Da Capo -- Sora kara Koboreta STORY （空からこぼれたSTORY）

Yup, a few days ago, I heard of the passing of Roger Moore who had his several years of playing secret agent James Bond 007. Someone once told me that a fan's very favourite Bond depended on when that fan was born, and for me that would mean my favourite 007 is Sean Connery...and that is true. Moore was more in the middle of the pack for me.

I mean, he was fine enough but I thought he just extended himself a little long in the part, especially after catching his final tilt as the British superspy, "From A View To A Kill". Plus, I thought he was a bit too arch(ed eyebrow) for my taste at times. Then again, Moore himself once countered that how could anyone take Bond all that seriously since he was the most recognized secret agent (and therefore worst secret agent) in history. Point taken, Sir Roger.

Still, there were a few of his movies as Bond which thrilled me such as "The Spy Who Loved Me" with the scene of the Lotus Esprit chase and the above opening scene of him falling seemingly forever until that Union Jack parachute opened up to the famous theme song. I heard that audiences in the UK screamed their approval at that point.

I can't remember which character I saw first portrayed by Sir Roger but I vaguely remember seeing him in black-&-white episodes of "The Saint" when he was playing the debonair Simon Templar. Man of adventure, catchy theme song, very British....I'm sure it wasn't too difficult for producers to choose him when Connery decided to finally leave the role.

Now, folks, before I completely go over the line and turn this article into the blog's first 007 entry, I would like to say that in the Japanese-dubbed version of Moore's Bond movies, he was voiced by the late seiyuu and narrator Taichiro Hirokawa（広川太一郎）. Hirokawa, of course, didn't make Bond his sole bread-and-butter. He took on a lot of roles including that of another British crime-busting legend, Sherlock Holmes.

The thing is, though, that his Holmes was a dog. In fact, all of the characters in the anime "Meitantei Holmes"（名探偵ホームズ...Sherlock Hound） were dogs. If the style of the 1984 anime looks rather familiar to you, it may be because that the first handful of episodes were directed by Hayao Miyazaki（宮崎駿）. The above is the English-dubbed version.

The opening theme for "Meitantei Holmes" is "Sora kara Koboreta STORY" (The Story That Spilled From The Sky), performed by the folk-pop duo Da Capo（ダ・カーポ）. Man, they sure don't make anison like that anymore (I kinda miss that relaxing style). Created by lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composer Ken Sato（佐藤健）, the song sounds perfect for a Miyazaki flick! Plus, the duo did their best to bring in the British flavour into the arrangement. It kinda straddles between what I would imagine the soundtrack for an animated Sherlock Holmes for kids would sound like and a bouncier contemporary beat. It's certainly different than any of the themes for "Meitantei Conan"（名探偵コナン...Case Closed）.

Try as I might, I couldn't find Hirokawa voicing Moore anywhere but perhaps he is represented in this Japanese ad for the DVD-BOX set for the 007 movies.