The future like the wind~ 🍃

YAAAAY! I've been looking forward to this collab more than anything and I'm so happy it's out in the world to be shared! 🥺💖 It was my huge honor and delight to sing the part of Shibuya Kanon for Mathew's English translyric cover of Liella!'s "Mirai wa Kaze no You ni" aka the ending theme from the Love Live! Superstar!! anime.

My heart was fully invested in this, in so many layers hahaha. First of all I'm a big fan of Love Live and while Liella's season 1 wasn't the greatest I still have fond memories from watching it and bonding over its ups/downs with friends — including Mathew. In terms of my personal taste in music, I'd probably say Liella is a close second to Nijigasaki for what I would regularly listen to.... Their songs just sound so lovely and light and refreshing and uplifting without going overboard. ;v; There are a few Liella songs I like a lot and the anime ending is one of them! It's such a nice song!! Plus you always get sentimentally attached to the theme songs after watching a show haha.

There is definitely a soft spot in my heart for Kanon's character and the first episode that introduced her as having crippling stage fright (fucking up performances and auditions) and yet having a passion for singing and making music and it destroys her that she can't do better. It was the first time I related so deeply to a Love Live character... And was totally unexpected for the protagonist, at that! For a silly idol anime, I appreciated how grounded and full of heart it was. 🥺

GUESS WHO REWATCHED EPISODE 1 TO TAKE THESE SCREENSHOTS AND ENDED UP SOBBING UGH. It hit me harder now than the first time. (Though of course the bad news is that they went on to ignore this super important piece of character development for like 9 episodes but who's counting--)

Given all this, it meant a lot that Mathew entrusted me with singing Kanon's parts and for representing the protagonist of the group....... Such a great honor 😭😭😭😭

And on top of everything, I've been listening to the covers that Mathew puts out for a while—I genuinely enjoy and admire them a lot! Every video of his is sparkling with passion and love and warmth. He brings together such lovely casts and writes touchingly inspiring lyrics and his mixes are magical (the blend is always amazing!) and it's so cool how active he is with idol cover projects and getting them finished at a time when many projects never see the light. :') 💕

That said, ofc I've been wanting to work with him but a few opportunities didn't pan out because they were at really bad times for me... And when this one came along...... I'd already been dealing with throat issues and taking a break after clearing my urgent projects........... but I just knew that if I said no I'd regret it forever?! My response to Mathew was literally: "My heart tells me I should say yes this time 😭" This was the only project I recorded in the middle of my vocal rest periods—I did try to be careful not to push myself too hard or sing for too long so it was recorded over many days and I tried to respect my limits.

After this was when my throat took a turn for the worse so this is the last thing I recorded before taking my serious vocal rest! And of course my thoughts lead me here... that if I never recover..... and am forced to retire......... I'd be happy that this collab is the one that marks my retirement. ❤️ THOUGH OF COURSE I'm GOING to recover!!! and NOT retire!!!! so yeah!!! ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ

Also I will admit that I'm actually happy with my solos in this,,, It's been ages since I could say that LMAO. Considering the circumstances it was recorded in that's surprising, but I think I managed to sound as well as I'd hope to sound—I don't dislike this timbre that was used to sound closer to Kanon and I expressed everything I wanted to express and don't sound like a bad singer quq Success, I'm actually quite proud!

The cast is just wonderful. Such pretty, lovely, adorable, sweet, soothing but energizing voices and I love everyone and hope I can sing with them all again. ;u; I'd absolutely still be a gushing fan even if I weren't involved since this collab is a delight to listen to—I've been looping the mix drafts for a while and now that the video is out I'm still not stopping!!

We will give our all, so let us take flight, you and I~ ✨✨✨!

Mirai wa Kaze no You ni (Liella!) ⌈english cover | Sepia Pro.⌋
Vocalists ►Eva @waterpixieva ►Hikari Kira @Hikari Kira ►Cheri Fish @cherifish ►Odin @❤ Shoujo Brave ❤ ►shoyun @shoyun Mix ►Mathew @Sepia Days Music English Lyrics ►Mathew @Sepia Days Music

For Fruits Basket ~2021~

mini cover for #WailingWednesday~

the first time i uploaded my singing on youtube was "For Fruits Basket" back in middle school 💙

🎨 by https://t.co/sEm0VkgaCo
(skeb bday present from Velvet!!!) pic.twitter.com/wadJvqbNxB

— Eva ❖ CODEX // Gemini (@waterpixieva) June 10, 2021

(mp3 if embed breaks) 

I sang a quick thing!!!! Of "For Fruits Basket" which was the first cover I ever posted to youtube back in 2006—and I've covered it a few times since then but not in many years. :')

This came about for these reasons...

