Unfortunately, this week has started with the news of yet another celebrity in the music industry leaving this mortal coil. I found out on NHK News this morning that the Emperor of Anison, singer-songwriter Ichiro Mizuki（水木一郎）, had passed away on December 6th due to lung cancer at the age of 74. Born Toshio Hayakawa（早川俊夫）in Tokyo, he was also affectionately known as the aniki or big brother, and I knew him for his appearances on various specials and other shows where he would put his all into his appearance and performances of the many anime and tokusatsu theme songs that he had recorded over many decades.
The first time I'd heard of Mizuki, it was through his recording of the opening theme song for the tokusatsu hero program "Chojin Barom-1"（超人バロム・1...Superman Barom-1）, a show that I watched as a kid visiting Grandpa's farm in Wakayama Prefecture back in 1972. However, I think that for a lot of his fans, the theme for the robot superhero anime "Mazinger Z", which came out in the same year, will be the one to remember.
I never saw the anime myself. My first exposure to Mazinger Z was through Marvel Comics when the hero was placed as one of the three "Shogun Warriors". But his iconic looks were such that he would always be instantly recognized on either side of the Pacific for those mecha fans.
Written by Fumihiko Azuma（東文彦）, whose real name was Kazuo Koike（小池一夫）, and composed by Chuumei Watanabe（渡辺宙明）, Mizuki was really putting some vocal acrobatics into "Mazinger Z", kinda like how the actual character was pulling off his moves against the bad guys, a snazzy disco tune which probably had the kids from 8 to 88 shouting along right with Mizuki.
Also in 1972, in a November episode of "Kamen Rider", the tradition of Christmas was broached and the insectoid tokusatsu superhero actually did his part to help Santa Claus out. Mizuki and the Columbia Yurikago Kai（コロムビアゆりかご会）children's chorus group recorded an insert song for the episode, "Kamen Rider Christmas" which has been done as the usual heroic march but with some of those jingle bells thrown in. Mamoru Tanaka（田中守）and Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）were responsible for the lyrics while Shunsuke Kikuchi（菊池俊輔）took care of the music and arrangement.
It is a pity that Mizuki's dynamic performances in front of enthusiastic fans have come to an end. From what I've read on his Wikipedia profile, the singer had been more than willing to keep up the good fight and please all those who have appreciated his music over the years. My condolences to his family, friends and fans.
He did held a lifelong commitment to promoting the anison genre. It's not actually surprising as well that he had been diagnosed last July. Also, in his last few performances he had been in a wheelchair, already weakening. So sad. Our deepest sympathies to the anison community as well.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kyle. Yeah, I saw one of his last appearances via Twitter yesterday and it was clear that he looked very ill. It was very sad to watch considering how dynamic he was up on stage.
DeleteAfter multiple attempts, I finally got a copy of the storybook/record set with the Christmas songs from Kamen Rider, Superman Barom-1, Moomin and Pinocchio. I never checked to see if there was a video. That's really cool!
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, Scott. Those are definite keepers.
Delete