HY/Rie Takahashi -- AM11:00

 

I've enjoyed the anime "Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Teasing Master Takagi-san） but at this point, I'm only getting started on the second season from 2019. Well, Season 3 just ended several days ago and it ended on a whopper of a scene which probably has had fans punching the air in joy. They don't have to wait so long for the continuation since there will be a movie coming out with teasing Takagi and adorkable Nishikata in June this year. 

As has been the case for the past three seasons, seiyuu Rie "Takagi" Takahashi（高橋李依）has been singing the many ending themes which are covers of various pop and rock hits. This one here was Takahashi singing in character at the end of Episodes 3 and 4 for Season 1 (2018), HY's "AM11:00", and she definitely hits the high notes and the rap mid-tune. The song is a track on the first of the cover song collection albums for the anime.

Considering that it is the 11 o'clock hour Sunday morning that I'm writing this, what better time for "AM11:00"? This was never released as a single but it was a part of HY's 2nd album "Street Story" from April 2003, and it's all about a couple in love luxuriating in a late-morning wake-up and then perhaps hitting the road for a nice drive. Never a bad thing. The song certainly hit a pleasure nerve nonetheless since it got its heavy rotation on the Japanese music channel Space Shower TV, and it was a big hit on the karaoke and cellphone ringtone charts. "Street Story" reached No. 1 on Oricon and stayed there for four straight weeks, finishing the year as the No. 9 album.

According to their Wikipedia entry, HY formed in 2000 with a group of friends covering different types of rock and hip-hop. The name originated from the initials of HY's neighbourhood, Higashi-Yakena in Okinawa. Starting out with five members, they are guitarist/vocalist Hideyuki Shinzato（新里英之）, drummer Shun Naka（名嘉俊）, bassist Shinsuke Kyoda（許田信介）, keyboardist/vocalist Izumi Nakasone（仲宗根泉） and guitarist Yuuhei Miyazato（宮里悠平）. Miyazato left HY in 2019. Naka, by the way, was the composer and lyricist for "AM11:00" under his nom de plume, TUN.

The band has apparently only released albums, 14 of them up to last year, although J-Wiki lists one single "Rail"（レール）from November 2009. HY has also appeared on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen twice in 2010 and 2012.