Song of the Week
7/8/10 - "Kono Kodou kara Yoru wa Umarenai"
Welcome back to Song of the Week! This week, the featured song is "Kono Kodou kara Yoru wa Umarenai" (This Throbbing Was Not Born From the Night) from 2001's Ankoku no Princess Black Lady and its 2002 kaiteiban. I chose this song because I just finally read the Black Moon arc of the manga this week, and the story so touched me that I felt like I absolutely had to feature a song from the Black Lady myus this week.
This song is sung by Black Lady and Chibimoon in the musical (but by only Chibimoon on the CD, for some odd reason). It takes place right after Pluto has given her life to stop time so that Prince Dimande won't touch the two ginzuishou together (which would destroy the world in a time paradox). It is a very touching song in which both Black Lady and Chibimoon – who are, in essence, both Chibiusa – admit their weaknesses and how their weaknesses led them astray. They also talk about Pluto and how lonely she was. It's all very in keeping with the plot of the scene, which is pretty much a dead-on representation of the scene in the manga. (Dimande's line at the beginning asking Wiseman if he can defeat two ginzuishou is basically verbatim from the manga, as are Pluto's last words - though they took out the things she says to King Endymion).
There are two versions of this song - the original version and the kaiteiban version. In both, it appears that Noel Miyazaki is playing Chibimoon (though Chibimoon was double cast in Black Lady K, so it's hard to know), but the actress playing Black Lady is different in each musical. In the original, it's Kawasaki Mao (who played Chibiusa and Chibi-Chibi in First Stage and returned to the myus here as Black Lady), and in the Kaiteiban, it's a new actress, Nakamaru Shion. I think that both Mao and Shion sing the song well, and Noel (if that is her in both) does a good job as well. The original version is sung pretty straight and sounds very touching. The Kaiteiban version, however, has both characters on the brink of tears, and brings out the emotion of the scene much better. Also, at the end, they have Black Lady holding out her arm toward Chibimoon while holding her Time Key as the lights go out on her, and when the lights come up on Chibimoon, she is holding her Time Key in a similar gesture, which is kind of cool.
In short, this song is amazing and the scene is just like the manga with its intensity. Pluto's last words in the scene are very poignant in both original and Kaiteiban, with Hosaka Yuuko doing the delivery with every bit of the sorrow Pluto shows in the manga. The Black Lady actresses and Chibimoon actress (or actresses) really deliver on this song. And to think it's followed by the upbeat "Moment Fatal"!
That's all for this week. Tune in next Thursday to see the next Song of the Week!