I believe doing this is 'healthy' for a community like us. I've recieved a few critics every now and then saying that we (Sound Horizon's fanbase, specially those who got to know SH after Roman) are exceedingly praiseful, unconditional and fangirlish about Revo, Sound Horizon, etc.

To prove this is not necessarily true, I'd like to ask you (all!) to write about the things you don't like about Sound Horizon in a few lines. A concrete kind of style you don't like even if it is recurrent in SH, a concrete choice of cast, ...

Disclaimer
The aim is to share points of view, not to put someone else's thought in doubt. If you're mad at someone b/c of his words, keep it to yourself. There will be many 'I can't stand Aramary's voice' or 'Everything after Elysion is worthless' among others so you all know what is this about. Forewarned is forearmed. I'll be merciless with people going crazy about someone's thoughts. Harmless comments on someone's thoughts are still fair play, though.

In addition: Breaking the 5th is NOT allowed, but you since criticizing is not insluting, feel free to criticize without crossing the line. Please don't report a user's post if it's not an outright uncompliance of the rule.

I'll start:
Rejoice!

-Engrish. I was so bothered by 'the chronicles of mythos is...' back in Iberia, and Moira managed to come up with 'if this is the reason we call it destiny' and 'the consecrated female', both which sound awkward as hell to me. I really hoped that Revo would get a native speaker to translate those lines - and it seems like he did with Marchen! Kudos to Revo.

-This is a really minor thing and barely happens, but at times a few notes on the CD just seem...off.(Marchen's 'koi dato' in Hikari to Yami no Marchen always sounds a little sharp to me - which is kind of weird, because what am I basing it on? o_o 'ai dato'?)

-I don't quite like Aramary's voice in certain songs, because she sounds like she's over-stretching herself, especially in 'kimi ga umaretekuru sekai'. I realize this is also partially Revo's fault for not completing adhering to her comfortable range, but this problem seems to have gotten less serious as time went on - probably due to better recording and audio editing equipments.

Thinking of what I don't like about SH is like pulling teeth.

I'll agree with you guys on the English narration. I'm quite disappointed at how terrible the grammar is in Iberia and Moira. You'd think that Ike would maybe at least tell Revo that it was off or something (although I guess doing stuff like that isn't always possible).

Speaking of Ike, I thought his presence in the live performances completely killed the mood of every song he narrated. I mean, he sounded like a wrestling announcer with the way he was reciting everything. To me, he made the songs feel rather corny and frivolous. In fact, Ike is the one HUGE turnoff for every single person I have shown Sound Horizon to, just based on that alone...which is a bummer given how great the actual music is.

..I was so surprised to see that this thread was made by Kurobara, but I agree, we seem bit fangirlish at times, and well, we call Revo his majesty and we might seem like blinded fans that can't criticize the band, but well..

- The ridicilous amount of extra stuff that comes with LE CD's and DVD's. There's NO WAY you can have them all, and it seems pretty greedy. I can handle it if it's like with IdoIdo, pretty postcards that work fine by themselves, but if it's like with Märchen... Yeaah, those playing cards are pretty useless unless you get them all. It's probably how CD and DVD releases work in Japan, but still..

- I have a love and hate relationship with the singer changes. Sometimes annoys me, sometimes I love it, sometimes both, it really depends. But the choice turns out to be fine in the end, so it's alright.

- The vagueness of the first three story albums. at least for the first we have the remake, but with Lost and Thanatos... They are somewhat hard to understand, stories hardly seem connected and so on. But those were in the beginning of Revo's career, so, he has iproved, and has fixed that with later albums.

- The grimm stories. Again, love hate relationship. I loved it how we got separate stories, I loved it how they were connected and so on, but they didn't seem to have enough 'Revo' in them. The border story with Mär and Eli is great, but I'd expect a bit more originality to the rest of the stories. I know Revo probably can't make a story that would be 100% his (hell, who could) but now we were given ready to serve fairytales in a different adaption. He did comment on this on one of his intervies though, saying that it allowed him to concentrate more on the music aspect, but nrrghh, sorry I just can't help but to want 'Revo's' stories instead of these that I've heard 1000 times before.

And this one as last as I don't know how related this is, ha ha
- I don't like how SH makes me feel I was born in the wrong country. It seems like the Japanese fans get it all, while at times I'm not sure if Revo knows other fans existence. Of course, it can't be helped, it's a Japanese band, they sing in Japanese, and heck, would they even be able to drag those wonderful sets all the way to Europe or America? I can always wish. ..But at least to have a way for fans to order stuff from the official page without using helpful hands of buying & postal services, or at least a way to join Salon de Horizon.. I'll just keep dreaming.

