Maaya Uchida’s voice is beautiful. Jun Maeda’s compositions are fantastic for the other things he has done.
But for the part about Yusa, Its really something that is shown. Yusa was made for the sole purpose of being an idol so Maeda could put in j-pop. She has no other purpose, but so that Maeda could make HLH music. You can replace Yusa (and Takajo. Just putting it out there), and HLH would most likely not be in the anime, yet the story wouldn’t differ much in terms of plot.
Yusa was Maeda’s way of being able to make j-pop for Charlotte (which is a bit sad, cause no one has respect for Yusa, as opposed to someone like Yui ~somewhat~ or Iwasawa, or heck, even Sala, meaning that it might have been better if Yusa’s character was expanded upon, rather than just episodes about Misa).
HLH was Maeda’s way of trying to make a complete j-pop album. That’s also way we have ZHIEND, the band he created to strive away from the music-norm (j-pop), having very stripped down songs (other than some songs like Trigger).
Jun Maeda and Maaya Uchida are both very great and talented people. I just feel that HLH didn’t do justice for either of them.
Seeing Maeda’s work on Rewrite’s new song “End of The World” which is also very nice, is nice to hear. Nothing special about the song (maybe the lyrics but I don’t see any translations), but its a very catchy song for me. Not something I’d exactly buy first, but for sure, something I’d love to replay.
Not to mention he’s working on a new concept album if I’m correct. His concept albums is where he shines in the production values.
Maaya Uchida is also very talented. Hopefully she gets noticed by others to get deals to further advance her in her career.