I returned from Los Angeles and Anime Expo 2011 a few days ago and I have to say that the highlight of my trip, other than the soon to be regretted level of purchases I made in the dealer’s room, was anything dealing with Hatsune Miku. While the high point of all things Miku was obviously Mikunopolis, it was fun to learn a lot more about Miku over the course of the weekend through all of the panels. Before heading to Los Angeles, I was definitely a fan of the virtual idol, but going into the weekend I didn’t really know what to expect. After leaving, it struck me that being a fan of Miku was really a lot like believing in Santa for a few reasons.

First, like the meaning of Christmas, Miku can really be whoever you want her to be depending on what you like to do, and I’m not talking about her seemingly endless wardrobe for all the perverts out there. Well, I suppose that might be part of it. Still, fans can create new songs, animations, or character designs of and about Miku and send them out there for others to enjoy through the use of the internet. But just as Christmas isn’t just about candy canes and sleigh bells, Miku isn’t just about the music. One thing that became perfectly clear to me almost immediately this weekend is that Miku could very easily be a synonym for Commercialism, and in a lot of ways this is a good thing. It is because of this entrepreneurial spirit fan designs for Miku show up in games or on figures. It is because of this entrepreneurial spirit that allows companies to make money off of Miku’s products, even through the use of a decentralized business model. And in the truest of sense of all things commercialism, Miku is often depicted in pictures that are less than pure.

Continuing the Christmas analogy, it is often difficult for kids to understand the concept of Christmas during their early years. A 2 year old doesn’t necessarily understand what it means to get free presents, but within a few years it is the center of their kid universe. I kind of got this same feeling over the course of this weekend when it came to Miku. Obviously, many of the people who came to Anime Expo had some idea of who Miku was, but for many, this was their first large dose of all things Miku. While it seemed like the interest in the virtual idol slowly grew over the course of the weekend, I think most people really began to appreciate Miku during her concert. At first, it seemed like only select groups of people were cheering and fewer still were standing. However, as the concert progressed more people got into the groove of things, so to speak, and by the end of the night it seemed like almost every person in the Nokia Theatre was on their feet screaming their lungs out for Miku to return for an encore. So I guess like a lot of things in life, Santa Claus and Miku included, it takes a little time to understand what it going on, but once you do, it is something special.

Now, while I admire everything that the Japanese companies have done to increase the popularity of Miku, from implementing fan designs into concerts and figures to giving individual creators relative freedom to use Miku in their productions to this past weekend’s concert, I kind of got the sense that the Japanese feel that other nations need to follow their model for Miku to be a success, which I don’t think is the right approach. Just as people celebrate Christmas and Santa differently across the world, so should we Miku and the other Vocaloids. While having different language software available in the future is a step in the right direction, it is an obvious one. What is worrisome is that Miku won’t necessarily be available or well known to the wider audience of people in the U.S., or other western nations. Now I suppose it might be impossible for people outside of the normal anime, j-pop, etc. fan to ever really be a fan of Miku, but the creation and use of new sites in the United States, like niconico.com, seems like it will go about as well as the United States trying to introduce democracy into the Middle East.

So, assuming that Miku (and her handlers) truly do want to conquer the world, it would become absolutely necessary for them to conquer a wide range of the Otaku fan base, from Narutards to people willing to travel across the country to see Miku and everyone in-between ( as a sort of power base). From a few panels I attended during the Expo and people I’ve talked to in the past, it doesn’t seem like the anime industry has done a good job getting its online product well known. I remember several people during the con didn’t know that Crunchyroll offered free anime (and to be honest, it seems like a very small subset of people know you can get anime online via streams, legally or otherwise), so it is by no means a given thing that people will utilize niconico.com or the newly announced Mikubook on a regular basis, especially when there is the 500 pound gorilla in the room that goes by the name of YouTube.

If there is one thing I learned from my business consulting classes, it is that if you have the ability to work with a company who already has the resources needed to help you produce a product, it is better to work with that company, than to try and develop the capabilities yourself. The use of joint ventures is even more crucial when you are trying to introduce a product into a foreign country. Obviously, I have no idea if the Miku people have tried to create a joint venture of some sort with American based web companies, but if they haven’t, that would seem to be a blunder on their part. The time and money it will take to make the average fan of anime/j-pop become aware of niconico or Mikubook will more than likely not be worth it, and they can forget about ever drawing the attention of the average American consumer. Instead, Japanese companies should really think about doing special promotions for Miku on already popular American internet mediums, so that Miku will not just be searched for by those who already know of her.

That’s not to say that Miku is doomed to failure outside of Japan. The business model developed in Japan really does seem to be working and they have a great product to work with. As a person who would like to see Miku become more popular, I would like to see Japanese companies work more with American companies as a way to promote her, which they have done to some extent with the Toyota commercials in the U.S. Still, these things need to be more than gimmicks; they need to be real sustained attempts at letting people learn about Miku through already established video mediums, or eventually the costs of doing business will become too high, which force them to cut and run.

So the the anime-based music video for Perfect Day the top track to their latest album Today is a Beautiful Day was released a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty phenomenal. Telling the story of two girl friends who somehow grew apart, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another anime work based on a Supercell song. And it simply puts Black Rock Shooter to shame.

First of all, look at the art. Just look at it! It’s beautiful. The sparkles and feathers, the bloom and lighting give everything an almost angelic feeling. The shakycam effect is overused a bit, but for the most part it works, because the moving camera adds just a touch of reality to this world. Some of the backdrops are gorgeous, with the crisp detail and lighting reminding me of Makoto Shinkai’s works.

Like Supercell’s song’s tend to do, it captures perfectly the emotions without necessarily going into the details of what happened. The innocence of childhood friendship. The pain of having to say good bye. The shock, and then gratitude at the sudden encounter. These emotions feels stronger and more genuine than whatever Black Rock Shooter had to offer with its story about Yomi getting jealous of Mato.

And I absolutely love the blue haired girl’s design! The hard angles, especially in the hair, remind me a bit of the characters from Shiki, but they’re not nearly as harsh. I could get lost in those wondrous round blue eyes. The simplicity of her clothing is appealing, and the little flourishes like her boots or the tight loops of her necklace stand out well against them.

But what I love most are the bandages on her legs. They’re not wrapped bandages like the kind you see on Abiru or Rei, but rather the rectangular stick on kind. And they’re just plastered all over the place around her knees, as if willy nilly. Instead of giving the image of weakness as bandages tend to do, they give her a tough and masculine one, like Lark with her chipped tooth.

Anyway, Today is a Beautiful Day came out a couple of days ago, and I highly recommend it. 6 of the 13 tracks are songs that were released on singles before – most of which I talked about in my 12 Days of Christmas post – but the new tracks are great. And the final track, Watashi e (To Me) is a follow up to Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, the Bakemonogatari ED, providing some concluding remarks to that song. You can find translations to most of the new songs on Words of My Life.

I bought the limited edition with the DVD on YesAsia, but the regular edition is there as well.

The year has come to an end and everyone and their dogs are doing end of the year lists. Once again I didn’t prepare enough to join them. These are my quick Top Ten lists for 2010 (which includes Winter 2009). Top 10 Anime of 2010 K-ON!! -The ‘moe anime’ of the year! YEAH~ Hanamaru [...]

Wednesday, December 8.  3:45 AM.  My cell phone goes off.  I groggily turn over to flip it off and try to go back to sleep.

3:46 AM.  My cell phone goes off again.  I resist the urge to throw it across the room.  I set the alarm.  I should probably heed it.  I somehow manage to roll out of bed and walk over to turn on my computer.  After a few restless minutes waiting for it to login, I navigate my way over to Ustream.  Why on earth am I up at this ungodly hour?  Well, Utada Hikaru announced her intention to go on hiatus at the end of this year.  She decided she would go all out on her professional career before that happened.  While it’s morning here, it’s night over there, and the powers that be have decided to stream her farewell concert over the Internet and to theatres all over Japan.  What, you think I would miss this?

