Etsuko Yakushimaru -- Houkago Di(e)stra(u)ction（放課後ディストラクション）

 

If memory serves correctly, Etsuko Yakushimaru's（やくしまるえつこ）"X-Jigen e Yokoso"（Ｘ次元へようこそ）isn't the first song by the singer-songwriter that I've heard, but it is the first one that made an impression on me. It certainly didn't hurt that it was the ending theme for one of anime's most enjoyably loopy shows in recent memory, "Space Dandy", but under her songwriting name of tica alpha（ティカ・α）, Yakushimaru made one really catchy techno-disco masterpiece which fit exactly with the look of the series.

Another Yakushimaru distraction has been "Houkago Di(e)stra(u)ction" (After School Distraction) which served as her 9th single from August 2018. It has that blippity-bloppity technopop sound and the singer's distinctive whispery voice describing some rather Dadaist images in the lyrics combining what seems to be a few news headlines and a student's rather boring lifestyle at school. Although the disco isn't there this time, "Houkago Di(e)stra(u)ction" has the above plus some nice twangy guitar going for it.

Let's add to the avant-garde dreaminess here. The official music video above is a 360-degree visual experience that you can control with your mouse.

For some reason, my anime buddy never included this show into the schedule when we used to do our biweekly Sunday routine, but "Hi Score Girl"（ハイスコアガール）was a 2018-2019 anime adaptation of a 2010-2018 manga by Rensuke Oshikiri（押切蓮介）, and it turned out that "Houkago Di(e)stra(u)ction" was the first ending theme. Coincidentally, one of the minor characters in this gamer romance anime is Junichi Suwabe（諏訪部順一）, the seiyuu who played Space Dandy himself.