Takanori Arisawa -- Moon Prism Power Make Up!

 

I guess that now we have the recent "Sailor Moon Crystal", the original run of "Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon"（美少女戦士セーラームーン）is known as "Sailor Moon Classic". And that is the series that I will always cherish, especially because of the comedy (although creator Naoko Takeuchi/武内直子 may not agree). As an old English conversation teacher, watching Usagi and the gang make their way through the English language is always very amusing.

However, the reason for me to put up another "Sailor Moon" entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is due to that article that I contributed a few days ago for "Shiny Luminous Henshin"（シャイニールミナス変身）from the second season of "Futari wa Pretty Cure"（ふたりはプリキュア）as the theme song for one of the dozens of transformation sequences that I remember best.

And yet, all of those magical girl henshin sequences from the PreCure franchise can perhaps pay their tribute to one over a decade prior. The comedy kept me coming to "Sailor Moon" throughout its half-decade run on TV Asahi but one of the things that hooked me was the music for the very first transformation of Usagi Tsukino（月野うさぎ）into Sailor Moon in its first season.

Yup, seeing all of the various pieces of uniform come into play as Usagi got spun around was enhanced by that music provided by the late Takanori Arisawa（有澤孝紀）. I gather that the official title on any "Sailor Moon" soundtrack is "Moon Prism Power Make Up!" just like the lass yells out before the sequence commences. 

Compared with the Disney heroine + disco + country-western in "Shiny Luminous Henshin" for the titular character, "Moon Prism Power Make Up!" sounds like an 80s anime action sequence soundtrack hearkening back to the music of that decade's prime anime such as "Macross"（マクロス）. Those horns and, yes indeed, the chorus crooning out the heroine's name make this the one to beat. Considering that Arisawa was one-quarter of a Manhattan Transfer-like vocal group, SOAP, I'm not surprised by that chorus help.

This isn't my first rodeo with Arisawa since I did give my compliments to him a couple of years ago due to his heroic and stylish theme for Moon's paramour, Tuxedo Kamen.