I (Ikimono-gakari album)


I is the sixth studio album by Ikimono-gakari, released in Japan on July 24, 2013. It reached number one in the Oricon 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, had for its first pressings an Ikimono card #036 and a raffle ticket for additional prizes which included a T-shirt and a hand fan. The limited edition 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: "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 sounds not only like ai the Japanese for love but also ai the Japanese for sadness, a reference to the emotions the band hopes convey to the listeners.

Themes

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 hearted 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 to describe the emotions experienced by Yoshioka and Yamashita respectively in leaving their home town in Kanagawa prefecture behind to pursue a recording contract in the Japanese music industry. Various tracks hold individual references to the phonetic reading of the album title "I": "Koiato" references ai, the Japanese for meeting and "Kaze Koute Hana Yureru" refers to ai the Japanese for indigo.

Tie-ins

Tie-ins to media and commercial products.
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 ～". 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 in Mie on December 7, 2013. Concerts were also be held at: Yokohama Arena, Sendai Sekisui-Heim Super Arena, Osaka-jō Hall, Fukuoka Convention Center, Makomanai Ice Arena, Ehime Budōkan, Hiroshima Green Arena, World Memorial Hall, Ecopa Arena, Nippon Budokan and Nippon Gaishi Hall. 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. English translations are unofficial.

Release history

Charts

Chart Peak
positions		Sales
Japan Billboard Top Albums1112,082
Japan Oricon Weekly Albums Chart1112,082
--112,082