Hear Ye Hear Ye! Princess Pinkie has returned with a new Anime Post
Salutations my loyal subjects and sweet island guests! Randomness has taken a hold on my content as of late! And I am having a lot of fun with more creative writing! I started a segment where I create anime based on a random theme, mixed in with a random genre! So I created the Horror-Anime concept Kuro-Queen! Colin, whom you may know better as Periwinkle or Buffalo Retro Gaming, came up with a very random concept. A story about an insomniac man who inherited a haunted Piano… but my challenge was to make it a drama! I went to work and I created “Midnight Blues”
Disclaimers
To give people a sense of what I am talking about, these posts use images that are heavily edited and altered and sometimes feature the work of multiple artists. It is impossible to credit them all, but I do want to state I never want to sell these things as my creations.. these are my “collages” at best. I will try to credit an original artist for custom art whenever I can. If you are interested in a piece, give me a shout on twitter, I will send you the original art and you might be able to find it’s amazing artist.
Character inspiration, I tend to draw from other bloggers, though I will not mention them by their true name or provide links, to avoid possibly unwanted association. If I ever put someone in a negative role, it has nothing to do with the person, but just like most writers I draw inspiration from the people around me… and all of you guys apply for that standard. I will tend to stick to these types of associations as an extra entertainment value for readers in the community as well. “Spot the blogger” kind of thing! If you dislike the idea of me using a character based on you, let me know. I always mean this in good spirit! These characters are NOT real people! They are only somewhat based on them, so any traits given are made up or enlarged.
To keep this series going I would love to see people interact! Giving new theme+genre suggestions! However it is also a series that gives me great pleasure. This is how I like to write the most! So if people do not react in the comments, I will find a way to make it work! By creating random “wheels”to spin words off! People who make suggestions are very appreciated though! Not only will you be shouted out at the intro, you truly have my thanks! Making stories based on people’s suggestions are even more satisfying to write! Speaking of writing stories, let’s get into this one!
The Set Up
A Drama about an insomniac man who inherited a piano! Wow, did Colin give me a challenge this time around! First let’s start with finding a platform for our anime! I think Crunchyroll this time might not be the best fit! A lot of the Crunchyroll originals tend to be a bit more action driven.. and this one, will be significantly slower paced. It will most likely be a single season anime, with about twelve episodes. I think Netflix would be a great place to launch this anime from. I would love to see it animated in a bit of a Ghibli-esque way. Maybe some more crayon-like drawings in the background. Natsume Book of Shadows is another thing that has a great art style for this. Or perhaps something like Liz and the Blue Bird.
The setting would take place in a small village in the United States during the mid 1950’s, named Ellington, named after the amazing Jazz Pianist and composer, Duke Ellington. This town would be situated very closely to New York.. or a fictional variant of it like York New city from Hunter X Hunter. The name of the large city would be New Liberty! The city will mostly serve as a background setting. A way to get materials and information otherwise not accessible to small town folks in the mid 50’s. It will also be featured in the ending of most of the episode. It will help sell the world outside of the United states, that this in fact IS america! Everything is a bit more music themed though. Lady Liberty holds a harp instead of a book, and many neighbourhoods are named after musical greats (of course America’s greats). Instead of Brooklyn we’d have Louisville, Manhattan would be named after Philip
Glass, and so on!
The First Episode
We start our series by seeing a happy young boy, with a dark skin tone seeing his sister take a piano lesson! He asks his mother if he can play the piano as well. His mother tells him when he is older. The sister makes a mistake and gets frustrated walking off. The piano teacher let’s her, this has happened before. He sees the boy while waiting for his student to cool off and invites him to join. He then begins talking to the boy that he is writing some music and if the boy wants to hear it. He excitedly says yes, the man begins to play the most beautiful melody he has ever heard, but it is not finished. The man is stuck at the ending. The boy then asks if he could play and the teacher chuckles and lets him. The boy almost flawlessly repeats after the teacher.. after some searching. He then even manages to compose an ending to it. The teacher, baffled by this boy’s talent asks how he did that.. and he says he remembers what sounds all the keys make.. so he knew which one to press after hearing it once. The teacher calls him Wunderkind and then we move fast forward in time.
