Tontokoton Staff -- Maid Dai Kaiten（メイド大回転）

 

Well, we're just about halfway through the current anime season and that includes the gritty-as-sand but frilly-as-frills show "Akiba Meido Senso"（アキバ冥途戦争...Akiba Maid War）. The series has been following the pattern of a typical yakuza movie but instead of thugs, we have maids battling it out. At the same time, there has also been a goodly amount of fun music coming out of this as well. So far on the blog, it's been the homicidally hilarious "Junjou Maid Bukkoroshi Kiss"（純情メイドぶっころ主KISS）in the standout scene of Episode 1 and the ending theme "Meido no Komori Uta"（冥途の子守唄）which is in the same vein of the downtrodden-but-unbowed type of Mood Kayo of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Now, let's tackle the opening. First off, those opening credits with all of us entering the tough-and-bloody streets of Akihabara communicate to us in those one minute and forty-odd seconds about what the whole premise is right down to the combination of aprons and arms and of course, the power walk of the staff of the Tontokoton Maid Cafe（メイドカフェ とんとことん）which ought to bring a smile to the face of Quentin Tarentino.

As for that opening theme, it's "Maid Dai Kaiten" (Giant Maid Slalom) by the Tontokoton staff themselves. We have Reina Kondo（近藤玲奈）as the scared newbie Nagomi (although after Episode 6, there may be changes ahead for her), Rina Sato（佐藤利奈）as the hardened warrior Ranko, Minami Tanaka（田中美海）as the alternately sweet-and-snarky Yumechi, Tomoyo Kurosawa（黒沢ともよ）as the gyaru maid Shiipon, Jenya（ジェーニャ）as the Russian battle maid Zoya, and Ayahi Takagaki（高垣彩陽）as the scheming manager Yasuko Yaegashi. Words and music were provided by SHIBU and Getamono Land Keiei Senryaku Shitsu（ケダモノランド経営戦略室...Beast Land Administrative Strategies Office）, the latter of which produced the show.

One YouTube commenter pointed it out well that "Maid Dai Kaiten" is a hard techno piece that seems to have come out of the "Matrix" franchise, and the contrast between those dark beats and the typical Maid Cafe patter works well, both as something oddly kakkoii and tongue-in-cheek. However, the main chorus then launches into something major chord upbeat and aidoru-esque. Maybe that means there is hope around the corner for the Tontokoton maids. Regardless, there are a couple of music snippets that have also popped up; I hope that they get their due as full-fledged songs soon enough on the soundtrack.

Minami Tanaka -- Junjou Maid Bukkoroshi Kiss（純情メイドぶっころ主KISS）

 

It's been the case with a new anime season that I would write about the theme songs for the fresh anime a few weeks after they had begun. One exception has been for the "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid） franchise for which the opening themes were so delectable that I wrote about them even before or just when the first episode exploded out of the gates.

That was when I was still doing the anime-and-food Sundays with my anime buddy. I don't do that anymore; it's now waiting until the whole series gets broadcast a few months later before I get to see it, so when a scene from a new season's anime pops up and has me repeat watching it, I definitely know that another exception has made its presence known.

I am not sure whether there is such a thing as watercooler talk among the anime fandom following a particularly intriguing episode, but this one would be my candidate. A few weeks ago, I looked at one site to see what would be showing for the fall season when my eyes landed on a poster for one show titled "Akiba Meido Senso"（アキバ冥途戦争...Akiba Maid War）. At first glance, I assumed that it would be a comedy about maids from different backgrounds bantering on in their cafe like the rakugo ladies on "Joshiraku"（じょしらく.... Girls In Rakugo), which came out a decade ago. Then I saw the above trailer and said "Nah!"; with all of the censor bleeps and pixelation, this was going to be different. My buddy caught Episode 1 last weekend and he just told me that he couldn't believe what he had seen.

Well, I did see a few scenes on YouTube last night, and one of them did have me repeat watching it as I remarked above, and I've got a feeling that a lot of folks who caught "Akiba Meido Senso" have probably done the same. I never thought that I would see a smooth melding of yakuza movies and maid cafe culture, but it's happened. John Wick and The Bride from "Kill Bill" would have stood up and applauded the relatively older but still stunning maid, Ranko Mannen（万年嵐子）, who went totally and simultaneously wotagei and Meiko Kaji（梶芽衣子）on her maid pursuers in Akihabara which automatically became the world's most dangerous area. Blood and frills...what a concept!