Now, if you’ve never attended a live concert before, there’s big difference between being there in person and watching it on a computer screen.  For one, you can’t “feel” the music.  I’m actually serious.  Sound waves do have a force.  I recall at the MELL concert from 2009, even the floor would mildly vibrate on the hard hits of the guitars and drums.  Secondly, you really lack the energy you can get from the crowds.  It’s one thing to sit in a chair by yourself watching a performance, it is quite another to be surrounded by a few thousand people who are also interested.  In addition, you have technical glitches.  I think Ustream did an admirable job of keeping their services going, considering the viewership peaked out at about 100000 viewers.

Enough, let’s get on to the actual concert.  The first portion of her performance was more of a formal affair.  Utada descends from the ceiling on a platform garbed in a poofy dress with a side-skirt.  From my understanding, it’s similar to one she wore on her 2006 tour.  In addition to her techno core, she’s got a string octet backing her for the first eight songs.   Naturally, most of the songs she sings for this set are softer.  She kicks off with one of her new singles, Goodbye Happiness, which seems oddly appropriate for the concert.  She then immediately moves into Traveling, one of my favorite songs, and as upbeat as we get for a while.  Perhaps the best piece is another new single Hymn a Lamour, which she sings with only piano accompaniment.  She then sits at the piano herself to play Sakura Drops, which is also a beautiful song.  Then she and the string section slowly sink into the stage, and the techno crew starts playing Eclipse while we wait for the second half to begin.

When Utada comes back, she’s casualed out a bit into a simpler tip and pants.  She’s also brought two guitarists and a set of drums with her.  It’s time to get more into her rock inspired songs, and she starts off with Passion.  All throughout this set, it feels like she’s got a lot more energy, and the crowd’s gotten more into it to match.  The energy really takes off when she starts playing Show Me Love, which is perhaps the hardest piece I’ve ever heard from her.  A little later she’s got Boku wa Kuma, which is one of the cutest songs I know, and she is acting all upbeat and goofy while singing it.  Immediately after this she goes to play on the piano again, and the audience gets a little laugh when she can’t manage to fix the mic stand for her singing.  Toward the end of her main set, she sings perhaps her best known song, Hikari, and it’s easily the strongest performance of the night.  She finishes off with Nijiiro Basu, and again disappears from the stage.

Of course, this is Hikki, and this is her farewell concert, she’s not going to go away without an encore.  Come back she does, for a three song setlist.  She’s casualed out even more as well.  Now she’s wearing a Kuma shirt and a pair of rolled up jeans.  Tonight is actually the 30^th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, and as tribute she sings Across the Universe.  Honestly, I don’t think she could have picked a better song for the night, and she nails it perfectly.  Then the entire band pops up to play Can’t Wait Til’ Christmas.  She spends a little time introducing everyone who has backed her on this wonderful night.  They finish by playing Time Will Tell, a fitting song to end on in light of her hiatus.  Afterward, she takes a slow lap around the stage to the applause of her adoring fans.  Then she walks across the platform to the theatre exit, stops to give them one last goodbye, then heads right out the door.

I feel like Utada has been a consummate performer throughout her career.  The numbers really speak for themselves.  She has three albums in the Top-10 all time list in Japan, and 12 singles reached number one on the Oricon Singles chart.  She managed to build a massively successful career without having to resort to a lot of sex appeal like some artists.  She even generated interest in the West with her theme song contributions to the Kingdom Hearts series.  Utada never pigeonholed herself into any single genre.  She could perform her slow, moving ballads just as well as her techno and rock influenced pieces.  She even has a goofy side, which is most evident in the video for Goodbye Happiness.  Her music has touched the lives of a lot of people, I’m sure, and now she can take a well deserved rest.  I’m looking forward to whatever work she does in the future, even if it’s no longer music.  Take care, Hikki, we’ll miss you.

Screencaps courtesy of Plastic Candy.  Give them some love. :]

I first came across Supercell the same way I’m sure many people have: the ending theme to 2009′s hit Bakemonogatari, Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari (The Story You Didn’t Know). I remember being captured immediately by the opening guitar melody, then Nagi’s gorgeous singing about 10 seconds in. It was one of those songs that I fell in love with immediately. It was only natural that I immediately looked up just who this “ryo” and “nagi” as mentioned in the ED sequence were. Since then, Suprecell has quickly become one of my favorite bands, and 2010 was a fine year for the band. We’ll look back at some of my favorite songs that it released this year.

Supercell’s Wiki page has plenty of info on it, including the peculiarity that there is actually just one musician and no performers in this band. This peculiarity makes talking about Supercell a bit of a strange endeavor. Do you use the plural pronoun “they” when describing it, as is the standard for bands? Or do you use the singular pronoun “he,” because the actual music is composed and written by just one person? Furthermore, when Ryo does a piece of work, such as the background music to the OVAs Cencoroll and Black Rock Shooter, do you say that Supercell did it, since, for all intents and purposes, it’s equivalent, or not, because the rest of Supercell, the visual artists, weren’t involved?

I don’t know. I’ll refer to Supercell using the pronoun “it,” as it is a single unit, a band, after all, and I guess it makes sense to separate the works that Supercell did, which includes visual art (in the form of nothing more than album covers, really) and the ones that Ryo himself was only involved in. It’s all very confusing and, really, it doesn’t matter. I can’t think of any other musical band with one visual-arts-only member, much less where the vast majority are visual-arts-only.

Then there’s the issue of capitalization. Traditionally, names like Supercell, Ryo, and Nagi are capitalized, but every official text that I’ve seen have been all lowercase. Of course, that’s something that resonates with me, since my screenname lvlln is meant to be in all lowercase. Lvlln just looks weird. So in short, just writing about this band introduces some unique issues. I’ll stick with capitalizing them as expected. It makes the text easier to read.

With 2009 being the year Supercell went professional, 2010 was its sophomore year, and what a year it was! It strengthened its ties to the anime world with another anime ending theme, the opening theme to a PSP game, the ending theme to Type-Moon’s new (now-delayed) visual novel Witch on the Holy Night, and most recently, the theme song to a manga. Not to mention the extremely hyped but ultimately disappointing Black Rock Shooter anime, which was based off its song by the same title, and for which Ryo composed the music.

2 of these songs continued what I think of as Supercell’s “unrequited love” series of songs, which started way back in December of 2008 with its upload of Hajimete no Koi ga Owaru Toki (When the First Love Ends) and continued with the aforementioned Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari.

Anyway, here are 5 of my favorite releases by Supercell from 2010, in chronological order: Sayonara Memories, Kocchi Muite Baby, Utakata Hanabi, This Star Sparkling Night, and Hero.

Sayonara Memories

Sayonara Memories, released in February of this year, was Supercell’s 2nd single, its followup to Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari and also featured nagi on vocals. Though the single had 2 more tracks, the title track really was the only good song among the 3. I consider this to be the 3rd of Supercell’s “unrequited love” series.

Like Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, Sayonara Memories was accompanied by a music video that showed the story of the song being told. This video was a bit more traditional, though, in that it featured clips of the band actually singing the song interspersed with clips from the story. The thing to note here is that the singer (and main character) in the video is not Nagi, the actual singer! Sony is clearly aware of the mystique of having Supercell’s performers remain semi-anonymous behind their online screennames, and they hired an actor (Sakura Ema) to play the part.

