Ringo Shiina -- Ito wo Kashi（いとをかし）

 

I remember as a kid having Jell-O chocolate pudding as a dessert so that was my template when it came to this particular sweet. As a result, I was rather thrown off course when I tried out my first Japanese pudding or purin（プリン）since it was quite different in taste and texture. I guess the more accurate description for it would be crème caramel and despite the instructions given on this video by YouTuber ochikeron, I think for me, purin is something best left to the professionals like her and others. But the moral of the story is that I enjoy my purin now.

Purin also happens to be the favourite dessert of one Ojarumaru, anime's favourite Heian Era prince, and it apparently is the basis for the "Ojarumaru"（おじゃる丸）series' 25th season's ending theme last year. I'm not 100% sure but I may have provided an article on another opening or ending theme for the show but my memory isn't working on all cylinders anymore, so if there are any fans out there who can jog my engrams, please let me know.

Seeing the long list of opening and ending themes as would be the case for an anime that has lasted a quarter of a century, there has been a fair share of singers, famous and not-so-famous, contributing to it. Last year's ending theme was recorded by one of the former, the ever-charismatic singer-songwriter Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）. Titled "Ito wo Kashi", this was a digital single released in April 2022, and although just looking at the hiragana alone, I thought it meant "lend me a string", according to Shiina herself in a Tokyo Hive article, it's actually an abbreviated version of "Itoshii no Okashi"（愛しいのお菓子）which actually means "My Beloved Dessert".

From what I know about Shiina's brand of music over the last several years, "Ito wo Kashi" sounds like a short-and-sweet classical pop waltz, and I'm wondering whether if and when the songwriter will actually put out something like a symphonic suite after her years as a growly rocker and then a jazz chanteuse. Also from Tokyo Hive is the observation that "Ojarumaru" debuted in 1998, the same year as Shiina's debut on the music scene. That fact alone has me reeling that it's been about 25 years since I was first intimidated by this teenaged banshee warrior and her guitar.