From watching anime over the past decade or so, I've learned that the rom-com region of things has usually employed the trope of frustrated woman and dense-as-cement man. Here she is sending all sorts of signals that she's ready for a relationship but he picks them up as well as a sieve picks up a gallon of water.
Maybe that's the situation being employed in Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美）"Munasawagi" (Uneasiness), her 23rd single released on New Year's Day in 1981. Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）, keyboardist from the band Off-Course（オフコース）, took care of words and music for this urban contemporary kayo of uncertainty and mystery, which I believe Iwasaki could handle very ably. The young female protagonist has apparently been sending her own signals of love to her male companion but he's either not getting them or they're just bouncing off his shields.
The two things that I like about "Munasawagi" are Iwasaki's vocals which sound even more delicate to reflect the titular uneasiness of the situation, and the arrangement by Osamu Totsuka（戸塚修）which bring in the cool City Pop of the rumbling piano, the constant bass, and the chord shifts. Feels like love and life in 1980s Tokyo. "Munasawagi" reached No. 25 on Oricon.
Man! How did I miss this post! I love the cool girl sound of Hiromi Iwasaki's voice for lack of a better term.
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