On April 5 this year, the new version of Digimon finally aired. The second episode was just updated last Sunday.
If you, like me, had watched the TV and other animation on demand 21 years ago, you would definitely be very touched now:
The 8 selected children are exactly the same as they were 21 years ago.
Taiyi is still the hot-blooded explosive head, and Ah He still likes to wear a high-necked vest.
Meimei is still beautiful, and Asuke is still a good student.
The first encounter with Digimon is also an old taste.
Taiyi rolls into the digital world in a classic pose, and the Yagu Beast has big eyes and small eyes:
Then the Yagu Beast's eyes were watery, and he shouted out a sentence that I also wanted to shout:
—— Finally see you, Taiyi!
But I don't know if you are like me, there are some changes, and I am happy and frustrated to see it.
The time of the new work is synchronized with reality, and the background is 2020.
Taiyi used a touchscreen mobile phone, and Photon Lang's large thick computer was replaced by a high-end tablet:
Instead of landing on Failo Island, they entered a very high-tech stream of data.
Evolution has also changed. Before it was accompanied by a musical circle:
Now it's time to fight and change, and the flames are raging:
The most regrettable thing is that the theme song of the new version has changed.
Although the protagonist is the same, at the beginning of the anime, there is no longer Koji Wada's "Butter-fly".
Some people feel that animation has lost its soul.
Some say it was an eternal childhood and a dream.
On April 3, the 4th anniversary of the death of singer Koji Wada, I have not seen another such irreplaceable animation singer since.
When it comes to the immortal butterfly, everyone thinks of him. Meimei threw her hat, and everyone thought of him. When it comes to being selected to go to the digital world, everyone still thinks of him.
On the B station, the Digimon related bullet screen, the nostalgia for him is always dense.
Yinshin-sung singer Yonezu Genko, ktv must-have Wada Koji "Butter-fly".
Figure skating champion Yusuke Habu was asked about the songs he would listen to before the competition that would become a pillar of the soul, and his answer was Koji Wada's "Wind ~re-fly ver.~".
Yusuke Habu said, "I would have thought if Only Mr. Kōji Wada could pay attention to my performance in heaven."
Miyazaki, Miyazaki's old partner, the one who sang the evolution song "Brave Heart", left an empty guitar seat on the stage for Koji Wada.
21 years after Digimon began broadcasting, The voice of Koji Wada is the representative of the digital world. He almost became the embodiment of the lyrics:
"After the great limit
May we always have infinite dreams
In a world of nothing
Journey through a world of ruthlessness"
You can see his last stage on the Internet: the song is downgraded, the voice is less clear, the treble is a little weak, and the audience sings together with tears.
Digimon re-released 21 years later, will you cry when his song hears the first few words?
I found the news of the day he died 4 years ago, and the grief of the whole network was overwhelming.
So when I knew the fact that he wasn't actually famous, I was surprised.
Koji Wada, a singer who sang 4 Digimon title songs, works 80% of the work related to Digimon and looks like he should be a household name.
But in Japan, the Digimon anime is not popular. So his songs sold dismal, and his fame in China is greater than in Japan.
His life is the complete opposite of animation: he is never a "chosen child", but a completely selected child.
First of all, he came from a very ordinary background. I have no musical training, but I always want to be a singer and a star.
At the age of 18, I bought a cheap guitar with all my money.
After working for an electrical appliance company for half a year, he resigned and drifted north to Tokyo at the age of 19.
His path to pursuing his dreams seems to be all by chance.
He has delivered takeaways, worked as a TV drama actor, and sent his musical works to various music companies, companies, and record stores. Send 100 at a time, and there will be no response.
He planned to go home, but was persuaded by a phone call from his father: Just give up?
Looking back afterward, he said the call had changed his fate.
In 1999, he finally waited for his chance.
Digimon producers picked up his work from the trash can and contacted him.
But for him, it was tantamount to a change of career — he had only sung love songs before, and "Butter-Fly" was very rocky, and he had never sung such a fast song in his life.
On the day of the recording, he said that there was a feeling of a country boy entering the city:
"Studio equipment, singing and harmony buddies, have only been seen in dreams!"
On the day the first episode of the cartoon aired, he was bathing and changing clothes at home, and he was sitting precariously watching.
After that, you could say he's on fire in Digimon circles.
But in the larger circle, his results are actually mediocre.
For comparison with Pokemon, the song "Target Pokemon Master" sold 1.13 million.
Combined, the sales of all of Koji Wada's works are less than 60,000. Then keep singing, life is long anyway.
But fate continued to play tricks on him.
In 2003, he was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer and had to retire.
Doctors say his survival rate after 5 years is only 40 percent. This illness would ruin his voice and basically lay the death sentence for his career as a singer.
Later, everyone called him "Immortal Butterfly", which was actually cruel to me. Because the rest of his life is a repetition of the following three things:
Healed, on stage, relapsed.
I know that a netizen said that it was too humiliating, obviously it should be the story of the dream-chasing teenager Bei drift who finally achieved fame, and fate had to give him such a broken thing, so that people could not sing well?
