Korekuraide Utau

"Grown-ups working like a dog. Children fawning like a cat. Grown-ups having money. Children having love."

"Sing in my own Way" (or "Korekuraide Utau") is an original animated music video (AMV), animated by Kousuke Sugimoto and featuring lyrics by "Handsome" Kenya Tanabe. Sing in my own Way is, by far, Sugimoto's best work, and may well set the standard by which one can quantify "perfection" in AMVs.

Before one attempts to justify a perfect rating to naysayers of perfection in art, I have to ask, "what makes a successful AMV?" To me, a good AMV manages to convey a message - a combination of beautiful animation ... and music - to craft a thoughtful story. In the same way that the AMV "Furiko" (or "Pendulum") told a tear-jerking story without any dialogue, a brilliant music video involves stripping down the animated medium to its most raw form. While Sugimoto's stunning animation is anything but uncomplicated, the teenage coming-of-age story in "Sing in my own Way" is impressive in that it doesn't require a lot of the audience's focus to be entirely engrossing.

Like many of us, our blond-haired, bespectacled hero seeks solace in music. He's an aspiring musician attempting to balance all of his day-to-day activities and job with his passion. However, through the animation, his passion truly comes to life. The narrative is entirely driven by the song it represents, and it essentially follows our protagonist through his journey to become a professional musician. From finding love during his mundane day job, attracting attention by playing on a street-corner, to selling out as an idol, "Sing in my own Way" tells one of the most captivating stories possible in a brief span of seven minutes.

The protagonist's hectic daily life and routines are represented by multiple, coloured "personas" appearing alongside the present story. At every moment, the frame is alive with every possible reaction the protagonist might have to a given setting or scenario. As such, every re-watch becomes interesting, if only to recognize the small details one might miss the first time around. For example, while the boy is walking down a street corner, the focus shifts to the window of a nearby restaurant, where he's on a date in an alternate timeline. In the background, however, there's a giant flat-screen TV showing his success as a pop star, while a surreal, giant robot is attacking the town in the boy's daydream. Every second of the music video is dynamic and alive, and every nook and cranny is detailed with stylistic awe. If you've seen any of Sugimoto's previous works, you'll recognize that he's improved on his unmistakably inventive artstyle, and this music video might possibly be the culmination of his experience.

"The morning attacks grown-ups. The night gives pleasure to children. Dreams rule over grown-ups. Dreams liberate children." Fitting is an understatement to the animation behind Tanabe's musings of hesitatingly leaving adolescence behind. The tune's also surprisingly catchy, in a "non-mainstream", tasteful sort of way. It's a light piano/strings rock, but not entirely poppy. In any case, the song itself was worth a download - which is impressive, since I haven't really bought into many J-pop tracks.

It's charming, visually remarkable, and, if you're still unconvinced as to whether to watch this or not, it's only about seven minutes long. You have my guarantee that this little gem will brighten your day.

Enjoy!

This is something unique, just like the rest of the creator's works. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the music just had me swaying back and forth, I especially love the art.

Story-
So, it's basically seems to be a story about a somewhat nerdy guy who looks like he's recording a song, he meets a girl and immediately falls for her it seems. It's a very silly, but happy video to watch.

Art-
I love love love the art. It's very unique and sort of reminds me of the art that's used on the album covers for the Gorillaz, except much less scary. XD

Sound-
Considering it's a music ... video, it really does depend on what you're into for liking this song. I myself enjoyed it, because it seemed very catchy to me and i'm humming the song itself right now as i'm typing this.

Enjoyment-
I very much enjoyed this and would gladly watch it again to brighten up my day, it's definately worth sitting through all 7 minutes.

Overall-
I give it a 9/10. This didn't count to me as a masterpiece because even though it was fun to watch and the song itself was catchy, the song didn't seem to have that much of an emotional meaning to me. ( maybe it's because I don't speak japanese XD ) So yeah, I definately recommend sitting down for 7 minutes and watching this, you won't be disappointed.

Most of us sometimes think of what would've been if one had done something, however, overwhelmed with the amount of possibilities we eventually give up on thinking about it. Kyousuke Sugimoto, awarded with Tokyo Anime Award for "The TV Show" - a music video he uploaded on his YT channel, strikes again with another self-made anime short, which tries to pursue this subject, and ends up proving it is... indeed pointless.


Story - 9/10

As it is not written in Anime description, Korekuraide Utau ("Singing my own way") show us what could be an answer to the question I mentioned earlier. It's really original trick - ... we are told 6 (or even more!) alternate stories in what seems to be a single one. However, alternate "universes" merge in the end creating chaos similar to one seen in "The TV Show".

Anime shows now quite an optimistic or pessimistic vision - all the stories have a common ending. So no matter what would we do, we'll eventually end up with the same final (or our day will suck anyway, not to think too positively).

I should also mention that the video contains some nice background bonuses - there's even one whole story shown in backgrounds only. It makes more attentive viewers watch it many times to notice everything. That makes 6 min video a fun to spend a hour on it (or even more - especially if you like the music).

The final is, in my book, quite funny and unexpected as well. Just as it was meant to be.


Characters - 8/10

Despite having only these 6 minutes of screen time and no dialogues the main character can define "multi-layered personality". Why? It's simple - because each story shows him making various choices in various situations. So that we can see geek, romanticist, sanguine, melancholic, an impatient and an unlucky guy etc. The main ones (except for the very main character) also play various instruments used in the song, which is nice thing considering the fact they somehow mirror their personalities.

The other characters aren't that good however, but I don't think they have to be. They are just to act they respective roles, not make the story a play of one actor.


Art & Sound - 9/10

Well, Korekuraide Utau is in fact a music video to begin with, so it's hard to expect more or less from BGM than to exist and be played all the way long. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned, that it's almost completely unrelated to the video itself. There is only a few connections, but still not direct, and, as far as I'm concerned, not essential.

The song itself is not very amusing, but not bad either, piece by Handsome Kenya under the same title as anime, of course.

Speaking of art, we can see unusual style here, resembling pure hand drawing.

Also, as I mentioned before backgrounds are full of details and hidden secrets such as other stories characters. They are really well-drawn too. Sugimoto definitely did a great job here.


Enjoyment & Other Aspects - 8/10

Moving to next aspect I definitely enjoyed it. The humour is fairly good and there's something that holds you before screen.

Since the whole thing is really short you won't waste too much of your time if you don't like it, and if you do, you can rewatch it as many times as you wish, and it will be interesting. You may already expect me to mention backgrounds again, but these aren't only things that make you rewatch. You may, and probably will, enjoy rewatching the very combination of stories, following each of protagonist's alter egos.

However, if you are expecting something deep, with meaning or philosophy, you'd better look for it somewhere else.


Final Thoughts:

This anime is only 6 minutes long, so if you haven't seen it yet, why not give it a try? I can assure you won't be dissatisfied.


Final Grade: 8.5 => 9 of 10