Mao Daichi/Kiyono Yasuno/Yoshimasa Hosoya -- Kaze no Requiem (風のレクイエム)

Hosoya's (Nezumi) version

A friend of mine who loves her anime and manga will often recommend her favourite titles to yours truly, and at times her favourite anisongs. Compared to the few older anisongs I listen to, her recommendations from the newer shows can be quite wild and noisy, and are probably sung by a squeaky-voiced seiyuu... Not my cup of tea, although I may make rare exceptions here and there. So when she brought forth "Kaze no Requiem" as well as the show it came from, "NO.6", a few weeks ago after I had suggested Water's "Kotoba ni Dekinai Omoi" (コトバにできない想い), I was honestly a little reluctant to go check it out, but what comes around goes around so I went ahead to give it a listen.

Being greeted by a comforting, mellow and forlorn voice backed by just the piano was a pretty good start. It does pick up in speed and volume later in the song, just enough to make it relaxing and lullaby-like. Kinda makes you envision a lone person staring up at the dark sky dotted with an occasional star on a quiet night, yearning or hoping for a miracle or revelation... or something deep like that. Though "Kaze no Requiem" had gained my approval, I didn't particularly like in the beginning. It took a while and me binge-watching "NO.6" - it was only 11 episodes long, so I watched 1 in school and the rest of the 10 at home in a day... no regrets, it's a good show - before the song grew on me. I suppose knowing the song's "origins" from the anime makes it all the more interesting.

Daichi's version.

The version that my friend had let me listen to (in the video above) was by one of the shows main characters, the aloof and most of the time condescending Nezumi (ネズミ), who's voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya (細谷佳正). His was only played once on a later episode. There are 2 other renditions of "Kaze no Requiem" as well, first was by Mao Daichi (大地真央), whose version was the one that was primarily played throughout the show. I actually find that Daichi's rendition is pretty creepy, her high-pitched voice coupled with the context of when the song played during some episodes just makes it so unnerving. The other one was by the white-haired leading protagonist's (Shion (紫苑)) childhood pal Safu (沙布), voiced by Kiyono Yasuno (安野希世乃). Hers was also only played once, and its more deconstructed than the other two, with only Yasuno's voice and the strings and backup singers, making it sound quite angelic. My favourite version is still the one my friend had first introduced me to: Hosoya's.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down)

Yasuno's (Safu) version

There wasn't much I could find out about "Kaze no Requiem" since it was just a song played from time to time in the anime, not an opening or ending theme. All I know is that it was "released" (I don't know if its a proper single) in 2011, which was when "NO.6" came out.

moarpowah.com

The real (I think) mice in "NO.6" were absolutely adorable.