For the uninitiated, Maaya is the talented singer whose songs are featured in Escaflowne (she also voiced Hitomi), RahXephon and Wolf’s Rain. She also happens to be my most favourite-st artiste ever. (I own almost every CD ever released under her name.)

Her latest work is a mini-album called “30minutes night flight” which just came out on the 21st. I received my copy last week. :) The limited edition version comes with a DVD containing an original Production I.G short film entitled “Universe”. My copy is of course limited edition.

Yoko Kanno was Maaya’s mentor and almost all of Maaya’s songs up to her fifth album (Yuunagi LOOP) were composed by the famous composer. The general opinion among long-time fans is that the absence of Yoko led to a drop in quality of the songs in Maaya’s newer works, such as the quickly-forgotten Kazemachi JET and portions of the Yuunagi LOOP album. I tend to agree. I think that a lot of the new songs were trying to be different from Maaya’s usual style just for the sake of being different and usually don’t turn out too well. I’m happy to say though, I am quite happy with 30minutes night flight. The songs still feel different from Yoko’s distinctive style, but they complement Maaya’s voice much better than Yuunagi LOOP did.

Mmmm… I want to meet Maaya someday! Ok, that’s enough fanboying for the day.

The hawt selling point is of course the the powerful action pose, the sword and the fact that there are a lot of lolicons out there. I jest, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a fully-nude custom mod of this figure somewhere on 2ch before…

This ultra popular supreme PVC hit figurine is currently sold out everywhere except a few stores that are charging premium for it. Preorder this while you still can.

On a completely unrelated note, my birthday is on the 19th this month, just about a week off. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone bought this for me? Or maybe even this. Mmmm… And for absolutely no reason whatsoever, here’s the link to my Amazon wishlist. *hint hint* :)

P.S. I recently forced myself to watch a few episodes of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and I am totally stumped as to why it’s so popular. I rather watch Lovely Idols. Please advice.

I received the latest Maaya club bulletin today. Looks like those people finally read my snail mail and updated my mailing address… There’s even a piece of notice inside informing members that personal information can now be edited on the club website. It must have been thanks to my complaint.

Anyway, Maaya’s new single will be released on 14th of June! w00t! I’ll be in Japan around that time, so maybe I will finally get to attend one of her live promo events… The single is a double A-side single (which I’m guessing means that both songs are equally good). The songs are “kazemachi JET” and “supika”.

風待ちジェット/スピカ（両A面シングル）
2006å¹´6月14日　çºå£²ã§ãã€‚

「風待ちジェット」　作詞：坂本真綾　作曲：鈴木祥子
「スピカ」 　 作詞：坂本真綾　作編曲：h-wonder

いち早く、レギュラーラジオ番組”ビタミンM”の中でオンエアしていきまãã®ã§ã€
チェックしてくださいâª

New Maaya songs are always good, but I can’t help noticing that her partnership with Yoko Kanno seems to be over for good. I sort of miss the type of songs from her Nikopachi days… Maybe I just can’t adapt to change.