Yuri Shiratori -- Heart Break Down

From left to right: Bloodberry, Lime and Cherry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73c2nXqg72w&spfreload=10

When it comes to anime, my favourite era is certainly the 90s. Also, it’s not a mystery that my favourite series of all times is Saber Marionette (セイバーマリオネット). So, today, let’s talk about “Heart Break Down”, which was the third ending theme to “Saber Marionnette J Again” (またまたセイバーマリオネット), the OVA series aired from late 1997 until mid-1998.

“Heart Break Down” is performed by aidoru/seiyuu Yuri Shiratori (白鳥由里), who was responsible for voicing Cherry (チェリー), one of the main Marionettes of the series. As a good seiyuu, Yuri incorporates very well Cherry’s characteristics as the cute and romantic housewife of the group, which was also comprised by the “Lolita-esque” Lime (ライム - voiced by Megumi Hayashibara [林原めぐみ]), who had the mentality of a child, but a body of a woman, and Bloodberry (ブラッドベリー - voiced by Akiko Hiramatsu [平松晶子]), an adult and seductive woman with short temper. Closing the main cast, there was also Otaru Mamiya (間宮小樽 - voiced by Yuka Imai [今井由香]), a poor young man who was lucky enough to awaken the three special Marionettes.

Unlike Lime and Bloodberry, who were more direct about what they wanted from Otaru (yeah, you guessed right), Cherry was shy and romantic, which is why she was always caught fantasizing about Otaru being a prince in love with her. Based on that, “Heart Break Down” is a cute pop song with those lovely synths that were used a lot in the 90s. The song is so cute that, when I was younger, I was kind of ashamed to listen to a girly song like that. Nowadays, though, I listen to songs that are more saccharine-filled than “Heart Break Down”, so this is not a problem anymore.

On a side note, I still have a VHS tape with a Brazilian Portuguese dubbed version of “Saber Marionette J Again”, which I recorded from TV in 2005. I remember the day very well, as I let the machine scheduled to record the entire show while I went out to eat pizza with my parents. When I arrived home, it was late to watch, but the next day, when I came back from school, I watched the whole series (six episodes) and heard “Heart Break Down” for the first time. It was love at first listen. These are very fond memories from almost ten years ago, and it was great to finally share it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25xct5L4EEs

Apparently, “Heart Break Down” was never included in any CD released by Yuri Shiratori. However, it was included in some “Saber Marionette Again” OST CDs through 1998, and also in the definitive “Saber Marionette Vocal History”, which was released in 1999. Lyrics were written by Miho Matsuba (松葉美保), while music was composed by Gouta Wakabayashi (若林剛太). As for the arrangement, Shou Itsushima (五島翔) was the responsible.