Flying Kids -- Boku de Aru Tame ni （僕であるために）

I've been exploring the wonderful world of anison for the past few years and just yesterday, I came across this great song by Flying Kids titled "Boku de Aru Tame ni" (To Be Myself) which is almost 20 years old.

Never saw the anime for "Taiho Shichauzo" (逮捕しちゃうぞ...You're Under Arrest) although it's a title that I've heard frequently over the years although from what I've read from the synopsis, it seems like the type of slice-of-life story that I'm often drawn to. Certainly I had never heard of the theme song although I do have that one CD single of a previous Flying Kids' single, the snazzy "Tomadoi no Toki wo Koete"（とまどいの時を越えて）.

"Boku de Aru Tame ni", which came out in November 1996 as the band's 17th single, was written by lead vocalist Takashi Hamazaki（浜崎貴司）and composed by Flying Kids. What I love about it is that classic 70s sound anchored by that bouncy piano; it's more contemplative than "Tomadoi no Toki wo Koete" and it has that appealing feeling of that working stiff just getting through life without having to worry about invading robots or monsters. It made for a fine opening theme for police officers in that anime and I'm sure Flying Kids' fans probably loved hearing it in their heads as they made their way to work or to school. And there are Hamazaki's vocals which just soar at certain points in the song with a bit of echo.

In the article for "Tomadoi", I kinda likened Hamazaki as a potential geeky addition to "The Big Bang Theory". Well, according to the official music video above, it looks like the video theme was "Friends".

Well, it looks like the opening for "Taiho Shichauzo" depicted the Odaiba area by Tokyo Bay. Good times, good memories.