Key West Club -- O-Atsuraemuki no Destiny（お誂え向きのDestiny）

 

When I wrote up the article for the iconic "Sailor Moon"（セーラームーン）theme over ten years ago, I hadn't had any realization that there was not only a kayo inspiration for Dali's "Moonlight Densetsu" (ムーンライト伝説）, but also the same version of the song with different lyrics and a different title: "Yume wa Majorica Senorita" (夢はマジョリカ・セニョリータ....My Dream is Majorica Senorita）. I always love doing these articles which take me down a rabbit hole the length of a soccer pitch.

"Yume wa Majorica Senorita" was performed by the short-lived aidoru duo Key West Club, and that fact led me to another amazing discovery in that one of the two ladies involved was none other than actress Miki Nakatani（中谷美紀）who had her solo singing career going further in the 1990s. Usually when I think of Nakatani behind a mike, I always associate her with the late great Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）as they made some beautiful and eclectic music together.

But an aidoru duo? Never had a clue. Nakatani was paired with Keiko Azuma（東恵子）for that period of one year between 1991 and 1992, and even before that, the two had been associated with the larger aidoru group Sakurakko Club Sakura Gumi（桜っ子クラブさくら組）which was formed under the aegis of an early 90s TV Asahi variety program known as "Sakurakko Club".

Anyways, Key West Club released just three singles and two original albums including "Yume wa Majorica Senorita" which was their final single in August 1992. However, their debut single released in November 1991 was "O-Atsuraemuki no Destiny" (A Most Suitable Destiny). Written and composed by Daria Kawashima（川嶋だりあ）, the same person behind that final single and "Moonlight Densetsu". Kinda like "Moonlight Densetsu", there is that touch of Latin in the song and the synths, and in a way, I think that this was a type of tune that could have been placed as an anime theme as well. The song peaked at No. 57 on Oricon and was the title track for Key West Club's first album from December 1991.

Feel So Bad -- Baribari Saikyo No. 1（バリバリ最強No.1）

 

I never read the original manga or saw the anime for the comedy-horror "Jigoku Sensei Nūbē"（地獄先生ぬ〜べ〜...Hell Teacher Nube） although I recall catching a scene from the live-action version one night via TV Japan several years ago. From what I further remember, it was about a young teacher who was also an exorcist with a demon-powered hand. I can gather that discipline was probably not a problem in his classes.

The anime had its run between 1996 and 1997 on NTV, and this is where commenter Fireminer and I come in since he was wondering about the opening theme song for this version of "Jigoku Sensei Nūbē". "Baribari Saikyo No. 1" (Furiously The Strongest No. 1) is a grand metal march taking on those monsters created and performed by the rock band Feel So Bad. If it sounds somewhat familiar, that would be due to the fact that when vocalist Daria Kawashima（川島だりあ）and guitarist Fuyuki Kurata（倉田冬樹）had composed the song, they decided to base it on Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9", a classical composition that also happens to be one of the favourites to be played over the Holidays in Japan.

Now, if the name Daria Kawashima rings a bell as well, congratulations, you know your songwriters. Kawashima just happens to be the one who created the tango-esque opening theme, "Moonlight Densetsu" (ムーンライト伝説）, for "Sailor Moon". But for "Baribari Saikyo No. 1", I also get to hear how she sounds as well. This opening theme for "Jigoku Sensei Nūbē" was released as Feel So Bad's 7th single in May 1996, and it became the band's most successful hit as it reached No. 35 on the Oricon weeklies.

Feel So Bad was first formed in 1993 with just Kawashima and Kurata but then beginning from the following year, drummer Masato Yamaguchi（山口昌人）, bassist Masato Ohashi（大橋雅人）, guitarist Chris and 6-string bassist Shoui（翔己）joined the band. They've been quite prolific in their output with 12 singles being released up to 2001 and 24 albums up to 2017. Tragically, though, co-founder Kurata passed away in 2019 from lung cancer.

