#utada hikaru one last kiss lyrics

[mythicalartistx]

KH opening Songs are about Soriku -Chikai Translation

KH Utada songs are sung and written in thought of Riku and Sora, Nomura told Hikaru Utada and they went along with it.

The difference between the English and Japanese versions of the songs is that the lyrics are completely different, but for a purpose. It's not like a translation issue.

There is an absolute reason for it. They're two separate songs with different but similar meanings.

Like Chikai doesn't translate close to Don't Think Twice except for the Kiss me Once lines.

We're going to take a look at Chikai since it's the one I'm most familiar with and break it down on how it relates to Riku.

I don’t care much about destiny, but at this point, I cannot but acknowledge its existence

Are you really sure you’re happy with me? Really?

I wish you wouldn’t raise my hopes up too much

The fire line refers to he doesn't like destiny but is forced to acknowledge it chose certain things from events.

It shows that Riku is insecure and shown that through how he acted in KH1. He thought his best friend was going to leave him and he did bad stuff.

In return it made him feel worse about his friendship and he went to castle oblivion and dealt out his insecurities along with the darkness and fear. Then he had to be one with the darkness in 358/2 days.

The line where is stated to not raise his hopes, I think refers to his emotions towards Sora and hope Sora didn't care about his appearance he was still his friend.

It could also refer to he papou fruit.

But it's gay.

Today is the perfect day for a truthful, eternal vow

We don’t need beautiful flowers or witnesses

Let’s wear rings of the same color

The narrator wants to PROPOSE. I assume the narrator is Riku here, he wants to be with Sora and then get married. There doesn't have to be an audience or witness, they can just wear rings of the same color. And then the vow line is just 👌

It probably refers to the promise Riku made to want to protect him/ his friends.

It’s so dang annoying, that I want to fall asleep clinging to you every day

I will not make promises anymore, those things are for pleasing somebody

What I am about to say is not a second hand line, nor a promise; it's a vow

He is shy and embarrassed that he likes him and that he wants to fall asleep next to Sora. This is so cute 🥺

Like he clearly wants affection but is embarrassed like in DDD when Sora hugs him.

Then he says he wants a vow since those are seen as eternal while promises can be broken.

I can’t go back to being the liar I used to be

Our rings shall be the color of the sunrise

Lay your heartbeat on top of mine and let’s dance

Let’s celebrate the fact that we live in this moment

The liar is probably referring to not telling his feelings and how he acted against Sora in KH1 and then felt ashamed for his jealousy. Then he talks about the RINGS AGAIN the color of sunshine. Like dawn and he wants the road of dawn.

This section is just him being gay and wanting to lay with him again. He wants to lay together where Sora's heartbeat is on top of his so he'll hear and feel it. This is a bit too much for me to handle. Then the last line I think probably is Kh2 ending where they are content with each other 😊 😆

The tears that I can’t hold back sometimes, there’s no deep meaning to them

It’s just that I recall the past unexpectedly (Ah, I want to cry)

A light streams in from the opened door

This part breaks my heart. He sometimes cry because of the past and what he did in KH1 and probably insecure about that and feels like Sora deserves better.

The light streams refers to KH2 ending where the door opens from the darkness. And how he is also shown to be light, also Sora being his light.

I want to be with you, for a very long time

Other options have long been gone

Today is the perfect day, for an unprecedented vow, our vow

He wants to be with him for a long time and how he doesn't want to loose him. However that ends up happening in KH3 ending.

Other options are gone refers probably him realizing he might have a chance. Then the line is about their gay little vow.

Like in the games they are into each other and these lines are just so fitting and so cute.

Kiss me once, kiss me twice

Once is not enough

Kiss me once, kiss me twice

Please give me you

You know how I said he's too shy, well he's too shy to do anything and wants Sora to make the first move.

Like he secretly wants to be kissed, hug, touched, ect.. He wants affection from him. Here he wants to be kissed but once isn't enough and he is giving his connected permission to be kissed and wants to make sure he's okay with it too. He's like more needy here since this line pretty similar to the DTW counterpart song.

Kiss me once, kiss me twice

Kiss me three times

Please

The please here adds everything like he really wants it and he is asking for it so much.

Kiss me once,

kiss me twice

Give me you

Repeated line so we're moving on..

Let’s listen to the sound of the sunrise, side by side

Let’s vow to live our lives together

Okay so basically he in turn says let's live vow to live our lives together. It could refer to marriage or just a vow to live together because they like each other. And they'll be by the sunrise referring to Riku like the DAWN he walks the road of dawn.

And that is it.

It's pretty gay and like if you don't ship them fine.

And if you don't see how it relates to them that's okay, however Nomura did mention to Utada to keep them in mind when writing the songs.

