The Official Maaya Sakamoto Thread
 

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...ng/maaya09.jpg

Born March 31, 1980 she has released 5 albums, 2 compliations, 13 singles (with another one on the way), and has participated in over 22 soundtracks. She released her first album: Grapefruit in 1996, and since then there has been a noticeable time gap between her projects (some even 2 years long) but that's not to say that she's been lazy. She began her career at age 16 as a japanese voice actor, playing the role of Hitomi Kanzaki from Escaflowne. She's a well known voice actor, playing in Animes such as:

Wolf's Rain
Cardcaptor Sakura
Escaflowne
.Hack
FFVII Advent Children (as Areith, she rocked!)
Cowboy Bebop
Tsubasa Chronicles
and more

She's also used her voice talents in games such as the Kingdom Hearts Series (as Areith) and Dead or Alive 4 as Lisa. Including Game and Anime voice overs, Sakamoto-san has also done Japanese dubs and played in plays such as the Japanese production of Les Misérables (she played Epinone) and dubbing TV show series like James Cameron's Dark Angel (she played Max!)

Discography:

Albums
Grapefruit 4.23.1997
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...iang/60012.jpg

DIVE 12.14.1998
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...iang/60320.jpg

Lucy 3.28.2001
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...iang/60702.jpg

Easy Listening 9.8.2001
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...iang/60760.jpg

Shonen Alice 12.10.2003
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...iang/61165.jpg

Yuunagi Loop 10.26.2005
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...iang/61755.jpg

NEW ALBUM: 30 Minutes Night Flight 3.21.2007
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7...4627830xc1.jpg

Compliations:

Hotchpotch 12.16.1999
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...iang/60507.jpg

Nikopatchi 7.30.2003
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...iang/61158.jpg

find more about maaya here
Official site
Lyrics and Translations: Nostalgic Lavendar
Downloads Available at: Maaya Sakamoto Download Thread
4.14.07: Maaya Sakamoto Discography
PS: if you download something leave a post please!

EDIT: 3/16/07
New Release This Month!

YAY!! You just made my day!
My favorite singer (other than Ayu) has an official thread!!
There are also a lot of lyrics at www.waxinlyical.com

I love Maaya's music too, her voice is just amazing...
someone knows where i can download her new single?

Maaya certainly has a wonderful voice :yes
I just loved her after finding out she sang for CCS (I was a huuuge fan)

I can't believe she was in "Les Miserables" (Japan ver.) :P

Cloud 9 is such a great song; I put it on repeat everytime. But it is such an underrated song. I haven't heard that many good reviews on it. :irked

btw, its "Tell Me What the Rain Knows". I wish that song was longer. She sounds like an angel in there.

The first Japanese song that I heard was "Yubiwa" from Escaflowne. :) Then I heard Tomodachi and Purachina and I totally fell for Maaya's voice.

My first Maaya Sakamoto was, Hemisphere, which is probably one of the best songs to listen to if you want to get hooked on Maaya! Its one of my favorites...
@~Matt~as for her new single I'm not sure if its available for full download since it doesn't come out until June 14, but I'll sniff around (I'm hungry for an early peek too :P)

Hemisphere is a really good song but many people don't like it, saying that it sounds really techno-ish. Unfortunately, (yes, call me supersticious) but whenever I listen to it, I have bad luck. Always. Sometimes, I'm like, "Its just a song, what can it do?" But then, something bad happens.
But basically, all of the RahXephon songs are good. "Tune the Rainbow" is my absolute favorite. But I also really like "Garden of Everything" and "Ongaku".

I found some radio previews for her new single! Just pop on over to the download thread! PS its on YSI so the download will expire on June 2nd; so any mirrors would be great.

I just love her when she sings nicely in the kingfisher girl and her shounen alice is her greatest i think..... >.<

Shonen Alice was a good album for her. I love the cover, its pretty ne?:luv2

does the profile picture above from her Easy Listening album?

^ I think so; it looks similar.

