REIRA starring YUNA ITO - ENDLESS STORY

October 8th, 2005 by Rinoa · 24 Comments · 95%

Release Title: ENDLESS STORY
Product Code: SRCL-5957
Label: Sony Records
Release date: 2005/09/07
Debut Ranking: #2

Yuna Ito is a relatively new face in the Japanese entertainment scene. She is actually a Hawaiian born artist. Up till the present day, she has only appeared in a couple of variety shows which were broadcasted on television and has been featured on a few magazines. However she has still managed to impress the Japanese audience in many aspects.

Up till her debut Yuna Ito was shrouded in mystery. This has gained Yuna a great deal of attention and fans. All that was known was that Yuna Ito was starring in the highly anticipated movie “NANA” as the lead vocalist of Trapnest, Reira.

On the 7th September 2005, Yuna Ito’s debut single, “ENDLESS STORY” was released. “ENDLESS STORY” happened to be one of the main songs for “NANA” alongside Mika Nakashima’s “GLAMOROUS SKY”. “ENDLESS STORY” has sold around 208,941 copies to date, which is quite a remarkable achievement for a debut single.

I highly believe that this single is the exact antithesis of Mika Nakashima’s “GLAMOROUS SKY”. While Mika’s cover is black and devoid of any glamour, Yuna’s cover is pink, feminine and full of charm. I do believe this was done on purpose to portray the contrast between the character Nana and Reira.

ENDLESS STORY

This song is one of those that would leave its melody imprinted into your memory. In a few seconds, the listener gets enchanted in the beautiful piano melody which sets the scene into a heavenly atmosphere. Yuna is gifted with a magnificently clear voice and she manages to perfectly compliment to the background music to create a richly emotional and soulful ballad with. The lyrics are simply worded in touching manner. Yuna also manages to sing the English parts clearly, without any heavy accents. The arrangement of the song manages to blend emotion, soothing instruments and a slight rock edge. It is therefore not surprisingly to find out that the arrangement was assigned to HΛL, known for the arrangement of songs for famous artists like Ayumi Hamasaki.

Rating:

JOURNEY

This track can arguably be considered as more adequate to fit Reira’s role in Trapnest. Yuna manages to pull it off with a rock, upbeat song without straining her vocals. The track begins slowly into what seems to be a deceivingly slow song, till the guitars start playing. Consequently, Yuna’s enticing voice breaks in. The chorus is destined to grow into the listener especially since it does give the feeling of hope and a destination. I do believe this track is rather good for a b-side. My only complaint was that it tended to become a bit repetive, especially in the chorus which is the only flaw I could notice from this song.

Rating:

Conlusion

I really do believe this single is the best debut single I’ve ever heard. It is indeed of a very high quality for a debut single with a lot of effort enclosed in it. Her vocals are simply perfect. I really do believe that Yuna does have a brilliant career ahead of her full of emotions. “ENDLESS STORY” is a gorgeous ballad with a rock edge in which Yuna’s voice blends flawlessly. “Journey” has the Trapnest style element which the title track lacked. This has complimented to create a well rounded single, with a range of emotions packed in a single small box for the whole world to discover.

Overall Rating:

1. ENDLESS STORY
2. JOURNEY
3. ENDLESS STORY-Instrumental-
4. JOURNEY-Instrumental-

JPop · Review

24 responses so far ↓

Pam // Oct 8, 2005 at 2:07 pm

While I agree with everything you say, I just ant to point out that the fact Yuna’s English is so good is that she was raised in Hawaii. ^___^

edit: Ooops! Just realized that you already said that. >_<
tam // Oct 8, 2005 at 6:39 pm

shes’s really pretty i really love her music!
Jason // Oct 9, 2005 at 9:25 am

First of all, great article, I really enjoy to read this one.

I love the begining of this track, the combination of piano and strings brought out the great feeeling towards this ballad. I’m so imrepress for her vocal, her voice is really clear and powerful.

My favourite is at the middle part of this ballad, the electronic guitar comes in after the piano and string solo, brought out the climax. That’s really cool. Feel like to try her b-side now!
eyn // Oct 12, 2005 at 1:58 pm

I’ve listened to the single and I’m really impressed, afterall it’s a debut single from a new artist. Yuna looks very pretty in some of the pictures, but not so great on others, I think I can only have a better idea how she actually looks like by watching the movie or her TV performances.

ENDLESS STORY is a great song, but I’m not totally in love with it compare to GLAMOROUS SKY by Mika. The b-side, JOURNEY, is pretty good too, I like how she can manage both soft ballad and fast rock songs, even without much experience being a debut singer.

