Ai Furihata -- Hohoemi Note（ホホエミノオト）

 

I know that I've already put up one anison earlier today but I just couldn't let this particular one go. Heard and saw the trailer and even the opening credits sequence for this anime without the credits last night. 

I remember back in January 2017 when I posted fhana's "Aozora no Rhapsody"（青空のラプソディ）, the opening theme to the first season of the beloved "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid）, I pointed out that I was writing an article on a theme song that I was already liking but whose anime I had yet to actually see since I wasn't due to show up at my anime buddy's house for another round of anime and food for another week (although "Kobayashi-san" was probably already airing in Japan by that point). Well, it looks like I'm posting on an opening theme for an anime that no one has yet to see yet since it's not due out until early April, several weeks away.

But I gather that the original anime "Astro Note"（アストロノオト）has been getting that much buzz to have its creditless opening sequence come out so early on YouTube. And the opening song is also something that I'm getting pretty high upon. "Hohoemi Note" (Smile Note) is a happy and breezy ditty that I immediately likened to some of the pop of the 1980s and that has also been echoed in some of the writeups I've found online. It's performed by Ai Furihata（降旗愛）who already has a fair number of entries on KKP that delve into either the Neo-City Pop and/or 80s synthpop such as "Play Boy". "Hohoemi Note" is neither City Pop nor synthpop but it's 80s so I think Furihata is just the singer for it. Veteran lyricist Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）is behind the words while Akimitsu Honma（本間昭光）, who has worked with Furihata before, is the composer here. As for the song itself, it won't be out as a CD until late May but would like to see and hear the complete version before then.

Furihata even has a role in "Astro Note" playing one of the motley residents of Astro Flats, underground aidoru Teruko Matsubara (松原照子). I've rather enjoyed slice-of-life anime where a group of oddly likeable characters end up together. And I'm already seeing a love triangle on the way in this one.

April 13th 2024: Ah, finally...the ending theme is here.