New Century Anime Warrior

Generally speaking, the more serious the stage, the more it favors works with a high degree of "refinement".

Of course, this "elegance" doesn't have any special meaning; it's just a very casual description.

The elegance of literati is such that they wish brewing a cup of tea required eighty-one steps, while praising virtues required countless roundabout ways.

If you want to praise the vitality of spring, you can say, "When spring arrives, all things are reborn," or "When the east wind blows, all things in the world can start anew."

It definitely can't be something like, "Wow, that's awesome!"

The song "Beautiful Mono" that Sihua specially chose for the Tokyo stage was also with this in mind.

The lyrics about spring turning into winter, and the beauty of nature, depict the entire beautiful world that the young girl portrays for her brother who died young.

Didn't you want something aesthetically pleasing?

It also needs to have deeper meaning and vivid imagery.

The whole song is now a narrative poem.

To use the structure of a famous line, this song has a very high artistic value, as high as three or four stories!

When Akira Kousaki heard the interlude and saw Lin Lin actually pull out a harmonica and play it, the visual impact reached its peak.

When the song ended, the audience, unusually, did not applaud immediately; it seemed that everyone was still savoring something.

Here, Si Hua deleted the final monologue of the original song because he did not bring the world the complete "Roman" narrative music album.

The story told is only touched upon in the lyrics.

It was only after a few scattered claps came from the leadership seats that the crowd was brought back to reality.

Thunder roared instantly.

"I've always thought that the praise for Si-kun's audiovisual talent is a bit exaggerated, even after he created the '5 Centimeters Per Second' series of works."

"After all, our island nation has an ACG industry strategy, and there are many geniuses who can rival Si-kun, so it's not surprising."

"But this song changed my perspective," Satoru Kousaki remarked to his friend.

"He has clearly incorporated visual imagery directly into his music."

"This song is so beautiful... I can't write music with these kinds of visual lines."

Meanwhile, Toshio Suzuki whispered to Joe Hisaishi, "What do you think, sir?"

"Heh, isn't this the ultimate person you once fantasized about?"

Joe Hisaishi nodded subtly as he replied to the person in front of him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant..."

"If I remember correctly, there are more works by this young man later on?" Joe Hisaishi didn't seem to care and instead asked about the program schedule.

"Yes, there is a piece of instrumental music that should be a duet of erhu and piano."

"I'm really looking forward to it."

Joe Hisaishi's expectations were not long-awaited; after Lin Lin took her bow and left the stage, a Chinese-language host took the stage.

"Thank you, Ms. Lin Lin, for bringing us such heavenly sounds. Next up is another work by Mr. Si Hua, performed by Erhu master Jia Pengfang and pianist Yukiko."

"Please enjoy the visual music 'The Street Where the Wind Dwells'."

As the host stepped off the stage, a grand piano slowly rose from one side of the stage. Yukiko sat gracefully in front of the piano, her fingertips lightly touching the keys.

On the other side, Jia Pengfang, holding a dark-colored erhu with silver-white strings, nodded slightly, his breathing steady.

But the audience's attention was drawn to the huge screen on the stage.

The scene depicts the small town slope in "5 Centimeters Per Second" where cherry blossoms are fluttering, with two small figures silhouetted against the distance at the far end.

The gentle sound of the piano drifted softly to the ears of the audience along with the flower petals.

As the piano music faded, a tear slid down a girl's cheek, and flower petals brushed past her.

At this moment, Jia Pengfang began to draw his bow.

As soon as the erhu music started, everyone in the audience felt a slight pang in their hearts.

The music, taking over the narrative from the piano, left an indelible sense of regret on the entire scene with its mournful and ethereal tone.

It is not a tragic or intense narrative, but rather a long, gentle one, tinged with a touch of melancholy.

Like an unseen, deep street, slowly unfolding in the wind.

At this moment, the audience saw the girl's eyes on the screen, which were not those of the female lead from "5 Centimeters Per Second" that the audience was most familiar with.

However, some of Si Hua's fans still recognized her as the female lead from "Voices of a Distant Star".

This is a mashup music video.

Interspersed throughout are many previously unreleased animation storyboards.

In the guest seats, Joe Hisaishi had his eyes slightly narrowed as he listened quietly, his fingers tapping a very light rhythm on his knees.

Younger musicians, such as Satoru Kousaki, were captivated by the interaction between the melody and the animation, their eyes focused intently.

Out of the camera's view, Chinese officials smiled and nodded at their Japanese and South Korean counterparts, whose expressions were somewhat complicated, as if showing off something, but they didn't say anything.

This concert, which was originally planned to be held in Tokyo, has now become the main stage for a young animation producer from mainland China.

The entire performance stopped at the railway crossing where the male and female protagonists of "5 Centimeters Per Second" met.

The erhu played its last note, which faded quietly into the air, marking the end of these stories.

"An unparalleled talent in the field of audiovisual arts..."

In the still dimly lit concert hall, a sigh of indeterminate origin could be heard.

-----------------

At this moment, the Chinese internet, which was paying attention to this concert, was in an uproar.

"Here it comes, it's the new song, 'The Street Where the Wind Dwells'!"

"Piano plus erhu, and Jia Pengfang's erhu at that, official endorsement really makes a difference."

"None of my family members understand this; the erhu's tone can truly pierce anyone's soul..."

"I feel like he overshadowed the piano, making it the sole support."

"As expected of a voice rogue who can exchange one for another under the suona."

"Headphone users have ascended to heaven..."

"I watched the show in my dad's sound room...who can understand the power of millions of speakers?"

"Using high-end equipment to watch live streams online, the people upstairs are awesome."

"My grandma always stops to ask what song it is when she passes by... Wouldn't you say it's suitable for all ages?"

Of course, there were also a lot of abstract comments, and in Bilibili's broadcast room, the comments were even mixed up with those from the Japanese broadcast source.

"What kind of street is this? This is clearly a street I can't afford to live on!"

"Erhu: You can cry, but I can't stop."

"I was still engrossed in Lin Lin's singing, but as soon as the erhu started playing, I suddenly wanted to send my exes a Happy New Year message."

"???"

Countless question marks flew by after this comment, leaving viewers unsure whether to complain about the recent New Year or about their exes.

"Look, even my peaceful life has been thrown into chaos by the erhu, hahaha!"

"Why don't you translate what they said?! All that gibberish!"

"It's probably something like 'The wind lives on the street, and the erhu lives in my heart.'"

"And then there are things like, 'I suddenly feel sad for no reason, why?'... In short, the erhu broke down my defenses."

"Sorrow comes from nowhere."

"Oh no, did this trigger the melancholy of everyday life again?"

"Pretty much. Some viewers in the live chat are saying that all the low points in their lives have come to mind."

"That scoundrel Si Hua has caused a lot of harm..."

"Speaking of which, his recent works all seem rather melancholic... isn't his new animated film one too?"

"I'm not afraid of sad stories, I'm afraid of his antics!"

"It can't be that bad..."