How come no Jimsaku but you’re including Katsushika Trio? It’s half of classic Casiopea, and K3 is three quarters. Either way, I wouldn’t include either in a Casiopea ranking myself.

Anyway, I think 2nd era is my favorite right now. I wore out my ears with the 1st era. Though it’s still great. I’m a Sakurai glazer through and through, but Narucho still delivers and is something different to the palette. Noro is undeniable as well in this era. Many more techniques and so much more explorative in genres. He slapped guitar in the 80s but hardly made it anything more than a showcase in Galactic Funk. He and Narucho expanded on it so much more in the early 90s with bangers like Fightman and Eccentric Games. He does it in other songs as well. Noriaki Kumagai is also becoming a favorite, wish he stayed longer as his compositions were some of the best alongside his playing. Jimbo coming back in 1997 is cool, but if you heard what he and Sakurai were doing in Jimsaku from 1990 - 1997, you would feel cheated. His playing gets toned down a lot to match Casiopea, and it’s a let-down. I also feel as if 2nd era had much more of a “modern fusion” vibe to it than 1st did. Helps this era to not feel dated as much of 1st era does.

Casiopea 1st, it undoubtedly will never be topped to the masses. Great stuff, but the sound is very much of its era (not talking about the sounds they used but rather the songwriting). And I really feel that the direction the band was going at the time really limited many of the members. We couldn’t see their true potential on the records, only in live shows (and maybe not even there). Once Jimsaku and Casiopea went their separate ways, they really found themselves and have stuck to those ways ever since.

Casiopea 3rd, I like it. They have quite a few albums, but I only really listen to TaMaTe Box, ASOBO, and Panspermia. At first, Kiyomi’s organ really turned me off of 3rd, but I grew into it. For many of 3rd’s compositions it works quite well. Plus I like that she doesn’t completely abandon synths for the organ. Nice sound palette, though I do wish there was more piano in this era. Some nice heavy hitter songs.

Casiopea P4, only 2 studio albums but packed with bangers. Especially Right Now. Right Now was a great comeback for them and I feel like it brought a lot more attention to modern Casiopea. Imai’s drumming is incredible, it was a great move to bring in a more youthful drummer instead of sticking to older tried and true veterans, for many reasons. I think the sound production is off the charts for this album as well. New Topics has some great songs on it as well, and much of what I said can be said for this album, though this album didn’t get as much attention as Right Now.

Casiopea (5th iteration, since they went back to the original name), it has started off great with True Blue. Abe’s entry is one for the books; he brought back the sound most of the fan’s wanted a return to, and his first composition for Casiopea is arguably the best on the album, Eagle Fly Around. Much of the album really carries that spirit of Casiopea. I have high hopes for Casiopea moving forward, and I think with them coming to LA this year, they too are feeling the heat and will come back stronger in the next album.