TM NETWORK -- BEYOND THE TIME ~Möbius no Sora wo Koete~ （メビウスの宇宙を越えて）

 

Hello, J-Canuck here. I've got another article via Fireminer. Enjoy!

In my previous post about TM NETWORK’s “Come On Everybody”, I briefly touched on their concept album “CAROL ~A DAY IN A GIRL'S LIFE 1991~”. It’s time for me to touch another song from that album, the incredible “BEYOND THE TIME ~Möbius no Sora wo Koete~” (BEYOND THE TIME ~Beyond the Möbius Universe~ BEYOND THE TIME ~メビウスの宇宙を越えて~).

Bandai approached Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉) in 1987 about writing the theme song for their upcoming anime film “Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack” (機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア). Yoshiyuki Tomino (富野 由悠季), the creator of “Mobile Suit Gundam” and the film’s director, sat down and talked to Komuro about the movie and his musical vision for it. It should be noted that Tomino already had some experience as a lyricist under the pseudonym Rin Iogi (井荻麟).

Any analysis of “BEYOND THE TIME” can’t be complete without touching on “Char's Counterattack” first. The film is the culmination of the saga starring the protagonist and antagonist of the original Gundam, Amuro Ray (アムロ レイ) and Char Aznable (シャア アズナブル). On the backdrop of a giant asteroid descending upon Earth and threatening a nuclear winter, the two men clash while reflecting upon the road that has brought them there, their failures, regrets, neuroses, hope and despair. And looming over all is the question of can humanity ever learn to overcome their flaws and march toward a more humane future, or are they destined to forever be trapped in a Möbius loop of personal failures and civilization-wide self-destruction.

It was written that Komuro came up with the melody for “BEYOND THE TIME” in just 20 minutes, having been inspired by Tomino’s vision of a naniwa-bushi (浪花節) on the cosmic stage. The string instruments in particular are meant to represent the voices of humans, and the way their sound interfaces with the synthesizer can be thought to symbolize the friction and the pull humanity feels when they interact with universalist ideas.

The lyricist for “BEYOND THE TIME” was singer-songwriter Mitsuko Komuro (小室みつ子) who also wrote the lyrics for several TM Network (including “Get Wild”) tracks under the penname Kari Saimon (西門 加里). She correctly identified that “Char’s Counterattack” was the crystallization of the entire Gundam franchise till that point. The lyric focuses on two themes: “Humanity repeats their sins” and “Beyond the claims of justice and freedom, men fought to protect those they love.” Just like the film itself, the lyrics are full of hope for humans to one day learn to connect with each other and be able to change the seemingly-inevitable encroaching ruin.

TM Network recorded “BEYOND THE TIME” while on the road for their Kiss Japan TM NETWORK Tour '87〜'88 (November 9, 1987 to February 26, 1988). They released the song as a single on March 5, 1988, 7 days before the film’s theatrical debut. Both the film and its theme song enjoyed a great reception.

“BEYOND THE TIME” since its release has been covered by many singers, and TM Network also re-recorded it several times, most recently as the song appeared as the outro theme for episode 11 of the latest Gundam series “Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX” (機動戦士Gundam GQuuuuuuX). The show was co-written by famous director Hideaki Anno (庵野 秀明) who actually worked as a mecha designer for “Char's Counterattack” (you can read more about his involvement in this excellent article.) So yes, things do go full cycle sometimes.

I’ve always maintained the position that “Char’s Counterattack” is a good movie if you’re casually familiar with the original Gundam plotline. But if you’ve bought into the Amuro vs. Char rivalry and connected with the saga on an emotional level, then the movie is a masterpiece. Yoshiyuki Tomino’s animated works are flawed, but they have a timeless quality thanks to his excellent psychoanalysis and hope in humanity’s ability to connect and forgive. I think that “BEYOND THE TIME” is also timeless for the same reasons. I welcome the fact that it will continue to haunt us for a long time and remind us that there is still hope ahead.

