Music to my ears (Bear Blog Carnival)
"We don't remember facts, we remember feelings." I have listened to much music and forgot most of them, but the ones remain, they remain because of the emotions they evoked. And at the top, my One And Only, Mili.
Mili, or Project Mili, is a 4-person indie band based in Japan. We have the husband Yamato Kasai playing guitar and his (at least) trilingual wife Cassie Wei singing with her holy voice (I digress). Yukihito Mitomo is the bassist and Shoto Yoshida plays drum. Ao Fujimori provides all the crazy, deranged, unhinged, but apt illustrations for their songs. They have been operating all the way from 2012, writing standalone songs and music for games, anime, and any project, really, that needs a accompanying banger.
My first contact was the songs they made for the anime adaptation of Goblin Slayer. For those who don't know, Goblin Slayer is John Wick, but you replace Keanu with a boy who had seen his sister gangr*aped and eaten by goblins when he was 10, so he grew up vowing to slay goblins until their eradication from Earth. Just a slightly above average anime with enough blood and gore to excite Quentin Tarantino. But, oh, gosh, when the opening "Rightfully" started playing...
Check out the full lyrics here.
...and when the season ends with "Within"...
...I was speechless.
Mili are extremely good at condensing the emotions within the melody and lyrics. Again, Goblin Slayer is like John Wick: reticent, efficient, quick-witted. In the anime, he seemed numbed, diassociated from his emotions. But from the original work, we know he actually held so many thoughts and emotions, just unable to truly feel them (likely part of his PTSD after witnessing what happened to his sister). "Rightfully" offered a glimpse into his complex whirpool of emotions: feeling of burden after his dream of becoming an adventurer mixed with his desire to eradicate goblins (Chained onto me/My adolescent dreams/Pulling, dragged me deep/All my body exposed/Marked up by your shadows), searing anger and hatred that elevate goblin hunting into a right, a duty, and enjoyment (Bathe in sorrow/My tomorrow is built upon your flesh/Slay the last of your kind/To reclaim what's rightfully mine/); fear of being hated by his deceased sister if she had seen what he had become1 (I still dream of you/Will you be disappointed that I'm not who I used to be?/Will you hold me tightly).
It's awfully complex, yet, Mili managed to convey them lucidly in the lyrics. Then "Within" flipped the viewpoint to his deceased sister. Through the season, the main plotline (besides goblin slaying) is our Slayer bonding with his new companions, gradually opening up and trusting them. "Within" played at the end, after he rallied the adventurers that he tend to ignore at the guild to protect the home of his childhood friend. The deceased sister soothed him (Put out the fires taking control over you; Let out your cries from within, from within), encouraged him to open his heart and trust his companions (Poke down a hole, bury a sapling/Flourish, let it flourish/Hearts shall become a forest), and continued to fulfill his dream, not of slaying goblin, but becoming an adventurer(Remember who you used to be/Everyday can be your new beginning. And again, so few words, so much emotion2.
After Goblin Slayer, I kind of forgot about Mili for about... 5 years? It wasn't until they invaded my beloved Arknights with "Grown-up Paradise" that I am back.
Arknights story is crazy. If Christopher Nolan read it, I'm sure he will feel so ashamed that he will return all of his Oscars. And this PV is the culmination of that. Every single frame is a masterpiece, every single second is part of the story we Doctors have witness through the years. And the lyrics, the lyrics, the lyrics! They are just... perfect3.
Truth is I know as long as we live
Our ideals dye rivers scarlet4
Firing shots in the name of justice
Declaring love we can only reminiceAs cruelty becomes heroic
I'm on your ark
Answer me, my sinking shipWhere's our tomorrow?5
Where does our future go?
*Does our hope have to be sown upon somebody's sorrow?
I was thinking to write more about Mili's songs, especially the much successful collaboration with Project Moon till this day, but decided better. I could talk for a whole year about them, but that would bore everyone ears off. Besides, if I go off now, that would exhaust content for this blog :>
So let's recap with answer to the question, Why Mili means so much to me? I believe they are like a Siren. Like the Homeric mythical creature, Mili is so dearly to my heart because their music can scratch an itch, a delicious, unbearable itch that I may not even know I have. I guess it's the wonder of music - you never know you will like it until you listen.
This also suggests that he was aware that others didn't perceive him highly right from his appearance, just did not really care about them enough to change.↩
The production team of Goblin Slayer must have loved the songs, for Mili have sung for the next season, movie, and game of Goblin Slayer. Please seek out "Duetting Solo", "Static", and "Entertainment".↩
I am still choking up when watching the PV, 2 years later now. Not in order of appearance: Ace joining Scout, symbolizing his sacrifice to help us Doctor escape from Chernoborg; the unknown Guard left behind changed from Rhodes Island to Reunion; Misha, disguised as little brother to keep morale of the collapsing Reunion, got shot down by Amiya, right after being rescued by Amiya and us; Ch'en standing lonely, clutching the teddy bear, in the rain in the slum she tried to build for fellow Infected; Eno and Sasha found each other when they were little, before joining Reunion as Mephisto and Faust, Mephisto cried at Faust's death at our hands after negotiation broke down; FrostNova died in our embrace as she also chose to fight to the bitter end instead of surrender; Patriot defeated after failing to Amiya, a fellow Cautus just like his adopted daughter Frostnova, and now also the King of Fiend for the Sarkaz; Outcast laughing while playing cards with operators in County Hillock before her death; Amiya manifesting her Wrathful Caerulean Flame in the sword Ying Long to resist Black Deathless Snake taking control of Talulah's body as the leader of Reunion; Theresa putting on the Black Crown to complete Amiya as the Demon King before passing on (a tear rolled down Amiya cheek as she caused the death of her adopted mother). In the end, we can see the name of all operators, dead or alive, standing in the shadow of Rhodes Island, with us at the end. I know it will make zero sense to you if you don't play the game, but I hope you can see the crazy compression ratio. They truly manage to sum up 5 years worth of story within every single frame of the video.↩
The lyrics also hit different in 2024, in the midst of the military conflict in Ukraine and Israel.↩
Arknights is the English name. In Chinese, its transliteral name is Ark of Tomorrow. A crazy word pun from Cassie.↩