GARNiDELiA -- ambiguous

 

First off, may I give a Happy Memorial Day to everyone down Stateside? Hopefully, you've all had your own successful long weekend. It was just a regular Monday here although we did have our own long weekend the week before due to Victoria Day, but I was able to meet an old friend of mine for a ramen lunch and then a movie.

We chose "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga". The two of us had seen "Fury Road" which was literally a blast since we got to sit in those highly reactive seats in the theatre. No such luck this time, but "Furiosa" did keep us entertained for the approximately 2 1/2 hours. Of course, plenty of action and bizarre characters such as Immortan Joe (would love to see his origin story someday), and if you'll permit me to put this out there, there's actually a tonal similarity between this movie and the classic Rankin & Bass Christmas TV animated special "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Basically, both projects answer any question that fans have had about the central character. ("Oh, that's how she lost her arm!")

Coming back home late this afternoon, I realized that "Furiosa" kinda had me reminiscing about an anime regarding a young woman out for some rage-filled revenge against an evil tyrant and his gang. It's hard to believe that it's now a decade since the wild and furious "Kill La Kill"（キルラキル）hit TV screens and dropped jaws all over the anime fan realm. Every time I went to my anime buddy's house to catch the latest two episodes, I was wondering how much more architectural infrastructure and flesh would be rendered asunder by the battles between Ryuko Matoi and Satsuki Kiryuin. I think even Mad Max himself would witness some of this and react "Whoa, ladies...hold up there". 

It's almost ten years since I posted my favourite theme song from "Kill La Kill" which was the first ending theme "Gomen ne, Ii Ko Ja Irarenai"（ごめんね、いいコじゃいられない）by singer-songwriter Miku Sawai（沢井美空）, and eventually I got to post the first opening theme, "Sirius" (シリウス) by Eir Aoi（藍井エイル）. Well, the "Kill La Kill" file on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" continues with the second opening theme "ambiguous" by pop/rock duo GARNiDELiA. 

Written by meg rock, who also provided lyrics for "Sirius", and composed by band partner/keyboardist Yoshinori "toku" Abe（阿部尚徳）, this was the first single by GARNiDELiA released in March 2014. Given life by vocalist Mai "MARiA" Mizuhashi（水橋舞）, "ambiguous" was something that I heard a fair bit during the anison hour that my buddy always provided during my visits, and I noticed that the song took on that certain arrangement of rock anthem lined with strings...kinda gothic in a way...that seemed to be quite popular back then among anison. "ambiguous" did have that rock rumble but when played against the opening credits sequence for "Kill La Kill", it had that mellowing effect against all of the Ryuko vs. Satsuki mayhem as battle lines (and life fibers) were drawn. Its success wasn't ambiguous, though; it hit No. 15 on Oricon.