Nami Shimada -- Makenaide...Kataomoi（負けないで...片想い）

 

KKP contributor Jari Lehtinen was the first one to get the Nami Shimada（島田奈美）file rolling when he wrote about the late 1980s aidoru's "Onegai Kiss Me Again"（お願いキス・ミー・アゲイン）all the way back in 2013. And feel free to read his writeup since he goes into much of her history in the geinokai.

It's always interesting to delve into the slightly less-than-famous aidoru of that decade since I've found that at least some of their material is quite pleasant to listen to. And with Shimada, who I didn't really find out about until the existence of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", there is her 2nd single from August 1986, "Makenaide...Kataomoi" (Don't Give Up...One-Sided Love). It's got one of the nicest intros before some intriguing synths come crashing in and then the arrangement maintains a nice and fairly groovy rhythm throughout. The title pretty much says it all...I'm assuming that Yukinojo Mori's（森雪之丞）lyrics are about holding that torch for that guy in high school. Not surprised that the melody and arrangement are by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）respectively. "Makenaide...Kataomoi" made it No. 15 on Oricon and it was used for a Clearasil commercial.