Enban Utopia

**Enban Utopia** (円 (えん)盤 (ばん)ゆ～とぴあ, *Disc Utopia*) is Sayonara Ponytail's third major album. It is the last release that Chiitan participated in.

The album consists of 33 tracks on 3 CDs, and was released on November 4, 2015.

## Concept and Background

With the view that the ways of listening to music was diversifying, such as with streaming and downloading, *Enban Utopia* was created with the concept of "the last utopia in the media of CDs (a.k.a. *Enban*)." Kuroneko explained that in the album "we put in all the blessings we received from CD media. It mixes all the things from the era when CDs were at their most sparkling, and spits it out into to the current day through a SayoPony filter. That's *Enban Utopia*." This idyllic utopia, as well as its end, is explored in the album's artwork and songs, such as in Hitoribocchi. The album's concept song, the eponymous Enban Utopia, also explores the end of this utopia, though it was not ultimately included on the album.

Furthermore, as this was Sayonara Ponytail's 3rd major album, the number *3* was focused on: the album consists of 3 discs, 33 tracks, and was sold for 3,333 yen. Incidentally, the album's production period was said to have spanned 3 years.

### Disc Subtitles

Each disc has its own subtitle and concept. Disc 1 was subtitled *A-men Shuu de Koi wo Shite* (A面集で恋をして, *Loving on the A-side Collection*) with a concept of emulating a collection of catchy singles. It takes its name from the 1981 song *A-men de Koi wo Shite* (A面で恋をして) by Eiichi Ohtaki's rock unit Niagara Triangle.

Disc 2 was subtitled *Sayopony Calendar* (さよポニ・カレンダー) and it consists of songs based on the holidays and seasons of each of the twelve months. Kuroneko decided which music team member would make each seasonal song. Aside from New na Year, these songs were released on YouTube before and after the album's release, starting with April Fool on April 1, 2013. The subtitle and concept is based on the title of Eiichi Ohtaki's 1977 album *Niagara Calendar*.

Disc 3 was subtitled *Shishunki no Hikari to Kage* (思春期の光と影, *The Bright and Dark Sides of Adolescence*) and consists solely of acoustic songs composed by Fukkun and sung by Miina. Its name is based on the 1969 Joni Mitchell song Both Sides, Now, which is known as *Seishun no Hikari to Kage* (青春の光と影) in Japan (*seishun* can also mean *adolescence*).

## Personnel

* Nacchan - vocals; chorus; etc.
* Ayumin (second generation) - vocals; chorus; etc.
* Shuka - vocals; chorus; etc.
* Yuyu - vocals; chorus; etc.
* Fukkun - recording; acoustic guitar; etc.
* Maumau - recording; bass; synthesizer; guitar; programming; etc.
* 324P - recording; mixing; synthesizer; programming; etc.
* Megu - recording; mixing; synthesizer; guitar; programming; chorus etc.
* Megane-kun - cheering (and so on)
* Chiitan - God (second-generation)
* Kuroneko - total production

**Sayopony Family**
* Yuritan (first-generation god)
* Ayumin (first-generation)

**Ongaku to Mahou Staff (音楽と魔法スタッフ)**
* Hayashi-sensei (林先生)
* S-chan

**Guest Musicians**
* The Natsuyasumi Band (Disc 1, M-4) Speedstar Records / Victor Entertainment, Inc.
* Keiichi Sokabe - Guest Vocal (Disc 1, M-4)
* Neko-HA - Synthesizer (Disc 1, M-7)
* Neko-UT - Drums (Disc 1, M-7)
* Neko-YA - Bass (Disc 1, M-7)
* Neko-ME - Guitar (Disc 1, M-7)
* Mel Kishida - Guest Vocal (Disc 2, M-9)
* Keiko Sen-sei - Piano (Disc 2 M-11, Disc 3 M-3)
* Bronco Billy - Flute (Disc 3, M-2)

**Additional Recording & mix**
* Hiroya Takayama (Sony Music Studios Tokyo)
* Eiji Hirano (STUDIO HAPPINESS)
* Tomohito Nomura (MOTHERSHIP STUDIO)
* Keiichi Morinaga (Knockout Recording Studio)
* Takumi Terao
* Mastering: Kentaro kimura (KIMKEN Studio)

**Tower Records Staff**
* Tatsuya Yuki - Label Producer
* Noriko Karlu - Label Promotion

**Special Thanks**
* Takaaki Taguchi
* Takumi Terao
* sayopony\_bot

## Promotion

Enban Utopia was announced on September 8, 2015. The tracklist and composer credits were revealed on September 14.