Well, latter I'll write something decent, but I need to say...
For now I totally feel bad with the German on Märchen. The pronouciantion is crap, some parts seems not to be write decentrly. Ok, Sasha is half German, but this don't make him good AT ALL on translation, really.

He had translated what Revo wrote, but sometimes it just seems to be SO clumsy that it got on my nerves.

I also agree with Kurobara's point about the magic microphone on Triumph and with Haikara about the certain lack of originality of the stories on Märchen. Since the beggining I was thinking that Revo would only use the fairy tales as base, but, well, he didn't work this way this time.

There are more things that REALLY bother me, but I'll come other day to make the full list D:

I am surprised this thread was made too, I always was afraid of expressing some more negative opinoins..

Yes!! I so agree! I don't know if you're the one on youtube who made the wrestling announcer comment, but I agreed with it and said it somewhere else too just to get many thumbs down and a flamer. : ( I'm glad someone holds the same opinion as me now about his narration...
I just don't understand why they hired Ike...its not that he's untalented but he's not made for Sound horizon. he spoils all the songs which I could have loved potentially because of the narration, which is even worse in live performances. It does make the songs seem corny and it's a shame!! I still like Aramary's Elysion narration and the Roman guy ...(arghh I can't remember his name right now, there was a W I think ._.) , and Sascha even if I heard his pronunciation wasn't that good. But Ike is one of the last people I'd hire for narrating a fantasy story. -_-; Maybe because we understand English, the tone/faults are conveyed much more clearly to us. I kind of like how I don't understand what's going on in the narration with Japanese. : )

I love the lives, but I do wish they did it the screaming mad george style more, it's so much more interesting to look at. I don't mind if the musical aspect will go a bit down because of intense performing, because I think these stories should be performed with justice.
**EDIT: And I hope they get better make up artists! I loved Aramary's look, it made her look sooo different and cool. : )

About Marchen, I don't mind how he took the stories, but I do find the whole Elizabeth and Marz thing a bit .. and I didn't like the last line in the story.


That's what I think!

I don't have really time now either, but this thread is interesting anyways.
Ah, it's interesting about how I agree with all your previous comments in fact... I don't really have other things to add. I"ll just say the things that bother me the most in all of that...

-The more bothering things is, well, all the goodies, the too much goodies about the Major albums. I mean, during SH doujin period (it was logical, but well) there were less things like that. I don't catch the interest to put several set of cards in so many places, for example. It's like it's just to make CD's being bought more fastly... At least it's what it seems to me.

- Even if the foreign languages added in the songs are interesting, it's a shame that they aren't used well. Look, for example, in Roman manga : Yukimaru Katsura is not french at all, but the french sentences in her work are really perfect, compared to Revo's. I wish he would have put more attention into it, franckly. I guess it's the same thing with German, but I really don't know german at all, so I can't say it. The Engrish is also a negative point, which comes with Ike. To continue with Ike, I like him anyway, but as you said previously, his way to speak in the lives is so loud that it doesn't fit the songs at all. He kills Seisen no Iberia during the lives, although I like his narrations in the CD. It's sad, but well, past things are past.

-The tabou thing about Aramary is also annoying, it's a fact. Aramary is really the symbol of SH doujin period, and Revo can't hide it, can he ? But I have sometimes problems with Aramary voice too. It seems a lot edited, particularly during Kimi-no sekai, as Defade said. She is sometimes better at seiyu-ing than singing in that kind of soprano voice, it's a fact.

-I don't like also the fact that DVD live can't, really can't show us all the magic of Sound Horizon Concerts. The way they are filmed is also sometimes clumsy, with low movements of cameras and all. Some effects added during Across the Horizon are interesting, but well, it's not the reality that fans saw during the live. Sound Horizon is a world of "imagination", so why adding some "material" effects on the video ? Can't we just imagine them, as we imagine things with the album and the music Revo produces ? All the things that are happening on stage are enough to show us the story production through a theater ambiance. For example of a live without special effects added like that, you have Roman Story Concert which was more figurative than the others until then. Remember the allegory of the "statue" in Jimang song. The way it's shown is wonderful, with this guy under the cover. It worths hundred and hundred of special effects, as high-tech as they would be...

