Anthos* “Species” is a fun, interesting dance-driven listen, further expanding on the world and storytelling in the Hana-Doll franchise.
Anthos* features vocals by Kent Ito, Wataru Komada, Toshiki Masuda, Shunichi Toki, Daiki Hamano, Seiichiro Yamashita, and Shun Horie.
Review
Title: Human or Doll: Species
Label: AIЯRIDE RECORDS. / Movic
Release date: 04/04/2025
Genre: Dance/Trap
Tracklist:
1 - Project Archive: A 4-6
2 - Project Archive: A 4-7
3 - Project Archive: A 4-8
4 - Project Archive: A 4-9
5 - Project Archive: A 4-10
6 - Anthocarpous
7 - by night
Track by track analysis:
6 – Anthocarpous
Anthos* kicks off this single with a deep, trap-inspired sound, with a clap track leading the way in a really intense intro, smoothly falling into the slow-paced, dirty bassline and hi-hat triplets led verse.
I wasn’t feeling the chorus on a first listen, and while the vocals are fun, it didn’t click that well with me like previous songs of theirs did. However, the breakbeat in the second part of the chorus gives me life, especially alongside the falsetto section on the vocals. This part feels cathartic in the context of this song.
Another part I enjoyed a ton was the bridge, going from ethereal to extremely deep, distorted, and gradually cranking up the intensity – bringing drum & bass elements, particularly noticeable in the change in the beat style – leading to the final chorus.
A nice touch in this song is the outro, which gives it a sort of eerie vibe, coming full circle with the intro. Also, did you notice how low that bassline is in that section? Oh boy. The bass, for sure, was incredibly low and distorted for the entire song, but in the outro, it hits completely differently, taking into account that the instrumental is also less crowded.
7 – by night
And wrapping up this single is “by night”, song with a distant, dreamy, and futuristic vibe that immediately grabbed my attention.
The song relies a lot on dreamy, echo-y synths, creating a wide soundscape in which the vocals shine, slowly bringing a deep bassline into the spotlight.
As the song slowly progresses into the chorus, it welcomes washy synths and hi-hat hits – that enhance the dance-driven beat.
On the vocals, the song brings a good mix of clean singing with rap sections. The performance is fun and nods softly to the group’s debut sound – ethereal and with performances that border on dreamy and larger than life.
This is a fun and dreamy tune that wraps up with a really delicate outro led by Shunichi Toki’s vocals, and oh boy, how pleasing was this song?
Final considerations
While I wasn’t the biggest fan of “Anthocarpous” – the chorus never really ended up clicking with me -, I still love the shift to that addictive breakbeat that had me wishing we had had more of that.
And “by night” went all in to their big dance sound mixed with their trademark dreamy sound that made a ton of people because Anthos* fans when the group debuted. It was a treat to find influences from those days in this single, many years after its debut.
They continue their tradition of the B-side track sounds much better than the lead one, which I find so much fun.
Still, after a strong and completely unique “Q”, “Species” fell a tad below the quality and sound I was expecting of Anthos*.
“Species” is a fun, interesting listen, further expanding on the world and storytelling in the Hana-Doll franchise. Fun and made for the dancefloor, this is a release that will please a lot of fans.
“Human or Doll: Species” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
