Week 4: “Yushinron” - RADWIMPS

RADWIMPS have recently made their way into my personal favorite bands list. With that association, I’ve explored many of their works including a handful of their PV’s. After watching the PV for “Yushinron” (有心論, Center Theory?), I knew it had a place in SparkPlugged’s PV of the Week Feature (it should really be the PV of the Every Other Week, huh?).

Right off the bat, “Yushinron” is a beautiful song. The calm acoustic guitar riff leads off into an electric progression. The song bounces back-and-forth between calm moments and others that aren’t so much. “Yushinron” is by no means chaotic. Rather, the differentiation is moderate. Lead singer Yojiro’s vocals either speed up or become more emotional, but like the accompanying music, they never get louder or more dominant.

“Yushinron” the PV seems fitting for the overall mood of the actual song. The setting is peaceful and calm; a comfortably overcast sky floats over a green field with a placid river/canal in the background. The PV begins with Yojiro simply singing while walking. We’re quickly surpised when the vocalist is joined by another version of himself singing out-of-sync. Proceeding the two Yojiros are animated silhouettes of a beating heart and flowers. This is where the video began to grab my attention

There’s more,

Yojiro throws his guitar case on the grassy ground and then his image is covered by a silhouette of a tree. After that, as the song enters the chorus, he joins the band. That takes us back to some normality. More animation shows up later on in the video…from Yojiro walking atop a rotating globe to a teary eye, the animated sequences add a dimension of art and symbolism.

My favorite part of the video is actually that of a sequence already shown. The last part of the song sees the camera returning to the two Yojiros singing and walking next to eachother. This time it is the previously out-of-sync version of him that is singing along to the song. Where he turned off during the first showing, the camera follows him this time as he rejoins the band. We then see the other rendition of the lead singer go about his actions just as he did previously before in the PV. It’s simple, it’s a bit trippy, and it’s really cool!

last last week’s PV:“Koi no Mega Lover” - MAXIMUM THE HORMONE