I always enjoy reading reviews and opinions on music I like, so it was cool to see yours!
Here's mine:
Syndrome is an enjoyable album but suffers from a lack of variation. There's so much slow tempo going on and most of the songs don't really stand out much with their melodies or arrangements, which makes the middle section blur together. Gensoukyoku and Kanashimi no Kikyuu suffer from this the most: they're both really nice songs (I especially like Kanashimi no Kikyuu) but they're bracketed by more memorable tracks and suffer in comparison. This album is really short as is (more of a mini-album, really), so I wish it had a few more songs on it to give the whole package a little more energy.
I actually came to love good bye my love a lot more as a part of the album: I do still think it's a bit too long and sounds very produced, but it's so warm and lovely and Chihiro's vocals are really impressive (btw, this song is a blast to belt along to); the acoustic version doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but it's still a nice thing to have and it really showcases Chihiro's vocals. Ao no Hakobune is nice, but the acoustic version on the single completely overshadows this version, the solo piano accompaniment suits both the melody and the vocals so much better. My favourite of the completely new songs is probably Hi no Tori, I love its warm, hopeful and comforting sound. I also love Sweet Hi-Five, Kanashimi no Kikyuu and Chandelier a lot. ULTIMATE FICTION loses me with the verses though the chorus is nice. It's also the only instance on the album where Chihiro's vocals bother me in the slightest, and even here it's just that I'm not a fan of the vocal style in the verses. Other than that, she sounds almost unbelievably good throughout the whole album, it's so different from just a few years ago.
I agree that Syndrome is just "nice", and it's not my top album either (that would be either insomnia or TRICKY SISTERS MAGIC BURGER). It's still an enjoyable release, and I'm sure I'm gonna keep spinning many of the tracks for a good while.
In other news, here's how Syndrome has been doing on the Oricon charts: #8 -> #9 -> #11 -> #17 -> #15 -> out of the top 30 -> #25