Gawr Gura -- Shyness Boy

 

This will be the last article of the three advance City Pop tunes I'm starting up today on Thursday, so I'll put up the remaining two tomorrow. Admittedly, this isn't a particularly deep think piece but then again, City Pop by its nature isn't about the metaphysics of it all. It's always been about having some great fun in the metropolis or even in the resort areas.

Back in the fall of 2023, I was surprised to find out from commenter Gen Kanai that VTubers were also plying their hands and voices on City Pop, and so I took a try with Houshou Marine（宝鐘マリン）& Gawr Gura（がうる・ぐら）and their duet "SHINKIRO" from 2023. Incidentally, it was also the first time that I presented KKP official cartoon representative Kayo Grace Kyoku up at the top though she didn't have a name at the time.

I also found out that Gawr Gura had enjoyed covering some of the City Pop classics from the 1980s including Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）"Magic Ways" whose video came out in 2022. She did a really nice job there, and just recently, I found her other 2022 cover of one of my favourite songs of the genre, Anri's（杏里）"Shyness Boy" from her 1983 album "Timely!!". Yes, I realize that it's basically her doing karaoke but still, it's not just a row of terrifying teeth emanating from the mouth of the VTuber shark! Of course, it's Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）who came up with the words and music for "Shyness Boy".

One other thing that I've discovered is that Gawr Gura retired from Hololive last year in May, so I'm hoping that whoever portrayed her is enjoying a happy life somewhere.