We’ve said earlier that Daisuke Ono‘s seventh single was bound to shake things a bit. This is not your typical dance single released by OnoD, it’s much more than that.
“Mission D” sails uncharted waters for Daisuke Ono. His “Delight” or “kiss kiss kiss” image is no longer. Daisuke Ono is not your typical handsome guy with cheesy dance music to back him up, that is a thing of the past, now he’s upgraded to a classier and more refined look to fit his matured sound and he couldn’t sound any better than this.
Single: Mission D Label: Lantis Release date: 19/11/2014 Genre: J-pop
The tracklist is the following:
1. Mission D 2. Distance 3. OffsiDe T-RAP! 4. Mission D (inst) 5. Distance (inst) 6. OffsiDe T-RAP! (inst)
Track by track analysis:
1 – Mission D
And we kick off this single in an unusual way. Classic jazzy rock resorting to a lot of blowing instruments (trumpets mainly), jazzy guitar and drums alongside a funky bass; all of this to show a completely different side to OnoD‘s music. This is a slow paced track, not as danceable as any of the previous tracks but still as entertaining as usual but definitely not the best track that OnoD has released so far. It’s nice to see / listen to Daisuke Ono trying to adapt himself to new genres. Jazz was a genre that he hadn’t tried before but it turns out that he can pull it off. 4/5
[youtube=http://youtu.be/42MM1EDLW4I]
2 – Distance
Seductive, classy jazzy with hints of Latin influences. “Distance” is one of those tracks that will make you reminisce of the summer, it just screams summer as soon as you listen to it. The mild drums, funky bass and blues guitar alongside the piano make this track the best of this single. It’s not exaggerated, it doesn’t resort to heavy synths or repetitive, meaningless choruses and manages to go back to simpler things, delivering this addictive jazzy track. The vocals are more than a perfect fit in this song, something that Daisuke Ono has improved a lot in these past few years is his control regarding his vocals while singing. Everything sounds steadier regarding his vocals and each and every approach to a new track doesn’t fail to impress. This track is no exception. 5/5
3 – OffsiDe T-RAP!
And the odd ball in this release is “OffsiDe T-RAP!“. A dance track from start to finish with a completely different approach and feel than any of the previous tracks. Firstly and foremost, Daisuke Ono kicks off this track with a lot of rap but the commendable effort with his rap is quickly overshadowed by the overly excessive vocal manipulation (courtesy of auto-tune) in the pre-chorus. Besides that the track is impressively not cheesy like any of his previous dance tracks. It goes towards a more aggressive dance pop that Koreans have excelled in and turns out as addictive and energetic as expected. Definitely not a track to make you sit around while listening to it. Putting aside the vocal manipulation this track is an unexpected surprise that turned out to be one of the best tracks in the single. Addictive, daring, fierce. 4.5/5
Final rating: 
It seems that the main objective with this release was to make OnoD distance himself from that sort of “pimp” fabricated image frm “delight” and “kiss kiss kiss“. This release not only shows a more matured sound but also a more refined visual to go along with it just fine. The single is mainly jazzy, with funky instrumentalization giving the whole single a completely different feel in comparison with any of OnoD‘s releases. “OffsiDe T-RAP!” and “Distance” are two extremely strong tracks in this release and “Mission D” doesn’t fall short at all. With only three tracks Daisuke Ono managed to show a completely different side to his music, be it because of the classy jazz or the addictive, aggressive dance pop provided by “OffsiDe T-RAP!“. This is, certainly, a release to make you crave for more. Close to perfection.
Mission D is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.
