FIELD OF VIEW -- DAN DAN Kokoro Hikareteku（DAN DAN 心魅かれてく）

Hello there. J-Canuck here and welcome to Easter Monday and April Fool's Day at the same time. No fooling around here, though, as frequent commenter and occasional contributor Fireminer will be providing the first two articles on KKP for April 2024! Take it away, Fireminer!

 

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” as it is often said. It is doubly true when applied to the late great Akira Toriyama. There is an industry in Japan for artists who can imitate Toriyama’s style. Fans of franchises like Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest can be assured that the Toriyama-ness of their favorite series are now safe in the hands of artists like Toyotarou who cut their teeth drawing Dragon Ball doujinshi.

But what happens when an artist imitates himself? Or rather, return to the root of the thing that gave him success? Dragon Ball GT is what happens. It will take far too long to explain what Dragon Ball GT is, its spirit, and its importance within the Dragon Ball mythos as well as to the fandom. What I will say that it is a lot more enjoyable than what Western fans give it credit. That and the opening song absolutely slaps.

J-Canuck has already made a good write-up (https://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.com/2019/11/field-of-view-totsuzen.html) on the band FIELD OF VIEW, so I will only focus on their hit DAN DAN Kokoro Hikareteku (DAN DAN 心魅かれてく, Step by Step, You're Charming My Heart). Written by KKP’s regulars Izumi Sakai and Tetsuro Oda, who also wrote a few other hits for the band, Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku is a tour-de-force of a summer song. You simply can’t listen to it and then resist the urge of jumping right on a car and drive along the coast, feeling the sun and the wind rolling on your skin. That is the very vibe of Dragon Ball GT, an attempt to return to the innocence and whimsical adventures of the original Dragon Ball as opposed to Dragon Ball Z’s hot-blooded, roar-till-your-throat-raw spirit.

Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku was released by FIELD OF VIEW as their fourth single on March 11, 1996. It was an instant hit, no doubt buoyed by Oda’s breezy composition and Izumi’s lovely lyrics. It peaked at #4 on Oricon and charted for 11 weeks. The song was used as Dragon Ball GT’s opening song and then as the ending theme for Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, a movie that was actually a retelling of the original Dragon Ball storyline. Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku was the perfect song to both the show and the movie. I suppose it was also the perfect song for the Dragon Ball fans in the late 90s. Those who were brought up with Dragon Ball in the 90s now reached an age where they felt the first pang of nostalgia. Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku is the call to adventure for the restless soul who felt regret for not having made the best of his youth, but also having too much energy and time to just bottle it up. The song asks them to put aside their worries and fatigue for a moment, and just follow what their restlest spirit tells them to./.