In an first episode opening credits scene we see newspapers fly around. Titled “Local Boy perfectly plays Beethoven” , Talented Boy performing life at New Liberty City theaters. We also see a trophy case being filled.. and then the music darkens. Messages of the second world war begin to show up.. it is upon them. Slowly some fire is shown around the edges of the screen. We hear gunshots and screams as slowly we see a much more mature face in the middle of the screen.. seemingly laying on a bed! We then see the picture of a woman, we hear one loud gunshot and our main character wakes up. This character. The Character is called James “Jimmy” Lampreyshire. As we see him wake up we notice he is missing an eye. His morning routine starts and we see him put in a fake eye, it’s iris has this cold steel colour…. almost iridium He also attaches a leg brace. After breakfast he exits his crummy apartment and goes to do some things in the city. He does his job, he picks up groceries. But even though everyone greets him warmly Jimmy seems to not care..or not notice. He doesn’t even seem to comprehend how some kids on the street are making fun of him. Jimmy is emotionally detached due to PTSD.
At the end of his routine Jimmy comes home , to his New Liberty apartment and finds there is a telegram in his mailbox . “We regret to inform you that on March 2nd 1956 Maria Lampreyshire has passed” .. we do not see the rest of the message. It turns out Jimmy inherited the house! His sister had joined the war as a nurse and had fallen in love with a soldier overseas. She had moved away! She never could deal with Jimmy’ new situation anyway. He originally moved into the city for his music career, but now that he did not wish to deal with people anymore, he was unable to perform. He tried for a while. .but he could not connect to his audience anymore. Not with his employers either, so Jimmy barely made a living. He had some money left from his successful days but that money was drying up quickly! Perhaps he could make a new life in Ellington!
When Jimmy entered the empty home he grew up in, he would walk around , and try to remember his youth.. he could.. but it just felt so empty! Then his eyes moved to the piano! This was not the piano he first practiced on! They had to sell that to send him to music school. But then he remembered the Piano.. it came from that old theater.. a really creepy theater.. from the lower bowls of Louisville. Where he gave his first “professional” performance. The place was shut soon after.. Some tragedy struck the place. Jimmy however was already onto better things by then…for the first time he cracks a bit of a smile as he swipes a bit of dust from the Piano. As Jimmy walks through the house we see a thinner line where the dust has cleared appear right above his. The first episode ends with Jimmy tossing and turning in his bed again..he can’t calm himself down to sleep! He hears those sounds again.. gunshot.. screams, people yelling in german. Then he hears something else.. a strange piano melody.. and it’s not coming from his head.. it’s coming from downstairs.
The Second Episode
Jimmy would rush downstairs , as best as he could, but making a lot of stumbling noise holding a weapon! He would be in full soldier mode again! We see it in the way he moves.. but also in the way the scenery sometimes shifts to a battlefield. Making his way into the Piano room, only to find out that no one is there! The music had stopped as well… had he imagined it?! He was pretty sure he never heard that song before! It was beautiful, yet also tragic. It had a sense of loneliness to it! He shook his head and decided to investigate! The stool was still underneath the piano! So no one sat on it! .. The front door was locked! Yet on a third search of the piano he found the little line mark right above his! Someone had been playing his piano! After searching the house once more.. he decided to investigate who broke into his house that night! It must be one of the own people. The next day Jimmy just did that.. he went into town..just to hit that old problem! People gave him condolences for the loss of his mother, others reacted a bit offended by his wild accusations of someone breaking into his house, yet he could not read any of them. To him it felt as if he was talking to a wall. As he talked he felt as if he was sinking away inside himself.
He saw an old lady who was sitting on porch who waved at him. Her hands looked crooked and slow by age.. she would not be able to play the piano that great! The mechanic in town, who was being scolded by his wife and who yelled back at her had to big hands, he could not be the one either. Maybe it was that sickly looking woman, dressed in all pinks, who spent all her time at the clothing store, looking quite unhappy and unsatisfied with what was on the rack. Perhaps it was that drunk woman, who tried to get people to join her in drinking.. but was shunned. Or perhaps it was that slender looking boy who kept staring at him, while he was waiting on a bus to go to the city? Jimmy found no answers, and he did not understand these people! The unrest in his head began again… he would set a trap for whomever would come in. Not a lethal one.. just something that would allow him to identify the perk! A paint bomb-like trap. At every door.. at every window! So Jimmy bought a bunch of materials from the hardware store, from a man who complained about his job a lot to Jimmy, who ignored it and just paid his bill! Yet even after he set all the traps.. as he lay awake at night again, like usually.. he heard that same song coming from the piano. How did they avoid the traps?! Jimmy decided to sneak downstairs. Not rush down like last time.. this time he would catch them by surprise. He still had his brace on! He was prepared!
