Ena/Yoko Hikasa -- Bungaku Shojo（文学少女）

Yes...the Japanese high school. A critical institution for adolescents and the molder of young minds and bodies, but apparently in the anime world, it also seems to be the figurative pressure cooker for future lunatics.

Last anime season, we got to see all sorts of hilarity on "Asobi Asobase"（あそびあそばせ）involving the hijinks of three high school girls, and I mentioned in the article for that show's theme songs that there have been similar school-based crazy anime comedies in the past.

Well, I was watching a video showing some of the vocal acrobatics by the anime force of nature that walks like a man, seiyuu Tomokazu Sugita（杉田智和）, and saw a couple of scenes featuring him as crazed high school kid Hidenori（ヒデノリ）in 2012's "Danshi Kokosei no Nichijo"（男子高校生の日常...Daily Lives of High School Boys）. Hidenori's scenes of identifying himself as "JYAAACK!" are the stuff of legend as far as I am concerned.

So way back when apparently, it wasn't just the girls who were having the nutso times at school. I witnessed some more of the hilarity on "Danshi Kokosei no Nichijo" and then I encountered this series of vignettes featuring Hidenori and Yassan The Literature Girl. Watching this repeated parody on the trope of high school boy meets high school girl on the bank of a river for some deep talk on love reminded me of some of the running gags on American comedy-variety shows such as "Laugh-In".

The parody lays it on real thick leading to the nutty hilarity partially because of the musical accompaniment that comes on each time. In fact, the wistfully sad piano ditty is even titled after the lass herself, "Bungaku Shojo" (Literature Girl), and as a number of commenters on YouTube have said, this would normally have presaged a very bittersweet sequence involving a terminally ill student or the death of the family dog. Instead, it probably has garnered some knowing snickers and laughter due to all of the deadpan slapstick.

Ena sang this with Yasunobu Yamauchi（山内泰延）, the original author of the manga, coming up with the lyrics while Audio Highs composed the Kleenex-worthy melody.

I would like to welcome veteran seiyuu Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）to "Kayo Kyoku Plus". From some of her roles and her live appearances, I've gotten the impression that she may be just as loopy as Sugita. Hikasa is the Literature Girl, who actually doesn't say too much but she doesn't need to. To be honest, I can't really distinguish her voice with Ena's when she sings her own theme song. But hey, it's a nice ballad.

And, indeed, the wind is sparkling...