And if you ship Sorkai tell me how you think it relates to them instead.

I'm just curious.

DTW and Chikai are vastly different but they are different songs with the same instrumental and beat.

[suedeuxnim]

I got tagged in the 10 song by both @vinelark and @burins and I'll be so honest with you: I've been listening to Utada Hikaru on repeat lately, so you're going to get MOSTLY that. But they're the fucking best musician of all time so you're welcome. This is also a plea for everyone to go watch/listen to Nijikan Dake no Vacance. One Last Kiss by Utada Hikaru - super dreamy song, I love the weird reverby piano in this and also they are SO cute in this music video. Literally always forget this was an Eva Rebuild theme but this and Sakura Nagashi are top tier bops by them so why am I surprised. Sakura Drops by Utada Hikaru - An oldie! Their new album is a best hits album and it quickly reminded me that Sakura Drops was the first non-kingdom hearts related music I heard from them and that I became obsessed with it immediately. Very fond of this one. Michi by Utada Hikaru - another one off the Science Fiction compilation album but I just love the weird beats and vocalizations that Utada does - don't know if that's the correct term but their oh oh oh's will get me like no one else and get stuck in my head lmao. Traveling by Utada Hikaru - another old one, this is face paced and I always bop around to it. Also the music video is SO like 00's Britney Spears coded, like just insane cgi weird outfits and choppy editing in the most fun way. Nijikan Dake no Vacance by Utada Hikaru ft Sheena Ringo - my god. This music video literally made me go "wait..... is Utada Hikaru GAY?" They are in fact bisexual and nb, though they hadn't come out as nb at the very least yet. But its a song about neglecting their daily wifely duties to take a secret 2 hour vacation with their secret girlfriend. Sheena Ringo has such a good counterpoint voice to Utada in this, just this scratchy low lounge-y voice and it makes me insane. The music video is also wildly sensual and beautiful. Ore no Kanojo by Utada Hikaru - low slinky voice in this one that only got better once I read the lyrics, its one of the rare sort of downbeat slow songs that I like listening to but Utada always manages to do this for me. About a girlfriend talking about her role in a relationship and inviting her partner to know her more deeply and intimately than the surface.

Idol by Yoasobi - This song made me watch the first episode of Oshi no Ko and some crimes can never be forgiven. But Yoasobi knows how to put together a banger, even a super eclectic one like this. And the animation for the video is just gorgeous too. Hana ni Natte from The Apothecary Diaries - I gotta be so honest I barely remember how the beginning of the song goes but the second it goes HANA NI NAAAAATTEEEEE and goes off I start singing along so, good anime op.

Sleep Walking Orchestra by Bump of Chicken - Bump of Chicken I love you my beloved, And unexpected but fun opening to Dungeon Meshi, I love how folksy it is and the lyrics go along with the show perfectly too.

I'm a Girl Like You from Barbie in Princess and the Pauper - Look I dont know what to tell you, I'm on a girly 00's media kick and this song is a banger AND opens with a girl being like "well at least you're not an indentured servant" to royalty before bursting into song to tell her that they're totally alike because she wants to stop being served hand and foot so she can go read in her personal library. The vibes in this movie are hysterical but the songs are iconic. I don't have 10 people to tag so if you see this and wanna do it you're it!

[ur-local-weird-person]

i need to post something so here are some song recs :)

ミラレルミラー - Namitape: honestly namitape is terribly underrated, they have this retro/shynth style mixed with vocaloid which is something i haven’t seen much, but i love, just listen to them pls

2. Labios rotos - Zoé: this is the kind of music that makes me glad i know how to speak spanish, the lyrics are so fucking cute <<33 and it has a very dreamy and calm yet emotional melody, is just perfect, and THE LAST PART when the singer says “amor, amor, amor, amor” and there’s the smoll bell sounds there is just heavenly (btw im linking the video where i found the song, which is as beautiful as the music and the reason i watched umibe no etranger lol)

3. arabesque - lily chou-chou: lily chou-chou’s music is awesome and it only gets me more excited to watch the movie, but this one is my personal favorite out of all of them, just note that whenever you decide to listen to it, please take time to actually listen to it and allow yourself to feel the music, you wont regret it

4. backlight - ado: fucking badass, my favorite in the one piece album along with new genesis, its so fulled of rage you tense up and scream along it, it also has a catchy melody and finally, ado’s vocals are god tier (as always ✨)

5. tamed-dashed - enhypen: this feels like the kind of song you blast in your car while driving at full speed or you dance to like if you were in a club (even if you’re just in your room cuz ur lonely lol), immaculate vibes, absolute banger

