Poplar -- Ijigen Story（異次元ストーリー）/Norimasa Yamanaka -- Wing Love

 

"You can be my wingman anytime". I kinda wonder whether this statement marking the beginning of a friendship between Maverick and Iceman in "Top Gun" was how the key word entered the vernacular meaning a guy who will have his friend's back every time whether it be in war or love. I've been hearing "wingman" quite a lot in movies over the past few decades now.

And that's the reason that I was initially tickled by this manga-turned-anime titled "Yume Senshi Wingman"（夢戦士ウイングマン...Dream Warrior Wingman） from 1984. The Wingman here was actually the star instead of the sidekick. My information on 80s anime is pretty sparse but from what I could glean is that the hero is a high school boy who gets those delusions of grandeur of becoming a great tokusatsu hero and he actually gets his opportunity through an encounter with an alternative universe princess. Of course, as we can see in the above video, the process is never a smooth one. I guess all that chuunibyo stuff goes back further than I'd assumed.

In any case, the opening and theme songs for "Wingman" are surprisingly urban contemporary considering the plot of the show. And both were created by the same team: lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranger Keiichi Oku（奥慶一）...pretty darn potent City Pop guys. The opening theme "Ijigen Story" can be translated as either "Story from a Different Dimension" or "Unprecedented Story". It's got that urbanity along with some haunting interdimensional whimsy as would befit some of the goofy humour. There's even what sounds like a bit of Dixieland jazz that pops up in the full version. Sumiko Fukuda（福田スミ子）, aka Poplar（ポプラ）, provides the bluesy and smoky vocals; she's also one of the singers responsible for the theme song for famous electronics chain Yodobashi Camera.

Norimasa Yamanaka（山中のりまさ）is another singer that I haven't heard a lot about, only writing about one song of his only a few months ago, "Sunrise Sunset"（サンライズ・サンセット）. His second one here on KKP is the ending theme for "Wingman", the West Coast drive-friendly "Wing Love", which is more on the AOR side with some Boz Scaggs/Bobby Caldwell influences in Oku's arrangement. Maybe this could be one song that could greet young Kenta on the stereo after battling his monsters as the title character himself.