Hiroshi Miyagawa -- Teresa no Tameiki（テレサのためいき）

 

Going back to my youth, I remember those over-and-over reruns of "Uchuu Senkan Yamato"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト...Space Cruiser Yamato）, aka "Star Blazers" outside of Japan, with the original seasons of the Iscandar mission and the Comet Empire saga. That penultimate episode of the latter season when it looked like the evil Prince Zoldar and his empire finally crumbled only to reveal a Super Star Destroyer filled with absolute revenge arguably represented one of the greatest anime cliffhangers.

Of course, sticking with the "Star Blazers" line, the finale had to wrap up some loose threads along with the main one involving the Comet Empire. What happens to the crew of the Argo and what of helmsman Mark Venture who supposedly gave up his life in defense of the ship a few episodes earlier? And what of Trelaina of Telazart, the sylph-like whistleblower who began the entire story and ended up falling for Mark?

Well, in the original "Yamato" series, Trelaina was actually named Teresa which I guess sounded exotic enough for Japanese viewers (although the late singer Teresa Teng was already well-known in Japan), although folks in North America must have wondered whether if the lass had sisters named Mabel and Connie. Anyways, along with the iconic Comet Empire theme done by the legendary composer Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）, another constant musical piece in the second season was Teresa's own theme titled "Teresa no Tameiki" (Teresa's Sighs). 

The song as I remember it was a sad and lonely one for Teresa and even her relationship with Mark was all too brief before she seemingly had to make the ultimate sacrifice for Earth. On Christmas Day 1978, Miyagawa released a concept album connected with "Yamato" titled "Fumetsu no Uchuu Senkan Yamato: New Disco Arrange"（不滅の宇宙戦艦ヤマト ニュー・ディスコ・アレンジ...The Indestructible Space Cruiser Yamato: New Disco Arrangement） where some of those familiar tracks from the series received some more syncopated oomph. I don't think the treatment given to "Teresa no Tameiki" is particularly disco but it's more of a mild City Pop thing with some of that haunting voice which was common to a fair number of Miyagawa pieces in anime. Had to laugh a little at the name of the group performing the tracks: Yamato Discotheque Orchestra.