MIYAVI vs KenKen -- Flashback

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This morning, I went through something that every translator dreads happening. My Internet, TV and telephone went down due to some electrical kerfuffle for a few hours. In my profession, the Internet going down is pretty inconvenient since that is how I get my assignments, but during an especially busy period, it can be Red Alert time since at the time, I didn't know how long I was going to be offline (there is something poetic about the previous sentence sounds:)). I called up my boss by a payphone which was located at the shopping mall near my home, and he kinda sucked in the oxygen through his teeth and basically said "Well, you still gotta get it in by tonight...how about going to a Timmie's (Tim Horton's)?"

Instead I went over to the local library and used their access to the Net only for things to move slower than molasses. I could somehow hear that ancient whistling of Modem Dial-Up in my head. There was no way that I was going to get this assignment done there without losing my mind. I did catch a Twitter feed stating that the outage had been solved, so I made a call home and found out that things were indeed better (well, the fact that I could hear dial tones and someone answered made that rather obvious). I got home feeling like a damp sponge and set the laptop back up on my own desk...only for things to break down again! Yup, that is why I used the above image. However, this time it was just for five minutes instead of the five hours, and I was back in business. I finally got everything done by the late afternoon, some three hours before the obligatory hand-in time.

Ugh! It was not a good morning.

That's why I appreciated finding out about this anime opening theme song last night. I needed an earworm after today's unneeded excitement. For some reason, my anime buddy never cottoned on to "Kokkoku"（刻刻）which had its time on Tokyo MX back in the Winter 2018 season.

From what I could quickly skim through the description was that "Kokkoku" involved a family having to fight monsters within the eternity of a second. There was something vaguely "Doctor Who" about the premise, and the English title of "Moment by Moment" reminded me of that late 1970s romance starring John Travolta and Lily Tomlin, and nope, I never got anywhere near that flick.

Anyways, the opening theme "Flashback" is one mighty sonic grub with a chant and thumpy bass that grabbed me by the lapels, and then threw me into some addictive guitar work. Then I got worked over again by the vocals and the "Flashback" refrain. The super-cool opening credits made for a fine accomplice.

"Flashback" was performed by the collaboration of rock musician MIYAVI and bassist KenKen. Those two plus Lenny Skolnik created the song that, in its full version, sounds like two-thirds of an amazing anthem. It has that "Crazy now"-and-catchy guitar first part and then the refrain for the remaining half but I kinda wish that there was that middle verse or middle opportunity for more guitar brilliance. It's rare for me to say so but I think I actually prefer the opening credits version over the complete edition.

In any case, my odyssey this morning could have been made more palatable if "Flashback" had been my accompanying theme song as I ran between home and library.

P.S. Have a listen to KenKen's mother!