Kohmi Hirose -- Venus Line

 

As I hinted in an article for another anime, I've heard folks say that watching golf is about as exciting as watching paint dry which I don't quite agree with, especially as someone who never got the opportunity to take up the pastime. The Golf Channel has become a nice alternative whenever the news or the struggle by one of our local sports teams has gotten too depressing (aside from the Raptors of the NBA, something that unfortunately happens all too often). I mean, it's not like watching an action scene in a movie; it's actually the opposite...very soothing although I'm sure that for players like Tiger and Lydia, the tension must get as tight as a freshly-installed string on a guitar.

A few weeks ago, I encountered this anime thanks to singer-songwriter Kohmi Hirose's（広瀬香美）opening theme song. This is "Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story" which had its initial run during the Spring 2022 season and is scheduled for a second round in 2023. I haven't caught an episode but reading through the Wikipedia article, there's quite a bit of fantasy and intrigue woven into this story of a couple of up-and-coming female players hitting the links. I even see one elderly character in the opening credits who looks like Alan Alda's Senator Arnold Vinick from "The West Wing".

But I did mention that it was Hirose's opening theme "Venus Line" that hooked me. Released as her 7th and most recent digital download single in April 2022, Hirose may not quite hit those towering nosebleed notes that she did back in the 1990s, but the energy of a Bryson DeChambeau first shot for Hole 1 still powers her voice. Listening to her again after a while, I get the feeling that if there were ever a Japanese production of "Annie Get Your Gun", she'd be Annie Oakley right alongside other singers who've taken on the force of nature such as Ethel Merman and Bernadette Peters.