I fell in love with Maaya's voice because of Escaflowne...that's my favorite anime series ever (probably the only anime I followed through completely).

it sure is! I love the pictures from that album because she looks so peaceful while she's dancing. :luv2 As CREA.tive pointed out to me she is very young to have created such success (not only her music but her acting too) She's done voiceovers for countless animes, games, preformed live on stage, in movies, and dramas. She started at only age 16 and she's still going strong. Most artists who start out that young, loose their shine when they get older. (with some artists being the exceptions) so she's doing pretty well for being only 26 years old...

^ Yup, I agree with you 100% ^^ It is kind of hard to believe she was only 16 when she did voiceovers for Hitomi in Vision of Escaflowne o_o I was surprised!

I see
I love almost every tracks from Easy Listening...that was her best album!
& the song Grapefruit is also great! :D

I love her latest ones, Yuunagi Loop
so smooth...I love her jazz tunes there...Paprika, Yuunagi Loop...& the rest is also addictive :D

I have never seen her PV though...




but for some reason, her voice is really young....I would never know she is 26 judging from her voices...& she has the mature looks but cute voice...

I love Maaya Sakamoto.

She's the whole reason I'm into J-pop. She really opened my eyes to a new world, and her music has helped me quite a bit. :)
I owe her so much, but all I can do is be a fan. AHAHAHA! That's ridiculous!

I don't really like Yuunagi LOOP or her new single very much though.....for me her best stuff came from Lucy, Shounen Alice and Easy Listening.

Oh well.

I really like both of her compilation albums.

Shounen Alice was a breakthrough, second only to Easy Listening (which is my favorite :) ) but I think that DIVE was a good album for her. Her compliations are in a whole other league because they're filled w/ the best of the best! (my favorite songs of all of her albums smashed into one compact disc, its heaven!)

^Okay, fine, I guess I really didn't give a fair answer...so my favorite albums are Lucy, Easy Listening, and to some degree, Grapefruit.

yeah, w/ grapefruit for me, I kinda like it, but its really not the best. this may be a bit offtopic but, I've been meaning to ask: Did you make your sig?'cause its awesome!

^ No, I did not...x_x
Wish i did though.
Now i feel guilty -_-
I will continue to make my own crappy sigs though...but not now.

Is it known if Maaya has a boyfriend or any special someone? B/c as I was reading some comments from her on some of the songs, it sounded like she was purposefully refering to someone.
Just a thought.

I guess both of you are the biggest maaya fans here eh?


btw, what's a Whoops!?

I've never heard anything about that...now you've got me curious. I'm gonna have to snoop around and find out! :P

um...no idea. :no

Whoops!! is the duo she was a part of with Chieko Higuchi.

They released a couple of singles and an album, then re-released the album sometime very recently.....
One of their songs was Love Love Phantasy or something like that....

*I know there's a youtube video around somewhere....*

ah, thank you very much for clearing that up! do you have any more information on whoops!! a discography maybe?

I only know a little bit, I don't even know the tracklist for the album!

But HERE is a wikipedia page I was working on for Maaya.
Whoops!! stuff is at the bottom.

thx! the cover for Genie looked a little freaky though...

maaya is absolute love <3 my favourite songs from her are vector, garden of everything (which is pure genius), t-shirt... but a lot of them are really good regardless! i don't really have a favourite album, since they all have their strengths and weaknesses... but i think yuunagi loop is one of the best!

oh thanks for clearing up a lot of stuffs about maaya ! :D

I think I'm the only person alive who doesn't like Yuunagi LOOP.

:/

I like green tea though :P AHAHAHAHAHA >o<

waw.... same here... dont really like yuunagi lloops..... eh anybody have any news for kazemachi jet/spica single?

no new news I'm afraid. :shakehead at least none that I know of. Lyrics for Kazemachi Jet. here's the lyrics and translation. No info on the lyrics of Spica. If someone has it, could they upload?

You're not alone. I love Maaya, in fact she's my favorite J artist. But I never listen to that album. The only songs I like are No Fear and UNISON.

Shounen Alice is my fave, but I also adore Easy Listening, Lucy, and Dive.