MANISH -- Kirameku Toki ni Torawarete （煌めく瞬間に捕われて）

TGIF! Not quite as gloomy as it was yesterday but still fairly cool out there.

Now I have heard of the 1990s band MANISH which featured a couple of rock-out female singers but never really got into their music. However, over the past little while, I was able to find out some interesting information about they came to be. In 1991, the Japanese talent agency, Stardust Promotion, created a karate performance group (!) out of some of its members and called it Actions with periodic shows held at Arisugawa-no-Miya Memorial Park in Tokyo.

Well, four of its members, Misuzu Takahashi（高橋美鈴）, Mari Nishimoto（西本麻里）, Akira Nishizawa（石沢晶）and Sayuri Tsuchiya（土屋さゆり）became an aidoru unit to create just one song before disbanding (one and done, so to speak). The group was DALI and the song was "Moonlight Densetsu"（ムーンライト伝説）...the famous opening theme song for the original anime "Sailor Moon"（美少女戦士セーラームーン）. However, Takahashi and Nishimoto opted to keep the music going in a more powerful direction under the name of MANISH. As for the derivation of the name, both ladies had been called tomboys back in their childhood, although even the J-Wiki article about them pointed out that the word is actually spelled mannish. Another theory that has been bandied about is that the name was a merger of MAri NISHimoto.

MANISH had a good run of 6 years (1992-1998) which saw a number of hits come about, including their 10th of 12 singles, "Kirameku Toki ni Torawarete" (Caught by the Glittering Moment). I gotta say that I like the bass line on this one, including the chugging sound at the very beginning. Listening to it, I would never have thought Takahashi and Nishimoto were one-half of the group responsible for one of the most iconic theme songs in recent anime history.

MANISH's "Kirameku Toki ni Torawarate" was also the third ending theme for another long-running manga-and-anime series "Slam Dunk". I've never been a basketball fan either but even I had heard of this one through some of my students. And the song works well with "Slam Dunk" since it does have that progressing muscular beat. Plus, I gotta say that it does sound quite a bit like ZARD. I wonder whether the lot of Japanese female rock singers sounded like her at the time.

The song came out in February 1995 and became their greatest hit. Takahashi and Daria Kawashima (川島だりあ...who also came up with "Moonlight Densetsu") created "Kirameku Toki ni Torawarete" which sold over 200,000 copies. It hit No. 6 on Oricon and ended up as the 83rd-ranked single of the year.

Dali -- Moonlight Densetsu (ムーンライト伝説）/Chieko Baisho -- Sayonara wa Dance no Ato ni （さよならはダンスの後に）

Well, first off, let me state that I am very well aware that "Sailor Moon" was originally marketed toward kindergarten and elementary school girls in Japan when TV Asahi broadcast its successful 5-year run in the 1990s. However, I think its popularity went way beyond its parameters and attracted not only the older girls but also anime-loving university dudes as well. I remember at one anime showing organized by my good friend 20 years ago at the University of Toronto; the main attraction wasn't due to be shown for another half-hour but the lecture hall had already become a full house, so he decided to slide in an episode of "Sailor Moon" as a pre-feature treat. The entire first row promptly stood up and started singing the famous theme song by Dali. Massively freaked out a couple of my Japanese friends who had been here in Toronto as working-holiday visa students.

In the annals of anime, "Sailor Moon" was a fun show, and that friend and I (we still get together once every couple of weeks for lunch/anime/dinner) often touch upon the series nostalgically. But I always thought that the theme song was a notch above the usual happy-happy-joy-joy theme for a Japanese cartoon. It was something about the lusher arrangements with the tinge of a South American tango.

As I've been filling this blog for about half a year now, I've started to think of myself as a bit of an explorer for my motley cyber-museum of Japanese pop music. And "Moonlight Densetsu"(Moonlight Legend) has been one of the more interesting digs I've come across. Composed by Daria Kawashima（川嶋だりあ） (under the pseudonym of Tetsuya Komoro) and written by Kanako Oda（小田佳奈子）, it was sung by a four-person aidoru unit known as Dali. The unit broke up soon after the song's release and two of the women continued on as the 1990s pop/rock duo Manish.

