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written using their old aliases, as it's easier for me to adjust to...
now producing music as kuriyama yuri (栗山夕璃), hachiya nanashi is a vocaloid producer that began releasing music in 2014, briefly retiring in 2020 and resuming under said new alias in 2021.
nanashi's songs are distinctly in the electro swing style, and he does not make them alone, often crediting multiple people for individual instruments. these are most frequently dossi on the piano, amime kirin for tuning, and nagasaki reiji on the guitar. his occasional releases under a side project known as VAN DE SHOP also consists of these members, and the use of these instruments often make for a very organic sound that works well with electronic notes.
the artist that works most frequently for nanashi is koron, who now works under the alias harumotsu. all art on this and subsequent nanashi-related pages can be found either on his twitter, koron5623, or the music videos the characters appear in.
let alone the incredibly catchy music and the piano led style of the first song i heard, one off mind, the characters drew me in even further. there's such a profound sense of wonder and mystery around them, in part because of the lack of information due to translation barriers, but even moreso because of the presentation of the songs themselves. the music videos are painstakingly hand-animated, and let alone being nice to look at, they flow and have such a wondrous atmosphere that really lets you believe in the world it creates. it has such an unmistakably strong visual identity, and succeeds in building its world that every mv serves as a little peek into. a window into these characters' lives, what is symbolism or literal is up to the interpretation of the listener.
if i had to describe this song series in a sentence, it is what i can best describe as one detailing the lives of characters and their ideas of happiness. such being:
-- KRANKE, a patient in a general hospital.
his song "ONE OFF MIND" is about personal meaning. pv content warnings: medical imagery, brief needle imagery
GEIST, a grumpy, weak kid god who has no power without faith. --
his song "Limelight" is about bitterness.
-- TOSHIYUKI (稔幸), the happy-go-lucky leader of a religious sect.
his song "HAPPY SHAPE" is about gardening... pv content warnings: strong religious themes
NATHAN, a pharmacy man who sells happiness. --
his song "Placebo" is about business. pv content warnings: strong themes of drugs, pills, needle imagery
-- JIU (慈烏), a follower of the Happy Shape religion with a serious personality.
his song "Zoetrope" is about ending a cycle of mistreatment.
THEO, a happy-go-lucky boy who is all alone. -- his song "Precious Junk" is about creating a town made of things that have been thrown away.
-- GLEAM, who does NOT matter and has nothing to do with this but koron keeps drawing him with the rest. i joke.. his song is "GLEAM NEON"!!!!!
other nanashi characters will be talked about eventually, but these are the ones i'm most interested in thus far!
much of the specific lore has been spread around by word of mouth (and knowing the lore behind this series is a quest i chased through google translating conversations with japanese twitter users... makes my chest hurt a little, the people are so nice.)
i want to continue forward with knowing what artbook-only information is okay to share, and also knowing i have to muster up my courage and contact the person i know that does have answers to the blanks that need to be filled in... it's been a year and a half and i forgot to respond!! my chest hurts!!! (っ╥╯﹏╰╥c)
i do not wish to disrespect koron's wishes, as many things have only been shared on physical copies of the artbook (hard to come by, especially if you live outside of japan) or koron's fanbox (basically pixiv's version of patreon). but what i can share is the analysis i've done with friends on the music videos themselves over the past years, and my findings there. soon!
time since oktavia's english cover of one off mind changed me forever
unless the countdown doesn't work and now i just look silly
also, i adore toshiyuki. like, a lot. ^_^;;
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