I don't know why I thought her albums stopped being cohesive after KZK, because if I think about it, Adult is the only album that I think sounds better as a whole. As more than the sum of its parts.

It does sound like a plainer KZK in some sense, but way the album stands out to me compared to any other release is that it has a recurring character and setting. It really is as if's the OST to some stylised, TV drama, or maybe a live action retelling of the Kiyozumi Mayo anime that places more emphasis on her
private life, a la The New Adventures of Superman =P). The only song that kind of breaks this for me is Toumei Ningen.

(Not to say that KZK isn't cohesive or consistent, it's just that I always think of the album as two halves, which could represent a different kind of cohesiveness. Adult is maybe more cohesive in a linear way -- whatever dunno)

Taking this into consideration, maybe the theatrics (I'm thinking more Yukigini and Kenka Joutou here, less Service) and the costume changes of JCHI weren't such a bad idea, and probably the most logical leap to make from Dynamite Out. A Phase 1 Just Can't Help it would have been great.

(Kyouiku probably would have worked similarly, with the whole Carnival of Horrors thing, but the way that theme extends to the production makes me not want to listen to it as a whole...so it cancels itself out =P)

I'm a sucker for high-concept stuff like the TV genre thing, but I don't think they wanted to over think things. Which makes sense, but the idea is cool anyhow.

It's funny how she seems to toy with old Japan vs modern Japan during the Adult-era, and then works on Sakuran. THEN Tamatebako.

I brought Adult and Kyouiku the same day, listened to Adult first and said this shit is great. Listened to Education and could not get pass that this was supposed to be from the same band. It wasn't until later I learned of the member depatures.

I ultimately fell harder for Adult, but I felt the experience of Sounan, and still do whenever I hear it. Jusui Negai change of pace was so upsetting for me that I couldn't help but to listen to it again to try to understand the choice in composition- It was almost as though I was struggling not to like it. Omatsuri Sawagi and Service reeled in the pop drone inside- Omatsuri being my favorite track after Sounan. I still could say that I preferred Adult over all this, until I heard Yume no ato live.

I somehow feel it's proper to stop here.