Yoshihide Otomo -- Ama-chan Opening Theme（あまちゃん オープニングテーマ）

 

Can't quite believe that this NHK morning serial "Ama-chan"（あまちゃん）is now over a decade old. It just seems so recent. I never saw the series that starred Rena "Non" Nounen（能年玲奈）, Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）and Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）but I got the gist of the basic story of a young lady taking a very roundabout way to end up becoming an aidoru. "Ama-chan" also became one of the more popular asa-dora（朝ドラ...morning drama） during its six-month run between April and October 2013, directly benefiting the Tohoku region where most of the show is based a couple of years after the major earthquake and tsunami there.

However, what really caught my eye and ear was the opening theme by composer Yoshihide Otomo（大友良英）who had been the leader of an experimental rock group known as Ground Zero in the 1990s. Just known as the "Ama-chan Opening Theme", it was unusual in that it was an instrumental song in contrast with the usual sung asa-dora themes by a famous singer or band. There's very much of a comical circus-like feeling although I think, as would be the case for any NHK morning serial, "Ama-chan" probably had plenty of drama. As I figured, there is some mention in the J-Wiki article for the music used in the drama that ska was also incorporated.

The theme was a bona fide hit everywhere during that year as the opening theme became the No. 1 ringtone. It was also played during the 2013 summer version of the Japanese High School Baseball Championship at Koshien Stadium. Apparently, several candidates and political parties were using it as well during the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election that year without permission which got a rebuke and protest from Otomo.

I've also gotta mention that there is that opening riff in the theme that comes straight out of French composer Jacques Offenbach's "Galop Infernal", the famous tune for the 19th-century Can-Can dance. That was what tugged at my ear initially since I often heard the song being used at hockey games.