Yukari Hashimoto -- Sono Koi wa, Shojo Manga Sarete Yuku（その恋は、少女漫画化されてゆく）

Happy Monday to all! Last night, I saw Episode 12 of the 2014 anime "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun）which ended up being the 5th or 6th time watching the entire series again. I don't think I've repeated any other show as much as I have this one which goes to show how much I've enjoyed the (mis-)adventures of Nozaki, Sakura, Mikorin and company. Apparently, the manga is still going with the relationship between the artistically talented but otherwise dense Nozaki and the ever-smitten Sakura with perhaps just a smidgen of progress on the latter's side. I'm still hopeful for a second season, although as it has been 4 years since its premiere on TV Tokyo, my hopes may be waning faster than Sakura's ardour for ol' Nozaki-kun.

I wasn't all that surprised by the ending of that final episode although like a lot of other fans, I kinda wanted to throttle Nozaki-kun and knock him about the head like Biff did to Marty McFly:

"NOZAKI! YO! NOZAKI!! THE GIRL LOVES YOU, YOU MEATHEAD! CAN'T YOU GET IT THROUGH YOUR SKULL?!"

Heck, I think even self-absorbed Mikoshiba was aware of Sakura's huge love for him. But hey, the manga hasn't had a resolution one way or the other, so neither can the anime.

Well, perhaps the catch screen above may be the final frame of "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun" someday, but until that awaited shot actually happens, we can still enjoy the song from the official soundtrack that I've often felt was Sakura's theme. The official title is "Sono Koi wa, Shojo Manga Sarete Yuku" (That Love Is Being Turned Into a Girls' Comic) which seems to describe the entire arc of the anime. Created by composer and arranger Yukari Hashimoto（橋本由香利）for Volume 1 of the soundtrack, I think the track has that feeling of a day in the life of the high school girl as well as her affections for the big lug.

Looking through YouTube, it would seem as much as some of the fans have grumbled about the wrap-up to Episode 12, there also seems to have been some requests for the music that accompanied the scene for Sakura and Nozaki sitting on the monkey bars while the festival fireworks exploded above them. Apparently, that piece which is a variation on Sakura's theme is titled "Yakusoku no nai hōkago"（約束のない放課後...After School With No Promises）which is on Volume 2 of the soundtrack. Listening to this one and "Sono Koi wa, Shojo Manga Sarete Yuku", I got the impression that they wouldn't have been out of place in the soundtrack of a live-action romantic-comedy on Japanese TV.

However, immediately after the slightly bittersweet "Yakusoku no nai hōkago", Hashimoto follows up at about 21:03 in the video above with a fun and bouncy version that replaces the regular ending theme "Ura-Omote Fortune"（ウラオモテ・フォーチュン）. As the rest of the other characters get their final appearance at the festival, I wondered if Hashimoto had been partially inspired by Dexy's Midnight Runners when this piece galloped through the ending credits before returning to the softer version with the two leads. I'm not sure whether this ska-like take made it onto Volume 2; I couldn't find it on Volume 1.

Well, until a Season 2 comes along, there's always watching the special episodes at the beach.

Ari Ozawa -- Heart no Tone ni Kizuite yo! Dareka. （ハートのトーンに気付いてよ！誰か。）

I've just started the 3rd go-around with the 2014 anime "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun）, and there is a goodly amount of flavour remaining in this gum. Namely, I'm still chuckling a lot at the hilarity within the adventures of Chiyo Sakura and Umetaro Nozaki.

My anime buddy was kind enough to give me a copy of the single containing the ending theme for "Nozaki-kun", "Ura-Omote Fortune" （ウラオモテ・フォーチュン）which I've already written about. Unlike the straight-on and adorable technopop of the A-song, the coupling song "Heart no Tone ni Kizuite yo! Dareka." (Someone, Notice the Tone of My Heart!) has got a bit more rock and maybe even a tad of disco although the singer is once again the main seiyuu Ari Ozawa（小澤亜李）who's been fairly busy this year with her roles in "Active Raid" and "Kono Bijutsu-bu ni wa Mondai ga aru"（この美術部には問題がある！）.