In more ways than just the video, Sayonara Memories felt a lot like Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari part 2. If you read the Wikipedia articles on both songs, you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart:

“Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari” is a J-pop song with instrumentation from electric and bass guitars, drums and piano. According to a book of sheet music published by Yamaha Corporation, it is set in common time, and moves at a quick tempo of 165 beats per minute in the A major key throughout the song. The introduction starts with only piano accompanying Nagi’s vocals, and uses a bridge with added guitars and drums to transition into the first verse. Another bridge is used between the first and second verses; both verses use the same music with different lyrics. After the third verse, a break is employed, followed by the fourth verse. After a short outro, an instrumental coda is used to close the song. … The lyrics tell the story of a girl with an unrequited love who was never able to convey her feelings to the person she loved.
Source

“Sayonara Memories” is a J-pop song with instrumentation from electric and bass guitars, drums, piano and violin. According to a book of sheet music published by Yamaha Corporation, it is set in common time, and moves at a quick tempo of 160 beats per minute in the B major key throughout the song. The introduction starts with only piano accompanying Nagi’s vocals, and uses a bridge with added guitar, drums and violin to transition into the first verse. The song continues with the second and third verses, which also serves as the chorus melody, before employing another bridge. The musical structure used in the first three verses is repeated for the next three with different lyrics. After a short seventh verse, a break is employed, followed by the eighth verse. After a short instrumental outro, the song ends with Nagi singing “Aa, yatto ieta” (ああ　やっと言えた?, “Ah I finally said it”), referring to a love confession at the end of the eighth verse.
…
The lyrics tell the story of a girl with an unrequited love who was never able to convey her feelings to the person she loved.
Source

(emphasis mine)

…yeah. One difference I noticed was that Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari has no chorus, whereas Sayonara Memories has one, a quick shout of “Sayonara Memories!” reminiscent of the short choruses of “Melt!” in Melt and “Arigato, sayonara” in When the First Love Ends. However, in all those songs, no line other than the short 2 or 1 word choruses are repeated, giving them that stream-of-consciousness storytelling feel. Story-wise, the trip to see the shooting stars was replaced with the daily walk to school (fitting for the shift in theme from summer to spring), and middle school was moved to high school, but they’re pretty much the same songs. Not that that’s a bad thing, since they’re both great songs. And though Sayonara Memories has no ties to anime, it is clearly using the same tropes and themes seen in many of today’s high school anime.

Kocchi Muite Baby (Come Over Here Baby)

Supercell’s first Hatsune Miku song since When the First Love Ends was released in July on a collaborative single along with Livetune’s Yellow, as the opening song for the PSP game Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd. Though I don’t like the song that much – it’s decent, not great – I do respect that Ryo was finally exploring a theme other than unrequited love with a major song. Instead, this song has a more aggressive, playful tone, similar to that of Love and Roll, the second track from the Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari single.

Plus, both the game’s opening video and the in-game animation were great. The song is one of the most fun to play in the game, because of the fast, dynamic camera shots and fun choreography. It also has Ryo’s trademark scream, which he’s used in all sorts of songs including Melt, World is Mine, and Oishite Ageru (the only one officially released with Nagi). At 3:30, it’s a more typical pop song length and much shorter than Supercell’s other main songs which tend to run over 5 minutes.

Utakata Hanabi

With this, Supercell returned to the anisong world, as a 90 second cut (just 1/4 of the whole song!) of it was used as the ending theme for a series of episodes of Naruto Shippuden. I’m no fan of Naruto, but the ending sequence accompanying this song was great, literally putting Sakura in the position of the singer and even having her lips mouth the song at parts.

Utakata Hanabi – literally Water Bubble Fireworks but commonly translated as Ephemeral Fireworks or Transient Fireworks – has the singer reminiscing about a summer festival when she spent the evening watching fireworks with her love. Like other songs in Supercell’s unrequited love series of songs, the details aren’t clear, but the singer’s feelings are, as is the importance of this moment in her memory.

The tone a bit of a departure from the other songs in the series, in that this song does not end with hope for the future and letting go of the past. Rather, the singer seems unable to let go of her sorrow, perpetually stuck in that moment that she knows she can never experience again. The overall mood of the song is also much more somber than When the First Love Ends, Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari or Sayonara Memories. The tempo remains a slow burn throughout, never speeding up to the high tempos of the other 3.

Utakata Hanabi also got a music video which you can see above. It was the first not to feature live actors since Supercell’s Nico Nico Douga days. The art and animation style is unique and somewhat psychedelic, and it perfectly complements the song, showing us depictions of both that summer evening that the singer is remembering and how the singer is feeling now as she remembers. It took me a few viewings to warm up to it, but the way it visually represents the lyrics to the song is truly compelling.

Due to the slower pacing and more depressing mood of this song, it’s not quite as enjoyable as the other songs in the unrequited love series, but it’s a great piece of music nonetheless. However, it really got outdone by the second track in the single:

Hoshi ga Mattataku Konna Yoru Ni (This Star Sparkling Night)

Technically, this is the 2nd “side A” to the single, though it is still the 2nd track and wasn’t released to the public until the CD release in late August. You can read the lyrics that I translated. It is the ending theme song to Type-Moon’s new visual novel Witch on the Holy Night, which was delayed from its original 9/30 release date to Christmas Eve of this year.

This was my preferred song from this split single, and I believe it shows Ryo taking a major step away from the “unrequited love” theme that he had been pounding on so hard. Even his early songs, including the hit Melt as well as the less well known That One Second of Slow Motion, played on that theme.

Instead, this song was all about the new beginning of a relationship. The subject material is reminiscent of Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, in that it’s about the singer looking up at the stars with the boy she has a crush on. Unlike that song, this one is not about looking back to that day with regret, but rather about being there now, at the moment, when the two begin to fall in love. Along with the general theme of the lyrics, the faster, more upbeat tempo contrasts greatly with the depressing mood of Utakata Hanabi and makes it just a more fun song to listen to. Instead of Nagi’s beautiful voice being used to express regret at the first love, we get to hear her express the joy of the first love.

I find it noteworthy that this song actually has a real chorus, the full line, “On this star sparkling night.” The line is always followed by a different line each time, as is the tradition for choruses in Supercell’s songs. Also noteworthy is that at 4:28, it is over a minute shorter than Supercell’s 3 “unrequited love” songs with Nagi, 2 of which are over 6 minutes long and the shortest (Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari) clocking in at 5:41.

Hero

Hero has yet to be released commercially, only being released on the internet at the end of November. Like This Star Sparkling Night, I posted a translation of the lyrics to this.

Also like that song, this is about budding first love. We get to hear Ryo and Nagi expand their horizons further by having the singer be a male this time, with a crush on a girl. Nagi has quite a high voice which is part of her appeal, but somehow she manages to make it sound boyish enough for most of the song, raising it to make the parts when she’s singing the girls’ speech stand out.

Hero is the latest song to be released by Supercell, and that it continues the theme from This Star Sparkling Night gives me hope that Ryo has gotten out of the rut of making the same “unrequited love” song over and over again. All those songs have been excellent and remain in my playlist to this day, but it’s good to see his works evolve. Of course, there’s the risk that this is the new theme he’ll latch onto, but This Star Sparkling Night and Hero have already differentiated themselves a bit with the different perspectives, and I wouldn’t mind hearing what ideas Ryo has to play on this theme.

So all in all, even discounting that horrible Black Rock Shooter OVA, 2010 was a pretty huge year for Supercell. Still no full albums since its first one, but 1 online release plus 3 CD singles (and another song called Kibou no Neiro to be released at Comiket the end of this month) is certainly nothing to sneeze at. More importantly, the releases have continued to impress me. 2 anime from 2009 for which it did the ending themes – Bakemonogatari and Cencoroll – are set to get sequels next year, and I’m hoping that Supercell once again gets that responsibility for the sequels. Either way, Supercell has managed to tie itself to some very powerful and popular companies, including Sony, SEGA, Shaft, Ordet, Good Smile Company, and Type-Moon, and I’m confident we’ll be hearing more hits out of it in the coming years and more.

So I’ve stated a few times before that I’m a big fan of supercell. In the anime world, the band is most famous for Black Rock Shooter, a (rather disappointing) OVA that was spawned from its song of the same title, as well as The Story You Didn’t Know (Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari), the ending theme to Bakemonogatari. Of course, originally being a Vocaloid band, supercell has ties to plenty in otakudom, including having the opening song to the PSP game Project Diva 2nd (Come Over Here Baby (Kocchi Muite Baby)) and the ending song to Type-Moon’s delayed (first non-eroge) visual novel, Witch on the Holy Night (This Star Sparkling Night).

Well, wouldn’t you know it, supercell has now added a manga to the list, with the online release of Hero (ヒーロー), the theme song to a manga called AOHARU.

Here’s the short 45 second preview video that’s on AOHARU‘s official site:


And, released on Sony’s official supercell page on 11/30, is the full 5 minute version. I actually didn’t take a liking to the song at first, but the song started growing on me the more I listened to it. And now that I’ve read the lyrics, I think this is a solid song, definitely up there with supercell’s other hits. And speaking of the lyrics…

Below is a translation of the lyrics along with the Romanji. Note that the bulk of the translation was lifted from Timeless Grey; I merely made some corrections when needed and prettied things up, both visually and aurally.

