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General info
Kanon Wakeshima (分島花音) is a cellist, singer, songwriter, and illustrator. Her musical debut was in 2008 with the single
still doll. She has gone on to sing theme songs for a number of animated series (Vampire Knight, WIXOSS franchise series, To Love-Ru, STRIKE THE BLOOD, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) and video games (Fate/EXTRA CCC), and has even performed concerts in countries outside of Japan as a result.
Official website |
Twitter |
Instagram |
Illustrations Instagram
Relation to lolita
When she debuted, she had Mana (of Malice Mizer and Moi Dix Mois fame, and a popularizer of lolita fashion) as her producer through the release of her second album, 少女仕掛けのリブレット〜LOLITAWORK LIBRETTO〜. She collaborated with Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and lolita model Midori Fukasawa to release some items (a
couple of
necklaces and a
keychain). When she first debuted she wore lolita and while that has relaxed a bit to include other fashion styles and has a generally harder look than she used to, her fashion style is still lolita inspired.
Comments
I was initially drawn to her because of her lolita look but she is multitalented – she sings, plays an instrument, AND makes really good drawings. I found
this collection of her drawings soon after her Still Doll single came out, and spent hours admiring them. There are more illustrations
on her old picture diary. Look at this drawing where she made human personas for her four cellos!
She released a small art book in 2011 called
Flower Sound Orchestra that I would love to own someday but it’s proving incredibly difficult to find despite having sold it at Sakuracon in the US. She doesn’t have a store for her art either, unfortunately. I am glad she’s doing more high profile illustration jobs lately, though. And few other musicians can say that they created their own cover illustrations for their albums and singles. Her drawing style reminds me a little bit of Kira Imai, and then found out that one of the limited edition booklet illustrations of her album
Tsukinami is drawn by Kira Imai. I love it when multiple people I’m fans of work together <3
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I’m also a big fan of her current fashion style. She’s branched out from lolita to something harder and even ouji inspired at times but still manages to incorporate twinges of the sweet and feminine. It’s not something I think I would look good doing (especially since I don’t think I look good with short hair) but she does a great job at it. It looks strong, stylish, and put together.
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Suggested songs
I generally prefer her older work that Mana produced over her new stuff, so the bulk of my suggestions are older songs. I like her
kanon x kanon collaboration with the bassist of An Cafe a lot more than I thought I did, so those songs are mixed in here too. I tend to favor slower songs, ones that prominently feature her cello playing, and the ones with more non-electronic instruments. Her later songs that I do like have a little bit of jazzy orchestra/big band flair to them, and her voice sounds like she’s more sure of herself. Click on the links to open a page to listen to a sample. The pages are in Japanese but don’t fret if you don’t know the language – find the play button and press it.
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