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A promotional image of the artwork for ‘PASIO’.

Artist: Hitomi Shimatani Product Code: AVCD-31123/4 Release Date: 2006.11.15 Debut Ranking: #9 Label: avex trax

After the mindblowing classical single, ‘Destiny -Taiyou no Hana-’ I was highly anticipating her upcoming release with a lot of excitement. After five months, Hitomi returned with the exotic and latin-flavoured ‘PASIO’ which definitely left many of her fans with mixed feelings.

Before moving into the ‘Crossover’ genre, Hitomi Shimatani experimented with different genres and images. This can be followed through her releases which range from bubblegum pop to techno music. With the release of her 23rd single, ‘PASIO’ Hitomi returned back to 2003 with her ethnic roots. However this did not prove as successful since ‘PASIO’ only sold around 10,262 copies, making it her lowest selling single.

1. PASIO

When I heard the title of this song, I was extremely excited. ‘PASIO’ means ‘ocean’ in Japanese but many fans have speculated that ‘PASIO’ actually stands for ‘passion’ from the Latin language. Either way the song title follows a typical Hitomi style where the titles give off an image or a theme.

‘PASIO’ surprisingly has a latin-flavour with an ethnic beat. Ethnic instruments, such as drums, organs and guitars are quite predominant as background music. It’s quite impressive how they blend well to produce latin rhythms. As most of her singles ‘PASIO’ is the ‘Entame Sports’ theme song with Nippon Television system.

Hitomi is extremely at ease singing ethnic genres, as evidenced in singles such as ‘Viola’, ‘Perseus’ and most recently ‘FALCO’, and so her vocals are polished even when performing live. Also the latin genre was a predominant one within her album ‘Gate ~ Scena III ~’. Despite the fact I’m not extremely fond of this song ‘PASIO’ is definitely uniquely Hitomi and the song does manage to be moderately catchy.

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The promotional clip contains a lot of imagery related to fire and the predominant use of the colours red and black are quite obvious. It basically is a lot of eye candy with Hitomi wearing three outfits and dancing a little during some scenes and no concept at all. It just felt like a random clip thrown together at the last second. Also the magician looked out of place. To be honest it wasn’t exactly impressive or interesting but more of a generic clip. I felt it really left out the exotic and ethnic theme which was quite disappointing.

During live performances Hitomi was featured wearing a gypsy-styled outfit which I felt really complimented with the style more than the promotional video ever did. Hitomi even danced a little during the chorus with her backing dancers, which made the live performances even more enjoyable. A live band was also featured which gave the whole atmosphere a whole ethnic feel. Overall I must say this is what impressed most out of this single.

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2. True Blue

‘True Blue’ is a very slow and relaxing ballad. It has a country feel to it, with the only a few instrumentals in the background. It really makes me think of a sunny afternoon watching fields. It’s major flaw was that the song is simply continuous during the whole five minutes. I also really liked the backing vocals during the chorus. They were soft enough to blend with Hitomi’s vocals and create a very soothing mood. However I think it fits well as a b-side. ‘True Blue’ was featured in the final episode of anime series “Ueki no Hosoku.”

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3. Tsuioku LIVE REC from Special Live Crossover II

This song was recorded from her ‘Special Live Crossover II’. Hitomi covered ‘Tsuioku’ on this live. ‘Tsuioku’ which means ‘recollections’, is an enchanting and heartfelt ballad which would hypnotise any listener. I felt the chorus really manages to depict how impressive and emotional Hitomi’s vocals can be.

I really loved the piano and violin in the background which created such a beautiful and moody atmosphere matching with Hitomi’s vocals. To me this is probably the best track off this single because it’s so emotional yet so soothing.

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Conclusion

To be entirely honest, I wasn’t exactly impressed with this single at first. I was extremely disappointed and it only started growing onto me after watching her perform it live. Hitomi displayed a lot of confidence and it was evident that she enjoyed performing it live. This aspect made me re-listen to this single and enjoy it.

The problem with this single is that it seems to have fairly average songs with nothing in particular which makes them stand out. In fact nothing from this package stands out at all. The promotional clip and the artwork feature a typically beautiful Hitomi but they are not particularly exciting and display nothing new or outstanding.

When comparing this single to the previous one I felt that a huge rift in quality separated them. In fact I really felt it was a step down from her current style. ‘PASIO’ literally sounds like a single taken off from her album ‘Gate ~ Scena III ~’ which was released back in 2003 and I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea. It’s as if this single is at stuck at the stage ‘been there, done that’.

To conclude, I must admit that in the end ‘PASIO’ is quite a good single. Despite its’ shortcomings it does fully display Hitomi’s vocals. Unfortunately avex barely promoted this single. Hopefully her next single, ‘Dragonfly’ shall be much more exciting and shall provide more anticipation.

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CD version

CD+DVD version

CD Tracklist

1. PASIO
2. True Blue
3. Tsuioku LIVE REC from Special Live Crossover II
4. PASIO (Instrumental)
5. True Blue (Instrumental)

DVD Tracklist

1. PASIO PV
2. Destiny -Taiyou no Hana- Live Shooting from Special Live Crossover II

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