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| Maybe next year, Moon! |
If I followed my usual pattern, I wouldn't be here but at Metro Convention Centre for the first full day of Fan Expo, Toronto's equivalent of Comic-Con down in San Diego. However, I'm sitting out this year since after going to the grand geek event for the previous 3 years, the Law of Diminishing Returns has finally smacked me on the head and told me to hold onto my money....even though it might be Stan Lee's final visit to Canada.
As with any Fan Expo, I am quite convinced that there will be the usual smattering of Sailor Moons, Mercurys, Marses, Jupiters, Venuses and even Chibi-Moons walking around and getting their photos taken over the next few days.
So on that note, I will give my tribute to the magical girl franchise to begin all magical girl franchises and provide another ending theme from the original 90s anime. Usually, my favourite songs from "Sailor Moon"（セーラームーン）have tended to be of the uptempo variety such as the iconic tango of "Moonlight Densetsu"（ムーンライト伝説）. I never really got into the ballads until I came across the ending theme for "Sailor Moon SuperS", "Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute" (Wanting to Become Us) by singer-actress Miwako Fujitani（藤谷美和子）.
I was surprised by a couple of things on hearing this ending theme. For one thing, I think it may have been the first ending credit sequence of the franchise to only feature Chibi-Moon (which would probably have had Usagi exploding the dumplings off her head in jealousy), and for the other, it was Fujitani who sang it.
Through my viewings of variety shows and suspense dramas on VHS tape, I had been totally accustomed to seeing the bubbly Fujitani chat about or act on those shows but then in 1994, she and a partner, songwriter Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）, came up with one of the hits of the year, "Ai ga Umareta Hi"（愛が生まれた日）that got them onto the Kohaku Utagassen. Then, just a few months later in April 1995, Fujitani provided her 4th single for one of the crown jewels for TV Asahi, "Sailor Moon".
Listening to "Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute", the arrangement is all very nostalgically 90s and pleasing to the ear. I think Fujitani's slightly fuzzy voice helps out in that regard. It's dreamy enough so that I could imagine Seiko-chan singing this one in concert. And I think it's imprinted myself on me as Chibi-Moon's theme.
The lyrics were provided by the one and only Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and the music was composed by former tarento and singer Nozomi Inoue（井上望）. The song managed to peak at No. 25. The song is also on Fujitani's 2nd album "Believers" from April 1995, and of course, it is available on any of the many albums containing the Sailor Moon songs.
lots of good memories of Sailor Moon. i don't know if you've seen the rebooted series, but Toei really dropped the ball on the animation until the 3rd season. still hoping for a 4th.
ReplyDeleteI still look at some of the YouTube excerpts of some of the funniest scenes from the original anime of "Sailor Moon". My anime buddy and I saw the first episode of the rebooted series, and though it looked very shiny and closer to the original manga, my friend told me that the first couple of years were terrible. I heard that all of the humour was leached out of "Crystal".
DeleteThe original series managed to make the most hilarious sequence of feet falling asleep that I have ever seen, live-action or animated. :)