This Armor

This Armor is the second studio album recorded by Japanese singer-songwriter Chihiro Onitsuka, released in March 2002. It features two lead singles "infection", "Ryūseigun", and remake versions of "Arrow of Pain" (B-Side of a single "Gekko" in 2000) and "Little Beat Rifle" (double A-Side to "infection").

This Armor
Studio album by Chihiro Onitsuka
Released	March 6, 2002
Recorded	at Melody Star, Landmark, and Artworks Mouri Studios, 2001–2002
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	51:00
Language	Japanese, English
Label	Toshiba EMI/Virgin Tokyo, Universal J
Producer	Takefumi Haketa Nozomu Tsuchiya
Chihiro Onitsuka chronology
Insomnia (2001) This Armor (2002) Sugar High (2002)
Singles from This Armor
"infection" Released: September 7, 2001 "Ryūseigun" Released: February 6, 2002

Onitsuka described the album as "a sequel to Insomnia", her chart-topping debut which came out in 2001. Like its predecessor, the title of the album was named by the artist, simply because she liked the sound of the phrase. Cover art was taken by photographer Mika Ninagawa in Miyako-jima, Okinawa prefecture.

This Armor debuted and peaked at the number-three on the Japanese Oricon albums chart and remained the top-300 for 25 weeks, with estimated sales of over half a million copies. The album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan upon its release, for shipments of over 400,000 units.[1]

Track listing

All songs arranged and produced by Takefumi Haketa.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Rollin'"	Chihiro Onitsuka, Takefumi Haketa[2]	5:06
2.	"Ibara no Umi (茨の海, Sea of Thorns)"	Onitsuka	5:05
3.	"Shadow (シャドウ)"	Onitsuka	5:41
4.	"everything, in my hands"	Onitsuka	4:45
5.	"Our Song"	Onitsuka, mayu	3:49
6.	"Ryūseigun (流星群, Meteor)"	Onitsuka, Haketa	5:12
7.	"Little Beat Rifle" (album ver.)	Onitsuka	4:53
8.	"Arrow of Pain"	Onitsuka	5:15
9.	"infection"	Onitsuka, Haketa	5:45
10.	"Crow"	Onitsuka, Haketa	5:15
Total length:			51:00

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes of the album[3]

Session musicians Chihiro Onitsuka – vocals, composer, lyricist Takefumi Haketa – acoustic piano, keyboards, drum programming, pad, tubular bells, background vocals; sound producer, composer (not credited on the sleeve notes) Hiroshi Sato – wurlitzer, Hammond B-3 Takashi Nishiumi – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro guitar, background vocals Nobuyasu Horikoshi – acoustic guitar, electric guitar Kiyotsugu Amano – gut guitar Hitoshi Watanabe – bass guitar, contra bass Tatsuo Hayashi – drums Hideo Yamaki – drums Yuichi Togashiki – drums Ikuo Kakehashi – percussion, udu, talking drum, bell, tambourine, triangle, djembe Marie Ohishi – timpani, suspended cymbals Naoto – violin Osamu Iyoku – violin Takuya Mori – violin Kouta Nagahara – violin Machiya Saito – violin Ado Matsumoto – violin Etsuko Hara – violin Ikuko Nakaya – violin Jun Tajiri – violin Koji Ohtake – violin Hitoshi Konno – violin Shizuka Kawaguchi – violin Marisa Kosugi – violin Hiroki Mutoh – violin Yu Sugino – violin Mariko Aikawa – violin Yu Manabe – violin Shoko Miki – viola Kaori Banba – viola Gentaro Sakaguchi – viola Masami Horisawa – cello Toshihiko Tsuchida – cello Hajime Mizoguchi – cello Akio Ueki – cello Hiroki Kashiwagi – cello Tomoyuki Asakawa – harp Mari Yasui – tin whistle Toshiko Ezaki – background vocals Melody Little Bears – background vocals

Production Nozomu Tsuchiya – producer Toshihiro Hachisuka musicians coordinate Yuya Suzuki – engineer Shinichi Naitoh – engineer Kanako Fukuda – engineer Satoshi Konno – engineer Atsuhiro Murakami – drum technician on track 2 Jiro Yamazaki – visual producer Naomi Terakawa – visual coordinator Miyuki Hentona – art director Mika Ninagawa – phographer Daisuke Iga – stylist Eri Akamatsu – hair, make-up Satoru Iijima – A&R manager Kenichi Tanaka – artist manager Kenichi Nomura – A&R director Kosei Sasaki – A&R executive Kumiko Himeno – A&R executive Masaaki Saito – super executive Junya Nakasone – super executive Makoto Shioya – super executive Masao Yoshida – super executive Takaichi Motegi – super executive Mikio Tao – artist PR Kotaro Suzuki – artist PR Mayu kobayashi – artist PR Toshiba EMI Virgin Tokyo Marketing Group – media PR Toshiba EMI Sales Promotion – sales PR

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[1]	Platinum	510,000[4]

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2002) Position Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[5] 3

Year-end charts Chart (2002) Position Japanese Albums Chart[6] 34

External links

Official music videos

• "Rollin’" on YouTube
• "Ibara no Umi" on YouTube
• "Ryūseigun" on YouTube
• "Infection" on YouTube

References

1. "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 2002年3月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. March 2002 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan. 510: 12. May 10, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
2. 作品データベース検索サービス [searchable copyright database]. Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (in Japanese). Retrieved February 1, 2014. Note: Co-writer's credits are omitted from the sleeve-notes for the album.
3. This Armor (CD booklet). Chihiro Onitsuka. Toshiba EMI, Melody Star Ltd. 2002.CS1 maint: others (link)
4. "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Taiju']. Oricon. Retrieved January 17, 2014. (subscription only)
5. "This Armor／鬼束ちひろ-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック" [(Highest position and charting weeks for This Armor by Chihiro Onitsuka]. oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Original Confidence. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
6. "2002年 アルバム年間TOP100" [Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 2002] (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 8, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2014.