Sora no Hana

Ai Otsuka released her 17th Single on May 21st 2008. The single is a double a-side with an additional b-side and was released under the Avex Trax record label. This single comes in CD and CD+DVD formats. The single debuted at number 2 on the daily charts on the Oricon charts but fell to number 3 by the second day. It is expected to get number 3 for the week.

CD Tracklist

1. Rocket Sneaker
2. One×Time
3. Sora to Kujira
4. Rocket Sneaker (Instrumental)
5. One×Time (Instrumental)

DVD Tracklist

1. Rocket Sneaker PV

Rocket Sneakers is a somewhat fast paced song which starts out with Ai singing to a piano which quickly turns into drums with guitars in the background. The song is somewhat typical Ai Otsuka fare, giving off a very positive, silly vibe. Sadly, the song did not live up to it’s predecessors “PEACH”, “SMILY”, or “Sakuranbo”.

One x Time is the second a-side from the single. The song also starts with pianos and is very mellow. There is a somewhat bland string that makes its way along with an acoustic guitar. Overall, the song is just too mellow and bland.

The b-side, Sora to Kujira, is an acosutic guitar based. It has a very beautiful and cool acoustic guitar opening. The song has a silly title, meaning “The Sky and The Whale”, but has a serious sound. The song is almost completely acoustic with other instruments making an appearence by the second chorus. This is, handsdown, the best song on the single.

There are also instrumental versions of the a-sdies, Rocket Sneakers and One x Time.

Overall Grade: D+