6. one last kiss - hikaru utada: if i once thought beautiful world was the best nge song, it was because i didn’t know this existed. i dont think i have enough words to describe it, is melancholic but at the same time it gives you a sense of hope (specially one you check the lyrics), if something you always enjoy softly and i love it (if you check this out i’d recomend listening to the rest of the nge songs, they’re all bangers)

7. sweet dream - c!naH: and finally…one song of alien stage because is a must have lol, this is my favorite out of the songs of alnst, the retro vibe, the dreaminess, the mv, the slight melancholy…all i need to say is that i love the song and bonus points bc sua is my favorite chatacter and this is the closest thing to a character song we have from her

and this is all! pls tell me where can i find more songs like this ones (i have a VERY soft spot for dreamy songs) and, idk, im missing more so i’ll consider a pt2, have a nice day :)

[illustrious-rocket]

10 Songs, 10 People

Tagged by @blind-the-winds

Rules: list ten songs, then tag ten people to pass the game on to! (bonus points if it's from a wip/character playlist!) 

I hope it’s okay if I bend the rules a little bit because let’s be honest, I don’t know 10 people lol... I’m going to just list some songs that come to mind and talk about them, and I’ll tag someone who I know will have fun with this.

Tagging: @lilliths-httyd-blog

Jax, because you mentioned I might be able to add to your list and Eva came up in yours, I may as well start with filling in the songs from the Rebuild movies, Utada Hikaru’s “Beautiful World,” “Sakura Nagashi” and “One Last Kiss.” The original series’ “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” was described as “ an anglerfish lure to make you think it's upbeat and kickass, when it's literally an anime about depression,“ and “Beautiful World” could be thought of in similar terms. It plays during the credits of the first two films in the series of four, and both times it wants you to think that maybe this time, the world really isn’t so bad. Shinji and Rei end the first movie finally connecting. At the end of the second, Shinji finally goes fucking postal after being kicked around by his rotten father and decides to get what he wants with his own two hands. Maybe there’s hope that this time everything will be different. Maybe.

Nope. It’s all a windup for the absolute gut punch the third movie delivers. Things are as depressing as ever, possibly worse. And fittingly, “Sakura Nagashi” replaces the upbeat, hopeful sound of “Beautiful World” with a bleak and mournful one suited for the bleak film it concludes. But even then, one sliver of hope slips through - “everyone finds love, in the end” - that reminds the listener that even when things look absolutely hopeless, they will eventually get better. “One Last Kiss” is the end point of that journey, providing the point of view of someone who has survived hitting rock bottom and is managing to move on.

To progress onto some other answers...

The next one has a story behind it. A couple years ago I learned of an (apparently?) obscure late-80s Italian horror movie, Paganini Horror. Directed by Luigi Cozzi (the director responsible for, among other things, the infamous Star Wars ripoff Starcrash a decade prior) it is pretty much what its title implies, a horror movie using the violinist Niccolo Paganini as a central figure. The first red flag was why it came to my attention in the first place - the main characters are an 80s girl rock band, and in their very first appearance in the movie, they’re performing an “original” song that is actually just 95% copied from “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi. Bad enough, but that’s not why I’m telling this story.

Last year I finally got around to actually watching this movie, and let me tell you, it is fucking unhinged. The plot literally revolves around the band needing a new song - because, in a moment of supreme irony, their manager feels the “You Give Love a Bad Name” ripoff is too unoriginal - and one of their members gets into contact with a shady salesman (played with ridiculous glee by Donald Pleasance, nearing the end of a career where he was in plenty better than this film including portraying James Bond archenemy Blofeld) who sells him “Paganini Horror,” an unpublished piece by Paganini.

Dude, I am not fucking kidding when I say this “unpublished score” is just “Twilight” by Electric Light Orchestra with the lyrics removed. They want you to believe a composer from the 16th century wrote an ELO song from 1981. The entire movie hinges on this. The band decides to use the score for their new song and creates a new set of lyrics (titled “Paganini Horror” in the film but more likely called “The Winds of Time” based on the lyrics) and decide to film a video for it in a house where Paganini once lived. Listen to this. Tell me that is not literally the EXACT SAME SONG as “Twilight.” (Warning for the image in that video, there is a skeleton and blood.)

It gets more unhinged from there. It turns out - though not without some extremely unsubtle foreshadowing - that the guy who sold them the score either is the devil or an agent thereof. They sold their souls to commit copyright infringement. Thus, when they go to Paganini’s old manor to film their video, they become trapped due to his curse from when he sold his own soul, and are stalked throughout the mansion by his demonic spirit. Now, you might have looked at that image in that video and thought, wow, that looks awesome. A skeleton with wispy white hair playing a violin with a bow that’s dripping blood?