Hero by supercell. Written by ryo. Sung by nagi

Tomodachi to shabeteiru sono ko no egao wa amari ni karen de
Sono sugata wa omoi egaita manga no heroine no you da

As she talked to her friend, that smile of hers looked so pitiful,
Her form was like the heroine of a manga I drew in my head

Hitome mite koi ni ochita
Honki no honki de suki ni natta
Demo ne boku no mitekure ja
kitto kirawareteshimau

It was love at first sight
I truly, truly came to like her
But with the way I look,
She would definitely hate me.

Hora mata da kusukusu warau koe
Iin da sonna no narekko dakara
Wasurete shimae dakedo mune wa hari sake sou da

See, I can already hear the giggles of “heehee”
But it’s okay, since I’m used to it
I’ll forget about it, but my chest still feels like it’s about to burst

Shounen wa soshite deau
Sore wa kitto guuzen nanka janakute negatta
Kimi ni deae masu you ni
Nanman kai datte negaou
Itsuka kanarazu!
Keredo hito wa sonna kiseki
Shinjirareru wake nai to itta

That’s how the boy met [her]
I wished that was definitely not just some coincidence
So that I would meet you,
I shall wish for it tens of thousands of times
Someday, definitely!
But for people, that kind of miracle
Is something they say they can’t believe in

Shoujotachi wa sasayaita
“Ano ko sakki kara kocchi miteru
Nanna no are kimiwarui wa
Chikazukanai de nekurasan”

The girls whisper,
“That boy has been looking here since just now
What’s up with that, it’s gross
Don’t come any closer you downer”

Sumimasen sonna tsumori ja……
Utsumuku boku ni kanojo no koe
“Watashi kono hito shitteru!”
Amari wa azen boku mo bouzen

Sorry, I didn’t mean to…
As I hung my head down, her voice called out,
“I know this person!”
Everyone was amazed, and I was dumbfounded as well

“Michattan da na ano tsukue no e wo ne
Zenbu kimi ga kaitetari suru no?”
Aa! Mata warawareru
Dakedo kimi wa
“Aa iu no suki nan desu”

“I saw the drawings on that desk
You drew them all, right?”
Ah! I’m going to be laughed at again
But then you went,
“I like those things too”

Shounen wa soshite deau
Tatoe nan oku nan man kounen hanarete iyou ga sa
Zettai hikare au kara
Soko ni donna
Shougai ga atte mo

That’s how the boy met [her]
Even if you were hundreds of millions of light years away,
His mind would be drawn to you,
No matter what obstacles might lie in between,
He would overcome them

Norikoeteiku sore wo unmei to yobu nara
Kare wa masa ni hero da!

If that is to be called fate,
Then he’s sure to be a hero

Dakedo sono hi boku wa mitanda
Hitori me wo harashi naku kimi wo
Boku wa nante muryoku nan darou
Ii ya kanojo wa nante itta?
Utagau na jibun no sonzai wo
Shoujo wa sukui wo matteiru

But that day I saw
You alone, crying so hard your eyes swelled
Why must I be so powerless
No wait, what did she say?
Don’t doubt yourself [because]
That girl is waiting to be saved

“Tsuyogari de honto wa nakimushi de
Etto korette maru de watashi mitai”
Yatto waratta! yorokobu boku no mae de
Porori porori to naki dasu kanojo
Doushitara ii!?
Kimi wa
Ittanda “Arigatou”tte

“You act all tough, but you’re actually a crybaby
Umm, that’s exactly like me”
She finally smiled! In front of me who was delighted
Her tears kept falling, plop plop
What should I do!?
You said,
“Thank you”

Shounen wa kimi to deai
Ikiru imi wo shirunda
Uso janai honto sa
Soshite kimi wo mamoru naitou ni naru
Itsuka kitto ne
Kare no hidari te ni wa kanojo no nigi te
Gyutto nigitte hanashi wa shinai kara

Because this boy met you,
He learned what it means to live
It’s not a lie; it’s the truth
And so, he’ll become a knight who will protect you
Someday,
Onto his left hand, her right
Will hold tightly and never let go

Soshite boku wa kimi ni de au

And so I met you

Notes

• The original lyric sheet from Sony’s site had large blocks with lots of lines. I think having the translation come in every 3-4 lines is ideal, but since many of these blocks contained single threads that really shouldn’t be broken up, I kept most of them intact.
• I added words in brackets when the word was clearly implied but harder to get from the context when translated to English. They are technically not parts of the actual lyrics.

I think it’s pretty clear that ryo is sticking with the theme of first or budding love, with this one. He’s explored that theme a lot, from his Vocaloid hits Melt, This One Second of Slow Motion, and When the First Love Ends, to all of his professional hits with Nagi: The Story You Didn’t Know, Sayonara Memories, Utakata Hanabi, and Utakata Hanabi‘s 2nd track, This Star Sparkling Night.

Given that all of his songs have been sung by female voices, the stories were all told from the girl’s perspective, making this the first one that is explicitly told from the boy’s. Somehow, nagi’s distinctly feminine and high pitched voice doesn’t detract from that. I’m also glad to see that, like This Star Sparkling Night, this is a song filled with hope for a new beginning, not one of regret and looking back, like most of supercell’s recent songs have been (When the First Love Ends, The Story You Didn’t Know, Sayonara Memories, and Utakata Hanabi all follow that theme).

Credits

• Words of My Life transcribed the Romanji.
• Again, Kagekyuubi of Timeless Grey deserves the credit for this English translation. I did only minimal translating for this.
• Cenco’s How to Live deserves credit for the Korean translation that I used most to help me in the translating I did do.
• I got information about the song and the manga from Tokyo Hive.

Well, this one was a bit of a misstep. It wasn’t bad, it was amusing enough, but the style of humor was very different from the norm, resulting in something decidedly more run of the mill and boring than usual.

The first half turned out to be more about wacky vending machine food than anything else. Which was certainly quirky, but not all that funny. It was just cute girls doing cute things, without any hook, and that has already been done to death in the anime world. It’s not fun anymore. The faraway and silhouette shots, which Shaft usually uses to good effect, were actually kind of ugly and only served to remind us of how much money they must be saving. And I don’t know what to make of Harue’s surprise appearance at the end of the segment, other than that maybe they wanted to get their money’s worth from Ryoko Shiraishi, as she had to be in the 2nd half of the episode.

And no sooner than I start drawing comparisons to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya does Yet the Town Keeps Going bring out a concert-at-the-culture-festival episode. I appreciate that it didn’t go the Haruhi/K-On/Angel Beats route of having (what’s supposed to be) a normal, poppy rock song, but rather stuck with the old timey whimsical tune similar to the ED. The peculiar collection of instruments certainly fit well with the whole off-mainstream feel of the song.

But they could have milked this culture festival concert story a lot more. I don’t even mean stretching it out over more episodes or even to a full episode, though either would certainly work given that over a month passes through the course of the half episode. I mean using the story to show us more interesting interactions between the protagonists. They are what have made this show entertaining, after all. Instead, the sequence of events was surprisingly straightforward. Futaba wants to perform at the culture festival. She gets a time slot at the stage. She recruits Harue on drums (with some manipulation using table tennis), learns that Toshiko and Hotori play instruments, recruits them, then they perform. Not much else.

There were many chances for humor that were simply missed or glossed over. How about that whole month when the 4 had to learn the song and practice? When did they choose to go with the maids theme, and why? Who made Futaba’s stunning outfit? Then what about the days of the actual festival? How did they spend their time? What sorts of fun misadventures did our unique heroines run into? They’re not for us to find out.

I did like how the ED sequence ended up being genuine; just as Futaba had been revealed to play the bass a couple episodes back, Hotori does play the accordion – an instrument that fits her eccentric nature, taught to her by the head maid – Toshiko does play the violin, Harue does play the drums, and they all do perform together in maid outfits. But then again, this sort of gag had been done before, in Lucky Star, with the OP sequence. Except that Kyoto Animation is much better at animation than Shaft is. As cute as the concert was, the fact that the instruments didn’t exactly match up to the music was a huge distraction. That’s just one of those things that I’ve come to expect in this post-Haruhi anime world.