I want to end this article on a hopeful note, so I’ll bring up the story that an SD card containing the song was brought to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 21, 2021 as part of a promotion for Nikkei, inc.’s protein crystallization in space service Kirara. The SD card was returned to Earth on January 25, 2022 with a certificate that it stayed on the ISS.

Neil Sedaka -- Better Days Are Coming/Mami Ayukawa -- Zeta: Toki wo Koete（Ζ・刻をこえて）

 

In the aftermath of singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka's recent passing and my tribute to him and his influence on Japanese music, I've been getting some further comments on how much of an influence he's had. Commenter and contributor Fireminer noted that Sedaka had even given his blessing on a couple of his old songs to be used as theme tunes for one show in the mighty "Gundam" franchise which was a revelation to me. One was the second opening theme song for "Mobile Suit Z Gundam"（機動戦士Ζガンダム）, "Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete"（水の星へ愛をこめて）performed by Hiroko Moriguchi（森口博子）; the source Sedaka song was "For Us to Decide", and JTM gave his two cents about it when he came up with his epic "JTM's 80s Playlist - J-Dorama/Anime/Movie Edition" article all the way back in 2013.

The other Sedaka chestnut that was adapted was his "Better Days Are Coming" which was the first track on Side B of his June 1972 album "Solitaire". The original song has quite the rollicking feel of soft funk and even some gospel, especially with those lyrics.

Well, cue ahead thirteen years, and "Better Days Are Coming" was transformed into "Zeta: Toki wo Koete" (Transcending Time) for the opening theme of "Z Gundam" with the vocals of Mami Ayukawa（鮎川麻弥）. Given lyrics by Rin Aogi（井荻麟）, aka "Gundam" creator Yoshiyuki Tomino（富野由悠季）, the song sure felt like better days were coming. With more four-on-the-floor drumming, some scintillating synth work and an even funkier beat which could even get the morose Amuro up and hitting the dance floor, "Toki wo Koete" was certainly a shift away from the usual brassy and militaristic themes that I had often associated with the late 70s and early 80s brand of mecha anime. I gather that it was time for Gundam to boogie! 

"Toki wo Koete" was Ayukawa's 3rd single released in February 1985. It got up to No. 15 on Oricon.

Megumi Hayashibara & Chieko Honda -- Tokyo Boogie Night

 

I was exploring this song under the assumption that veteran singer and seiyuu Megumi Hayashibara（林原めぐみ）had given her contribution to the City Pop realm because of that title "Tokyo Boogie Night".

Well, I was definitely wrong there. "Tokyo Boogie Night" is more of an 80s pop-rock thriller that started life as a duet between Hayashibara and her fellow seiyuu, the late Chieko Honda（本多知恵子）, as a theme song for the OVA "Kido Senshi SD Gundam Mark III"（機動戦士SDガンダム MK-III...Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mark 3）which I think was released in 1990. If anyone can confirm or deny this particular release year, that would be greatly appreciated. It's got the high energy and feeling of crisis that would befit something as action-packed as a "Gundam" series.

The song was written by Natsumi Watanabe（渡辺なつみ）and composed by Kazuhiro Hara（原一博）. Hayashibara would provide her own solo version of "Tokyo Boogie Night" under the added label of "New Recording" in 1992. Instead of "Gundam" though, this version was used as the theme song for Hayashibara's own half-hour radio program on anime, "Hayashibara Megumi no Tokyo Boogie Night"（林原めぐみのTokyo Boogie Night...Megumi Hayashibara's Tokyo Boogie Night）, which began in that year and has continued since then every Sunday morning starting from midnight on TBS Radio. The "New Recording" was included on her March 1992 album "Whatever" which peaked at No. 18 on Oricon.

