C'est la rêve qui chante…

3 (Non-Dance) Renai Circulation Covers Worth Checking Out

Am I late jumping on the train or what? I’m sure those of you who are clued into the anime circuit remembered the hype of the cute 4th opening to Bakemonogatari – Renai Circulation by Hanazawa Kana.

And I’m pretty sure those of you who remember the song also associate it with the viral dance meme.  However, what interested me wasn’t the various dance covers (often featuring awkward lumbering otaku pretending to be Japanese schoolgirls) but the vocal covers. It’s not too hard to wave your arms and jump up and down like a bear on hot coals, but to sing the cutesy melody and chatter away adorably at the equally cutesy rap section… I was curious to see who could pull it off.

Unfortunately, sifting through YouTube for vocal covers of a popular anime song is akin to thrifting – you have to go through a bunch of garbage before finding a few gems.

Luckily for you, Yoruko has endured the countless wannabe-J-Pop idols shrieking in her Sony MDR-NC7′s so you can just sit back and enjoy these three wonderful Renai Circulation song covers of varying nature.

THIRD PLACE
HAN0N1viBritannia’s karaoke version

Props for actually doing the full version, most cover singers are usually too lazy and stop at TV-size. Her voice quality is like a softer rendition of Hanazawa’s, and while she isn’t a particularly strong singer and tends to mumble a bit, her adorable lisp has character. I just want to give that voice a tight hug :)

SECOND PLACE
Osamurai-san & acane_madder’s acoustic version

Osamurai-san plays the guitar and harmonica in this, with acane_madder on vocals and piano. acane’s pitched this down a little and given the song a gentler, wispier tone. I’m a sucker for acoustic renditions and I honestly didn’t think one of Renai would have worked, but this cover convinced me otherwise. The rap section was done beautifully, and the instrumentation is great.

FIRST PLACE
Male a capella version

This earns the gold medal due to sheer epicness. A male university a capella group covering this? So many things could have gone wrong, but they didn’t. The high voices are solid, and having the bass singers take the rap and chorus was an amusing spin on things. Also loved their vocal adaptation of the instrumentals. And you can’t forget their hilarious attempts to dance along. Viva otakus with good harmony!