Ikusaburo Yamazaki -- Witch GAME

 

The first time I ever heard of actor-singer Ikusaburo Yamazaki（山崎育三郎）was through the NHK morning serial drama "Yell"（エール）which was the dramatization of the life and times of kayo kyoku songwriter Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）. Yamazaki played one of the best friends of the main character as this handsome and dashing fellow who could send women swooning into hospital with just a wink. He also gave his rendition of "Eikan wa Kimi ni Kagayaku"（栄冠は君に輝く ）, the anthem for the annual Koshien High School Baseball Championships in the show.

Just a little over a month ago, Yamazaki released his second full album "The Handsome" and one of the tracks was something that he performed on "Uta Con"（うたコン）a few weeks ago. "Witch GAME" is a snazzy and jazzy number with a bit of rockabilly swagger for which the singer described as a tale of a swindling romance cad. If the cad acts anything like the song sounds, then a lot of gullible women are in for a lot of trouble. Words and music were provided by Maharajan（マハラージャン）, another off-the-wall singer-songwriter who came up with the theme song for last year's anime "Tomo-chan wa Onna no Ko!"（トモちゃんは女の子！...Tomo-chan is a Girl!）, "Kurae! Telepathy"（くらえ！テレパシー）. Playwright and director Shuuko Nemoto（根本宗子）was the co-lyricist.

Yamazaki, I'm sure, is a much more grounded and amiable fellow than perhaps his personae on screen and stage, but he did steal one famous celebrity's heart. His wife is 1st-generation Morning Musume（モーニング娘。） member Natsumi Abe（安倍なつみ）.

Maharajan -- Semi Dance Floor（蝉ダンスフロア）

 

When it especially comes to Japan, one of summer's most famous sounds there is the distinctive buzzing or wailing of the cicada. Known in Japanese as semi（蝉）, the cicada and its noise are as much a part of the hot season as festivals and firecrackers. Walking through the hot and humid air each day while living and working in the Tokyo area, I would hear that near-deafening sound in August and knew that the dog days of summer were here.

My first experience with the critters was during my first visit to Japan in 1972 while I was on my grandfather's farm. One of his old friends placed a cicada nymph in its final moult to adulthood on my shirt and I stood there amazed as its brown armour cracked open to reveal a ghostly white adult slowly squeezing out. After several minutes, it gained its familiar darker colours and triangular shape while still clinging onto my shirt before it literally buzzed off. 

Before you all begin worrying that KKP has become the Discovery Channel, I've only put that reminiscing about cicadas above so that I can introduce eclectic singer-songwriter Maharajan's（マハラージャン） latest, "Semi Dance Floor" (Cicada Dance Floor). It had originally been introduced as a digital single in May 2022 but it got upgraded to EP status and released again just last month. 

Written, composed and arranged by Maharajan, "Semi Dance Floor" is another one of his characteristic funky pop tunes, and it seems to tell a story of a cicada which headed to the bright lights of Roppongi rather than the sedate coolness of the forest. I figure that it wanted to spend its last days dancing the night away rather than finding a mate and starting the circle of life once more. The music video for "Semi Dance Floor" is something that I've come to expect from Maharajan with those three guys reminding me of the three "wombats" that were Scott Lang's good buddies from "Ant-Man".

Maharajan -- Sailor Muntaro（セーラ☆ムン太郎）

 

I haven't gotten to know the singer-songwriter Maharajan（マハラージャン）all that long or well especially considering that my first article on the Tokyo-born fellow was only posted a few months ago in January. My impression though is that he's got quite a bit of that Weird Al Yankovic sort of humour in his music videos while putting out dynamic melodies.

Weird Al was more than happy to emulate folks like Madonna and Michael Jackson so his genre tastes were all over the place but it seems like Maharajan has enjoyed either rock or R&B. Come to think of it, I can also pick up on some Ginger Root in the execution as well.