1.) Dear friendo Velvet gifted me this super beautiful art by opp_grr for my birthday and I've been looking for a good excuse to post or use it somehow 😭 Feels weird to post it as a standalone tweet since I'm not the artist, idk? I'm really glad it can finally be seen by people!!! So pretty; I'm not worthy!!!!

2.) #WailingWednesday is a new trend that just started last week! It's fun to hear more of others' singing and also learn about them through their choices and read their stories—for example, this week's prompt is "What is a song that inspired you to sing, either when you started singing, or when you were in a slump?" and I've discovered a few people who sang Mermaid Melody!!

The goal for #WailingWednesday is for everyone to show their singing without mixing/editing—that's why it doesn't sound as polished as a proper cover—a lot of people did one shots but I had to do two separate takes for the first half and second half of the song because breathing is HARD.... 😭

3.) I love me my throwback songs and had also considered Mermaid Melody, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa Chronicle....... But decided on this in the end because the currently airing Fruits Basket reboot anime owns my soul.. q__q All my feels every week 💞💘💕💓

(me too ;u;)

It's crazy how in middle school I'd watch the Furuba anime and fangirl over it and sing this song.......... and now 15 years later WHAT'S CHANGED??

HAS ANYTHING CHANGED????????

NO! I'M IN A TIME LOOP OF FURUBA.

I love this anime so much and am grateful that it's been airing every spring/summer for the past 3 years~ (happy sigh ;u;) Kind of sad that there's only three episodes left and then no more new Fruits Basket again forever. This show has given us so much sweetness, pain, tears, laughs, comedic excellence, soft moments, fucked up shit, more pain, so much pain... it broke our hearts... it warmed our hearts...... I love that even though the original anime is so iconic, they still gave it the time and thoughtful attention in telling the full story of the manga through 3 new seasons—and I will probably hold both shows close to my chest always. :')

This last one is maybe spoilers from the latest episode but I'M 😭 DEAD !!!

i love kyo........ i love kyo and tohru together

Now Playing: "NEO SKY, NEO MAP!"

Not sure if I'm just biased from this invoking the ~feels~ that happen at the end of each Love Live! Nijigasaki ep but I've been really into this song; it feels magical 💓

In an alternate universe where I have a lot more free time I would probably be in the middle of organizing a collab cover of it ahaha. Though I have no idea who I'd cast myself as-- 💦

I finished watching the Nijigasaki anime which ended a few days ago!! I really loved most of it... I liked the story from playing the All Stars game and strangely enough I feel like the anime didn't exactly carry over some of the things I liked from the game? lol But instead they delved into each individual member's stories nicely I thought—and I appreciated the time they took to focus on each character which is perfect considering [MAYBE SPOILERS?] they're all solo idols rather than a group. If the girls weren't made relatable then I at least felt that they were made very likable ^^

Many of the girls had the theme of learning to be able to express themselves / be honest with themselves / let go of their self-restrictions and I found all those to be heartstring-tuggingly relatable. Ayumu (well her early arc) and Rina especially!

The last few episodes felt pretty rushed though; like the conflicts were fine ones but I wish they had more time to iron them out—the season needed to be longer.

ALSO THE MUSIC WAS SO GOOD. Niji has had so many good songs 🥺

Here a playlist I threw together of my fave tracks so far!

▶️ LL! Nijigasaki faves 🎶 ▶️

Cartoons are good

T_____T This scene from ep 7 of 22/7 (nanabun no nijyuuni) really reminded me of this post of mine ("In All Honesty") that I often reference... This episode hit hard, man. So relatable. An absolute rollercoaster in the most painful, fulfilling way.

~✨~✨~

I might currently be following the most anime I've ever actively followed concurrently in a season? ;v; Most anime doesn't seem to speak to me very much, but this season has a lot that I'm liking!

🔹 If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budoukan, I Would Die (Oshi ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu) -- I.......LOVE IT. Very, very gay girl idols. Very cute girls. A disastrous fangirl and her many miscommunications with her favorite idol member. Sometimes some problematic stuff, but I'm willing to overlook for how much I enjoy this show—it's hilarious and an absolute must-watch for idol fans who spend too much money for their oshi's. I've rewatched every episode 1-2 times. 😆

🔹 22/7 (nanabun no nijyuuni) -- WOW NOT YOUR TYPICAL IDOL ANIME AT ALL. Gets quite dark. Kind of weird but really interesting and a lot of heart. Instead of a clear plotline, each episode explores the backstory of a different member of the group..! It's insane. Do not have expectations.

