Minori Chihara -- Hare Hare Yukai (ハレ晴レユカイ)

 

“Hare Hare Yukai” is the ending theme song for the 2006 version of the classic anime series “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” made by Kyoto Animation. It is composed by anime music composer Satoru Kosaki.

We all know the sound of “J-pop”, but none of us can give the exact definition of it, because J-pop is not one genre. J-pop is a mixture of many styles of music over the years. It comprises all kinds of musical elements Japan has heard in the last century. 

“Hare Hare Yukai” is one of the “J-pop” songs. There are some EDM elements in it, some rock, and a little bit of influence from the 90s. However, every influence that is supposed to make this song identifiable exists in small fragments, which, in the end, results in a track that doesn’t distinguish itself from other songs.

But why is a song so featureless in arrangement attract me so much?

If it was four years ago, I definitely would not like it. At that time, I was just introduced to Toshiki and Tatsuro’s classic city pop tracks and I was busy exploring all the exciting bass slaps, horn sections, and guitar solos. This track would appear too bland for me. But now, four years later, I have seen everything. Funk is an everyday concept and no bass lines would get me as excited as I was when I first heard city pop. The dust of the funk has settled down, and it is now the pure appreciation of the music and the emotion that leads me to listen. 

And that leads me to this song. Yes, the arrangement is not distintive, but a distintive arrangement is no longer the attraction I look for. What really attracted me is the energy and the touch of melancholy it presents. It makes me think of the time I had during my middle school life. The study, assignments, food, and teachers were repetitive. No one had to worry about contagious diseases. Time seemed to be endless, and I had a lot of fun with my friends. I was familiar and comfortable with everything: people, grades, and responsibilities. These two years was the most carefree and joyful time of my life, and this song resonates with the memories I have.

“On a particular sunny day,

A happiness greater than magic

Will pour down endlessly. It's not impossible!

When we meet again tomorrow, we'll laugh and hum a tune.”

These lyrics from the song represent just what I feel about it. If I were to sum it up in one word, it would be “hope”. Hope that everything will remain easy and familiar; hope that good things can last; hope that the weather will always be sunny and people be happy; hope that covid never happened; hope that I will always see my friends tomorrow after tomorrow, until eternity.

But none of it happened. After I graduated middle school, I would end up transferring to an American high school, where people are unfamiliar and tests are stressful, Kyoto Animation would collapse under fire, and we would eventually hit the age of quarantine and masks.

“Hare Hare Yukai” is a reminder to me that time has changed, that I have grown up. Loving this song in the way I do means both my music taste and mentality have matured. I am no longer the high schooler who only loves the superficial rhythm of funk. I am now an adult who knows how to form my own understanding and taste the emotion in music. My carefree years were gone, and now, it is time to begin another adventure in my new phase of life.

Aya Hirano -- God knows...

The above scene from the original 2006 anime "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu"（涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱...The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya）initially reminds me of that part in "Back to the Future". You may know it...Marty McFly reassures a stunned 1950s student body at The Enchantment Under The Sea dance that though his 80s hard rock solo may be lost on them, their kids will love it. However, any similarities vaporize within the first few seconds of Haruhi's surprise performance since:

1) It is Haruhi Suzumiya, after all, who has more of the personality of Lucy Van Pelt than that of Marty.

2) Haruhi is wearing a Playboy bunny outfit.

3) The audience does get into it.

4) Haruhi has a quiet if supremely powerful demigod-like humanoid interface as one of her stage sidekicks (as we all do).

"God knows..." is a rocker that's been played by my anime buddy on his stereo from time to time during the Sunday anison hour, and it fits even better on Haruhi than her bunny costume since it sounds like the character truly throwing out her hopes and ambitions in something more effective than primal scream therapy (take a look at Haruhi's face...fury much?). Hear that, Kon? For that matter, hear that, Thanos?

Aya Hirano（平野綾）is, of course, the seiyuu behind the character and the song with prolific anime lyricist Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composer Satoru Kousaki（神前暁）responsible for the creation of "God knows...".

