Silly little album review of Nebula Romance: Part II by Perfume

It’s been a year but I still can’t do reviews :DD For some reason I was under the impression that part II would be released a month after part I. Since it didn’t, the “see you next month” thing in my review of the first part seems really weird (ˉ▽ˉ；)...

I actually forgot I was supposed to make this (＠_＠;) but now I know that at least one person was waiting for this (hiiiii m@wishhh hii helloo). But anyways here is my review collection of thoughts about NIebuLa IRomnnce: Part II!!

1. Cipher

Maybe it’s because I’ve been listening to the Deltarune soundtrack so much but the melodies in the instrumental give me Toby Fox vibes. Especially the bell-like sounds. When they start singing, the melody made with the bell-like sound sounds like it is spinning around and I looove it. It scratches my brain (～﹃～)~. The whole song is really pretty and it makes me think of Plasma (the intro). There’s a little unplugging sound at the very end but it’s very quiet

2. Saikidou Sekai

The intro is so epic!! The whole instrumental is very colourful; the “guitar” throughout the song is really neat and I love the marimba solo XD! Though it seems like the song ends a bit early, I would have added a guitar solo at the very end B-). It’s a bit weird to think that their early vocals were almost fully covered by autotune and now they use their mostly unedited voices. I must say that the constant use of fake nasal voices has not done any good to their vocals and it’s a bit jarring to listen to. But I do like the song!

3. Nebula Romance

It’s not bad but it’s a bit boring for being the album namesake. The hook melody is really annoying to me for some reason… maybe it’s just the synthesizer. Nocchi’s voice doesn’t sound like her at all. 

4. Solar Wind

I thought that it was called Solar window lol. At first the song sounds like an older song of theirs. A-chan doing vibrato?? magnifique… The verse is so pretty! The IMA IMA IMA reference at the end of the chorus is neat but Nakata do NOT remind me of The Light I want to forget that song exists… (≖_≖ )

5. Virtual Fantasy

Okayyy dress to impress I see your inspiration Nakata!! I didn’t notice the “huh” at the start on the first listen. Pretty funky overall but once again the nasal voices are not fun to listen to. BUT THE AUTO TUNE IS BACK at least a little but I’m willing to take that!! Also Nakata’s English has improved a lot in 20 years (just listen at any early CAPSULE lyrics…)

6. Teenage Dreams

The only song I like on the first listen. UGHHHH I just love the saxophone (*>﹏<*)!!! I took notes while relistening to the album and under Teenage Dreams it’s just “UGHHDFG saxophone” like three times XDD. It’s just so pretty!! During the bridge I feel like I’m in an 80s music video singing to the camera while a fan blows my hair around! It’s criminal that the song just barely had more streams than Cipher and exit…

7. Human Factory

The way I explained to my friend how I felt about the song when it first released still holds on: fortunately it is better than The Light. It’s alright, but something is not clicking for me. I like how ominous the instrumental sounds, especially when the pre-chorus is repeated halfway through the song and the little part between 03.04 and 03.19. The AhahAhah~s are also cute. There’s a lot going on, like at least two key changes and other fun things in the instrumental, but instead of building up to something it kinda just gets crowded?? If you know what I mean (you probably don’t eheh). It’s like the song doesn’t have a clear destination. I guess it feels that way because they don’t do much with their vocals. Also, after the first chorus there’s that instrumental part that then repeats but doesn't change at all (I don’t know why that bothers me). But all in all it fits the vibe of Nebula Romance which is good. I’d like to compare it to Mugen Loop because even though it has a lot of repeating (because of the loop part) it has a destination and it builds the instrumental up to that.

8. Moon

My notes only say “it’s neat”. I wont skip it if it comes on but I wont specifically search for it. The guitar during the last chorus is pretty cool though.

9. exit

My notes say “it’s better than Moon”. I don’t know, I just don’t have a lot of opinions about these songs…(。_。) The verses remind me of wonder2 because in both of them they are a bit flat. I know it’s not a marimba but that instrument at the second part of the bridge that does the wooden sound scratches my brain.

10. Meguloop

My notes: “this is where I realise that the drums are the same in almost every song in both of the albums Nakata get another drum sound pack”. But a-chan getting to actually use her voice is always a good thing!

A downside of the 80s theme is that Nakata uses the same “instruments” throughout two whole albums and it gets boring very quickly. The songs don’t really stand out among each other. I still don’t know why Nakata wanted to make two whole albums with the same sound but good for him for experimenting. I think I like part II a bit more than part I, but in the end they are both just okay albums...

The colour choice for the album cover was a pleasant surprise but it reminds me of those base colour choices in that Gacha Life predecessor that I don’t remember the name of (but if you ever had a gacha phase you know what I’m talking about :DD). The exclusive edition is very pretty too but it looks too much like Flow’s cover.