Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Megumi Hayashibara -- hesitation

(cover version)

Nowhere near Megumi Hayashibara’s (林原めぐみ) most famous anime songs, “Hesitation” served as one of the six opening themes to the Saber Marionette J Again OVA (またまたセイバーマリオネットJ) that aired in 1997~1998. Also, like many of her Saber Marionette songs, it’s one of my personal highlights from her career, and the reason is probably the nostalgic sound palette of the synths chosen, coupled with the dance beat that was in fashion at the time and the wild guitar solo. Of course I like the powerful melody that is typical of upbeat anime songs and Megumi’s vocal delivery (more in the studio version than in the live concert, though, but I just love this woman, even if her singing talent is very limited) as well, but this kind of 90s anime song arrangement just gets me every time I listen to these songs.

Strangely enough, this song has never been included in one of her original albums, being relegated to the “Vintage A” compilation, which was released in June 2000. Way stranger was when Megumi included it as part of her set list for the live concert posted above. Since this song is quite rare and almost forgotten, it was a nice surprise to see her revive it during this concert in 2017.

The "Vintage A" compilation, in which this song was included, reached #4 on the Oricon chart, selling around 101,910 copies (source: generasia). Lyrics were written by Megumi herself, while music and arrangement were composed by Toshiro Yabuki (矢吹俊郎).

"Vintage A"

3 comments:

  1. Hi, Marcos. Good to hear from you again. Hope things are going well in Brazil. Yup, the arrangement is very natsukashii since it does remind me of the power pop that was going on back in the 1990s.

    I appreciate the Hayashibara entries since usually the only time I hear from her these days is when she portrays her Haibara character on "Conan".

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    Replies
    1. Hi, J-Canuck.

      Sorry for the late answer. Carnival began on friday, so I had some relatives visiting here.

      As for Hayashibara, I also don't hear much from her nowadays. of course I listen to her music almost every day, but news about her are rare. Like you with "Conan", I get to hear her portraying Musashi in Pokémon every week, but that's it.

      She's releasing a compilation album next month, but that's not very good for a fan who own almost everything she has released. I'm buying it anyway, but I'd have liked if she had released something else.

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    2. Hi again. No problems about any delay...it's Carnival so it's important for family time. Hope you are doing well under the coronavirus situation.

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