I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Showing posts with label Gochuumon wa Usagi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gochuumon wa Usagi. Show all posts
I was out most of the day today which explains why Wednesday was stuffed with a few more articles than usual including Marcos V.'s posting on "Ninna Nanna" last night so many thanks to him. Actually, I met up with my old anime buddy for brunch this morning and it was a bit of old times as we returned to his place for a truncated version of the old routine of anime and food that we'd once had before the arrival of the pandemic. I don't think we're resuming it but it was nice to visit again.
We even had a short respite of anison playing over the speakers and my friend had been steadily collecting his soundtracks and the like over the years. I was surprised then when he played a variation of a song that I've always enjoyed.
It turns out back in November 2021, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the original manga "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）, a CD was released titled "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? 10th Anniversary Shudaika Rearrange & Hi Reso Best"（ご注文はうさぎですか? 10th Anniversary主題歌リアレンジ&ハイレゾベスト...Main Theme Rearrangements and High Resolution Best） which provides some of those "Gochiusa" songs with a new twist. My friend was able to play the new version of "Daydream Café", hands down my favourite theme song out of all of them in the anime franchise. Shoichiro Hirata（平田祥一郎） rearranged the original Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）version of the song that best reflected the atmosphere of one of the most moe anime ever made in the 2010s. I'm not saying that we'll be hearing the new "Daydream Café" being played by some DJ in a Harajuku dance club but it's got some nifty beats.
Sometime around the Holidays, there was a massive sigh of melancholy and moe happiness as the third season of "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか?）with the additional title of BLOOM ended and fans were left wondering when the next entry would show up.
The final 12th episode planted some seeds within the increasingly less shy Chino Kafuu that there are things to do and places to explore outside of Rabbit House and her peaceful town. I kinda figured that it was going to be time for wanderlust to start creeping into the littlest member of the main quintet in "Gochuumon", and well, maybe in a few years, Chino will end up doing a barista residency in Seattle. But my anime buddy told me that the final moments of Episode 12 may be presaging a big trip by the gang to France...perhaps even Colmar (according to the manga) where they will be looking rather quizzical as to why that place looks so similar to their hometown. I suspect a movie adaptation.
Anyways, it's time to provide a couple of musical pieces from the "Gochuumon" collection from way back. First off, I've got "Caffeine Fighter" which is the character song for Syaro, the irritable member who works at Fleur du Lapin and has a major crush on gung-ho Rize. As sung by Syaro portrayer Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）, "Caffeine Fighter", true to it being a character song, has the seiyuu describing what makes the girl tick including her insecurities of being poor and the transformative power of coffee on Syaro. Aiko Takase（高瀬愛虹）provided the lyrics
Composed by Hiroaki Ishida（石田寛朗）, it's got some light and punchy synthpop although something in the arrangement by Satoshi Nakayama（中山聡）hints at Syaro's ojou-sama mannerisms. From what I've read on the website for the series itself, "Caffeine Fighter" is included in the July 2015 character album "Heart Purupuru Jiken desu"（ハートぷるぷる事件です...The Heart-Trembling Incident）.
One of my favourite pieces of music from "Gochuumon", though, dates all the way back to the first season with the soundtrack by Ruka Kawada（川田瑠夏）. Titled "Zutto Issho ni" (Together Forever), I think that it may have made its debut in the last few minutes of the distinctly animated Episode 4 (although it may have popped up earlier in the first few episodes) when everyone except Rize were studying at the enormous library.
(20:00)
Beginning with the main melody on the harp, it really does sound like how the town feels and when the rest of the orchestra comes in, it comes across as this truly tenderhearted wistful waltz. I think "Zutto Issho ni" was very effective in those scenes of Episode 4 which is why I always put the song and those scenes together in my memory since the characters were rather affirming their growing friendships. Since then, the song has been used during any sort of quiet emotional scene such as the post-credits one from Season 3, Episode 12. It's probably a given that "Zutto Issho ni" will pop up sometime if and when the trip to France takes place.
Generally speaking, the whole soundtrack by Kawada is wonderful and I'd like to talk about that one someday soon as well.
My anime buddy and I were talking the other night and he marveled at the fact that 5 years have gone by since the second season of that show of moe and coffee and rabbits had ended its run. Yes, indeed. I am talking about the franchise "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）. At one point, I thought that everything was all done with Cocoa, Chino and the rest of the characters but a couple of specials in the intervening years kept hope alive, and sure enough, last year, it was announced that a Season 3 called "Bloom" would be heading out the gates in October...which it has.
