shami momo -- Tokimeki Rendezvous（ときめきランデヴー）

 

Well, as I had indicated when I wrote up about the bass-crazy ending theme for Season 1 of the anime "Machikado Mazoku"（まちカドまぞく...The Demon Girl Next Door）, I was able to get Season 2 which had been broadcast more than a year ago in 2022. I began watching "Machikado Mazoku 2-Chome"（まちカドまぞく 2丁目）last week which continues the humourous trials and tribulations of demon girl Yuko "Shamiko" Yoshida（吉田優子）.

Of course, I was paying attention to the opening credits and the opening theme for Season 2 and it's not half-bad either. "Tokimeki Rendezvous" (Joyful Rendezvous) was created and arranged by Miho Tsujibayashi（辻林美穂）, the same songwriter and musician behind the opener for Season 1, "Machikado Tangent"（町かどタンジェント）. As with that one, "Tokimeki Rendezvous" possesses that feeling of a breezy 1960s pop tune but instead of the Bacharach vibe, it has more of a finger-snapping jazzy bent. And once again, it's the shami momo pairing of main seiyuu Konomi Kohara（小原好美）as Shamiko and Akari Kitō（鬼頭明里）as Momo in the recording booth. The full version has got a nice piano solo.

Will be looking forward to watching Episode 2 tonight. Yup, I'm going at this week-by-week instead of doing the binge watching.

Coro Machikado -- Yoi Machi Cantare（よいまちカンターレ）

 

About a week ago, I posted Rikako Aida's（逢田梨香子）"Ordinary Love" which was the ending theme for the 2019 anime "Senryu Shojo"（川柳少女...Short Poetry Girl）. I've been re-watching the show after having first seen it at my anime buddy's place all those years ago before the pandemic. In the same year, I also watched "Machikado Mazoku"（まちカドまぞく...The Demon Girl Next Door） for the first time, but my reaction to it was somewhat less enthusiastic for that one although both shows were filled with tsukkomi comedy. My guess is that my lack of knowledge in supernatural vocabulary got in the way and my buddy was not one who enjoyed having English subtitles on the screen, so a lot of the fast-paced banter between Shamiko and her friends went over my head.

However having said all that, I did enjoy the opening theme for that first season, "Machikado Tangent"（町かどタンジェント）by the duo shami momo consisting of the two main characters Shamiko and Momo played by Konomi Kohara（小原好美） and Akari Kitō（鬼頭明里） respectively. It has that breezy Bacharach swing arrangement which I'm always going to be a sucker for.

The ending theme hasn't been too bad although it took a while longer for it to take root within my psyche. "Yoi Machi Cantare" which I think translates into "Good Street Singing" (Japanese and Italian) was basically recorded by shami momo + two other seiyuu. Minami Takahashi（髙橋ミナミ）who plays Shamiko's flighty ancestor and mentor Lilith and Tomoyo Takayanagi（高柳知葉）who plays another magical girl Mikan as they join the duo to form Coro Machikado（コーロまちカド）.

"Yoi Machi Cantare" has got quite the energy to it and my anime buddy noted that the bass player on the song should have been given hazard pay for his hard work; bleeding fingers may have been his reward. The lyrics were written by the author of the original manga Izumo Ito（伊藤いづも）while Koichi Fujimoto（藤本功一）took care of the speedy melody. I've also got my copy of the second season so I'll be interested in hearing those theme songs as well. And yep, I appreciate the anime a whole lot more now that I can understand what is fully going on.

Akari Kito -- Tiny Light

One of the other Winter 2020 anime that has caught my eyes and ears thanks to the anime buddy is "Jibaku Shonen Hanako-kun"（地縛少年花子くん...Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun）. Its mixture of design, mystery, comedy and the distinctively merry voice of the title character himself as played by Megumi Ogata（緒方恵美）, once the seiyuu behind the kakkoii Sailor Uranus in the legendary "Sailor Moon" franchise back in the early 1990s, has gotten my attention. A sign that an anime has gotten my seal of approval is whether the episodes will hold my attention even after coming back from a large meal out (at my age, dozing off in a chair has become a ritual). Happily, "Hanako-kun" has kept my eyes from fading out.

Hanako-kun's partner in his supernatural hijinks is student Nene Yashiro（八尋寧々）. She's played by seiyuu/singer Akari Kito（鬼頭明里）in a role that's a whole lot more verbose than her Nezuko from last year's hit "Kimetsu no Yaiba"（鬼滅の刃）and a whole lot less stoic than her Momo Chiyoda from "Machikado Mazoku"（まちカドまぞく）also from 2019. Kito also provides the ending theme for "Hanako-kun", "Tiny Light".

