Song of the Week
8/26/10 - "Zigzag Slash"
It's Song of the Week time again, and once again I'm late, though this time without realizing it. For this week, I am featuring a song that I greatly enjoyed fandubbing, Jupiter's theme "Zigzag Slash."
"Zigzag Slash" debuted, like Mercury and Venus's themes, in Transylvania no Mori (Kaiteiban). It appears when Jupiter enters Vampir's lair right after the Outer Senshi have found Vampir (and sung their own song – "Kokoro Tabanete Watchin' on the Sight" – to boot). It's a semi-upbeat song and it fits Jupiter really well (the lightning reference in the title aside). It was originally sung by Hayashi Yuriko in her first myu appearance and was also featured among the Marinamoon Final senshuuraku service numbers in honor of the graduation of Watanabe Mai, the longest-running Jupiter actress (as well as the 19th longest performer overall, the youngest Jupiter ever, and the longest-running Inner Senshi not from the First Stage; she beat out the previous Jupiter record holder, Kanoko, by a mere 32 stages). It also appeared at the 2002 Autumn Fankan (Mugen K) and the 2005 Winter Fankan (Marinamoon Final), Mai-chan's first and last fankans respectively (her first myu was the original Mugen, but for some reason she did not appear at the Mugen fankan). I personally like Hayashi-san's performance – her voice fits the song quite well. But Mai-chan does a great job too, even though she seems rather nervous and out-of-breath in the performance of it I have seen her do. (But then it is the senshuuraku; she's probably sad and exhausted).
I think the reason I like this song is because, in a way, I share some traits with Mako-chan. Mercury's my favorite senshi, but the one I most physically resemble is Jupiter. I also have a mix of femininity and tomboyishness, as Mako-chan does. For this reason, I have long considered cosplaying as Jupiter, but was too afraid. At any rate, I was thinking at work today how I resemble Mako-chan – maybe because cosplay is on my mind; I'm trying to decide who to cosplay as at Animé Los Angeles next January, which (if all goes well) will be my first anime con. The main difference between Mako-chan and I is cooking; I don't know how to cook many things.
Well, before this gets too sentimental...that's all for this week. Tune in next Thursday to see the next Song of the Week!