Yeah, that ain’t true. In the actual movie, he looks like Tommy Wiseau wearing a cheap costume from Spirit Halloween, with a mask that you can clearly see the actor’s face beneath through the eye holes. He doesn’t even kill the way the poster implies; he has a switchblade hidden in his violin instead. Really, it’s just a slasher movie with the novelty of the killer being a famous composer from centuries ago. The concept is so off the wall insane that it’s bizarrely entertaining.

On a similar note is “Crystal of a Star” by Stefani Christopherson, the cherry on the top of the absolutely batshit crazy ending of the 1986 Alien ripoff Star Crystal. This movie is pretty much what you’d expect from that description - it stars by showing “Mars” with a blue sky and degenerates from there. Two whole groups of characters are briefly introduced only to be killed off minutes later before the actual protagonists even show up once. The sets are so cheap you can see that the floors in the spaceship are made of paper and bend under the actors’ feet. The ship itself is ridiculously designed, requiring one to crawl through a network of tubes to go anywhere. The acting is Z grade. The kills, except for the admittedly decent goop and blood effects, aren’t very frightening (they’re all done by a tentacle controlled through puppetry; at one point you can see the hand controlling it.)

None of that compares to the absolutely surreal experience of the last 20 minutes of this movie. The first sign something is about to go wildly off the rails is the fact that the alien, who has used the titular crystal (an all-purpose “computer” that can do whatever he needs of it) to hack into the ship’s mainframe, reads a digital Bible, specifically passages about treating one’s enemy as you would want to be treated.

That’s just the warning. It gets crazier.

With about 12 minutes left in the movie, the two remaining humans realize they need to confront the alien, who has taken up hiding in the engine room of their ship. When they face him, this weird killer alien who has been stalking them and killed their three crewmates.... apologizes and becomes ET instead of a Xenomorph. I’m not making this up. I couldn’t. The alien, GAR, even looks like ET, just having been put into a microwave and exploded first (the puppet used when GAR is fully on screen is admittedly well made, representing his slimy and somewhat ethereal appearance effectively. It’s easily the best thing in the film.) The entire ending of this movie has the two survivors become friends with GAR, repair the ship together with him, eat with him, and even play board games with him!!! He killed their three crewmates, the entire first crew of the ship, and possibly thousands more if he was at fault for the space station that exploded early in the film! And then, after all of that, the ending is born from sheer, unadulterated audacity - a “gravity tunnel” that can get the ship to Earth opens, which leads the humans and GAR to realize they have to part ways. This fucking movie actually has the gall to make the ending a sad farewell to GAR, who is taking another ship to return to his planet, This is complete with “Crystal of a Star”, a sad song that depicts GAR as a lonely space traveler the singer is better for having met. Now, I get they were going for some sort of spiritual thing (especially considering GAR’s redemption begins when he reads the Bible) but when all of it happens in the last 15-20 minutes of the movie, and he was an unstoppable killer alien prior to that point, it just does not land.

Just to knock a few better answers off the list...

I’ve been listening to a lot of the German synth-pop band Alphaville’s music of late, particularly their first two albums, 1984′s Forever Young and 1986′s Afternoons in Utopia, plus last year’s orchestral album Eternally Yours. Forever Young is an interesting one - by the admission of founding members Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd they didn’t know what they were doing at the time and made heavy use of machines that could generate music to make up for their lack of skill in playing instruments, yet it not only produced the group’s three most well-known songs (the title track, “Big in Japan” and “Sounds Like a Melody”) but a solid B-tier of secondary tracks (”Fallen Angel” and “The Jet Set” stand out for me.) Afternoons in Utopia shows a great evolution in their sound since the first album - they got more comfortable playing instruments, and the album seems to tell a loose story with a vivid, sci-fi hippie bend to it, using dreams, space and gods as recurring themes across the tracks and employing a gimmick where the first track on the album begins halfway through a sentence and the last track ends with the first half of that sentence, creating an endless loop. “Jerusalem,” “Fantastic Dream” and “Lassie Come Home” are my standout picks, but it’s such a solid album that even “Universal Daddy” - the song Gold has identified as his least favorite from the band’s entire history - is above average despite its silly lyrics.

And just to drop in one more, even though I’m way over 10 by now, I’ll stay in the same era and mention that Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer” has long been a favorite. Its melancholy tone and lyrics struck a chord with me from the first time I heard it, to me depicting the theme of letting go of worry about what will come in the future to live in the moment, even as temporary as it might be.

(And since the original game asked about character playlists, I’ll answer that despite having long left the framework of this game behind: both “Save a Prayer” and “Sounds Like a Melody” both embody the Matt/Nekou dynamic I envision so clearly they might as well be theme songs, lol.)

[diabolus-dixit]

One Last Kiss, by Utada Hikaru. March 9, 2021. (ESCL 5488). Sony Music. Made in Japan.

