mihimaru GT/EIKO Starring 96 Neko feat. Ryotaro Okiayu -- Kibun Jojo（気分上々↑↑）

 

Ya Boy Kongming! That final thing is something to strengthen up your facial or jaw muscles. I barely remember seeing that device being demonstrated on some sort of variety show, and I'm sure that it's sold at places like Tokyu Hands.

Having a brilliant Chinese military strategist from almost 1900 years ago isekai'ed to 21st-century Shibuya as a premise for the anime "Paripi Koumei"（パリピ孔明）will inevitably mean that there will be a lot of comedic situations of the fish-out-of-water variety. But as it is, it's basically about Zhuge Liang Kongming using his skills at warfare to help out a budding young singer Eiko in the Youth Mecca of Japan.

Back on Sunday, I wrote up something on the infectious 80s Eurobeat of "Chiki Chiki Ban Ban"（チキチキバンバン）by QUEENDOM, the opening theme for "Paripi Koumei". Well, the ending theme is just as catchy and there's even some nostalgia in there, too. You see, as much as "Chiki Chiki Ban Ban" is a cover of an earlier pop song, the sparkling "Kibun Jojo" (Feeling Good) is also a cover of a song that goes even further back to the mid-2000s.

However, before I go to the origins, I just wanted to mention that "Kibun Jojo" is sung here in the personage of Eiko from the show but with the actual voice of singer 96 Neko（96猫）, although it's seiyuu Kaede Hondo（本渡楓）who handles the speaking role. I'm happy that I can finally get to hear what 96 Neko sounds like since the only time I've featured her on the blog is through her collaboration with singer-songwriter miwa on the folksy-friendly "Shanranran" (シャンランラン), the opening theme for the soothing anime "Flying Witch"（ふらいんぐうぃっち）from 2016, and there, I could only really hear miwa. And man, 96 Neko has got quite the boomer of a voice, with some assistance from Ryotaro Okiayu（置鮎龍太郎）the voice behind the main character of Kongming himself.

Indeed almighty, I was back in Japan when the duo mihimaru GT first came out with "Kibun Jojo" as their 9th single from May 2006 via the above music video. Everything about the song back then kinda reflected what "Paripi Koumei" has been about so far...painting the town red in Shibuya (although it's often been the case there that whenever a whole bunch of kids overindulge in the alcohol and hedonism, they paint the town in multi colours, if you know what I mean😵).

mihimaru GT consisted of songwriter-producer Mitsuyuki Miyake（三宅光幸）under his stage name of miyake and singer-songwriter Hiroko Akutsu（阿久津博子）or hiroko. According to their Wikipedia article, they had been under the same management but not getting too successful separately so they were put together with their debut single coming out in July 2003. As for the origin of their duo name, Wikipedia can sum it best: "To remind each other that the success of the group comes from the hard work and contributions of both members, the name Mihimaru GT was created for the band, taking the first two letters in each members' first name and adding "maru", or "perfection", to the end of it, as well as the initials for Miyake's favorite video game—Gran Turismo."

"Kibun Jojo" was their breakthrough song as it broke into the Oricon Top 10 at No. 7, going Gold and breaking the million barrier in terms of sales. The song also got mihimaru GT their first of two invitations to the Kohaku Utagassen. Their 3rd album "mihimagic" from September 2006 contains the song, and that went up to No. 2 on the album charts with it eventually becoming the 46th-ranked album of the year.