Because I am a covers slut.

I love covers. I love when bands cover other bands’ songs. I love it when favorite songs get (good) covers. And I must admit, I am a total slut for anisong covers. Momoi Haruko, Shimokawa Mikuni, Nakagawa Shoko, Ishida Yoko, Yonekura Chihiro, Iwao Junko, and others have all released cover albums in recent years, so when I saw there was a Hayate no Gotoku cover album, I was on board immediately. Unfortunately, I am not sure where to go with this album. I will say that for each song that sucked or was purely average, there was a song totally worth sticking into your playlist rotation.

Hayate the combat butler Character COVER CD selected by KENJIRO HATA
01. Kugimiya Rie – Niji iro no Sneaker (Hayashibara Megumi’s 2nd single)
02. Tanaka Rie – Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa (Maison Ikkoku OP1)
03. Itou Shizuka – Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis (Evangelion OP)
04. Matsuki Miyu – Gandhara (Saiyuki theme)
05. Inoue Marina & Nakajima Saki – STEP (Mashin Hero Wataru OP)
06. Nabatame Hitomi – Maharaja na Naritai!! (?)
07. Ueda Kana – Ryoute wo Hirogete (Trapp Family Story ED)
08. Yahagi Sayuri, Nakao Eri, & Asano Masumi – My Heart Iidasenai, Your Heart Tashikametai (Ah! My Goddess OVA OP)
09. Takahashi Mikako – Kokoro wa Tamago (Chojin Sentai Jetman ED)
10. Shiraishi Ryoko – Konome Kaze (Hayate no Gotoku ED4)

Let’s get the meh out on the table the first.

First off, I cannot stand Kugimiya Rie’s singing. Never have. Never will. I do not hide from the fact that I am not a big Kugimin whore fan. Although I do think she is a good seiyuu when she is not typecasted to death, her singing is right down there with Kaneda Tomoko and Tsuji Ayumi. The song is not worth it unless you are one of her many blind followers tsundere addicts fans. Compared to Hayashibara Megumi’s original, this pales in comparison. Skip.

Both Takahashi Mikako’s and Ueda Kana’s songs were completely average in my opinion. I genearlly like Takahashi Mikako’s music, but Kokoro wa Tamago really was not something to get that excited over. It was listenable, but abundantly average. In the case of Ueda Kana, was it just me, or did it sound like she was straining herself on this song? I love Ueda Kana’s singing, but she sounded really forced on Ryoute wo Hirogete. Just a whole lot of average from someone you know can do better. I would rather have heard her cover Do Re Mi no Uta instead, although I cannot imagine Sakuya singing it. As for Matsuki Miyu… See Kugimiya Rie–Generally like her voice work, do not like her singing.

Thankfully the goodness and awesomeness outweighted the suck and meh.

Nabatame Hitomi’s take on Maharaja ni Naritai!! was nowhere as good as the next four tracks I will touch upon, but it is a good one. I have no clue what it is from, but it is quite the catchy tune. I am not a huge fan of Nabatame Hitomi, but this song was pretty listenable. STEP was this album’s biggest surprise. I will not pretend to know the original song (or even the series it is from…), but this might be my favorite track on the album. I have loved Inoue Marina’s singing voice ever since I heard her sing the ED song for Ginban Kaleidoscope and the majority of the songs she has sung are keepers. This one is no exception–it is a keeper. Nakajima Saki is a good compliment to her as well. Unfortunately, more times than not, two seiyuu get paired together for a song who have no business SINGING together. You often get one good singer and one who sucks is not gifted. Not the case here. Inoue Marina and Nakajima Saki  fit like Kadowaki Mai and Sawashiro Miyuki, Saeko Chiba and Nanri Yuuka, or Horie Yui and Tamura Yukari.

Another surprise was hearing … on here. I do not think I have ever heard this song covered. And when you cover three of the most prolific and talented seiyuu off all TIME (Inoue Kikuko, Touma Yumi, Hisakawa Aya), it better be good. Izumi, Maki, and  Risa may not be be the Goddess Family Club, but they do hold their own. Like Inoue Marina and Nakajima Saki, the three here compliment each other quite well, with Asano Masumi anchoring them. She has really taken a backseat to the younger and newer folks out there, but Asano Masumi was always a well-round and solid seiyuu. Her singing is also pretty solid (e.g., her album happyend, Aice5). This song is right up there with STEP and a couple others.

I am sure everyone was looking forward to Itou Shizuka’s cover of Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis, myself included. Oh how the Hinagikuism flows through me. Everyone and their mothers have (ANIMETAL!) covered this song, and most are pretty good, so my expectations were set fairly high. Only recently has Itou Shizuka been getting any recognition as a singer, but this cover and Hinagiku’s “first album” only confirm for me what I have been saying for over a year now. Great cover! I have listened to it more than most of the album, but it was not the defining piece for me that I am sure it was for many others.

Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa was that track for me. Both Shimamoto Sumi (Kyoko’s seiyuu) and Shimokawa Mikuni have covered this awesome song, which was originally sung by Saito Yuki. It is hard to draw a comparison between the 3 different covers and the original because all of them are good. All keep the same general melody and all are performed well. I absolutely love this song… however I will admit that has something to do with Maison Ikkoku being one of my top 3 favorite series and Tanaka Rie being one of my top 3 favorite seiyuus.

The one song that I was on the fence with was the most recent song covered, Konome Kaze. It is listenable, but I would have preferred it if Shiraishi Ryoko sang with her usual singing voice instead doing it as Hayate. Yeah, yeah, it is Hayate singing the song, but it tarnishes what could have been really good cover. It was sort of like when Hirano Aya covered Sore ga, Ai Deshou (the album release, not the ED version). The song is good, but it would have been better had it been sung by the actual singer and not the character. Konome Kaze was my favorite ED song from the first season of Hayate no Gotoku and Shiraishi Ryoko is a seiyuu who’s singing I have really grown to enjoy (thank you DROPS for that), but they did not go together like I had hoped.

The covers that were good, were REALLY good, so this album comes out on top because the tracks that I felt were lacking were not necessarily horrible (save for Kugimiya Rie’s song). It is worth a listen for Hayate no Gotoku fans and fans of the individual seiyuus, and it does act like a nice little primer for season 2, which is a month away. Lastly, I am surprised and glad that both Rinbu Revolution and Ai, Oboete Imasuka were NOT covered. As much as I love those songs, they really have been covered too many times.