On October 18, 2015, T-Palette Records posted an album digest on their Youtube.

The album had a five-day countdown before release. For each day, Chiitan drew one of the five vocalists promoting the album.

Yuyu: "Have you decided where you'll buy it yet?"Ayumin: "I'm so excited..."Nacchan: "I want you to listen to it already..."Shuka: "You gotta buy it!"Miina: "I want you to hear this for me..."

## Bonuses

Enban Utopia came with numerous bonuses, some which were exclusive to certain stores. Some of these bonuses were announced on Sayonara Ponytail's Twitter on October 9, 2015.

### *Tenshi ni Fureta yo!* Bonus CD

Those who purchased *Enban Utopia* at Tower Records' Hiroshima shop were given a bonus CD containing the track Tenshi ni Fureta yo!, which was previously only played at one of Sayonara Ponytail's live album launch events. The CD's cover sleeve was illustrated by Yuritan.

### Leaflet

Tower Records' Shinjuku store offered an album leaflet to early buyers of the album. On November 5, 2015, Megu posted a snippet of the leaflet with guitar chords for Superstar. Megu posted another snippet of the leaflet on November 26, showing a section containing her “reviews” of certain songs on the album.

### Natsu no Mahou DVD

A making-of DVD for Natsu no Mahou's music video was offered at various Tower Record stores.

### Stickers

A sticker set of the vocalists was offered at select Tower Record stores. Another sticker set was offered at Village Vanguard stores.

## Post-release

The album charted on the Oricon Albums Chart for 2 weeks and peaked at 27.

## Music Videos

### Disc 1

Superstar

Natsu no Mahou

Kawaii Ano Ko

Hikaru Machi e

### Disc 2

Dogi☆Magi Valentine (Shuka ver.) (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

Iroha ni Hoheto (2014 ver.) (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

April Fool (Yuyu ver.) (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

Tenkiyohou no Koibito

Hoshitachi no *Aventure* (324P Remix ver.) (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

Sayopony no Yukemuri Ondo Part1 (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

Futaribocchi (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

Dance Floor to Kabocha no Obake (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

Kinrou to Kansha

Fuyu Monogatari (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

Bokutachi no Sotsugyou (Region Blocked: Japan Only)

### Disc 3

Hailsham

Error Message (SayoPony LOCKS! version)

Sayonara, Arigatoo (Miina Hikigatari ver.)

Angie

Hitoribocchi

## External Links

* Streaming
	+ Apple Music: Romanized | Japanese
	+ OTOTOY
	+ Spotify: Romanized | Japanese
	+ YouTube
	+ YouTube Music

## References

1. ↑ Sayonara Ponytail. "Sayonara Ponytail Himitsu no A to Z: Enban Utopia (album)." *Himitsu no Jikan*, Poplar Publishing, 2016. *Originally「CD（＝円盤）というメディアにおける最後の理想郷（＝ユートピア）」*
2. ↑ Kuroneko's Tweet about the album
3. ↑ Sayonara Ponytail. "Sayonara Ponytail Himitsu no A to Z: Hitoribocchi." *Himitsu no Jikan*, Poplar Publishing, 2016.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sayonara Ponytail. "Sayonara Ponytail Himitsu no A to Z: Enban Utopia (song)." *Himitsu no Jikan*, Poplar Publishing, 2016.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Sayonara Ponytail. *Kimyou na Penfriend*. Ongaku to Mahou, 2020. p. 69.
6. ↑ Sayonara Ponytail. "Sayonara Ponytail Himitsu no A to Z: Fuwafuwa Fool." *Himitsu no Jikan*, Poplar Publishing, 2016.
7. ↑ From ja.wikipedia: The Niagara Triangle album is said to be the first Japanese "calendar album", and is itself based on Julie London's Calendar Girl.
8. ↑ Sayonara Ponytail. Booklet. *Enban Utopia*, T-Palette Records, 2015.
9. ↑ etc. was originally「など]
10. ↑ originally「とか」
11. ↑ https://natalie.mu/music/news/159429
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/sayopony/status/641203469341233152
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/sayopony/status/643380674381017088
14. ↑ https://twitter.com/sayopony/status/652333857480425473
15. ↑ https://twitter.com/TOWER\_Hiroshima/status/699132255726243840
16. ↑ https://twitter.com/tower\_hiroshima/status/693036099304710144
17. ↑ https://twitter.com/tower\_shinjuku/status/662516980797214720
18. ↑ https://twitter.com/meg\_and\_patron/status/662104705640693761
19. ↑ https://twitter.com/meg\_and\_patron/status/669684175872483328
20. ↑ Official Oricon data