Hikaru Utada - One Last Kiss

Also accompanied by an EP collecting her music for the Shin Evangelion films (she's done a theme song for all four entries in the series), along with remixes and alternate versions:
 
That’s not bad, I like the slow build. Not leaping out at me but I’ll take it.

I wonder when that film will actually get released, it’s been delayed so many times
 
It's out TODAY in Japan apparently! It was due in January but got bumped as a lot of cinemas were still closed, I believe? I was particularly annoyed as the release of the song was also delayed until the film release date :o

As someone that's followed this absolutely batshit series for over half my life at this point, I can't believe it's almost actually here. This trailer honestly makes me quite emotional:

Avoiding spoilers until there's a subtitled version available will be a whole new challenge, but I'll see how it goes :eyes:
 
Oh it IS? :D
You can see how little I’ve been going out!

I need to watch the “new” movies, they aren’t on Netflix though, only the old ones
 
Are the films worth digging out? Are they just straight high budget re-makes of the TV episodes?
 
Are the films worth digging out? Are they just straight high budget re-makes of the TV episodes?
I about a month ago went from having seen nothing, to having seen everything Evangelion.

The TV show is better, but the films are definitely worth it, especially after the second one when it deviates from the original works. The first film would be a good refresher if you haven't seen the TV show in a while as well.
 
Oooh ok I think I’ll give them a go, I mean I HAVE THE TIME, although I always found the original TV show quite :D as you could physically SEE the money drying up episode by episode.
 
really?? How so?
Oh come on. I know they tried to disguise that the animation style changed to get across a mental breakdown but it was so obviously done on the cheap and no amount of bullshit explanation was going to cut it.
 
Generally re-using artworks, LONG lingering scenes of stills where nothing moves, and of course THOSE last 2 episodes.

it’s explained better below which I pulled from Reddit.

"A sudden shift in tone occurred in the series around episode 16, partially due to scheduling restraints (drastically reducing the number of frames that could be drawn for each episode) and the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995 (with Anno removing elements of the plot he thought would be too similar to the real-life attack). While Anno had promised early on that "every episode [would give]...something for the fans to drool over," he began either removing fan service or juxtaposing it with scenes of emotional trauma. The problematic schedule and Gainax's reputation for delivering episode prints at the last minute also resulted in more experimental approaches, with several episodes reusing shots, using uncommonly long still frames, flashing frames of often rhetorical introspective (Japanese) text and the final two episodes changed from their original concept into a psychological analysis of the main characters
 
I was going to give them a bye for the last two, I just assumed it was art and that it was none of my business :disco:

I guess I rewatched it stretched out a bit so it was hard to see an obvious trend (for me)
 
Eh? I don't think this is a majorly out-of-step point of view, most of the internet seems to agree this is an out of the gate brilliant song :D

I wasn’t making a point or anything!

Don’t worry!

I was going to explain more but I’m going to be called PASS-AG again, I can FEEL IT IN MY BONES
 
somehow I've never heard queen Hikki speaking English before (or speaking at all) but here she is looking chic and promising at least one English language track on the new album



I don't need English songs, I just need THE ALBUM! please queen!

bonus content - here she is impersonating a cat

 
This sounds good!

I spent a lot of years with the insanity that's NGE but in the past 5 or 6 years Attack On Titan has zoomed past NGE in the category "fucked up end of days coming of age anime" :disco:
 
somehow I've never heard queen Hikki speaking English before (or speaking at all) but here she is looking chic and promising at least one English language track on the new album



I don't need English songs, I just need THE ALBUM! please queen!

bonus content - here she is impersonating a cat



good luck, Japanese artists seem to release several singles before a sniff of an album 😭
 
well we've already had 3 :D I'm hoping album in summer following the new theme song that's coming this month
 
well we've already had 3 :D I'm hoping album in summer following the new theme song that's coming this month
We have, but it’s not uncommon for acts to release ALL their singles before the album comes out!
 


So watching this video, I realised I know EXACTLY where Utada lives - presuming the shots in an alley with bikes locked up are where she lives (as it's part of a private block of flats behind two security doors) and my friend lives there too :D

Next time I visit I might start howling Kremlin Dusk as I walk to his flat hoping it catches Utada's ATTENTION! :D :disco:
 
it truly is. Time is also up there, so l have a good feeling this album will be her most exciting work since Heart Station. sonically she's really pushing herself.
 
Has anyone done a deep dive (deep deep dive) into her back cat?

I think I’ve only really gone through about half of them, the sweet spot for me being Ultra Blue. The early stuff was a lot more RnB pop, but then suddenly a gorgeous banger like Travelling is thrown in
 
I need to properly explore Deep River and Ultra Blue. I've dipped my toes but a full on swim is required. the titles alone make me WET!
 
Deep River sold 2.35m copies in ONE WEEK in Japan :o :o :disco: when will your fucking faves?!
 
Deep River sold 2.35m copies in ONE WEEK in Japan :o :o :disco: when will your fucking faves?!
Yeah Japanese first week sales can be ludicrously front loaded.

her 2nd album Distance came out the same week as Ayumi Hamasaki’s first GH and they both sold over 3M first week EACH! Just for context, the Japanese population is roughly double the UK’s and half the US’s

it’s like if ABBA Gold and Adele’s 25 were released in the same week (or something) but even that PALES
 
Hikaru Utada: I'm non-binary! :disco:


oh! :o
That’s great for her, and great that she did it too. she’s sort of unimpeachable after her success, or at least doesn’t need anything more from Japan. But she must be one of - if not THE - highest profile Japanese celebs to come out as anything.

celebs in Japan lean a LOT (a LOT!!) on endorsements, so everyone is terrified of rocking the boat. So I wonder how talk with go about this
 

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