''I'' is the sixth studio album by

Ikimono-gakari The romanization of the group's name does not have the hyphen according to Sony's websites for their albums. is a Japanese pop rock duo from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan consisting of Yoshiki Mizuno and Kiyoe Yoshioka. The group started in Februa ...

, released in Japan on July 24, 2013. It reached number one in the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

weekly charts for the week ending August 5 of that year making it the group's sixth consecutive number-one album. Consequently, Ikimono-gakari became the first mixed group in over seventeen years to achieve six consecutive number one albums on the Oricon weekly chart.

Release

The album was released in Japan on July 24, 2013 in two editions. The regular edition (ESCL-4091), had for its first pressings an Ikimono card #036 and a

raffle A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are che ...

ticket for additional prizes which included a T-shirt and a

hand fan A handheld fan, or simply hand fan, is any broad, flat surface that is waved back-and-forth to create an airflow. Generally, purpose-made handheld fans are folding fans, which are shaped like a sector of a circle and made of a thin material (su ...

. The limited edition (ESCL-4089-90) included a DVD featuring a radio interview "イッキーモンキーのiラジオ" ''Ikkey Monkey's iRadio'', a twelve-sided panorama photo shoot of the Ikimono-gakari members and a special box packaging to display pictures of the three members. The album contains five previously released tracks; four of which are A-side

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

: "Haru Uta", "Kaze ga Fuiteiru", "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~" and "Egao". A fifth track, "Ashita no Sora", was the B-side to "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~". Though to an extent a reference to the songwriters themselves, the title "I" is largely a reference to the fact that the band had intended the listeners to develop a personal connection with the album and to give the impression that the songs were being sung from the listener's perspective. "I" is also significant for being the most common letter of the alphabet in "Ikimonogakari" and (when pronounced

phonetically Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

) sounds not only like 愛 ''ai'' the Japanese for love but also 哀 ''ai'' the Japanese for sadness, a reference to the emotions the band hopes convey to the listeners.

Themes

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...

is a common theme throughout the album, referenced frequently in "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~", "Koiato", "Nannde" and "Renaishousetsu". Whereas "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~", in keeping with previous singles such as "Kimagure Romantic" and "Natuzora Graffiti", describes the light-hearted and optimistic first love of a teenage girl, the others describe experiences of being

broken heart Broken heart (also known as a heartbreak or heartache) is a metaphor for the intense emotional stress or pain one feels at experiencing great and deep longing. The concept is cross-cultural, often cited with reference to unreciprocated or lost ...

ed from various stages of adulthood, a theme which has rarely featured in recent Ikimono-gakari singles. "Ascending to the Capital" is also a common theme throughout later tracks, in particular "Tōkyō" and "Nukumori" where the theme is used as a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

to describe the emotions experienced by Yoshioka and Yamashita respectively in leaving their home town in

Kanagawa prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...

behind to pursue a recording contract in the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

music industry. Various tracks hold individual references to the phonetic reading of the album title "I": "Koiato" references 逢い ''ai'', the

for meeting (often a loved one and often by chance) and "Kaze Koute Hana Yureru" refers to 藍 ''ai'' the Japanese for

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

Tie-ins

Tie-ins to media and commercial products. * "Kaze ga Fuiteiru" was the theme song for the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

broadcasts of the London 2012 Summer Olympics. * "Haru Uta" was the theme song for the 2012 anime film '' Detective Conan: The Eleventh Striker''. * "Egao" was the theme song for the 2013 Pokémon film '' ExtremeSpeed Genesect: Mewtwo Awakens''. * "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~ " was used as a commercial song for

Calpis Calpis ((カルピス, Karupisu))/Milkis ((밀키스, Milkiseu)) is a Japanese uncarbonated soft drink, manufactured by , a subsidiary of Asahi Breweries headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. The beverage has a light, somewhat milky, and slightl ...

in March 2013. * "My Sunshine Story" was used as a commercial song for the

Nissan Serena The is a minivan manufactured by Nissan, joining the slightly larger Vanette. It was also marketed by Suzuki as the between 2007 and 2022. The car was engineered by Nissan's Aichi Manufacturing Division and launched in 1991 as a compact pass ...

from June 2013.

Tour

The release of the album was followed by a tour of Japan entitled "いきものがかりのみなさん、こんにつあー!! 2013 ～ I ～" (To all Ikimono-gakari fans, hello tour! 2013 ~I~). In August 2013, during the build up to the tour, Ikimono-gakari released four trailers on their official site which included: interviews with vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka, leader Yoshiki Mizuno and recording engineer for the album Toshirō Kai; as well as footage from previous tours. A total of twenty-five concerts were held, the first concert being held at Sun Dome Fukui in Fukui on September 1, 2013 and the last in

Sun Arena Sun Arena is an indoor sporting arena located in the city of Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 11,000. The arena was host to the 2009 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships The XXIX World Rhythmic Gymnastics Champions ...

in Mie on December 7, 2013. Concerts were also be held at:

Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...

(

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

), Sendai Sekisui-Heim Super Arena ( Sendai),

Osaka-jō Hall is a multi-purpose arena located in the Kyōbashi area of Osaka, Japan. The hall opened in 1983 and can seat up to 16,000 people. Built on a site area of 36,351 square meters, part of its form uses stone walls, modeled after those of the Cast ...

(

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Fukuoka Convention Center in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan is a collection of three separate buildings operated by the Fukuoka Convention Center Foundation. Fukuoka Kokusai Center The Fukuoka Kokusai Center opened in . A Sumo Tournament is held here every November. Many ...

(

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

Makomanai Ice Arena Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena (真駒内セキスイハイムアイスアリーナ) is an indoor ice skating arena in Minami-ku, Sapporo, Japan. It was built in December, 1970, holds 11,500 people (10,024 seats, fixed plus temporary, and 1,476 ...

(

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous cit ...

), Ehime Budōkan (

Ehime is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Tok ...

Hiroshima Green Arena is an indoor arena located in Hiroshima, Japan. The original arena was built sometime shortly after World War II. The arena was rebuilt for the 1994 Asian Games. It hosted some of the group games for the 2006 FIVB Men's World Championship and ...

( Hiroshima),

World Memorial Hall or World Hall is a multi-purpose arena located in the Chūō-ku Ward of Kobe, Japan. It has a maximum capacity of 8,000 people and is optimized for large-scale meetings, sport events, trade shows and concerts. It is located on the artificial isl ...

( Kobe), Ecopa Arena (

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

), Nippon Budokan (

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

) and

Nippon Gaishi Hall , formerly Nagoya Rainbow Hall, is an indoor sports arena located in Nagoya, Japan. From April 1, 2007, its name was changed to Nippon Gaishi Hall, to reflect the sponsorship of the NGK Insulators. The capacity of the arena is 10,000 people. The ...

(

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

). Prior to the tour, it was expected that the tour would attract a total audience of two hundred thousand across the twenty-five concerts.

Track listing

The source for romanized title tracks is Jpopasia.com (Source for track information: Ikimonogakari Official Site). English translations are unofficial.

Release history

Charts

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2013 albums Ikimono-gakari albums Albums produced by Seiji Kameda Epic Records albums