The Greatest, Everyday

With good combination
And great communication
Always, high tension
Whoa-oh shalalala, it'll all be all right
With good vibration
Tomorrow, congratulations
Always, revolution
On this road, we'll become a Pokémon Master!
-- "Saikou Everyday", Akiyoshi Fumie (interpreted)

One of the Japanese opening themes for the Pokémon anime that I like is the last one for the Sinnoh saga. Its title, "Saikou Everyday" can be interpreted as "the greatest, everyday"; saikou in Japanese means "best", "highest", "supreme", and so on - it's even part of Japanese slang on the Internet which is tantamount to "cool" - and thus the interpretation is fitting. Its artist, Akiyoshi Fumie, also sung the first opening theme for the saga, so that song and this one "bookends" the saga.

The lyrics of the song are basically an invitation to experience everything and become great in this world, no matter what happens. Good things will happen, and those are surely great. Not-so-good things can happen, but they may also turn out good. In the end, everything is on the path to greatness, especially that of a Pokémon Master, of which this reference is included at the end of the chorus, which is repeated three times. There are quite a few other Pokémon references such as moves and evolution, but then that's normal for a Pokémon song. There's still a unique inspirational quality about this one.

I took that inspirational quality and made a desktop wallpaper with the cover of the single for the song. Actually, this was almost a complete accident. I was playing around with the image of the single cover and stumbled upon a web site that could manipulate images to some extent; I decided to put in the single cover through one of its manipulations, and lo and behold, it looked good - too good not to develop into something further, like a desktop wallpaper. So I ran with the idea and made one.

The middle part is of course the manipulation of the cover; I added the wooden sections on the left and right. Symbolically, the manipulation is like a preserved memory, and the knotted rope is like a bond, both of which may lead to great things. The other additions that I put in are the Pokémon logo on the lower right and the text on the top right; the latter is supposed to emulate the text of the single cover, which due to the image manipulation is cut off, but I consider that a happy accident on the way to greatness.

I say, that's all right, much like the chorus which I've quoted as my interpretation above. I consider Pokémon to be a path where I can achieve greatness, in the same way that Ash took the path of training to become great. I take this inspiration to seek different ways to become great with Pokémon each day, and this is certainly something that any Pokémon fan can do. May it become an inspiration for anyone to become the greatest, everyday.

One year ago: Pokémon School