I've been able to see the first two episodes of "Bloom" via YouTube and not through the auspices of my friend's giant TV screen this time around, but that's cool. The show has been fine and what better series to keep spirits nice and light like a well-made croissant during these times? It looks like the Japanese equivalent of Colmar, France is still going through summer, and I've gotten to see the girls and Tippy handle a flea market and the adventures of Lapin.
Of course, we gotta think about the themes and although the actual release of the singles will probably be some weeks down the line, at least, we can have a listen through the credits. The opening theme is "Tenkuu Cafeteria" (Heaven Cafeteria) by Petits Rabbit's (i.e. the main five seiyuu as listed at the bottom) as usual. Written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed/arranged by Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）, the same duo behind Season 1's"Daydream Café" and Season 2's"No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）, "Tenkuu Cafeteria" has the bounciness of the former and the tempo of the latter to basically create the melodic equivalent of...well, a rabbit.
In terms of the ending credits, Season 1 had that spinning wheel and the adorable and sedate "Poppin' Jump"（ぽっぴんジャンプ）to accompany it. Then Season 2 had viewers go into diabetic shock in terms of the visuals and the ending song "Tokimeki Poporon"（ときめきポポロン♪）, and the FBI in the United States was probably wondering why their offices got inundated with phone calls.
Well, this time around, the ending credits and song have their cuteness but quite a bit more toned down compared to Season 2. Going mostly with an "Alice in Wonderland" motif, Chimame Tai（チマメ隊）consisting of seiyuu Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）, Sora Tokui（徳井青空）and Rie Murakami（村川梨衣）sing, as they did for the above two enders, and go a bit jazzier with "Nakayoshi! Maru! Nakayoshi!" (Buddies! Circle! Buddies!). Although I like both the new opening and ending themes, I am even more curious about how the full version of "Nakayoshi! Maru! Nakayoshi!" will sound since I would like to hear the jazz band get even more into the riff during the instrumental bridge. Hata was again providing the lyrics while Tomotaka Ohsumi（大隅知宇）took care of music and arrangement. It's nice and catchy and this time, I don't think the FBI will need to hire more operators.
The very first Author's Picks article in late 2013 belongs to JTM and he chose the opportunity to cover some of his favourite anison, J-Drama and Japanese movie themes. Strangely enough, I realized that I have yet to describe some of my own favourite anison although I have often touched upon the genre in articles going all the way to KKP's inaugural year of 2012.
Well, challenge accepted then! However, when I was dreaming up my list, I also realized that I had forgotten to include some of the very first anison themes that had come to my ears such as the ones belonging to "Space Cruiser Yamato" and other tunes before 2011. So, when it comes down to it, I've decided to make this list under one simple condition: my favourite anison are to be for shows that I've seen over the past decade since returning from Japan in December 2011. I will make a separate list for beloved anime themes pre-2011 at a later date.
Thinking up the list, I believe and I think you will also believe that a lot of my choices for favourite anison have that certain funk and groove, and that is probably due to the fact that my favourite genre in Japanese popular music is City Pop/AOR. But there will be a few exceptions.
Shall we being then? Ah, before I forget, the list isn't in any particular order.
An anime series doesn't necessarily demand a cookin' theme song to be successful. I've seen some pretty fine shows for which I can't really remember the themes, to be honest. However, a great opening theme can act as a splendid business card for what the show can bring to your senses. Case in point: "Viva Namida"（ビバナミダ）by Prince-ly funk artist Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）for the out-of-left-universe show "Space Dandy". As I mentioned in the original article for the song, I knew that I had to get the single when I heard it on Episode 1. Seeing all of the sexy opening credits paired with this sexy song made my choice pretty inevitable. I was getting major Bootsy Collins vibes from Okamura who at the time looked like a buttoned-down company cog until he began hitting the dance floor.
Okamura got all funky? Well, so did Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, and he and his namesake, Airi（鈴木愛理）, added dollops of soul to "DADDY! DO! DO!" to this opening theme for the second season of "Kaguya-sama: Love is War" which will end next weekend, much to fans' disappointment. Folks had been wondering whether Martin would be back to reprise opening theme duties and they were celebrating in the streets when he and his new partner brought a song that may have even eclipsed the amazing "Love Dramatic" from Season 1. Like many YouTube viewers, I've listened to "DADDY! DO! DO!" a ton of times since it was put up and I've yet to get tired of it. Who would have thought that such cool songs would be associated with a rom-com manga-based anime (albeit maybe one of the most popular works ever made)? Now, the pressure is on whether Suzuki can pull off a three-peat with Season 3 (and yeah, there just HAS to be a Season 3).
