Japanese band Radwimps’ Shonen Jump music video is a moving love song to manga’s heroes【Video】

Sometimes anime and manga are just fun entertainment, but sometimes they mean much, much more, reminds song from the creators of Your Name’s soundtrack.

Aside from its breathtaking visuals and engaging story, director Makoto Shinkai’s anime Your Name owes part of its success to its soundtrack from Japanese band Radwimps. Shinkai himself has spoken repeatedly of how important the music is in creating the film’s unique atmosphere, and the group even performs the English versions of the songs which are to be used in its North American dubbed theatrical run.

But while Radwimps’ emotionally charged rock stylings seem like a perfect fit for anime themes, Your Name is actually the first time any of the bands’ music has been used in an animated production. However, Radwimps’ members themselves seem to have plenty of love for anime and manga, as one track their most recent album, Ningen Kaika, is all about their respect for and gratitude to the manga serialized in anthology Weekly Shonen Jump.

Titled, appropriately enough, “Weekly Shonen Jump,” the song has a brand-new video, with vocalist Yojiro Noda’s voice accompanied by a series of stills from some of the magazine’s most popular series, including One Piece, Gintama, Haikyu!!, Food Wars/Shokugeki no Soma, and My Hero Academia.

Well-known for unabashedly wearing his heart on his sleeve, Noda sings passages including:

I’ve been dreaming of a future like the things I see in Shonene Jump
I’ve been waiting for my chance to save you from a pinch

I’m not planning on ever using the cool lines I read
But every night, when I’m taking a bath, I still make sure to whisper them to myself

It’s cooler when the hero pulls out a victory after getting beaten and bloodied, right?
So even though my heart’s been taking a beating, I keep dreaming

I’m narrating it in my head. Got my eyes open. Won’t blink.
“This is where the hero finally starts his rise to glory. Even when his pride is wounded and bleeding, he clings to it strongly, ever more strongly.”

So the boy stands up, and shouts as loud as he can.
And finally the door bursts open and the light shines in.

It’s cooler when the hero pulls out a victory after getting beaten and bloodied, right?
So don’t hide your heart if it’s beaten up right now, and cry if you want

Comic book readers have long been saddled with the stigma that they’re enjoyment of the genre stems from a lack of interest in reality, and in recent years it’s become increasingly in-vogue to bash shonen (boys’) manga for being power fantasies. But Noda’s lyrics give an eloquent voice to manga fans who see something aspirational in the characters whose adventures they follow, and assert that in giving them a fictional ideal to chase after, manga can also give readers the courage and strength to pursue the dreams they have for their own, real, lives,

Source: IT Media
Images: YouTube/radwimpsstaff

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