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 Hiro Shimono. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiro Shimono. Show all posts

Friday, March 20, 2020

Hiro Shimono feat. Kenjiro Tsuda -- Get Your Wild! ~African Night~




One of the things that happens when my anime buddy does his usual traveling to Japan at the end of the year is that obviously the biweekly anime-and-food sessions come to an end without being able to catch the last two or three episodes of the Fall season. In that case, when he comes back the following January, he usually gives me the copies of those unseen eps for me to catch up on. One of the shows for Fall 2019 was "Africa no Salaryman"(アフリカのサラリーマン...African Office Worker), the series involving the hijinks of a trio of animal corporate cogs.


Back in late November last year, I did cover the opening and ending themes for "Africa no Salaryman". The ending theme, "White Collar Elegy" by seiyuu Akio Otsuka(大塚明夫)who played pussycat (usually) supervisor Lion is this relaxing campfire ballad that helped cool things down after another anarchic episode, almost always because of Ohashi the Toucan.

However, I've just found out that the coupling song for "White Collar Elegy" has high-energy Hiro Shimono(下野紘), who plays the deranged toucan, back to sing a techno dance tune. Now that none of us can really dance at a club anymore for the foreseeable future, it's kinda nice to have this one for a Friday night. "Get Your Wild! ~African Night~" has got Shimono assisted this time by fellow seiyuu Kenjiro Tsuda(津田健次郎)as the cool-as-ice Tokage (Lizard).

I couldn't find the full version of "Get Your Wild!" but even the one minute and forty-four seconds for the ad video above is entertaining enough to mention it. Both Ohashi and Tokage show off some mighty fine moves, especially the latter and his flossing. But I also have to say that Shimono does a pretty good job here as well in terms of his delivery. Meanwhile, Mitsuki Tokuda(徳田光希)handled the music and Yohei Matsui(松井洋平)from TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND took care of the lyrics. I might just be interested in picking up the single.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Hiro Shimono -- Soul Flag/Akio Otsuka -- White Collar Elegy(ホワイトカラーエレジー)


For all you slice-of-life anime fans, remember "Shirokuma Cafe"(しろくまカフェ)from 2012? That has been one of my favourite shows since coming back to Canada, and it is the mellow anime response to the NBC long-running sitcom "Cheers" with its mix of humans and animals interacting with each other.

Well, as one YouTube commenter said it, he found the anime adaptation of "The Office". Indeed, both the anime buddy and I found it too for this season's crop, and that would be "Africa no Salaryman"(アフリカのサラリーマン...African Office Worker). Again, we've got a whole herd of anthropomorphized animals getting in all sorts of shenanigans in and outside of the corporation. The humour here is wacky compared with the gentler if quirky version in "Shirokuma Cafe".


Not surprisingly then, the opening theme "Soul Flag" is good, loud and in-your-ears. It's performed by seiyuu Hiro Shimono(下野紘)as the oft-trouble-making toucan Ohashi (I hear he has a cousin in America who works for Kellogg's). His over-the-top performance comes off his other crazy stint as Zenitsu, one of the demon hunters in "Kimetsu no Yaiba"(鬼滅の刃), who should never be allowed to get near any Red Bull.


As I was listening to "Soul Flag" in the opening credits, that intro had me wondering if lyricist RUCCA and composer Ryo Takahashi(高橋諒)had been channeling their inner Van Halen or some other 80s rock band when they were coming up with the song. Speaking of shoutouts, those opening credits had Lion, Ohashi and Tokage dancing some steps which had become quite the thing last year, thanks to DA PUMP's "U.S.A.".


Couldn't find the full version of the ending theme, so I will go with the actual ending credits. "White Collar Elegy" by Lion himself, aka Akio Otsuka(大塚明夫), was written by veteran lyricist Goro Matsui(松井五郎)and composed by Kodai Akiba(秋葉広大)as a calming ballad when compared to "Soul Flag". It goes well with the fading scenes of the three main characters going about a normal day and late into the night at the office. I think that it's got that singing-by-the-campfire atmosphere around it as Lion strums on the guitar.

March 16 2020: Well, now I did find the full version.