Fruit Tart -- Nezumi Sentai Nezu Ranger（ネズミ戦隊ネズレンジャー）

 

I was doing some maintenance with hard drives and stuff, and I got to my anime one where I got to see the first episode of  "Ochikobore Fruit Tart"（おちこぼれフルーツタルト...Dropout Idol Fruit Tart） for the first time in a few years. This 2020 coming-of-age comedy starring a quintet of girls trying to become an aidoru group was funny and it came out at a time when all of us could do with a lot of funny somehow, somewhere and sometime.

The last time I wrote anything having to do with the anime was back in late 2021 when I provided the article for the ending theme "Wonder!"（ワンダー!）. Of course, there were a few other insert songs which I covered, but I had completely forgotten one that showed up near the end of the first episode. "Nezumi Sentai Nezu Ranger" (The Mouse Rangers of the Mouse Squadron). Initially introduced as the unofficial theme song for the girls' dormitory, Mouse House, the four (at the time) residents got together to perform this adorable tokusatsu tune as their first Fruit Tart tune in front of the neighbourhood train station. Lyricist Sasa Ando（安藤紗々）and composer Eiko Shimamiya（島みやえい子）took care of the song.

Fruit Tart -- Wonder!（ワンダー!）

 

Well, I figured that since I already have most of the major songs up from the 2020 anime "Ochikobore Fruit Tart"（おちこぼれフルーツタルト...Dropout Idol Fruit Tart）, I really should complete the set thus far with the ending theme.

Kadokawa Anime's YouTube channel has uploaded both the opening and closing credits here with the latter coming on at about 1:27. There have been announcements about sequels to popular anime, so I'm hoping that perhaps the same might occur with "Fruit Tart".

In any case, "Wonder!" is the ending theme with the entire aidoru group Fruit Tart performing through their seiyuu: Risa Kubota（久保田梨沙）, Hiyori Nitta（新田ひより）, Haruka Shiraishi（白石晴香）, Reina Kondo（近藤玲奈）and Kyoko Moriya（守屋亨香）. According to the J-Wiki article for the show, "Wonder!" incorporates some chip tune elements to create some feeling of retro video games alongside the rock guitar. Sasa Ando（安藤紗々）wrote the lyrics as she did for the opening theme, "Kibou Darake no EVERYDAY"（キボウだらけのEVERYDAY）while Yamato（大和）provided the melody and arrangement.

Fruit Tart -- Mezase! Curry No. 1!（目指せ!カレーNo.1!）

 

I've been eating rice curry since I was a kid but it was only when I hit university that I discovered how many different varieties of curry there are. And then, there is the fact that the Japanese love their curry so much including the kinds from India, Thailand and other nations. A number of times per year, I used to go with friends to Tokyo's Indian restaurants with a curry buffet going. In fact, the last time that I was in Japan in late 2017, my friend took me to a small neighbourhood place near his apartment where I had the above Butter Chicken Curry which went very well with freshly made naan.

Now, I know that the second season of "Zombieland Saga" is going at warp speed with tons of new songs and fans including my anime buddy. As such, I will eventually get to seeing those episodes but right now, I've only finished up on that other aidoru saga from the Fall 2020 season, "Ochikobore Fruit Tart"（おちこぼれフルーツタルト...Dropout Idol Fruit Tart）. It was also very enjoyable although I do worry about the characters' romantic life in the years to follow.

There seems to be an overarching theme of food when it comes to "Ochikobore Fruit Tart", beginning with the name of the aidoru group itself, and then there was the first catchy tune to be born from the show, "Broko no Uta"（ブロ子の歌）that grabbed my buddy's ears and never let go. Well, another insert song that seems to have caught on fire with the fandom (including me) is "Mezase! Curry No. 1!" (Go For It! Curry No. 1!). It was performed in front of the audience which was initially caught off-guard by its curry-themed nature before they finally got into it.

If the fans only knew that curry was almost the only thing that Fruit Tart could afford to eat at Mouse House, but it looks like Roko, Ino and the rest of Fruit Tart were accustomed to the sameness of their diet and it did lead to one catchy number. In the real world, "Mezase! Curry No. 1!" was written by Sasa Ando（安藤紗々）, the same lyricist responsible for the other songs provided on the show including the themes, and it was composed by Yamato（大和）. 

The crazy thing is that the overall beat of "Mezase! Curry No. 1!" reminds me of another anison from 2012, "Taiyo Iwaku Moeyo Chaos" （太陽曰く燃えよカオス）for the anime "Haiyore! Nyaruko-san" (Nyaruko: Crawling With Love), and as I mentioned in that article, "Taiyo Iwaku Moeyo Chaos" had been inspired by "Dschingis Khan" by the band Dschingis Khan. Talk about things that make me go "Hmmmm...".

Fruit Tart -- Kibou Darake no EVERYDAY（キボウだらけのEVERYDAY）

 

For those in the Toronto area, this morning must have been a meteorological revelation. I certainly was taken aback to see an inch or two of snow outside my window, despite the fact that we're one month into spring. Weather is certainly a troll for us.

Exactly a couple of months ago, I wrote on an anime-based earworm that managed to burrow deep into my head called "Broko no Uta"（ブロ子の歌）as performed by seiyuu Risa Kubota in her character of Roko Sekino. The anime is the Fall 2020 "Ochikobore Fruit Tart"（おちこぼれフルーツタルト...Dropout Idol Fruit Tart） which, as my anime buddy once informed me, was supposed to have been shown earlier in the summer but due to COVID issues was actually delayed by a season.

