Anata ni naritai/Akirekaeru hodo

あなたになりたい/あきれかえるほど (三石琴乃)

Pioneer LDC PIVL-5121 (VHS only)
color, 16 minutes, 1980 yen.

[information by Kenny Toh]

Contents

Description

"Anata ni naritai/Akirekaeru hodo" is Kotono's very first music video release, and simply put, it is a fantastic production, and a MUST-HAVE item for all Kotono fans! Not only are the songs very nice and catchy, but there are lots of close-ups of Kotono's face. Kotono smiles a lot and looks very happy!

As a big Kotono fan, I'm somewhat biased, of course, but for me, this videotape has become my very favorite seiyuu video. The songs in this video-clip collection showcases Kotono's talents as a singer very nicely. Furthermore, the camera does an excellent job at capturing Kotono's sunny personality as well as her beautiful face.

If there are any drawbacks to this first video-clip collection, it is that this tape is much too short. But perhaps this is a blessing as well, since I don't think my heart could have survived more than 16 minutes of direct exposure to Kotono! ^_^;;

The videotape is very nicely packaged, with two absolutely beautiful pictures of Kotono on both the front and the back. The front picture is a full body shot, capturing Kotono in mid-jump, while the picture on the back has Kotono smiling at the camera. In both photos, Kotono looks radiant and beautiful. The videotape comes with a postcard with Kotono's picture on it, as well as a lyrics sheet.

Anata ni naritai

Kotono sings this song with a slightly sorrowful look on her face, which befits the mood of the song. "Anata ni naritai" is a nice catchy romantic song about unrequited love; the singer has a platonic relationship with a friend, but wishes for a relationship deeper than friendship.

In this clip, Kotono is dressed in white-striped pajama-top (or perhaps a man's shirt) and white trousers. This clip is shot on a simple white background, which serves to accentuate Kotono's face. There are a lot of close-ups of Kotono's face, mostly from the front, and occasionally from the side. In the front close-ups, Kotono's face fills the TV screen, and we get to see that Kotono has a very nice face indeed ^_^;;

Akirekaeru hodo

This is another nice song, which is medium paced yet catchy. The best thing about this video clip, however, is that Kotono looks very happy and she's either smiling or laughing all throughout the clip! In this video, Kotono is shown walking in the street, drinking tea in a tea-house, walking next to a lake, and visiting a flower shop. As in "Anata ni naritai", the are lots of gorgeous close-ups of Kotono's face, made even more precious by the joy evident on her face. In fact, her joy is so contagious that while watching this clip, I found myself unable to prevent myself from smiling back at her! (^_^)

Kotono is again dressed conservatively in this clip. In the scenes in the flower shop, she wears a long blue skirt, white shirt, and has a blue shawl draped around her shoulders.

Making of "Akirekaeru hodo"

This clip shows the events and bloopers that occurred during the shooting of "Akirekaeru hodo". An instrumental version of "Akirekaeru hodo" is played in the background. We get to see Kotono almost get run over by a car while shooting a scene walking on a street. We also get to see a cameraman taking a closeup shot of Kotono's face - he brings the camera to within a foot of her face!

I found this clip to be quite enjoyable, and most of all, I was impressed by the amount of work (a whole day's worth of shooting) needed to make a 5-minute video.