Kei Haneoka -- Kaguya-sama: Love is War Soundtrack

Well, crazy as it sounds, it's been a year since the first season of "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~ Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）hopped onto the TV screen from the original manga. I mostly enjoyed that first run although I think the last couple of episodes veered a little too drastically into the dramatic and the humour never quite recovered to its earlier manic levels (Kaguya's laugh fit trigger, her prior opinions on the birds and the bees, etc.), but that is just me. There are folks who were completely satisfied with it and have been slavering over a second season which was indeed announced near the end of 2019 for a Spring 2020 launch. Happily, the trailer for Season 2 is out now.

Of course, that opening theme song "Love Dramatic" by Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）and Rikka Ihara（伊原六花）has been one for the anison memories, and I can only hope that the new opening and/or ending themes will be up there in the cool factor. Meanwhile, I also enjoyed some of the soundtrack that was on display throughout the episodes.

The music for "Kaguya-sama" was provided by veteran Tokyo-born composer and arranger Kei Haneoka（羽岡佳）. He's crafted a goodly sum of soundtracks for both live-action TV dramas and anime, so it's not surprising that he's been able to inject some parodies of drama themes to good effect into this album. For example, there is "Kansetsu Ki..."（間接キ...Indirect Ki...）.

Indeed, as I soon heard this familiar wistful piano in one of the early episodes, I pegged it right away as a variation on the famous theme song for the Korean drama "Winter Sonata", "From the Beginning Until Now". That drama and the song blasted through Japanese pop culture like wildfire around 20 years ago. One of my students even had the actual score for the song opened up on her grand piano.

As for "Kansetsu Ki...", it was used for hilarious effect at the end of the segment in Episode 3 when President Shirogane and Secretary Fujiwara figured out that their impression of what "the first time" and Vice-President Shinomiya's impression were totally different, especially when Kaguya finally understood it all.

Then, there is "Kokuhaku"（告白...Confession）. My compliments to Haneoka for getting that perfect keyboard sound from the theme song for "Tokyo Love Story", "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni"（ラブストーリーは突然に）. It even has that familiar electric guitar launch from Kazumasa Oda's（小田和正）masterpiece.

The above is from the notorious Episode 7 and "Kokuhaku" comes on at about 00:57.

But not all of the tracks were parodies of romantic theme songs. One such track from Volume 2 of the soundtrack, "Shippai"（失敗...Failure）, is a blast from the past...specifically from my university days in the 1980s.

It's been used, as have the other tracks, all throughout the episodes, but the one episode that has stood out is truly Episode 7. It may be the most famous one in "Kaguya-sama" due to that segment about that special word which can have Kaguya in absolute stitches, and the use of "Shippai" stands out the most when the narrator does his usual exposition. "Shippai" comes in back in that Episode 7 video at 00:50.

Ahhhh...yes. Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round". Haneoka was born in 1977 so he must have been in elementary school when the single came out.

This is maybe one of the tracks that wasn't riffing on some other drama soundtrack but "Chaos Riron"（カオス理論...Chaos Theory） is perhaps a bit ironic in terms of its title since I think it has been used whenever Miyuki and Kaguya have been concocting their overanalyses and tactics against each other. But then again, the song may be describing the destruction of their well-laid plans. In any case, the track does sound like something from a superhero anime or a cop show.

I will be interested in seeing the new season in a few months and also hearing whether Haneoka will be riffing on some other romantic drama soundtracks in addition to the parodies that he's provided here.