Onyanko Club/Sphere -- Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai（夏休みは終わらない）

 

Ah, yes...the kids are out on summer vacation for the next several weeks. When we were little, we had the same attitude of fun and relaxation, too, and of course, we rued the arrival of Labour Day in September since beyond that was the beginning of another school semester. 

I didn't know about this particular song by the 1980s aidoru supergroup Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）titled "Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai" (Endless Summer Vacation), but it's a pretty funky number by the gang. Written by Onyanko Club (and later AKB48) guru Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, composed by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, "Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai" was a track on the Club's 3rd original album, the Oricon No. 3-ranking "Panic The World" from July 1986. Just for the record, the four members fronting the song were Kazuko Utsumi（内海和子）, Ruriko Nagata（永田ルリ子）, Yukiko Iwai（岩井由紀子）and Marina Watanabe（渡辺満里奈）.

Actually, the first time I did hear of "Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai" was from a cover insert song version done for the 2012 anime "Natsuiro Kiseki"（夏色キセキ...Summer-Coloured Miracle）. This was a mere YouTube discovery by chance; I never caught the show myself and I don't recall my anime buddy ever mentioning it. However, it did have seiyuu who are now veterans of the art: Aki Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）, Ayahi Takagaki（高垣彩陽）, Haruka Tomatsu（戸松遥）and Minako Kotobuki（寿美菜子）. I get the impression from the premise that "Natsuiro Kiseki" was a mix of magic, slice-of-life and "Stand By Me". The animation style has me thinking a PreCure series without the PreCure powers or situations.

Whether it was by lucky happenstance or not, the four main seiyuu also happen to be members of the pop group Sphere（スフィア）and so they apparently handled all of the main songs including "Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai". This version seems to have more of the dance beats and synthesizers going on full thrusters, thanks to Masaya Yamaguchi's（山口雅也）arrangement. For some reason, the song reminds me somewhat of "Futari no Kimochi no Honto no Himitsu"（ふたりのきもちのほんとのひみつ）, the ending theme for "Kill Me Baby" which was another 2012 anime.

Chinatsu Akasaki, Haruka Tomatsu & Aki Toyosaki -- Seishun no Reverb（青春のリバーブ）

Exactly two months ago, I wrote about the earworm that is the opening theme for "Joshi Kōsei no Mudazukai"（女子高生の無駄づかい...Wasteful Days of High School Girls）, and almost two weeks ago, I pulled the trigger and bought the single for "Wa! Moon! dass! cry!"（輪！Moon！dass！cry！）. Well, it finally came two days ago and it seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. Just a pity to hear that the show aired its final episode at about the same time.

As much as I loved the catchy and nutty "Wa! Moon! dass! cry!" opener, it took quite a while (basically nearly the entire run of the show) for the ending to finally rub off on me. I wouldn't be surprised if the ending theme "Seishun no Reverb" (Reverb of Youth) may have taken on feelings of inferiority when compared to its overachieving opening cousin. However, hearing the ending over and over for the past several weeks and then listening to the whole version online made me realize that this is also a pretty decent tune itself.

Sung as well by the three main seiyuu, Chinatsu Akasaki（赤﨑千夏）, Haruka Tomatsu（戸松遥）and Aki Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）, "Seishun no Reverb" has been described as being very relaxed. I would also agree and it makes for a pleasant counterpoint to the anarchy of the opener. Plus, despite the contemporary nature of the song, there is also something in the melody that reminds me of certain kayo in the old days. If "Wa! Moon! dass! cry!" is the crazed school prom before graduation then "Seishun no Reverb" is the car ride home after midnight with perhaps the seniors suddenly thinking with some dread and anticipation "...the future". The song was written and composed by Agasa.K.

Let's hope that there may be a second season in the near future.

