Masayoshi Oishi -- Rakuen Toshi（楽園都市）

I have yet to catch this show "Cop Craft"（コップクラフト）which seems to be the genre equivalent of the Hollywood "Alien Nation" and Will Smith's "Bright", but earlier this week, my anime buddy was talking about it. The animation isn't exactly top-notch to him but he says that there is still a lot to like about it, so there's a good chance that we'll be catching it on Sunday.

But I gotta say that I've already fallen in love with the opening credits and the opening theme for "Cop Craft". Singer-songwriter Masayoshi Oishi（大石昌良）, who has already impressed me with themes for "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun）, "SSSS.GRIDMAN" and "Back Street Girls ~ Gokudols"（ゴクドルズ）, has done it again. He's paid homage to the dynamic jazz themes provided by Yoko Kanno（菅野よう子）and Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）in the past and come up with "Rakuen Toshi" (Paradise City).

His 4th single from August of this year, that intro force-fed lovely memories of "Tank!" and "Lupin the 3rd" into my head, and it's fast become an earworm since I first heard it last night. Along with aidoru, heroic tokusatsu and good ol' busker guitar pop, it looks like Oishi has mastered supremely energetic Latin jazz as well. Plus, there's even some hint of kayo in the refrain...would love to know who the musicians were, especially the fellow on the piano.

"Rakuen Toshi" peaked at No. 28 on Oricon. The TV version is great for accompanying the rapid-fire opening credits but the full version really lays out the jazziness of it all. I wouldn't mind getting my own copy of the song and now I'm definitely looking forward to catching the pilot episode for "Cop Craft".