Daisuke Ono “Hero” (Review)

Daisuke Ono‘s new release “Hero” has been all the talk in the seiyuu fandom. With a polished approach to his sound, Ono is trying to solidify his professional image instead of our already well known “dandy” image from past singles “KISS KISS KISS” and “Delight“.

In a realease where fans were part of it – being featured in the cover art – what could be different in comparison with “Mission D“? We take a look at this single with this review.

Single: Hero
Label: Lantis
Release date: 04/11/15
Genre: J-Pop

Tracklist:

1- Hero
2- Canvas

Track by track analysis:

1 – Hero

“You’re the main character“

Showing us a polished pop-rock sound that makes us reminisce about Ono‘s first releases – first one that comes to mind is “Amaoto” – “Hero” brings an uplifting instrumental resorting to melodic guitar riffs, acoustic guitars to enrich the sound, piano and a reverberating bass.

Ono is sounding great with rock as his backdrop, for a voice as mid-toned as his, this is by far his best music genre matchup.

As a result the build up to the chorus, the bridge, the lyrics, vocal performance (incredibly emotional), everything seems on point in this track.

It’s an upbeat track with a beautiful message and delivery. Probably one of the best Daisuke Ono‘s singles released to date.

2 – canvas

“Canvas” kicks off with the piano as the citilanting backdrop for Ono‘s low toned vocals. In this acoustic track we’re presented with a mesmerizing instrumental track – slow paced minimal drums, piano, vibes, shamisen, and some powerful guitar riffs in the build up for the last chorus.

The finesse provided by the Japanese elements (shamisen as always making a good impression) together with the power delivered by the rock elements made an impressive blend, a blend that made canvas surpass “Hero” by far in quality.

It’s delicate, emotional and overall haunting from start to finish. Never did Ono sound so perfect singing a ballad.

Final considerations

Daisuke Ono releases one of the best singles of the year. With the pop-rock enthusiastic tune “Hero” and the mesmerizingly beautiful “Canvas“, we’re in for a perfect release.

OnoD‘s vocals are sounding as solid as ever but his ability to add more emotion or the necessary emotion to his lyrics is by far improving – if you’re not emotional from listening to “Canvas” something is clearly wrong with you. His vocal deliverance and constant improvements shows us a Daisuke Ono that is nothing like when he debuted back in 2007.

Regarding the instrumentals: props to Lantis that for the first time let OnoD present himself seriously from start to finish. With a slower paced, more serious tone, the instrumentals never failed to impress – be it for the finesse presented in “Canvas” or the enthusiasm shown in “Hero“, there were no awkward moments or parts in this single.

This will hardly be surpassed by the rest of November/December’s releases. And is clearly an impressive improvement in comparison with “Mission D“.

With that being said when we look at this single there’s only one thing to say to OnoD’s “ありがとう“.

“Hero” is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.

Hero [CD+DVD]

Daisuke Ono