Itsumi Osawa -- James Dean Mitai na Onna no Ko（ジェームス・ディーンみたいな女の子）

 

It seems as if another frequent character on anime series is the tomboyish girl who is so tomboyish that even the other girls (along with the guys) have a thing for her. This season, it's been Tomo-chan but I recall several years ago, there was the hilarious Kashima-kun from "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん）.

Tomo-chan and Kashima-kun came to mind when I came across this February 1983 debut single by Itsumi Osawa（大沢逸美）, "James Dean Mitai na Onna no Ko" (A Girl Like James Dean). I actually wrote an article about the tall and tomboyish Sapporo-born 80s aidoru a couple of years ago via her "Noppo no Captain"（のっぽのキャプテン）but unfortunately the powers-that-be have completely erased any aural evidence of the song from the Net. However, I'm keeping the article on active status since I've provided some of her background there.

James Dean is one of those iconic Hollywood figures who has not only lasted in American pop culture but also in Japanese pop culture. His face has popped up everywhere and I think his name has also been bandied about in titles and lyrics of other songs. In this case, I think the husband-and-wife team of lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）and composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）definitely had Osawa in mind when they whipped up this song about a handsome young girl. It does have that certain 1950s rock-n'-roll twang in there and Aki's lyrics seem to depict a Tomo-chan or Kashima-kun or Osawa type who's under some consternation about getting love letters from her fellow girls.