Discussion topic for Track 11 of Owari no Hoshi no Love Song: Last Smile. Please support the official release by purchasing the album from iTunes! You can find a translation of the lyrics on ShiraneHito’s blog.
Please tag references to later songs or outside works with the [spoiler] tag, providing adequate context in parenthesis.
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This is probably my favorite track in the “Owari No Hoshi No Love Song” album. Not only because of the mellow melody, but because of the story and message that it portrays.
I know that I might possibly be wrong because I’ve heard many speculations, but I believe that In this story, it’s about a girl who wants to find a cure for a disease that kills (with children being affected the most). She then gets the disease herself and has to stop her researching. She realizes that she can’t be cured, yet the boy who loves her wants to help her, and asks for her research so that he can continue and build off of that, but he isn’t compatible with the research, and eventually, they both realize there’s nothing that can be done. Then, they decide to stay together and talk about everyday things until her final day.
I loved the characters in the story. We have the girl who wants to help cure children, doing research on it. And we have the boy who wants to continue that research, even though he wasn’t good with it, the very fact that he had still tried his hardest to understand it means a lot.
And in the video, the last scene where they touch without the glass, I always believed that this scene was one of the most powerful scenes, out of any scenes from the “Owari No Hoshi No Love Song” album. It symbolizes that they were able to touch each other through feelings and emotions, showcasing that the glass wall that separated them was no longer the obstacle that separated them. What I mean by this is that the glass wall that they had, showcases that the girl is infected and “different” than a “normal” human. It represents being looked at differently. And having no glass wall separating her in the final scene, shows someone not looking at her differently, but looking at her, as how he would look at another human who didn’t have the disease, which is exactly what the girl had wanted. To be smiling until the very end without being looked at like she was going to die.
I know about those song-turned-to-anime’s happening, and one day, I hope this song gets the treatment. This is definitely one of the better “Owari No Hoshi No Love Song” songs that would work as an anime, not needing a lot of animation, nor art changes, but just a simple beautiful story.
I love how simple this story is, yet how beautiful it is at the same time. I think something that I’ve learned from this song is that when a loved one is suffering, and can’t be cured, make sure to give them the best days possible until their final moments are up.
And the composition is also very simple, but beautiful. Strings and piano always make for a good composition. But the composition is a very beautiful one. I also loved how the piano seemed to be showcasing the “droppings” in the container, with the final drop being at the ending of the song.
Being able to smile is a wonderful gift.
~ And in the very end, she was still smiling, happy to have lived.
This is one of the songs that I’ve had on my playlist forever, so I’ve obviously listened to it a billion times (cri evry tim). I haven’t watched the video that many times though. The illustrations are really great, especially the expressions. For example at 2:50, the guy’s smile looks really strained, and his hands show a lot of desperation. He is way in over his head. No matter how much he wants to, he can do nothing against the girl’s decease. There’s a bunch of complex emotions in that, so you need complex expressions.
The IV dripping imagery is everywhere in the video. The first shot is of only the container. The text appears in rings on the surface. (There are also a bunch of perpendicular lines; I’m not sure if that relates to IV.) The IV is also draw in focus in almost every picture that has the girl. Visually it’s a more prominent reminder of her illness than the glass wall which is focused on more in the lyrics. A dripping water container is also an easy metaphor for time running out, and in the end we see how the IV has stopped.
Lyrically, the second to last stanza is the best thing in the song. Functionally, there’s a minuscule difference between “Let’s not talk about complicated stuff” and “Let’s talk something less complicated,” but the latter emphasizes her desire to still talk to the guy. They both know what’s going on. They both know they can’t stop it, so they have to just make play with the hand they’ve been dealt.
Last Smile is so fucking sad!
Who needs KeyAIDS when you have KeyEbola!
