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.
It was two short years ago when my anime buddy introduced me to "Kimetsu no Yaiba"（鬼滅の刃...Demon Slayer）. Not being a fan of horror-adventure, if it hadn't been for my friend, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it but catching the first couple of seasons, I realized that it was actually an engrossing tale of demon hunters going after the worst of the worst. And then, its popularity just went through the roof within Japan and outside of the country.
There was certainly synergy happening as well between the franchise and singer-songwriter LiSA who has provided the several theme songs including her huge hit 15th single, the rocking "Gurenge"（紅蓮華）. In fact, when I hear of either "Kimetsu no Yaiba" or LiSA, I always imagine the two together...inseparable.
So you can imagine my initial surprise when I first heard her 19th single, "HADASHi NO STEP"(Barefoot Step) which was released last month. It's certainly got the electric guitars in there but I think that the song is more fun, footloose-and-fancy-free piano pop accompanied by some dynamic horns which sounds like it had some filtration through the 1970s. Plus, LiSA is having similar fun in the video with her fellow dancers.
"HADASHi NO STEP" is also a theme song, this time for the manga-based TBS drama "Promise Cinderella"（プロミス・シンデレラ）which just wrapped up last month. It hit No. 5 on Oricon, and lyrics were by LiSA with Tomoya Tabuchi（田淵智也）from the rock band Unison Square Garden handling the melody.
First off, congratulations to singer-songwriter LiSA for making it onto NHK's Kohaku Utagassen for the second year in a row. Japan's national broadcaster announced what the participants will be singing on the show in about 9 days' time, and for LiSA, it will be a "Kimetsu no Yaiba"（鬼滅の刃）suite following the success of the anime TV series and movie. With our luck in North America, though, TV Japan will likely block out the performance visuals if any of the anime or movie is shown behind her like they did at last year's Kohaku due to the usual copyright issues.😒
Probably a whole lot more people discovered the Gifu Prefecture native through the opening theme for the anime series last year, "Gurenge"（紅蓮華）, which pretty much feels like a typical rocking battle between the hero Tanjiro and the monsters to be defeated. However, as I was watching the NHK children's music vignette "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）some time ago, LiSA had contributed a song for the kids back in 2017 called "Ring a Bell".
Written by the singer and composed by musician Kousuke Nouma（野間康介）, "Ring a Bell" is as comfortable as a mother's hug, and the "Minna no Uta" video has very much of an "Awwww..." component. It's just too bad that the video doesn't exist on YouTube. According to the J-Wiki article for the song, LiSA came up with the title after hearing the expression from people close to her; plus, she wanted to create to have a title that even children could remember.
The video was first shown on "Minna no Uta" between December 2016 and January 2017 but the song was released as a track on LiSA's 11th single, "Catch the Moment" in February 2017. It had also come out as a digital download earlier in that December.
For the Spring 2019anime season, it's just been "Dancing to Night ~ Kimi e Saitan Warp Kouro"（君への最短ワープ航路）from "RobiHachi" that has been the out-and-out earworm for me. However, there have been some other pleasant themes from the ones that my friend has been showing me over the past few months including the songs for "Boku-tachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai"（ぼくたちは勉強ができない）and the lone theme tune for the Nagoya-themed "Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki"（八十亀ちゃんかんさつにっき...Yatogame-chan's Observation Diary）.
Another show that we've been thoroughly enjoying is "Kimetsu no Yaiba"（鬼滅の刃）which is known as "Demon Slayer" here although the direct translation is "Blade of Demon Destruction". It's a horror adventure that takes place in Taisho Era Japan (about a century ago) involving a kind boy, Tanjiro, who has to do some growing up in a massive hurry after nearly his entire family is massacred by demons with the exception of his little sister who has become half-demon and partner in war. He goes through some rigorous training to become the titular heroic demon slayer, and he's just been joined by a couple of other slayers: Zenitsu, a seemingly hilarious and cowardly kid who actually has some incredible battle depth to him and the literally pig-headed Inosuke who lives for battle and ought to join a Klingon house in the future.
I've just found out that "Kimetsu no Yaiba" is going for 26 episodes instead of the usual 13 which I'm glad about since it certainly doesn't look like it will wrap things up in 3 months. The show's been plenty entertaining and the last major battle before this writing had me thinking all sorts of Marvel stuff such as "The Avengers". And yet, the staff behind the creation of this anime have been able to insert some wacky humour even within the trading of blood and gore.
As I've hinted above, the opening theme "Gurenge" (Crimson Flowers) hasn't been an earworm but it's grown on me over the weeks. Written and sung by singer-songwriter LiSA and composed by Kayoko Kusano（草野華余子）, despite the Taisho Era setting, the kickass rock arrangement suits all the hell that's coming to the demons by the slayers. I figure that a future episode will definitely save "Gurenge" as a sonic weapon during one of the final climactic scenes. Stereo Fabrication of Youth's Ryo Eguchi（江口亮）was responsible for the arrangement.
I managed to find a short version of the stylish music video for "Gurenge". The single hasn't come out yet but will be released on July 3rd according to the website for the show.
As for LiSA, she was born Risa Oribe（織部里沙）in Gifu Prefecture. Her stage name stands for “Love is same all” and was once a member of the band Chucky before it broke up in 2005 after which she aimed for a solo career. Some of her musical influences include Avril Lavigne, Rihanna and Green Day. For some reason, Wikipedia and J-Wiki are having issues today so I was able to get the information from another site.
January 2, 2020: I was glad to hear that LiSA was able to perform "Gurenge" at the 70th Kohaku Utagassen, but the red tape of bureaucracy and copyrights forced TV Japan to mask almost all of her bristling performance. Apparently due to licensing agreements, or the lack of them, TV Japan couldn't show any of the scenes of "Kimetsu no Yaiba" playing behind her to anyone outside of the country watching the Kohaku. Fortunately for now at least, I can see the hidden performance on YouTube (or at least, I was able to...the above video is from a concert).
