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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Noriyuki Makihara -- Shouri no Egao(勝利の笑顔)

 

It's been just about six years since I put up my most recent Noriyuki Makihara(槇原敬之)song onto the blog, so allow me to rectify this situation.


Back in November 1991, singer-songwriter Mackey released his 4th single, the classic "Fuyu ga Hajimaru yo"(冬がはじまるよ), a really jolly song for the Yuletide with that wonderful harmonica playing. Well, I've found out that the coupling song for that one is lovely in its own way, if quite wistful.

"Shouri no Egao" (The Smile of Victory) has nothing to do with Christmas and it tells of a romance that never got to be due to various circumstances such as the eddies of fate forcing a pair to drift apart. Starting with a riff that sounds like it was inspired by 1970s soul, Makihara sings about a man suddenly bumping into a woman he had feelings for way back in his high school years as a soccer player. They exchange pleasantries politely but it seems like the woman never really reciprocated those feelings and after she even gives him her contact information, he ends up tearing the memo later on. He has moved on and if there's not even an ember of romantic hope and it was more about lip service, then why bother? They'll probably see each other at a distant school reunion. 

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