Sayonara Elegy (acoustic) – Suda Masaki 菅田将暉

Upon my obsession with Mackenyu aka the Japanese actor who plays Zoro in Netflix’s One Piece live action series, I’ve embarked on a journey to watch all of his films and tv shows. Which means a lot of Japanese movies and shows and I’m really enjoying myself. This week, I watched a show ‘Kiss that Kills’, an absolutely fantastic 10-episode show about doing anything to get ahead in life and regrets and what happiness truly is. 😀 And in the show, one song plays throughout and I’ve fallen in love with the song, especially the acoustic version (lyrics of the song is also very pretty). So I wanted to share, hope you enjoy and have a great weekend!

Bling-Bang-Bang-Born – Creepy Nuts

The song I chose for this week somehow captures the past few weeks – hectic, crazy, more energy, more footwork. XD Within 20 days, I went to my first apartment showing and gave an offer that I didn’t expect to be accepted but then it was, and long story short, I became a homeowner. 😀 And in one month exactly, I will be moving. Everything happened so fast but in my point-of-view, it happened so slowly. Might have something to do with me taking a 40-day One Piece anime break. I arrived at the point of the time-skip at the anime so I thought it would be like really cool to take a long break and really feel the time-skip with the Straw Hats. And I would resume watching the show when I’m in my new, my very own apartment. 😀 Who says I’m not a romantic. XD Meanwhile, I’m feeling the withdrawal, today is Day 11 of No Piece (pun intended), and it feels like 11 months. Then this song absolutely exploded on the Internet and it’s so freaking good that it tempted me to actually watch the anime. 😀 Now that’s a good opening song! So hope you enjoy, and have a great weekend!

We Are! – Hiroshi Kitadani

January has been such a rollercoaster! I started the year traveling in Istanbul. Around the midst of trying to get back to work and kickstart a new year with new challenges both at work life and personal life, I receive some very sad news. The mourning process is still on-going but something very exciting also happened this week. I had been looking for an apartment for over six months now, the downpayment saving process actually started over two years ago. But this week, my offer for an apartment was accepted! If everything goes well, I’m going to settle into a new home, my own home, before Easter. New beginnings! And through this all, I had one daily constant – watching the One Piece anime for the first time. I’m almost halfway through. So I chose the most iconic song from the show, sung by its original singer in the most joyous way possible. It’s a song about hopes and dreams and friendship, and most of all, adventures ahead! Hope you enjoy the song, don’t forget to put on the captions, and have a great weekend!

Rouge no Dengon – Yumi Matsutoya

I recently watched ‘Suzume‘, a beautiful animated film with a gut-wrenching backstory. And they played this song on the roadtrip part and I was instantly transported to my youth, to simpler days. Cos the first time I heard the song was in another legendary anime – ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service‘. It’s one of my favorite anime growing up and still is, and the song ‘Rouge no Dengon’ opened the film in such a memorable way. The song represented freedom, growing up, and maybe some growing pains too but nonetheless it’s about a journey worth taking, no matter the destination. I’ve been listening to the song a lot in the past few weeks. I’m sure the yearning for simpler time, the days of summer in the middle of winter, and back to the time when there’s no stress or grief of the adult age. But at the same time, the song reminds me that the journey forward, growing up, it’s worth taking. Hope you enjoy the song, and have a peaceful weekend!

Bink’s Sake – Ado

I received some very sad news last Sunday about someone who had a great positive impact on my life passing away. It hit me quite hard. I withdrew into my own grief and used One Piece anime as an escape. I’m not sure whether it was a good thing or not, that Brook’s backstory happened on the show when my own grief was the deepest, and in my head, this song became sort of an anthem for the journey of life, death, and everything in between. Here is the translation of the lyrics. I can’t listen to the version sung by Brook and his crewmates without balling my eyes out, so I found Ado’s version. Those who have watched One Piece would know how heart-wrenching this song is despite its cheerful tune. I just wanted to share the song. Have a peaceful weekend!