A Farewell To EGOIST, One Of The Best J-Pop Bands Ever…
Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~
It’s a bit of a sad time for me. Just this past Monday Oct 9th, the JPop duo EGOIST disbanded after twelve years of activity. You could consider me a big fan of the duo, listening to just about every amazing hit they’ve produced over the years. Now as they have gone, I say my farewell…
A bit of background on EGOIST. The duo was formed during the production of the anime series Guilty Crown in 2011. The band was to be canonically featured in the anime itself, thus whoever would be chosen to be the singer would also provide the singing voice for the main female lead of the anime Yuzuriha Inori. Of about two thousand candidates, a then seventeen year old girl under the name, Chelly, was chosen. With Chelly, EGOIST would produce a majority of the theme music for Guilty Crown, namely the second opening and both ending themes.
After their successful debut with Guilty Crown, EGOIST would work on multiple other anime projects over the years, most notably PSYCHO-PASS, Fate/Apocrypha, and Kabaneri of The Iron Fortress. In those years, the band continued to use the Guilty Crown imagery, with Chelly being identified by Yuzuriha Inori in artwork and even in concerts.
I discovered EGOIST through Guilty Crown, my curiosity in the anime coming from flyers and souvenirs I had gotten from San Diego Comic Con in 2011. But I didn’t begin seriously listening to the band until a year later when I started to listen to music from a related JPop band Supercell (the leader of Supercell, Ryo, was also the leader and main producer for EGOIST).
My love for both bands and their music grew exponentially. Though of the two, EGOIST was the one that was significantly more active. Supercell had a bit of a hiatus after the lead singer at the time, koeda, moved on to solo work. But Chelly and EGOIST were still together and showed no sign of slowing down.
I would engross myself in the music they produced and would often end up watching the anime which the songs were featured in (reverse of the typical trend). My fandom got to the point of me searching out albums of the band in conventions like AnimeNYC a couple of years.
Now that EGOIST has disbanded, I am left in a bit of a sad state. Yet at the same time, appreciative of their work and music they produced. With Chelly now going solo under the name reche I’ll still be supporting her and looking forward to the music she puts out.
But to end of this, I’ll list my top five favorite EGOIST songs.
5: Zettai Zetsumei
EGOIST is at their best when they produce a song where Chelly’s incredible vocal talent carries it. Zettai Zetsumei is song that rouses an indescribable feeling. Something along the likes of powerful and graceful. I discovered the song one random day looking for EGOIST music on Youtube and was instantly enamored.
4: Planetes
A song featured in the Guilty Crown prequel OVA, Guilty Crown — Lost Christmas, Planetes is a beautiful song. The piano’s constant presence with Chelly’s smooth vocals results in a complete mix.
3: All Alone With You
The second ending theme for the hit anime series PSYCHO-PASS, All Alone With You is a song I can describe as smooth. Chelly’s vocals are are smooth and beautiful as always but even more so in this song. Just from her delivery in the buildups to the chorus really stand out. Speaking of the chorus, the tension that the song rises to can be really felt. It just explodes with a rock beat.
2: Namae No Nai Kaibutsu
Another PSYCHO-PASS theme, specifically the anime’s first ending. While vocals wise Chelly is amazing as usual, it’s the instrumentals that really standout in this song. The song goes from low to high tension repeatedly and it is masterfully crafted with its beat and rhythm. I’ve actually listened to the both the regular and instrumental versions of this song an equal amount of times because of how well balanced it is with both aspects.
1: Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~
The first ending theme for Guilty Crown and EGOIST’s debut single, this song is a masterpiece. There’s one problem when debuting with a masterpiece, everything else will have to compare to it. In the twelve years of EGOIST since, none have quite compared to Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~. No doubt the music has been amazing since, Departures still stands as the ultimate EGOIST song. The vocals, the instrumental, the feel are unmatched. It’s the perfect mix of everything EGOIST and set the blueprint of everything I love about the band’s music.
Farewell EGOIST…
