Indeed, yes, it's the final day for 2020. Unlike the above 2019 photo, though, it's not quite as bright and clear out there today although the temperatures are above normal. Another December 31st also means that I caught the last third of this year's Kohaku Utagassen live earlier this morning, and I figure that one of us here on the blog will give our thoughts on this most different edition of the annual NHK special.
Perhaps we can start off then with some articles from all over the spectrum starting with another musical contribution to the "Maison Ikkoku"（めぞん一刻）ethos. This time, I found this theme song for "Maison Ikkoku ~ Kanketsuhen"（めぞん一刻完結篇...The Final Chapter）, the cinematic representation of the famous anime released in 1988. Titled "Glass no Kiss" (Glass Kiss), it was sung by Rika Himenogi（姫乃樹リカ）, and she joins the pantheon of "Maison Ikkoku" themes by Picasso（ピカソ）, Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）and Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）.
I was looking at Himenogi's J-Wiki and Wikipedia profile, and I didn't really see any indications that she had been groomed as a late 1980s aidoru but there's certainly something quite aidoru-ish with the bouncy "Glass no Kiss". Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）with overall arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, along with the grand happy-go-lucky melody, I've also found something rather Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）-ish about Himenogi's delivery. "Glass no Kiss" reached No. 21 on Oricon and it serves as the singer's debut single from February 1988. It can also be found on her December 1988 album "Reminiscence 〜Singles vol.1〜".
Himenogi was born Rika Nishimura（西村理香）from Oita Prefecture and pretty early on in life, she found herself and her family moving from place to place due to the demands of her father's occupation. Sometime in 1982, she entered a music contest broadcast on TV Tokyo which resulted in her getting scouted by an entertainment company, and later on in 1986, she made her appearance in the June issue of the magazine "Momoco" and then on the TBS show "Momoco Club"（モモコクラブ）as a regular personality. At the time, though, aidoru Tomomi Nishimura（西村知美）was also on the program so to prevent any sort of conflict due to identical family names, Rika took on the stage name of Himenogi. Shortly after "Glass no Kiss" came out, she started her own radio program "Himenogi Rika no Oshaberi Salad"（姫乃樹リカのおしゃべりサラダ...Rika Himenogi's Talk Salad） and became a regular in the journal "Radio Paradise"（ラジオパラダイス）which boosted her popularity.
As a singer, she put out a total of 7 singles and 3 original studio albums under her stage name of Rika Himenogi up to 1990, but later that decade, she changed her name into a variant of her real name, Rika Nishimura（西邑理香）and released a few more singles and albums. In 1995, she married musician Dave Crigger and then moved to America where they have a family including three children.
Maison Ikkoku had some of the best writing, characters, voice acting, and soundtrack of any anime series. Both the artwork and animation were superb throughout, with only a few weak episodes (out of 96 total). I consider it Rumiko's strongest work alongside Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2. No modern anime can compare. There's something off-putting about seeing CG colors used instead of hand-painted cel art.
ReplyDeleteHi, Michael. "Maison Ikkoku" has stood out as one of the iconic anime of the decade and probably even of all time, and of course, the theme songs are also very notable. I've seen bad CG in recent anime (yes, I'm looking at you, "Brave Witches") so I'm quite happy with the old-fashioned style.
DeleteThere's something to be said about Maison Ikkoku's portrayal of the enormous social pressure and stress students were under during Japan's bubble economy of the 1980s. Unfortunately it drove many to commit suicide as it was a very difficult time, with lowered wages and lost jobs. Many businesses struggled just to keep afloat. Maison Ikkoku reflected these harsh struggles in Godai's attempts to make some kind of success of himself, often resulting in his hopes being crushed, all the while trying to win Otonashi's love. The circumstances he found himself getting into would often change drastically, although to elaborate would potentially leave spoilers so I'll refrain.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, the theme songs were very notable as MI is widely regarded as having one of the best OST for any series. That's how I came to learn about such artists as Kisugi Takao, Picasso and Kozo Murashita, among others. It even featured a couple of Gilbert O'Sullivan's best tracks (who incidentally collaborated with Kisugi on a couple of songs). Aside from the great themes, the BGM is also noteworthy, adding much emotional impact and atmosphere.