Ryoko Tani（谷亮子）, nee Tamura. Now that is a name that I haven't heard in years since she retired from competitive judo over a decade ago and decided to tackle the politicians in the Diet instead as a member of the House of Councillors. But when she was competing on the mat, she was probably as popular as any Oricon-populating aidoru star due to her cheerful and forthright nature, and of course, her abilities as a judoka. She even got the nickname of Yawara based on the main character in the judo manga by Naoki Urasawa（浦沢直樹）, and that character of Yawara Inokuma（猪熊柔）was inspired from the first woman to win a world judo championship, Kaori Yamaguchi（山口香）, in 1984. Tani would follow in her footsteps.
Having watched a lot of the anime adaptation of "YAWARA!" during my days in Gunma Prefecture, I've been able to remember a number of the theme songs used and profile them on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the past decade. However, the last time that I wrote about a "YAWARA!" theme tune was way back in 2017 with Mariko Nagai's（永井真理子）"YOU AND I", and to be frank, I hadn't known that this particular song was used as the ending theme for a one-hour motion picture entry of the franchise, "YAWARA! Sore Yuke Koshinuke Kids!!"（それゆけ腰抜けキッズ...Go For It, You Cowardly Kids!!）that was released in theatres in August 1992.
From what I've read in J-Wiki, "Daisuki na Shatsu 1990 Ryoko Sakusen" (My Favourite Shirt ~ The 1990 Travel Operation) had been even used during the original TV series, and it was released as Marina Watanabe's（渡辺満里奈）13th single on July 1st 1990, almost 32 years ago. When I first heard the song, I thought that it was awfully Shibuya-kei for an anime based on judo but heck, as I remember, there was plenty of whimsy in the show and I think Shibuya-kei is absolutely soaking in whimsy, too.
Well, it was no coincidence. Music and lyrics were provided by the Double KO Corporation which is actually the songwriting name for the duo Flipper's Guitar（フリッパーズ・ギター）, one of the pioneers of Shibuya-kei itself. During those opening credit montages, the main character of Yawara was seen tripping the light fantastic throughout the streets of Tokyo and basically trying on every stylish outfit in sight. I would assume then that "Daisuki na Shatsu" would be the perfect accompaniment to a day on the town. Lyrically, it is all about that wonderful date outside with a guy, his favourite shirt and his favourite girl.
The coupling song to "Daisuki na Shatsu" is "Be With You", a light and mellow pop song that almost takes things into AOR territory. In fact, I'd probably say that it was quite close to a lot of the music that Miki Imai（今井美樹）had been performing at the time. I'm a sucker for the keyboard work and the chorus that sounds as if Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）had some involvement (but probably didn't). Watanabe was in charge of the lyrics while Mayumi Horikawa（堀川まゆみ）and Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）took care of the composition and arrangement respectively. The entire single peaked at No. 31 on Oricon. From listening to both songs and Marina's vocals for them, I can say that the aidoru tag wouldn't be needed here.
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