Now, during that hot summer in Osaka and Wakayama Prefecture, my brother and I did our share of butterfly chasing with nets and trying to avoid the huge snakes around the rice paddies of my grandpa's farm (although a scarab beetle managed to sneak into my underwear for several minutes...but that's another story). However, our big television memories there were watching the anime and the big superhero vs. monster shows, otherwise known as tokusatsu（特撮...literally, special filming). As kids growing up in Toronto, we used to watch "Monster Week" on the Buffalo NBC affiliate WGRZ (WGR back then) during their afternoon movies at 4 p.m., so Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra were big names at our place, and so the huge Japanese monster obsession we had was transferred with us to Japan. Now, at the time, the Ultraman series had long been in production before we got there ("Ultra Q" premiered in 1966), so the current Ultramen in 1972 were Ultraman Ace on its first run and his predecessor, Ultraman Jack, in the afternoons. We had a ball watching the good guys using their punches, kicks and laser beams on the monsters.
But the theme song we loved was for "Ultra Seven", the second of the Ultramen to grace Japanese small screens. And so, when we got back to Toronto, this song, plus the "Kamen Rider" theme song got heavy rotation on the RCA Victor. And apparently, it's THE theme song for the entire Ultraman franchise that everyone remembers to this day (although Mom also got the "Ultraman Ace" single for us....but as much as I like that one, too, it just doesn't quite have the presence).
"SEVEN.....SEVEN.....SEVEN!"
The original theme for "Ultraman" had that Group Sounds good times guitar vibe with its chorus, but the theme for "Ultra Seven" just screamed "Hero coming through!!!" There was the anthemic brass intro, followed by the three members of chorus group The Echoes sliding in "Seven" before they and the entire Misuzu Children's Chorus Group blasted "Seven" again in staccato notes before the burst of French horn, and then the triumphant lyrics written by Kyoichi Azuma（東京一） with Toru Fuyuki（冬木透） behind the notes. It's a theme that just stands up and out for an Ultraman that also stood out in his appearance and his battle tactics; I think his Ice Slugger is the coolest weapon that any of the warriors have had (yeah, I know I'm going a bit fanboy here). My brother and I were doing a fair bit of kicking and spinning around in the living room when that song was on, although we had never seen one episode of "Ultra Seven" in our time in Japan.
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| Yup....the record...41 years old this summer. Not too worse for wear. |
Thanks J-Canuck for this 懐かし post on 「ウルトラセブンの歌」. Next to the original 『ウルトラマン』 series, 『ウルトラセブン』 was my favorite of the ウルトラマンシリーズ. 『帰ってきたウルトラマン』 and 『ウルトラマンA』 weren't that bad either. Never liked 『ウルトラマンタロウ』 or 『ウルトラマンレオ』 all that much although the 「ウルトラマンタロウ」 主題歌 wasn't too bad although it was a bit cheesy. It's amazing how timeless a lot of these 特撮 songs from the 60s and 70s are. 「進め! ゴレンジャー」, 「レッツゴー!!ライダーキック」, 「ゴーゴー・キカイダー」 are absolute classics. Even some of the lesser known shows like 『スーパーロボット レッドバロン』 and 『メガロマン』 had great theme songs. My favorite however is 「地獄のズバット」 which almost sounded like a 西部劇/チャンバラ mash-up.
ReplyDeleteHi, JTM.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my exposure to the Ultraman TV series ended with "Ultraman Ace" when I got back to Canada, so my knowledge of Ultraman Taro was limited to those kindergarten-age manga books that my mother bought me. It would be years later when I saw my first episode of that series but by that point, my interest in tokusatsu had considerably waned.
Looks like you may have some ideas for your next article there with those shows you mentioned. :)