My Eyes Have Seen You, The Doors

Rambling nonsensically to the point of potential ad nauseum.

Wataru's image song, Root of Love, being a jazz piece is so incredibly important to me. It is not the kind of song that one would expect to hear from Argonavis, and yet they composed a Freaking Jazz Song. What I love so much about jazz is the heavy emphasis on improvisation, specifically the bass. At the heart of jazz is room to have fun, solos galore, and room for every piece of the band to add their own flair (for example: this Brubeck piece - a jazz standard).

Wataru's bass is at the heart of this song, naturally, since it is his image song. The guitar, the instrument that usually steals the spotlight, is there, but it seems to fall to a supporting instrument; that being said, it still shines through, but not nearly as much as the bass. The keyboard, soft and light, and feeling as if one had walked into a jazz bar - the drums, swinging and hitting the off beats to accompany the walking bassline. It is a beautiful rhythm that is tied together with the vocals, which nestle into the ridges and grooves of the instrumental. It is all intentional, and yet, full of individuality. The song itself, as I like to say for most jazz songs, feels like a walking heartbeat. Perfect, so perfect, for a song about the love Wataru has for his bass. Jazz is often associated with love, after all. It is an emotive, poetic genre that encapsulates everything Wataru is about artistically - it is a genre that breaks the boundaries, doing what it wants, and each song strives to become its own standalone thing, rather than what its predecessor was (points dramatically, so dramatically, at Kenta). An example that I'd like to point to is Sinatra's vs Cooke's covers of Holiday's I Cover The Waterfront.

Wataru liking jazz is canon to Me now. I do not care if Rio wrote the composition, the fact that jazz is associated with Wataru is Important To Me. Wataru wrote the lyrics, anyway, and jazz vocals are a whole other story entirely that I, unfortunately, don't know too much about since I am a bassist and not a vocalist. I want someone to cover this song like how musicians of the past did; I think it would sound really nice in a style akin to Gaga + Bennett's cover of Ellington's It Don't Mean A Thing.

I have never been a fan of Yuu's wristband. To me, it always seemed out of place, something of a random accessory that never aligned with his character - it felt too sporty, if I were to put a word to it.




It finally hit me. Guitarists in real life (James Hetfield of Metallica for example) wear wristbands, too! There are many reasons they wear them, but from what I have seen I gather that the primary reason is because of sweat production; a sweaty wrist on a glossy guitar (like, I don't know, a Gibson Les Paul Standard) can cause the skin to stick, ultimately slowing the guitarist down and causing pain. The wristband keeps the wrist from sticking, absorbing any sweat - it is also a great place for one to wipe their fretting hand on if they don't have a wristband on that wrist (I'll have to look through my live archives to see if Hyu does this lol). On top of this, it can help with compression. Compression can help a lot with people who are suseptible to wrist and forearm pain, which I am now headcanoning Yuu to get since he is a very dedicated guitarist and, over time, probably developed wrist pain in his strumming arm. It can also negate any fatigue if playing for long periods of time.

What interests me the most about his wristband, despite my distain for it, is how he wears it 24/7. I am fully convinced this is meant to signal his love for the guitar - never does he ever rest, never does he ever leave his role as a guitarist. He probably carries a pick or five in his wallet, too.

I have been living on mercari lately. A lot of secondhand merch (+ firsthand yuuwata sitting nui) incoming..! My Yuu itabag is already complete, but there is one pin that I have been hoping to swap out with a Will pin, which I managed to get my hands onnnnn! Pin I'm swapping out is kinda ugly lol - it's a chibi, which I am quite picky with. I also have no pins in my bag in the later Kimisute style (the last pin I bought was the one from his birthday set in the interim between AAside and Kimisute) so it'll be nice to have one at last.... Will Yuu is the prettiest he has ever looked in my opinion ;w;


They are all so beautiful...... This image heals me every time I look at it.

I've got matching Yuuwata Will polaroids coming, too - perhaps I will put them in one of the pockets in my journal as a good luck charm?

I often think about the Puchigonavis 4koma where Wataru tells Tomoru and Jun that he likes old movies. While the butt of the joke was that he was telling people a good 10 or so years older than him that he likes films from when they were young and, thereby, calling them old, I like to think that this was not the case. Wataru is a known film lover, and cinephiles, like yours truly, don't tend to call films from the 00s 'old'. I am also gesturing violently at his initial 3-star card story where he passionately talks about the impact of technique and storytelling. He is 100% a cinephile rather than just someone who happens to like film a lot.

He would have a killer Letterboxd account.