Ten years later, the 2002 version of "Tokyo Boogie Night" was recorded with a slightly different arrangement which included strings for Hayashibara's 10th original album "feel well". The album peaked at No. 7. The 2002 take has also been used as the ending theme for the seiyuu's radio program. Maybe it doesn't fall into the City Pop category but I can still imagine bombing down the nighttime streets of Tokyo on a motorcycle while listening to it.

Mika Nakashima -- FIND THE WAY

 

I heard this song a number of times when it was released, but I never realized until very recently that it had been used as one of the ending themes for a "Gundam" anime. To be specific, it was part of the franchise known as "Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed"（機動戦士ガンダムSEED...Mobile Suit Gundam SEED） which was televised between 2002 and 2003.

Up to that point, I'd known Mika Nakashima's（中島美嘉）"FIND THE WAY" as one of her many ethereal ballads of that time, and not anything that I would have connected with a bunch of gigantic battle mecha. Released in August 2003 as the singer-songwriter's 9th single, those strings really tenderize the song into a heart tugging love tune that I would have associated with a regular live-action TV drama. Nakashima was behind the lyrics while COLDFEET's Lori Fine took care of the melody. Both ladies would collaborate again in the following year for Nakashima's 11th single, "SEVEN".

I myself cracked the tip of the mighty Gundam iceberg by watching the first few movies in the franchise but never caught any of the series. According to Wikipedia, "Seed" has been one of the shows that has been widely well regarded. My anime buddy has often talked about the various entries on TV, but I can't quite remember whether he enjoyed "Seed" or not. He can be quite contrarian.

J-Wiki states that "FIND THE WAY" was Nakashima's first stab at an anison. Well, it was a successful hit since it did break the Top 10 by peaking at No. 4 on Oricon. It also ended up as the 79th-ranked single for 2003. The song can be found on her 2nd original album "LØVE" from November that year which hit No. 1, quickly became the 14th-ranked album for 2003 and then even rose to become No. 12 in 2004.

Yoko Kanno (Gabriela Robin) -- Moon

 

Last night, as I was doing my usual browsings (grazings 🐮?) through YouTube, I found this video of the great Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）on a 1988 TV show introducing his backing band, and one of those musicians happened to be an adorable-looking mid-20s keyboardist by the name of Yoko Kanno（菅野よう子）. Yes, that Yoko Kanno who would come up with one of the most iconic anime theme songs in history along with other musical delights.

I then decided to see if there were any other Yoko Kanno compositions that I could explore. She did provide the soundtrack for one of the shows in the "Gundam" franchise, "Turn A Gundam"（∀ガンダム）in 1999 following her winning turn for "Cowboy Be-Bop". My exposure to the most famous Japanese robot of them all has been limited to just the first three movies in the late 1970s and early 1980s, though.

Therefore, "Turn A Gundam" was never in my viewscreen (and frankly my anime buddy may either laud or slam it) but I did encounter this beautiful piece from Kanno's soundtrack for this particular entry in the franchise. "Moon" was of course composed by Kanno and then written and performed by Gabriela Robin. From what I've read, folks had been wondering who this lovely Gabriela Robin was for years but then Kanno finally let the cat out of the bag and admitted that she was the Robin.

Well, that knocked folks out for a loop. I'm fairly sure that people wondered why she hadn't considered a recording career but I think that there are some artists who prefer to just be on the songwriting end of things, and that's fine. But indeed, Kanno as Robin has a wonderfully ethereal voice in "Moon", and though I've never seen a single episode of "Turn A Gundam", I can imagine that this track was used for a quiet introspective scene on the eve of one spectacular battle with the last half of the song reflecting the preparations of the gigantic Gundam itself.

Tomomi Oda -- Kushimoto Bushi（串本節）

 

Happy Monday! Here I was about to do a whole thing on this min'yo which originated from my ancestral prefecture of Wakayama, only to learn that I had already done so through an article almost a couple of years ago. When that part of the brain starts to go...😞

Just to help folks with how "Kushimoto Bushi" (Kushimoto Song) sounded back decades ago, this is the original version. Since then, I've come across a hip-swiveling 1958 salsa cover by the late Chiemi Eri（江利チエミ）which signals more on the twisting front on the dance floor rather than a stately parade of traditional dance. That cover is located in the original article.

