Emi Shinohara (as Makoto Kino) -- Wasureru tame ni Koi wo Shinai de（忘れるために恋をしないで）

 

For this week, I had been expecting to give a tribute to a recently departed star in pop culture tomorrow during the regular Reminiscings of Youth article. However, last night I discovered that regrettably I have to give another one right now. Seiyuu and singer Emi Shinohara（篠原恵美）passed away on September 8th at the age of 61. Of course, she's been known for many roles in anime but the one that I will always associate her with is Makoto Kino（木野まこと）, aka Sailor Jupiter, within the original "Sailor Moon" anime series of the early 1990s.

Mako-chan was a most interesting character within the five main Sailors since her character fused a couple of typical personality types together: the tall, tough and just girl who could wipe the pavement of many a thug and a lass who loved to cook, admire cute things and happily fall in love with any guy. Initially striking me as being the most serious warrior, she also got her chance to partake in the goofy world of Usagi Tsukino（月野うさぎ）, aka Sailor Moon.

All of the seiyuu in "Sailor Moon" were also involved in singing and in 1994, during the second season of the original series known as "Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon R"（美少女戦士セーラームーンR キャラクターソング）, there was a CD single series known as "Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon R Character Songs" in which each of the seiyuu put out their own songs under their characters' names. Shinohara's own CD came out in March of that year with the final track being "Wasureru tame ni Koi wo Shinai de" (Don't Fall in Love Just to Forget).

Sung softly by Shinohara and as the character of Makoto Kino, the song fits her and her circumstances to a T as Mitsuko Shiramine's（白峰美津子） lyrics describe Mako-chan, having broken up with a boy recently, makes her slow recovery though she still has feelings for the lad. The synthpop arrangement is very plucky in a nearly Shibuya-kei way and more importantly, it sounds hopeful for the future. The melody was created by Toshiaki Matsumoto（松本俊明）who came up with a lot of pop songs for other artists including a couple of Xmas outings for Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）in 1990 and then Misia in 2000.

My condolences to Shinohara's family, friends and fans.