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Vocalist: Chiaki Ishikawa Composer: Yuki Kajiura, Yukiko Nishioka Arranger: Yuki Kajiura, Chiaki Ishikawa Lyrics: Yuki Kajiura, Chiaki Ishikawa Producer: Yasunori Mori, Yuki Kajiura Publisher: FunHouse (1993–1995), Victor Entertainment / Flying Dog (2001–present) |
[Click on photo to enlarge]
Basics
The history of See-Saw starts by the predecessor of See-Saw, the high school female band 15 SAND (Ichigo SAND) consisting of 6 members, when it welcomed two new members, Yuki Kajiura at keyboard and later Chiaki Ishikawa on vocal, which were invited by Chiaki’s older sister who was already member of the band. It was a copy band (they were performing song by other artists) till Yuki joined them, when they started performing the songs she was composing. 15 SAND continued till their graduation from university, when temporarily suspended their musical activities because of job hunting.
On 1992, the three members ―Kajiura Yuki, Ishikawa Chiaki, and Nishioka Yukiko ― held a live in July 1992 under a new name, “See-Saw”, and fully started musical activities.
According to Yuki, about the name “See-Saw”,
“As it is, a see-saw that is in a park. We sit on a see-saw face-to-face, don’t we? Sometimes our eyes meet and part, and sometimes we bring and lose a balance― I thought it was interesting as it’s like human relationships.”
Swimmer was their debut single released on July 25, 1993, just one year after that live. On September 26, 1993, they released their first album I HAVE A DREAM as well as their 2nd single キライになりたい (Kirai ni naritai).
On 1994, they released 3 singles: Chao Tokyo on March 24, 素肌 (ノーメイク) (Suhada ~No Make~) on August 4 and スレンダー・カメレオン (Slender Chameleon) on September 24. On October 26, they released the mini-album See-Saw. The same year, Yukiko Nishioka left the band in order to concentrate on writing activities, and this way See-Saw became a two-girl band, consisting of Yuki Kajiura and Chiaki Ishikawa. The two members started solo activity after releasing the final single of the first See-Saw era, また会えるから (Mata Aeru Kara = ‘cause we can meet again) on February 1, 1995, which foresees their future reunion.
During their solo activity, Chiaki among other works, released a mini album, “Magnolia” under the name “Somali”, while Yuki composed Original Soundtracks for games (Dooblecast, Meguri Aishite etc) musicals (Sakura Taisen, etc) and music for anime (EAT MAN, etc)
The turning point in band’s future was the year 2001, when Yuki was in charge of the animation Noir ‘s music, and was asked to make an insert song for it.. She thought that the song Indio which she had composed when she was young would fit the anime so she asked Chiaki to performed it and she accepted, something that led to the band’s restart. The song was released in the 2nd Noir soundtrack on October 3, 2001, and was later re-released in the Dream Filed album.
In 2002, See-Saw took charge of all openings and endings of TV-animation and OVA “.hack//SIGN” and “.hack//Liminality”. They released the single obsession / 優しい夜明け (Yasashii Yoake) on May 22, 2002, which was containing the opening and ending theme songs of the anime and became long-selling, remaining in the charts for 18 weeks. The release of the Edge /黄昏の海 (Tasogare no Umi) single followed on July 24, 2002 containing the opening and ending theme songs of .hack//Liminality. The single was number 30 in the charts in its first appearance. Furthermore the single あんなに一緒だったのに (Anna ni issho datta no ni), released on Oct 23, 2002, containing the 1st Ending Theme song of Gundam Seed as well as its insert song 月ひとつ (Tsuki Hitotsu = First Moon), hit the charts at number 5 in its first appearance.
In January 22, 2003 See-Saw released their 4th single since their reunion, titled 君がいた物語 (Kimi ga Ita Monogatari) / Emerald Green which was containing the 3th opening theme song and the ending theme song of .hack // Liminality as well as a 90-sec version of the 4th opening song 記憶 (Kioku = Memory). One month later, on February 21, 2003, See-Saw released 2 albums at the same date. The first, titled Early Best was containing old songs from their first era. The second album titled Dream Field was long awaited and was containing songs from their new era, ranging from song “Indio” to “Kimi ga Ita Monogatari) / Emerald Green” single. According to Yuki Kajiura, there are 2 meanings of the album Dream Field ‘s title:
“One of the meanings is, that I’ve made songs for openings and endings of animes, which are fictional (=dream) . And the other is, that a new song named “Dream Field” was going to be the title song. In terms of recording capacity, however, that is not contained in the album.”
After a long hiatus of 2 years and a half, See-Saw released their last single to date, 君は僕に似ている (Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru), which was containing the 4th Ending Theme song of the anime Gundam Seed Destiny, with 静寂はヘッドフォンの中 (Seijaku wa Headphone no Naka) as b-side.
Officially, See-Saw is still in activity but there isn’t released anything since then. In the meantime Chiaki Ishikawa has release 7 singles and 3 albums under her own name, while Yuki Kajiura has composed numerous animation, live action, and documentary soundtracks and for the J-pop groups herself has created: FictionJunction, and Kalafina.
