Serani Poji -- Octopus Daughter

On realizing that it had been a few years since I wrote up articles on musical acts Citrobal and Easycome after which I did a catchup on both of them, I also discovered that it has been over three years since I last put up anything by the eclectic group Serani Poji（セラニポージ）. The combination of Yukichi（ゆきち）, Yumi Higashino（東野佑美）, and Tomoko Sasaki（ササキトモコ）was responsible for some appealingly quirky music in the R&B and Shibuya-kei genres through songs like "Boku no Mashu"（僕のマシュ…）and "Pipo Pipo"（ぴぽぴぽ）.

"Boku no Mashu" was a song for a Sega Dreamcast game called "Roommania #203" that was released in 1999, and Serani Poji's debut album, "manamoon" (まなもぉん), which had come out a few months earlier, was also deemed the soundtrack for the game. Therefore, I gather that another track from "manamoon" was also in "Roommania #203".

"Octopus Daughter" is a Serani Poji song whose lyrics introduce an actual octopus girl in a side show who is neither antagonistic nor sullen as I would imagine such characters to be. She's actually the happiest lass who probably exercises her ultra-hugging power with her eight tentacles. Never having played "Roommania #203", I don't know whether she's an actual character in the game, but in any case, the song is lovely with the mixture of the soul-funk from "Boku no Mashu" and the Shibuya-kei from "Pipo Pipo". It has that sunny early 70s feeling with a romantic French accordion somewhere in the middle, and as with the other songs that I've mentioned by the band, "Octopus Daughter" isn't some throwaway musical cue on a game soundtrack. It's a fully fleshed-out song of note.

I know that the manga wasn't introduced for several years following "manamoon" but I can't help but feel that "Octopus Daughter" reminds me of "Shinryaku! Ika Musume" (侵略!イカ娘...Squid Girl). Yes, I'm fully cognizant that an octopus and a squid are different; some of my best friends dishes were octopus and squid.