Hironobu Kageyama -- CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA

Because of timing and immediate affinity, when it comes to manga artist Akira Toriyama（鳥山明）, I will always side with his "Dr. Slump"（ドクター・スランプ）. although his subsequent "Dragon Ball"（ドラゴンボール）franchise is by far his greatest masterpiece. It was during my 1981 trip to Japan that summer when my host sister in Nara asked me during a trip together through her hometown whether I had heard of this manga "Dr. Slump". Having replied in the negative, she promptly stopped off at a manga store and bought me a couple of issues of the adventures of Arale-chan and Senbe Norimaki. I was enamored with the series so that I kept on collecting the original books until my odyssey was finished during my long residency in Ichikawa many years later.

I never got into "Dragon Ball", the manga or the anime, the latter which started up immediately after the end of the run of "Dr. Slump" in 1986. For some reason, that particular Toriyama bug never got to bite me, although its fame has been such that even I know the characters of Goku and Gohan, and I even saw its parody on Adult Swim's "Robot Chicken". Indeed, I knew about the Hollywood adaptation, and from what I've heard about it, that is all I will say about it.

The other aspect of the anime franchise that has seeped into general pop culture legend, Japan and elsewhere, is the theme song, and what I learned was a bit surprising for a non-Dragon Ball fan like me. "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA", a rocker that I had thought was the only opening theme for the entire series, was actually the song for the first half of "Dragon Ball Z", the sequel to the original series which had run from February 1986 to April 1989. The sequel itself lasted from April 1989 to January 1996 with "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" fronting over two-thirds of the episodes.

"CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" may have been one theme song for "Dragon Ball", but I think me and a lot of the fans would say that it is the theme. It is certainly the only song that I know from the show, and any time that I've seen a retrospective on anime or anison on TV in Japan, "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" will always be featured without failure. Heck, one YouTube commenter stated that it ought to be made into the Japanese national anthem.😆

But I gotta say that "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" is one spicy and attractive anison for the kids (and probably adults, too) who loved "Dragon Ball". As sung by Hironobu Kageyama（影山ヒロノブ）, it, through the lyrics and music, really does get the excitement flowing for the adventures and battles to come, and man, did that improbable combination of syllables in the title become a legend itself! It's kinda of a musical Super Saiyan (did I use that term correctly?).

Now that is one guy who is in his element, in the zone! Nothing happier to see a singer who loves to sing a particular song. I'm not sure whether Kageyama ever performed this at an overseas Fan Expo or Comicon, but I can only imagine the joyful mayhem that would erupt from the masses. Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）came up with the lyrics while Chiho Kiyooka（清岡千穂）composed the song. It was released as the 16th single by Kageyama in May 1989 with a re-recording done in 2005. It got no higher than No. 118 on the regular Oricon charts, but I think its fame and popularity have far outlasted any stat.

According to J-Wiki, "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" has been covered by a number of other singers, although this seiyuu wasn't listed, I did find Aya Hirano's（平野綾）version under her character on "Lucky☆Star".

One group that was listed was Momoiro Clover Z（ももいろクローバーZ）who did their cover on the Z-edition of their 15th single, "Zetto no Chikai"（『Z』の誓い...Pledge of "Z"）, released in April 2015. The single reached No. 4.

Finishing off with Kageyama, he's also become famous for another leather-lunged performance recently.

Aya Hirano -- Boken Desho Desho? （冒険でしょでしょ?）

Good gravy! Can hardly believe it's been over 10 years since "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu"（涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱...The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya）, one of the jewels in Kyoto Animation's crown, was first broadcast...time for me to get my rocking chair.

And it's been around 18 months since I actually put up the article about that famous super-catchy and much talked about ending theme from the first season, "Hare Hare Yukai"（ハレ晴レユカイ）by the seiyuu from the show, Aya Hirano, Yuko Goto and Minori Chihara（平野綾・後藤邑子・茅原実里）. Yet, I had always thought of writing about the opening theme for that inaugural season as well but never got around to it until today.