When he snuck closer, he noticed a faint green/bluish light came out of the Piano room.. and as he peered through the glass door leading to the salon.. he saw this fire like.. standing in front of the piano.. but in that greenish blue tint. When he looked closer, he saw some faint line works around the fire…revealing the shapes of a .. probably beautiful.. woman. Normally Jimmy would feel fear… but ..he realised something.. While the song played .. he did not hear the noises in his head. No screams, no gunfire.. just this beautiful song! He ducked down and decided to just listen! As he closed his eyes he visualised the song. It had a lot of energy.. goodness! Bright tones of a happy person leading a happy life! Yet as the song progressed, many of the side tones would fade away, with only the bright element still going on! It did no longer feel as bright.. It felt lonely! Then something happened that never really happened anymore! Our protagonist was lulled to sleep .. in which he saw himself as a much older version of himself.. all alone.. he wanted to reach out to people but they seemed so far away.. an endless hallway.. kept them apart Suddenly everything seemed very cold as the darkness came closing in.. all he felt was that he hoped that someone would sit with him before the he drew his final breath came for him.
The next day Jimmy woke up, feeling kinda warm and slightly more well rested. The dust cover off the piano that he had kept laying in the room was draped over him .. like a blanket?! Was it that ghostly apparition?! Did she cover him up?! When he moved to the piano he found a message to him written in the dust.. it read “help her”. Jimmy scratched his head! Help who?! The ghost seemed harmless enough.. and for some weird reason she managed to reach him.. no one did that in a long time.. so while he convinced himself he must be crazy.. he decided he would try to do what the ghost had asked of him. He returned some unopened paint cans and some of the materials he could return before walking around town. What could it mean?! The old lady on the porch waved at him again.. he nodded and ignored her for the most part.. but then took a step back. Could it be?! He remembered his dream. It could not?! He walked to the old lady and greeted hair, introducing himself. She offered him some iced tea and asked him to sit with her for a while. She knew he was Maria’s kid.. the one so good at the piano. The old lady would introduce herself as Clara Codwell and said Jimmy might not remember it anymore but she used to babysit him when his parents were out of town. She then talks about the town and her happy memories and Jimmy then knows! This is the woman in the song! The song is about her!
For the next few days Jimmy would hear the ghost play the same song and he would visit the woman in the afternoon, and while he might not really be able to understand the sadness within her for outliving all the ones she held dear.. and being forgotten by the next generation, he felt as if he had an obligation to this woman! He would make her less lonely for the last of her days! Over the next few days the woman would grow more energetic and smile more, wondering who will finally be the one that will crack that steel mask that Jimmy is wearing. He ends up sharing something with her.. a dream he had as a kid.. to compose a song.. about him.. capture himself in song form.. his story to live forever through the ages. To reach an immortality of sorts.The woman would laugh but to encourage him to do so! She tells him she thinks Jimmy would be a completely unique song.. it probably be a blues styled song…but it would be unlike anything anybody’s heard. When Jimmy tries to visit her the next day.. he discovers the old lady has passed away in her sleep! As he goes home.. feeling empty… yet he was happy that the woman did not go into the darkness alone.
I am the blues huh?! Jimmy sits down at the piano.. and finds “thank you” written in the dust.. as he writes the first five notes.. of his own song! The next night we see him performing again in New Liberty, a tiny stage.. a few people in the crowd stare at him as he plays granny’s song on his face and rolls a single tear.
The Series Picks Up
From there on out Jimmy would hear a new song, for the next episode. He buys a Ouija board to talk with the ghost, and later they communicate through song. To a point where it is almost like speaking. They form a friendship of sorts, as the woman who has died is teaching Jimmy to live again, after all his traumas. He saw the worst in man, both friend and foe, he lost so many people that he became detached. Humanity lost its shine to him.. but by playing the songs of the amazing people around him, the ghostly woman that haunts his Piano teaches Jimmy how to feel again, how to open his heart again and show empathy! If he can see the song inside people.. he can see their beauty again. Yet the woman seems quite secretive about her own fate.
In the third episode, Jimmy gets a song that consists of two very separate melodies.. that kinda harmonise with each other.. but the transition is too raw.. too rough! The Chorus and refrain do not really connect that will, but they should! The music should work.. they just need a bridge! So the veteran has to discover, this is a song about the car mechanic and his wife, who love each other very much but they live their own lives too much, not paying attention to each other enough! While helping the mechanic with some minor tasks, our hero discovers he really wants a kid… but his wife never wants sex anymore, so he retreats hoping she will start to miss him.. When he goes to the store the wife works at, she tells him she wants a kid…but she can’t raise the kid alone if her husband is always at work. Jimmy sets up an romantic evening for them and the two fight, but fall in love all over again. They would tell Jimmy he is a very compassionate person when they initially thought he was just a brute. Which gives him inspiration for his own song again.
