Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Ritsuko Okazaki/Hiroko Kasahara -- Sora no Mukou ni (空の向こうに)


As I mentioned back in August 2013 when I wrote about the lovely ballad "Ame de Musique"(雨のmusique), I never played the computer game, "Symphonic Rain", which it came from. However, I didn't need to play it to know how wonderful it sounded as sung by Masumi Okano(浅野真澄)who voiced one of the characters and the late Ritsuko Okazaki(岡崎律子)who had created the song.


Comparatively though, my anime buddy hasn't played "Ame de Musique" during anison hour as often as he has this other ballad and the actual opening theme from the game called "Sora no Mukou ni" (The Other Side of the Sky). But I don't blame him for his choice because it is also a wonderful song in my estimation. This is another Okazaki creation which shows right from its opening notes that perhaps the singer-songwriter had been a fan of those 80s power ballads by folks like David Foster. The arrangement is such that I could've easily imagined Chicago or TOTO tackling this one. If I'm not mistaken, the above is the Okazaki version from "For Ritz", her 7th album from December 2004.

I read the information today on the J-Wiki article about the album but supposedly this was to have been released in June of that year but with Okazaki's sudden passing the previous month, the decision was made by production staff to hold off on the release for several months and even change the initial title to "For Ritz" in tribute to her.


Supposedly the above video here is the rendition by seiyuu Hiroko Kasahara(笠原弘子)who played the character of Phorni in "Symphonic Rain" but I just found the renditions so similar that I'm kinda wondering if it is also Okazaki here as well. Corrections are welcome.

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