Machiko Soga/Ego-Wrappin'/Seiji Hiraoka -- Nazo no Onna B（謎の女B）

 

"Obake no Q-Taro"（オバケのＱ太郎...Q-Taro The Ghost） was an old anime that my brother and I caught when we spent that summer in 1972 on my grandfather's farm in Wakayama Prefecture. We couldn't quite understand at the time what type of creature Q-chan was but we later realized that the squeaky-voiced character was indeed a ghost. Plus, he and his good buddy O-Jiro entertained us greatly.

The thing is that the series that we had seen was a sequel to the original TBS black-and-white series that ran from August 1965 to June 1967. Back then, Q-Taro had been played by actress and seiyuu Machiko Soga（曽我町子）, a Tokyo native and a graduate from the Tokyo Announcers' Academy. She also provided the show with a number of songs including the main theme.

However in September 1967, Soga released something quite different in the form of "Nazo no Onna B" (Mystery Lady B). Q-Taro may have been a mischievous sort but Soga has a different sort of mischief with this hip-swiveling swing jazz. She sounds very sultry and naughty in this story of Mr. A nearly being drawn into seductress Lady B's spider web of iniquity, especially with an angry Mr. C lurking nearby. Seiji Hiraoka（平岡精二）was behind the words and music for "Nazo no Onna B" which could fit an exciting episode for Matt Helm, Peter Gunn or Derek Flint.

Soga would continue appearing in anime but also in tokusatsu programs as a villainous character for a number of decades. However, she passed away at the age of 68 in 2006.

The band Ego-Wrappin' provided their own cover on a BEST compilation of their material, "Route 20 Hit The Road" from April 2016 which peaked at No. 9 on Oricon.

Jazz musician and songwriter Hiraoka himself would do a slightly more orchestral cover of his own creation in 1969 as an insert song for the movie "Hanayaka na Mehyo"（華やかな女豹...The Gorgeous Leopardess）. I'd say that this version could be one that Nancy Sinatra could have covered herself.