So this week’s episode was lackluster, especially after the both hilarious and powerful episode it was following. In fact, it was the worst since the bland first episode. The show bounced back strong after that initial misstep and kept going to this point, so I’m hopeful that it will start hitting its marks again next week and continue on to the end.

You could say I’m a pretty big rhythm game fan.  I have a custom build Dance Dance Revolution pad and can pass some 10s on a regular basis.  I play Expert guitar on Rock Band with little difficulty, for the most part.  I even bought the rhythm indie-game pack on Steam today.  The rhythm genre has come a long way over the years, and now a variety of gameplay mechanics have risen from using music as a base.  When I first got into the genre, I never though something like Rock Band would end up becoming mainstream.  However, I’ve recently determined developers have left a little something out of the equation: the story.

 

 

Now, to be fair, I’m sure there’s a fair number of people out there who couldn’t care less about story in their rhythm games.  They just want to play the song and get on with their lives.  I’ve actually been of this mindset for a long time.  When the newest installments of DDR added a “story” to the single player mode, all I wanted to do was punch the person at Konami who came up with it.  I even played the new Guitar Hero game, another franchise which has added story to its career mode, and I just couldn’t bear it.  No one seems capable of coming up with a good narrative, and perhaps this is why no one really cares.

So what changed?  Well, I bought Elite Beat Agents and started playing it.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, EBA is essentially a game about a cheer squad.  People cry out for help, and the director of their organization dispatches a crew to pep them up with a strong beat and some snappy dancing.  Each song has a little story associated with it as well, and naturally, much of it is ridiculous.  The very first song has a character throwing hot dogs like footballs into a kid’s mouth.  The insanity steadily escalates until you eventually have music hating aliens abducting the entire cast.  All this said, one stage in the game plays the formula very differently.

It starts out very subdued, with a father about to depart on a business trip.  His daughter makes him promise he’ll be home in time for Christmas.  It jumps to six months later.  The father never returned, he died in an accident.  Unfortunately, the child doesn’t really understand what’s happened.  All she wants is for her daddy to keep his promise.  She doesn’t call for help, nor does the director bombastically dispatch his squad.  It leads directly into “You’re the Inspiration.”  Even the normal sound mechanics have changed from clapping to gentle chimes.  When you finally get to the end of the song, the girl and her mother briefly reunite with the spirit of their love one.  The whole package, from the introduction into the song and finally the conclusion, is completely in sync.  It’s beautiful.

 

Reviewers have been clamoring for some sort of storyline in their games.  It’s a reasonable request, when you consider the career mode for most of these games is literally playing songs in a certain order.  Developers have only made half hearted efforts at meeting this criticism.  Putting in a little narration between songs does not make for a good story.  In fact, it can actually make things worse, as oftentimes the story and the songs don’t resonate with each other.  They completely miss the point, and don’t see the potential they have in front of them.

Most songs tell some sort of story.  Even beyond it though, we have joined songs to tell greater stories for centuries now.  Opera has been around since the late 16^th century, and the Broadway musical is the American take on telling story through music.  Some musicians have even developed concept albums made up of songs with a single unified theme or story.  In particular, the band Coheed and Cambria have built their careers on it.

Now, there have been games based largely on their music.  Eternal Sonata is literally an RPG based on the life of Frederic Chopin, and has been widely praised for its scoring.  However, I’m not asking for just any game.  I want a rhythm game with a story.  Take your narration and have it lead into song, just like EBA did with “You’re My Inspiration.”  It doesn’t have to have some serious tone to it either.  Some of my favorite games are lighthearted or ridiculous.  This shouldn’t be terribly difficult when you look at the previous paragraph and think about it.  Yet, to my knowledge, it hasn’t really been explored.

So, what do you think?  Would you like to see a good story in your rhythm game?  And if you know of any games which do tell a story through music, please, share them.

For a more extensive look at the scene from Elite Beat Agents, check out this post from Destructoid.

10 years ago today, on October 24, 2000 (correction: actually October 25, 2000), the 4th episode of Gainax’s OVA series FLCL was released to DVD. This is part of a series of posts I’m making on this show. In my first post, I covered how I came upon this series and my reaction to the first 2 episodes. My second post was made a day late and covered episode 3, Marquis de Carabas. This one covers what my initial reaction was to the 4th episode, Full Swing. (note: for the purposes of this post, I did not rewatch the episode. The last time I watched it was some time in the summer of 2009)

What is there to say about Full Swing? Quite a lot, probably. I could talk your ears off about this episode. It is unequivocally my favorite episode of any anime, all time (so far). Others have come close, such as The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the final episodes of Gunbuster, Diebuster and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Bakemonogatari episode 12, but Full Swing still holds the number one place in my heart.

The question, of course, is why? As with all of these types of questions, there are many answers. I’m sure part of it is that I was a huge fan of baseball at the time, and the entire episode was about baseball. Or rather, it used baseball as a metaphor for all the events taking place in the plot. In typical FLCL fashion, it was not at all subtle about this, with the ongoing theme of “swinging the bat” which was blindingly obvious and resonated with me. Indeed, I still consider the adoption of Haruko’s attitude regarding “swinging the bat” – that is, trying even if it means showing everyone that you fail – to be a key component for becoming a mature adult. As an episode of a coming of age story, Full Swing hit it out of the park (sorry, this is the one and only baseball related pun in this post).

Then there was the scene in which Naota confronts his father and hits the TV. It was masterfully directed, surreal, hectic, and, yes, haunting. The build up to that was fittingly erotic and inappropriate with Naota watching his father and Haruko at night, the release of destroying his father was fittingly unsatisfying and confusing, and the redemption of finding his real father and bringing him back to life was fittingly wacky and off-the-wall.

But I think we’ve beat around the bush enough. The real reason I loved this episode so much was the thrilling climax featuring The Pillows’s Crazy Sunshine. That entire sequence may be my favorite in any work of moving picture.

From the very start of that sequence, when Amarao asked Naota to ask Haruko to hit another one out of the park, the scene was just plain cool. The music started off quiet as Haruko quietly contemplated the situation and commented that “doubleheaders are tough,” before taking Naota up to the top of the plant, but it quickly came more into the forefront as the anticipation of the impact kept building.

And during all the intensity, FLCL retained it’s unique sense of humor. There was Mamimi, sitting atop Canti, celebrating the satellite’s fall and wondering whether they’d have school tomorrow. There was Haruko, fitting a shampoo cap on Naota and pulling out his squirming guitar, commenting that “boys feel weird inside.” There were Amarao’s subordinates at his base, inexplicably getting nosebleeds.

Then, as the satellite neared its final approach, it suddenly and seamlessly turned into a gigantic hand throwing a just as gigantic baseball. Amarao called out, “It’s a sinker!” It was hilarious, but I didn’t laugh, lost in the intensity of the moment.

The intensity just kept building and building, all the way until the release. As the ball became a bigger and bigger object in Naota’s sights and Haruko abandoned him, her comment, “This might as well be goodbye” seemed like it just might come true. Of course, our hero swung the bat, his own bat. But it wasn’t over yet. The music had reached its peak, and there was more work to be done. Amarao watched nervously, knowing that it hadn’t been enough. And just as the ball looked to explode and all had been for naught, Haruko made her triumphant return, giving the ball that extra hit to leave the atmosphere.

It was just… awesome. The visuals were spectacular, true to form for FLCL. The way the sky lit up and shimmered as the ball neared its final approach still sticks with me. So does that scene of the moment of second impact, when we were treated to single-color frames of Haruko, Mamimi, and Naota reacting. The explosion at the end, the air pressure pushing apart the clouds and objects on ground, was just icing. Both the music and the music editing throughout the sequence was masterfully handled. Thanks to this episode, Crazy Sunshine was my favorite for several years afterward. Or maybe it was because of that song that I loved this episode so much. Doesn’t matter.