And so the series goes down, showing how tiny problems, like not noticing someone waving and smiling, or failed communication can lead to big trouble for a person. While all these problems have simple solutions it would not be something a person alone can solve. The drunk girl wanted a drinking buddy, so she didn’t have to drink alone, but people think she is just an obnoxious drunk! It turns out she is only an obnoxious drunk because she always has to finish the bottle alone and she has nothing else to do at the bar but to drink! When someone talks with her and shares the bottle, she is actually a very fun person! She becomes friends with good old James Lapreyshire.. and she hears a lot of stories in town so she can help him interpret his songs! Though she does keep turning everything into a drinking game.
The girl dressed in all pink that can’t make up her mind in fashion wishes to be acknowledged. She feels invisible and invalid! She is very scared of rejection, but she is also very unwilling to pretend to be anything she is not… She had to do that for so long in her life, pretending to be a different person than she was, that now she can’t accept that. Somehow she convinced herself that if the entire town doesn’t like her she will be alone, so Jimmy starts a group of friends in town.. a small one but one that fully accepts the sickly girl as she is! He shows her it is enough! Giving her a place to belong. Yet he also takes her on a shopping trip to the big city! Showing that it is okay to look at different places as well. The guy in the hardware store, he supports me in going through a career change! It might make him financially insecure for a bit, but he convinces the man that sometimes it is better to take a risk, and that without it he never will be truly happy and gets stuck in a drag.
In the second to last episode, Jimmy gets a song he doesn’t recognise. It doesn’t apply to anybody in town, he gets frustrated.. he has come so far and now he still doesn’t know who this song applies too! He goes out to the bar to hang out with the drunk, the pink girl and the storekeeper, who have since become his friends. There is a Piano at this bar and at one moment he begins playing the song, asking his friends if they might know the meaning.. Each and every one of them needed his help, perhaps now he needs theirs. Together they deduce that the song might be about Jimmy’s sister. Who misses her tiny brother, as he shut her out when they both were alone. Jimmy calls his sister, and apologises. They talk for a bit and she tells him something that seems to make him very happy! A plane ride to London scene transition later, we see him holding a baby at his sisters bedside. The mom tells the baby this is his uncle Jimmy. We move back to New Liberty, by seeing the trip was a memory in our main character’s head.. while playing the sisters song on stage.
The final song is much easier to figure out! It is the song of the ghost, the woman who died at that very first Piano he played at. Having done research Jimmy has discovered she was a performer like him, who got shot by her husband, who thought she cheated on him. This was only a half truth. The artist had a gimmick, where she would look at an audience member who paid them to do so.. and write a song about them. Their sorrows or happiness. One time a woman appeared and asked her to write a song! The song our ghost saw was so beautiful that she immediately fell in love with the women. She was so awestruck she could never play the song for the woman. It made her realise how bad her husband was for her and she was ready to leave him, but before she could ever play the song to that woman.. She was shot! She was gaslit by him for so long.. and before she could free herself, she was denied the chance.
Jimmy who now has become a big hit again has to play in the big city once more.. and he invites a now old woman. A woman he found through research and by asking the people in the city opening up to them, learning their stories, showing his growth. He takes his piano to the concert (he now is famous so he can) and together the ghost and Jimmy play the song. Jimmy tells a story about a friend he made.. who wants to play promised she would play this song for someone important one day.. she never got the chance… but now he will help her with this! The old woman in the public immediately realises what this is and begins crying. As the audience cheers.. a sense of melancholy is shown in colour usage in the episode.. as everything seems to go more dim.
Jimmy knows that his spectral friend will go away now! She is at peace! They say their goodbyes.. but not before the woman writes one last message followed by a few notes in the dust on the piano! Jimmy’s set on stage is finished and the message written on the piano consists of a single word. Which is reflected in the words of the audience. “Encore”. As Jimmy sees all the towns folks in the audience, he realises he can hear all of their songs, but also the song of the man sitting alone on the table sipping ..he buys the man a drink and tells him to let loose a bit of water. He makes a joke about a lovey dovey couple in the front row, they laugh. Then Jimmy gets all serious, he tells how all these songs he played tonight were to very important people to him… and a friend of his.. but his last song… that is his own song! The series credits appear as Jimmy plays the song based on him!
What did you think of this story?! Do you possibly have a random theme and a random topic for me to write about?!
Next in line will be Apple Inversion: A Slice of Life Nudist Anime for Fred, and Riri’s Rainbow Rally, a Magical Girl show about Rally racing for Foovay! But I welcome more challenges! So if you have a funny and random idea! Please interact! I love doing these challenges! Of course if you just want to read that is fine as well! And if you really want to support the blog, please consider helping out on Kofi! Until the next time! Stay random!
Pinkie's Paradise 