Considering some of the suspenseful scenes and mysterious goings-on in the show, "Tiny Light" provides some melodic comfort. Written and composed by Saku, the song doesn't exactly break the mold with those familiar strings, keyboards and guitars but I think it reflects some of the dynamism of "Hanako-kun" along with the innocence of Nene. As for the show itself, my buddy and I both agreed that it would be nice if it could go on for another season.

shami momo -- Machikado Tangent（町かどタンジェント）

I gather that we are just past the halfway point of the Summer 2019 season of anime. And in terms of this blog, I've been enjoying the ode-to-disco theme songs for "Danberu Nan-Kiro Moteru?"（ダンベル何キロ持てる?...How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?）and the funkalicious and wacky opening theme to "Joshi Kōsei no Mudazukai"（女子高生の無駄づかい...Wasteful Days of High School Girls）. The shows themselves have been fun to watch and they've been my hits this summer.

One other show on the viewing block has been "Machikado Mazoku"（まちカドまぞく...The Demon Girl Next Door）, the tale of a supposed bad witch girl named Yuko "Shamiko" Yoshida（吉田優子）who repeatedly tries to one-up her classmate, Momo Chiyoda（千代田桃）, a magical girl heroine, so that her family which represents a long line of bad witches can get on a better financial footing. My anime buddy told me that the show has been steadily rising in his appraisal but I think it's been a bit more hit-and-miss for me. "Machikado Mazoku" is an adorable and mellow series but sometimes it's been a little too calm...to be honest, I almost fell asleep during the most recent episode.

The opening theme, "Machikado Tangent" (Street Corner Tangent) has grown on me, though. Sung by the seiyuu for the aforementioned main characters, Konomi Kohara（小原好美）as Shamiko and Akari Kitō（鬼頭明里）as Momo under the joint name of shami momo, it's got that sunny arrangement somewhat reminiscent of swinging 1960s pop a la Burt Bacharach that always manages to hook me like a trout. The same was true with the ending theme for "Koufuku Graffiti"（幸腹グラフィティ）, "Egao ni Naru"（笑顔になる）, and despite the fact that the show was broadcast all the way back in 2015, I'm still wishing that a second season will come to fruition.

"Machikado Tangent" was written, composed and arranged by Miho Tsujibayashi（辻林美穂）. The interesting thing about Kitō is that she's also starring in one of the big hits of this season, "Kimetsu no Yaiba"（鬼滅の刃）as the half-demon little sister, Nezuko.

Natsuki Hanae & Yukari Tamura -- Yokubari Dreamer（欲張り Dreamer）/ Wiseman -- The Wiseman Theme（ワイズマンのテーマ）

There have been a few out-of-left-field anime this Spring 2018 season. I've already spoken about one of them, "Hisone & Masotan"（ひそねとまそたん）with ASDF dragons and a France Gall ending theme.

Another one is "Last Period: Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari"（ラストピリオド -終わりなき螺旋の物語-...Last Period: The Story of an Endless Spiral）which is based on an RPG and is something of a parody on the RPG itself with one of its characters regularly bashing down the Fourth Wall. It's a fun enough comedy which reminds me a bit of "Mahoujin Guru Guru"（魔法陣グルグル）although from watching the first couple of episodes, it hasn't quite reached that show's zaniness yet. So far, the breakout characters to me are the trio that make up Wiseman (check from about 12:30 in the above video).

Still pretty early on in the series so the full versions of the theme songs aren't up yet (now they are) but both the opening and ending themes are pretty darn catchy, maybe even earworm level. The opening theme is "Yokubari Dreamer" (Greed Dreamer) as performed by Natsuki Hanae & Yukari Tamura（花江夏樹・田村ゆかり）who play the characters of Haru and Choko respectively. There is something about the song that reminds me of a Disney musical (I almost expected Lumiere from "Beauty & The Beast" to welcome viewers most cordially) especially in the beginning until it returned to the usual bouncy comedy anime theme style. The song was written and composed by songwriter-guitarist no_my.

Then, comes the ending theme titled "The Wiseman Theme" by Wiseman（ワイズマン）themselves, the rival team of roving helpers and fixers that disrupt our heroes' attempts to do good each episode. The ladies are just as goofy and clueless as the protagonist Periods but they are also luckier for the most part.

"The Wiseman Theme" has those hints of old-fashioned tokusatsu hero music and perhaps even early 2000s Para Para dance music. Plus the dancing by Wiseman in the ending credits will most likely have videos of real-life people trying to emulate the characters. Sayaka Harada（原田彩楓）, Akari Kitou（鬼頭明里）and Ayumi Mano（真野あゆみ）portray Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru respectively. Shoko Fujibayashi（藤林聖子）provided the lyrics while Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）took care of the earworm-y music.