Getting all sentimental here, but "Joshiraku"（じょしらく）is one of the first anime that I got to see at my buddy's place soon after getting back to Toronto for good. "Kaguya-sama" is the "Frasier" of anime to me, but "Joshiraku" has always been my anime "Seinfeld". The five female rakugo artists simply banter about anything under the sun in their tiny resting room away from the stage. And that raucous opening theme "O-Ato ga Yoroshikutte...YO!"（お後がよろしくって。。。よ！）has had the same effect on me as the theme song for "The Flintstones" did for me whenever I got to see the adventures of Fred and Barney. It's just a welcoming happy tune for each episode while the credits show off the loony mayhem that is to follow. It's just a pity that a second season never came to fruition but at least I got to see the beginnings of Ayane Sakura's（佐倉綾音）career.
4. Petit Rabbit's -- Daydream Café (Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? Season 1, 2014)
Speaking of Sakura, here she is as part of Petit Rabbit's, the main cast singing the first opening theme for the franchise "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか）. "Daydream Café" in its own way is very similar to the opener for "Joshiraku" in that it gives off that welcome shiny and cheery tune basically describing a typical episode of what is basically Girls und Cafés, and the cast perform the tune in character. Although there have been a number of theme songs now for "GochiUsa" in the past six years of its anime existence (including the one that will adorn Season 3 later this fall), I think "Daydream Café" will always be the one theme that fits everyone to a tea...tee.
5. Chinatsu Akasaki, Haruka Tomatsu & Aki Toyosaki -- Wa! Moon! dass! cry! (Joshi Kosei no Mudazukai, 2019)
Since I've been throwing in these comparisons of these anime to American sitcoms that I've known, how about saying that the zany "Joshi Kosei no Mudazukai"（女子高生の無駄づかい）is a mix between "MASH" and "Welcome Back, Kotter"? Discuss! As I recall, there were a few really catchy theme songs in the summer of 2019, but "Wa! Moon! dass! cry!"（輪！Moon！dass！cry！）has come out on top for me because it has been the earworm that has kept on giving all these months leading to the 1-year anniversary since its appearance as an anime. Akasaki（赤崎千夏）, Tomatsu（戸松遥）and Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）who play the main trio in the show must have earned their vocal hazard pay in lunging into this playful sing-song rap with a dance remix rhythm. And the song even gets rather poignantly sweet at the end. It just makes me hope that a second season might come out.
6. Shonan no Kaze -- Grand Blue (Grand Blue, 2018)
Talk about hoping for a Season 2. It's hard to believe that it will soon be two years since the wall-to-wall hilarity of "Grand Blue"（ぐらんぶる）assaulted my funny bone. I still go to the reaction videos from time to time to share in the laughter, and I finally got my own copy of the show. "Grand Blue" the opening theme by Shonan no Kaze（湘南乃風）is the ultimate mood maker for summery good times and dancing on the beach (maybe there can be some actual diving, too!). Like the other themes, it has prepped me into a good mood for each episode.
Great theme (and it's an ending theme this time, too!)...too bad about the anime, though. Frankly, I thought that "Kumamiko"（くまみこ）finished its run somewhat like Roman Polanski's 1965 psychological horror "Repulsion", but on happier news, that ending theme "Kumamiko Dancing" was just oodles of fun along the same lines of "Uptown Funk" by Bruno Mars. Who'da thought that a tune about a relationship between a talking bear and a teenage shrine maiden could be so deliciously danceable? If the show hadn't ended the way it did, I would have said looking at the ending credits that everyone was in a happy place in that village.
Of all of the shows listed here, "Amanchu!"（あまんちゅ！）is the one show that isn't a zany comedy. I mean, it has its examples of gentle humour but really the anime that really focuses on diving is one of the sweetest and most wistful slice-of-life shows that I've ever seen, and it's far away from the "Animal House" that is "Grand Blue". It would only be logical that the opening theme matches that calm coming-of-age atmosphere, and that has been achieved with Maaya Sakamoto's（坂本真綾）"Million Clouds", one very moving theme song that captures the feeling of growing up, making new friends and learning about life.
