Jenya (Love Solfege) -- Universe

 

Earlier today, I wrote about the opening theme, "Maid Dai Kaiten"（メイド大回転）, for the anime "Akiba Meido Senso"（アキバ冥途戦争...Akiba Maid War）, and I gave the listing of the main cast which included a seiyuu named Jenya（ジェーニャ）who has been portraying the new Russian maid, Zoya（ゾーヤ）. 

Initially, with Zoya speaking Russian, I wondered whether the show had actually recruited Russian-speaking seiyuu Sumire Uesaka（上坂すみれ）. But seeing this new name among the cast, I decided to investigate further. By the way, you can click the "CC" above to get English subtitles.

Well, I found out that Jenya, whose real name is Yevgeniya Ivanovna Davidyuk according to her Wikipedia profile, had walked a somewhat similar path to mine when it came to Japan. Just as much as I fell for Japan and its culture and ended up going there to live and work for many years, Jenya became interested in voice acting after catching "Sailor Moon" in her teenage years and achieved her dream of making it to the nation to work and live.

In fact, both Uesaka and Jenya got to speak Russian in the 2015 movie sequel of the popular series "Girls und Panzer" as their characters of Nonna and Klara respectively. Along with being a seiyuu, Jenya is also a singer and a radio personality.

Unfortunately, I could find only a truncated version of this song, but "Universe" is a track on a 2013 album "Gaizensei Shinkaron II"（蓋然性進化論II...Probabilistic Evolution Theory 2） that Jenya released under the pseudonym of Love Solfege. Written by the singer and Shinichiro Yamashita（山下慎一狼）and composed by Auguste Beau（オーギュスト棒）, I like the song and delivery since it has both the feeling of an 80s AOR tune and an anison for a particular sci-fi program. Certainly, I would like to hear the full version someday.

Tontokoton Staff -- Maid Dai Kaiten（メイド大回転）

 

Well, we're just about halfway through the current anime season and that includes the gritty-as-sand but frilly-as-frills show "Akiba Meido Senso"（アキバ冥途戦争...Akiba Maid War）. The series has been following the pattern of a typical yakuza movie but instead of thugs, we have maids battling it out. At the same time, there has also been a goodly amount of fun music coming out of this as well. So far on the blog, it's been the homicidally hilarious "Junjou Maid Bukkoroshi Kiss"（純情メイドぶっころ主KISS）in the standout scene of Episode 1 and the ending theme "Meido no Komori Uta"（冥途の子守唄）which is in the same vein of the downtrodden-but-unbowed type of Mood Kayo of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Now, let's tackle the opening. First off, those opening credits with all of us entering the tough-and-bloody streets of Akihabara communicate to us in those one minute and forty-odd seconds about what the whole premise is right down to the combination of aprons and arms and of course, the power walk of the staff of the Tontokoton Maid Cafe（メイドカフェ とんとことん）which ought to bring a smile to the face of Quentin Tarentino.

As for that opening theme, it's "Maid Dai Kaiten" (Giant Maid Slalom) by the Tontokoton staff themselves. We have Reina Kondo（近藤玲奈）as the scared newbie Nagomi (although after Episode 6, there may be changes ahead for her), Rina Sato（佐藤利奈）as the hardened warrior Ranko, Minami Tanaka（田中美海）as the alternately sweet-and-snarky Yumechi, Tomoyo Kurosawa（黒沢ともよ）as the gyaru maid Shiipon, Jenya（ジェーニャ）as the Russian battle maid Zoya, and Ayahi Takagaki（高垣彩陽）as the scheming manager Yasuko Yaegashi. Words and music were provided by SHIBU and Getamono Land Keiei Senryaku Shitsu（ケダモノランド経営戦略室...Beast Land Administrative Strategies Office）, the latter of which produced the show.

One YouTube commenter pointed it out well that "Maid Dai Kaiten" is a hard techno piece that seems to have come out of the "Matrix" franchise, and the contrast between those dark beats and the typical Maid Cafe patter works well, both as something oddly kakkoii and tongue-in-cheek. However, the main chorus then launches into something major chord upbeat and aidoru-esque. Maybe that means there is hope around the corner for the Tontokoton maids. Regardless, there are a couple of music snippets that have also popped up; I hope that they get their due as full-fledged songs soon enough on the soundtrack.