Chinatsu Akasaki, Haruka Tomatsu & Aki Toyosaki -- Wa! Moon! dass! cry!（輪！Moon！dass！cry！）

Another anime Sunday has come and gone. One of the other comedic shows that seem to have popped in fairly good quantity for Summer 2019 is "Joshi Kōsei no Mudazukai"（女子高生の無駄づかい...Wasteful Days of High School Girls）. It's been compared to a 2012 anime called "Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou"（男子高校生の日常...Daily Lives of High School Boys） in which for both shows, the episodes deal with zany students doing and saying zany things. I never saw "Danshi" but with "Joshi", I've been seeing it as a series about high school girls who seem to want to join the Yoshimoto Kogyo comedy troupe once they graduate (...if they graduate).

The opening theme is still a couple of days away (July 24th) from being released for sale, but I couldn't help but jump the gun since "Wa! Moon! dass! cry!" (Ring! Moon! That (German) Cry!) has become an earworm as much as the opening/ending themes for another Summer 2019 show, "Danberu Nan-Kiro Moteru?"（ダンベル何キロ持てる?） have. I think the zany title is a play on the final word of the title.

Performed by the three main seiyuu Chinatsu Akasaki（赤﨑千夏）, Haruka Tomatsu（戸松遥）and Aki Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）as this anarchic and catchy semi-rap as if their high school characters of Baka, Wota and Robo were just freestyle singing in the nearest karaoke box, I can only imagine how many practice runs they did in the recording booth. And just wait for the full-length version. "Wa! Moon! dass! cry!" was written and created by Shingo Yamazaki（山崎真吾）, the same fellow behind the ending theme for  "Gabriel Dropout" (ガヴリールドロップアウト),  "Hallelujah Essaim" (ハレルヤ☆エッサイム).

What also helps are the opening credits especially when there's that extended part of all of the characters floating up in the air while on their way to school.

Haruka Tomatsu -- DELUXE DELUXE HAPPY

My opinions toward the city of Nagoya（名古屋）and the prefecture where it's located, Aichi（愛知県）, are that the region between Tokyo and Osaka has frequently gotten short shrift in terms of respect for some reason. I've got no idea why it gets the short end of the stick (think of two older brothers ganging up on the little one) although things have probably been turning upward recently of late with the interest in B-kyuu gurume（Ｂ級グルメ...cheap comfort food）and the fact that some of that Nagoya cuisine has been showing up in Tokyo.

When I was visiting Tokyo in 2017, my friends took me to a dessert place called Komeda's Coffee in East Shinjuku. Originating in Nagoya, the franchise has apparently gotten quite the national boost, especially for its Shiro Noir pastry (above).

In the late 1990s, I visited one of my old friends in Nagoya for a couple of days, and I found the city to have plenty of good things such as Nagoya Castle, Atsuta Shrine, a hotel whose dessert buffet introduced me to bread pudding for the first time in my life, and some of her own college buddies who were nothing but very hospitable to me.

This anime season, one of the shows that my friend and I have been watching is "Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki"（八十亀ちゃんかんさつにっき...Yatogame-chan's Observation Diary） whose 3-minute episodes have involved a high school student, Jin Kaito（陣界斗）, transferring to Nagoya from Tokyo, and getting that "fish-out-of-water" treatment while he tries to adjust to life in the new city and to make nice with the title character, Monaka Yatogame（八十亀最中）, a local lass who seems to have a huge chip on her shoulder and sasses him in that heavy Nagoya accent.

The sole theme song at the end is "DELUXE DELUXE HAPPY" sung by the seiyuu for Yatogame, Haruka Tomatsu（戸松遥）who once voiced a PreCure a few years back and who actually comes from Aichi Prefecture. The song has got as much energy as Yatogame has, but happily without the ball-busting attitude. Perhaps considering the slag that Nagoya has gotten over the years, maybe it's not without reason that Yatogame-chan has been harsh on poor ol' Jin. Masaki Ando（安藤正基）, the manga artist for "Yatogame-chan", and Tanto Adachi（担当アダチ）came up with the lyrics while singer-songwriter Ayumi Tamura（田村歩美）composed the super-happy tune.

Anyways, you can read a Japan Times article on the whole thing about Nagoya right here.

Cure Fortune