"Witchcraft Works" was an intriguing anime although as the episodes moved on, I was starting to lose track of the story. However, what stayed constant was the earworm status of the ending theme by KMM Dan, "Witchcraft Activity", and one of the group happens to be seiyuuNatsumi Hioka（日岡なつみ）who's already represented above. The first time I heard this song whipped up by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND at the end of the pilot episode was all I needed to get that urge to get the CD. The full-speed beats and the rat-a-tat delivery by the group absolutely bewitched me.
10. fhana -- Aozora no Rhapsody (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, 2017)
Another opening theme that welcomed me and other viewers into the world of corporate cogs, elementary school students and magical beings, fhana's"Aozora no Rhapsody"（青空のラプソディ）is trippy and sweeping at the same time. Those opening words and the disco strings had me crying "Uncle!" and what was additionally wonderful was that jazzy guitar bridge in the full version of the song. Now, if only a second season would come for this one, too.
Whew! Got those 10 up there. Hopefully, there are some of them that you like and I realize that there are some that I would have liked to have gotten up here but that's all she wrote. I'm just glad that I could finally get my first anison list up.
Welcome to another new week. News has perhaps not been the happiest of late but for those fans of "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか）, I think there's something to celebrate. Late last month, it was announced that the third season of high school girls, rabbits and cafes that can soothe the heck out of viewers has been slated for October 2020, so hopefully, in another 6 months, we can all see the latest adventures of Cocoa, Chino and the rest of the hot drink-loving gang in their lovely town.
In the meantime, we can all enjoy "Takarabako no Jet Coaster"(Treasure Box Roller Coaster) that came out in July 2015, between the first and second seasons. Performed by Petits Rabbit's, namely the main quintet of the cast: Ayane Sakura（佐倉綾音）, Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）, Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）, Risa Taneda（種田梨沙）and Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）, it's a supremely breezy and bouncy number which brings to mind the opening theme for the second season, "No Poi!". Not surprisingly, it was made by the same duo, lyricist Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composer Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）.
This is probably a very cornball thing to say, but I think if there is that hidden character that makes "GochiUsa" the adorable and popular franchise it is, it would have to be the town itself. The architecture and layout have always struck me as being so heartwarming and welcoming that I would love to visit it. Of course, with the money and time, I can because it does exist as the city of Colmar in northeastern France (the above video is given in French). Perhaps a good chunk of the inbound tourism to Colmar in the last few years has perhaps been due to those particular anime fans themselves. I can add that the original manga artist Koi should have earned a key to the city from the mayor.
Anyways, here's hoping that our current problems will blow away soon enough so that "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? Bloom" will hit screens on schedule later this fall, and tourism will return in good numbers again to Colmar.
Last month, I wrote about the joyful jazz/pop waltz "Gin no Spoon ~ Blend of Memory"（銀のスプーン）that ended the Fall 2019 special in the "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？）franchise with a duet between seiyuu Minori Inase（水瀬いのり）and Nana Mizuki（水樹奈々）that would have put a tear in a number of Gochiusa fans' eyes.
Well, along with that OVA, "Sing For You", came a DVD-ROM containing the songs that were created and performed during the special, including "Gin no Spoon". Unfortunately, a lot of those full versions of those tracks have been taken down by the powers-that-be, so I had to do some scrambling around. Basically, most of what I could find are just the montage-type snippets during the show.
The one that I really wanted to put up is the contribution by demure (but with a sly sense of humour) Chiya as played by Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）since she actually puts up an enka number with the title of "Furimukeba Tsuki, Iie Dango"（振り向けば月、いいえ団子。...When I Turn, There is the Moon...Nope, It's a Dumpling.）as befitting her Wa style. With lyrics by the prolific Aki Hata（畑亜貴）, I tip my hat off to composer Masahiro Mizoguchi（溝口雅大）since "Furimukeba" has some similarity to an enka classic by Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, "Amagi Goe"（天城越え）.
Once again, just the briefest of snippets here but the song list also includes Syaro's aidoru-tastic "Hi Hi High☆" which has the usually button-down waitress of the Fleur de Lapin going bonkers on the stage, thanks to that most dangerous of drinks, coffee. Written by Aiko Takase（高瀬愛虹）and composed by Tako Yamaguchi（山口たこ）, the song is well-titled since it may refer to Syaro's state of mind. It's for one of those times when decaffeinated simply won't do.
