Yoshimi Iwasaki -- Touch （タッチ）

One of the most beloved anime songs from the 1980s, Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）will forever be connected with "Touch". The younger sister of Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美), Yoshimi started out as an aidoru in 1980, some 5 years after her sister's debut. Although labeled as an aidoru, her music tended more towards the adult contemporary side of things into genres such as AOR or City Pop, thanks to some of the songwriters who had been sought out such as the Kisugi siblings. But her 20th single, "Touch" had that 50s rock sound imbued into it. "Touch", by the way, was the anime adapted from the original manga by Mitsuru Adachi（あだち充), who had also written "Miyuki"（みゆき） which has its own memorable theme songs by H2O (already profiled). The plot involved the Uesugi brothers and their love for baseball...and also for their friend from childhood, Minami Asakura.

This is a performance by Yoshimi Iwasaki herself. I've always found her delivery to be a bit lighter and more nimble than that of Hiromi, so I think she and "Touch" made a perfect fit. Adachi was also known to have been a big Yoshimi fan as well so I can imagine how he felt when his idol was given the mike to sing the theme song.

Written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and composed by Hiroaki Serizawa（芹沢廣明）, "Touch", after its release in March 1985, reached as high as No. 12 on Oricon and was the 39th-ranked song of the year.