I’m not a K-pop fan, but I do watch Korean variety shows (1박 2일 for example) and I’ve become familiar with a few industry names through guest appearances on those programmes. Needless to say, I was rather amused to learn that Park Chanyeol – a chap I’d seen a couple of times on KBS network shows – recently belted out his own rendition of the 1997 song “One More Time, One More Chance”, which gained a new popularity ten years after its original release when it featured prominently in the 2007 Shinkai Makoto anime film 5 Centimetres Per Second.
It’s not half bad, actually, and as I was listening to the song my thoughts began to turn back towards that film and my reaction to its rather controversial ending. I’ve got the movie on Blu-ray and might give it a rewatch soon, if only to reminisce about the glory days of my anime fanhood – long since past, of course, although my enthusiasm for the medium remains.
Whilst holidaying in Nagoya a few weeks ago, I popped into an Animate store not far from my hotel. I certainly didn’t expect to find this mere moments after stepping inside.
Full write-up and review to follow … well, maybe. Time and energy permitting.
I’m heading south and west for my next visit to Japan, but I’ve already begun to sketch out future plans for the north-east – a region I’ve only been to a couple of times in the last few years. I’ll see if I can squeeze in this rather interesting-looking manga museum, which until today I didn’t even know existed (and probably never would have if I hadn’t come across an article about it in the Asahi Shimbun).
… but Nagato’s voice came ringing out of the darkness to remind me of what once was – and what might come to pass again.
Perhaps not a season 3, nor even another movie … but heck, 4,900 yen seems an awfully small price to pay for a welcome dose of nostalgia-inducing music.
As I was working on a post about my 2015 day trip to Gunkanjima, I remembered something that the guide shared in jest as we were gazing upon the sad remains of that abandoned mining colony. Not her exact words – probably very far from her exact words, in fact (I’m both translating and trying to recall a year-old anecdote) – but it was something to this effect:
They shot scenes for the Attack on Titan movie on this island. Of course, an old auntie like me wouldn’t know much about that sort of thing … it’s only cool young folk like her [gesturing to a younger guide] who are into that stuff!
Moral of the day: when part of a tour group, it sometimes pays to switch off the company-issued English audio guide now and then. You don’t know how old that canned recording is, and you never know when the live Japanese commentary might include a few juicy references to recent pop-culture phenomena. (^_^)