This is a very simple edition. No plastic CD case, but a folded white, matte finish, cardboard featuring Shinji’s face on the front cover, and printing with an iridescent effect, with the audio CD inside a plastic bag. 

The booklet (Japanese and English lyrics) is a one piece folded paper, without any interior pages. Not that additional pages are needed, because this CD only contains 8 tracks, for a total lenght of 38 minutes and 56 seconds, and 4 of those are different versions of Beautiful World (tracks 2 Da Capo Version, 3 2021 Remastered, 4 PLANiTb Acoustica Mix 2021 Remastered, and 8 Da Capo Version Instrumental). Track 1 One Last Kiss, 5 Sakura Nagashi 2021 Remastered, 6 Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) (2007 Mix) 2021 Remastered, 7 One Last Kiss Instrumental. 

These tracks should have been included in Music From “Shin Evangelion” Evangelion: 3.0+1.0. I guess they knew it would sell as a stand alone album regardless... I mean, I bought it. XD 

[takeariskao3]

Coming at you with some song recs! I love TPFY and AG, and I’m so excited for the new chapter of TPFY to be released - I’m sure it’ll be excellent!! Anyways, I hope you like these. I’ve never done this before😬

My husband is a Kingdom Hearts fan, and the theme song for Kingdom Hearts III is “Don’t Think Twice” by Hikaru Utada. I feel like it fits the feeling of Harry and Ginny being on this precipice and wanting each other (even if they’re in denial about it), but they’re afraid to know how the other feels, let alone share about their pasts and how they feel themselves. And the end of the song talks about crossing that line, which I’m so excited to read about (hopefully soon?) in TPFY!

My other rec is “Strawberries” by Caamp. I can just picture Harry thinking some of these lyrics about Ginny. It’s a soft, sweet song, and I especially love the last two lines for them:

Be my heart, and I’ve got you in the end

I wish I had you from the start

kiss me once, kiss me twice kiss me three times cross the line be mine don't think twice

like that was fucking fantastic but them i'm obsessed *OBSESSED* with strawberries

be my soul, look into these eyes like no one before be my light, sunrise laughing cause we stayed up all night be my map and we'll leave with all the treasure we can grab

LIKE HALSKDFJLSKDJFLSKHG

[roundhousekickingheight]

The sideways 8 thing.

Also hello Adrian, I hope you are doing well!!

hello thanks i’ve been doing well doing nothing this weekend! and being a very slow writer like 300 words per day

the first song i got was technically the special medley off the aa3 soundtrack on spotify but. well. that’s doesn’t exactly have any lyrics. so instead it’s one last kiss by hikaru utada (no i have not watched evangelion)

again slight issue with the lack of lyrics most of them are either “oh oh oh,” “you are unforgettable,” in japanese, or all of the above. so i’m picking near the end where they sing “wasurerurenai hito” and it gets layered over “i love you more than you’ll ever know, oh oh oh” because it just sounds really nice

[sherry-l]

Oh, can you give me one last kiss?

A kiss so fierce and passionate 

So that I can’t forget about it even if I want to 

[tokinomayoi]

Utada Hikaru (宇多田 ヒカル) “One Last Kiss” English Lyrics from the EVANGELION 3.0 + 1.0 : THRICE UPON A TIME Trailer

- This is my translation!! My nihongo is not jouzu, sorry. This song is so pretty and I didn’t like any of the English lyrics I saw popping up!!

Link to trailer. 

This is my first time at the Louvre It was new, but nothing special Because for me I've already met my own Mona Lisa

When I saw you for the first time The gears began to start turning I know they won't stop even though I'm scared to lose you

I know it's all so much But, lets do one more thing Can you give me One Last Kiss? A kiss that I'll never forget One that I'll never forget

I love you more than you'll ever know

[brokenrealitylooper]

One Last Kiss - Utada Hikaru

Despite being my first visit to the Louvre It didn't surprise me Because a long time ago I have already met my very own Mona Lisa Since the day I found you, the heart began to turn its gears I can't help but have a hunch, that I will lose you Oh, although we have kissed countless of times Please kiss me one more time Can you give me one last kiss? It's something that I don’t want to forget I'm "I don't like taking pictures" That's okay For you have already imprinted in The projector in my heart I pretend I don't miss you Well, I guess that we both do To be someone That hurts someone

[johananalisis]

Nagisa means shore, the space between land and sea

It’s a fitting name for you, as the one that interlinks humanity

After watching the final Evangelion movie I could finally conclude my final Kaworu analysis. The movie was amazing, can’t lie, am a bit sad that it is over.

In his never ending existence and his repeated life in a predestined narrative made him yearn for a purpose.

Ever since his first appearance in the manga or anime he wants to make Shinji happy even if that means sacrificing himself. That was his way of being him, rebelling towards SELLE, in search of his own resolve.

