I have seen one of the original animated movies featuring Rumiko Takahashi's（高橋留美子）classic "Urusei Yatsura"（うる星やつら）, "Beautiful Dreamer" when I was still going to my anime buddy's house on Sundays, and of course, the anime adaptation has become somewhat legendary. However, I never really caught onto the show although I have done a few of the theme songs including the opening theme for that 1981 series, "Lum no Love Song"（ラムのラブソング）.
Well, last year, the powers-that-be decided that there would be a 2022 redux of "Urusei Yatsura" starring some big names in the seiyuu industry including Sumire Uesaka（上坂すみれ）, Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）, Mamoru Miyano（宮野真守） and Hiroshi Kamiya（神谷浩史）. And if the opening credits are any indication, those animators must have had a heck of a time at their assignment.
One of the commenters keyed me into the new show and its theme songs, one of which I will do here. The opening theme for Season 1 of this new version of "Urusei Yatsura" is "aiue" created through the aegis of MAISONdes with words and music provided by SAKURAmoti and Minami（美波）who also sings here. Minami tears into "aiue" at warp speed and breathlessly zings through it; maybe she's channeling her inner Lum.
As for what MAISONdes is all about, I will leave you with a paragraph from the website "Moshi Moshi Nippon" and the article "Collaborative Music Project MAISONdes Releases New Track Featuring Nagumoyuuki and riria".
"MAISONdes is a unique music project. Extremely popular on TikTok, it’s described only as ‘a fictional apartment building somewhere,’ where a different singer and creator features on each and every track. Each song is even labeled with a room number. This allows up-and-coming artists to collaborate in ways they never expected, and leaves the listeners enjoying an all-new sound. Rather than stick to what’s comfortable, artists taking part in the project express themselves freely with their new creative partner."
Love this, along with the opening animation that goes with it. I actually like the ending song, "Tokyo Shandy Rendez-vous" even more. That one is also by MAISONdes. I hope you'll cover that one too.
ReplyDeleteMAISONdes' self description was fun to read! Hey, by the way the fictional character from Uresei Yatsura, Lum is no stranger to the music industry. I remember watching Matthew Sweet's “I’ve Been Waiting” music video show up on Mtv for the first time back in 1991 and my surprise in seeing Lum featured throughout it! And, Yes I agree with you! I believe Minami channels her inter emotional Lum throughout energy of the OP song .
ReplyDeleteThanks for both of you comments. I'll also have to give the ending theme a listen. Brian, I recollect hearing about Lum showing up on an American music video and it did cause some interesting reactions, most likely squeeing.
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