^We enjoy the same albums it seems. ^_^

But the songs on Yuunagi LOOP I don't mind are Wakaba and Paprika. They're really corny! :P

Thanks!
Another typical Maaya song, eh? (Not that I'm complaining-- I like her style).
Very fitting song for Tsubasa Chronicles, imo.

P.S.: I don't like Yunagi Loop that much either.

another tsubasa songs? whoa

I <3 Yuunagi Loop
esp for her slow tracks like Paprika XD

I just got my copies or Kazemachi Jet and Loop.

I haven't listened to them yet though :P
But I really like the booklets for them. She looks really great in the Kazemachi Jet booklet ^_^

^ Go, listen, NOW.

^I have been listening.

I've decided that I like SPICA. It's very sweet, and Maaya sounds pretty good.
But I think that Kazemachi Jet is going to take some time for me to get into...I dunno....

Backing Vocals
 

Can anyone recognize what Maaya sings in...

Hemisphere: before she sings "boka wa boku no..." at the end, it sounded like "its only me again..."

tune the rainbow: she repeats some verses throughout the whole song, but you can hear at the end too.

Can anyone confirm this?

Yeah those parts are in english...

In the anime raxhephon (or whatever) that part of Hemisphere in the opening is subtitled and says "IT'S CALLING ME AGAIN"... i don't if in the official lyrics that appears though

I would like to know what she says the english parts in Tune the rainbow too... i don't understand it

I think that sounds something like "I want to tune to rainbow. Here comes the rain....."
That last bit there I really have no idea......maybe something like "I know what you know" ?
No...that doesn't work....:/

That sounds relatively similar. :)
I really don't believe that it is stated in the official lyrics. As usual, they don't really put the background vocals in.

To me, it sounds like this:

"I wonder about the rainbow
Here comes the rain, ame wo something something."

LOL. Nice try though-- it's really hard to understand, even though "I want to tune the rainbow" makes sense.

Sorry for the random question..but does anyone know of a good website with Maaya's lyrics?

@soysaucestar-
There are some really nice, well-thought out lyrics and translations at www.waxinlyrical.com A majority are Maaya's songs.

And if these two links don't suffice, you can always go to www.animelyrics.com/jpop/sakamoto

Thanks for the links :yes

New Release This Month!
 

ah its so dead! :cry let's bumb up this thread with Maaya's upcoming releases. :)

New Mini Album: 30 Minutes Night Flight(not so surprising the entire CD is 30 minutes long :P)

30 Minutes Night Flight (regular edition)
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7...4627830xc1.jpg
1. 30minutes night flight
2. Dreaming
3. Kioku-there's no end
4. Bokutachi ga Koi wo Suru Riyu
5. Setsuna
6. Universe

Release Date: 2007/03/21
Price: 2500yen (US$ 21.15/ 2625yen Tax incl.)
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=VICL-62300

30minutes Night Flight Limited CD+DVD edition
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3...7824wr2.th.jpg
1. 30minutes night flight
2. Dreaming
3. Kioku-there's no end
4. Bokutachi ga koi wo Suru Riyu
5. Setsuna
6. Universe
Release Date: 2007/03/21
Price: 3500yen (US$ 29.61/ 3675yen Tax incl.)

New album release from Maaya Sakamoto includes the singles "30minutes night flight," "Universe," "Dreaming," and more for six tracks total (running time roughly 30 minutes). Limited edition includes bonus DVD with original animated film "Universe" created by Gekidan Inucurry (members of Production I.G.) featuring a new type of animation with slightly scary character design. (note: anime not produced by Maaya Sakamoto). *Unless otherwise indicated, DVDs are region-2 encoded (Japan, Europe, and Middle East), and carry no subtitles.


Bonus Extra (included while First Press is still available): a poster

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=VIZL-222

30minutes Night Flight Special Box (Stamp Sheet/Towel/Letter Set)

Collectibles box set release from Maaya Sakamoto commemorating her upcoming tenth anniversary album "30minutes night flight." Set includes stamp sheet (10stamps, each worth 80yen with a Maaya Sakamoto original design), scarf/towel, and letter set.

