So the other day I was looking for videos to download when I came upon this new Hikaru Utada single "Be My Last." Needless to say I downloaded it without thinking. Upon first playing it, well...Acoustic Utada is something I never would have expected. Putting on this single fresh from the download, I was expecting either pulsing urban dance beats or a gentle ballad tinged with Japanese percussion and spacy echoes. Instead, over a quiet guitar backdrop, Hikaru poured forth a strange, wavering ululation that eventually segued into a melancholy chorus. "Be My Last" is a strange choice for a single, not particularly catchy and somewhat downbeat - the melismatic portions are also overdone ("whooahahaaaahwhooooaahaaaaaaah" my girlfriend mimiced, not at all impressed). All in all, it seemed like one of the weaker songs she's yet done. Looking for more info, I found the following notice:
"Be My Last (Movie "Haru no Yuki" Main Theme) [CD+DVD]/ Hikaru Utada"
Wait. A fucking. Minute.
Haru no yuki? You know, "spring snow" in English? Spring Snow? Spring Snow as in the first novel of Mishima Yukio's Sea of Fertility Tetralogy?
AAAAHH OH MY GOD ARE THEY MAKING THE SEA OF FERTILITY INTO A FILM SERIES?! AAAAAHHHH OH MY GOD OH MY GOD PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE!!!!
"Original soundtrack to the Toei Pictures film "Haru no Yuki" (Starring Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yuko Takeuchi. Directed by Isao Yukisada. Based on the original novel by Yukio Mishima). Soundtrack arranged by acclaimed film and tv composer Taro Iwashiro."
HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
Please, Jesus, let the Japanese filmmakers produce all four of your pal Yukio's masterworks. You love them too, Jesus. Remember the part in Runaway Horses where the Imperial Prince asked Isao what he would do if the Emperor was pleased with him, and Isao said he'd commit seppuku anyway? You liked that one, didn't you Jesus? Remember the part in The Temple of the Golden Pavilion where Mizoguchi and the American soldier aborted a fetus by jumping on the mother's stomach and Mishima described it as "like a crushed flower of flesh"? Mishima had insane writing skills, didn't he Jesus? And that wasn't even in The Sea. THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW.