And the massacre was choreographed to a cutesy maid tune sung by one of the other characters, Yumechi（ゆめち）, as played by seiyuu Minami Tanaka（田中美海）. That high-pitched voice struck me as something familiar, and as it turns out, Tanaka had played one of the members of Franchouchou of "Zombieland Saga" fame, little Lily Hoshikawa（星川リリィ）. The lass had the fans dying figuratively with "Junjou Maid Bukkoroshi Kiss" (The Pure Maid's Killer Kiss) while Ranko had the maids dying literally. Animators at P.A. Works must have loved coming to work every day to do this scene.

The song might come out as a single by Tanaka or it could be included in the soundtrack for "Akiba Meido Senso" or both. It was written by nobara kaede and composed by Yusuke Kato（加藤裕介）. It's still early days to say that this anime will be the hit of the season, but Episode 1 looked really promising. As long as we see some more Ranko going all Meiko. Speaking of whom, let's watch some of her carnage.

Franchouchou No. 6 (aka Lily Hoshikawa) -- Little Parappo（リトルパラッポ）

 

Yep, finally finished off "Zombieland Saga Revenge"（ゾンビランドサガ リベンジ）last week. It was very satisfying and of course, aliens just had to spoil the party at the end. Another obvious thing is that the second season has left us with a whole bunch of songs to peruse and enjoy at our leisure until Season 3 comes about. Hopefully, it won't take nearly as long to produce and get onto the air.

Some songs stood out more than others, and for me, there was that showstopper at the end of Episode 5 involving the littlest Franchouchou member, No. 6 or Lily Hoshikawa（星川リリィ）as played by seiyuu Minami Tanaka（田中美海）, on a talent show. A living legend wunderkind with a horrible attitude by the name of Light Ozora（大空ライト）ends up using the same song that Lily was to have performed right after him, leaving No. 6 in a huge panic-inducing lurch. What is she to do?

Well, improvisation has been Franchouchou's middle name ever since Season 1, and though Lily has often been shown as an overly cute kid with a slightly smart mouth, in that Episode 5, she displayed that she is a dead legend wunderkind after all with a specific skill set. In this case, Lily had the ability to rearrange the same song, the hymn-like "Inochi"（命...Life）, beautifully sung by Light, and give it new life as it were. It became "Little Parappo" (Little Bodda Bope), a supremely catchy country music-like rap-and-dance that had the audience clapping and the kids discovering a new move to perform at the playground. Almost immediately, there were comments likening "Little Parappo" to "Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)" by the late Scatman John. Ultimately, Lily didn't win the contest but she did win a lot of hearts.

ARISA and Jun Suyama（陶山隼）worked on the original "Inochi" as lyricist and composer/arranger respectively, but "Little Parappo" had Tomoya Kinoshita（木下智哉）contributing his snappy arrangement skills.

Franchouchou -- Hikari e（光へ）

Yes, folks, there is only one episode left in "Zombieland Saga"（ゾンビランドサガ）, and not surprisingly, it looks like the focus for the finale will be on the heart and soul of zombie aidoru group Franchouchou, Sakura Minamoto. She has borne the brunt of a lot of stuff over the first eleven shows, and, as it was revealed in Episode 11, it's simply because she was born to bear the brunt of a lot of stuff. Although the choice of Sakura to be the central character in the last episode was a natural one, I was kinda hoping for episodes focused on the old-Japan-classy Yugiri and, of course, the legendary Tae Yamada, but maybe that will be for any potential movie or a second series.

In any case, perhaps I can use this opportunity to write about the usual ending theme for "Zombieland Saga", "Hikari e" (To The Light). One Japanese YouTube commenter gave a fairly cheeky opinion on this bittersweet ballad by suggesting that it was a song about graduating from life, and I have to agree that "Hikari e", which was composed by Yosuke Yamashita（山下洋介）, feels like something which would be sung at a tearful graduation ceremony, when compared to the suspense of the opener "Adabana Necromancy"（徒花ネクロマンシー）. Some nice harmonies.

I have yet to go into the lyrics by Shin Furuya（古屋真）but my anime buddy told me that it was about not being able to return to your old life and about going forward. Considering that the ladies of Franchouchou are the undead, it's not exactly the happiest theme but aside from Sakura right now, the rest of the group are doing quite well. Supposedly, the finale will be airing a few days after I write this, so by the weekend, "Zombieland Saga" fans will know the ultimate fate of this motley crew. Personally, I think legendary Tae is married to crazed manager Kotaro, and will finally awaken to browbeat hubby like a really angry Sailor Moon.

Franchouchou -- To My Dearest

If Episode 8 of "Zombie Land Saga"（ゾンビランドサガ）had been given its promotion commercial by one of the three original American television networks, it probably would have gone like this:

"On an all-new very special episode of 'Zombie Land Saga', the littlest member of Franchouchou has her past come back to haunt her...and while her friends step in to help, she has to make a shocking admission to the band! NEXT ON 'ZOMBIE LAND SAGA'!"

