Hanaregumi -- My Muchuu（MY夢中）

 

From Amazon.jp

Late last year, as I recall, there was an NHK drama that was playing on TV Japan at the somewhat odd hour between 6 and 7 pm (usually I think there used to be either an anime or some kind of information variety show in that slot) on Fridays titled "Miwa-san Narisumasu"（ミワさんなりすます）based on a currently continuing manga. With the English title of "The Great Pretender", the main character of Miwa Kubota（久保田ミワ）is a young subculture nerd who's so in love with an internationally recognized middle-aged Japanese actor that she opts to become a maid at his household. I gather that it's one of those May-December romance things that kinda remind me of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday" (although the age gap between those two was "only" 13 years; I always thought that Peck had looked a whole lot older than his 37 years in that movie) which is basically seen as one of the great Hollywood cinematic treasures in Japan.

I never got to listen to the theme song for "Miwa-san Narisumasu" while the show was on, but it is "My Muchuu" (My Head-Over-Heels) by former Super Butter Dog vocalist Hanaregumi（ハナレグミ）. One reason that I'm posting this today is that it sounds like the perfect Sunday afternoon tune. It's so mellow thanks to the arrangement and the soothing vocals. Words and music were also by Hanaregumi under his real name of Takashi Nagazumi（永積崇）. The lyrics are simply joy and contentedness as the protagonist is floating in their world after falling hard for that special someone. "My Muchuu" was released as a digital single in November 2023.

Hard to believe that I first wrote about Hanaregumi, whose voice reminds me of AOR crooner Michael Franks, over a decade ago when he sang the oh-so-comfortable "Nemuri no Mori" (眠りの森) for Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）which had come out back in 2003, so it's been a good couple of decades. And yet, his voice hasn't changed a whit. May it continue to stay that way.