The only full version of a song on the soundtrack that I could find is the ultra-cheerful "Sing a Song Paya Poya Melody"（しんがーそんぐぱやぽやメロディー）that has the entire main cast of Petits Rabbit's and Chimame-tai（チマメ隊）performing. With lyricist Hata paired with Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）again, after creating the adorable "Daydream Cafe", the very first opening theme for "Gochiusa", the two of them came up with "Sing a Song Paya Poya Melody" which could easily suffice as a possible opening theme for the the third season of the franchise next year. The beat is such that it could even rival the strongest rabbits in terms of how much bounce it can attain, and the song is quite similar to the opening for the second season, "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）.
Hopefully, the other full versions of the songs will return someday, and there is one more song from the soundtrack that I would like to cover if the original gets put back up.
A nice little treat that I got during last night's usual anime-&-food session was seeing this September's OVA of "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか?...Is The Order A Rabbit?）, titled "Sing For You". I will always welcome the oh-so-mellow anime franchise of girls running cafes, and the 30-or-so (?) minute special dealt with the usually stoic and level-headed Chino Kafu（香風智乃）played by Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）blowing a gasket over the fact that she has to do a solo part in her school's chorus performance. Of course, the rest of the gang rush over to help out and get her over the hump of her stage fright to varying levels of humour.
During those 30 minutes, "GochiUsa" fans finally got one mystery resolved to a certain extent: that of Chino's mother who had passed away some years before the start of the series. Apparently, her name was Saki（香風サキ）and she was a regular singer at Rabbit House, with her husband and Chino's father, Takahiro（香風タカヒロ）, and even current Rabbit House barista Rize's father backing Saki on instruments.
(instrumental only)
As soon as I heard Saki sing in the OAV, I knew it was Nana Mizuki（水樹奈々）right away. Her "Gin no Spoon ~ Blend of Memory" (Silver Spoon) is a good ol' jazz waltz which I could actually imagine being played during some sort of live performance in a club somewhere.
However, the more adorable and heartwarming pop version is the duet of "Gin no Spoon" between Mizuki and Inase. Finally, mother and daughter are together...may have brought a tear to the eye in many a fan. Created by lyricist/singer Junko Tsuji（辻純更）and composer/keyboardist Ruka Kawada（川田瑠夏）, the arrangement matches the overall feeling of the music that has been invested into "GochiUsa" all these years, that sunny, optimistic and wistful atmosphere (almost sounds like a swinging 1960s pop song) that seems to inhabit the unnamed town/small city with a European style where all the girls, cafes and rabbits live.
I couldn't quite believe it when I first heard about this Japanese cafe's existence in Toronto (as of this writing, it's been open for about a year). Not that I didn't think that a Japanese sweets establishment would actually show up in my city (we've been getting a diversity of Japanese restaurants over the past decade: ramen, izakaya, udon, tonkatsu, etc.), but I had never assumed one with that particular name, Amausaan Uji Matcha, existed.
The reason is the anime "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか?）which deals with happy-go-lucky teenagers taking care of their own distinct cafes. The prim and proper young lady with a subversive streak, Chiya Ujimatsu（宇治松千夜）, is the proprietress of Amausaan「甘兎庵」, a cafe specializing in traditional Japanese sweets. If I'm not mistaken, the same kanji is used to describe the one that I went to yesterday afternoon, and with that rabbit logo, I just had to go "Hmmmm...". Getting back to the real Amausaan in Chinatown, apparently, Toronto is the latest in a number of branches in Asia and North America with this particular one being the biggest in floor size.
I had the matcha mille-feuille cake along with the cold hojicha. The cake was good and had both sweet and bitter tastes, and I was surprised that my hojicha was quite sweet...truly like iced tea from down south. It was also nice that it wasn't too busy during our hour there; don't let the interior photo fool you, customers did come in after the photo had been shot.
Since we're on the topic, allow me to throw in "Nantonaku Mirai"（Somehow The Future）, the ending theme for the finale of Season 2 of "Gochuumon". Unfortunately, I could only find the truncated version but it's good enough to give you the idea of how the two seasons and movie have been like in terms of atmosphere: all very positive and gushingly cute. Performed by the main cast in the form of Petits Rabbit's (you can see the cast names in Labels under the article), "Nantonaku Mirai" was the coupling song for "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）, the 3rd single by the unit released in November 2015 which peaked at No. 4 on Oricon. Prolific anime lyricist Aki Hata（畑亜貴）was at work here along with Tadashi Tsukida（ツキダタダシ）for the adorable music.
