. Chachamaru, though often has wondrous singing (yay for Akeno Watanabe!) is singing at a higher octave and thus not utilizing her beautiful powerful singing like in 1000% Sparking, and so doesn't really sound as different as she could be. Asuna while has a fine voice isn't helping much with her voice range, and there's Misora (Bandou Ai) who sounded absolutely splendid in Infinity Love 2U but again has the Chachamaru problem of a higher octave. So unfortunately this version sounds like a mishmash of various Japanese female teenagers as opposed to the brilliant variety present in Happy Material 1.

Not only that but there appears to be less solos in this version...wasted potential is pretty much this song, but well what can you do if you happen to have a group that doesn't sound all that different from one another? And the singers that can REALLY sing are limited by the song itself due to their natural voice range from sounding like anything beyond cute. So I will have to grade this an 8/10. We move on to a bunch of characters well-loved by the fans...

From Ku Fei to Makie we have the yuri pairing that dominates all fanfiction, Konoka and Setsuna, plus a Haruna thrown in for good measure. Once again a majority of the characters sound like children or really hyper teenage girls...and I guess they are both. The difference here is that even the high voices do have a bit of individuality in them. Makie is of course voiced by the singer Yui Horie and Ku Fei has the very underwhelmingly enthusiastic if performed live Hazuki. They have decently unique voices despite sounding high. While Konoka does sound unique when she speaks and when she sings her own solo songs, she is slightly difficult to make out when singing with Ku Fei in this song. Not only that, she too has a high voice, so when you mix these three together you get a mix of highness that unfortunately overtakes Setsuna's very hammy, very boyish, and very unique voice. Haruna is in the middleground, so whenever there aren't solos it's once again a choir of hyper girls singing a song.

So thanks to several high-tier seiyuus, the quality of the song is nice and you can even make out the solos! The group singing while sounds nice, falls a bit in the variety department but I certainly prefer listening to this one over and over again as opposed to the second Happy Material. How very fitting that Yu Kobayashi sings the "original" line in the song. I'm not really sure where the obvious deviation from the original part of the song is, it's not too different from the original. So I guess in that case it ranks well in repeated listens. A lot of people probably listen to this one as well thanks to the popularity of the characters and the popularity of Makie's seiyuu. Haruna's voice while the middle-ground probably would've fit better in a group of singers with more variety to be able to enjoy her voice more efficiently. Too many high voices in this one drowns her out. The solos are a bit lacking here as well, which is unfortunate because I'd loved to have heard each singer by themselves much more than together. Also Makie's singer falls a bit flat in her last solo just like Kazumi's, but she has no excuse because SHE IS A PROFESSIONAL.

Anyway I'll end that review with a decent 8.5/10. Hurrah!

We lead into version four, from Sakurako to Chizuru...which is like the opposite of the last two versions. Everyone has a very unique but very few of the characters have high childish voices, oddly enough. If some of them were mixed into the previous versions the songs would have a far better balance, but perhaps that would make them all too similar to the original? Who knows. This one unfortunately features even less solos for whatever reason and seems to like giving Kaede extra singing time. Nothing wrong with that, what with her voice actress being a professional singer and her voice being decently unique, but it would probably be more necessary if she was the only one who sounded normal amongst a bunch of females on helium like on the other songs. 

The most unassuming voice is sadly Chizuru's though, which you don't often expect because you're thinking of a more onee-sama type of voice when she sings, but that's only reserved for her speaking. Mana and Kaede make an excellent duo in singing, and Sakurako despite proclaiming a love for karaoke really doesn't sing as much as she should. I much prefer Chao's singing voice in the SHAFT version, what with it being a different actress because her alto (or is it even lower than that?) singing in 1000% Sparking is absolutely GORGEOUS. Here she sounds relatively normal, not her normal voice when she sounds all high-like while speaking thankfully, but not as beautiful as when her new voice actress sings in the other opening.

Perhaps I've listened to this song too often in a row but I can't seem to decipher that much a difference between the music. Oh, different enough and thankfully more variety (I need a thesaurus! :D) than the 1000% Sparking versions, but still. Nonetheless I rate this a flat 8/10 that while they do not sound excruciatingly high or like generic Japanese females, they aren't extraordinary in the singing department and their voices are a bit too unassuming besides Mana and Kaede. Moving onwards!

We have the twins to Evangeline...oh dear, just as I begin to listen I can hear an extreme techno-y difference in the music which somewhat grinds on my probably very sensitive ears at this point. Not only that, but in this song we have very little difference among the characters: three lolis and two nerds. Chisame normally has a deep-like talking voice, but her voice actress has the Chachamaru syndrome (and is probably singing closer to like a Chiu) and so sounds JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE in this song yay! Hakase has a high voice as well, and the only voice NOT attempting to be cutesy is Evangeline's, which while still high seems to have an ounce of dignity in it. (If you can have dignity being a five hundred-year-old vampire singing a very silly song with a bunch of classmates you despise) I mean I guess ramping up the music to match the singers' tempo makes sense but egads it just makes everything worse.

The uniqueness of this song comes from the energy of both the twins and Chisame for some reason in Chiu mode. So they continue their lines a bit more with cheers or energetic cries or whatever to increase more of the taste of diabetes in your mouth. I know I complained about versions two and three sounding like immature brats on helium, but this is absolutely absurd. It's like you ate two pounds of pixie sticks and then began to sing with other people hyped up on pixie sticks while bouncing on a bouncy castle leaking helium. 