The episode was nearly over at that point, but the serene denouement made for a fitting finish. Naota lying in Haruko’s Vespa, reveling in the feeling he just had, wondering if Haruko feels like this all the time. Haruko, laughing her ass off for no obvious reason. The soft start up to the now-familiar Little Busters. And the final shot of Amarao’s fake eyebrow falling off. It was bizarre, but just like what Naota was feeling at the moment, it was satisfying.

Maybe it was the fact that this episode followed the 3rd, which had left me a little negative on the series. Maybe it was that I had watched episodes 4, 5, and 6 in quick succession, and I had taken all the positive feelings about the entire last half of the show and transferred it to the 4th. I think it was just that one Crazy Sunshine sequence, one that wasn’t topped even by the numerous other excellent sequences that would come in the last 2 episodes of the show. Regardless of the reason, I still consider Full Swing to be the best directed, most entertaining episode of any anime.

So now I turn it to you, if you’ve read this far. What do you remember about Full Swing? Did it leave as big an impact on you as it did me? Did you like that song, Crazy Sunshine? Do you still like it? Do you think the show did things better in other episodes, particularly in episode 6, the true climax of the show?

Notes

• This episode featured the entrance of characters Amarao and Kitsurubami. Kitsurubami was played by Chiemi Chiba who, along with Yukari Fukui, was one of the few voice actors in FLCL who remained in the anime voice acting industry. This season, she plays side characters in both Star Driver and More To LOVE-Ru.
• If you watch carefully in this scene, when Mamimi gets up to go to the baseball game with Haruko, you can see her underwear being pulled off by Naota. One of the hints at just how far their relationship went.
• This episode revealed that Haruhara Haruko’s real name was actually Haruha Raharu. Also, it explained the concept of NO, which explained why Naota had been targeted by Haruko and why robots had been coming out of his head.

Well, supercell’s 3rd CD single, Utakata Hanabi (Literally Water Bubble Fireworks, though kumoriha translates it as Ephemeral Fireworks in his translation. I prefer Bubble-Like Fireworks, personally), was released last week on August 25. The title track, predictably enough, leaked about a month back, so that was nothing new, but also in the release was a second track, titled 星が瞬くこんな夜に (Hoshi ga matataku konna yoru ni), or This Star Sparkling Night in English. Below is a YouTube video of the song in full.

Since I haven’t been able to find an English translation for its lyrics, I thought that I would take a crack at it.

This Star Sparkling Night by supercell. Written by ryo. Sung by nagi.

Believe, believe,
there’s magic here tonight
Believe, believe!

sore wa totemo shizuka na yoru de
tsunto tsumetai kuuki wa hoo o sashita
omowazu kitto kimi o niranda

It was a very tranquil night, and
The cold air slightly stung my cheeks
So I inadvertently scowled at you.

“…boku no sei ja
nai desu yo” tte
sonna kao o shiteru

“It’s not my
fault,” I said
with that expression still on my face.

nan demo nai kono shunkan ga
isshou kioku ni
nokoru you na ki ga shita nda

This meaningless moment
Is one I would forever remember,
I felt somehow.

hoshi ga matataku konna yoru ni
negaigoto o hitotsu
kanau nara kono toki yo tsuzuke to

On this star sparkling night,
I make one wish
Please make this moment last

onaji sora o miagenagara
taisetsu na koto hodo
sugusoba ni aru no ka mo
nante omotteta

Looking up together at the same sky,
My most precious thing
Just might be right next to me,
I thought.

itsumo ippouteki na kanjou
sore ja tsutawaranai koto kurai
wakatteru tsumori yo

By just continuing these one-sided feelings,
I won’t be able to convey them to you,
I know at least that.

motomoto nibui kimi wa kitto
watashi ga okotte bakari iru you ni
mieru darou kedo

To you who has always been calm,
It must look like
I’m always angry

konnan darake no kono sekai de
kimi ga iru
sore dake no koto de kyou mo ikiteyukeru

In this world of mine filled with hardship,
You were there.
That was enough to get me through today.

hoshi ga matataku konna yoru ni
hitoribotchi ga futari
kakaeta itami o wakeau you ni

On this star sparkling night,
Stand two lone stars
As if sharing their suffering

onaji sora o miagetetara
nanika iwanakya tte
dakedo nante ieba
ii ndarou

Continuing to look up at the same sky,
I feel I have to say something,
But what is it that
I should say?

“nee, nagareboshi ga mitai na”
joudan de furikazashita yubisaki
kirei na o o hiita
sore wa maru de mahou no you de

“Hey, I’d like to see a shooting star.”
At the tip of the finger I raised in jest
Was the beautiful tail of a shooting star.
It was like magic.

hoshi ga matataku konna yoru ni
wasureteta koto o hitotsu
iikakete dokun to haneru kodou

On this star sparkling night,
That one thing I had forgotten,
My heartbeat jumps and interrupts me as I say it.

yami no naka isshun fureta te
kimi wa ki ga tsuiteru?
kore tte kitto
sou iu koto na no ka na

Our hands that touched for a moment in the darkness,
Did you notice it?
This feeling must definitely be
“That” thing.

hoshi ga matataku konna… konna yoru ni

On this, this star sparkling night.

Notes

• The second-to-last line, “That” thing is obviously meant to refer to “love.” It was difficult for me to convey that in English, so I decided to translate it literally and leave this note.
• This Star Sparkling Night will be the ending theme to Type-Moon’s next visual novel, Witch on the Holy Night. Unlike Type-Moon’s other visual novel franchises Tsukihime and Fate/stay night, this one will not be an eroge.
• The first track to the single, Utakata Hanabi, is not too shabby itself. You can see the full music video, first released with the CD, here.
• Utakata Hanabi was used as the ending theme to Naruto Shippuden starting sometime in late July. Here is the only non-mirrored version of the video I could find online.
• You can buy the CD single here and the limited edition with a DVD of the music video here, both on cdjapan.co.jp.

Credits

• Credit goes to Kyou and 희짱 (Hui-chan) for their Korean translations off which this translation was based. Warning: watch out for autoplaying music in those links.
• Credit goes to lerorin for providing the lyrics in Romaji.
• Credit goes to ryo for writing such a beautiful song. Credit goes to nagi for an excellent singing performance.

I’ve made it no secret I’m a fan of Maaya Sakamoto, especially her music. Let me quote myself from the spring 2010 preview post:

I could listen to Maaya’s voice all day (in fact, I sometimes do, putting her music on my playlist).

I was listening to her recent compilation album Everywhere, when 1 song caught my attention. The song is called Pocket o Kara ni Shite or, translated, Emptying Our Pockets (link goes to YouTube video of live performance).

It was released on her first album in 1997, Grapefruit, but I had somehow managed to miss it. I especially liked the chorus, which I found to be quite catchy. So I looked up the lyrics, available translated here.
The chorus goes:

Come on, let’s go on a journey, emptying our pockets. We don’t have a purpose or anything, but

Let’s hurry,

Come on, let’s go on a journey, emptying our pockets. Carrying our scattered feelings along with us.

Now, you might notice that the lyrics on the link say, “Carrying our indecent feelings along with us.” I chose “scattered” because that is what the Korean translation I found via Naver said and because it makes a lot more sense given the context. It’s a shame, because “indecent” would have made the lyrics into something really wicked, and something I would have loved to write a lot about. But gotta stick to what I believe is the truth, even if it’s inconvenient.

Either way, the message of the chorus and of the song in general is pretty obvious. It’s the same message that countless other songs have: that one’s possessions aren’t important, and finding happiness is about doing, not about having.

These lyrics brought to my mind the character of Nino, played by Maaya Sakamoto, of Arakawa Under the Bridge. She clearly personifies the song in many ways. Living under the bridge, she doesn’t have much in terms of material goods. The stuff she does have, she probably happened to find.

But more than simply being poor, she exemplifies that sense of living by the moment and doing things because she loves them. She contributes to the society under the bridge by fishing, but only because she wants to, not out of a sense of obligation. And just look at how good she is at it. By doing what she loves, she’s doing good not only for herself, but for the community as a whole. At the same time, she isn’t bothered at all by the things she can’t do so well, like teaching. Neither is she bothered by others who don’t contribute as much as she does. She fits the image perfectly of that person looking up at a shooting star and having no clue what to wish for. Indeed, when she was given a very similar situation at the start of the series, she had to struggle to find something she wanted. Fortunately for Riku, it was a lover.

