I got this CD because I enjoyed the first Pokemon Best Collection CD, and I found this one to be MUCH more enjoyable (even though there are no promotional cards in this one...):1) OK!: Closer to true rock-and-roll than any other song on either Best Collections. This the "Johto" (3rd season) opening credits song for the TV show, sung by the voice actress for Satoshi (Ash). I like this track even though I tend to favor orchestral songs.
2) Can You Say Pokemon? Neo: Even weirder than the first one, and this time there is no Raymond, much to my dismay. (Though I did like what they did with the 26 Unown / An'non.)
3) Meowth's Party: Very weird song, but rather catchy, especially at the beginning. This is one of the numerous closing credits songs for the TV show.
4) To Go Exploring: Sung by Pokemon Kids. A rather fun song, similar to "Pika Pika In the Middle of Chu" from the other Best Collection CD, only a little more staccato (and with no Professor Oak singing, thank goodness). I guess you could call it a "cute" song. This song was originally from the 2nd movie's Pikachu short.
5) Type Wild: My absolute favorite song from this CD. It's a closing credits song from the TV show, sung by Satoshi. It's milder than "OK!" and "Rival," other Satoshi's rock songs, yet still wild enough to be fun. (It certainly has more harmonica.) I LOVE singing this.
6) Riding Lapras: Calypso-oid closing credits song, sung by Kasumi (Misty). Solid, laid-back song.
7) Brock's Paradise: Closing credits song sung by Takeshi (Brock). Its style reminds me of a samba, and the chorus is rather catchy.
8) Flying Pokemon Kids: This is probably my second most favorite song on this CD. It's sung by the group Pokemon Kids, but unlike all the other songs they sing, there are very little weird synth instruments, making it more enjoyable than the others. (And the English is actually pronounced correctly!) Fun to sing. This was from the 2nd film's Pikachu short.
9) toi et moi: I don't listen to this song because of the bad grammar and incorrectly pronounced English at the beginning. Listening to it once was good for laughs, but since the first time I've never actually been able to make it all the way through. Ending song from the Lugia movie.
10) The Nerve-Racking Pokemon Relay: A really fast tongue-twister about which Pokemon relays to which. Though the lyrics are faster than any other Japanese song I've heard (and you thought "Aiming to be Pokemon Master" and "Type: Wild" were fast!), the music is nice. Ending song from the TV show.
11) Pichu Pika Swing: A jazzy piano + other instruments song from the Pikachu and Pichu short. If the singing was less all over the place I'd like it more, but the music is okay.
12) The Day a Rainbow is Born: From the Entei movie. This is a wonderful song...until the main refrain, when the singer sounds strained and forced, causing the song to lose some of its appeal. Otherwise, a marvelous song.
13) (The) Rival(s): Good Satoshi rock song, second only to "Type: Wild." The only thing that bugs me is the background singers, but the rest of the song is fun. It's a little slower paced than the other Satoshi songs on the CD so it's much easier to learn to sing. This was the Orange Islands opening credits song on the TV show.
14) We, the Pichu Pichu Brothers: Very cute song: honky-tonk piano with Pichu interjections. A blast to sing.
15) Frendship Anniversary: Ending song from Pikachu and Pichu. I generally pay more attention to the other songs on this CD, so I really don't have that much to say about it except that this song lacks spark to keep my interest, though I can't put my finger on why.
16) To My Best Friend: Another TV closing credits song. This one is nice, more traditional and less weird.
OVERALL GRADE: I'd give it an A in terms of quality of music. Like the previous Best Collecion, I gave it 5 stars because it provides a wide range of Pokemon music on a very full CD, as opposed to a limited range of music (like 3 singles and a few of their karaokes) on a semi-full CD. It is much better than its predecessor because it has music that scales a larger frame of time than the first and is more varied. I would highly recommend it, especially if you haven't purchased any Japanese Pokemon music before or never will again.
Like the earlier Sound Anime Collection CD from Japan, this CD features lots of Pokemon music from the Japanese series, but this time all the tracks are vocal songs instead of just background music.Track 1 is OK! which is the Japanese theme to the third Season, their equivalent of the US Johto Journies song. Track 7 is Takeshi no Paradise" or "Brock`s Paradise" in English, in which he sings about his love for girls - a strange but also funny track. Some of the other songs are "Type WILD!" (a J-pop song sung in Japanese by Satoshi`s voice actress), "The Rivals!", and "Toi Et Moi" (simply "You and Me") which was the ending theme to Revelation Lugia. This is a good track, but the leap from gentle strings at the beginning to thumping techno beats takes some getting used to for me.
Another track that I like is Track 14, Bokura Pichu Burazaazu (We Are The Pichu Brothers), used in the 3rd Movie short in Japan - it has a good tune complete with plinky plonky piano and Pokemon noises. The last track is called "Boku no Best Friend", a gentle ballad in which Satoshi sings an ode to Pikachu (again). If you ever needed proof that Satoshi/Ash is biased towards Pikachu in the American and Japanese series, this is it!
Overall, despite the language barriers, this is a great CD - recommended for any Pokemon music fan!
