King Gnu -- Go Ghost

 

I barely remember watching the 1995 anime feature "Ghost in the Shell"; there was the iconic scene of Major Kusanagi flying off the roof and going into stealth mode and the scene where a row of techs had their fingers disjoint to show a whole bunch of metal rods typing at warp speed. But that was it for my memories. I guess the movie was so mesmerizing in how everything and everyone moved that it left me mind blind.

Then in 2017, there was the live-action version of "Ghost in the Shell" starring Scarlett Johansson which I also caught with some friends, but it frankly left me a little cold. I kinda thought it was like the "Black Widow" movie before the actual "Black Widow" movie of 2021, except that it had some special guest appearances by Beat Takeshi and Kaori Momoi.

So I gather that if I were a member of a fictional Iconic Anime Enthusiasts Association, there would be a demand that I shamefully hand back my card and lose my executive washroom privileges right now, because I have never been an avid fan of the "Ghost in the Shell" franchise. And to be honest, there are certain well-regarded Studio Ghibli movies that I never cottoned onto either. 

And this brings us to the newest addition to the franchise which is titled "The Ghost in the Shell"; gotta have that definite article for emphasis. The anime series began running from last month and apparently the animation style is pretty much along the original manga style that Masamune Shirow had gone with. I've only seen some excerpts and reaction videos. Episode 2 got quite the number of whoops, and I'm glad that this iteration shows a sense of humour.

I haven't written on the mixture rock band King Gnu in a few years, but here they are providing the opening theme for "The Ghost in the Shell". "Go Ghost", which was written and composed by vocalist Daiki Tsuneta（常田大希）, is a propulsive story of the life of the Major with blippity-bloppity percussion and a haunting digital tribal chorus to contrast with the futuristic city that is the setting for the show. At a length of merely 2:50, it's quite short and sweet. I've got a feeling that the Kohaku may call on the band to show up on December 31st once more.

King Gnu -- Stardom

 

Well, the World Cup is back again and especially after two years of shutdowns due to COVID, people are rarin' to have a party in my city, and the globe's biggest sports event is the reason. I'm not a huge soccer fan but whenever the World Cup comes up, I catch at least some of the games and this year's tourney in Qatar has some extra incentive for me since both Japan and Canada are fielding teams this time. 

I've mentioned this before in a past soccer-based article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but Toronto is one of the best cities to view the World Cup because of the many diverse nations that are represented within its demographics. So, there will be tons of folks cheering on a number of teams at the same time at many dining and drinking establishments such as Cafe Diplomatico in Little Italy. The wonderful thing is that Toronto has been able to expand the drinking hours a tad for the soccer fans.

As for that soccer-based article, I was referring to Vangelis' "Anthem" which was the official theme for the 2002 World Cup jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan. The original version incorporated instruments from both nations and was a truly epic orchestral piece that could even get my eyes misty depending on my mood. Techno-wizard Takkyu Ishino（石野卓球）came up with his own version which was also supremely catchy.

However, NHK has been featuring its own theme for the 2022 World Cup for the past several weeks whenever the network covers the tournament. This time, mixture rock band King Gnu has come up to the plate (yeah, sorry, wrong sport) with their 6th single "Stardom" which will be released as a CD and a digital download in about a week. Now that I can hear the full version without having to squint my ears through the commentary by the anchors and reporters, I can say that it is truly a King Gnu creation by band member Daiki Tsuneta（常田大希）combined with those urgent "gotta go do this" beats and that typical "important event" type of arrangement.

As of this writing, there's already been one major upset with Saudi Arabia defeating Argentina. Hopefully, there will be some more heart stopping moments and a lot of camaraderie all over the bars and restaurants of the world.

King Gnu -- Sanmon Shosetsu（三文小説）

 

Welcome back to Monday! I think one of the oft-used overarching plot lines in a sci-fi or fantasy story is that of Rip Van Winkle. A main character somehow ends up several years, decades or even centuries in the future due to magic, disease or technology and they have to somehow manage themselves in their vastly different and new world. 

Apparently that is the case for the late 2020 NTV drama "San-juu-go Sai no Shojo"（35歳の少女...The 35-Year-Old Girl） in which a young girl suffers a coma-inducing accident and doesn't wake up for a quarter-century. Played by Ko Shibasaki（柴咲コウ）, she is still that sweet 10-year-old but now in a 35-year-old body. I would say something like "Hilarity ensues", but I get the impression that it was all quite serious here and there were probably a lot of tearful scenes.

