Tracklisting
1. Darling Wondering Staring
2. STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER
3. Darling Wondering Staring (PLASTIC FANTASTIC Remix)
4. STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER (digital mp-3 mastering ver.)
5. Darling Wondering Staring (Instrumental)

Darling Wondering Staring / STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER is the third single by Aira Mitsuki, and is the final single in the COPY era. It was released on the 7th of May, 2008. It is also considered to be an independent release from her label, as it is a Tower Records exclusive release, instead of D-topia releasing it. It debuted at #1 on the Tower Records store chart, and sold out.

Darling Wondering Staring opens the single, and I’m already thinking it’s going to be her best yet. I absolutely LOVE the piano sounds and synth that open this song, as it gives the track a heavenly, happy feeling. But then I hear her distorted AND elongated note, and I cry out in pain. It’s not THAT bad, but when you digitize this kind of note to that extent, it just ruins it. It gets better later, but the song carries a choppy, messy kind of feeling, despite still keeping that wonderful sound that opened it. The verses tend to be the really messy parts, while the chorus carries the opening feeling the song had, with the overly digitized vocals that absolutely kill your ears at times. In certain parts, it also sounds like she’s stuffing too many sentences into one chorus, with how fast she has to sing them. This isn’t as good as Colorful Tokyo Sounds No.9 overall, but it’s definitely better than China Discotica. I’m glad to see it made it onto her album though, since it’s an independent single.

Apparently, STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER is a cover song. I’ve never heard the original, and I don’t even know who Cornelius (The original band/singer) is, but either way, this song has a similar opening in that it keeps that whole ethereal feel, while this one also sounds a bit more aggressive in comparison, with the acoustic guitars followed by the light backing vocals and sparkly synth. The verses are a lot cleaner this time around, and are a lot better to listen to. Aira goes for the short sentence approach this time around, which sounds a lot better than the large sentences in Darling Wonder Staring, but the chorus sort of falls flat with the fact that it’s basically just the title of the song repeated over and over again. It’s a long chorus, too, considering the lyrical content. 30 seconds may not seem like that much, but it seems like forever with this song. I prefer the overall arrangement in this one compared to the first A-Side, but I can’t really decide which is better generally.

I never know what to think of the Darling Wondering Staring (PLASTIC FANTASTIC remix) track. The majority of the song seems to be the original’s lyrical content chopped up and played in segments over a butchered synth line that absolutely ruins the heavenly feeling of the original. However, it is still oddly catchy, so it’s not a bad thing overall. It’s barely a remix though, as it more often than not sounds like a brand new song due to the lack of lyrics and totally new arrangement. I’m not a huge fan, but it’s one of her better remixes.

Overall Grade
A-

Favorite Track
Darling Wondering Staring, STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER

More often than not, this single leaves me hopelessly and utterly confused. I never know which track sounds better, and my opinion seems to change somewhat depending on when I listen to it. It doesn’t top Colorful Tokyo Sounds No.9 overall, but I prefer it to China Discotica. All of her A-Sides are good, but this single just leaves me bewildered about whether to love it or simply like it.