And thanks of her style of living, she appears to get more out of it than someone like Riku, whose life is dictated by strict rules. Look at how stressed out he was in episode 5 when he was confronted with the fact that he doesn’t contribute anything. Contrast it with Nino’s reaction, which is that he shouldn’t worry about it, because “everyone does what they do because they want to. So [Riku] should, too” (I’m paraphrasing here). In episode 6, Riku learns the truth behind this, when he teaches the metal headed brothers to swim only because he wants to and later discovers that he did something useful. Were it not for Nino’s being there and pointing it out for him, it’s unlikely that he would have realized this.

The reason that this theme of living by the moment without worrying about belongings is so popular in songs and media in general is that it resonates with a lot of people. And the reason it resonates with a lot of people is that there is truth to it, and it represents a life that people strive towards with different levels of success. Nino has reached it. Riku is at the very bottom. Arakawa Under the Bridge is about the former reaching out to the latter and pulling him up (hence the OP song’s title and the imagery used). It’s a story that I think has been told well so far, and a story I look forward to seeing play out in the rest of the show.

And on a personal note, it’s the type of life I strive for as well. I’m definitely closer to Riku than I am to Nino, but, after all, it’s a journey. That Riku is, obliviously, on the same journey makes this show all the more enjoyable for me. I’m sure it’s the same way with others as well.

Last week on Sora no Woto, we received an introduction to the Roman side through Aisha, a forward scout from the nation.  Hopkins dropped by on his way to war for the day, and Aisha stood in his men’s sights.  This week’s episode determines whether the girls can avert the bad ending.  Do they succeed?  Well, they’re the protagonists, what do you think?

Aisha takes the gunshot, but survives.  In response, Filicia takes the Colonel hostage and orders him to send away his troops.  Hopkins reveals that he wants to provoke the Roman into a fight and Filicia has him thrown in the brig, but he manages to escape.  In the meantime, Kanata hears a signal from Rio and decides to try to stall the war.  Filicia and company agree to the plan, and they quickly power up the tank.  They make a rather grand entrance by destroying the building and escape down the mountain.  Hopkins and his unit pursue the girls, but the tank dispatches them with relative ease.  As they travel, we hear the Roman Fire Maiden myth.  They arrive at the front with just moments to spare.  Kanata attempts to stop the Helvetian charge with the signal to cease-fire, but it doesn’t work.  She then launches into Amazing Grace.  Rio and royal tank division show up with a cease-fire order from the Archduke and Emperor, and there is much rejoicing.  For her role in ending the war, Rio is allowed whatever she wants.  She chooses reassignment to the town she calls home with the people she loves the most.  Exeunt.

Hopkins claims to have a “noble” intention in his pursuit of warfare.  If the nations fight, they will have to develop new technology in quick succession, catapulting humanity back to its former heights.  This idea does have a weird merit to it.  A large amount of the technology we take for granted today has origins in the military.  This includes the Internet that you utilize to read this very post.  It started as Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), developed by the Department of Defense.  They developed it in direct wake of the USSR’s Sputnik program, and we could continue tracing the cause and effect back even further.  Despite the technological boom that warfare can bring, we know that it’s far from the moral choice.  Hopkins really just wants to watch the world burn.  Noël crushes him like a bug, a fitting takedown for such a pest.

Poor Kureha.  You can see that all she really wants to be is a good soldier.  She wants to server her country and act as a good backbone to her comrades.  Unfortunately, she must reconcile her duty with her sense of morality.  It takes a certain kind of person to carry out some duties.  Either you need the capacity for extreme rationalization of your actions, or you need to lack a moral compass.  As a result, some people are not cut out to fight in a war, and if you try to force it on them, they simply break.  In my case, I do want to protect others.  At the same time, I am morally opposed to taking someone’s life, or even participating in warfare.  Kureha is trying to reconcile her morals after the fact.  She doesn’t even want to think about someone torturing Aisha, who is just a young girl like herself.  She doesn’t want to send people down the path of war.  When she realizes that this means she can’t carry out her duty as a soldier, she bursts into tears.  While she might not be the perfect soldier, I think it makes her a better human being, and that counts far more in my book.

I’ve read a lot of complaints about how the ending is entirely unrealistic.  It does push hard against suspension of disbelief.  What you need to keep in mind is that the regular soldiers did not want to fight.  At the start of the series, we had a brief look at the mindset of these soldiers.  They comment that treating the bugler well will ensure you hear the retreat call.  They also point out that few people have volunteered to enlist.  These are not battle-hardened soldiers that live to fight.  They’re normal people who likely found themselves drafted into the military.  They enjoy the truce and are more concerned with the girls at the outpost than their duties.  Even when marching to the lines, they relate that they don’t want to fight.  They probably just want to go back to bed.  Kanata pops out of the tank to play Amazing Grace, and if Aisha is any indication, both sides know the song.  Thus, they take the opportunity to stave off the ensuing fight for just a few fleeting moments.  It’s not this, but rather Rio and her Big Damn Tanks that taxes the scene, but even that lies in the realm of plausibility.

Ultimately, the episode felt rushed, and I think it could have played out far better over the span of two episodes.  Your enjoyment will largely depend on the ending you really wanted to see.  If you wanted to see the girls die in the name of peace, perhaps even trampled upon in the rush, then you probably found it lacking.  On the other hand, if you wanted the peaceful resolution that the series spent so much time building around, you probably found it satisfactory.  From a personal standpoint, I could have gone for either ending.  I wish it could have done more, but I still enjoyed the ride.

Last week on Sora no Woto, we had time to reflect on Rio’s past by looking at it through the lens of an old woman’s story.  As a result, Rio left our merry band of girls to go fulfill her duty for her country.  This week, the rest of the story comes to a head with the discovery of a young Roman scout.  The drums of war continue to march.

The episode starts with Kanata and Kureha on a patrol assignment, where they come across an injured soldier.  There’s just one catch: she’s Roman.  They bring her back to base, and Noël insists on taking care of the girl.  Filicia decides to put off turning her over until they can try to interrogate her.  Both Kanata and Noël try to befriend the soldier, named Aisha, despite the culture and language barriers.  When Kanata gives her Rio’s trumpet, she plays Amazing Grace.  Kanata’s joy abounds because this means they have a cultural connection.  Naomi and Yumina come to the fortress, the latter acting as a translator.  Aisha has come here to see the fallen angel, which contrasts sharply with the belief that the first episode’s corpse is a demon.  Unfortunately, Colonel Hopkins and his troops are approaching the base.  Filicia vows to protect Aisha, sending her to the school with Noël.  Noël’s fears get the best of her, and she flees with Aisha closely following.  Kanata receive a phone call stating that Roman forces are closing in on the garrison, and a shot rings out as Aisha finds herself trapped by two sets of guards.

In this episode, we can clearly see the characters’ differences in personality by the way they react to this new addition.  Kanata’s optimism allows her to see Aisha as just another human being and she reaches out to her in friendship.  Kureha’s past and military training cause her to insist they turn over the soldier. Noël knows the result of her handiwork and seeks atonement and forgiveness for her crimes.  Yumina’s natural curiosity makes her embrace Aisha’s Roman heritage as an opportunity to learn more about the world and its beliefs.  Filicia wants to see peace between the two forces after seeing war firsthand, and offers the soldier sanctuary.  Finally, Colonel Hopkins sees her as nothing more than a disposable tool for intelligence in his battle against the Roman army.  With these clashing and complementary personalities, I wonder what kind of resolution each character will get.  Personally, I want to see Hopkins get a nice punch in the face for the trouble he has caused.

