Hi guys! Remember I told you I’d like to explain a little more in detail the story of the Osorezan Revoir video?
Well, here you have a little summary and a special gift I worked hard on 🙂
This is a pretty long news post, so make sure you have enough time to read it before you start!
Almost 2 years ago, on March 13th 2010, a girl posted a fanmade video on Niconico Douga, the Japanese Youtube. Using Vocaloid she had created a whole song using the poem Matamune writes for Yoh in the Osorezan Revoir arc as lyrics. It was called [Miku Hatsune] Osorezan Revoir. It was a really nice song, so people started to share it and soon the video became famous among the Japanese Mankin fans. I myself downloaded the song and listened to it every now and then!
It became so popular that it eventually reached Takei. He posted on his Twitter account that his staff and him had loved the song so much that he’d like it to be the ending song for the Revoir arc in case a new anime happened to be made at some point. Since the very day the video was shared, a lot of people started uploading their own versions. Some of them used different Vocaloid characters, while others sang the song themselves. Even to this day, Niconico is still full with “I tried to sing Osorezan Revoir” videos.
And the story could have ended here… but then something amazing happened.
On October 21st of this year, a month after the announcement of the Shaman King’s oneshots, a new version of the video was uploaded. This one was called [Anna Kyoyama] I tried to sing Osorezan Revoir [Mankin’s revival]. As Andy posted on SKN, the first person to announce the upload of the video was a music producer who worked with Megumi Hayashibara on various Shaman King songs such as Oversoul and Northern Lights. Fishy…
At first it looked like any of the other ones, but this had something different. The voice singing the song was very similar to that of Megumi Hayashibara (Anna’s voice actress) and the picture on the background looked like Takei’s. Obviosly, people became frantic about this and started to comment like crazy asking if this was an awesomely well made fanvid or if it actually was Hayashibara and Takei’s work.
When people started asking Takei on Twitter all he said was “Itakos sure are awesome!”. Even so, people still thought that it was an official video. The girl who created the original song said that she couldn’t stop crying of joy, because her video turning into an official Mankin song was like a dream to her. Who could blame her? Haha
Well, last Tuesday a news post in Shaman King Mixi confirmed that the ones who made the video were Hayashibara and Takei, and they even made some wallpapers to celebrate the return of Shaman King. You can find more info about all this in previous posts of this blog.
And that’s basically what happened!! I think it’s a really good story that shows how much they care about their fans. Hope you liked it ^^
Now, as a present for you guys, I translated something Hayashibara wrote about all this on her blog. I decided to put in the spoiler tags because it’s a bit long. I almost made me cry when I first read it, so I hope you like it just as much!
[spoiler]
Hayashibara’s version of the story behind the “I tried to sing Osorezan Revoir” video! By Megu-san.
June, 2011. Takei-sensei sent me a text message saying nothing but “I changed my number”. I thought it was strange, since that happened the night right before the commemoration event we were holding in Nakano for Boogie Night’s 1000th program.
Such a coincidence made me happy, so I wanted to invite him. I wrote him back saying “I think I’ll be singing Over Soul that night, so do you want to come?”
He answered me “I’d love to be able to”. But after all he did come. It knew that he was busy as hell.
When we were in the dressing room, he started to become nervous and said “Listen, maybe… you know… from now on… sometime… it’s not much but… I try to do my best. So… mm… if you… well… you know… mm”. I knew he was trying to tell me something, but somehow he couldn’t just yet. “Ah… just forget it… yeah… I mean… if the occasion calls…”
So he was talking about the revival of Shaman King in the “Jump Kai” magazine?! … At least that’s what I think. He made time for coming to listen to me singing Over Soul and Northern Lights in that hall.
Some days after that, I received a text message with a Niconico Douga link and the following text: “Please listen to this at least once. Would you sing Osorezan Revoir for me to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Mankin? I’m sure that all of the fans will love it…”
Excited, I wrote him back again saying “Yeah, sure, I’ll do it!!”
But since I had no idea of the legal process it required, I had to talk with King Records and Jump Kai.