He projected his own ideals and wishes onto Shinji. He though he wanted to make him happy but in reality that was his happiness. He wanted Shinji’s happiness to make him happy, and as Kaji said that’s also a reason why he wrote his name in the Book of life, so they will keep meeting each other in Nagisa’s eternal life.

However we can’t say that Kaworu didn’t care about Shinji. I am not sure whether he was also in love with him, but definitely attracted to him since they shared similarities. Kaworu certainly has said that he loves Shinji, however it might have been Kaworu subconsciously giving himself a reason to aid Shinji. That’s why he leaves Shinji be when he creates the new Neon Genesis world.

We could even say hat Kaworu used Shinji for self satisfactory motives, however we are not so cruel (also disclaimer: Kaworu is my all time fav character)

We see Kaworu in every timeline, but he doesn’t always remember everything, does he? That’s due-to him being almost immortal but only in the body, while his mind and memories does die off a bit after ever “death”. That's of course because has Addam's soul. But his body also changes yet stays eternally young, as we can see from the coffins.

In the final Evangelion movie Kaji in the anti-universe (probably the anti-matter, since we can also see Gendo doing quantum leaps) opens Kaworu’s eyes and tells him the truth, with that he apologies to Shinji and goes with Kaji, continuing his search for a purpose but in a very healthier and self-aware manner. He realizes that what he was doing was wrong and so he lets Shinji go. Kaworu now lives a good life and refuses to rely and take advantage of another person for his own happiness and regards. No matter his motives and intentions, he helped Shinji and others a lot, we can’t disregard him of that.

As I already said, I think that Kaworu Nagisa is one of the best written characters, just with this movie. Before, mostly what we saw was his angel side, but now being exposed of corruption just like every person on this planet really shows more of his human side. However this is not a first time just for us, at the same time Kaworu was also met with the truth. He is confronted in front of a mirror of truth at the same time we are...

In the 3.0+0.1 Kaji introduces him to gardening, we can see this as a metaphor for letting Shinji go and finally doing something entirely his own.

We cannot deny that he wasn’t naïve. I believe that this was his biggest weakness.

Shinji is Kaworu’s Mona Lisa, if I do a little connection to the lyrics of ‘One last kiss’ by Hikaru Utada. Mona Lisa is made to be observed and to be admired, not to be with in any shape or form. 

Anyway, I hope that he is content and finally found his own happiness, the movie was amazing and the animation, plot and everything was spectacular, a good conclusion and an end to all of the Evangelion.

Did shed some tears, of both joy and sadness.

Goodbye all of Evangelion

[sneek-m]

You Can (Not) Undo: A Look Back into Hikaru Utada's Songs for the Evangelion Rebuild Series

Originally published on Substack, as a feature of This Side of Japan issue #40.

Like its associated film, “One Last Kiss” starts with a recap to explain all that had transpired in the life of Hikaru Utada. “There was no such thing / as my first Louvre / I already met / my first Mona Lisa,” the awe-struck singer begins in the theme song for Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. “The wheels started to turn / the day I first saw you / A premonition for loss that I couldn’t stop.” While her reminiscences provide a beautiful distraction, she ultimately can’t escape her fate where she must inevitably face the end.

The story of Neon Genesis Evangelion in the Rebuild movies looked more extravagant than its TV counterpart, revealing far grimmer scenarios over the course of four films made in the span of 14 years. But all of the new developments in the story couldn’t distract the series from leading to the same conclusion as the original—the end—and we, the audience, have to come to terms that it is now complete. “Shinji Ikari is a truly hopeless protagonist who seems to be cursed to play out his own undoing for all eternity in different realities from now until the end of time,” Willow Catelyn Maclay wrote on Mubi in 2019 about the three Rebuild movies. “It is Shinji Ikari’s fate to bear witness to the end of everything, and it is Hideaki Anno’s to tell this story again and again.”

Appropriate, then, for Utada to also be in the mood to look back for the final song in the Rebuild series. After a clean break, the singer reflects what she once had using her head as she does her heart—a privilege only earned when the experience sits at a far enough distance in hindsight. The production glows more muted and subdued perhaps than what one would imagine from a song in collaboration with A.G. Cook, but the idyllic prettiness befits the sober head space of Utada. She now resides at a place on the other side of the aftermath where she can confidently sing “I love you more than you’ll ever know” as an easy-to-hum refrain but also as an obvious truth.

Utada’s songs for the four Rebuild films now also stand as a complete series of sorts with the last film finally out, telling their own story of loss sometimes parallel to their attached films. The songs, too, are in conversation with one another, making sense of familiar catastrophes while haunted by the same ghosts. While the unwavering perspective of “One Last Kiss” is admirable on its own, it resonates more powerfully after witnessing Utada’s decade-long journey to settle on such steady ground.