The thing is that when "Nantonaku Mirai" was playing over the ending credits for that second season finale, it just seemed to me and I'm assuming much of the viewing audience that the producers were putting a big period at the end of the "Gochuumon" sentence. However, a movie did come out and an OVA is scheduled for this month followed by a third season sometime next year. The gift indeed keeps on giving.
I don't get a chance to go downtown all that much but I figure that I will probably meet up with a fellow translator for lunch sometime this month and he was pretty eager to try out a new tendon place, Akimitsu, not too far away from Amausaan. The walk between the two establishments will come in handy, although calorie guilt will arise at the end of that day.
After several months of waiting following the release of the 60-minute special for "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??"（ご注文はうさぎですか??...Is The Order A Rabbit??）titled "Dear My Sister" in theatres late last year, my anime buddy was finally able to get his hands onto the Blu-Ray (although he did see it at the theatre in Japan when he visited).
Yup, yesterday was the usual biweekly session of anime-and-food, and there was a fair bit of drama mixed in with the comedy for the afternoon part. However, after coming back from dinner (a lot of dumplings and fried rice), my buddy warned me that watching this short movie of the cafe-based adventures of Cocoa, Chino and the rest could potentially plunge me into either sugar shock or cotton-swaddled euphoria. Actually, it wasn't nearly that fatal although it was rather pleasant to see something so harmless that wouldn't even hint at psychological damage.
Heck, even in the rare moments when characters are angry (yes, even Cocoa has a momentary snit), they are cute angry. And any drama generated in "Dear My Sister" was basically at the beginning of the movie with some of the girls overreacting to Cocoa leaving town...for an entire week.
The ending theme for the movie is "Sekai ga Cafe ni Nacchatta!" (The World Has Become A Cafe!). Now, my favourite theme song for the entire "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??" franchise will always be "Daydream Cafe", but "Sekai ga Cafe ni Nacchatta!" is pretty nice and is more reminiscent of the really genki second season opening theme "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）with some of that sunny 60s and some disco thrown in there. No surprise since both songs were written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed by Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）who also took care of "Daydream Cafe".
The only difference with "Sekai ga Cafe ni Nacchatta!" is that all of the seiyuu voicing the teen baristas, aka Petit Rabbit's and Chimame Tai are together for perhaps the first time singing a theme song in the form of Petit Rabbit's with beans. And, yes, I would say that they probably would have needed to have downed quite a lot of coffee to record this with the energy that was mustered here.
On the way home, I asked my friend whether there could be another series or another movie from the franchise since one of the characters had hinted the possibility of the baristas going over to Cocoa's smaller hometown to the Hot Bakery. We both later agreed that chances are possible if small since we've heard that most of the material from the original manga has been used up for the original anime and that "Dear My Sister" is a wholly new work not based on the manga. Well, if so, then the movie was a nice way of saying goodbye to everybody in the world of coffee and rabbits.
Following a somewhat uneventful visit to Shimo Kitazawa on the 6th, I quickly made a beeline over to Shibuya. Unsurprisingly, the Teen Mecca was still as lively as ever even on a Monday. And the area continues to evolve with new buildings going up all the time. I am wondering whether it may turn out looking more like Coruscant by the time of my next visit.
Still, good ol' Hachiko was there keeping watch for his master in front of Shibuya Station. Wouldn't it be something if Richard Gere actually showed up?
Of course, there was the cuteness factor with that local bus.
And Shibuya 109 kept its eye over the pedestrians like an eternal sentinel. Speaking of fashion, one of the things I saw fairly often during my walks throughout the Big Sushi was women wearing these bizarre combinations of bathroom slippers/sandals. I would later find out that they are officially called fur sandals and were a big thing in 2016 although the impression is that they are making the slow fade-out.
Whimsy was also on full display as those real-life Super Mario carts were revving up to cross one of the world's busiest intersections.
My anime buddy had given me the heads up before I left Toronto but the popular anime "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？）was being given the motion picture treatment on the 11th. Therefore, the marketing campaign was in full swing in a lot of areas, including the show window of a department store in Shibuya.
Yes, I guess I'm on the "GochiUsa" kick tonight after writing about "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）earlier. But I came across a rather delightful version of the first opening theme "Daydream Cafe" so would like to show that to you but allow me a little space for some prefacing.
