Little Black Dress -- Gyakuten no Regina（逆転のレジーナ）

 

The above is a trailer for the June 17th 2022 theatrical OVA version of one of the "Kaito Queen"（怪盗クイーン...Mirage Queen） novel series which began in 2002. Specifically, according to Wikipedia, the adaptation is of the first novel, "Kaito Queen wa Circus ga O-suki"（怪盗クイーンはサーカスがお好き..."Mirage Queen Aime Cirque"）. Additionally, from the website "My Anime List", I found out that the whole ball of wax involves a charismatic phantom thief queen who travels on an airship looking for treasure to pillage and adventures to experience. For this particular episode, the Queen has to match wits and guile with a bunch of talented and shrewd circus performers.

Now, I'd never heard of either the novel series or this particular OVA. The information came by when I was doing the research for its theme song "Gyakuten no Regina" (The Queen Turns the Tables) performed by Little Black Dress who also showed up on "Uta Con"（うたコン）a few nights ago right after Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）.

Back in the fall last year, I wrote my first article on Little Black Dress when she had appeared on "Uta Con" for the first time as a young musician who also enjoyed the old kayo. Her 2nd indies digital download single "Nora Ningen"（野良ニンゲン）from June 2019 had me thinking of Misia when it came to her vocalization, while the song had some Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）vibes. However, as for "Gyakuten no Regina" which is her 3rd major single that came out on June 8th this year, the NHK host introduced the song as an example of Reiwa Era City Pop. 

Hmmm...perhaps I'll have to hear some more examples of this Reiwa City Pop but I'll still throw in the label of City Pop since the composer is none other than Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, a master of the genre's melodies (and he has already made an appearance on KKP earlier today). Neko Oikawa（及川眠子）took care of the lyrics with Akimitsu Honma（本間昭光）handling arrangement. But no complaints at all about the dynamic "Gyakuten no Regina" with the horns; there's something quite Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra here (with no ska, though), and I do like the suspense infused into it.

Little Black Dress -- Nora Ningen（野良ニンゲン）

 

Welcome once more to Hump Day! Let's see if we can get over this and onto the downhill toward the weekend. Over the last couple of articles, I mentioned how much I enjoyed last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）broadcast because of all of the kayo that got covered, and I think it was in the first of the two that I wrote about singer-songwriter Little Black Dress whom I had never heard of before.

(Yup, it did get struck down.)

Not sure how long the above video will stay up before the powers-that-be will copyright strike it down but that is indeed her performing Junko Yagami's（八神純子）"Mizuiro no Ame" (みずいろの雨）, one of my very favourites by one of my very favourite singers. No one is going to best Yagami at that soaring vocal intro but I think Little Black Dress did a fine job on the cover.

LBD's (her real name is currently unrevealed) life story in music from both the interview on "Uta Con" and her J-Wiki profile did have me doing a fist pump. Born and raised in Okayama Prefecture, whenever she was driven to nursery school, her grandmother and mother had the car stereo playing the ol' Showa kayo which got her to eventually love the oldies. And sure enough, in the video introduction on the show last night, she performed Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）furious "Playback Part 2" （プレイバック・パート２）and she did state in the interview and it was stated on J-Wiki that she was a huge fan of Akira Terao's（寺尾聰）"Ruby no Yubiwa" (ルビーの指輪). Basically, she adores her kayo rock and from high school when she received a guitar from her uncle, she launched her music career from 2016, even becoming the opening act for a Misia concert in that year.

One other reason that she got my attention is her stage name itself. Being an Audrey Hepburn fan, Little Black Dress had me remembering Hepburn's little black dress from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". However, J-Wiki states that LBD took on the name while performing as that opening act at "MISIA CANDELE NIGHT" which doesn't really clarify things for me.

Her second digital single is "Nora Ningen" (Stray Humans) from June 2019 and I can understand why LBD got to open up for Misia. Her vocals are somewhat similar to those of Misia but the overall bouncy arrangement of the song sparks more of Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）and she has also been quite the admirer of the kayo style. LBD's lyrics put an interesting twist to the story of unshackling the cuffs of society's rules by adding a "Now what?" in that perhaps people may be free but there is the consequence of isolation and worry of being apart from most people. 

Let me give my compliments to the music video director and staff for making some good use of the Shibuya overpasses and main intersection. I'm sure that some of those overnighters walking through the area must have been wondering what was up with those three high school girls.