Sorairo Days [Single, Import]

Sorairo Days is Shokotan's 3rd single. It comes in several different versions, as many Japanese idol CDs do. Amazon has listings for all three, and I will describe each as I noticed this review gets posted on all versions.

BLUE COVER
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This edition, with the sky-blue ("sorairo") cover, is the CD+DVD edition. Tracks on the CD are:

1. Sorairo Days
2. happily ever after
3. Mitsubachi no Sasayaki
4. Sorairo Days ~Instrumental~

The first two tracks are closely associated with the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: "Sorairo Days" was used as the Opening Song for every episode, and "happily ever after" was an insert song in episode 16. They are probably her best-known rock songs and are quite enjoyable. Mitsubachi is a cuter pop-rock song and pretty catchy.

The CD booklet folds open to reveal the bottom half of the cover photo (the top half you see in the product picture). The back has a similar picture of Shoko in a white dress sitting against a sky background. Those are the two pictures of Shokotan you get in this release.

This edition also comes with a DVD, about 8 minutes long. The DVD is Region 2 (Japan), so you will need some way to play it. It contains:

1. Sorairo Days PV (the music video)
2. Behind-the-scenes making-of the Sorairo Days music video

ORANGE COVER
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This version with the sunset-orange cover is the CD-only edition. The CD contains the same four tracks as above; no DVD is included. This has pictures of Shokotan in white shorts on the front and back covers. Same info about the music applies.

YOKO ANIME COVER
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This edition is focused entirely on Gurren Lagann and comes in a glossy digipak-type case (rather than a standard jewel case). It has a slightly different track list. You get:

1. Sorairo Days
2. happily ever after
3. Sorairo Days ~Of Construction~
4. Sorairo Days ~Of Realization~

Essentially the third and fourth tracks are TV-size (1:30 length) versions of Sorairo Days, as used in Gurren Lagann. Track 3 is the first OP, containing the first verse and a chorus. Track 4 is the second OP, containing the second verse and chorus. Both are subsets of Track 1.

But there is a special bonus! This edition also comes with a Shokotan Cosplay Photo Booklet, 16-pages and 10 pictures of Shokotan dressing up as Yoko from the anime. Shokotan loves anime, games, and geek culture, and is great at cosplaying if you haven't seen her. These are some very cute photos.

CONCLUSION
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Each version has its advantages. The blue/orange covers have better music variety on the CD itself, and are the only Shokotan CDs to have "Mitsubachi no Sasayaki". The Yoko version has the great cosplay photobook. The blue cover comes with a DVD, whereas the other two versions don't. The orange cover is the least expensive (msrp yen price at least). Which to get just depends on what interests you most.

Amazon itself does seem to carry the actual Japanese CDs from Sony Music Japan, so there should be no worries about ordering directly from them.