Kenji Ozawa & Scha Dara Parr -- Kon'ya wa Boogie Back（今夜はブギー・バック）

 

Looks like the good times are still rolling with "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）with not just the main show but also with the ending credit sequences which include the songs of yesteryear (specifically, those of the Showa and Heisei eras). We've already gotten Kozo Murashita's（村下孝蔵） "Hatsukoi" (初恋）and Da Bubblegum Brothers' "Won't Be Long" for Episodes 1 and 2 respectively.

The ending of Episode 3 has gone into the hip-hop field this time apparently, so the target song here is "Kon'ya wa Boogie Back"  (Tonight is Boogie Back) which was the March 1994 7th single for hip-hop group Scha Dara Parr with Kenji Ozawa（小沢健二）, formerly of Flipper's Guitar. It was pretty interesting hearing Ozawa going rap but then again, I've learned that he's tried all sorts of genres including jazz and of course, Shibuya-kei when he was with Flipper's Guitar.

Incidentally, there are two versions of "Boogie Back": the "smooth rap" and the "nice vocal" takes of which the former has Scha Dara Parr taking the lead while the latter has Ozawa behind the mike most of the time.

The thing is that the first time I ever listened to "Kon'ya wa Boogie Back", it was not through the original artists. It was actually listening to some musical guests covering the song on the late-night Saturday music variety show "Love Love Aishiteiru" (Love Love 愛している....Love Love I Love You） hosted by the Kinki Kids. At the time, I hadn't heard a whole lot of Japanese rap although we were just on the cusp of a big J-R&B boom from the late 1990s, so I wanted to hear the original with Ozawa and Scha Dara Parr.

"Boogie Back" was written and composed by Ozawa and the three members of Scha Dara Parr: Bose, Ani and Shinco. It peaked at No. 15 on Oricon (selling over half a million copies), and it looks like it has had plenty of covers done over the last thirty years. The song also samples En Vogue's "Give It Up, Turn It Loose" from 1992.

Apparently, the end of Episode 4 features a song by The Barbee Boys that I hadn't experienced before. That'll get its due then.

Miwako Saito -- Koibito wa Itsudemo（恋人はいつでも）

 

Hope you're having a good Sunday after getting filled up with your bacon, eggs and pancakes. I'm still digesting mine so forgive the post-breakfast drowsiness.

Singer-songwriter Miwako Saito（斉藤美和子）first came to my knowledge through Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast when she performed a cover of Kaoru Sudo's（須藤薫）"Anata dake I Love You"（あなただけ I LOVE YOU） on the 1997 compilation album "Winter Gift Pops". My curiosity peaked by the song and her vocals, I dug a little deeper and found out that Saito had her own bands from the 1980s including Tango Europe（タンゴ・ヨーロッパ）which kinda struck me as a prototype of Princess Princess.

Saito also had her solo career and this is where a contact from a fellow named Koki Matsumura reminded me of that. He introduced me to "Koibito wa Itsudemo" (Lover Always Do) which was the singer's debut single from 1986. With Saito and Chuuji Akagi（赤城忠治）providing the lyrics and the latter also composing the tune, it's a fun and quirky pop song with a bit of New Wave in there. And in a way, the song might have heralded the coming wave of sunny Girl Pop which would come within a half-decade through singers such as Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）. It's definitely its own song in terms of an intro that takes its sweet time and the overall length which goes over six minutes.

Saito would release three more singles up to 1988 along with a combination of albums and mini-albums from 1988 to 1999.

Misaki Iwasa -- Aikagi（合鍵）

By Daderot via Wikimedia Commons

I've encountered a number of tropes within Japanese pop music over the years of doing "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Another one has to do with aikagi or duplicate key/passkey.  I've noticed that there are quite a few songs with the title "Aikagi". One was by Hatsumi Shibata（しばたはつみ）which happened to be her debut single in 1974 and there's another one by Mayumi Itsuwa（五輪真弓）that I have yet to cover. 

The whole rigamarole regarding passkeys has to do with the illicit affair which is a common lyrical plot in the various romantic ballads, enka and Mood Kayo numbers. Fans have loved to listen vicariously and dangerously as men and women throw caution to the wind and have those romances in their special hotels or homes...of course, accessible by that guilty duplicate key. 🔑

It was just last weekend on NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）when I heard enka singer Misaki Iwasa（岩佐美咲）perform her latest single titled naturally enough "Aikagi". Released in February this year, her 12th single is a bittersweet ballad about the aftermath of an affair in which the heroine has kept the titular key although there is no longer anyone to meet in the secret love nest. Written by AKB 48 mastermind Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Saburo Takada（高田三郎）, I guess it's safe to say that this could be considered a Neo-enka or New Adult Music with some Latin and sophisticated pop mixed in with the traditional stuff.  Strangely enough, Akimoto weaves a very similar story to the one concocted by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）for Shibata's "Aikagi", so I guess that anything titled "Aikagi" isn't going to be necessarily very happy.