After 18 years of inactivity, on December 9, 2023, the 2nd and last day of Yuki Kajiura LIVE vol.# 19 Kajifes 2023 -30th Anniversary Live- and Yuki Kajiura announced that See-Saw would release a new single on on January 24, 2024 which would be titled 去り際のロマンティクス (Sarigiwa no romantics) and would be the ED theme song for ‘Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM” anime movie. The single also included audio recording of the See-Saw performance of Anna ni Issho Datta no Ni at Flying Dog Festival ( February 2, 2019). On the same day as this announcement, Flying Dong posted on their Youtube channel the foutage of this performance, but the video was sadly unpublished as privated some days later.
Interviews
(Thanks to oolong for translating the following two interviews which were a really valiable and useful source for the writting of the above narration)
- Shinseido (2003) – English
- History of See-Saw (2003) Japanese, English (Translated Jp)
- List of unreleased See-Saw songs + short description – English
LIVE Performances
September 1, 1993 Ring-A-Ring-A-Roses (Collab)
October 27, 1993 151st TBS Radio Akasaka Live (Collab)
December 3, 1993 See-Saw Live
April 20, 1994 See-Saw OPEN SESAME TOUR 1994
April 20, 1994 See-Saw OPEN SESAME TOUR 1994
April 25, 1994 See-Saw OPEN SESAME TOUR 1994
July 23, 1994 FLAT3#3 LIVE (Collab)
July 31, 1994 Radio Event (Collab)
September 15, 1994 Slender Chamaleon Party
November 4, 1994 Tokau University Shounan Kousha Gakuen Matsuri (Collab)
November 24, 1994 Slender Chameleon Live
November 30, 1994 Slender Chameleon Live
January 16, 1999 Female Vocal Night (Collab)
Octomber 12, 2002 Dream Field 2002
April 5, 2003 See-Saw Talk Live
April 13, 2003 See-Saw Talk Live
April 20, 2003 See-Saw Talk Live
February 2, 2019 Flying Dog 10th Anniversary LIVE – Dog Festival!
December 15, 2019 See-Saw LIVE ～Dream Field 2019～
Discography
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See-Saw – Sarigiwa no romantics 「去り際のロマンティクス」 VTCL-35367 | January 24, 2024 Single (ED Theme of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM) 3 Tracks |
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See-Saw Complete BEST 「See-Saw-Scene」 VTCL-60524~6 June 10, 2020 Compilation Album 37 Tracks (3 Discs) |
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See-Saw – Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru VICL-35800 | August 3, 2005 Single (Gundam SEED Destiny ED) 4 Tracks |
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See-Saw – Dream Field VICL-61069 | February 21, 2003 Album 13 tracks |
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See-Saw – early best BVCK-37101 | February 21, 2003 Album 14 tracks (12 by Yuki Kajiura) |
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See Saw – Kimi ga Ita Monogatari / Emerald Green VICL-35458 | January 22, 2003 Single (.hack//LIMINALITY OP) 5 tracks |
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See-Saw – Anna ni Issho Datta no ni VICL-35440 | October 23, 2002 Single 4 tracks |
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See-Saw – edge / Tasogare no Umi VICL-35407 | July 24, 2002 Single (.hack//Liminality OP, ED) 4 tracks |
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See-Saw – obsession / Yasashii Yoake VICL-35384 | May 22, 2002 Single (.hack//SIGN OP, ED) 4 tracks |
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See Saw – Mata Aeru kara FHDF-1439 | Febrary 1, 1995 Single 2 tracks |
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See-Saw – See-Saw FHCF-2187 | October 26, 1994 Album 7 tracks |
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See-Saw – Slender Chameleon FHDF-1406 | September 24, 1994 Single 3 tracks |
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See-Saw – Suhada ~No Make FHDF-1408 | August 4, 1994 Single 3 tracks |
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See-Saw – Chao Tokyo FHDF-1371 | March 24, 1994 Single 3 tracks |
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See-Saw – I Have a Dream FHCF-2117 | September 26, 1993 Album 11 tracks |
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See-Saw – Kirai ni naritai FHDF-1322 | September 26, 1993 Single 3 tracks |
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See-Saw – Swimmer FHDF-1311 | July 25, 1993 Single 2 tracks |
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See-Saw – Swimmer (Radio Edit) PDF-5039 | 1993 Single 1 track |
Appearances
indio – Insert Theme song of Noir
obsession – Opening Theme song of .hack//SIGN
Yasashii Yoake – Ending Theme song of .hack//SIGN
Edge – Theme song of .hack//Liminality
Tasogare no Umi – Theme song of .hack//Liminality
Anna ni Issho Datta no ni – 1st Ending Theme song of Gundam Seed
Tsuki Hitotsu – Insert Theme song of Gundam Seed
Kimi ga Ita Monogatari – 3rd Opening Theme song of .hack//Liminality
Emerald Green – Ending Theme song of .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet
Senya Ichiya – 2nd Opening Theme song of .hack//Liminality
Kioku – 4th Opening Theme song of .hack//Liminality
Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru – 4th Ending Theme song of Gundam Seed Destiny
Sarigiwa no Romantics – Ending Theme song of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM