ZAQ -- hopeness

Could you imagine "The Matrix" as a comedy? I mean, I know that there were the lines such as "I know Kung Fu" and "The other left" but basically The Movie of 1999 was one great sci-fi/film noir/thriller. I read somewhere that the Wachowski siblings based some part of the movie on the moody anime "Ghost In The Shell", and, yep, I could believe that "The Matrix" character Trinity played by Carrie-Anne Moss had some resemblance to the anime's protagonist Major Kusanagi especially the way Trinity was portrayed in one key scene in the sequel "The Matrix Reloaded".

Well, when I first laid my eyes on "Koukaku no Pandora: Ghost Urn"（紅殻のパンドラ...Pandora in the Crimson Shell）and was told by my anime buddy that this was based on an early story by "Ghost In The Shell" author Masamune Shirow（士郎正宗）whose ideas would then be used in his masterpiece, I was kinda like "Really...?" Heck, the main character looks like she belonged somewhere in the PreCure franchise while her partner/robotic pet should be working in a tsundere Maid Cafe. But apparently it is indeed true right down to the fact that the eccentric buxom inventor in the show, Uzal, is played by seiyuu Atsuko Tanaka（田中敦子）who had starred as the aforementioned Major Kusanagi.

As is the case with all of the anime I get to watch, there are no subtitles for me so "Koukaku no Pandora" has given me some issues about my overall understanding but although I've read that opinions have been very polarized about the series, I've been OK with it. It's been a very long time since I caught "Ghost In The Shell" and a light sense of humour is more my thing anyways. Plus, the last few episodes have been quite interesting especially.

The opening theme "hopeness" is frankly not my favourite tune by singer-songwriter ZAQ. That status still goes to her "Alteration" for "Sasami-san@Ganbaranai", but there is something about her vocals that reminds me of the boomer voice belonging to Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）and that "pah pah pah" chorus which pops up in the early part of the song that still kinda draws me to it. I just imagine Hirose going the route of Nana Mizuki（水樹奈々）, and in a way, ZAQ's renditions kinda add to the anticipated excitement about the 30 minutes to come.

"hopeness" was released earlier this month as ZAQ's 10th single and managed to get as high as No. 39.