I found his 3rd EP (his first with a major label), "Sailor Muntaro", an obvious riff on the iconic "Sailor Moon", which was released in March 2021. Once again as the zany music video will display, the title track's disco funk sense is paired with a tongue-in-cheek look at the superhero and tokusatsu genres. The heroes and villains may be verbally challenging and physically intimidating each other, but our calm heroine simply is above and beyond such pettiness. Sailor Moon would lose her dumpling hair balls at how capable this not-damsel-in-distress is.

For your information from the music video's information underneath, the young lady is bodybuilder Misaki Sakurai（櫻井美沙季）. There are some online photos of her posing but otherwise, there isn't a whole lot of additional information about her.

Maharajan -- Kurae! Telepathy（くらえ！テレパシー）

 

Anime's Winter 2023 season has been in business for a couple of weeks now, and so far, one show that has gotten my attention is the adaptation of the 2015-2019 manga "Tomo-chan wa Onna no Ko!"（トモちゃんは女の子！...Tomo-chan is a Girl!）. Methinks that there is a bit of a "Taming of the Shrew" in this one and just from the animation style, I believe that there is even some of "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun） goofiness (where IS that 2nd season?!). 

One other reason that I'm keyed into "Tomo-chan" is the cast consisting of Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）playing the tomboyish title character (she just played another round of the far different Takagi-san last year), Kaito Ishikawa（石川界人）as her bestie/potential beau, Jun (I remember him from "Danberu Nan-Kiro Moteru?"（ダンベル何キロ持てる?...How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?）as the supremely friendly gym staffer), and Rina Hidaka（日高里菜）as the two other characters' troublemaking other friend, Misuzu (I remember her from "Komi-san wa, Komyu-sho desu."（古見さんは、コミュ症です。...Komi Can't Communicate） last year as the psychotically hilarious Ren.

Just last night, I wrote up the first article for singer-songwriter Maharajan（マハラージャン）and from the strength of last year's "Kimi no Ha Burashi"（君の歯ブラシ）, when I heard that he was also responsible for the opening theme of "Tomo-chan", I knew that I had to give it a listen. No regrets here! His "Kurae! Telepathy" is another gee-whiz-banger of a pop-rock tune that reminded me of Masayoshi Oishi's（オーイシマサヨシ）"Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai"（君じゃなきゃダメみたい）from the aforementioned "Nozaki-kun" in that it encapsulates the fun and chaos to be unleashed in each episode. Maharajan's vocals in the chorus even sound fairly similar to those of Sakanaction（サカナクション）.

"Kurae! Telepathy" has been translated as "Come on! Telepathy" but frankly, I think it has an even stronger vehemence to it such as "Fxxk you, Telepathy", and that could describe Tomo-chan's frustration at how dense and/or reticent Jun is. Even plain telling him in Episode 1 that she loved him bounced off his face like a propelled cake sprinkle.

Although the single for "Kurae! Telepathy" won't be out until February 15th according to the site for "Tomo-chan", it looks like the full version of the song is already available online.

Maharajan -- Kimi no Ha Burashi（君の歯ブラシ）

 

From YouTube

Maharajan （マハラージャン）is a Tokyo singer-songwriter who has a rather distinct look matching a suit with a turban. According to his J-Wiki profile, when he told his former management company that he wanted to stand out from the crowd, they responded with "Well, how about being a maharajah?". I guess the man who would become Maharajan (his real name is confidential) answered in the affirmative.

Beginning his career as a music artist in 2019, Maharajan has thus far released four digital download EPs, five digital download singles, three albums and one vinyl LP. From his third album, "Shouki ja Irarenai"（正気じゃいられない...Going Insane） released in July 2022, I give you the track "Kimi no Ha Burashi" (Your Toothbrush) which was written and composed by the singer.

Judging from the music video and his lyrics, this catchy tongue-in-cheek pop tune with a hint of disco is probably showing the most passive-aggressive form of vengeance against a former love. Well, it's either that or the former boyfriend is being very pragmatic with the things that the ex has left behind. In any case, "Kimi no Ha Burashi" is a pretty fun post-breakup song. My compliments to the brief guitar solo by Yuya Komoguchi. As for the album, "Shouki ja Irarenai" peaked at No. 38 on Oricon.