To Be Continued -- Kimi dake wo Miteita（君だけを見ていた）

Earlier this afternoon when I was writing on Yu Sakai's（さかいゆう）"Ai no Deban"（愛の出番）, I'd stated that the article was sparked from seeing the singer-songwriter on "Uta Con"（うたコン）several weeks ago. However on last week's edition, I actually saw this band for the first time although its name was something that I'd heard before far in the past. 

And it's not easy to forget a band with the name of To Be Continued. There doesn't seem to be any explanation for the origins of the name on the J-Wiki article for the band, and so I'm left wondering whether the three members had watched one too many American TV show cliffhanger episodes to get their inspiration. Those three guys of TBC are vocalist/lyricist Kouki Okada（岡田浩暉）who is also an actor, keyboardist Taka Sato（佐藤鷹）, who was once a member of the kiddie technopop group Cosmic Invention（コスミック・インベンション）under the name Katsumi Sato（佐藤克巳）, and leader/guitarist/songwriter Yuusuke Goto（後藤友輔）.

To Be Continued started their career in 1991 but their big hit came in March 1994 with the release of their 9th single "Kimi dake wo Miteita" (I Only Saw You), and it was indeed the song that they performed on "Uta Con" last Tuesday. Listening to the original version, there is something very nostalgic about the arrangement...kinda along the lines of an 80s love ballad by American bands such as Chicago. While Okada and Goto wrote the lyrics alongside Hidenao Takashima（高島秀直）, Goto took care of the melody and Sato provided the arrangement.

What probably helped the fortunes of the song was that it was also included as an insert song in the hit TBS drama "Moshi mo Negai ga Kanau Nara"（もしも願いが叶うなら...If My Wish Is Granted） starring Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）and Masatoshi Hamada（浜田雅功）. This particular drama is already represented here on the blog thanks to the official theme song by Nakayama herself, "Tada Nakitakunaruno"（ただ泣きたくなるの）. 

"Kimi dake wo Miteita" hit No. 4 on Oricon and it went Double Platinum. It also became the 38th-ranked single of 1994. Other succeeding singles by To Be Continued were also moderate hits, but "Kimi dake wo Miteita" was their only Top 10 single. Eight original albums were also released by TBC with their fourth album "Beyond The Light..." from October of that year including that single. It also hit No. 4 on the album chart.

To Be Continued disbanded in 2000 but in June this year, they released a 2021 version of "Kimi dake wo Miteita" and also a new album in October, "Paradise in Life" and earlier this month, the band held a concert in Osaka a few weeks ago.