PurpleSoftware is Visual Novel developer company, or something of sorts. I got to know them whilst I was scrolling on Nutaku, when their latest officially translated project Chrono Clock is on sale. The story follows a teenage boy who grew up from a rich family, the successor of their parent’s multi-million dollar company found a pocket watch whilst cleaning the warehouse. It belonged to his grandfather’s and the boy remembered how he always bring it anywhere he went. Turns out, the clock actually has a magical power to rewind time 5 minutes into the past. The boy remembered how his grandfather always look so confident in even the most dire situation, and now it all finally make sense. It piqued my interest, and I probably typed too much when this was supposed to be a post about Futaridake no Curtain Call but bear with me.
Some time passed and I finally managed to get myself Chrono Clock on my potato PC, so I started reading through it. It was categorized as a medium-length VN and for me that is actually long enough, glad that I managed to finish one route in a day. When that happens, the roll-credits came out. Futari no Chronicle played in the background, and I instantly fell in love with the singer’s voice.
Her name is Asaba Rio, she is the voice behind the ending song as well as some other ending songs released by PurpleSoftware. At the time, I was aching to listen more songs from her, but there’s not much to see other than what is listed on her VNDB page. So I searched the titles listed on that page, and failed to acquire some of her songs. When I said I can’t find Amatsutsumi’s Tsunagaru Kokoro, I REALLY CAN’T FIND IT. That’s until I realized there are some parts of internet I haven’t touched yet, NicoNicoDouga. How could I literally forgot that Japan is a really different place from the entire planet, that site is like their version of Youtube. So I started searching and boom, there it is. Asaba Rio’s Tsunagaru Kokoro.
https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm29806314
My search continues, and the latest song from Asaba Rio that time was the infamous Futaridake no Curtain Call. But I didn’t know that! So all I know was that Hashimoto Miyuki’s voice on Aoi Tori is really nice. Still unaware of what I’ve been missing out on, I kept searching. Then they get their own video, I MEAN THE ENDING GOT THEIR OWN VIDEO. VNs doesn’t usually post their endings online, just the opening but this one oh boy. I instantly fell in love with this one.
It can’t get any better than this, I thought. And it kinda did, the song started slow somber-like and progressively become more upbeat towards the middle part and it stayed that way until the end. There’s not much else to say actually, Asaba Rio’s voice were just so beautiful to me. The search continues, Realive’s Kyojitsu no Kakera. Boom, here it is hiding on Bilibili.
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV12J411V7Qz
Someone once uploaded Realive’s Kyojitsu no Kakera on Youtube and it was promptly taken down 3 days later, I was lucky enough to download it before that happens. You wouldn’t believe how much I searched that title everyday at the time. And that actually happened before I knew about Bilibili, so it was kinda a big deal for me at that time.
Then this come out, a re-arrangement of their best 10 songs into an orchestra play. I was so hyped back then, couldn’t help but wonder how greater Futaridake no Curtain Call can be when it’s played by an orchestra. But it only sells on AkibaPOP Festival at the end of 2019, so I desperately searched for those 10 songs and wonder if anyone has shared them online yet.
Turns out, yes. Again, Bilibili saved the day once more! And to be honest, the result was quite mediocre, borderline disappointing even. But at least I could listen to other good songs such as Koi Zakura, and Miraizu! That was Asaba Rio’s first song, and it made its way to this playlist sounding much nicer than the original!
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av81706211?p=3
Other songs by Asaba Rio listed on her VNDB page can easily be found on Youtube, the only one I haven’t been able to shoot down is Shiawase Kazokubu’s TRUE YOUR HEART. I seriously couldn’t find it anywhere, if you somehow found it please let me know.
This post was supposed to only talk about Futaridake no Curtain Call, but somewhere along the way got generalized into her singer. That works I guess, I am now eagerly waiting for Seishun Fragile’s upcoming release so I could listen to more Asaba Rio’s voice either from the ending or the insert songs.
Edit : While I was researching the materials for this post, I found these jackpot(s?) and I couldn’t even believe my eye the first time I saw it. Now excuse me, as I brute force my way through these playlist for the rest of the noon.
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Us41117cZ?p=10
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1cW411i7LQ?p=2
Quick heads up, Asaba Rio’s name in Kanji and Katakana is written like this 浅葉リオ
Also WordPress fucked up the embed links, might consider changing to Blogspot if it keeps happening.
!C8Hypela/M!!/fN+hj5w 