Friday, September 1, 2017

Yasuyuki Okamura -- Love Message (ラブメッセージ)


Well, that Yasuyuki Okamura(岡村靖幸)really tore the funk off when he did "Viva Namida"(ビバナミダ)back in 2014 for the anime "Space Dandy". That song has stuck in my cerebellum ever since I saw Dandy dance to it in the opening credits, and it has come to the point that, hope beyond hope, it might even get into the 2020 Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics. I will even double-down on my hopes and wish for Dancing Gundams with Okamura during the performance.

(short version)

In the meantime, it looks like he's been continuing on with the funky good times. Case in point, his 30th single (and his most recent single up to this writing), "Love Message" from September 2015. It was the ending theme for this movie based on the manga "Minna! Esper da yo!"(みんな!エスパーだよ!...All Esper Dayo!)that looks pretty whacked-out from the music video, but then again, "Space Dandy" wasn't exactly your run-of-the-mill program, either.

And similarly, "Love Message" is another one of those Okamura-made earworms that just grabs hold and never lets go. So "Viva Namida" will have a brain mate forever. It's just that catchy. And Okamura doesn't hold back on the vocal funk either.


It got as high as No. 23 on Oricon and was a track on his 7th album "Koufuku"(幸福...Happiness)from January 2015 which peaked at No. 3 on the album charts. Okamura may look more like a button-down salaryman now when compared to his leaner days in the 1980s, but he can still thrill listeners to jump up and dance.

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