On that note, we finally get a look into Noël’s past and why she acts as she does today.  The military discovered her through her aptitude for lost technology.  Her efforts engineered the Silent Death bioweapon, which the military then used as a countermeasure to the Roman invasion.  After the massacre, she ventured into the battlefield and saw the mass of dead and dying people.  It’s easy to see why she can’t trust people.  Her research and development lead to the deaths of thousands, but it doesn’t stop there.  You might remember that Yumina said the Silent Death killed Mishio’s mother.  A bioweapon cannot readily discriminate between friend and foe.  Anyone caught in the blast zone or standing in the path of the fallout will suffer.  Noël has to live with the knowledge that she killed her own people.  Perhaps here lies another reason for her obsession with the tank.  While a tank is also a weapon of warfare, a person has to control it and that person can discriminate.  A human has to deal with their conscience and have conviction to pull the trigger.  The tank looks complete.  Whoever takes the helm might decide the difference between salvation and damnation.

Helvetian and Roman forces are set to collide and our heroes can do little at to stop it.  I feel confident saying the tank will play the deciding role.  Really, the question now is how the writers will see fit to end the series.  A happy ending where the girls somehow hold off the fighting until Rio saves the day sounds obvious.  On the other hand, the tragic undertones of this series might point to sacrificing one or all of them to forge a new peace.  Either one I would find satisfying, and I look forward to the fast approaching conclusion.

Last week on Sora no Woto, a rainstorm assaulted the town of Seize, and the town mobilized to save the day.  We also learned about Courier Klaus’ backstory, and he finally became a hero.  This week, we meet the old woman Jacquotte, and through her explore Rio’s life.  This wraps up a lot of points rather than providing much fodder for speculation, so let’s get underway.

The episode starts with Rio burning a letter, presumably the one she received from her father.  At the same time, Noël and the girls have almost finished the tank.  Kanata wants to look into Iliya’s past, but Filicia’s records are “missing.”  Kureha fills her in on the details instead.  Yumina shows up and asks for help finding Jacquotte, and Kanata drags Rio off with her.  The two find the woman building a house for her long-lost son, and decide to help her with chores around the house.  While Rio chops firewood, Filicia remarks that the Roman army has redeployed troops.  Kanata and Rio leave to gather supplies, and Rio talks about how she first came to the town.  Then they retire to the old woman’s house, and she relates her past to them.  Afterwards, she goes out to die, quite literally.  Rio plays Amazing Grace again, and then entrusts her trumpet to Kanata.  Under her tutelage, Kanata has become a fine trumpet player, as well as a fine young woman.  Content with her work, Rio has finally decided to leave and carry out her task to protect the family she loves.

This episode finally puts Rio’s whole story into perspective.  She is the illegitimate son of the Archduke.  Her father never came around to see them, and he resents him for that.  However, Iliya did visit, and Rio loved her elder sister.  Iliya allowed herself to become engaged to the emperor of Rome to end the hostilities.  Unfortunately, a tragedy cut the Princess’ life drastically short.  While on a morale building tour, she tried to save a drowning child.  She lost her life instead.  The war dragged on for yet another year until the two armies struck a truce.  Of course, Rio never got over it.  She still hated children because of the one who took her sister away from her.  She fled to the town of Seize, which she symbolically views as a dead-end for her life.  In the process, though, she met Kanata, which allowed her to slowly grow as a person to become more like her sister.  With the help of Jacquotte, she finally finds some means of closure.

Jacquotte fell in love with a wealthy man, and became pregnant with his child.  However, this man had a family and a wife who could not bear children.  He took her son and left for his home, promising to return one day.  The story curiously reflects Rio’s own, so she asks how the woman can deal with her grief.  Rather than allowing the past to drag her down, she always looked forward with hope.  She remembered the good times she had before the man left her, and focused on his promise to return one day.  As a result, she has lived a long and largely satisfying life.  The point of this story boils down to how you should view loss.  You’re always going to suffer loss, whether by your own power or because of unforeseen occurrence.  You can’t undo it, so simply dwelling on it is not going to help anyone.  To get through life, you have to focus on the good in your past, live your life in the present, and always aim for the future.  Life is short, so live the best life you can.  This realization finally snaps Rio out of her depression.

At first glance, this episode wraps everything up into a nice package, and to an extent, you would be correct.  However, a few plotlines still exist for the final episodes.  First, Noël has almost finished rebuilding the tank.  Since they already put it to use to save Klaus and Kureha, I doubt they would spotlight it again unless it will see another use.  I think the second DVD bonus episode will focus on how they got the parts.  Second, they still haven’t resolved the fire maiden plotline that started in the first episode.  The story shunted the legend off to the side for quite a while, but in this episode, they bring it back into focus.  However, this has served its purpose by reflecting Rio’s character, so we can safely live without a blatant resolution.  Finally, we know Roma fought Helvetia and that they’re mobilizing the army again, but that nation remains an enigma.  We don’t know their motivations in all this, mostly because we have never met anyone from there.  The next episode will introduce a wounded soldier from Roma and address that issue.  I’m looking forward to it.

Last week on Sora no Woto, Kanata stared at a telephone for 18 minutes, though the call at the end ended up being somewhat important.  This week kicks the drama back into gear with a life-threatening typhoon, as well as spotlighting themes of both depression and hope.

The episode starts in the garden, and while the girls work, Rio starts playing a jazzy blues piece on her trumpet.  Along with this, Kanata notices that Rio is becoming detached and depressed, though Kureha waves off her concern.  Klaus knocks on the door in the middle of a typhoon, and he bears a high priority message for Rio.  He stays the night, but soon after Yumina comes seeking aid.  Seiya has gone missing.  The troops mobilize, with Klaus and Kureha finding Mishio, and then Seiya.  They successfully get him to safety, but a rock slide destroys their path.  While they await rescue, Kureha notices the Major lacks the tattoo that “Miracle Klaus” should have.  With the townspeople’s aid, Noël mobilizes the tank to fire an anchor.  Klaus protects Kureha and returns her safely.

First, it’s time to focus a little more on Rio.  The blues represent sorrow and sadness, true to their name, and Rio certainly acts the part.  She’s not picky with her food like usual, and Filicia notes that she’s been forgetting things recently.  The two senior officers share some level of confidence since Filicia vows to continue covering her mistakes.  Additionally, we see that Iliya signed the letters Rio has read throughout the series.  She likely continues to read them to keep some link to the dead princess alive, so she probably hasn’t reached closure.  Indeed, when she sees the rapids the typhoon has created, she immediately flashes back to Iliya’s casket.  The phone call from her father and the message she receives only exacerbates the problem.  Right before she opens the message, the emergency calls her away.  All of this stress finally causes her to snap about how she hates children, especially disobedient ones.  Filicia calms her down, but that leaves us with a question.  Did Iliya die trying to save a child?

Despite the depressing mood Rio exerts, we also see the other side of the coin.  Hope still exists, and  nature repairs itself.  Klaus takes a moment to look at the growing wheat fields on his way to the base, and the orphans admire their small garden of eggplants.  We also see Noël’s experience in the garden with a pill bug.  With the level of surprise she displays, you have to wonder if this is first time she’s ever seen a pill bug, and perhaps it represents life returning to the area.  Seiya even wants to risk his life to save the eggplants he planted.  While that’s clearly stupid in the grand scheme of things, on a basic level, these plants represent life that he and his friends have nourished and sustained.  They serve as stark contrast to the barren wastes of No Man’s Land.

Even more significant, though, is the tank itself.  The tank largely represents war, and we saw clearly the devastation they can cause in Filicia’s flashback.  Recall way back in episode 4 that Noël feared the use of her machines to kill people.  Kanata reassures her by saying she’s sure people used the tank to help people.  You can say what you will about her ditziness at times, but Kanata hides a great deal of perception.  That perception pays off when Noël uses the tank to save the two soldiers.  The show’s message between the two episodes is clear: the tool is not the problem, rather, it is the person who wields it.  Even though people generally build tanks for warfare, with a little thought a person can use it for a peaceful purpose.  I imagine the experience put Noel’s mind a little at ease.

I would love to talk for a bit about Klaus and Kureha, but this post is already becoming quite long.  Perhaps I’ll revisit them later.  The next episode’s title is Departure – When the First Snow Falls.  We know the nations have had little luck with the peace talks, so it’s probable that war will break out again, sweeping up our cast.  It also implies that winter is fast approaching.  If history has taught us anything, winter warfare always causes unnecessary expenses in resources, as well as human lives.