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You call yourself human?

I’m not dead, just low on inspiration. That’s all I wanted to say, really, and while I’m trying to come up with some more legitimate ideas for anime blogging, I figured I may as well link a Supercar music video, by far and away my favourite Japanese rock band. Having been procrastinating for a few hours now, this obviously wasn’t an easy decision, first I was going to use “Wonderword“, then “Last Scene“, then “STROBOLIGHTS“, but, for obvious reasons that will soon become apparent, settled on “Be“…

[Warning: the above video contains a lot of violence and most definitely isn’t safe for work]

…”Be” is hardly Supercar‘s best song (for some better music, please do check out the other songs I’ve linked above), but after watching this music video for the first time earlier this evening, I just knew I had to use it. It’s very provocative, disturbing and, regardless of any deeper meaning, very, very cool looking (by the way, I wonder if any of you guys have seen any (live action) movies directed by Toshiaki Toyoda? Like ‘Blue Spring‘ or ‘9 Souls‘?). Thinking about it, I’m not sure a music video like this could be made in any country but Japan, it’s so morally ambivalent and uncompromising that the sensationalist press over here (in the UK) would probably tear it to pieces. Enjoy!

11 replies on “You call yourself human?”

The video is really good, but the song I’m going to say isn’t my theme. I didn’t think the guy would miss the goal so many times, but I guess he didn’t want those hostages to live either lols. Definitely not safe for work, but the violence is awesome.

while Supercar music is good and dandy, if you’re going to close down Afterimage you’re going to have to write a post about Kaiba episode 10 here, or i will be very displeased. :(.

I think he kept missing the goal because of logo conflict. The man needs to choose if he’s a fila guy, like his cleats or a nike guy like his leg bands.

@blissmo: As you seem to enjoy violence, I think you should watch Shigurui. I’m glad you enjoyed the video, anyway 🙂
@Celeste: I’m off work on holiday for the next two weeks and one of my important missions is to catch up with the episodic reviews of Kaiba. I wouldn’t like to disappoint you! 🙂 Also, I take it you’ve already picked up the Genius Party fansubs? I’m thinking of doing a write-up for Shinichiro Watanabe’s episode “Baby Blue”.
@dengar: Interesting theory, obviously Nike have influence in high places! Anyway, ever since scoring a few goals with their boots, I’ve been more of an Umbro man 🙂
@Hoshi: I wish I could read Japanese because I expect the text that scrolls along the bottom of the video just before each person is shot reveals their relationship to the main guy. Anyway, Supercar are a fantastic band.
@Ivy: I’m almost scared of writing about Xam’d. It seems you can read me like a book, because I just know I’ll love it, so much so I’ve been waiting to get decent video quality fansubs and watching the OP/ED over and over. Nausicaa is my favourite Miyazaki movie and seeing as how Xam’d seems so influenced by that, I’m really struggling to say anything other than “YYYYYAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!”

@bateszi: Hell yeah! Thanks so much! It looks so awesome, although the sex scenes may disturb me a little bit, but the blood and gory is beautiful. This is what I’ve been looking for lols. You got any other violent anime for my liking?

Heh, given the relationship between English footballers and the taking of penalties under pressure, this pitch-black humour would most definitely not go down well over here! The song as a whole isn’t as good as one or two of their other songs you’ve posted vids for (I’m a huge fan of bands that do the post-rock and blending guitars and synths BTW – that live number of theirs was superb) but the overall experience does remind me of Radiohead’s 1990s material.
Violence is I think perfectly acceptable and actually beneficial when used in context (which is why Battle Royale is still one of my all-time favourite movies), such as here. I love music videos that tell a whole story on their own, especially when the premise is so startling and unusual.
And yeah, you need to carry on reviewing Kaiba! I’ve had zero time or inclination to start anything new lately apart from Hidamari Sketch but there are one or two gems such as Kaiba that deserve continued coverage. That and obscure J-rock, obviously. ^_^

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