Re: Japan | 日本 | WV85: Kevin Penkin feat. Takeshi Saito - Hanezeve Caradhina
Alright, only two days late on the green room post this time. I'm improving
After a lovely 12-voter NF, Japan has ended up sending the beautiful Hanezeve Caradhina for this 85th edition of WV! The NF result breakdown is as follows:
Clearly, this was a very tight race for the first third-to-a-half of the voting. People had similar opinions on both songs, so each voter only nudged things very slightly in each direction, and both entries seemed to have a roughly equal number of fans. A few days before the deadline, however, John's votes started a deluge of support for Hanezeve Caradhina, and its lead really just continued to grow from there. While I'm not too surprised by the overall winner and margin - I had no idea which song would win, and expected an average-sized margin like this - the voting process to get there was a pretty unusual one, and was interesting to watch unfold.
Really though, I thought this was one of the harder NFs to predict a winner for, despite there only being two songs. Hanezeve Caradhina has a great hook with lovely instrumentation, but I'd thought a lot of people would find the middle section difficult to like, especially on early listens. Kyrie II, meanwhile, has less to turn away potential fans as it's calm and beautiful throughout, but belongs to a niche genre and is rather short. In the end, Hanezeve Caradhina took the crown, winning over seven voters against Kyrie II's five.
So, about the song! Hanezeve Caradhina is a rather recent release, having only come out on the 27th of October; however, I'd first heard it a couple of months before, as like many of my Japanese WV entries, it's part of a soundtrack. I fell in love with the song instantly when it was used in the first episode of recent anime series
Made In Abyss, and it only grew on me from there.
Tinkly piano intros are always a good way of getting my attention, and from there the delicate-yet-powerful vocals, playful flute, and spectacular orchestral climax seal the deal. For my tastes, that last minute-and-a-half of the song is one of the best bits of music I've heard in quite a while: the sweeping orchestral wall of sound, the harmonies and melodies, the interplay between the vocals and instruments... it all just combines to reach an eargasmic peak that I don't think can be rivalled by any of my other entries bar WV67's
Sanka. And, like Sanka, it closes out the whole thing by quieting the chaotic wall of sound down to a final, stripped-back refrain.
In saying all this, I have to give credit to the song's composer,
Kevin Penkin. While I've been representing Japan since I first joined WV, I'm an Aussie deep down, and so sending Kevin - who comes from the Western Australian capital of Perth - is a great chance to show some Australian talent. While the soundtrack to Made In Abyss is my first time hearing Kevin's compositions, he's previously worked on
a number of games and anime series, becoming acquainted with the Japanese entertainment industry through a Kickstarter project and moving on from there.
As a native English speaker, Kevin is thankfully a little easier to find information on than most people who have been involved in my entries - so, while I'm at it, I thought I'd link
this recent interview, where he discusses the processes behind composing
Hanezeve Caradhina and the rest of the
Made In Abyss soundtrack. I, at least, thought it was a cool read!
Of course, Kevin's not the only person behind my WV85 entry; Takeshi Saito serves as the song's lyricist, vocalist, and link to Japan that allows me to send the thing in the first place! Unfortunately, information on Takeshi is much more sparse; he doesn't seem to be a particularly established singer, and his name's not too far off being a Japanese equivalent of "John Smith", so searches mostly just turn up info on a mathematician or hockey player with the same name. Nonetheless, his beautiful vocals contribute to the song in a way I thought I had to mention!
And, while I'm mentioning things - I can't go without a few words on Made In Abyss, the series that introduced me to its lovely soundtrack. Based on critical and fan reaction, it's perhaps the best-regarded new anime series of the last year, and I can hardly argue with that myself. The animation, story and atmosphere come together fantastically, and there's some beautiful world-building going on throughout the whole thing; it's quite unlike anything else I've seen in the medium.
Moreso than anything, though, I wanted to say how perfectly
Hanezeve Caradhina seems to capture the show's spirit; Kevin Penkin has done a brilliant job at understanding the essence of the story and putting it into music. Musically, it seems to really convey the whole vibe of wanderlust, beauty, and youthful optimism; later, the danger and harshness of the unknown; and then, in the climax, turns it back around to a swell of emotion, and a rousing, hopeful sound rising above the chaos. Even with good soundtracks, it's incredibly rare to hear something that so uniquely
gets the nature of its source material.
Finally, I thought I'd cap off with a few statistics relevant to my time in WV so far - I've just finished putting together a spreadsheet of all the votes I've received over my 20 editions until now, and thought it a good time to thank some of my biggest supporters. I'm always happy to find somebody that enjoys what I have to offer, but six players seem to be some of my most consistent* supporters amongst a sea of largely mediocre results at the contest, so a special thanks goes out to:
#6 [MENTION=11993]whiteshoes[/MENTION] (78P received from him, for an average of 4.9 each time he's voted)
#5 [MENTION=10742]daniels1000[/MENTION] (97P; average 4.9)
#4 [MENTION=9441]RainyWoods[/MENTION] (107P; average 5.4)
#3 [MENTION=12510]esc87fan[/MENTION] (114P; average 6.0)
#2 [MENTION=14007]lavieenrose[/MENTION] (119P; average 6.0)
#1 [MENTION=14505]Lupus[/MENTION] (146P; average 7.7)
*Barring my occasional "silly man with upbeat song" entries, which nobody supports 
Thanks for the last 20 fun editions, and here's to 20 more!
1 So sorry 
