A (Possibly Relevant) Blast From the Past
Posted on October 1, 2020 Posted by Athena Scalzi 3 Comments
When I was younger, like fourteen or fifteen, I started listening to some pretty odd music, and watching the even odder video accompaniments. I would spend, like, a decent chunk of my free time watching these things, and then one day I stopped like completely. But I rediscovered them recently and have been really enjoying them again, as weird as they still are!
Today I want to share with y’all one of these songs. It’s about a hero who wants to save the world, but ends up becoming the bad guy even though they thought they were doing good things. This song is originally in Japanese, but this is an English cover I like done by JubyPhonic, a popular English cover artist for Vocaloid and anime songs, like this one. Here it is:
Why did I want to show you all this specific weird video from my younger days? Good question! I just thought it was sort of relevant to our world lately. Here’s someone who is trying to be a hero, do good in their community by fighting against small injustices and petty crimes, but becomes disillusioned and realizes that the real villains aren’t in the streets, they’re the ones in power. In a couple of the translations, I’ve seen it say “the authority” or “the government” rather than “those in charge”.
Then, when the hero fights against the higher up evil, they get labeled as a terrorist and thrown in jail. Hmmm… sound familiar to anything? Ringing any bells?
Well, anyways, I just kind of thought it would be interesting to show you all one of the many strange things I occupied my time with when I was younger!
If you liked this, you can check out JubyPhonic’s other stuff here. Hope you all have a nice day!
-AMS
> when I was younger
You’re still younger. You’ll never catch up!
It appears that the cover artist has a Patreon, so she is making money from her recordings (I could be wrong, I’m an old fart).
I have a sincere question, not a snark (I’m just curious): When the artist you love is making money, do you do any research as to whether she is paying royalties to the original artist or song writer? If you know whether she is, would it make any difference to your listening and/or sharing?
Thanks for sharing. My youngest has been a huge anime and manga fan forever. And that extends into other media like songs associated with them and their various covers. Media and literature of all sorts that are aimed at younger audiences often involve lots of moral complexity. I remember that from my childhood (though I didn’t have an exactly typical childhood) and have continued to appreciate those forms of art as well as an adult. I’ve probably spent more time listening to her discuss and reflect and describe different series than I have watching any anime on my own. (My younger son is also a huge Dragon Ball Z fan. I watched tons of it with him. And went with him to see the most recent movie in the theater with him last year.) I remember one that has a story expressed in separately released songs/videos, light novels, anime, and manga. It involves lots of time loops apparently.
Yes, the song fits the current day well, but there’s something of timeless element to it as well. Where is the line between fighting oppression and becoming a perpetrator yourself? The villains of a story, especially in real life, never truly see themselves as a villain. And often those lines are less than black and white.
Anyway, some rambly thoughts. Mostly I wanted to thank you for sharing. It was interesting.