Aimer -- Zankyou Sanka（残響散歌）

 

As I mentioned in one of my entries last night, I met an old friend for lunch and then we caught "Avatar: The Way of Water". During our draining of bowls of ramen, he told me of a couple of places that specialized in Japanese cream buns and croissants made in that exacting Japanese way. I then asked my brother and his wife if they had heard of Hazukido or Hattendo since there were branches out in their neck of the woods, only for them to gently remind me that they had brought a box of those cream buns from Hattendo all the way back during the worst of the pandemic. Well, my memory is obviously shot to hell.

There was a similar situation when it came to the Kohaku Utagassen almost a couple of weeks ago. I noticed a slightly bigger bump in the number of anison represented on the New Year's Eve special, and one such example was Aimer's "Zankyo Sanka" (A Song of the Scattering Reverberations). Aside from the first season of "Kimetsu no Yaiba"（鬼滅の刃...Demon Slayer） back in 2019, I haven't kept up with the franchise which has shown at least a movie and a second season, and "Zankyo Sanka" was the opening theme for that second season. 

It was quite the performance by Aimer and the song proved to be one of the catchier and livelier contributions to the Kohaku that night. Wow! Aimer ought to be a great new addition to the blog, I thought. However, as it turns out, my shredded memory failed me once more since my anime buddy let me know that the singer and lyricist was also the one behind the languid tune "Anata ni Deawanakereba ~ Kasetsu Touka" (あなたに出会わなければ 〜夏雪冬花〜) which was the ending theme for the 2012 anime "Natsuyuki Rendezvous"（夏雪ランデブー...Summer Snow Rendezvous）. And I did write up an article about "Anata ni Deawanakereba" back in July 2016.

"Zankyo Sanka", which was released in January 2022 as a double-A-side single alongside "Asa ga Kuru"（朝が来る...Morning Comes）, peppers the air with plenty of horns, percussion and a pounding piano. Aimer took care of the lyrics which could be construed as the clarion call of the demon slayers themselves as they take on all obstacles to ensure that justice prevails. Masahiro Tobinai（飛内将大）was the composer for the frantic melody which could reflect the slayers in high-flying battle.

I have to say that I also enjoy the music video featuring the frazzled high school lass encountering strange spiritual figures while in a city which is a fascinating mix of modern-day and classical Tokyo. "Zankyo Sanka" hit No. 1 on Oricon and it even became the No. 1 song of the year on Billboard Japan's Hot 100. By the way, one thing that I actually do remember is reading the news on January 1st that Aimer and Tobinai tied the knot. Many congratulations to them!