Maneki Kecak -- Kagami no Naka kara（鏡の中から）

 

Although I took that photo back in 2009, the sentiments are still the same...Happy Halloween! I hope that everyone reading this has had or will have a safe and enjoyable October 31st before a good majority of us enter the official commercial Xmas season as of tomorrow. 

I may have been a little too quick off the gun when I mentioned in yesterday's article involving a "Lupin III" theme that the Halloween buzz hadn't quite returned in Shibuya judging from what I saw on the YouTube live streams since I had always presumed that Saturdays would be the wild night instead of Sundays when it came to Halloween. However, looking at VIRTUAL JAPAN's "Shibuya Live Halloween - Tokyo 2021" this morning, it certainly looked like pre-pandemic pandemonium in Japan's Teen Valhalla which also made me a little worried about potential COVID case increases into November.

I actually saw Sadako walking across the massive Shibuya intersection on the live camera but not too rapidly anymore. Well, even vengeful spirits feel their old bones eventually. I guess that she can't even phase through television screens anymore.

Halloween is also Election Night for the Lower House in Japan and at this writing, the governing Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Komeito, have secured a majority although Prime Minister Kishida and his cronies may be licking some wounds due to a drop in several seats. 

But I also have to unfortunately report that there was real-life horror on one of the commuter trains tonight in Tokyo when some young nutcase in a Joker outfit decided to go on a stabbing spree and then set fire to one of the cars. He's been apprehended but as you can see above, several people are now injured. I first heard the news on NHK amidst all of the election coverage and I'm hoping that everyone will pull through.

Anyways getting to the matter at hand, I was wondering what I would do as a KPP entry to salute the night of trick or treaters. Couldn't really find anything at first so I opted to go for one easy solution: checking out any of the themes for the spooky anime "Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro"（ゲゲゲの鬼太郎）. Happily, I hit pay dirt through an ending song for the sixth iteration of the long-running series which ran for a couple of years from 2018-2020. "Kagami no Naka kara" (From Inside the Mirror) was performed by aidoru quintet Maneki Kecak（まねきケチャ）, which has been around since 2015, as the first of the ending themes from Episodes 1 to 13.

Even if listeners don't understand a word of Japanese, they will be entranced right from the get-go with the "Oh-eh-oh-eh-oh" getting into their ears and wrapping around their cerebral cortex (oops, I'm sorry, that was a "Star Trek II" reference). For a spooky song, "Kagami no Naka kara" is quite the dynamic tune with the rumbling rhythm underlaid by some of that relentless percussion and the cutesy vocals by Maneki Kecak. 

"Kagami no Naka kara" was the group's 4th single released in April 2018 under the full title of "Kagami no Naka kara/Atashi no Nokoro Zenbu Ageru"（鏡の中から/あたしの残りぜんぶあげる...I'll Give You All I Have Left）. The release date might have seemed too early considering that it's all about the spookiness, but as the video makes clear, it's all about the heebie-jeebies within Japan which actually celebrates the scary nights during the dog days of summer instead of the autumn in North America. Nice set design by the way. The single did very well, too, peaking at No. 5 on Oricon. Kan Furuya（古谷完）provided the lyrics while Ryota Suemasu（末益涼太）was the composer and arranger.

The name Maneki Kecak caught my attention as well. The first name is Japanese for "inviting" while the second name is a new concept for me (I think KKP contributor Joana Bernardo is more of an expert on this than I am) but according to the aidoru site "Bonjour Idol", "kecak" refers to "...when your favorite idol gets a ballad-like solo part in a song, it is time for you to throw your arms towards her and give her strength in a “kecha”!". The site also gives a much more detailed account (including who the members are) of what Maneki Kecak is all about so I encourage you to check it out.

Modern Idol Classics - My Selection

A few days ago, I was rewatching some music videos and it crossed me that one particular song would be one of my picks when it comes to the most representative songs of the late Heisei era in terms of idol music - it's catchy and prone to be liked by the general public. So, I decided to brainstorm a few others I would consider worthy of entering that category and joined them in one post. It is a top 6 of my Modern Idol Classics (from 2010 to 2019).

1. BiS - nerve

This one takes first place for me because it is personally one of my favorite idol songs ever, and I feel like it embodies what was the late Heisei for idol music. The traditional idol trope started to be defied by some groups such as BiS and now we have a pot-pourri of genres being presented by the kind of performer one would consider an idol. I also feel like, even though there is still one or two major groups ruling the idol scene, there is a larger number of "tiers" when it comes to popularity. No longer do we have the popular idols and the underground ones, there is more to that, and the idol scene in this moment is very diverse.

2. AKB48 - Koisuru Fortune Cookie (恋するフォーチュンクッキー)

To me, this was the absolute peak of AKB48, since which they have started losing momentum as the "national idol group" of Japan. So, it seemed like an obvious pick for this selection. To this day, this is the go-to song to present in all kinds of TV specials, and had a small revival when it propelled the Thai sister group BNK48 to national stardom. I like this song very much! It's catchy and retro sounding and I don't really get tired of listening to it. I think it is the true classic of AKB48 and showcases the very best this group has to offer.

3. Keyakizaka46 (欅46) - Silent Majority (サイレントマジョリティー)

I feel like it had been a long time since any group had such a strong debut single as Keyakizaka46 did. This song was the absolute hit of 2016 and made me hooked into the group for quite some time. Besides this A-side, "Saimajo" is a very solid single with really good songs (I feel like I still want to write about it someday). I haven't been following Keyaki closely, but it seems to me that the popularity they achieved at the time of their debut has vanished a bit. Still, Silent Majority is unforgettable.

4. Maneki Kecak (まねきケチャ) - Kimi Wazurai (きみわずらい)

This is actually the song I mentioned at the beginning of the article. I don't know if it is surprising, since this group is, let's say, at a different level of popularity as the other groups I mention in this article, at least in the West. But to me, this song is an absolute classic. I think it's the whole progression, starting slow and then building up to a quick succession of emotional lyrics. At first, I had to get used to the difference in sound and skill in the members' voices, but it definitely grew on me.

5. BiSH - Orchestra (オーケストラ)

Well, Orchestra comes in the same category as Kimi Wazurai - a slow progression that builds up quickly. I find it better executed technically in Orchestra, but there is something about the rawness of vocals and emotions in Kimi Wazurai that also pulls me into that song. But when it comes to whether they are classics, they both are. And Orchestra is one of the songs that brought BiSH into national fame, and they keep rising by the day, which has been amusing to see! Let's hope Reiwa brings a lot of success for these girls.

6. Nogizaka46 (乃木坂46) - Kimi no Na wa Kibou (君の名は希望)

I wanted to include a Nogizaka46 song because they are the current top idol group in Japan, and whenever I think about Kimi no Na wa Kibou being used as a jingle in the Nogizaka Station, the song stands out to me as a classic. The thing about this group is that they have several songs that stand out to the general public, but not one that one can pin-point as their true number one hit. When it comes to sales, I think Influencer takes the cake, but Kimi no Na wa Kibou is, in my opinion, the one tune that better appeals to the general public. It's a pop song without a doubt, but it sounds so warm and with lyrics so encouraging that I would recommend it to anyone.