Seikan Hikou / Interstellar Flight Single Review
I found this CD single quite enjoyable, but nothing to dethrone “Aimo~Tori no Hito” as the best Ranka song in my list. Seikan Hikou is very very energetic, especially when we’re left with the image of Ranka dancing all over the place. Neko Nikki is very innocent with a music box for the background, which develops into a slightly more upbeat song. I found it cute that at one point, the music box sounded like it was being winded up, after which the music box sounded louder than before.
The versions of Ranka’s cover of Minmay’s songs Do You Remember Love? and My Boyfriend is a Pilot here are the short versions, as heard in the Deculture Edition of Episode 1, and the Miss Macross Contest.
If we are to compare Sheryl’s and Ranka’s CD singles, their characters almost come out of their respective songs. Sheryl’s songs are harder to sing, are produced well, and are quite emotive which shows her professional experience. Ranka’s on the other hand, has songs that are quite simple to sing with plain arrangements, and are as innocent and cute as her character is.
Here’s something for the Macross fans:
They actually put Elmo Kridanik from “Vector Promotions” as one of the producers!
Another interesting thing about the CD jacket is that Ranka’s dance for the refrain of Seikan Hikou is in it. Here’s a sample:
I really want to see Megumi dance this!
While I enjoyed this CD, I personally wouldn’t recommend it unless you are a collector of Macross/Kanno stuff, but perhaps you’d buy it as a vote for how much you like Ranka 
Related Articles:
- Macross Frontier Episode 11 - Neko Nikki
- Superdimensional Super Live Concert by Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome (update)
- Megumi Nakajima = Ranka Lee Live at Formo...Not! Report (updated)
- Interstellar Flight Full Version (With Dancing Ranka)
- Macross F: Interstellar Flight Song Preview Video
- Ranka Lee = Nakajima Megumi Debut Single Interstellar Flight Tracks (updated)
June 24th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Haha, I have bought this CD but without external bonuses …..
I do want real dance too, but I know that in japanese live camera is strictly prohibited…
June 24th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
The bonus is some sort of Ranka autograph isn’t it (or was that a postcard with an autograph)?
Perhaps we get a concert DVD with Ranka dancing… there’s a major concert coming up
June 24th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
The bouns looks like some photo an autograph. It is put in an envelope so you can only get one at random…
LIVE DVD maybe too early, but still have hope. XD
June 24th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I’m kind of content with the single; I think Seikan Hikou is going to grow on me after repeated listening - it is rather bland or uninteresting when compared to Aimo though. Not that that’s a bad thing, because Aimo was GREAT, so even if it’s bland when compared to Aimo… well that’s still a good thing
I’m dealing with the short version of Ai oboete imasu ka lol. I think it wouldn’t have been as poignant as it is towards the end of the song if the song was, say, 4-5 minutes long. I’m glad Kanno rearranged the song, it’s so beautiful at the end, so yeah I’m happy even if it’s not the long version
And karaoke! Who could resist that? 
Neko Nikki is so adorable-sounding!!
I still go with What ’bout my star? @Formo for my favourite Ranka song though xD YES I CONSIDER IT RANKA’S SONG >D
June 25th, 2008 at 9:06 am
What ’bout My Star is like one of those poppy pop songs that would sound really good if remade with taste, and I think that’s what happened here
June 25th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
mine arrived yesterday….overall a great debut single.
although it’s too bad ranka’s dyrl and boyfriend is a pilot were a bit short.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
The single debuted at #5 on the daily charts; unlike the last two singles it’s impossible to know for sure how many sales were made, but based on the index figures for 1 through 3, it’s a reasonably safe bet to say that she sold somewhere between 15k~20k first day. Impressive for a seiyuu debut…
June 28th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Seikan Hikou has really grown on me xD I can’t stop listen to it now. And scene from episode 12 will make a lot of people will fall in love with this song, too^_^ And I’m surprised the single debuted so high because it had no promotion as previous Macross Frontier singles.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:46 am
^ I actually thought that it had almost the same promotion - radio interviews, mini concert attended by the same crowd size, internet publicity (the whole Seikan Hikou song was published on the net with a dance), it had Neko Nikki playing in the episode before the release, and now Seikan Hikou (and two other Ranka songs on the CD single) is playing on the week of the release.
If there was a Macross F single that didn’t get that much publicity, it seemed to me as the Triangler one. Was there a Maaya mini concert to plug it? But I think her name was enough to sell the CD a few copies, so she has an advantage over Megumi.
I am expecting the Friday and weekend sales of the CD to boost the sales, I wonder when Oricon will update?
June 28th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Gyaah! They played ‘Ai wo oboeteimasu ka?’ on episode 12!! I think they may have played it before but I only just bothered to look up the significance and read a whole bunch of Macross stuff on the internet so it’s only NOW I realise the significance of it to the Macross timeline ^^;;; yes….I’m a recent convert….also, I wasn’t alive when the original was first out!!
Also…
Episode 12……..GYAAAAAHHHH!!!!! Need to talk about it but Maaya’s isn’t up and I don’t want to spoil too much >_<
June 28th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Yeah, Maayas.net is down again… I suppose you can vent in YKDB for the meantime:
http://www.monkey-pirate.com/ykdb/index.php?topic=844
You know what, I got to watch Macross when I was a kid… but in the form of Robotech, so that doesn’t count
You won’t believe it, but the most memorable scene I had in that animation was when Hikaru gave Minmay a birthday gift. For some reason, I always remember that when I think about the first Macross series.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
@Mai: totally agree with What ’bout my star.. that’s a good tune.. hopefully they’ll come out wiht a better arrangement of it in one of the subsequent OSTs
hmm.. on the other hand, imho i really think Aimo is overrated
it was used in the perfect spot in ep8(?), which is what makes it stand out..i think otherwise it’s not a song you’d notice xD
June 30th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I think Aimo, the a cappella one is overrated too, but Aimo~Tori no Hito is a different story. The arrangement to the middle part of that song evokes that old Arjuna Kanno style, which I know a lot of fans love to hear (including me!).