What I like about this rumbling song is that most of it is spoken by the characters of Sakura as played by Ozawa, Nozaki by Yuuichi Nakamura（中村悠一）and the insecure Mikoto Mikoshiba by Nobuhiko Okamoto（岡本信彦）with the background of that technorock beat. In fact, I would say that the three seiyuu were playing out a missing scene from Episode 2 of the show when Sakura and Mikoshiba had their first awkward few days together. However, the story of the song is the poor lass' attempts to get her senpai Nozaki to see her as more than the helpful assistant in his manga work...and utterly failing. It's almost like the anime analogy of Charlie Brown, Lucy Van Pelt and the dreaded football.

Every time I listen to the song, I always think that "Heart no Tone" would probably be the ideal song to be performed in a stage production musical version of the show. It has that feeling of a scene that could be played out in the theatre, and I could imagine the three actors doing those talking parts at Nozaki's apartment before Sakura goes into her singing mode while breaking down the fourth wall and blaring out her frustrations to the audience. 

I've also gotta say that I enjoy that brief disco part just before the song goes into its final refrain. Somewhere I could hear the echo of Rod Stewart singing "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

As time goes by, the feeling is that there will probably not be any sequel to "Nozaki-kun", but at this point, I'm quite happy enjoying the original series as it is.

Ari Ozawa -- Ura-Omote Fortune （ウラオモテ・フォーチュン）

Yes, I'm going to have to stand up, put up my hand and admit that I've gotten hooked on those YouTube excerpts of "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun）. I mean, I've already seen the entire series at my anime buddy's place but some of those scenes are just hilarious for me to re-view. Maybe I'll have to follow my friend's lead and splurge on getting the DVD set for the 2014 show.

I've already gotten into the opening theme song for the show, Masayoshi Oishi's（大石昌良）"Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai"（君じゃなきゃダメみたい）with its good-ol'-boy melody about the titular character...maybe...revealing some of his deeply hidden feelings for his assistant and friend, Chiyo Sakura, who is hopelessly in love with him.

Well, the ending theme has Sakura herself (aka seiyuu Ari Ozawa/小澤亜李) bleeding her heart out for the romantically clueless Nozaki (unless it's through the pages of the manga he draws). Titled "Ura-Omote Fortune" (Double-Edged Fortune), Ozawa in character sings about what must be going through her crush's mind...as do we all. It took me a little while to warm up to it but after listening to it a number of times on my hard drive as I slogged through my translation work, it finally burrowed and wrapped around my cerebral cortex like a Ceti Eel ("Star Trek" reference). It's all due to Ozawa's moe vocals and the chip tune melody that songwriter Hige Driver（ヒゲドライバー）is known for.

Apparently, this was Ozawa's first starring role in an anime. Very nice that she was able to hit pay dirt so early. Looking forward to any sequels.

Masayoshi Oishi -- Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai （君じゃなきゃダメみたい）

I've mentioned that I've had a good time watching the droll and gentle humour of the slice-of-life anime "Shirokuma Cafe" with all those zoo animals cracking wise. And so was the case with "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?" which dealt with some moe girls working in various cafes.

Well, it seems like humourous slice-of-life has been my sub-genre of anime this past year. Another show that my anime buddy and I enjoyed during its run (and I do hope that a second series is in the offing) is "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun）. The story of a talented and stoically hulky high school boy,Umetaro Nozaki, who quietly draws girls' comics, he and his buddies make up one big gang of wacky quirks. For me, humour is my spice when it comes to anime, and I got my rack's worth whenever I caught this show.

I've also warmed up to the opening theme for "Nozaki-kun". Masayoshi Oishi's（大石昌良）"Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai" (Seems It Can't Be Anyone Other Than You). It sounds like a particularly fun performance by a busker outside of Shibuya Station one weekend right from the get-go as Oishi just takes that guitar and runs with it. I also love the horns....but for people who have been regularly reading my articles know that I'm a sucker for a good horn section. Oishi took care of both music and lyrics, and it seems like he's taking on the Nozaki role as he sings about how he can't seem to get the words out that he actually loves his assistant (Chiyo Sakura who is relatively more open about her love for Nozaki), although in the anime itself, he stays resolutely K.Y. when it comes to any romance.

For Oishi (who wrote his name in katakana for this song...オーイシマサヨシ), "Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai" is his 6th single since debuting in 2008. The song managed to peak at No. 23 after its release in August 2014. He has released 4 albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lDzwLuY67E