IMHO. 'Michiko to Hatchin' ~ as if you read a good book

'There's not enough jazz anime in this world', said Shinichiro Watanabe one day and decided to make 'Michiko to Hatchin'. 'There's not enough stories about people struggling to survive in a harsh environment', added Shukou Murase. And yes, they invited Sayo Yamamoto, but I guess I know who's the boss here. I don't think you'd ever mistake an anime created by Watanabe with anything else:

or forget about Murase - look at a bookshelf from a library in 'Michiko and Hatchin':

Well, this unlikely-characters-travelling-together trope, this pursuing-a-goal-and-finding-that-the-journey-was-more-important idea, this jazz and r'n'b soundtrack are nothing new. Even inviting cinema actors instead of professional voice actors is a trick we've seen already. But when all of that is so brilliantly done, and, moreover, done in such a way that I can clearly see just how well the creators understand what they're trying to depict... I can't but admit: my hat's off.

To be honest, 'Michiko to Hatchin' is not the case when you sympathise very much with the characters or make favourites. But it's surely the case when you understand them. And it's absolutely the case when you can say, after you finish, that you gained something by watching, just like reading a good book.

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.

 

 

My hydrangea quest. Day 3

If anything, I admire the love of the Japanese for jazz. I'm surprised it's considered ok for small children, though. I also don't think I would come here all the way to see the flowers only, if not for the jazz festival. If not for the jazz festival where pretty boys play jazz. Boys, I think I've remembered your names...

But the flowers were very nice, just as expected. And the merry-go-round was unexpectedly nice... I think I'd die if I saw it when I was 10.

my humble opinion on Keiko Matsui

sometimes I search for good music and find nothing interesting, but sometimes a person on a forum says that this resembles that, and thus I found priceless treasures

what is good about her is that...

the percentage of her works that I love among all her tracks is so high that I am astonished

there are both songs and instrumental compositions, so that I was surprised

there are sax, shakuhachi and piano, and also voice, and percussion, and whatever - combined so beautifully that I was bewildered

there are jazz, blues, smooth, lounge, new age, ethnic, folk, electro, and many other genres

there are deep feelings in her music, expressing her love for Mother Nature, elements, phenomena, and also her concern for human beings, which is revealed in her social initiatives

p. s.

perhaps no one knows that 'twas Keiko-san's 'Tears of the Ocean' what was used as a sample in a song "вдох-выдох" of a Russian group called T9