ONE OK ROCK “The Way Back” MV/Song Review!

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This is one of those videos which is both beautiful and makes you think so much!

Really happy I chose to look back into One Ok Rock to find this stunning piece ♥

Story: 

wpid-screenshot_2015-10-14-21-56-42.pngWow, erm, this is an interesting one and I may not be smart enough to understand what One Ok Rock were trying to portray, but I’m going to try my best and there is no such thing as a wrong interpretation! (this is what I say to make myself feel better hahaha ^^”)

So, the male character (who is very handsome, whoever he is!) is split between his mind and heart (which I got from the English in the song…). He seems to be stuck in an office building, but also tied to a chair. I feel like there is some sort of force, external (the company or the with the woman who “stabs him”) or even internal (because of the last scene where he is holding the bloody knife looking at himself dead on the floor) which is causing the struggle.

 

Maybe “cleansing” his mind is the way to escape his life where he is taunted, unknown (in the sense that people don’t know the real him) and tied. That stabbing himself was the way of getting rid of that “mind” and the things attached to it, to put his life back on a path that is better for him.

Okay, so after looking at the lyrics (which you can see here), this song is about someone who you were in a relationship with and the person keeps coming back to use you when they need help. However, you are getting angry and frustrated but it and you’re not going to make it easy for them to “way their way back” even though they know how to (if that makes sense) or let yourself be used.

And by “this song is”, I mean this totally could not be what it’s about haha ^^” To be fair it sounds plausible, both of my suggestions and they have some links… right? ^^”

Visuals:

I have to say, I love this video. The lighting, the artistry, i.e. the way it’s shot and the technology used and the colour scheme of the whole video. Also, pretty much everyone is beautiful (looking mostly at the actor and Taka here ♥)

I really like the contrast of colours, such as how the office building was very white, bright and rather open, whereas he was tied in a dark black room. On retrospect it kind of makes me think, that the office is sort of his body and the dark room is his mind.

 

More on the artistry that I loved, the dancers were wonderful and cool. I was reminded for some reason of Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro), creepy yet oddly fascinating and beautiful.

wpid-screenshot_2015-10-14-21-59-34.png

 

I liked how the theatre stage (where One Ok Rock were performing) went from being bright and dark because of the lighting and flashes.

This video was beautiful!

Vocals:

I have listened to One Ok Rock before, but not as much as I should have! Taka’s voice is powerful, but has a great melodic lilt that I really like. He kind of reminds me of JaeJoong ♥ but only in that respect, as of course they have different sounding voices.

I liked that the instruments played well with Taka’s voice and when it was very loud and “intense” it blended well with Taka’s vocals or was played when he wasn’t singing. There is nothing worse in a song than overbearing instruments!

Talking of instruments, Tomoya, how many cymbals does one man need?! Is this normally how many he has? Or… I literally have never seen anything like that drum kit before!

Star Ratings:

  • Understandable Story-line: 2.75/5☆
  • Video Production: 5/5☆
  • Vocals: 5/5☆
  • Overall Package: 7/10☆ (I want to give this higher, but my brain has let One Ok Rock down, although I’m pretty okay with my interpretation haha)

Thank you for reading~

11 thoughts on “ONE OK ROCK “The Way Back” MV/Song Review!”

  1. Awesome! I love One OK Rock! I really thought the visuals in this MV were stunning as well. 🙂 P.S. I couldn’t help but see you mentioning Jaejoong! I’m a huge fan of his too!!

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      • I liked the scene where he’s in the huge glass building and a bunch of people wearing all black with hoods are surrounding him. Their black outfits make a stark contrast against the mostly white insides of the building which I think is really beautiful! Indeed! He’s so endearing! 🙂 And sure! I love both their music videos, it’d be great to re-watch some and see what you liked about them!! ♡

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  2. I think this is a MUCH better video than the aLien BS in Last Dance. Story-wise, My personaL interpretation is the (very handsome do you know his name XD) guy is weLL aware that he’s being used and he doesn’t want to be used anymore, but on the other hand a part of him – the ‘heart’, maybe – stiLL wants the company of the bad girL, even if he knows it sLowLy kiLLs him inside. Hence the finaL scene where he watched himseLf bLeeding to death, knife in hand.
    And I think Tomoya started to use more cymbals since the recording of their Latest aLbum. In some songs, aLL I can hear from him is cymbals. Sad 😦

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    • Yes! I totally agree, Last Dance was a great song, but the video… well nope. Oh oh oh, because google failed me, I delved into the YouTube comments and found out his name is ‘Riku Makoto’ (I’m assuming this is the English forename first style), he is a model and very handsome ♡ ooh I never thought about it that way, that gives it a new perspective. I love that people can look at the same thing and see different meanings! Ah okay, I just got so shocked when I saw that many cymbals. To be honest I haven’t listened to a great number of their songs so wouldn’t have noticed ^^”, I hope you can still enjoy their music though ♥ and thank you for your comment~

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