Kenichi Asai -- Motor City

After all was said and done once we had caught the finales of the anime from Summer 2019, my friend and I were somewhat ruefully wondering whether Fall 2019's stock would be a bit sparse in terms of shows that we would like to watch. We were happy to see the zany gang from "Boku-tachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai"（ぼくたちは勉強ができない）back in action for a second season, and there is something nice with "Hōkago Saikoro Kurabu"（放課後さいころ倶楽部...After School Dice Club）...that Marrakech game looked pretty interesting. Of course, "En En no Shouboutai"（炎炎ノ消防隊）is continuing its run. Plus, there is "Kandagawa Jet Girls"（神田川JET GIRLS）which seems to be a raunchy mix of "Keijo!!!!!!!!"（競女!!!!!!!!）and "Two-Car" (hopefully, it will be satisfying along the lines of the former rather than the latter).

However, we did get some hope of maybe some more good things to come after watching the premiere of a cyberpunk noir titled "No Guns Life"（ノー・ガンズ・ライフ）back on Sunday. I liked "Blade Runner", and I've enjoyed the separate genres of future dystopia and film noir from the 1940s, so seeing "No Guns Life" especially with Space Dandy himself, Junichi Suwabe（諏訪部順一）, starring as the literally hard-as-nails, seen-it-all, heard-it-all detective Juzo Inui（乾十三）made for an intriguing experience. He strikes quite the figure, especially with a gun for a head (maybe his English name is Peter...har de har). The only thing missing was a Mickey Spillane voice over but I think Inui has been handling that part well enough.

It's not bluesy jazz but the opening theme "Motor City" by Blankey Jet City vocalist/songwriter Kenichi Asai（浅井健一）is still pretty darn good. There's something even kinda 1980s rock about this one although I currently can't think of a band from that era that "Motor City" reminds me of. As with a lot of anison that hits me as potentially earworm-y in the early part of an anime season, I often don't wait for the full version but just go ahead with the truncated version within the opening credits, so once again here I go.

There must be something about a detective-based anime that attracts some good hard-driving tunes. Along with "No Guns Life", I've been reminded of the theme songs from "City Hunter" and last year's "Double Decker". Looking forward to some more of this show.