Taishō Roman (song)

On July 20, 2020, Monogatary.com, a creative writing social media operated by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, announced Yoasobi Contest Vol.2, for selecting a story to publish as a book by Futabasha and perform a song by Yoasobi.[2] A winning story was announced on October 30, titled Taishō Romance (大正ロマンス, Taishō Romansu), written by Natsumi,[3] from the total of 2,086 novels.[4] The story is about Tokito, a boy who lives in Reiwa era accidentally received a letter from Chiyoko, a girl from the Taishō era, who later became a pen pal and developed a romance.[5]

On August 9, 2021, at YouTube live streaming, Online Live Viewing Event "Yoasobi Hanseikai", the duo announced to adapt the award-winning story Taishō Romance to produce a song, titled "Taishō Roman", with changing a word from "Romance" (ロマンス) in katakana to "Roman" (浪漫) in kanji instead of the original on September 15, and publish the book of the same new title on the following day, September 16.[6] The song was teased and featured as a main theme of Yoasobi's exhibition, Semiconductors Create New Realities, as part of Sony Park Exhibition, which was held at Ginza Sony Park.[5] "Taishō Roman" officially released on September 15.[7] Later, the song was included on their second extended play The Book 2, released on December 1.[8] The English version, titled "Romance", appeared on the duo's second English-language EP E-Side 2, released on November 18, 2022.[9]

The lyrics of "Taishō Roman" are based upon an eponymous novel which references the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake of the Taishō era.

"Taishō Roman" was written by Ayase, a member, and producer of Yoasobi, and composed in the key of C♯ minor, 130 beats per minute with a running time of 2 minutes and 48 seconds.[10] It is described as a "bittersweet" song with "hooked" piano sound. Valerie Valdez from The Honey Pop said the song is "produce[d] music that gives off the feeling of going through time."[11]

Lyrically, like the based novel, "Taishō Roman" tells a time-lapse romance of two people who span over a hundred years.[5] A boy in present Reiwa era accidentally received a letter written by a girl in Taishō era, 100 years ago. He fell in love with her and would like to meet her, but he could not because of the time difference. The boy learned that the girl was in a period of disaster (1923 Great Kantō earthquake) and wrote to warn her, but she did not reply after that. The girl's letter was sent to him later, described by the boy as "the last love letter". He regarded the letters as proof that girls are alive in her time and are determined to one day convey to her the experience of their own time.[12]

In Japan's Oricon charts, "Taishō Roman" debuted at number 7[13] and later peaked at number 5 on the Combined Singles Chart.[14] The song also debuted atop the Digital Singles Chart, earning 32,022 download units,[15] becoming the eighth number-one song of the chart.[16] For Billboard Japan, the song debuted at number two on the Japan Hot 100, behind only Kis-My-Ft2's "Fear", selling 28,042 download units (number one on the Download Songs), and with 4,045,151 steams (number 20 on the Streaming Songs) in first week.[17] The song also entered number 105, and 42 on the Billboard Global 200, and Global Excl. US charts of October 2, respectively.[18][19]

An accompanying music video of "Taishō Roman" premiered on September 16, 2021.[20] The duo released a teaser video of the song on September 13, showing Ikura's voice reading passages from the based novel Taishō Romance.[7] For the music video, the characters were designed by Eisaku Kubonouchi, Shinji Kimura was the art director,[20] and collaborated with NTT Docomo's project Quadratic Playground.[21] The virtual reality music video, created by Quadratic Playground, was uploaded on October 26.[22]

Synopsis

A scene in the music video shows Tokito seeing the giant clock pointing to 11:58, the time that the Great Kantō earthquake occurred.

The "Taishō Roman" music video begins with a vivid background, showing Tokito, a boy who wears contemporary clothes, and Chiyoko, a girl who wears Taishō-era kimono, reading a letter with a showy background of kimono pattern, clocks, and household electric appliances flying past behind them. Then, they read it on the street in their era, Reiwa, and Taishō. The background is changed between a modern railway carriage switch and a wood-paneled railway carriage, shown they read a letter in the end.[23]

After that, Tokito turns around to see the giant clock pointing to 11:58 in the background, which is the time that the Great Kantō earthquake occurred. Suddenly, he runs across the showy background and throws a letter into the door being close. Later, he walks crestfallenly, showing the black lyrics on white background. The door opened to show the letter is sent to Chiyoko. She read it and run to throw her reply letter sent to him. He reads the letter while standing on the hour hand of a clock and meet Chiyoko, which stands on the minute hand. Finally, the pair runs towards each other and embraces, but as quickly, the music video ended up with Chiyoko fading from an explosion of light.[23]

Yoasobi performed "Taishō Roman" for the first time, alongside "Loveletter", and "Tsubame" at NHK's music show Songs on December 2, 2021.[24]

Song

• Ayase – producer, songwriter
• Ikura – vocals
• Natsumi – based story writer
• Takayuki Saitō – vocal recording
• Masahiko Fukui – mixing
• Hidekazu Sakai – mastering

Music video

• Taishō Roman

• Taishō Romance on Monogatary.com
• Futabasha's Yoasobi Book