Aya Ikeda -- #Kibou Rainbow#（♯キボウレインボウ♯）

 

Earlier today, I got a nice message from regular commenter Brian Mitchell that NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン） was going with an anison theme for this week's episode. Well, I already had him beat although I'm thankful that he gave me the tip. I caught it early this morning during breakfast and there were indeed some of the classics such as Yoko Takahashi's（高橋洋子）"Zankoku na Tenshi no Tehze"（残酷な天使のテーゼ）(what better way to plow through one's hot oatmeal than that song?), anison legend Mitsuko Horie's（堀江美都子）"Candy Candy"（キャンディ♡キャンディ）and Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）"Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa"（悲しみよこんにちは）from the "Maison Ikkoku"（めぞん一刻）anime of the mid-1980s.

It would have been interesting if "Uta Con" had gotten really specific about its anime-themed segments and devoted those fifteen minutes to the songs of the "Pretty Cure" franchise. Not that I would have ever expected NHK to follow through on that because the longest-running magical girl series has originated from rival network TV Asahi, but there are more than enough theme songs there to fill up more than an hour at least.

Quite some time has passed since my last entry into the Precure folder with my most recent one being Hitomi Yoshida's（吉田仁美）"Yay! Yay! Yay!" (イェイ！イェイ！イェイ！) , the ending theme for "Smile Precure"（スマイルプリキュア!）in 2012. Well, I managed to find another perky ender from the previous Precure season, the one for "Suite Precure"（スイートプリキュア♪）, the music-based show and perhaps the first one to take place in a totally fantastical setting rather than the usual Japanese bedroom city.

Aya Ikeda（池田彩）was the singer behind the second ending theme titled "#Kibou Rainbow#" (Rainbow of Hope), and yep, it's definitely one happy-go-lucky ditty especially with those pronouncements of "ding-dong" in there. Of course, with the choreography by the characters in the ending credits, "#Kibou Rainbow#" must have been irresistible to the kiddie fans. Sumiyo Mutsumi（六ツ見純代） and Yo Yamazaki（山崎燿）were lyricist and composer respectively for the song.

As for Ikeda, she hails from Metropolitan Osaka and is not only an anison singer but also a TV personality. She also had her aidoru period as a member of the Chiba Prefecture-based group C-ZONE. She's also provided some further input into the Precure franchise.