Well, imagine my surprise a couple of years later on discovering that the Eri cover got its own cover via Episode 7 of "Gundam Thunderbolt"（ガンダム サンダーボルト）back in 2017. That same Latin jazz pizzazz by arranger Tsunemi Naito（内藤法美）has been retained for this version which for some reason accompanied a certain tropical mission by the soldiers in that episode. 

Even the vocals sound quite familiar to those of the original Eri thanks to singer-songwriter Tomomi Oda（小田朋美）. The music for the entire soundtrack to "Gundam Thunderbolt" was created by Naruyoshi Kikuchi（菊地成孔）, and I read that he just happened to be the sax player behind one of the most incredible and craziest anime songs ever created, so unsurprisingly the score has plenty of jazz and blues added to the pop. In all honesty, I was fully expecting those robots on both sides of the equation to be swiveling their mechanical hips and swinging those weaponized arms instead of getting ready for battle.

Hiroko Moriguchi -- ETERNAL WIND~Hohoemi wa Hikaru Kaze no Naka~（ほほえみは光る風の中）

My anime buddy provided me with "Gundam Build Divers"（ガンダムビルドダイバーズ）recently, and to be honest, it hasn't really grabbed me, although he told me that it took until Episode 7 for things to really get going. I just finished Episode 3, and I'm already starting to think of letting this one go, but I will play it by ear.

Anyways, this isn't the first time that tarento and former 80s aidoru Hiroko Moriguchi（森口博子）has appeared in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with JTM introducing her in his grand article "JTM's 80s Playlist - J-Dorama/Anime/Movie Edition" from nearly 5 years ago (look for entry No. 6). That entry spoke about her debut single, "Mizu No Hoshi E Ai Wo Komete"（水の星へ愛をこめて）as a theme song for one of the many "Gundam" shows that have appeared over the decades.

I've also mentioned in a past article that my personal recollections about her exclusively talked about her status as an overall giggly comedic tarento and impersonator. Just before she made her big break in the 1980s, she received her training with The School Mates（スクールメイツ）, an entertainment group in which she often appeared on TV as a background dancer. 

I'd had no idea until my anime buddy informed me that Moriguchi was known in anime circles as "The Gundam Oneesan" for her contributions to the franchise's anison.

Additionally, I had assumed that "Kido Senshi Gundam Formula 91"（機動戦士ガンダムF91...Mobile Suit Gundam F91）was another in a line of Gundam TV series, but actually, it turned out to be a movie released in March 1991.

Moriguchi was tasked to sing the theme song for the movie, "ETERNAL WIND~Hohoemi wa Hikaru Kaze no Naka~" (Smile in the Shining Wind). Written by singer-songwriter Yui Nishiwaki（西脇唯）and composed by Nishiwaki and Yoko Osatohara（緒里原洋子...I hope I've got the name right）, it's a pretty uplifting song with that taste of pop-rock from that period of time.

"ETERNAL WIND" was also Moriguchi's 9th single from February 1991 which has proven to be her most successful single thus far, peaking at No. 9, and finishing the year as the 47th-ranked song. Apparently, it was also used as the ending theme for the Sony Playstation 2 game "Kido Senshi Gundam Climax U.C."（機動戦士ガンダム クライマックスU.C.）released in March 2006.

Hey, why not leave things off with one of Moriguchi's most popular impressions...that of Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）?

P.S. December 13, 2022: Enka and pop singer Kiyoshi Hiyama（氷川きよし）had his year-end television special earlier tonight before he takes an extended leave of absence from 2023. He revealed that he and Moriguchi had attended the same junior high school in Fukuoka, although the latter had graduated many years prior. As well, at his classmates' urging, he sang "ETERNAL WIND" in front of everyone and he stated that their warm reaction gave the impetus for him to go into singing as a career.

