Sunday, April 15, 2012

Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu (セーラー服と機関銃)


Hiroko Yakushimaru (薬師丸ひろ子)started her acting career in 1978 in a film by Kadokawa Pictures alongside Ken Takakura, who would later star in "Black Rain" with Michael Douglas. But three years later, she would earn iconic status when she posed in a picture as a high school student in the typical sailor suit uniform....packing major heat via a machine gun.

"Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu"(Sailor Suit and Machine Gun) was another Kadokawa film which was a satire on yakuza flicks with Yakushimaru as the young heroine/teenage delinquent who ends up becoming the new oyabun of her late father's criminal gang. She also sang the eponymous theme song, her debut single which was released in November 1981. Written by the prolific brother-and-sister team of Takao and Etsuko Kisugi(来生たかお・来生えつこ), it would stay at the No. 1 spot for 5 straight weeks from late December to mid-January and end up being the 2nd-ranking song of 1982.


Another unusual thing is that this song has a bit of a split personality in that Takao Kisugi, who also does double duty as a singer, sings this under the title of "Yume no Tochuu"(夢の途中...In the Middle of a Dream). This will have its own entry along with the reasoning behind the double titling.


Keeping on the theme of twos, "Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu"seems to have two versions: there is the one above which is the original softer version while another exists that has a bit more of a dramatic melody line. I heard the latter version first many years ago but can't seem to find it anywhere on YouTube.

By the way, Yakushimaru was the second Mrs. Koji Tamaki (玉置浩二)(of Anzen Chitai fame) for a time.

1 comment:

  1. The Yoru band is really good here. I get goosebumps listening to the strings, and then the backing vocals kick in...

    An unusual performance here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iTNyMxZh4Q

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