I'm speaking too much, I have to work, now... Right now...

Wow, I couldn't agree with this more. Finally, I get to see Kowareta Marionette performed live, one of my favourite songs, and the mood is completely butchered by Ike. And not to mention the fact that Moira would be near perfect for me if it wasn't for the english narration. I'd recommend it to anyone without hesitation... But as it is now, I'm honestly kind of embarrassed to do so. Because of the english narration.

I wish Revo would take more time to get things like foreign languages right if he's going to use it. Surely he has enough of a budget to get someone with proper knowledge of the language to help him or something by now?

I also wish there'd be less fan events that I couldn't care less about. And that so much stuff wouldn't be JAPAN ONLY. Like the fanclub, mobile site, etc.
Of course, I'm just jealous and bitter since It's nigh impossible for me to enjoy any of this personally, but hey! It sure sucks being a filthy gaijin sometimes.

Oh, my hatred for Elise knows no bounds. Her narration + laughing at the end of each track really brings Märchen down for me. I guess Saki Fujita is partly to blame for this as well (For having an annoying voice)

Using a real life history event as a backdrop for an original story or base something loosely on an existing myth/story/legend = Cool
Re-telling something mostly like it is without any major changes or additions = Well, it's not BAD, but it isn't as fun.
I miss Revo's original stories(tm). I'm not very keen on Grimm Brother fairytales or Märchen-like settings overall, so I guess that's part of why Märchen doesn't feel as awesome to me as it should.

Revo getting a bigger & bigger role as time goes on.
I mean I like Revo just as much as everyone else, but I do feel like he's been overdoing it lately. He doesn't need to be in every song, even if it's just for narration.

The horrible CG effects and wonky camera work of the live CDs. The editing of Triumph in particular is inexcusable (Why is Jimang playing around with his staff only to be seen standing perfectly still as soon as the camera angle changes? WHY?), while the camera work in Moira is... well, yeah.
Now, not ALL of the CG is bad, and there are some effects I quite like, but then there are those that just make me want to cringe. Example;
Good:
The snow in Fuyu no Dengon
The controlling strings in Kowareta Marionette
Bad:
The flying Thanatos Scythes
Overuse of flame effects in Iberia
Really bad:
The "Thanatos Summoning Ritual"
The flying dog at the end of Hoshikuzu no Kawahimo

I'm sure I could come up with more, but I'll leave it at this for now. Might edit later.

I was also pretty surprised by this thread, but I also agree at its necessity
I know I made a comment like that on youtube :'D It seems to have gotten a lot of thumbs-up....
- So yes, I think the major thing that bugs me is Ike. I heartily hope that he doesn't make a comeback, even on CD I felt that he and his engrish killed the mood.

- To follow up, the foreign languages could use some work, as Bayu and Ialdabaoth have said. The french in Roman is .... cute? But still makes me want to face/palm every time I listen to Asa to Yoru ("fleur" as "flooooooooor").

- I'd have to say I also didn't like the samey-ness of Aramary's vocals in Chronicle 2nd. It ruined it for me when you could hear her 'talking to herself' as three different characters.

- I kind of wish they'd take note of the foreign fans. Maybe some out-of-Japan touring, even if only to other Asian countries for now (at least we'd know they're trying to expand and go international). As it is, I find that SH is static when it comes to concerts and seems pretty determined to stick to what it knows.

Apart from that everything's been said~
(We do act like fangirls, don't we...? XD)

I'll admit I can be guilty of acting too fangirl-ish and as if Sound Horizon can do no wrong. :'D But that doesn't mean I'm blind to the faults, I just think the awesome parts outweigh them... So I agree with Defade, it is a bit like pulling teeth. XD

But yes, Ike is my biggest complaint, like others. Really mostly in the lives, when he sounds just ridiculous. Sometimes I think that his narration works in the CDs, but in the lives... No. >.< It took a long time to be able to overlook him and the embarrassment of his presence in them and to enjoy them despite him. (And Sascha's narration at the very beginning of Hikari to Yami no Douwa bothers me. It sounds awkward somehow... I feel like if, like Bayu, I knew much about German, he'd bother me a lot. xD)

And the effects! I feel exactly the same as Ialdabaoth's categories of them. The dog at the end of Hoshikuzu is so embarrassing. ;A; And, Iberia... Gah, I just hope there aren't any effects on the next DVD.