Along with the main female cast of "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）, there are a couple of minor characters. One is Blue Mountain (Midori) Aoyama（青山 ブルーマウンテン）, the somewhat spacey-sounding author as played by Saori Hayami（早見沙織）whom I've seen in other anime such as "Mangaka-san to Ashisutanto-san to"（マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと...The Comic Artist and Assistants）as the oft-harassed Sahoto Ashisu and "Soul Eater Not!" as the slightly snooty Anya Hepburn. In "GochiUsa", her character of Blue Mountain is truly mellow (maybe that's not just coffee in her cup) although she has a rather disturbing habit of staring at Sharo's lower extremities.
The other character has far less time on the show: Chino's father, Takahiro Kafuu（香風タカヒロ）, the master of Rabbit House the Bar, and a truly amiable ex-soldier with a darn fine voice. He is played by veteran seiyuu Show Hayami（速水奨）, who is incidentally no relation to Saori Hayami (as you can tell from the kanji). I was surprised to find out that he had voiced Maximilian Jenius, the bespectacled ace pilot from the original "Macross" decades back (only knew Max from "Robotech"; can barely remember him from the "Macross" movie).
I tried to find a scene from the anime with the two of them conversing together but couldn't find the particular scene I wanted, but at least I have them in one short video.
Enough prefacing. Purely by accident, I found a version of "Daydream Cafe" on YouTube featuring the Hayamis dueting. I will always enjoy the original by Petit's Rabbits but this cover has got a fun vibe to it. I'm not quite sure if it's an especially upbeat Xmas version or a take of the song filtered through snazzy Shibuya-kei, and I have no idea where it came from (please let me know if any of you know). Still, it's amusing to listen to especially with Takahiro sounding so self-controlled usually on the show.
Well, almost 3 months ago, I put up an article about what could be one of the most diabetes-inducing anison themes of the year with "Tokimeki Poporon"（ときめきポポロン♪） which has been the ending theme for the mellow "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??"（ご注文はうさぎですか？？）
Now that the 2nd series of moe girls in cafes is about to wrap up this weekend, I thought it was as a good time as any to talk about the opening theme "No Poi!" Compared to the adorable "Daydream Cafe" from the 1st series, "No Poi!" has more of a dynamic streak which rather fits the slightly more fantastical opening credits. I would say that there was even a bit of Swinging 60s pop fueling the song created by Aki Hata and Kaoru Okubo（畑亜貴・大久保薫）, the same duo behind "Daydream Cafe".
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
I've got to give my compliments to XLEZZYTECHNIKA, the YouTube uploader and one of the folks who brought the band together to give their extended take on "No Poi!" After listening to this version, I'm now reconsidering whether I like the opening or ending themes better. I had thought that "No Poi!" was in an unenviable position being the 2nd opening theme after the great and still my favourite of all the themes for "GochiUsa", but listening to the full version on a cloud service, I've come to appreciate the joyful aspects of the song especially with the main voice cast being further challenged here.
And as it turned out, "No Poi!" has become the most successful of the themes on Oricon, getting as high as No. 4 on the charts.
NORMAL BLOGGING HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED FOR THIS EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT!! OVER THIS PAST WEEKEND, THERE HAVE BEEN REPORTS OF SUDDEN AND POTENTIALLY FATAL SACCHARINE OVERLOAD ON YOUTUBE. VIEWERS ARE REQUESTED TO REMAIN CALM AND AVOID REPEATED EXPOSURE TO THE ABOVE VIDEO. FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE REPORTED AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE. WE NOW RETURN TO YOUR NORMAL BLOGGING...
Yup, when the opportunity presents itself, I do like to lay it on rather thick. A certain part of YouTube probably did implode from sugar shock over the past few days when the 2nd series of the anime "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか?...Is The Order A Rabbit?）premiered. To be specific, the culprit is the ending theme by the three voice actors who make up Chimame Tai（チマメ隊）, "Tokimeki Poporon" (Palpitating Poporon). I've got no idea what "poporon" is, by the way.
"Earworm" doesn't even begin to explain this musical invasion of the isles of Langerhans (Google it). Written by the same duo, Uran and Tomotaka Ohsumi（うらん・大隅知宇）, who had come up with the special ending theme for the finale of Season 1 of the show, "Nichijo Decoration"（日常デコレーション）, I had thought that the normal ending theme "Poppin' Jump"（ぽっぴんジャンプ）was moe than enough, but then I saw the upload of the ending credits for Season 2. And now Chimame Tai has added one of the cutest examples of ending animated dancing that I've ever seen. To paraphrase TV Tropes, the sweetness has been weaponized to the level of getting the CDC's attention.
