Novel - Shinigami no Ballad. 1

By Matthew on December 29, 2005 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

And my "I have no clue what this is like, but since there's an anime of it coming up I'll check it out" purchase this time. My instincts were right on, as Shinigami no Ballad. is definitely a strike for me ;) Though in that 。゜・（ノД`）・゜・。 way...

Overture - Close your eyes
There was a girl there.
The girl was wearing red shoes.
However, the girl did not know why she was wearing red shoes.
The girl did not have any memories.

Even so, the girl had one mission.
Carrying someone's life... taking it.
That was the girl's mission, born from tears.
One who administers death.
A black messenger.

Why was I born?
Why am I here?

So the girl decided to go.
In order to find herself.
A lonely white in the midst of black.
Herself, a pure white born from tears.
To find the reason for that.
All alone, carrying black in her eyes, looking straight at the world.
The day she would understand would surely come.

That's why she decided to go, wearing red shoes.

And that would be the introduction for the first volume of Shinigami no Ballad. The girl described is the shinigami of the title, the ~~loli~~ girl god of death, Momo. Her official shinigami designation is "A" 100100, A no juumantondehyaku, but since that's hard to say, if you put the 100 and 100 together you get 百百 Momo, so that's what most people call her. Her companion is a black cat named Daniel. Daniel tries his best to keep Momo in line, but he doesn't have much success... you see, Momo's a bit of an odd shinigami. She doesn't follow her orders all the time, sometimes lengthening people's lives instead of taking them, and she's quite a crybaby as well. And rather kawaii as well ;)

Hikari no kiseki. I feel the light

Each of the "chapters" is a self-contained story involving the people Momo meets as she carries out her job as a shinigami. The first story is about the son of the very famous painter Ichiyou, a middle school boy named Daiki. He's expected to follow in his father's footsteps and become a painter, but he hates it... he thinks himself worthless, seemingly unable to satisfy his father, and the world worthless. He decides to finally end it all, climbing up to the 9th floor of an abandonded building... another guy his age commited suicide there, jumping out a wndow. He left scribbles, "poems", of what he felt. Daiki takes out his sketchbook and draws the scenery in a dark black... As Daiki sits on the window edge, suddenly a girl in white appears, asking him if he's going to jump. She doesn't mind if he does... but he's not on the list so it'll cause some problems. It's Momo, and Daniel is there with her as well. They came since they sensed death... but that death probably isn't the death Daiki desires. Jarred by the experience, Daiki runs away down the stairs...

Soon enough, Daiki goes back to the 9th floor of that abandoned building, once again thinking of jumping. By doing that he could become like that guy who left his "poems" there, immortal, a "light". Momo once again shows up, asking him the same question again. She says people don't become "light" by choosing to die, they do so by living their fullest. She remembers the boy who killed himself the last year... it was very sad and painful for her... Daiki once again leaves...

...and the time comes for Daiki's first big exhibition as an artist. He did everything the way his father told him to... the painting he did of an angel gained high praise -- he had meant it to be sad, but somehow it turned out very gentle. Looking at his son's painting, Ichiyou asks him why he paints. Daiki can't answer... That's why your paintings are worthless, Ichiyou says... that night Ichiyou had a heart attack..

...Ichiyou had a previous undetected heart condition, and things aren't looking well for him. The girl in white, Momo, suddenly appears, surprising Daiki. Well, she is a shinigami after all... she tells him that his father is calling for him.. his father comes back somehow. And by speaking to his father one last time Daiki learns how much is father cared for him, how much he wanted him to succeed as an artist, how his father even thought Daiki would surpass him as an artist. And then it was time to him to go...

...Momo appears once again later, crying. She wanted to give Daiki and his father more time together. Still crying, she brings out a painting from Ichiyou's studio.. a painting of Daiki. After she had told Ichiyou of his upcoming death, he had worked his best to finish it. Ichiyou asked Momo to give it to Daiki...

Daiki's exhibition was a huge success. The two last paintings, especially: one, from father to son, the other from son to father. Both were done very well.

So that's pretty much how it goes, a mix of make-you-cry sadness and some gentleness. The first episode of the anime is actually the next story in the volume...

Kimi no Koe. echo

The boy is Kouta, the girl Mai (Chiwa Saitou's her CV, btw). I'll leave it at that for now.

If you watched Twin Spica, especially the stories from Asumi's past, I think you would agree with me that Tomomi Mochizuke is an excellent choice as director of the Shinigami no Ballad. anime. It's unfortunate that it's only going to be 6 episodes, but I'm looking forward to seeing it. Though I'll be doing a lot of this while watching: 。゜・（ノД`）・゜・。 Y'all bring a box of your preferred brand of tissue -- you'll need it, believe me.

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