# Release Date: 2007/03/31
# Price: 5714yen (US$ 48.35/ 6000yen Tax incl.)

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=MAAYA-4

Her official site has an awesome new section for the album with Staff Diaries, galleries and more.

http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/maaya/flight/index.html

PS: She's got a cute new haircut. :)

i preordered that cd+dvd version a while back. :D
im interested to see what the whole album will be like.
Universe is lovely :)

^I'm probably going to order the CD only ver. but I'm really interested in what the album as a whole sounds like as well, its been a long time since I've heard Maaya's work. :yes

Yay to xiaou for the news! (and for reviving the thread too) xD
Nice to see something from Maaya after such a long while!
I love the cover for the cd+dvd ver. Very pretty.

Those songs were singles? o_o

^sounds kinda fishy don't it? XD XD XD I don't remember those bieng singles either. :)

I love Maaya-chan =)
can't wait for her new mini-album ;)

^so do I. I just recently listened to her Nikopatchi album after a long hiatus, and I remember thinking this is so awesome, why didn't I buy it when I had the chance?

Question: is the album Maaya did w/ Yoko Kanno any good: Music of 23 O'Clock. I'm tempted to buy it. :)

Nikopachi is my fav album of Maaya :yes
I haven't listened to the 23ji no Ongaku... I downloaded it in 320kbps once but I had to repare my PC and lost it ._.

I'm wondering why she stopped working with Yoko Kanno... what happened between the two of them?

^business proabably. Yoko w/ GitS: Solid State Society and Maaya w/ voice acting. Their was that long hiatus she took before her 2006 single so that could have taken them in the other direction.

Sugoii a new Maaya album!! I can't wait to hear her new songs!!

its basically a very quiet, almost abstract album.
Maaya only features on a few songs, most of which are on Nikopachi.

Really though, its a lovely album.
Soooooooo relaxing! :)

^really? I'm so tempted now.
Just an Update:
If any one else is interested in hearing 23ji no Ongaku I uploaded it here



EDIT: 3.21.07
30 min. Night Flight has leaked, if anyone wants to sample the album, I uploaded it: here

Wish me luck guys, I'm getting some wisdom teeth pulled today, but at least I'll have new Maaya Music to listen to while I do it. :)

PS: I also edited the first post to show 30 Min. Night Flight in Album discography. Took the singles down though, they were too big. XD I may put 'em back up later shrunken, when I have the time. :)

*bump* let's not let this thread die!

those of you who has heard the new album, what do you think?

I think 30 min. Night Flight is really relaxing. I've listened to the album all the way through, but I've been so out of it, I can't tell which track I was listening too. XD XD XD they all sort of blend together in a nice way.

i love the title track cuz it's sort of upbeat. the other tracks are very true to maaya's style - very relaxing and nice.

^I gave another listen to Universe and it was so beautiful. :)

*bump* any news on 30 Mins. i.e. ranking/sales/charts etc.?

omg i didnt know it was a sakamoto thread im hooked on that song "Grapefruit" lol

The mini album sold pretty well its first week, at least in my opinion these are good sales for Maaya :)

^I agree, I'm glad it's doing as well as it's doing!

Ooh, a Maaya thread :3

My first song was Kazemachi Jet. Yes, became a fan last year :O

I like her new mini-album a lot :] The title track is amazing.

4.14.07: Maaya Sakamoto Discography

I've got most of her singles up. (only 2 are missing) and I'm working on her albums. (I only need Shounen Alice and Loop up!) unfortunately I can't post any of her compliations.

this thread is so dead. last post in april? Hahahaha

ok, so there's not really been any maaya news since then....
but now there is!

maaya will be releasing a new single on November 21st, called Saigo no Kajitsu
she'll also be a part of the clamp mini-album Clamp Precious Songs being released on October 24.

Cover and tracklist for the mini-album:

http://wiki.theppn.org/images/0/0a/clampreciousongs.jpg
1. action! (Maaya Sakamoto)
2. Oh! Yeah!! (ROUND TABLE featuring Nino)
3. Anata Dake no WONDERLAND (あなただけのWONDERLAND) (Hirotani Junko)
4. 'Anata' ga 'Shiawase' de Aru You ni (「あなた」が「しあわせ」であるように) (Hirotani Junko)
5. action! (without maaya)
6. Oh! Yeah!! (without Nino)

I loved 'action!', such a cute song very fitting the second Clamp in Wonderland video. <3 I can't wait to get my copy of her newest single 'Saigo no Kajitsu (preordered it from yesasia). I hope Maaya has a new album out soon, it's been a while since Yuunagi Loop!