And I have yet to see a single second of the season premiere although that will be coming this weekend when I meet up with my anime buddy. Plus, the actual full version won't be released probably for at least several weeks...unless the GochiUsa fans in Japan start banging on the doors of animation studios White Fox and Kinema Citrus with pitchforks and torches in hand.
To finish off, the crazy thing for me is that the refrain sounds somewhat like "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen. Maybe someday, some enterprising uploader will create a merging of the two songs.
Well, in commemoration of the return of the bunch from "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか?...Is The Order A Rabbit?）for their 2nd season tomorrow morning Toronto time, I've decided to put up "Nichijo Decoration" (Everyday Decoration). This was the goodbye (or see you again soon, as it turned out) song that was at the end of the final episode of the first season of the anime which went from April to June 2014 last year.
Sung by the entire main cast in the form of Petits Rabbit's, "Nichijo Decoration" is not quite as hoppy as the opening theme, "Daydream Cafe", but it's still plenty sweet...as in "Would you like some coffee with your sugar?" sweet. This would be the type of song that would get the often insecure and dour character of Sharo flying all over the place. Written by Uran（うらん）and composed by Tomotaka Ohsumi（大隅知宇）, it was a nice way to finish things off for the next several months before "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??" (now with added question mark).
As much as this song, "Daydream Cafe" and the official ending theme of "Poppin' Jump" were some of my earworms for 2014, the entire anime has become an eyeworm of sorts since I've gone through the series about 3 or 4 times already and enjoyed specific funny scenes a number of times more. So I will be waiting with some anticipation the next time I head over to my anime buddy's home in about 10 days.
According to the good folks at Wikipedia, an earworm is "...a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing...The word earworm is a calque from the German Ohrwurm...first used in the 1980s".
I myself also like to envision the earworm as the Ceti Eel used to torture and subdue Commander Chekov and poor Captain Terrell in the original version of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" all the way back in 1982. One wonders whether a German Trekkie was inspired by that movie to come up with the name for a song that just...blast it all...won't leave your mind.
For this year, I've got a couple of those aural larvae hanging out in my brain, and they just happen to come from the same anime. My buddy unleashed "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）on me earlier this year, complete with the opening and ending themes. As for the show itself, it was adapted from a manga, and it's basically a pleasant half hour of watching 5 cute girls going through life while working at 3 different cafés in a small European-type town. Mind you, among those kids are a girl with a sister complex, a future NRA member and a moe version of Mr. Spock (yes, another "Star Trek" reference). Bringing in the foodie analogy, when I view "Space Cruiser Yamato" as some serious kaiseki ryori and "Space Dandy" as delectable junk food, "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?" is basically a nice cup of coffee with a small slice of strawberry shortcake. And I do appreciate my cup of joe and shortcake.
"Daydream Café" is the opening theme, and just like the show itself, it is an adorable and breezy ditty featuring all of the 5 main seiyuu put together as the group Petits Rabbit's (as a former English teacher, that apostrophe in there annoys me to no end). Written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed by Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）, it is as sugary as a Xmas candy cane but without the added calories and can almost get me to skip on the street whenever I hear it...over and over again. I was surprised to find out that Petits Rabbit's Ayane Sakura（佐倉綾音）, Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）, Risa Taneda（種田梨沙）, Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）and Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）even pull off a nice little song-and-dance in the official music video as above.
Ceti Eel II is the ending theme, "Poppin' Jump" by Chimame Tai（ チマメ隊）. Inori Minase is joined by Sora Tokui and Rie Murakawa（徳井青空・村川梨衣）who voice two of the minor characters, and the name chimame is an acronym of the three characters of Chino, Maya and Megu who are classmates. If anything, "Poppin' Jump" is even cuter than the opening theme and if taken in large doses, could induce uncontrollable hopping just like the titular animal in the show's title. As it is, though, it has just gotten me to sway my head. Still, it is what it's doing inside my head that's been the problem. I can blame the creators of the song, Uran（うらん）and Yuuki Kimura（木村有希）for making me feel like a 5-year-old at Xmas time.
"Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?" will most likely not enter the annals of significant anime in the 2010s (note from 2019 me: Oh, really?) but neither will it send me to bed racking my brain about what the meaning of life is or trying to purge existential horrors. And you know what? The songs there are probably what I would like to hear in my brain when I enter and exit a particularly welcoming small café...not a Starbucks or even a Timmies.
Tiramisu and coffee at Cova
in Shinjuku Times Square