🔹 Smile on the Runway (Runway de Waratte) -- Interesting blend of shoujo and shounen genres I think! Initially I thought it was shoujo because it's rather soft and features typically "feminine"-associated subjects: it's about a girl who wants to be a model and a guy who wants to be a fashion designer... but then some parts are paced in a way that make me think, "omg this is like a shokugeki but fashion" LOL. I wasn't too into it for the first 3 episodes but it gets better from 4 onwards when it introduces other characters and focuses more on the fashion design which is the more interesting aspect imo.

🔹 BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. -- I usually don't care for MMORPG-based anime but I'm surprisingly enjoying this one! Just really wholesome friendships and lighthearted world-exploring. Soft af.

🔹 IDOLiSH7: Second Beat! -- Technically this one shouldn't be on this list because only the 1st episode aired and the rest will continue airing in April (why???)... but whatever, I'm just happy that there's so much good idol anime right now. I really liked season 1 and it's looking like season 2 will be just as good if not better! It's a lot more of a typical idol anime but good story, good boys.

Colors ✨

Now Playing: "17-sai" by Harukatomiyuki

[a complete lie i'm not listening to this right now i think i would totally be overwhelmed w/ emotions if i heard this atm LOL
but i looped it a lot before and love this song and the visuals to death ugh play this at my funeral pls]

Earlier this week I finally finished the 13 episode run of probably my new second-favorite anime, Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara (aka Iroduku: The World in Colors) 💖💖💖 First will always be Tsubasa Chronicle haha.

I really feel like this anime was made specifically for me!!! There's too many specific things about it that I particularly love or can identify with—it's such a treat for both the eyes and the soul. In a previous post I already talked about how much I'm completely whipped for every single aesthetic/conceptual/thematic aspect of this show: the magic, the colors, the photography, the magic shop, the children's book illustrations, the sparkly star sand, the wholesome friendships and gentle romance... All of it is what makes up the atoms in the deepest crevices of my half-frozen heart. 

It brings back so much of what I loved as a child, and what I want to keep within me, and I realized that that might be why I'm unwilling to re-brand myself despite my alias "waterpixieva" being from 15+ years ago. That's something I just thought of today, that maybe I don't want to "grow out of" being the person who identified as Water Pixie. ;o; I already mentioned this in my other post but felt like writing about it again: my childhood character Water Pixie owned a magical healing potion shop! And also was a part-time leader of a spy agent team but that's unrelated to anything LOL. In elementary school, my dream was to be a children's book author and illustrator, and then turn my Pixies stories into an animated series. This vague sense of direction helped push me towards working in video/audio production and I also feel a strong connection to photography as I grew up always equipped with a camera and devotion to capturing memories.

Now that I've finished the series I realized that the overarching theme is really about the protagonist Hitomi breaking out of her shell. The story begins with her living in gray—literally as she's colorblind but also emotionally since she's very guarded, is pessimistic, unconfident, cannot smile, is socially isolated, and hates that she's a mage. Her journey is about discovering the beauty and colors in the world and in herself, and I feel this really resonates with my own journey in the past few years... ;;

...to become a brighter and warmer person, be less embarrassed and more expressive about being myself around people, to be able to pull myself out of pessimistic thoughts, try to find and cherish those little sparks of happiness everyday, to no longer feel bored of the world/of living, to notice wonderful things in my surroundings and in my life. ✨

I always think back to this blog post from 2017 (a year and a half before Irozuku aired!) in which I write about my coworker who marveled at how cool the clouds looked that day!!!! I envied her shining interest in the world, her ability to see beauty in things that I found to be mundane and uninspiring. "I realized that maybe I'm not necessarily bored of life... I'm just not paying enough attention to life?" In my quest to change, one of my challenges to myself was to pay more attention to colors around me! (Are we sure Irozuku wasn't written specifically for me?) I remember to do this from time to time when I'm feeling impatient; it's an ongoing challenge. In fact I'm still working on all of those things I listed earlier but I think I've still come a long way ❤

Anyway, here are some more screencaps I've saved from Irozuku hehehehe I want to do a rewatch just to save more pretty frames!

A world in color 🌈✨

Under the jump:
🌟 haircut selfie dump... again :'D
🌟 K/DA progress! + lung update
🌟 Irozuku, the anime I'm currently watching that's already entered my eternal top faves T__T 💖💖💖