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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Asaka -- Wayawayawaa—! (わやわやわー!)

 

No special occasion here but I did want to remark about how long seiyuu and singer Ayane Sakura(佐倉綾音)has been around in the anime industry. I first remember her from "Joshiraku" (じょしらく....Rakugo Girls) well over a decade ago, and then came her really big starring role in the "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"(ご注文はうさぎですか?...Is The Order A Rabbit?)franchise starting in the mid-2010s. Now, I'm just catching up with her and the rest of the cast in "Dosanko Gyaru wa Namaramenkoi"(道産子ギャルはなまらめんこい...Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!)which had its run earlier this year. I can see her role as Minami as being very different from Mari and Cocoa.


At the end of January a few months ago, I wrote up the article for the opening theme from "Dosanko", Masayoshi Oishi's(大石昌良)"Namaramenkoi Gyaru"(なまらめんこいギャル)which has been compared to Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk". Heck, it even has choreography. Indeed, it is quite the funky tune for a cold cold Hokkaido in winter.

The ending theme "Wayawayawaa—!" was also written and composed by Oishi but this time, he isn't the one who recorded it. That honour goes to singer, seiyuu and former cosplayer Asaka(亜咲花), who has quite the interesting backstory according to her Wikipedia profile. "Wayawayawaa—!" isn't quite the funk fest that "Namaramenkoi Gyaru" is, but it's still fun listening and it reflects the feelings going around the Kitami City newbie character of Tsubasa among the three main female characters including Minami.

"Wayawayawaa—!" was released as Asaka's 14th single in February and it got as high as No. 42 on Oricon. Still have yet to see Episode 4 of the show but will get to that hopefully by tonight.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, even people in northern Japan need some funky music, actually, maybe they need even more because it is much colder than in other areas of Japan! Hokkaido is I guess the Canada of Japan maybe?

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    Replies
    1. Hello, Brian. I certainly thought that Hokkaido looked like Canada when my plane was landing at Shin-Chitose Airport near Sapporo during my short vacation there. Quite different from Tokyo.

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