Although the link isn't mentioned at all in the J-Wiki writeup on "Sailor Moon" or "Moonlight Densetsu", there are a couple of lines in the English writeup that state that the song may have been inspired by this 1965 single, "Sayonara wa Dance no Ato ni", by actress Chieko Baisho（倍賞千恵子）. Baisho is famous for her role as the kind-hearted but ever-worrying sister of Tora-san, Sakura Suwa, in the long-running movie series "Otoko wa Tsurai yo"（男はつらいよ）. Since there was no mention of the connection on the Japanese side of things, I can't really be sure if Daria Kawashima really did base "Moonlight Densetsu"on an old cha-cha kayo kyoku, but after listening to it a couple of times, I can say that there is a resemblance. You can judge for yourselves. The title is translated as "Let's Save The Goodbyes For After The Dance".

Then, my research got even more curiouser and curiouser. Some months after the first release of "Moonlight Densetsu", a duo known as Key West Club performed "Yume wa Majorica Senorita"(夢はマジョリカ・セニョリータ....My Dream is Majorica Senorita） which was basically the same song with different lyrics. The song was indeed by the same composer for "Moonlight Densetsu" but this time she went under her real name of Daria Kawashima. Key Club West consisted of Keiko Azuma (東恵子）and Miki Nakatani（中谷美紀）. Nakatani is now well-regarded as a major TV and movie actress in Japan although she's also had a solo singing career in the past.

All this information about a cute and catchy anime tune....Wow!

July 23rd 2023: I received a comment from Daemonskald who's been very helpful over the history of KKP with their ability to dig up some information on songwriters and the like when I haven't been able to do so. This time, I've discovered via Daemonskald that there has been a misunderstanding on who the actual composer behind "Moonlight Densetsu" was and it's not Daria Kawashima as was first thought, and it's been backed up by a new section inserted into the J-Wiki article for "Moonlight Densetsu". Have a read of the comment below and many thanks once more to Daemonskald!

Hi J-Canuck!

Don't know if you are aware of it but there was a recent development in "Who is Tetsuya Komoro?", the famous "Moonlight Densetsu" composer.

For years it was speculated to be Daria Kawashima because she wrote the Key West Club (KWC) song and it shares the same melodies/structure. For the record, it was already performed live before the Sailor Moon single went on sale but due to some strange circumstances the KWC single went on sale after it with re-arranged lyrics. And in people's mind, KWC was a copy of Moonlight Densetsu but in reality it was the other way round instead.

But enough of that, in a radio program in 2021, Daiko Nagato said Tetsuya Komoro was in fact Kazuo Yoshie（吉江一男）who produced a lot of Being (and its subsidiaries) artists and was the head of Mister Music, a company that writes a lot of music for commercials (they did the ones for Pepsi-Man).

So, in a way it makes sense because he also had a band named CM Network and gave himself the name Tetsuya Komoro (there is at least one or two compilation CDs out).

Nagato also confirmed the inspiration from Chieko Baisho song, "Sayonara wa Dance no ato ni". It was settled with Hirooki Ogawa and JASRAC so royalties are paid whenever Moonlight Densetsu is played now. Funny thing is Chieko Baisho 45th single ("Doyoubi wa Watashi to"/ "土曜日は私と", 1968) shares similarities with her 25th single and is written and composed by the same pair: Hiroshi Yokoi / Hirooki Ogawa.

In the end, something is still not very clear this story. Knowing that KWC song was written before Moonlight Densetsu and even if it is sure the inspiration comes from the same Chieko Baisho song, Moonlight Densetsu came after the KWC song is taking everything from it. So, we could say Moonlight Densetsu was more inspired from the KWC song (Daria's composition/arrangement) than the original Chieko Baisho song...