Taishō Roman (song)
Background and release. On July 20, 2020, Monogatary.com, a novel website operated by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, announced a novel contest , for selecting a novel to publish as a book by Futabasha and write a song by Yoasobi. A won novel was announced on October 30, titled , which was written by Natsumi, from the total of 2,086 novels. The story is about Tokito, a boy who live in Reiwa period accidentally received a letter from Chiyoko, a girl from Taishō period, who later became a pen pal and developed a romance. On August 9, 2021, at YouTube  live streaming, "Online Live Viewing Event "Yoasobi Hanseikai"", the duo announced to adapt the award-winning novel "Taishō Romance" to produce a new song titled "Taishō Roman" with changing a word from in katakana to in kanji instead of the original on September 15, and publish the book of the same new title on the following day, September 16. The song was teased and featured as a main theme of Yoasobi's exhibition at Sony Park Exhibition, which was held at Ginza Sony Park. "Taishō Roman" officially released on September 15 to digital music and streaming platforms. Later, the song  was included on their second EP "The Book 2", released on December 1. Composition and lyrics. "Taishō Roman" was written by Ayase, a member, and producer of Yoasobi, and composed in the key of C♯ major, 130 beats per minute with a running time of 2 minutes and 48 seconds. 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." Lyrically, like the based novel, "Taishō Roman" tells a time-lapse romance of two people who span over  a hundred years. A boy in present Reiwa period accidentally received a letter written by a girl in Taishō period, 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. Commercial performance. In Japan's Oricon charts, "Taishō Roman" debuted at number 7 and peaked at number 5 on the Combined Singles Chart. The song also debuted atop the Digital Singles (Single Track) Chart, selling 32,022 download units, becoming the eighth number-one song of the chart. For "Billboard Japan", the song debuted at number two on the Japan Hot 100, behind only Kis-My-Ft2's "", 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. The song also entered number 105, and 42 on the "Billboard" Global 200, and Global Excl. US charts of October 2, respectively. Music video. An accompanying music video of "Taishō Roman" was premiered on September 16, 2021. The duo released a teaser video of the song on September 13, showing Ikura's voice reading a passages from the based novel "Taishō Romance". For the music video, the characters were designed by Eisaku Kubonouchi, artwork was handled by Shinji Kimura, and collaborated with NTT Docomo's new project Quadratic Playground. The virtual reality  music video, created by Quadratic Playground, was released on October 26. Synopsis. 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. 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. Live performance. Yoasobi performed "Taishō Roman" for the first time, alongside "Loveletter", and "Tsubame" at NHK's music show "" on December 2, 2021. Credits and personnel. Credits adapted from "The Book 2" liner notes and YouTube. Song Music video