Utada’s sense of peace and emotional clarity in “One Last Kiss” is already well-earned following a starker, more obvious process of grief. “Sakura Nagashi” from Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo finds the singer during the immediate stage of loss. And while the song also relies on reminiscences to bandage the pain like “One Last Kiss,” here the barren present is too imposing for memories to offer a sweet distraction. “I can’t believe it that I can’t see you ever again,” she cries out during the song’s guitar-squealing peak. “I haven’t told you anything yet.” So much is left unfinished while the world moves along without a care.

“Sakura Nagashi” is accompanied by the most forlorn ballad arrangement out of the three singles. While the other songs for the Rebuild films glowed with a warm, synth-led pulse, “Sakura Nagashi” is devoid of much besides Utada on an upright piano. The somber music befits a film that brought the harshest upset and destruction. During the first half of You Can (Not) Redo, Shinji Ikari bears witness to the irreversible damage he has brought to the world. He’s also shaken by the present timeline with once-familiar peers who he can no longer recognize. The first act is especially disorienting to reflect the perspective of Shinji, who can only cling on to the good things he once knew to keep moving forward.

After seeing the tragedy unfold in the later songs, it’s bittersweet returning to the fresh, wide-eyed perspective of “Beautiful World,” written when the Rebuild movies after Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone were yet to be made. The weightless R&B production sounds free from much of the burden plaguing the other two songs. Taken by its face, a lyric like “if I can have one wish / let me sleep next to you, it doesn’t matter where” sounds like a tender request in a soft teen-pop song and not one dedicated to a violent doomsday tale. The brooding concepts had yet to be in motion in the background of the songs, and deep loss had yet to color the lyrics into something more devastating and rooted in reality.

So when Utada revisits “Beautiful World” for Thrice Upon a Time, it adds new, powerful meanings to the old record. Titled the Da Capo version, the re-recording of the song for the first Rebuild film was commissioned to fill more time during the end credits roll. But Utada was also into the idea conceptually since the act of creating new material by revisiting the past lies at the core of the Rebuild movies.

As if inspired by You Can (Not) Redo, the new somber arrangement of the Da Capo version suggests the cruel effects of time with it containing hardly any traces of the original’s synth beats. The titular refrain arises from the void specter-like, and the rest of it floats as if in a vacuum. But while it sounds like a ghost of its former self, Utada holds as much faith, if not more in the future as she did almost 15 years ago. The original may have benefited in retrospect from her finding bliss in ignorance in the outcomes of both the beautiful world and the beautiful boy over the course of the series. But she sings here with reassured conviction, her wishes still echoing with optimism despite all she has experienced. “It’s only love,” she nonchalantly sighs, like of course she believes—it’s what unconditional love is about.

Fourteen years later, Utada isn’t free from the catastrophe of her past in “One Last Kiss” despite the rich perspectives gained. But her memories from the events now are less haunting ghosts than precious treasures to remind herself of all the good that existed. She knows she can’t undo all that already happened, knowing the story will reach the same conclusion no matter what. But it only inspires her to tell her own satisfied version of her story of love and loss. “Can you give me one last kiss / let’s have a kiss that’ll make us burn,” Utada asks in the chorus. She rewrites the end in a way she’d like to remember it. If she’s not pleased, she can always rebuild from scratch.

[recentanimenews]

Hikaru Utada's Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Film Theme Song Wins The 3rd Reiwa Anisong Grand Prix

    The "3rd Reiwa Anisong Taisho" event to honor the anime songs in the third year of Reiwa era was held at LOFT PLUS ONE in Shinjuku, Tokyo, on December 17. This event is the successor to the Heisei Anisong Taisho launched by Sony Music Entertainment, and the winning songs are selected by a six-member selection committee.

  The Selection Committee members:

  Akihiro Tomita (music producer / anisong critic)

Naoki Yoshida (Nippon Housou announcer)

Saito-P (Animelo Summer Live executive producer)

Hisashi Maeda (anime critic)

Masayasu Matsubara (Animate audio visual product buyer)

DJ Kazu (anisong DJ)

      Anisong Grand Prix of the third year of Reiwa era:

  "One Last Kiss" (Hikatu Utada / Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time theme song)

      Song Award:

   "Ai no Supreme!" (fhána / Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S OP theme)

      Lyrics Award:

   "Nai Nai" (ReoNa / SHADOW HOUSE ED)

      Composition Award:

   "Cry Baby" (Official HIGE DANdism / Tokyo Revengers OP theme)

      Arrangement Award & User Voting Award:

 (User Voting Award is determined purely by the number of user votes)

