Yuko Ogura -- Onna no Ko, Otoko no Ko（オンナのコ♡オトコのコ）

 

Ah, Yuko Ogura（小倉優子）. Marcos V. once wrote an article about one of her songs, "Koi no Jumon wa Papapipupa" (恋の呪文はパパピプパ) which was a surprise for me since I had no idea that she actually sang anything. And yet, I should have known that since back in the day, any young up-and-comer in the geinokai would eventually get wrangled into doing some work in the recording booth, no matter the level of talent.

In all actuality, my knowledge of tarento and former pinup idol Ogura was through her commercials and appearances on variety programs during my time in Japan in which she took on this fairly high and babyish voice which has lowered in recent years from helium levels. However, I did find the above video (which is also posted on the article for "The Yoru mo Hippare") that shows a raw teenage Ogura with a completely rapid-fire and down-to-earth voice.

During my trip to Tokyo in 2014, I was exploring one of my favourite haunts, Tower Records at JR Shinjuku Station. When I got to the 7th floor where the first floor for the CD shop was located, I discovered a whole ton of people...mostly guys...amassed like rush-hour commuters at one end. Apparently, Ogura was making an appearance there to promote something and when I saw her, she looked absolutely porcelain...maybe to an alarming degree, although she was rattling off at warp speed so I gathered that she was in good health (but in severe need of Vitamin D).

Anyways, I did want to showcase her 3rd single "Onna no Ko, Otoko no Ko" (Girls & Boys) which has the aforementioned "Koi no Jumon wa Papapipupa" as the coupling song. Released in November 2004, if that melody hits you as being somewhat Shibuya-kei, then congratulations! It is indeed Pizzicato Five's（ピチカート・ファイヴ）Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）behind words and music for this breezy and happy-go-lucky tune that scored a No. 20 ranking on Oricon. Her voice fits the music quite nicely. 

As for the setting for the music video, I think that I may have visited that Tokyo shopping mall once and it's by a JR train station but for the life of me, I can't remember the name of the place. By the way, the song title shouldn't be confused with Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）debut hit "Otoko no Ko , Onna no Ko" (男の子女の子）since the nouns are reversed.

"Onna no Ko, Otoko no Ko" was also the ending theme for the anime adaptation of the manga "School Rumble" which had its run through a couple of seasons and OVAs from 2004 to 2008. With a title like that, I'd assumed that it was all about a bunch of high school toughs fighting each other but actually it's a school-based romantic comedy.