As much as I've enjoyed "Broko no Uta", I've now let the earworms invade me once more with the opening theme, "Kibou Darake no EVERYDAY" (Everyday is Filled with Hope). Sung by the stumbling and quirk-filled new aidoru group within "Ochikobore Fruit Tart", Fruit Tart, it's got the happy-happy-joy-joy element but I also like some of the quirks in the melody and arrangement put together by John Kanda（神田ジョン）, guitarist of the rock band PENGUIN RESEARCH. Sasa Ando（安藤紗々）was the lyricist here.

As for the members of Fruit Tart, they are the snarky and height-challenged Roko Sekino（関野ロコ）, the ever-optimistic Ino Sakura（桜衣乃）, the strawberry-loving Hayu Nukui（貫井はゆ）, the (relatively) tall and buxom Nina Maehara（前原仁菜）, and the supremely moe Hemo Midori（緑へも）. They are respectively played by Risa Kubota（久保田梨沙）, Hiyori Nitta（新田ひより）, Haruka Shiraishi（白石晴香）, Reina Kondo（近藤玲奈）and Kyoko Moriya（守屋亨香）.

Considering these current times, a song with a title like this one isn't too bad at all.

Study -- Can now, Can now

Last season on the anime "Boku-tachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai"（ぼくたちは勉強ができない）, the main female characters were not only struggling with their studies but also with their feelings for their friend and tutor, Nariyuki. Well, after seeing the first two episodes of the second season yesterday, they're still struggling, and the miscommunications and inadvertent innuendos continue flying out faster than the jokes on a typical episode of "Three's Company". Of course, that has to include the mandatory onsen/beach episode.

Still early days for Anime Season Fall 2019 so I didn't expect a full version of theme songs to come out, but I think I may have come across the first earworm of the season for me with the opening theme to "Bokuben", "Can now, Can now". The opening theme from the first season was performed by Study, consisting of the three main female seiyuu, Haruka Shiraishi（白石晴香）, Miyu Tomita（富田美憂）and Sayumi Suzushiro（鈴代紗弓）, but this time around, it's an expanded Study behind the opener with the additions of Lynn as uptight teacher Mafuyu Kurisu（桐須真冬）and Madoka Asahina（朝日奈丸佳）as the saucy Asumi Kominami（小美浪あすみ）.

Those opening credits have gotten a bit fancier and "Can now, Can now" is perhaps even more lighthearted than "Seishun Zeminaru" (Salad Day Seminar). In fact, I could compare it to a typical PreCure opening song. Kentaro Sonoda（園田健太郎）took care of words and music for the song.

Study -- Seishun Zeminaru/Never Give It Up!!（セイシュンゼミナール）

Happy Monday! My anime buddy came back last week after nearly a month in East Asia so we've had to play quite a bit of catch-up when it has come to this season's batch of anime. A number of these are fairly short in duration and a couple of them (one being the sequel to "One Punch Man") haven't been quite up to snuff so we've left them alone for now and there's a possibility that my friend may even jettison them from the lineup.

One that is encapsulated within the regular 30-minute format is "Boku-tachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai"（ぼくたちは勉強ができない）which has the English title of "We Never Learn" and the Japanese abbreviation of "Bokuben"（ぼく勉）. I've made the observation that this is a harem show of sorts and a slice-of-life high school comedy surrounding a tutor, Nariyuki Yuiga（唯我 成幸）, who has to help out three students: the ojosan-like Fumino Furuhashi（古橋文乃）who's a literature expert but can't do math to save her life, the stoic and logical Rizu Ogata（緒方理珠）who is a math whiz but has difficulty grasping literature, and supremely ebullient Uruka Takemoto（武元うるか）with a natural athleticism but is at a loss when it comes to academics. The site TV Tropes got it spot on when they compared the three to Kirk, Spock and McCoy respectively.

The lessons are the secondary point, though, as the show gradually displays a comedy of errors and misunderstandings when Fumino, Rizu and Uruka begin to show slightly more than platonic feelings for their tutor...and they are not the only ones.

The opening credits for "Boku-tachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai" are adorned by Study's rendition of "Seishun Zeminaru" (Salad Day Seminar), and Study just happens to consist of the three seiyuu behind Furuhashi, Ogata and Takemoto, Haruka Shiraishi（白石晴香）, Miyu Tomita（富田美憂）and Sayumi Suzushiro（鈴代紗弓）respectively. Tomita is already gaining a fair number of songs on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and as a seiyuu, she's becoming quite recognizable to me due to her calm and button-down roles for the most part. "Seishun Zeminaru" isn't all that different from the usual super-genki anime opening tune but considering a fairly busy week last week with the accompanying stress, I was quite welcoming in hearing this one again after almost a month. Saori Kodama（こだまさおり）and Takahiro Yamada（山田高弘）took care of words and music.

I have been able to find a full version of the ending theme. Once again the Study trio are back to perform "Never Give It Up!!" which has a mild synthpop feeling created by songwriters Mami Kawada（川田まみ）and Maiko Iuchi（井内舞子）. I actually like "Never Give It Up!!" slightly more because of that intro by Study and the credits themselves at the beginning which seem to have the rapidly singing mouths on the blackboard representing the three main characters themselves. I think the moe factor has been raised a bit more here.

At this point, I think viewers have already come up with their choices about who Taiga should ultimately be paired with, but most likely by the end of this show, he'll end up remaining friends with the three. However, in the interests of not straddling the fence, I wouldn't mind if the lad gladly accepted the affections of his junior high school buddy, Uruka. For one thing, she has that Lucille Ball appeal with me.