Something that troubles me is that on her official website, the site title, even biography, her name is written as “REIRA starring YUNA ITO”. I don’t like all these fuss about her being REIRA instead of herself. Is Yuna going to be one of those one shot singer that won’t release anything in the future, or won’t have much success compare to her debut single due to lack of promotion? I don’t know, I just think the company shouldn’t push too hard about the “REIRA starring YUNA ITO” thingy.
shinichro // Oct 29, 2005 at 9:36 pm

is really lucky to let me found another potantial singer in the MTV charts…is really nice to hear her song eventhough i don’t understand japanese…it really amaze me…
tejung // Mar 15, 2006 at 10:53 pm

Endless Story is my absolute favorite.
It’s also chosen by Oricon Style-”Love Song of year 2005″
Bang Doll // Apr 24, 2006 at 11:31 am

This song is so good that I listen to it over and over again. Yuna’s voice and skill is very impressive. She can easily manipulate her voice to express the feelings of lyrics. She’s just simply great.
Liezel // Jul 19, 2006 at 8:57 am

My gosh this lady is very beautiful and a good singer.. haha
Kerei ne!! haha.. I love her song EndleSs story.. that is all if you want open my profile at friendster.. liezel_bejin@yahoo.com that is all
chiyo // Sep 5, 2006 at 7:49 am

this, yuna ito
i amazed her when i first saw the movie NANA.
i like her performance and other also MIKA NAKASHIMA the heroin in this movie
i’m a BIG fans of Japanese movies and song.
gambatte ne ito san!!!!!
hope to see you in MALAYSIA
jumeauxe // Sep 18, 2006 at 7:30 am

i love her music! reira kirei… i hope she could visit us here in the Philippines.. wakarunai her song a little bit but i saw the translation,. and i love it! aishiteru!
sundae // Nov 16, 2006 at 7:10 am

thanks for sharing the song. judging from the pos. reviews, i think it’ll be worth trying her out. she kinda looks hk-ish though… not jap.
Kei-kun // Dec 7, 2006 at 3:52 pm

I ended up downloading Endless Story….It’s tres marvy and well, I ended up downloading Journey too -_-’ Along with many other OLIVIA (Reira) songs. What can I say? I’m a die hard OLIVIA fan. And now I also love Yuna ^.^
Nikki // Dec 19, 2006 at 1:05 pm

T^T what a beautiful music
juvy alda // Jan 8, 2007 at 12:16 pm

i really like her song!
ruth alda // Jan 12, 2007 at 5:24 am

wow!i really do beleive the story…its so nice
zurina // Jan 12, 2007 at 9:08 pm

hi there..
first time listening to this song has made me fell in love with this song..
the melody was amazing..
but, since im not japanese, i dont really know the meaning of this song..
so, could someone please translate the lyrics for me??
thanks..cheers..
swallowvth // Mar 1, 2007 at 6:32 am

i just wonder if this song was based on the melody of “If im not in love with you” by Faith hill?
Rinoa // Mar 19, 2007 at 3:45 pm

Actually “ENDLESS STORY” is a cover of “If I’m Not In Love” by Dawn Thomas. Faith Hill’s version is yet another cover.
Yuuki // May 6, 2007 at 5:55 am

SUGOI!!!!!! sh’s good in english i can hear it…that american accent she have!! wahahha!!! but anyway…. her song is great!!!!! actually it has a version here in the philippines, entittled “if im not in love with you” wahahahahha althoug wakarunai her song, it sounds pleasing to me!!! wahahahah

thats all!!!

ja ne!
kai // May 25, 2007 at 10:14 am

totally struck by her dazzling vocal in the movie ‘NANA’, endless story give me the feeling of never-ending/undying love, one wana share with spouse
Aril // Jun 30, 2007 at 11:53 am

what a wonderful song i’ ve ever heard….endless story and truth its enough to make this wonderful artist has reach a high credibility and stand with the same stage with other artist ! We from malaysia will always support you !
Selene // Nov 21, 2007 at 1:10 pm

Her voice doesn’t sound right when I hear it on this website. Her voice isn’t THAT heavy
meimei // Apr 12, 2008 at 9:57 pm

keikun, may i know who is olivia? n who is reira? isn’t reira= yuna ito? as i was listening to olivia’s songs from a fren she copied to me, but i din know how she looks like.. thanks soo much~!!^^
Selene // Apr 13, 2008 at 2:46 pm

TO: meimei

Yes, Yuna Ito plays Reira in NANA.

If you don’t know what Olivia looks like look her up on youtube.

On http://www.videouncoverd.com you can look up almost any Jpop singer.

http://www.videouncovered.com/

Here’s what it said about her on videouncovered:

“OLIVIA is a half Russian-American half Japanese singer who attended the Okinawa Actors School, also attended by Namie Amuro. There she was discovered by Avex, and signed to Avex Trax as part of an idol group called D&D. Eventually the group disbanded and in 1999 OLIVIA became a solo artist. She released eight singles and two albums before going on a hiatus. In 2006 she was asked to sing for Reira from the anime NANA by the NANA manga creator Ai Yazawa under the name ‘OLIVIAinspi’REIRA (TRAPNEST)’. On January 17, 2006 OLIVIA released a mini album called ‘The Cloudy Dreamer’ thus marking her return.

I hope this has helped you.

=3