Takajin Yashiki -- Suna no Juujika（砂の十字架）

A few weeks ago when I was watching the usual stuff at my anime buddy's house, he decided to show the 1981 movie adaptation of "Kido Senshi Gundam"（機動戦士ガンダム...Mobile Suit Gundam）from the original 1979 TV series. It was quite the opportunity since for all these years, I had heard about the popularity of the franchise (being compared to "Star Trek"), the famous movie "Gyakushuu no Sha"（逆襲のシャア...Char's Counterattack）, the lead character of Amuro Ray（アムロ・レイ）and how he became a popular guy to imitate on those monomane specials, and last but not least, all of those Gundam battle suits.

However I had never seen how all those parts first came together, and considering all those incredible numbers of Gundam suits that I observed at the Gundam Museum in Odaiba twice, I had assumed that there would be a ton of those robots flying about in the movie...kinda like "Transformers". Actually, though, it was just the RX-78 Gundam against the multitude of Zeon Zakus. Plus, I had never even heard of the warship The White Base.

The 1981 movie being a distillation of the the entire TV series that ran from 1979-1980, it certainly felt like it. I don't think I've ever seen Amuro get pulled into all sorts of emotional states and adventures as fast as he did during those 2 hours plus of the movie. No wonder he's high-strung. But I can finally say that I have an idea of the origins of the franchise now.

And man, is that ending theme for the movie epic and sweeping! "Suna no Juujika" (Cross in the Sand) sounds like a waltz that would be played at a Zeon grand ball. There were more surprises in store when I found out that the song was sung by the late Takajin Yashiki（やしきたかじん）, who I had known up to now as the pro-Osaka singer behind the power ballad "Yappa Sukiyanen"（やっぱ好きやねん）.

This was Yashiki's 7th single from February 1981 and it was written and composed by Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）from the folk duo Alice（アリス）. I simply went "Ahh...naruhodo" since the songwriter could make truly amazing proud ballads out of a constellation and even the age of 22. And the way Yashiki sings "Suna no Juujika" just echoes Tanimura's style. In fact, I think it could even reflect Amuro's dramatics.

If I'm not mistaken, this may have been Yashiki's most successful song, selling around 130,000 records and hitting as high as No. 21 on Oricon.

Daisuke Inoue -- Ai Senshi（哀戦士）

Happy Monday! Well, I'm a bit early to be presenting this since the official introduction of the now-completed Unicorn Gundam isn't for another 6 days but I will either be teaching my student or hanging out with my anime buddy on what will be Sunday September 24 so I've decided to jump the gun(dam) on this article.

Speaking of my friend, I asked him a couple of weeks ago what his favourite theme from the massive "Gundam" franchise was. It didn't take him too long to respond "Ai Senshi" performed by Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）. Now, of course, not being a die-hard fan of the Gundam robots or their shows or their theme songs, I hadn't really seen the kanji titles for the themes. Therefore I naturally assumed that "Ai Senshi" meant "Warriors of Love" along the lines of that subtitle for the current new "Uchuusenkan Yamato"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト）series.

My friend quickly shook his head and remarked "Just the opposite". I have seen the title and I realize that the translation is actually "Soldiers of Sorrow". The song, by the way, was the theme song for the 2nd Gundam movie that came out in 1981, "Kido Senshi Gundam II"（機動戦士ガンダムII）.

"Ai Senshi" has that somewhat schizoid kayo temperament with a pretty upbeat melody by Inoue that is reminiscent of another singer-songwriter, Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）, and in a way, it kinda reminds me of a very mellow early Bruce Springsteen. However the lyrics by Rin Iogi（井荻麟） are about as depressing and anti-war as one can get, the message being that countless human lives are being thrown away in the useless pursuit of war.

