IMHO. 'Sakamichi no Apollon' ~ moanin'

I hate coming-of-age stories with their first-love-first-heartbreak developments, their quarrel-and-make-up friendships that only last throughout the high school because, supposedly, adolescence is such a special kind of time in life.

Not only is 'Apollon' that kind of story, but it is also so generic in many aspects that you could make a whole list of cliches used in this anime without a smallest attempt at originality. This slope leading to the school that represents life... This jazz that represents freedom and happiness... This 'unbelievable' combi of a smarty pants and a musclehead...

And I can totally understand why viewers would hate the smarty pants who can't cope with his own emotions, why to many the heroine looks like nothing more than an object of rivalry without her own personality, why people would say Kanno's jazz in 'Apollon' is not the jazz they expected after 'Bebop'.

Many people would dislike this anime and give it a low rating. And if I try to be objective, they would be right in doing so.

Lucky them.

They probably never felt like lonely loosers, like Kaoru. Never had to betray their family's expectations like Yurika. Never felt their lives crashing down when their friends grow apart, like Ritsuko.

And they never went through that acute pain of realising just how much their life lacks a friend like Sen. Or maybe, they just don't make a big deal of these things.

Looks like I do.

 

 

me loves finding links

though me was never interested in labels and companies, me happened to open the website of 'Flying Dog'
and me would like simply to list the performers who caught me attention there
first, Arai Akino
then, ALI Project
nothing in common, but for the quality of their songs
then, Chiaki Ishikawa
do me honourable guests get what her presence in the list means? oh yes, we have Kajiura-sama also in 'Flying Dog', therefore Yuuka-chan should also be there, why shouldn't she be? me daresay, the list of artists connected with them doesn't end here, but let us proceed in alphabetical order
Lisa Komine, that's again a coincidence, but she also deserves our attention, eh?
Natsumi Kiyoura is also here, well, counting the previous variety of genres and community of quality we are starting to expect certain persons there as well...
then we see the name of Maaya Sakamoto, and hey! if Kiyoura and Sakamoto are here, then... just wait!
oh yes! me missed the name of Kanno Youko, which was written in kanji, and me was a little absent-minded
then we see the awaited ones - savage genius and See-Saw! if the latter is a simple combination of previously mentioned Kajiura-sama and Ishikawa-sama, savage genius may seem a little odd to some of me honourable guests, but me should remind that Kajiura-sama wrote the 'kaze no yukue' song for them
then we see finally Yuuka-chan's name, of course, as me stated previously, and FictionJunction, of course
and finally - Round Table featuring Nino. again a coincidence, but a pleasant one, eh?