Perhaps "Boken Desho Desho?" (It's an Adventure, Right? Right?) is not quite as earwormy as "Hare Hare Yukai" and there was no adorable choreography in the opening credits for "Haruhi", but I think as an anison, it still holds up quite nicely. Aya Hirano takes care of this one solo, and like "Hare Hare Yukai", the lyricist is Aki Hata（畑亜貴）with Akiko Tomita（冨田暁子）providing the music which seems to have a nice sprinkling of Shibuya-kei in there. Plus it flows smoothly with the fast-paced visuals of the opening credits and has the appropriate title which comes across as something that the often obnoxious Haruhi would say to the long-suffering Kyon.

I found that although "Boken Desho Desho?" didn't quite get the same amount of attention that the ending theme did, it also found a good measure of success on the charts as an anison. It even hit No. 10 on Oricon as Hirano's 2nd single when it was released in April 2006, and spent well over half a year swimming about on the charts. It ended up becoming the 141st-ranked single for the year.

Back last year in July, I wrote about the opening theme for the alt-universe sequel for "Haruhi", "Fure Fure Mirai"（フレ降レミライ）for "Nagato Yuki-chan no Shōshitsu"（長門有希ちゃんの消失...The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan）.

Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, Yuko Goto, Natsuko Kuwatani & Yuki Matsuoka -- Fure Fure Mirai （フレ降レミライ）

Bear with me here for some several lines while I set tonight's article up. For years, I used to watch the American sitcom "MASH" which featured the comedy and drama surrounding the doctors and nurses of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital 4077 during the Korean War. The show lasted 3 times longer than the actual Korean War and made household names out of the entire cast.

Then, sometime after the tearjerking finale in 1984, I was shocked when I saw most of the cast come back in a series of TV ads for good ol' Big Blue, aka IBM. To see folks like Major Frank Burns, Father Mulcahy and Radar O'Reilly pop up as modern working folk in a trendy looking startup was really quite fascinating.

That's how I kinda look at the situation with the 2006 "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" and the currently-running (for a few more weeks, anyways) 2015 "The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan". In the former show, there were all of these high school characters of whom most were actually aliens investigating a Miss Haruhi Suzumiya（涼宮ハルヒ）who may be the most powerful being in the universe. It made quite the splash in its first season but then apparently almost sank under the notorious story of "The Endless Eight" in its second season (my anime buddy is a huge fan of the franchise and even he won't let me get anywhere near that one).

Cue ahead almost a decade. Well, mind you, in my case, it would only be a few years since I played a lot of catch-up where the franchise was concerned since I only started seeing it from around 2012. We all find out that "Haruhi" is coming back but it would be an alternate universe version focusing on the character of Yuki Nagato（長門有希）. The characters and their accompanying seiyuu are the same, along with the setting, but everyone is absolutely 100% human and the plot has been focused for the most part on down-to-earth relationships among the kids with a mix of comedy and drama. More importantly, Nagato is not a superhuman artificial humanoid who could possibly give a certain Kryptonian a run for his money but a timid high school girl with the hots for good guy Kyon（キョン）. It's kinda like taking Mr. Spock and making him a Bostonian librarian by the name of Lenny.

The opening theme, "Fure Fure Mirai" (Rainy Rainy Future), also has that feeling of familiarity and something new. Sung by all of the female cast known collectively as the Kitakou Bungeibu Joshikai （北高文芸部女子会...North High Literary Club Girls' Association）, I decided to identify everyone by name up above. There is that very big echo back to the ending theme from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", "Hare Hare Yukai"（ハレ晴レユカイ）although it's not quite as catchy as that latter theme (perhaps it will grow on me in time) and the only dancing involved in the opening credits is a very brief second of Miley Cyrus moves. But I figure that's probably the way it should be since Haruhi would definitely be the type to drag everybody for a dance-a-thon whereas Yuki is more demure about such exploits.