After all these years, it is just now that I have discovered that Daisuke Inoue was really Tadao Inoue (井上忠夫...his real name), one of the members of the Group Sounds band Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets（ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ）. He was the one who created their most famous song, "Blue Chateau"（ブルー・シャトウ）, probably inspired by the Lake Louise Hotel in Banff, Alberta, Canada, and as I mentioned in the article for that evergreen GS classic, he was the one who whipped himself over its creation since he felt that it was to blame for the downfall of the Group Sounds genre. I also said that he was being way too hard on himself.

But I don't think he carried that albatross around his neck for long since he composed a lot of different songs since taking on his stage name of Daisuke Inoue. Of course, there were his "Gundam" contributions but he also came up with some doo-wop creations, songs for both male and female aidoru, and a jingle for the world's most famous soft drink. I figure that he should be worth a Creator article in the not-too-distant future.

Sadly, it was reported in the May 31 2000 edition of the newspaper Nikkan Sports that Inoue had committed suicide in his own home at the age of 58.

Kou Ikeda -- Tobe! Gundam/Eien ni Amuro （翔べ! ガンダム・永遠にアムロ）

Happy Simcoe Day! The above is a photo of the welcoming Gundam in Odaiba, Tokyo. The shot is quite dated now since the RX-78-2 model has now been dismantled, but no worries since the Unicorn Gundam is being built to replace the older version. I'm sure the fans are greatly anticipating its arrival.

One of the questions that I'd had about Gundam was how the producers ever came up with the name. I mean, Japanese mecha shows always had that weird naming process for their stars such as Grandizer, Xabungle and SPT Layzner (that last one I like to pronounce as "Spit Layzner" since it does sound like a great nickname for a frothy-mouthed WWII flying ace). But what was it about Gundam?

Well, my anime buddy yesterday gave his theory that the name Gundam came from a fusion of "gun", which would be obvious considering the nature of the show, and "dam" after the Mandom manufacturer of men's cosmetic products. Since Charles Bronson starred in a number of its 1970s TV ads, the "dam" had that cachet of coolness and masculinity. So, can you imagine that one of the original Magnificent Seven helped inspire one of the most beloved anime franchises in Japanese history?

It would make for an incredible story especially since "The Magnificent Seven" itself was based upon Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai". However, my buddy is probably wrong. According to Wikipedia, the original creator and director behind "Kido Senshi Gundam"（機動戦士ガンダム...Mobile Suit Gundam）, Yoshiyuki Tomino（富野由悠季）, along with the Hajime Yatate（矢立肇）team at Sunrise Inc. the animation studio, did base the name on "gun" but the last part of anime's most famous portmanteau was the "dom" from "freedom", and there were apparently many references to the word in the early productions. Tomino then decided to change that one vowel at the end to create "dam" so that the gun holding back the enemy would be like a dam holding back water. Well, gun-damn!

But this is a music blog, after all. So, yesterday, during anison hour, my friend played the opening and ending themes for the very first entry in the "Gundam" franchise in 1979. The opening theme is "Tobe! Gundam" (Fly! Gundam) and the ending theme is "Eien ni Amuro" (Eternal Amuro). The theme songs followed that pattern of other anime openings and endings from that time period with a heroic and brassy opener followed by a gentler ballad reminiscent of the Marlboro Man setting up camp after a long day of being manly. Both songs were performed by the late actor and singer Kou Ikeda（池田鴻）and created by Takeo Watanabe（渡辺岳夫 ）and Tomino himself under his lyricist name of Rin Iogi（井荻麟）.

I realize that it was back in the late 1970s but I was still slightly surprised by the jaunty disco nature of "Tobe! Gundam". I think I had been expecting something more military although the arrangement is definitely heroic. And the theme did catch fire among fans since it became the No. 5-ranked anison for 1980 according to Oricon's anime and children's song chart.