While Hakase sounds generically high, the twins are overboard cutesy and high, and Chisame seems to have a little bit of originality in her voice, not sure how to describe it besides "not irritating" and then we have the rather misplaced Evangeline. I wonder how Yuki Matsuoka felt when she recorded this song with the others? Her voice is definitely drowned out in the group songs and I cannot make out anyone whatsoever when they're singing in smaller groups. This group is the opposite of the first group, thanks to the twins singing together a lot (and not really having much difference in voice anyway) it's more like only four people are singing this, and there is very little that stands out as well! Of all the versions so far this is the worst. It's not bad, but I would not listen to it repeatedly, egads. 

HELIUM, I rate it 6.5/10.

So we come to version six, Nodoka to Zazie! And chills just went down my spine despite listening to the same tune dozens of times by now...

Because these five singers are perfect.

FREAKIN' JUNKO MINAGAWA and MAI AIZAWA are backed up by the uniquely sounding Mamiko Noto along with the voice you never hear Yuka Inokuchi with the very cutesy but not obnoxiously high Naomi Inoue! Arguably the best singer of the cast (contests with Yue) we have Ayaka who seems to sound amazing despite whatever octave you force her into. Natsumi's singer is actually very surprisingly good because you expect her to be normal and unassuming like Natsumi herself. It is no wonder she was cast as Mio in Nichijou.  While there isn't anyone with a husky or low voice here, Nodoka, Zazie, and Satsuki manage to still sound different so without their voices being THAT different from one another the group actually sounds especially harmonious and the remix of the music aids this mood very well. I don't even get chills from the original song because the original is just the original, but it seems like the music producers kept trying and hit the right note with this version. (It probably helps they got an amazing group to boot!) The lack of extreme techno is so soothing to the ears.

The solo parts are fitting and while again not as numerous as the original, still has just enough. Everyone sounds amazing together or on their own, and they can sing very well and there is a beautiful diversity. This song is like they put all the nicest characters together to sing, WHICH THEY DID! Satsuki is basically flawless. Ayaka gets shotacon jokes but she always has genuinely innocent and meaningful intentions in the end. Zazie may be the most polite demon in existence. Natsumi is unassuming but never puts anyone else down and is, well, nice, and well, I don't think I need to say anything about Nodoka! It also helps that none of these characters are annoyingly energetic like a majority of the class. (I say this while having Yuuna as one of my favourites...herp derp, she's lucky she has a backstory and an incredibly unique voice!) The complete opposite of version five, as opposed to being a clusterfuck of horribly high voices this one is just splendid and wonderful and if you were to choose any version to listen to over and over again for the rest of your life because of some horrible oddly specific curse, choose this one! (Yes, even over the original!) Everything that deviates from the original fits perfectly and isn't forced. 

10/10.

Yep, it defeated my bias. Oh and the unique part of this song aside from everything was that one part after the instrumental where Satsuki said something in a non-overenthusiastic nice voice. Yay.

Apparently there is one last version...the one sung by the teacher and his sort-of family kind of....Negi, Nekane, and Anya version time.

Ah this intro is very interesting, slightly jazzy or whatever...I'm terrible with genres and...LOL.

Sorry, was distracted by the description of this version. The uploader can't figure out Anya's last name...Anya Coconuts. Pft. Anyway the intro was quite unique and I very much enjoyed that sound to start off. Three singers means a lack of variety, but at the same time way more opportunities for solos and such. Rina Satou, being such a veteran in this whole voice acting business, sounds fine. She could not sound any worse or better, very fitting. I could complain that she doesn't sound very Negi-like, but then I'd have go back through this entire rant and mention that for a third of the class, so whatever. Maybe it's not jazzy but kind of acoustic-sounding? Blah. This song is also like 20 seconds longer than the rest huh. Anywho with one singer being an older sister adult lady-like, one supposedly a ten-year-old boy, and another an eleven-year-old girl (who sounds deeper than half of Class 3-A, hahaha) we have an insane amount of variety here despite the lack of singers, so that actually isn't a problem! And the longer length is due to more of the instrumental playing about which is fine and dandy with me, I like the instruments on this song.

Nekane's voice is quite soothing and fitting, Anya's isn't typical moe cutesy little girl like (THANK GOD) but still fits. Negi's higher than normal for the purpose of this song, but they all sound wondrous. Nothing too much to say besides that, dunno what the unique niche of this one is and due to the low amount of singers commenting on the variety is actually quite pointless despite already doing so! I think I'm gonna run into some sort of pointless circle here if I keep that up. I give this one a 9/10!

There are actually more versions like a Konoka version or one with all of them singing but I'm not touching those. So I guess that means our final tally is like this, if you feel like listening to this song go with them in this order:
Happy Material 6 - 10/10
Happy Material 1 - 9.5/10
Happy Material 7 - 9/10
Happy Material 3 - 8.5/10
Happy Material 2 and 4 - 8/10
Happy Material 5 - 6.5/10


The acoustic version is very nice too. 


And that is my pointless post for this lovely blog. I am starving and will once again attempt to fix the roads in my Simcity in futile.