Aki Hata（畑亜貴）was responsible for the lyrics for "Fure Fure Mirai" as she was also for "Hare Hare Yukai", but this time the composer was Yugo Sasakura（佐々倉有吾）. Actually, maybe it is growing on me much more since I've been enjoying the full version of the song; it certainly sounds as if the cast was enjoying themselves in the recording booth. There are just a few more episodes left in this series but unlike the seemingly dour tone of the title, I'm hoping that there is a happy resolution of sorts between Yuki and Kyon.

Although I've already done so for the first three seiyuu due to "Hare Hare Yukai", allow me to provide the singers' names in kanji:

Aya Hirano （平野綾）as Haruhi

Minori Chihara（茅原実里）as Yuki

Yuko Goto（後藤邑子）as Mikuru

Natsuko Kuwatani（桑谷夏子）as Ryoko

Yuki Matsuoka （松岡由貴）as Tsuruya-san

Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara & Yuko Goto -- Hare Hare Yukai （ハレ晴レユカイ）

Just a few months from returning to Canada for good, my anime buddy and I got into our well-worn routine of meeting every couple of Sundays for food and anime viewing at his place. At the same time, he also passed me some other anime for viewing at home...one of which was "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu"（涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱...The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya）. He was quite gangbusters about this show so I decided to give it a try.

The first thing I saw was this buxom girl by the name of Mikuru Asahina（朝比奈ミクル）with the voice of a drunken, tone-deaf angel trying to sing "Koi no Mikuru Densetsu"（恋のミクル伝説...The Legend of Mikuru in Love）against a musical backdrop of an 80s B-movie. I managed to get through it....slack-jawed, mind you...before I turned the TV off. My initial impression was "Man, what WAS he thinking? I didn't know he was that much into moe."

However, as all of the Haruhi fans know, I was being a bit hasty in my judgement. I gritted my teeth, gave it another shot and realized the first minute was just part of a student video (basically the pilot episode) created by the main character. And then after all that, I realized that "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu" was all about this weird girl with a personality mix of Lucy Van Pelt and Peppermint Patty who dearly craves to encounter the strange and unusual while unknowingly being surrounded by the very people she seeks due to some far greater reason of universe-shattering proportions.

At around the same time, I was also watching "Mawaru Penguindrum", another mind-screw of an anime, so it was a fairly intense few months for me. I would have ended up a total zombie if my buddy had also thrown in "Madoka Magica".

Well, getting to the point of this article, I was happier with the ending theme of the show, "Hare Hare Yukai" (Shiny Shiny Happiness). And yep, it is fully imbued with shiny shiny happiness. Written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed by Tomokazu Tashiro（田代智一）, it was one darn catchy tune right from the get-go. Sung by seiyuu Aya Hirano（平野綾）, Minori Chihara（茅原実里）and Yuko Goto（後藤邑子）who portrayed the three main female characters of Haruhi Suzumiya, Yuki Nagato（長門有希）and the aforementioned Mikuru respectively, I can't help but associate the actual singing of the song more to the characters than to their voice actors.

Part of the reason for that is the closing credits of the show which had Haruhi, Yuki and Mikuru along with the two male characters of Kyon（キョン）and Itsuki Koizumi （古泉 一樹）also performing some pretty elaborate choreography. It impressed so many people that it became an Internet sensation with some of those flesh-&-blood folks emulating what has become known as the Haruhi Dance. According to the J-Wiki article on "Hare Hare Yukai", Shoko Ikeda（池田晶子）was the Kyoto Animation director behind the dance, and she went through a lot of music videos of various aidoru to envision the moves for the characters, settling mostly on the choreography of the group Berryz Kobo（Berryz工房）.

The above video is the full version of the song which was released as an official single in May 2006. I think it did phenomenally well as an anison, getting as high as No. 5 on Oricon and going Gold in terms of sales. By the end of the year, it was ranked at No. 104.

Getting through the 13 episodes, I was glad that I did stick with it and not totally flee after that initial bit of Mikuru karaoke. And as someone who has never been all that comfortable socializing, I could actually relate to the concept of The SOS Brigade.