It seems that they had already contacted the composer of the song.
They had already rented a recording studio.
They had even called some sound engineers already.
So, we went to the studio and I sang the song.
When singing it for the first time I was completely on the verge of tears.
I felt too many things at the same time. I thought of Yoh, of Matamune, of myself back then, and of many other things. While I was singing the second part of the song I could barely hide my tearful voice.
When I finished I came out of the booth and listened to it.
I thought “This is awesome!! The tearful voice fits in so nicely!” and blew my own trumpet. But right in that moment an angry Anna appeared in my mind.
“Your crying’s so cheap. Don’t show your tears to other people so easily, don’t let them know. Take your sadness away from this song. It doesn’t matter how miserable you feel, just don’t cry.” She scolded me. “Ohh-hh! Cheap you say…? I’m so sorry Mistress… It’s just that it’s been so long since I…”
Of course, all that happened in my mind.
Then I came back to the booth and sang again.
A snowy landscape.
Candles.
The Oh-Oni.
Matamune.
Grandma.
The New Year’s Eve singing contest.
Yoh, Yoh, Yoh…
All the things Anna saw started to appear in front of me and I just stood still gazing at them, feeling her sadness and hope while I kept singing the song.
Yes, it had been a long time since it last happened to me. It really felt like an Over Soul.
“As long as you manage to touch the hearts of the fans, you can do as you like” That’s what Takei-san said to me.
But there wasn’t much more I could do. After finishing recording I had no idea of what was going to happen, but King Records called me and said that people on Niconico Douga were making a fuss.
I though “What was that all about?” so though I’m not very good at it, I tried to take a look.
Before my eyes, there was my song with Takei-sensei’s background (Anna) and loads of commentaries appearing everywhere. There were so many that I couldn’t read fast enough, because everyone was writing down their thoughts on it.
I was really happy, but somehow scared at the same time. It was surprising.
There were comments such as “I don’t care who’s singing, but thank you so much.”
I was so happy.
It wasn’t my name, neither my career… what reached their hearts was simply my voice.
However, a lot of people were posting things like “Is that her? Do you think this is really her?” or “Her tone is too high-pitched, no way she’s the real one”… or even “Hayashibara’s not very good at singing, but at least her performances are not bad”…
Shut the hell up!!!
How dare you!!?
Dammit! Come here!
That’s what it thought while laughing.
Someone said “Megu-san’s terrible at computers, I don’t think she knows how to upload videos” (Yeah, that’s actually true. You know me so well. You must love me. But luckily I have some adults who can help me with these things.)
Alone in front of the screen, unable to calm down, feeling a bit tired, I started to think.
“Once you’ve grown fond of a character you can’t forget them, no matter how long time passes. After all, when they pass by they always leave a trail in our hearts”
I think that thanks to this song I could somehow meet the real (?) Anna once again. Thanks to Anna’s heart I could somehow meet Yoh and Matamune as well.
Anyway, I’m truly happy.
Also, when I read the avalanche of opinions and thoughts in the comments written by all the people watching the video I couldn’t help it but get excited at how much everyone loves Shaman King.
I saw Manta smiling, and I really felt like meeting everyone in Funbari Onsen again.
If you thought it wasn’t me, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.
If you thought it was me, don’t criticize those who were mistaken.
Remember that I love you all.
Shaman King, thank you so much.
Postscript:
When I was absent-minded thinking of Yoh I received a text message from his voice actress, Yuuko Sato. The first one in 5 years.
When I looked at my cellphone I jumped in surprise. Why at this time?
You can read the news on her homepage, but it seems that she had given birth to a baby boy.
I thought that a text message wasn’t enough, so I decided to call her right away.
When I told her about the Osorezan Revoir song all she said was “Eeeehhhh?! Eehhh?!” in a very exaggerated way. Just as always.
After that, we talked for hours trying to catch up with each other. It had been so long since we last talked.
Those coincidences really gave me a great time.
Shaman King, thank you so much. (…I already say that, right?)
Some day in November 2011. Megumi Hayashibara.[/spoiler]
Source: Hayashibara’s homepage
