Otome Shintou -- Mousou Koukan Nikki（もうそう★こうかんにっき）

 

I've been getting through my own group of anime for the past several weeks, and as it has turned out, it's been on a weekly schedule. And so, this is the final week for shows such as Season 3 of "Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san） and Season 2 of "Komi-san wa, Komyu-sho desu."（古見さんは、コミュ症です。...Komi Can't Communicate） for me. I caught the finale for the latter last night and yep, I guess that the production team crafted it so that it could look like the end for not just the season but for even the entire anime, although I hope that there is a Season 3. 

In the group of six shows that I have been watching over the fall, one is actually an anime that goes back almost a decade, strangely enough. My interest in the adaptation of the light novel "GJ-bu"（GJ部...GJ Club） was sparked by the above video where the lone male member of a really laid-back high school club, Kyoya "Kyoro" Shinomiya（四ノ宮京夜）, got a massage from the club leader Mao Amatsuka（天使真央）. Not surprisingly for this show, poor Kyoro paid a heavy price.

After catching a few more scenes on YouTube, I decided to check out the entire one-and-done series that was broadcast on NTV between January and March 2013. Yeah, it hasn't been bust-a-gut hilarious like "Grand Blue" or even several episodes of the "Kaguya-sama" franchise, but personally since I've been more of a fan of the quieter slice-of-life programs for the most part, "GJ-bu" has been fine with me. I've had a few chuckles here and there, and the half-hours have been nice and relaxing despite the occasional violence by the crew against Kyoro (plus, there's a Canadian in the club, too!). It's also notable for the fact that seiyuu Hiro Shimono（下野紘）as the oft-suffering Kyoro and Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）as short-tempered and bitey Mao were headlining "GJ-bu" since both would go onto even bigger and better projects, although the latter already had a big role the previous year in "Chūnibyō demo Koi ga Shitai!"（中二病でも恋がしたい!...Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions）.

The opening theme "Mousou Koukan Nikki" (Delusion Exchange Diary) is a spritely tune (I'm never going to turn down a beefy bass and snappy percussion) written by Kenichi Maeyamada（前山田健一）and composed/arranged by Denkyu（電球）of the male musical trio Cyclamen（シクラメン）. It kinda reminds me a bit of Perfume's "Monochrome Effect" in the main chorus without the techno aspects. Initially, I'd thought it was the actual female cast behind the performance, but in point of fact, the singers responsible were an aidoru group called Otome Shintou（乙女新党...Maiden New Party） which had their time between 2012 and 2016. "Mousou Koukan Nikki" was their debut single released in February 2013 which peaked at No. 37 on Oricon. They released 9 singles (one of which was a digital download) and 2 albums.

One of the early members of Otome Shintou who graduated in the middle of 2014 was actress Aoi Wakana（葵わかな）who would go onto land the lead role in the NHK morning serial drama "Warotenka"（わろてんか...Laugh It Up） in 2017 and 2018. Wakana also had a supporting role in "GJ-bu" as the Kyoro-loving Geraldine Bernstein, the younger sister for the heavily carnivorous Canadian member Kirara.