Following hot on the heels of her fantastic Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works OP theme Ideal White, singer Mashiro Ayano is riding high on the back of this season's Gunslinger Stratos, with the OP theme Vanilla Sky getting an official UK release.
While I don't think the track is as good as Ideal White, I'll always offer praise for an act actually being able to get an OP theme out in the UK while the show is still airing in Japan. This is how it should be, instead of fans being forced to listen to rubbish, sped-up streams on YouTube or Soundcloud.
Packing the same punchy pop-rock pulse as Ideal White did, Mashiro Ayano's latest effort is typical action OP fodder - a heady blend of beats, guitars and euphoric strings combining to deliver the kind of giddy energy fans of the likes of Eir Aoi will lap up.
The track comes backed with b-sides Turn To You, Gentou and the instrumental version of Vanilla Sky. I'd argue that the b-sides actually have somewhat more charm to them than the lead track, dressing themselves up in sparklingly retro-synths. Turn To You in particular sounds like it could have accompanied a Gundam OP back in the mid 90s.
Vanilla Sky is available to download on iTunes now, via Ariola Japan. (It's also worth checking out Ariola Japan's entire repertoire on Amazon, via this handy link)
