new(ish) vid - "Wonderwall" - Hikaru no Go - Akira/Hikaru
Wonderwall
Fandom: Hikaru no Go
Song/Artist: Wonderwall by Oasis
Duration: 3:34 minutes
Summary: Akira/Hikaru. I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.
Spoilers: Whole series plus 2004 New Year special.
Click to viewToday is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow realised what you gotta do
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now
Back beat, the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before but you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now
And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how
Because maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall
Today was gonna be the day but they'll never throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow realised what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now
And all the roads that lead you there were winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you but I don't know how
I said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall
This is a semi-redux of a much older vid, which used a cover of the same song. I’ll cut short the mad rant about how Akira/Hikaru are my ultimatest OTP ever and I could never bring myself to vid them since then because nothing was ever good enough. In the intervening 9 years I listened to millions of song ideas, but this one is the only one I’d ever found to have the level of symmetry and depth of feeling that I felt the vid needed. And then I finally came into proper DVD source and clean credits and thought it’s about damn time.
The original vid was structurally unsatisfying, fair dues, it was 2005 and I didn't know what the hell I was doing. But what bugged me even more was actually the fact that I still really liked a lot of the verse work. It occupied a weird grey area where it desperately wanted a reworking but didn’t feel like it entirely needed one, so I guess using the different, original version of the song was a way to acknowledge that. I also liked how the drums gave the vid extra energy that was lacking in the old version.
In the end, a lot of the old vid can be found in the new vid, sometimes clip for clip. But hopefully there’s also a lot more structure and payoff. I thought a lot about how much narrative simplicity I was going to yield to viewers without context, but their backstory is just too tangled for that, especially when it came to Sai. Just go watch the anime. It’s fairly the best thing ever.
As usual with astute husband win, M noted that the vid was “a bit gay.” I’m just vidding what’s in the source, dude. But I’m also now a convert of the romantic relationship being actual secret canon, by virtue of this most excellent essay.
Seriously good fic:
A Resolution of Territory by arboretum.
Obviously, it was going to have to be Touya, all along. Obviously.
Cats in the Cradle by lisan.
It's been four years since you first saw your son pick up a Go stone, since you first heard him speak Touya-kun's name.
Golden Week by mousapelli.
It's common knowledge on the Igo circuit that Shindou goes a little crazy during Golden Week every year, but this year Touya might actually be out-freaking him.