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 Hiroki Yasumoto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiroki Yasumoto. Show all posts
Didn't quite believe that I hadn't ever put up such an Author's Pick before. I've probably got some sort of Favourite Anison list out there but just haven't come across it in some time. However, such as it is, I did want to get a list up there showing how some of these anime themes can get under my skin to have me bust a move...or a hip because they are so funky and catchy.
It was exactly five years ago today that I posted Shonan no Kaze's（湘南乃風）"Grand Blue", the bro-tastic opening theme to the Summer 2018anime of the same name. At the time I wrote up the article, I was just on the verge of watching Episode 1. Oh, how very poignant. Little did I know that I would have the most hilarious time over the next three months watching those lunkheads Iori and Kohei fighting and mucking about on the Izu Peninsula and occasionally go diving (but mostly going drinking). Just about every character on the show had some quirk about them which could be lit like the "oolong tea" into some of the funniest humour ever seen on anime.
I knew that "Grand Blue" was a star-studded affair in terms of the seiyuu cast but I finally realized that I'd already known the actors behind the Peek-a-Boo club leaders, Shinji "Tokki" Tokita and Ryujiro "Bukki" Kotobuki: Hiroki Yasumoto（安元洋貴）and Katsuyuki Konishi（小西克幸）respectively. Yasumoto was paired with fellow voice thespian Natsumi Hioka（日岡なつみ）to perform the wickedly contagious "Kumamiko Dancing" the ending theme of "Kumamiko: Girl Meets Bear"（くまみこ）a few years earlier, and Konishi played the far milder Jougin Panda（常勤パンダ...Full-Time Panda） in the even earlier "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ）a decade ago and he had his own musical contribution in the form of "ZOOtto, ne"（ZOOっと、ね♪）. So, they have their representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus".
Now, to be frank, I liked the ending theme for "Grand Blue" a lot less than the celebratory opening theme, but I figure that after five years, maybe I can still mention it. "Konpeki no al Fine" (Azure al Fine) sounds like a pop/rock piece from a Johnny's Entertainment musical as performed by the two main characters, Iori (Yuuma Uchida/内田雄馬) and Kohei (Ryohei Kimura/木村良平), with karaoke support from Tokki and Bukki. Together, they were put together as Izu no Kaze（伊豆乃風）.
I hadn't been sure about what the title meant. First, I was wondering who Al Fine was but then putting the "name" through the search engine, I finally discovered that it's actually a musical term whose definition I'll let you see at "The Carolingian Realm". Perhaps "Konpeki no al Fine" is actually showing that score direction.
But Izu no Kaze's version was just the four dudes singing karaoke on behalf of the original singer, Kohei's oshi, aidoru/seiyuu/diving enthusiast Kaya Mizuki（水樹カヤ） as played by the one-and-only Nana Mizuki（水樹奈々）just for the ending credits of the beloved Episode 11. She has apparently appeared in the manga though not in the anime...which begs the question: When will Season 2 ever come to pass? Ah, I should mention that Ryutaro Fujinaga（藤永龍太郎）and Ryota Suemasu（末益涼太） were behind words and music respectively; both are part of the composing group Elements Garden.
I've been going through the 2nd cour of the 2nd season of the anime"Hoozuki no Reitetsu"（鬼灯の冷徹...Hozuki's Coolheadedness）(2018), the slice-of-life comedy that takes place in Hell. It still hasn't struck me as one of my all-time favourites, as I mentioned in the article for the opening theme of the 1st cour, but at least, it's made for some more comfortable viewing.
Recently, there have been warnings about the dangers of contracting hookworms when walking on those tropical beaches barefoot. Well, one episode from this latest cour of "Hoozuki no Reitetsu" illustrated that caveat abundantly clear. Simply said...simply DON'T.
I couldn't find any video for the opening credits for the 2nd cour, but I was able to track down the full version of the opening theme song, "Haikei, Jigoku yori" (Greetings From Hell) performed by the main cast as the Jigoku no Sata All-Stars（地獄の沙汰オールスターズ）. Like the opener for the 1st cour in 2017, it's pretty catchy but most of it is done in an enka style this time compared to the country-style hoedown of "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi"（大！地獄地獄節）, although there is a semi-reprise of sorts from that song, along with a Vaudevillian "Coming Home" type of finish.
