Diary Introducing Songs I Listened To (October 1, 2023) No. 204: Yuzurenai Negai / Naomi Tamura

Yuzurenai Negai / Naomi Tamura

The opening theme song for the anime "Magic Knight Rayearth."
At the time, CLAMP was known among elementary and junior high school girls as a group whose works were relatively niche, mainly appearing in magazines like Shinshokan or Kadokawa. However, with the anime adaptation of a work they were serializing in Kodansha's Nakayoshi—a mainstream shojo manga magazine for elementary and junior high school girls—the series garnered a lot of attention among that demographic, and I was paying attention to it myself (I am a man, but I was more of a Nakayoshi/Ribon reader than a Jump/Magazine reader).

The song was meticulously crafted as an anime tie-in, even including the protagonist's name in the lyrics, and it synced perfectly with the opening animation. Given the vocal prowess and the high quality of the composition, I felt that if this didn't become a hit, there would be something wrong with the world. As it turned out, the song became a massive hit that transcended the boundaries of anime songs, and Naomi Tamura even performed it on Kohaku Uta Gassen, which I think is truly wonderful.