A look back at 2016

I had many encounters with entertainment in 2016.

Musics

Yutaka Ozaki is wonderful. His lyrics latch onto the hearts of junior and high school students.

I was especially moved by “Sotsugyou (Graduation)”. He sings about both the clear and the vague feelings of confinement that students feel from their teachers and society, and after instilling feelings of empathy, he says, “that all ends once you graduate.”

And that this graduation is only one of many “graduations from myself” that we will have in our lives.

Books

As it is a book written for the purpose of encouraging introverted people it does feel as though it is somewhat biased, but I was told that it was based on research results in US which is good.

What I read was translated into Japanese, but since there was no references at the end I bought the original later on.

The second half is based upon the personal experience of the writer, and I found the specific approach expressed to be helpful.

Classics

I went to my first ever classical orchestra concert.

The performance consisted of several songs from Wagner’s Lohengrin, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

The sound coming from the dozens of performers and singers in front of me without going through a microphone was inspiring in and of itself.

Entertainment that can be enjoyed not for its lyrics and melody but just for the layering of its instruments seemed very fresh to me, maybe because I’m from a generation that is used to the sound coming out of speakers and earphones.

Movies

your name.

“Bicentennial Man” was most favorite movie, but one day when I went to the cinema, became a thing of the past. Of course, I still like “Bicentennial Man”, second.

I think that density is important for entertainment. If the content is too dense the development will be very frantic, and conversely, if it’s too sparse, the story will take on a calm feeling. “your name.” is so dense as to leave its audience in the dust, and there are many sudden developments.

At the beginning, the future development is explained in an easy to understand music video style, but it was still difficult to keep up, and there were some small parts in the story that were unclear.

I think that this is the reason that there were so many people who wanted to discuss these questions, and why word of mouth spread. This was probably also something that was considered when it was being made.

I wonder what sort of encounters there will be in the coming year.