Dreams Come True -- Shichi-gatsu, Nanoka, Hare （7月7日、晴れ）

Keeping on the Tanabata theme, there is one ballad that inevitably bubbles up in my head whenever July 7th comes around. It helps that the title incorporates that very date: "Shichi-gatsu, Nanoka, Hare" (Seventh of July, Sunny Day), and it is by that group famous for its love ballads, Dreams Come True.

As usual, DCT members Miwa Yoshida（吉田美和）and Masato Nakamura（中村正人）took care of this song which I was surprised to find out was never an official single, although, as JTM mentioned in his huge article on a BEST article on the band, it was used as the theme song for a 1996 romantic motion picture of the same title starring Arisa Mizuki（観月ありさ）. I do remember that "Shichi-gatsu, Nanoka, Hare" the song got as much promotion as the movie did, and personally speaking, I think it deserved it.

The song is a quietly soaring and epic piece which starts out as if it were the background music for the legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi with Yoshida plaintively calling out how much she wants to meet her Mr. Right but just cannot. Then from that intro, it does a dive into modern-day Japan through the music which sounds as if it has to be listened to at night when the stars are out...it almost sounds like City Pop. Then the melody starts to zigzag into different keys which could describe anything from a romantic but tumultuous flying carpet ride (a la "Aladdin") to a whirlwind romance in the metropolis or the modern-day version of the two aforementioned deities running from fate. But all of that is anchored by the reassuring and just-as-soaring vocals of Yoshida. It's been a while since I heard this one...good to hear it again.

The song may not have been a single but it was a track on Dream Come True's 8th album, "LOVE UNLIMITED∞" from April 1996 which hit No. 1 and became the 8th-ranked album for the year. It was also included on their greatest hits album, "The Soul" which JTM covers, and also the soundtrack for the movie "Seventh of July, Sunny Day".

Asakusa Station