The B-side for Ikeda's single was the ending theme "Eien ni Amuro" which is a pretty curious number because of the arrangement. It starts off almost like a lullaby putting Amuro to sleep (and boy, did the lad need sleep with all that angst infesting him) before the music picks up speed. Although it still follows that pattern of early 1980s ballad-like anison ending themes, the melody kinda strikes me as being as modular as a typical Gundam mobile suit with a certain passage of music here and another somewhat different passage there. And it's all packed in just a little over 3 minutes.

As crazy as it sounds, I could imagine Bradley Cooper playing the live-action Amuro, but he's very busy right now in a certain other Hollywood sci-fi franchise.

BACK-ON -- Nibun-no-Ichi （ニブンノイチ）

Eventually, anyone who enters the world of Japanese pop culture for any length of time will hear about and/or see Gundam robots. I've never been a huge fan of the Gundam franchise itself but names like Amuro Ray and Char Aznable and the sight of the huge mobile suits are instantly recognizable to me. During my other life in Japan, I've had friends visit me in Tokyo and I often escorted or was escorted into some of the Akihabara shops as they searched for one or two of the dizzying variety of Gundam plastic models available. Gundam's popularity has often been cited to be on the same level as the love for "Star Trek", "Star Wars" and "Doctor Who". And so not surprisingly, there has been a Gundam Cafe in the Akiba plaza for several years which I have visited a couple of times.

Then, some months ago, my anime buddy introduced me to a series that was a love letter to the franchise. "Gundam Build Fighters" hasn't made me any more interested in seeing the original adventures of Amuro and Char, but it still made me a fan of the show itself. For one thing, it has a lot of heart, and whenever I see a comedy-drama or comedy-adventure or sci-fi with a number of characters working for a common goal, that is what ultimately determines whether I enjoy it. So, "GBF" now stands alongside "Ghostbusters" and "Star Trek" on that level. I saw the final episode last night and just seeing most of the major characters, after 25 episodes of battles involving Plavsky Particle-powered plastic models of Gundam, joining forces to defeat the Big Bad had my heart swelling up almost to the same extent as viewing the last 15 minutes of the 50th anniversary special for my favourite Time Lord last November. Yep, a geek indeed I am.

The touchstone that will always have me remembering "Gundam Build Fighters" with a small grin on my ever-expanding face is the first theme song for the show, "Nibun-no-Ichi" (One-Half) by BACK-ON. Created by the band itself, the song has that flavour of the sun rising on another great day of fun times with friends with lyrics that basically define (b)romance....something that there is plenty of underneath all of that armour. Happily, I've added "Nibun-no-Ichi" to my anison collection, and it's definitely one of my glasses of aural orange juice. The song came out in November 2013 as the band's 12th single, and as for information on BACK-ON itself, you can check it out on Wikipedia right here.

The humongous lineup of fans for the Gundam Cafe in 2010.

The Gundam Cafe in Akiba.

JTM's 80s Playlist - J-Dorama/Anime/Movie Edition

A big thanks go out to Nikala, Marcos V, Jari and especially J-Canuck for giving me the opportunity to participate and contribute to this awesome blog. I am grateful for all their tirelessness in writing their various detailed, informative and entertaining posts this year and eagerly look forward to reading their future posts in the coming 2014 year.

As we come to the close of 2013, it typically is a time for reflection and looking back on the recent year, however in keeping with the spirit of this blog and its focus on covering music from the past four decades of Japanese Kayokyoku and J-Pop, I wanted to share with readers my personal list of favorite songs from the best musical period ever - The 80s, particularly in the area of Anime, J-Dorama and Japanese Movies.

In subsequent weeks, Marcos V, J-Canuck and Nikala will also share their personal favorite 80s music lists and hopefully this combined effort will give everyone a fairly broad and comprehensive overview of the diverse spectrum of music that came out during that amazing decade. 

So without further ado, here is my 80s playlist....