Ok that was a horrible joke 
But yes, this is the song that just punches you in the gut. Like, this might be what I consider the Aozora, Faraway, etc of Owari no Hoshi no Love Song. It is also a fairly straightforward story; though I feel more interested in the backstory of the characters. How did she contract the virus? How does the guy even know her? What was their relationship before the incident? And so on
What is the message of this song? I think it has a lot to do with what one wishes before their own death. The girl was a researcher, so you’d think that what she wants most in life is to dedicate herself to help society, right? But you don’t see her desperately clinging onto her research (though i am sure other researchers would do so). The only thing she asks is for him to talk to her normally; to help her enjoy her last few moments in life. It may seem like a selfish thing, from a utilitarian perspective, but it is just so naturally human.
And that connection they built was what gave her her last smile.
I’ll be blunt; Last smile is probably the only song that I really liked in “Owari No Hoshi No Love Song”. Not that I dislike the other, but this one really stands out compared to the other.
From a musical point of view, only a few intruments were used : piano, drums and strings (cello and violin if I am not mistaken). The piano is playing the main theme, supported by the strings especially during the intro and the conclusion; the drums is very discret during the song, also supporting the piano and strings during the refrains. Even without Yanagi’s voice, a peaceful yet sad atmosphere is given by the association of the three intruments.
But the main course is obviously Yanagi’s voice, especially during the refrain. Such a peaceful and relaxing voice. The first time that I heard this song, I thought that it was only an okay song until I heard the refrain, becoming then one of my Yanagi’s favorite. This is not the first time that she shows her talents for singing. If you like her voice, I highly recommand Today is a beautiful day by Supercell.
Associate these two aspects and there we have Last Smile. Without understanding Japanese or watching the video, I do think that one can still feel the feeling that convey the clip and the lyrics. I can’t describe that feeling though, it is sad but at the same time peaceful.
So this is another one of those songs I never really gave the most amount of thought.
I’ll get musically out of the way first, I don’t think it’s that outstanding, still don’t. Bad? Nah, just not my thing.
Story? Well I can jam to this, absolutely but…muh ruined world. How this fits in with a fancy pants looking facility and iv drips and everything, I find it hard to place it in the ruined world, I mean sure, disease running rampant makes sense for the ruined world, but the aesthetics doesn’t, I’ve always felt it kind of doesn’t fit in with the atmosphere of the album and it’s always bugged me.
For real though the story is my jam and butter.
The last thing I’d complain about is ‘why is this animated?’, of all the songs, the one where they never move from one place seems like a pretty dubious one to animate, but I’ve realized it now. It’s all about the expressions, so many different expressions are shown throughout the video, it’s animated to see all those different emotions drawn raw.
I find a sad bit of finality in this song, it in a way saying that even if you are have the dedication to do something, there are some things you just can’t accomplish. The boy wanted to help, more than anything else, but couldn’t because he couldn’t understand her research. The only way he could help was making her feel better was by simply taking to her. The girl telling him that was pretty smart of her, because it made both of them feel better about the situation. Since this is “Love Song,” I’m assuming they are lovers, and the girl wouldn’t want to spend her final moments watching the guy try to learn science (maybe to no avail). She just wanted him to enjoy the time they had left together. So really, the title is about both of their “Last Smiles,” the girl’s being her last because she dies, the guy’s being his last because he got to help his love one last time.
I feel like she would’ve contracted the virus she while she worked on the cure. Maybe it was released, and she locked herself and the virus in the room in order to protect the world.
This is beautiful music. I have no words and I don’t know how I can properly express how beautiful this song is. However, I want to share something I just spotted:
This happened near the end of the song. Dat hairclip.
PS: Actually I have a few things to say. First, I’m not really a big fan of the art; they look a bit off sometimes, but they’re expressive enough, and that’s nice. Second, I sometimes hear synthesizers (sine waves?) adorning the song, and it has a similar timbre to some medical equipment.
Fill me in. What am I missing?
The hairclip broke near the end, just before she perhaps died. It even adds that the hairclip has a heart shape to it.