   "Watashitachi wa Mou Butai no Ue" (Starlight 99-gumi / Revue Starlight film's theme song)

      Voice Actor Song Award:

   "Pinky Hook" (Momo Asakura / Girlfriend, Girlfriend ED theme)

      Character Song Award:

   "Ganbare! Kumoko-san no Theme" (Aoi Yuki / So I'm a Spider, So What? ED theme)

      Artist Song Award:

   "Kaibutsu" (YOASOBI / BEASTERS 2nd season OP)

      Planning Award:

   "ODDTAXI" (Skirt and PUNPEE / ODDTAXI OP theme)

      Rookie of The Year Award:

   "Elder flower" (Aguri Onishi / Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles ED)

    Special Award:

   DIALOGUE+

  4th single "Omoide Shiritori" (Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway OP theme)

    Ura (Backside) Anisong Grand Prix of the third year of Reiwa era:

   "Umapyoi Densetsu (TV Size) Season 2 Ver." (Umamusume Pretty Derby Season 2)

(Special Week / Azumi Waki, Silence Suzuka / Marika Takano, Tokai Teio / Machico, Vodka / Ayaka Ohashi, Daiwa Scarlet / Chisaki Kimura, Goldship / Hitomi Ueda, Mejiro McQueen / Saori Onishi, Simbo Rilldorf / Azusa Tadokoro, Nice Nature / Kaori Maeda, Twin Turbo / Miharu Hanai, Ikuno Dictus / Masumi Tazawa, Machikane Tanhoiza / Hikaru Tono, Mejiro Palmer / Yuri Noguchi, Daitaku Helios / Kiki Yamane, Mihono Bourbon / Ikumi Hasegawa, Rice Shower / Manaka Ishimi, Biwa Hayahide / Yui Kondo, Narita Taishin / Keiko Watanabe, Winning Ticket / Yui Watanabe, Kitasan Black / Hinaki Yano, Satono Diamond / Hina Tachibana, Marzen Ski / Lynn, Mayano Top Gun / Mio Hoshitani, Hishiakebono / Rei Matsuzaki, Air Groove / Ruriko Aoki, Machikane Fukkital / Hiyori Nitta, Meishoudou /Misaki Wadada, Seiun Sky / Akari Kito, Glass Wonder / Rena Maeda, El Condor Passer / Minami Takahashi, Sakura Baxin O / Sachika Misawa, Mejiro Ryan / Afumi Hashi, Mejiro Dobel / Hikari Kubota, Naritabu Ryan / Rika Kinugawa)

      Source: Sony Music Labels press release

  By: Mikikazu Komatsu

[diabolus-dixit]

Shiro Sagisu, Music from “Shin Evangelion” Evangelion 3.0+1.0. Composition, Arrangement and Production by Shiro Sagisu. Performance by the London Studio Orchestra.

19439933452. Milan, Sony Classical, King Amusement Creative, 2021.

This box set consists of 3 Audio CDs, 54 tracks in total, 16 bit/44.1 kHz. White CDs, and transparent trays for discs 1 and 3. The black plastic tray for disc 2 looks and feels cheap and brittle.

The front cover and the booklet show printing with an iridescent effect. Printing quality of the booklet is good, but the paper is rather thin, and the text of the other side can be seen. Includes some words from S. Sagisu about his creative process and the composing and recording of the music, as well as lyrics of the songs. Disc 3 contains alternate versions of some songs. Note that, even if it’s a soundtrack, it does not include One Last Kiss nor Beautiful World by Utada Hikaru.

Disc 2 is the one I like the most (What if?, The Path, Pensées Intimes, Ave Verum Corpus, Voyager), but disc 1 has also some tracks I like a lot (Paris, Prettiest Star, Lost in The Memory).

I got it for around $40 U.S.D., but I think it can be found cheaper now. I do recommend it.

[deathscythes]

looking out the window longingly in waiting for my One Last Kiss EP album on vinyl by Utada Hikaru featuring the original song One Last Kiss for Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon A Time as well as remastered and alternative versions of Beautiful World, Sakura Nagashi, and the classic Evangelion staple Fly Me To The Moon, all printed on a clear vinyl disc with a 12” x 12” credit insert with the lyrics to One Last Kiss encased in a single pocket jacket with an Asuka Langley rainbow cover picture

[star-emoji-golden-lovers]

This will probably never happen but I have a MIGHTY NEED to see a golden lovers music video using One Last Kiss by Hikaru Utada.

The day I first laid eyes on you, wheels began to turn

An unstoppable premonition of loss

We already have so many

But let’s add another one

Can you give me one last kiss?

Something we don’t want to forget

I mean are you kidding me!!!! I saw the lyrics and was just slammed by those golden lovers feels. 😭 I would do it myself but I have no footage sob sob