A College Student Saved by Fujifabric

When Fujifabric announced their hiatus, I was a college student and listened to them for the first time.I knew of the band's existence. I felt like I had seen them on Music Station when I was a child, and I had watched the music video for the song "Wakamono no Subete" on YouTube exactly once; that was the extent of my knowledge of Fujifabric at the time.

In this Note, I would like to talk about the impression I received from Fujifabric, in my own way, as someone who was too late to discover them. I intend to speak with the understanding that because Fujifabric has such a long history, the feelings listeners have toward them vary wildly, butI would like to preface this by saying that these are merely the impressions of a young person who only recently discovered them.

A band I had never heard before

The news of their hiatus was what prompted me to listen to Fujifabric, which is a complicated feeling for me now, but as someone who loved bands from around the time I was born—like ART-SCHOOL, Base Ball Bear, Sakanaction, and BUMP OF CHICKEN—I decided to give Fujifabric a listen. First, I struggled with where to start. I decided to listen to songs that had music videos, playing them on YouTube while I did other things.The first song I fell in love with there was "Akai Kiiroi Kinmokusei".What is this intro? And what is this vocal? And the keyboard in the interlude.It is a rock band, yet it is beautiful. This band had a charm
that I had never encountered before.

The lyrics are also truly wonderful.At the time, I had just come to the city from my hometown and started living alone, so I ended up superimposing my hometown memories onto this song even more, and I became completely hooked on Fujifabric.Listening to songs like "Sakura no Kisetsu" and "Kagerou," an image began to form that "Fujifabric might be a lyrical band." It was right when I thought that.
The next song I listened to was "TAIFU" -> Huh? And then "Surfer King" -> Huh???

They were quite the eccentric band.Are they really the same person who wrote the lyrics for "Akai Kiiroi Kinmokusei"? They are a bit laid-back, and compared to mainstream rock, they are a little twisted. However, they are pop, rock, and cool. I thought they were a band with an incredible balance. If I start listing songs like "Saboten Record" or "Senkou Hanabi," there is no end to it.

The first album I listened to, "CHRONICLE"

Here, I decided to try listening to an album. Since there was no one around me who was knowledgeable about Fujifabric, I didn't know which one to listen to, so I decided to choose by the cover art for the time being and started listening to "CHRONICLE." Now that I love Fujifabric, I wonder why I chose this album back then, butit was only because the dog on top of the head was cute.The first track was "Baumkuchen." My heart was captured from the intro. And I will never forget the shock of hearing the chorus for the first time.

What naked lyrics these are. The greatness of being able to frankly express such negative things.I thought at the time, "It's okay for a rock band to sing about things like this so loudly."Even though it's so negative, I thought the song title "Baumkuchen" was also fairy-tale-like and witty. And the song that left the biggest impression on me was "Anthem."

It reminded me that my mother passed away from illness a few years ago. It was right after I entered college. The time my mother was battling illness overlapped with my college entrance exam period, and until I entered college, I fought with her about my career path despite her illness, and toward the end, I ignored my college classes and returned home many times. I couldn't accept at all that someone important to me was dying. Because I couldn't accept it, I couldn't be honest, and I have regrets that I should have told her my true feelings. Even so, I am still plagued by a sense of loneliness. I felt like this song dug up the feelings I had left in a mess.I was very encouraged by the very fact that "someone existed years ago who made an album that makes you look forward even though it's so negative."As I listened to this album, I gradually realized that "there are many songs on this album about someone who is no longer here." That's why I thought it was called CHRONICLE. I gradually became interested not only in Fujifabric's songs but also in the band members, wondering, "What kind of person made an album like this?"

Learning the history of Fujifabric

As I started researching Fujifabric, it immediately came up that the vocalist had passed away. His name was Masahiko Shimura. I also learned that this was right after they had made CHRONICLE. It had been bothering me for a long time. The YouTube comment sections were filled with the name "Shimura," and when I was streaming Fujifabric songs, there were occasional tracks where the vocals sounded different. I then learned that this was because Soichiro Yamauchi, who was once the lead guitarist, had been performing as the guitar-vocalist, continuing Fujifabric with the other members until now.
The vocalist passed away, and from there, the other members kept Fujifabric going. They have done so for a longer period than the era when the vocalist was still with them. I thought they were geniuses. Usually, when a genius frontman is gone, a band cannot survive. Or, they might add new members to make a comeback.Even though that is what would normally happen, Fujifabric continued as a band with the existing members taking over the vocals.This is not something that can be explained just by saying they are geniuses. You cannot do this without incredible fortitude.There are too many emotions that can only be understood by those who didn't follow Fujifabric in real-time, and I regretted here that I was late to start listening to them.It was only now that I realized that "Wakamono no Subete" (All About Young People), which I saw on Music Station when I was a child, was sung by Mr. Yamauchi. Even after Mr. Shimura was gone, Fujifabric continued to create songs. I like "Tsuredure Monochrome," "Green Bird," "Hajimari no Uta," and "WIRED."

Being saved by Fujifabric

Before I knew about Fujifabric, I had been unable to come to terms with my mother's death. People around me said, "It was too early for her to pass away." I thought so too. It was because I hadn't been able to give back anything to my mother for all she had done for me. Since my mother passed away, I had an anxiety that if there was such a thing as a "correct life," I might be living a "wrong life." Perhaps I was burned out after the struggles of university entrance exams, the depression of adolescence, and my mother's death, but I felt a vague sense of nihilism toward life. A while after that, I encountered Fujifabric. And I was shocked by Fujifabric's music. As I researched, I learned about the genius frontman Masahiko Shimura and the three members who continued Fujifabric while losing him. And then, after being active as Fujifabric for longer than the period Masahiko Shimura was there, they went on hiatus. Maybe my life is still going to be okay.If I am shown the way of life of such a cool band, I have no choice but to do my best too.

Lastly: "Wakamono no Subete"

After I knew a certain amount about Fujifabric, I listened to "Wakamono no Subete" again. I thought once more that it was a masterpiece. Of course, now that I have come to love Fujifabric, I think there are many songs by them that rival "Wakamono no Subete," buteven so, I still thought this song was special to me.I have truly watched Mr. Shimura's MCs on YouTube many times. I received the hope from Fujifabric to keep walking even with scraped knees.

Thank you for reading this far. I truly cannot regret enough that I could not follow Fujifabric in real-time (especially that I could not see their live performances in person). Also, although it is a bit vulgar, I feel sorry that despite being saved by Fujifabric this much, I haven't been able to spend money on them. I can only buy their CDs. From now on, I would like to follow Soichiro Yamauchi's solo activities. As an aside, I have listened to all of Fujifabric's albums, but "CHRONICLE" is still the best for me.