The theme song for the show is "Sanmon Shosetsu" (Dime Novel) by the mixture rock band King Gnu. I first wrote about the band in the first few days in 2020 just after first seeing them in action on the Kohaku Utagassen a few days prior, and I was intrigued by King Gnu since they were as advertised by blending in a few genres into their performance of "Hakujitsu"（白日）. Also, there were the vocals of Daiki Tsuneta（常田大希）which were far from the usual throat-shredding screams that I got from a rock singer.

"Sanmon Shosetsu", one-half of their 6th single "Sanmon Shosetsu/Senryo Yakusha"（三文小説/千両役者...Dime Novel/Prima Donna） from December 2020, which was written and composed by Tsuneta, fits hand-in-glove with the feeling of "San-juu-go Sai no Shojo". There is wonder, trepidation and hope in equal measure within the arrangement and of course, Tsuneta's high and beautiful vocals lift the song to the height of the angels. I was wondering what the significance of the title was, and looking at the translation of the lyrics, I realized that though a life may seem like a cheap dime store novel, the plot and the characters can be written over and over again to what is most desirable, regardless of how other readers may find them by the end.

There is something very Queen in "Sanmon Shosetsu" with its drama, courtliness and epicness which probably hit fans of the show quite hard and had them reaching for their Kleenex. It soared up to No. 2 on Oricon, going Gold.

King Gnu -- Hakujitsu（白日）

When I saw the name King Gnu for the first time as I was checking the lineup for the Kohaku Utagassen last month, I went "Okayyyyyy....". Wasn't quite sure what to make of this band but then again, a good chunk of 1960s Group Sounds bands adopted animals for their monikers, too. And to be honest, the first thing I imagined when I saw that name was the comic Animal Crackers that I used to read in the newspapers as a kid because that was where I found out the existence of the African animal, the gnu. Apparently, the comic was adapted into a cartoon decades later.

Earlier today, I met up with fellow KKP contributor Larry Chan for a ramen lunch at Kinton where I had a rather spicy bowl of garlic ramen (and my gastrointestinal tract is getting some vengeance on me right now), and the two of us talked quite engagingly on the Kohaku. We both agreed that King Gnu's performance was one of the revelatory standouts in the 4.5 hours of the special.

From the name, I figured beforehand that this had to have been some sort of rock band, and as it turns out, they've been categorized as a mixture rock group. Furthermore, as the category implies, such a group mixes in its own blender a number of genres such as rock, metal, R&B, funk and what-have-you. As was the case with the music video, King Gnu performed "Hakujitsu" (Broad Daylight) that doesn't start out with crashing guitars and drums, but with Daiki Tsuneta's（常田大希）whispery and butter-soft voice and a melancholy piano that had me thinking of the higher registers of Freddie Mercury as he sang about some fellow trying to let go of a rather unfortunate past and making some efforts at redemption.

Then, some syn-drums made their presence known before things got rather groovy in a soul and/or jazz way before the rock guitar finally entered the scene. All that variety...all that mixture made for a fun, interesting and body-moving experience (in a good way, not the garlic ramen way). And Tsuneta, who wrote and composed "Hakujitsu", wove his voice through the fabric at a high enough speed that made me think that the karaoke fans probably have worked up a good sweat pacing themselves at Big Echo.

"Hakujitsu" was released as King Gnu's second digital download single in February 2019, and it was also their first single under a major label, Ariola Japan. Plus, it was also used as the theme song for the NTV drama, "Innocence ~ Enzai Bengoshi"（イノセンス 冤罪弁護士...Lawyer for the Falsely Accused）about a super lawyer (of course) who has the incredible ability to get the falsely accused found innocent through miraculous means. Quite the elegant fit between premise and theme song. The song itself went Platinum and hit No. 4 on the Billboard Japan Top 100. It would also end up as the 4th-ranked single of the year on the same chart. It was a track on King Gnu's 3rd full album "Ceremony" which is due out in a few weeks on January 15th.

I have to say that I was interested in how the band got its name, though. It first started up in 2015 under the name Srv.Vinci (according to J-Wiki, the first part is pronounced "saava") with the name change to King Gnu happening in 2017. Apparently, according to an interview by the website Entertainment Station, Tsuneta explained that supposedly like the gnu, he wanted to eventually have the popularity or the feeling around the band grow from one animal into a huge herd, incorporating men and women of all ages. In another article, it's mentioned that with the members each having influences from different kinds of music, the band has described their brand of music as Tokyo New Mixture Style. If that is indeed the case, then I will be looking forward to King Gnu's music along with any other bands or singers that want to follow along.

Speaking of the members, along with Tsuneta, there is also drummer Yuu Seki（勢喜遊）, bassist Kazuki Arai（新井和輝）, and keyboardist Satoru Iguchi（井口理）.