Favorite Blue -- Sayonara yori Eien no Naka de（さよならより永遠の中で）

Favorite Blue is a band that I don't remember very well anymore although enough of a memory remains so that I recall hearing their name through commercials for their songs. The duo of vocalist/lyricist Maya Matsuzaki（松崎麻矢）and keyboardist/guitarist/composer Takashi Kimura（木村貴志）debuted in June 1996 with "Ai yori mo Hageshiku, Dare yori mo Itoshiku"（愛よりも激しく、誰よりも愛しく...More Intense Than Love, Dearer Than Anyone Else） and released a total of 15 singles and 5 albums including a BEST up to February 2000. One of their contemporaries was the band Every Little Thing and both units were with the Avex Trax label; according to the J-Wiki article, FB and ELT got along with each other swimmingly and have even appeared on television together.

One of Favorite Blue's most successful singles was their 8th release, "Sayonara yori Eien no Naka de" (From Goodbye In Eternity) released in December 1997. A cheerful song created by Matsuzaki and Kimura, there's some similarity with the early works of Every Little Thing but there is a bit more of a lightness on the keyboards. The lyrics also relate the always welcome story of finding that special someone and discovering that life can actually work well.

"Sayonara yori Eien no Naka de" was also the theme song for a 1997 motion picture "Peking Genjin Who Are You?"（北京原人 Who are you?...Peking Man ~ Who Are You?）, a sci-fi flick where apparently a family of Homo erectus pekinensis was brought back to life through DNA found in a prehistoric skull. Now, that's using the ol' head! Sounds very "Jurassic Park".

The single peaked at No. 29. Following the end of activities with Favorite Blue in 2000, Kimura moved onto a new music project called m.o.v.e. while Matsuzaki went on to form a new group, mamy drop, with a friend.