SHOW-YA -- Mizu no Naka no Toubousha（水の中の逃亡者）/Fermata（フェルマータ）

 

Although I think JTM is the expert on Japanese police dramas from the 1970s and 1980s, my impression about them has been that their opening credits for each of those shows liked to have the majority of the detectives running at full speed around the city while the older and more seasoned veterans could afford to just look serious and do something more peaceful such as talk into the walkie-talkie.

This was no different from the TV Asahi cop show "Dai Tokai Ni-Juu-Go-ji"（大都会25時...Big City 25:00）; the cast of characters was running about as if Hannibal Lecter had been set loose onto Tokyo. However, one major difference was that it had a very short run of only 5 months between April and September 1987. Another point that set it apart was that "Dai Tokai Ni-Juu-Go-ji" focused on two squads within one division: one was a by-the-book and competent group while the other team consisted of a bunch of misfits (probably a mix of comical and rebellious types). Not sure what the format was; did each episode focus on one squad per week or was there some sort of gritted-teeth cooperation between the two squads? It was a new way of treating the typical cop show.

From the cop shows that I've seen, this is the first time that I've ever heard of one band taking care of both the opening and ending themes, and for "Dai Tokai Ni-Juu-Go-ji", the producers picked the rock band SHOW-YA. "Mizu no Naka no Toubousha" (Fugitive in the Water) was the band's 5th single from May 1987 and it's a pretty cool and melodic rock theme with those wailing electric guitars and sparkling synths that had me thinking about Santana and Bonnie Tyler. I think it does make for that energy pickup for the cops running all over the place in the opening credits. After all, there is never a boring moment in Japan's largest city.

Then, the B-side is the ending theme "Fermata" which is more of a cool-down City Pop tune and it's played against the backdrop of a typical Tokyo intersection through a day, perhaps signifying while the two squads are fighting the good fight, the rest of the populace can go about their business in safety. Maybe the cops can actually stroll to a fashionable bar near the station while listening to this one. For both songs, the big guns were called in: lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranger Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）. "Mizu no Naka no Toubousha" was also included in SHOW-YA's 5th album from November 1987, "Immigration" which hit No. 12 on Oricon.