Macross F Episode 14: Aimo - Ranshe Mei Version
(Spoiler Alert!)
Macross Frontier’s 14th episode entitled “Mother’s Lullaby” gave us a preview of how Aimo sounded like when Ranka’s mother was singing it. Maaya Sakamoto for the win!!! Maaya just nailed this song twice over, and it’s just a few lines we hear 
Here’s a short sample of the rendition, which is quickly followed by Megumi’s singing.
Someone please put this in one of the OSTs please.
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July 11th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Maaya pwns it.
July 11th, 2008 at 11:56 am
maaya and megumi voice sound really a like. like mother and daughter O-o
July 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
<3 Maaya
It’s so pretty, I can’t wait to hear a clean version!
July 11th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
By the way, the alleged Gabriela song is really a Don’t be Late remix, we hear a slightly longer version in this episode where Sheryl is screwing up Mikhail’s Valk XD
July 11th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
@ka - I’ve been wondering if they hired Maaya because their singing voices are similar o__O (Or is it the other way around?)
July 11th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Maaya pwns all.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
@ka/mai - hmm i’m not sure if their voices are necessarily sound similar.. imo maaya’s sound more motherly compared to megumi’s
megumi’s voice sounds like a kid’s and has a “cute factor” to it
maaya’s voice isn’t like this tho.. even way back when she sang the escaflowne stuff in her teens
July 11th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
@peachberry_tea - I think that they are similar in just the singing voice, not the speaking voice
We were previously discussing it here:
http://gabrielarobin.com/264/macross-frontier-episode-11-neko-nikki
(although as I’ve mentioned before, Maaya’s singing voice was more expressive when she started, than Megumi’s is now)
Megumi’s natural speaking voice is actually pretty thick, she’s really “acting” out Ranka’s voice. Listen to a sample of Megumi’s speaking voice here:
http://www.box.net/shared/o2zmjkdgk0
July 12th, 2008 at 4:48 am
I hope there will be a Maaya Sakamoto version of Aimo (with Piano arrangements, yum)
@Mai - I was surprised the “Gabriela Robin song” was a Don’t Be Late remix, it reminds me the Sousei no Aquarion remix from the Single CD (because it’s a remix, simply ^^).
July 12th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I also want a pure Maaya Sakamoto version (no Megumi).
July 12th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
That episode was win. It was so good, I can’t believe how good Macross F is getting. It looks as if it’s going to get even better. Maaya for the word.
July 12th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I love Megumi’s normal speaking voice compared to her Ranka voice, I hope to hear her use it in a future anime title as well as continuing to sing op/ed and inserts.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:05 am
I had a little heart attack when I heard Maaya’s singing. I MUST HAVE THE FULL VERSION.
July 13th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I KNEW that Aimo was a Maaya song. It’s another Voices, which suits her perfectly. When I heard it, I was like, “THIS is why she needed to be the idol in a Macross series.” I never imagined that she’d actually sing it though, holy shit. Small miracles. If this isn’t released anywhere, I will weep. I would gladly pay for another OST just for this song.
Also, I had read about it before here, but I’m still not sure why people think they sound that much alike. Megumi has a deep, somewhat emotionless and almost nasally voice while singing, with a completely different tone. Hmm.
July 13th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
By the way, because of this song, I almost forgot that we have been guessing that the second intro song comes in this episode.
@eggsmile - Surely you can find subtle differences in their voice. Megumi’s voice is deeper/fuller, but not by much (compare Maaya say, with Mai Yamane). I’m not sure about what else you mean by different tone, because you already mentioned that Megumi’s is deeper. The only one I really agree with is difference in the emotion, especially comparing them when they were of the same age. I only thought that they sounded similar when I heard Neko Nikki though, not on the other songs. Perhaps the tone of the song itself was reminiscent of old Kanno songs. To each their own I guess, I suppose there’s no “similarity meter” out there, so it’s only subjective to discern whether voices sound similar or not.
Now I remember what exact young Maaya song that reminded me of Neko Nikki. Poketto Kara ni Shite:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AfJDlivJphc
July 14th, 2008 at 2:45 am
It’s nice to see how much Maaya’s voice has matured since Escaflowne.
I bet Megumi must be experiencing right now many of the same things Maaya went through when she did Escaflowne. They both landed big roles with big musical parts.
I don’t know if Megumi will continue working with Kanno once Frontier is over, but there are enough similarities that it seems like she is Kanno’s new young sweet innocent voice that Maaya once was before she grew up.
Their voices may be similar or not, but I think Kanno’s specific image of youth and innocence finds it way into the music and ultimately the way they sing/sang.
In the Newtype interview with Shoji Kawamori (chief director) and Kanno, Kanno told Kawamori something like “even if they (May’n and Megumi) were to sing this song one year later, it would not be the same song they sang at 18.” and something like “It was our greatest fortune to meet those two. We were so happy and had all this energy and momentum that we ended up making twice as many songs as we were asked to.”
Maybe Megumi gets a ‘Grapefruit’…
July 14th, 2008 at 9:28 am
@zagunsousan - I want an English translation of that Newtype article, I’ve only seen scans :c
July 14th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I uploaded a slightly better quality rip of the song, no more background noise, but I cut out when Megumi has started.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:21 am
GOD THAT GAVE ME GOOSEBUMPS.
I haven’t watched this ep yet due to my laptop dying and all D: Now I really want to! Oh, Maaya I’m so glad you’re singing for YK again! <3
July 16th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Listening back to the version today, I think Maaya’s voice is still suffering from the sharpness that it had in Triangler. I’m not sure why, but the curling off of the notes (lu le lu lei ya being an example) doesn’t sit well with me. I guess because I’m used to her being much smoother usually - but I agree with the Megumi comparison, she does sound how I’d imagine Ranka’s mother to sound. A perfect match really. And it is a nice version of Aimo. I really like the instrumental to it. I hope we get a full version…
Now we know why Maaya got to help write Aimo
July 19th, 2008 at 4:35 am
@mai: i meant to say that maaya and megumi’s singing voices (not speaking) are actually fairly different.. megumi’s voice has a “cute factor” to it
for example, megumi wouldn’t be suited to singing aoi hitomi (escaflowne)
both their singing voices (megumi’s now and maaya’s 10 yrs back) portray youth/innocence yes but it’s different.. megumi’s is a happy cheerful innocence whereas maaya’s voice has a slightly darker tone (tho still innocent) and comes across as a bit more serious
July 19th, 2008 at 4:46 am
@pippa: i didn’t like triangular when i first heard it because the notes were too high pitched for maaya and there was a sharpness to it, as you pointed out
when i first heard triangular i didn’t know YK&maaya were back together.. so because of that and the sharpness (which is a misuse of maaya’s voice) i thoguht it was some random insensitive artist who wrote triangular, and that this artist was trying to mimic YK (because triangular uses the same nonconventional chords that YK would usually use in her songs)
but as it turns out YK did write it xD
i’d still like to know why YK wrote triangular the way she did.. perhaps it wasn’t written with the intention that maaya would sing it
July 19th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
@peachberry_tea - agreed, except I think Megumi could sing Aoi Hitomi, devoid of emotion that is