In 2005, he resumed his music career and has since checked regularly every three months.
As a result, after 8 years, the doctors said that they were no longer in the way, completely cured, and 3 days later, he was diagnosed with cancer recurrence.
He was supposed to go to Shanghai in the summer of 2015 to attend a Bilibili concert, but everything was ready and everyone was looking forward to it.
But his illness recurred. So he asked another senior to travel on his behalf and wrote a letter:
"In the future, when I have the opportunity, I will definitely come to meet you!"
A year later, on April 3, Koji Wada died.
A month earlier, he had just released his return album Re-Fly, which meant taking off again.
But sales are still miserable, only 616 copies.
It seems like a sad story. A singer who did not sell well, his voice was ruined by cancer, and he only sang one famous song in his lifetime.
But I would say that this is more of a powerful life.
From 1999 to 2016, he sang for Digimon for 17 years.
His voice became a representative of the digital world, and he became more and more connected with the generations of animated protagonists who chased the light.
He said that the existence of Digimon was like a signpost for my musical activities. Digimon's tune is my strongest partner, and I can't take it off anyway.
His songs are always powerful, and his lyrics are always encouraging you.
He taught you to believe tomorrow:
Burn it! Agitation is the anxious heart
The forgotten tomorrow vows to take it back
He teaches you to trust partners:
Whether it's pain or laughter,
We all have to hold hands and hold hands together.
He teaches you to believe in dreams:
Behind the dream of infinite extension
Travel through a world of coldness and ruthlessness
You can say that his songs are chicken soup, but chicken soup can also play a role in real life.
When he was hospitalized again in 2011, he hated being told to cheer him on. "Come on and do what! ? ? "
But then he found that when the people around him said this to him, they also gave their best, so the anger turned into gratitude:
"A lot of things happen, but I still have to sing. That's why I'm going to sing. Confessing this pain as pure pain is real suffering. ”
He updates Twitter every day, and doesn't have many followers in total, but each one starts with "Hello guys."
Hello guys, the weather is really good today.
Hello guys, I'm going to run a marathon.
Hello guys, I bought all kinds of vegetables and made a cup of vegetable juice.
……
He had complete hair loss due to medication, so he wore a hat all the time. But he laughed, the big bald head is quite suitable for me, and I have shaved my head before acting in the era drama.
If you go to see his performances in chronological order, every time you go on stage, you can find that he is getting thinner and thinner, and the high notes are getting harder and harder to sing.
A girl at a concert said:
It was obvious that Wada's voice was not very good, and he was really shaking when he sang butterfly.
If you watch the video, you may not feel that the atmosphere is very warm, because many people are crying. ”
What impressed me the most was that he said that he was proud to have sung Digimon.
"In fact, I am often called a digital beast singer. It can be understood as 'that's all there is to it'.
But I feel that this is my pride, and I can even let others say that. I'll keep singing with the Digimon title. ”
In 2016, at his farewell ceremony, flowers were arranged in the shape of butterflies.
Everyone spontaneously brought a lot of Digimon peripheral dolls, as if the digital world was with him.
Someone sent a tie, and the payment was: "All the children who have inherited the courage."
21 years ago, when Koji Wada received an invitation to "butter-fly," the production director made a difficult request:
Show the feeling of meeting Digimon for the first time and hoping to meet again.
That year, he managed to do just that.
Now we meet him in this song and reunite with him.
His "Butter-Fly" was used in the koshien competition in Japan, a field that believes in blood and miracles like his life.
In 2017, the official launch of a Digimon called the Butterfly Beast in the game. It is a free-breed Digimon, and its killer skill is called Infinite Dreams.
It likes to fly and sing in the sunlit places, and its song is also called the treasure of eternity.
Singing will have a poisonous and paralyzing effect on the enemy, but it is mainly used to alleviate the pain and make the mood comfortable for the injured companions.
A lot of people cried when they saw it. This Digimon is Digital World's tribute to Koji Wada.
You have to admit that what our generation believes is actually quite plain:
Light can eventually overcome darkness, and even the weakest can burst out of infinite energy.
Every battle, it is always the advancement of the Digimon that represents courage, and the Dynobi that represents hope evolves at a critical moment.
The same is true of life, the beginning requires courage, and the success of the ending depends on hope.
To this day, there are still people who go to Japan to make a special trip to Hikaru, because it is Taiyi's home.
There are still people who talk about evolution with relish, and there is a white Jingba dog in the family called Xiao Gui, who will force him to evolve into a big one.
Idealized and even deified by Chinese audiences, Koji Wada's voice returned everyone to the days when they watched the television every day.
Before his death, Koji Wada once sent a message:
"Although I suffer from illness, there are always people around me who can help me. I was very pleased.
Although illness is not a happy thing, such a life is still quite interesting. This can make people feel that people enjoy life, but also because of the existence of others. Thank you.
Well, run to the interesting life of 'today'! ”
It's been 21 years since Digimon, and we still believe the warm lies he weaves to this day:
Even in the cold world, even the children who are selected to be left can have unlimited dreams.
Hear his voice again, and remember not to cry.