Do As Infinity -- Mahou no Kotoba ~ Would You Marry Me? （魔法の言葉）

There is a period in everyone's lives where it seems like every other month there is a wedding party to attend. That time for me was in the late 1990s. And as is probably the case in every nation, the Japanese can do the celebrations big. I've been to Western-style and traditional Japanese wedding ceremonies but it's the following reception parties that pull out all the stops with either gorgeous buffets or some pretty sumptuous sit-down meals. The biggest I remember was the very first one that I attended after arriving in Japan in 1994. The ceremony and reception took place in a very fancy Italian restaurant in Asakusa with the highlight being the chefs towing in what was literally a cooked half-cow...the entrance was performed to the soundtrack from the famous cooking battle show, "Ryori no Tetsujin"（料理の鉄人...The Iron Chefs）. You couldn't get more epic than that.

In any case, all that personal preamble is to introduce Do As Infinity's 15th single "Mahou no Kotoba ~ Would You Marry Me?" (The Magic Words) from June 2003. I wasn't a huge fan of the group featuring vocalist Tomiko Van（伴都美子）, guitarist Ryo Owatari（大渡亮）and lyricist/composer Dai Nagao（長尾大）but the name was pretty prominent through the media during their 6 years together (1999-2005).

However having said that, I did like "Would You Marry Me?". I think it was because of that sunny arrangement by Nagao which struck me as being Shibuya-kei although by that point in the early 2000s, the genre was probably more of a historical footnote. Still, it is a fun song to listen to with the horns and Van's vocals (and her lovely figure in the music video)...just the right note to hit during the most important day in the groom and bride's lives. And apparently it has become a popular song to play during those wedding parties. It also enjoyed some popularity on the charts peaking at No.4 on Oricon as a single; it was also a track on Do As Infinity's 5th studio album, "Gates of Heaven" which was released in November 2003 and went as high as No. 3. It ended up becoming the 49th-ranked album for 2004.

For the longest time, I wondered about the derivation of the group's name. I found out through Wikipedia that the words' initials make up the composer's first name. I should've figured that one out but I gather that engorging myself on that half-cow and the multitudes of pasta years ago most likely addled my brain.