Review Summary: The VTuber duo's first outing is a tour de force that shows off HimeHina's musical skills
Japanese Virtual YouTuber duo HimeHina, comprised of Hime Tanaka and Hina Suzuki, have been making a name for themselves in the VTuber scene, thanks in part to their energetic personalities (so energetic to the point that they described themselves as a comedy duo without a straight man), and thanks in part to their incredible music, the latter of which has resulted in their first full-length album, Ai no Hana, or Divine Flowers, as it's known in the US.
The album itself is a strong showing of the duo's skills in music writing and composition, and it takes an oddly serious route, quite the contrary to what one might expect from watching their videos. Mind you, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Following the short intro,
Until the Day, and a short segment in which the duo welcomes us, the album roars into its first proper track,
Divine Flowers. It's a fast rock track that brilliantly manages to weave in interplay between Hime and Hina, especially in the chorus and bridge. Following
Divine Flowers, we hit what might be one of the more confusing tracks on the album, in the form of
Hitogata Rock. I say confusing because it's a version of HimeHina's first single
Hitogata, just with more guitars, bass, and drums, rather than the electronics that defined the original. Now, that's not an unforgivable sin, as
Hitogata Rock is still a great track, but the fact that
Hitogata is included in this album as well makes the rock version's inclusion somewhat head-scratching. Why are two versions of the same song needed on the same album? Thankfully, this is the only time we see that happen.
Skylarks and
Lai-Lai Rabbit Tail come up next, both of them taking a more moderate approach rather than the in-your-face rock that we've seen so far. Hime and Hina's voices soar above pianos and orchestration. It's soothing to the ears, while still managing to be powerful and impactful. The album then takes a break for a short interlude, with Hime and Hina speaking over a violin refrain. This brings up another one of my gripes with the album: the sheer amount of interludes that we get. All told, there are 6 interludes, some of them relegated to one word, but others taking a lot longer, and interrupting the flow of the music. Now, these interludes themselves are pretty good in a vacuum, especially
Int:NamidaGanges, as it shows HimeHina being their usual goofy selves. However, these interludes don't work for the album as a whole, in my opinion.
Thankfully, the album is able to get back on track. Following
The Ambroid another low-key, yet slightly more energetic track in which Hime and Hina croon somewhat softly over the verses before exploding with passion in the chorus, we get a couple of slow-moving songs.
Water Lily and
Everlasting allow HimeHina to show off a more soulful, passionate side that their higher-tempo songs have lacked so far. After these two tracks, we get
Dream Away. I haven't brought up the lyrical translations just yet, mostly because I haven't felt that they were 100% important to this review. However,
Dream Away is the exception. These lyrics are beautiful, detailing the concept of saying goodbye to loved ones and memories that we have lost, and how, despite it being tough, we can see these "ephemerals" in our next life. It's a melancholy, yet optimistic track, and stands as the album's high point.
LaRa serves as an upbeat, cheerful song, before we get to the two songs that I'd consider to be the album's climax:
Adam's Rib, another rock song, similar to
Divine Flowers, which sees the girls let loose amid rolling guitars, easily sits in my top 5 songs from this album, helped by one of the best prechoruses this album has to offer, rivaled only by the following track, the aforementioned
Hitogata.
Hitogata actually stands as an oddity among the album, as, while most of the album up to this point has been driven by more acoustic instruments like guitar, drums, piano, and violin,
Hitogata fully embraces the electronic, making it stand out among the rest of the album's lineup, though not entirely to its detriment. Himehina also get to show off their rap skills in the second verse, providing one of the most energetic moments on the whole album, and the bridge manages to enchant listeners with HimeHina slowly chanting away as the song ratchets back up in tempo, before telling the listeners to "Scream your heart out!" as they leap into the final chorus. The album ends on a much softer note, with
Good-night, My Dear, as the duo slowly wishes the listener goodnight. Even if this finale drags on a little (it's 6:30 long compared to the 5:00 that
Everlasting lasted), it's a nice fitting end to the album.
Overall, HimeHina have made a strong first impression with this album. Despite some strange decisions regarding the tracklist, the duo have managed to prove that they belong, not just in the VTuber scene, but in the Japanese music industry as a whole. The album isn't perfect, but it's certainly within reach of that lofty title. In the meantime, until they reach it, this album will serve just fine.
