Several months ago, I gave Mari Iijima（飯島真理）, aka Lynn Minmay（リン・ミンメイ）, her due as the singer behind one of my favourite anime songs, "Ai wo Oboeteimasuka"（愛をおぼえていますか...Do You Remember Love?） for the movie version of the very first entry in the "Macross"saga. I always saw that song as the anime equivalent of "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem, as used in the classic movie, "Casablanca"(my very favourite old movie...I'm not only into kayo kyoku and anime, y'know). The good guys literally used Minmay's epic ballad as the rallying cry to defeat the invasive Zentraedi.
So after that epic musical climax, and the denouement of all of the surviving characters, grateful but exhausted, what to do? Lynn takes the audience off to the closing credits with an uptempo and hopeful aidoru tune that not only makes me remember the movie but 80s aidoru-dom in general. "Tenshi no E no Gu"(An Angel's Paints) is the title of my 2nd-most remembered song by Iijima, who wrote and composed it.
Iijima provided Minmay's career of songs throughout "Ai wo Oboeteimasuka", but it has always been the title song and "Tenshi no E no Gu" that have stuck in my mind in the 29 years since the movie was released. Iijima/Minmay's breezy but soaring voice along with with the tinkly synths and electric guitar and the backup chorus will eternally bring back the Japanese 80s to me. The song was the B-side to the song "Ai wo Oboeteimasuka" and made for a nice light contrast with its heavy-hitting sister.
The video above, by the way, is the final part of the video "Macross Flashback 2012" that was released in 1987 to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the original TV series. Bringing together excerpts from both the original series and the movie, the video also included new footage which was even more richly animated than the movie. I was lucky enough to have received the video as a present, and still marvel at how the characters looked and moved back then. As "Tenshi no E no Gu"plays, we finally get a visual synopsis of how Lynn Minmay grew up to become the super space aidoru before taking off in the SDF-02 as an older, wiser and more wistful lady.
The above video has the actual singer Mari Iijima performing "Tenshi no E no Gu". Perhaps it's a bit cheeky (if complimentary) of me but I think the line is very fuzzy when it comes to distinguishing Iijima from her iconic anime character. And I think after all these years, if she ever showed up at a ComiCon or an AniCon, there would be major mayhem.
Glad to have discovered it. It's for these discoveries that I started the blog after all.
Thanks J-Canuck for this post on 飯島真理's 「天使の絵の具」. I also think 「愛をおぼえていますか?」 is still her best song by far but this song definitely is a close second. Ijima Mari has since moved to the US where she has been living in the Los Angeles area since 1989 and still is making music and releasing albums independently through her website MariMusic.com In fact she just released her 22nd original album earlier this month called "Take A Picture Against The Light". She's become pretty fluent in English as this interview shows. Here she talks about her return to voice Lynn Minmay in ADV's "Macross" series release on DVD - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=317pZ-Mbr0w
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=317pZ-Mbr0w
Hey, JTM.
DeleteI actually tracked down her site's Twitter account (@Marin_Island) and sent the article directly there. I doubt she would ever answer back, but y'never know. I think Iijima/Minmay was the central pillar of that movie. Hopefully, I can get some of her original albums someday in the future since a few of them have popped up in my "Japanese City Pop" book.
Thanks for letting me know the YouTube videos for her.
It's pretty hard to beat the iconic idol classic that is "Ai wo Oboeteimasuka", but "Tenshi no E no Gu" is just lovely. I never got to watch Macross, so I can listen to Iijima without associating her with Lynn Minmay. Still, I empathize with the nostalgia the fans have for those songs. The video from Macross that you posted somehow took me to the past I never experienced. It's magical.
ReplyDeleteHi, nikala.
DeleteI would probably place that movie as one of my 80s touchstones when it comes to my memories. I've got a vanilla DVD of the movie somewhere in one of my shipping boxes. The other song that I liked from "Macross" besides the two Iijima songs is "Runner", the ending theme from the TV series. It has a lovely languid country feel.
I really love this song so much, so much that i always have this in my playlist for more than 30 years. The later from mari iijima sings lynn minmay 2002 album has different arrangement, but this time with her more mature and mellow vocal, which is more beautiful, although i still prefer original arrangement which is aidoru and atmospheric combined with new footage from 2012 flashback. I can imagine she sung from sdf-2 megaroad or wherever planet she colonized when she grew as adult.
ReplyDeleteHello, Harlin, and thanks for your comments. After watching the "Macross" movie and all of that final battle, it was nice to hear something as fluffy and aidoru as "Tenshi no E no Gu". It seemed to be the sign for everyone including the movie audience that everything was back to normal.
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