Kenshi Yonezu -- Chikyuugi（地球儀）

 

Last night, I happily met up with some friends who I hadn't seen since before the pandemic and after having a Korean BBQ dinner that I also hadn't experienced since the pandemic, we went to see anime auteur Hayao Miyazaki's（宮崎駿）most recent project "Kimi-tachi wa Dou Ikiru ka"（君たちはどう生きるか）, otherwise known here in the West as "The Boy and the Heron". It would turn out to be the first Studio Ghibli movie that I ever saw on the big screen; all of my previous viewings of such movies took place on television or the ancient medium of VHS tape.

I've already mentioned this in the comments for an article for one of the other songs used in a Ghibli movie, but I was never a huge fan of Miyazaki's brand of anime. His movies have had some very dazzling sequences (and this movie was no exception) but I simply felt that his stories often meandered a little too much for my liking. There wasn't so much of that this time around in "The Boy and the Heron". One other observation is that despite the trailer depicting some of the more dramatic scenes from the movie, I was a little surprised to see how cool and clinical the movie actually was; personally, I think the main character of Mahito would probably have become one of the most unflappably excellent Tokyo police officers this side of Sgt. Joe Friday. To my friends I said that the movie seemed to be a typical Ghibli film with a good dollop of Stanley Kubrick. Maybe it was because of this oddly police procedural vibe along with the sci-fi angle that actually had me enjoying it more than I expected.

It's been a few years since I posted anything by singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu（米津玄師）. I remember back then about all the fuss made about his "Paprika"（パプリカ）all the way back in 2018, and it was from Miyazaki himself listening to the song on the radio that got him to request Yonezu to come up with the theme song for "The Boy and the Heron". 

So, Yonezu created "Chikyuugi" (Spinning Globe) which is the ending theme and his 14th single released in July 2023. The intro has what sounds like a bagpipe off in the distance, and I guess from hearing other songs, J-Pop must really love the Scottish instrument as something to signal an earthier, smell-the-roses type of song. "Chikyuugi" reflects the entire story of the movie of which the understanding is that the people who have helped you will not be at your side forever but they will propel you to make those steps, uncertain or not, into the future. On Oricon, it hit No. 3.