Yoko Takahashi/Megumi Hayashibara -- Kokoro yo Genshi ni Modore (心よ原始に戻れ)

“Kokoro yo Genshi ni Modore” (心よ原始に戻れ) is probably a well known song in the anime fandom, because it's an image song for the "Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth" 1997 movie. As the title of the post suggests, I’m going to introduce two different renditions of this song, both released around the same time. The original one, sang by Yoko Takahashi (高橋洋子), is the b-side of her famous “Tamashii no Rufuran” (魂のルフラン) single, released in February 1997. The other version is sang by Megumi Hayashibara (林原めぐみ) and  it's an album track of her best-selling album, “Iravati”, released in August 1997. An ethereal downtempo version of “Tamashii no Rufuran” is also included in “Iravati”, but that’s not subject for today.

About the original version, featured at the beginning of the post, I can say that Yoko’s voice is very strong. The arrangement is upbeat and rich, with lots of cool electronic elements thrown here and there. The chorus is made of call and response sentences between the singer and the backing vocalists, which is very nice. Finally, the violin (not 100% sure if it's a violin) introduced at the last minute of the song is just beautiful. It's probably my favorite part of this version.

Now, let’s check out Megumi’s version. Listen to it below.

Megumi’s version, called “Kokoro yo Genshi ni Modore (Naked Flower Version)”, in contrast, is not as upbeat as the original. The arrangement is filled with latin elements and a mystic atmosphere pervades it. About Megumi’s voice, it’s ethereal and gentle at the same time, which I find truly amazing (in my opinion, it’s one of her best vocal performances). Moreover, the call and response chorus is even more evident in this version, because the slower arrangement fits it better (in my opinion, of course). I’m probably being biased as Megumi is my favorite singer, but I find her version way more beautiful than the original. Being fair with Yoko, though, we can’t really compare the versions because both are different with very distinct vibes.

As my humble Japanese music knowledge started mostly with Megumi Hayashibara, her version was the first one I came across when I got a huge MP3 file with all of her albums in very low quality back in 2005. But shortly after, I discovered Yoko’s original recording. At the time, I enjoyed both and listened to them a lot. I dare to say that I used to listen to Yoko's version more times because it's upbeat and I was not very fond of ballads and slow songs back then. Nowadays I listen to Megumi’s version with more frequency than Yoko’s one, which reflects my preference. The fact that I own Megumi’s “Iravati” helps a lot too as I really like to sit on the couch and listen to an album while looking at the booklets and photo books that are part of the package. All in all, “Kokoro yo Genshi ni Modore” is a great song and both versions are offering something different to the listener.

Yoko’s “Tamashii no Rufuran” single reached #3 on the Oricon charts, selling over 631,320 copies. It also reached #41 on the yearly chart of 1997. As for Megumi’s “Iravati” album, it reached #5 on the Oricon charts, selling 277,060 copies (source: generasia). It’s important to note that “Iravati” isn’t only Hayashibara’s best-selling album, but still is the best-selling seiyuu album of all time. “Kokoro yo Genshi ni Modore” was written by Neko Oikawa (及川眠子), while the composition and arrangement were made by Toshiyuki Ohmori (大森俊之). Hayashibara’s “Naked Flower Version” was also arranged by Ohmori.

To finish the article, here's a photo of my own copy of Megumi's "Iravati" album. It came with a  slipcase and a hardcover photo book, which is always very nice.