After having spent most of the day adding a bit of spit and polish to the new site, I wrote the first post. If you’re interested, you can find it here. (Of course, if you’re not, don’t bother clicking, I won’t be offended). This post was about AKB48’s first single, “Sakura no hanabiratachi”. I’m going to try to do at least one music review per week, and then manga, anime, etc when I get to it.

I’ve written about that song here before. It’s an amazing song. Not because it was performed well – it was performed passably. It’s the kind of cheesy cookie-cutter pop song that you may not even pay a second glance to under most circumstances, though like most pop songs, it is catchy.

But then I hear the lyrics, and I swear, it’s like someone cut an onion near my face. If I ever need to just let loose sometimes, I just turn that song on, and it takes about one stanza.

The thing about it – and the MV just makes it that much worse – is that they’ve captured the liminality of the graduation experience perfectly. It’s like they just took all of the nostalgia and memories, mixed them up with a hope for the future, added the closing of one door and the opening of another, and just mixed it all together into this glorious mish-mash of wonderfulness.

In the MV, which is significantly longer than the song itself, they have two of the girls talking to each other, and one of them says “wasurenaiyo. zettai” (“I won’t forget. Ever.”). It’s just so poignant. It’s a running storyline where they remember things that happened during their school times – some happy, some sad. But they’ll never forget.

There are better songs. Most things by Babymetal. Some things by Morning Musume. Even a lot of AKB48s later stuff. But not many get to me quite like this song. And in spite of the quality issues, I think that’s what really makes for a good song. It has to hit you right in the feels.

Wasurenaiyo. Zettai.

I won’t forget. Ever.