I've also come to realize that this is only the second Iwasa article that I've written with her name on the byline after my first posting of her 4th single "Hatsuzake"（初酒）back in 2015. The scary thing is that my articles on "Hatsuzake" and Shibata's "Aikagi" were posted within a day of each other in February of that year. Cue spooky music. Anyways, Iwasa's "Aikagi" broke through the Oricon Top 10 to peak at No. 7.

Nami Shimada -- Pastel Blue no Tameiki（パステル・ブルーのためいき）

 

Welcome to another KKP weekend. It's a little chillier if also a little humid, so I'm more than happy to be typing this while the windows are open.

1980s aidoru Nami Shimada（島田奈美）hit her peak in terms of Oricon when she released her May 1987 single "Uchiki na Cupid"（内気なキューピッド）. It hit No. 7 and so did the follow-up single "Pastel Blue no Tameiki" (Pastel Blue Sighes) which came out a few months later in August. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranged by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, it's a soaring aidoru tune with Shimada's high-toned vocals and it feels like it's describing a fantastical scene involving the lass herself. Couldn't ask anymore from songwriters when it comes to an aidoru song, and heck, she even looks like a chiffon cake in the video below.😁

Yuka Noda -- City Girl

 

This is going to age me even more considerably but when I read or see the phrase "City Girl", I think of Marlo Thomas in "That Girl" or Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", although both ladies have their differences in looks and personality.

It was back in 2024 when I noted keyboardist Yuka Noda（野田ユカ）through a couple of tracks on her 1989 album "Carib no Yume"（カリブの夢）. I covered the title track, which was some fine Caribbean fusion, and the funk-and-jazz "Manhattan Blue". Well, from this album, we now have "City Girl" which was composed by Eriko Tsukayama（塚山エリコ）who had also created the title track and continues with the funk and jazz from "Manhattan Blue". "City Girl" sounds like the perfect theme song for Barney Miller's wife as she's shopping around The Big Apple while her husband is out fighting crime.

Mikiko Noda -- Awai Kisetsu no Sunglass（淡い季節のサングラス）

 

During that trip to the hospital yesterday, I was warned by my mother that the wait until my father completed the examination could be a long one. I didn't think it would be that bad (and it wasn't), but I still brought over my copy of "Obscure City Pop CDs 1986-2006" to peruse.

Singer Mikiko Noda（野田幹子）popped up a fair bit among the pages of "Obscure City Pop CDs", so technically, she wasn't really all that obscure. But all that aside, I decided to check out some more of her discography since it was from the book that I discovered a few of her delights. One was her "Awai Kisetsu no Sunglass" (Sunglasses of the Fleeting Season) from her 7th album of November 1991, "Rose C'est La Vie".

That song title sounds quite French New Wave which would make it an appropriate track to include into an album titled "Rose C'est La Vie". However, it isn't brooding jazz at all here. Keyboardist Masao or Hatao Kusuba（崩場将夫）was the composer while Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）was the lyricist for this song (and probably all of the other tracks on "Rose C'est La Vie") that has been described as residing in the area between City Pop and Girl Pop. There is a certain amount of panache and innocence combining within "Awai Kisetsu no Sunglass" and with those synthesizers of the time crashing in, I get reminders of what Miki Imai（今井美樹）was like in the same year. Just a young lady having her time out on the town.

Penthouse -- Ichi, Ni, San（一二三）

Amazon.jp

I'm not sure how the Spring 2026 season for anime has been accepted by fans so far, but I have to say that in terms of handling the theme songs, there have been some interesting and fun choices. "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）not only has funkster Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）back on the dance floor but it's also gone for bringing back the oldies for each ending. Then there is Keisuke Kuwata's（桑田佳祐）mix of his signature style and some European pizzazz for his contribution to "Akane-banashi"（あかね噺...Akane's Story）.

Then we have the fourth season of the anime adaptation of the fantasy manga "Mairimashita! Iruma-kun"（魔入りました!入間くん...Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun）. To be honest, I've never seen this in either format but judging from the opening credit sequence and the theme song, they sure make it enticing. I could imagine the first few opening sequences being fairly serious and then with this one, the producers opted to have the characters go for some fun instead.

And that is because of "Ichi, Ni, San" (One, Two, Three) by the City Soul band Penthouse. I've already posted a few articles on them and they really go down to town with this one which was released as their latest single earlier this month. Guitarist Shintaro Namioka（浪岡真太郎）was the composer of the snazzy jazzy melody and he shares co-writing credits with bassist Takuma Ohara（大原拓真）. Namioka and co-vocalist Maho Oshima（大島真帆）threaten to blow the roof off the house here.