"Haikei, Jigoku yori" was created by the same folks behind "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi", Jun "JxJx" Saito（サイトウ "JxJx" ジュン）and Gokusotsu Ongaku Renmei（獄卒音楽連盟...Devils Music Alliance）. The premise behind the song seems to take on the feeling after a night of engorging eating and drinking during a typical enkai....something that I'd had personal experience with for many years. Yup, all of the emotions of satisfaction, shame and debauchery rolled up into one large ball.
I've been watching the second season of the anime "Hoozuki no Reitetsu"（鬼灯の冷徹...Hozuki's Coolheadedness）, a sardonic poke at the afterlife in Hell. I caught the first couple of episodes at my anime buddy's place last year and he even gave me a copy of the season. Frankly it hasn't been my cup of ocha after 4 episodes but it's OK enough for me to get through the entire run. Never saw the first season.
Having said that, the opening theme for that second season has become a fair earworm (Ji~go, ji~go). "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi" (Great! Hell Hell Dance) sounds like a countrified Japanese festival tune that the cast had a fun time recording. It was done by the Jigoku no Sata All-Stars（地獄の沙汰オールスターズ...Hell's Affairs All-Stars）consisting of seiyuu Hiroki Yasumoto（安元洋貴）, Takashi Nagasako（長嶝高士）, Yumiko Kobayashi（小林由美子）, Hiroki Goto（後藤ヒロキ）, Takashi Matsuyama（松山鷹志）, Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）, Yui Ogura（小倉唯）, Atsumi Tanezaki（種崎敦美）and the Japanese ska band YOUR SONG IS GOOD.
Was trying to find the full version but even seeing some of the cover versions and karaoke takes, it seems like "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi" was only meant to be a minute-and-a-half. Perhaps the full version was too devilishly taxing for everyone involved. Anyways, it was written and composed by YOUR SONG IS GOOD member Jun "JxJx" Saito（サイトウ "JxJx" ジュン）with further work on the lyrics by Gokusotsu Ongaku Renmei（獄卒音楽連盟...Devils Music Alliance）.
This version was uploaded by the Anison Kan Copy MIDI Seisaku (Omage)（アニソン完コピMIDI製作「おまげ」）.
It's been another Sunday with the anime buddy for some new programming from the spring season. And I gotta say that one of the weirder pilot episodes for an anime I've seen so far this year belongs to TV Tokyo's"Kumamiko: Girl Meets Bear"（くまみこ）. It's all about a miko (shrine maiden) by the name of Machi who desperately wants to leave her isolated hamlet in the mountains and go to school in the big city. The problem is that her best friend, Natsu the talking bear, isn't too keen on the idea. As someone who started post-university life in a town in the Japanese Alps, I can relate to Machi's plight to a certain extent although I liked the former Tsukiyono-machi very much (it was absorbed into what is now Minakami City); once a month, I just had to get some city under me by heading by Bullet Train down to Tokyo.
As I said, the out-there humour was quite something in the pilot episode with Machi doing a bit of cursing and getting accused of having a "deeper" relationship with Natsu while an even younger girl suddenly screamed "SEXUAL HARASSMENT" and "DON'T TOUCH ME!!" at the dopey civil servant. The following four episodes weren't quite as hilarious and the pacing hasn't been quite as fun which means I'm not totally convinced of success as of yet.
However I think the ending theme has become an earworm for me right from the end of Episode 1. Sung by seiyuu Natsumi Hioka/日岡なつみ (Machi) and Hiroki Yasumoto/安元洋貴 (Natsu), "Kumahiko Dancing" has got that funky rap down pat to a catchiness that is along the lines of last season's "Hoshizora Rendezvous"（星空ランデブー）from the nutty "Sekko Boys"（石膏ボーイズ）. "Kumahiko Dancing" was written by Ryuji Sakai（坂井竜二）and composed by Shingo Yamazaki（山崎真吾）.
(April 21 2017: I came across a pretty good remix of the song by no.19 u-z on YouTube. There are quite a few remixes out there.)
