SJI Goes to the Movies: II
August 8, 2007 by nonotes
Speaking of “SJI” in the movies, here’s another example — rather different from the previously mentioned Taste of Cherry.
I forget how I got wind that the tune appears in the 2001 anime film Metropolis; it may be that I became aware of the sound track first, and then backed into it from there.
In any case, the film is a bit of a big deal in anime circles:
Based on the Metropolis manga created by the late Osamu Tezuka. The movie had an all star production team including renown anime director Rintaro, Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo as script writer, and animation by Madhouse Studios with conceptual support from Tezuka Production.
I’ll leave it to you to decode all that as you wish. After some deliberation, I’ve decided it’s best not to try to summarize the plot here, because, as far as I could tell, there’s no particular reason for the specific use of “SJI” in this scene. It’s a nice version, though, credited to Toshiyuki Honda, who from what I can gather is a composer and arranger, but almost certainly not the vocalist. Here’s the clip.
Sorry this entry is a little threadbare on actual information. If someone out there has something to share on any of the above: Speak up!
“St. James Infirmary,” Toshiyuki Honda
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
