Marina Watanabe with Onyanko Club -- Shinkokyuu shite（深呼吸して）

 

I guess that I shouldn't be all that surprised that various YouTube anime enthusiast uploaders have put up videos under the theme of jealousy. After all, it is a well-worn trope in anime of all stripes and a source of mirth, although some of those folks filled with that emotion can be darn "Fatal Attraction" scary.

As with the preceding article that I whipped up on aidoru Itsumi Osawa（大沢逸美）, this particular tune "Shinkokyuu shite" (Take a Deep Breath) also includes a bit of that green-eyed monster although it's probably a very light shade of green judging from the vocals and the happy-go-lucky arrangement.

What's special about "Shinkokyuu shite" is that it was also the solo debut single of 80s aidoru Marina Watanabe（渡辺満里奈）, also a member of Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）. Released in October 1986 with the official added name tag of "...with Onyanko Club", a young lass is trying to sort out her feelings when she sees the target of her puppy love with somebody who may in fact be his girlfriend. If this had been a scene from an anime, the poor girl would have the "GOD IS DEAD" face and teardrops forming in the corners of her widened eyes. That torch for the lad has probably and suddenly burned down to the size of a cigarette butt.

Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Harukichi Yamamoto（山本はるきち）, I like the somewhat old-timey ice-cream parlour style of jazzy arrangement by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）for "Shinkokyuu shite". The tinny piano definitely helps. The interesting thing about the song is that the "...with Onyanko Club" is actually talking about the backup chorus consisting of a couple of Watanabe's fellow members, Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）and Akiko Ikuina（生稲晃子）, who I believe are also in the video above.

The other notable piece of trivia is that not only did "Shinkokyuu shite" hit No. 1 (a nice feather in Watanabe's cap), but on reaching the top of the Oricon charts, Marina-chan broke a record that had been held for around 11 years and 9 months by 1970s aidoru legend Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）for her "Fuyu no Iro"（冬の色）as the youngest solo female singer to reach No. 1 at the tender age of 15 years and 11 months compared to Yamaguchi hitting the record also at the age of 15 years and 11 months, so it must have been just a smattering of days that made the difference. Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）member Maki Goto（後藤真希）then took the record in 2001 with her "Ai no Bakayarou"（愛のバカやろう）.

Fascinating that all three singers who got that record all have given names that begin with M. This would go under the category of things that make one go "Hmmmm...".