Her new single "Saigo no kajitsu" hit #11 on the dailies for its first day! Not bad. =]

Whoo! An update!
Awesome, there's a song by ROUND TABLE too.
And the CLAMP Precious Songs sound good too.

Yikes, her new single fell to #15...as long as it can make top 20 in the weeklies it'll be good. =]

I haven't heard Maaya's new single yet - I hope it's good

Well, her latest single さいごの果実/ミツバチと科学者 managed to stay in the top 20. It debuted on the weeklies at number 19 and sold 8,468 copies.

Old new news:
Maaya has a new single coming up for Macross Frontier.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/7...rbigik2.th.png

Title: Triangler
Release Date: 4/23/08
Composition: Yoko Kanno

Song List:
1. Triangler

• Lyrics: Gabriela Robin
• Composition: Yoko Kanno

2. Kotomichi

• Lyrics: Maaya Sakamoto
• Composition: Michiko Takada

3. Triangler Instrumental
4. Kotomichi Instrumental

Find more info here:

http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/maaya/triangler/index.html
http://www.maayasakamoto.net/

*********
I'm glad to hear that Maaya is working with Yoko Kanno again.

I'm glad we're getting a new single from Maaya! =D

OMG and she's working with Yoko Kanno once again since 2004 o_o
this is gonna be something

Sugoii a new single!! ^^

I love Maaya Sakamoto!
I want her new single^^

Maaya's "Triangler" (#10 @ this week Oricon weekly chart) has already sold 65,674 copies!

This is her most succesful single since "Kiseki no Umi", which sold 66,340 copies back in 1998 o_o.

For sure next week this single will become the best-selling single of Maaya's career.


Congrats to Maaya ^o^

^:yatta that's awesome. Awesome Maaya! :heart

Wow, kiseki no umi's her best selling single? Didn't expect that.
But then Triangler must be really good too!! Go, Maaya!!!

If Triangler has good sales, hopefully her next album will too.

Triangler has already 72,024 copies sold in 5　weeks charting, so... it's already Maaya's best-selling single ever :D

Wow, congrats to her! My favorite song by her is Tune the Rainbow, I'm gonna check out her new single and see if it compares. ^_^

That is great news! Congrats to Maaya.

Yep, same here! :yes

I also love Tune The Rainbow. There was another song I really liked that was used in the Escaflowne soundtrack, but I don't remember what it was called.

Yakusoku wa Iranai? or Yubiwa from the movie?

I like tune the rainbow too, but there are others that I like more...

The last Maaya album that I fell in love with was Shônen Alice :P

Nobody posted in this thread for almost a year!

Anyways, new info on a DVD release, it just got released today!

thanks for info!!!

It's true that thread is lost!

^ To be honest, I've never heard any of her songs before and I don't know much about her or her music,

but I just thought this thread could use a little revival. :)

O.O
You should listen to her. Her voice is really good.
You should listen to the songs she did for Escaflown.

^ Which songs did she sing for Escaflown? That's the anime right?

Yes it's a anime. For example she sings the opening yakusoku wa iranai.
I like empty the pocke, Aoi hitomi.

But my favorite is Hikari no naka e! It's a beautiful ballad

I knowed Maaya before Ayu. She is a beautiful voice but she never pushed me into Jmusic like Ayu did it!

maaya was my first jpop person!
i forgot this thread existed.

other great tracks from escaflowne:
kaze ga fuku hi
call your name
yubiwa

actually, her two compilation albums, hotch potch and nikopachi, are pretty good introductions to her work. but she has a lot more than those offer.

I don't really like call your name. But yubiwa and kaze ga fuku hi are too nice!!!

Her collaboration with Yoko Kanno made her best album I think :yes