Sanada Genichirou's 2nd single, Keep Going On

Received the CDs from HMV Japan today which is the release date of Sanada Genichirou's 2nd single, "Keep Going On". I bought 2 CDs in this package which includes both singles of Gen-chan and his first single was Meisei. And I happened to get the first press for Meisei while the 2nd single's first press is the only version which will be published so if it goes out of stock, NEC Interchannel will not reprint it.

Talking about this new single, as seen from the cover I scanned, it shows him not in tennis wear or a school uniform but a formal vest-suit. Well, he already looks mature in the first place so this picture makes him more like a grown-up. Since the single is only selling for 700 plus yen, there's only one song, "Keep Going On", the karaoke version and a short talk clip of 50 plus seconds. I would have hoped that he can talk more but I can't grumble too much since it's been some time since I heard Kusunoki-san's voice. In the talk section, he mainly talks about Seigaku and Hyotei in another block so Rikkai can't meet them yet during the Nationals unless they are in the final. He also does a little impersonation of Atobe's famous line, "oresama no bigi ni yoina" to make fun of him. In the end, he concludes that Rikkai would love to have a match with Seigaku again so that he can defeat Echizen as revenge for the Kantou final. Oh, if that comes true, it would be very mouth-watering but I surely won't mind if Sanada ends up having a match with Tezuka instead of Echizen.

The song, "Keep Going On" is very catchy and a fast number which gets your adrenaline pumping. At least when I ran the CD for the first time, it left a better impression than "Meisei" which I only grew to like after repeated listenings. It also seems like Kusunoki-san has improved in singing or should I say that the song has brought out the plus points in his vocals?

As for Meisei, this is a slow number which mainly talks about the pride of champions and how they desire victory. Talk section is much longer than the 2nd single and this is to be expected since it costs more. As for the cover design, I think that the 2nd single looks better because the 1st single made Sanada look kind of weird and fiercer than usual. Maybe it's because the 1st single was released under a bulk series but the 2nd single was released as a single item so I guess that is where the difference lies in.