My apologies...I can't write as somberly as the announcer would sound.

Anyways, I did mention in the article for the opening theme for "Zombie Land Saga" that I hadn't quite bought into this original anime about zombie girls getting drafted to become an aidoru band of the 21st century. However, happily, I've become more invested since around Episode 5 when Franchouchou（フランシュシュ）and that local chicken restaurant did that tie-up. I started seeing that heart developing in the middle of that story.

Then, came Episode 8 focusing on Zombie No. 6, aka Lily Hoshikawa（星川リリィ）, aka Masao Go（豪正雄）. That heart just grew about as big as the one that thrusts out of Lily's chest whenever she gets nervous. And since "Zombie Land Saga" is an original anime without any manga or game source material, viewers were uniformly shocked at the plot twist and the sadness of Lily's past.

Plus, there is the final goodbye at the end from Lily that...

EXCUSE ME...I'VE GOT SOMETHING IN MY EYE! DANG! THAT ONION-SCENTED AIR FRESHENER! I JUST HAD TO BUY IT ON SALE!

Yes, I've been reading the various comments about the waterworks that had been generated from the fans over Episode 8 leading up to the culmination of the performance of "To My Dearest" at the end with Lily (as voiced by Minami Tanaka/田中美海) taking lead. When I caught this one on Sunday, my throat did get somewhat lumpy...

...yeah, just like that delectable chicken-and-duck congee that I had for lunch at Congee Queen before the episode.

People were writing about the fact that the lyrics and the melody were ham-fistedly thwacked together as heard through the performance. Well, not all of it...I thought the last half of it came out pretty smoothly, but considering the circumstances, I think for "To My Dearest", it didn't surprise me that things had come out haphazardly. After all, the time to whip up the ballad, then practice it for that someone who may or may not show up was fairly miniscule, I would surmise. Yet, it did have the desired effect on the big lug and the rest of the folks watching. The heart was definitely in the right place. To be frank, when I had first heard it, I thought that Lily was kinda delivering "To My Dearest" in the talking/singing pattern of Rex Harrison in "Doctor Doolittle".

Lyricist Shin Furuya（古屋真）and composer Yosuke Yamashita（山下洋介）took care of "To My Dearest".

Franchouchou -- Adabana Necromancy（徒花ネクロマンシー）

Happy Halloween 2018! We're still a few hours away here in Toronto before the kids go out trick-or-treating but the furor and craziness of a Shibuya Halloween have largely passed by, although when I checked the live stream camera for the main intersection a few minutes ago, there were still some hardy costumed folks walking about in the wee morning hours of November 1st. Not sure if my good friends were in the middle of that party that walks like a traffic jam but I'm sure that I will find out after they return in a few days.

Back on Sunday, I wrote that there were a couple of anime this season that has been reflecting some of that Halloween spirit. One is "Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san"（となりの吸血鬼さん）, about the world's most adorable vampire. The other is the subject for this article, "Zombie Land Saga"（ゾンビランドサガ）which apparently has grabbed a lot of folks already, although I can't say that I'm one of the converted...yet. One reason is that I got accustomed to the mile-a-minute gag-a-thon that was "Back Street Girls ~ Gokudols"（ゴクドルズ）, an anime that had transgendered chinpira becoming a successful aidoru group much to their chagrin. For that matter, I may have OD'ed on a whole lot of zany gag anime in the summer.

This time, it's zombie girls getting the aidoru treatment and unlike "Back Street Girls", I was a bit caught off-guard that "Zombie Land Saga" has been more along the lines of last year's "Cheer Fruits" with the slower building up of a local aidoru group. Even my anime buddy has conceded that a good balance hasn't quite been achieved yet although we're going to catch Episodes 4 and 5 this weekend.

The opening theme is pretty interesting. "Adabana Necromancy" (Fruitless Necromancy) by this motley zombie aidoru group Franchouchou（フランシュシュ）has got a fair dollop of pizzazz that seems to incorporate elements of Takarazuka Revue and old tokusatsu/cop show theme tunes. It zigs and zags all over the place like a terrified inhabitant of a haunted house trying to flee from its confines.

Written by Shin Furuya（古屋真）and composed by Yusuke Kato（加藤裕介）, "Adabana Necromancy" is sung by cast members Kaede Hondo（本渡楓）, who I last saw as the hapless bartending Hitomi in the hilarious "Hinamatsuri"（ヒナまつり）, Asami Tano（田野アサミ）, Risa Taneda（種田梨沙）, from "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか?） fame, Maki Kawase（河瀬茉希）, Rika Kinugawa（衣川里佳）and Minami Tanaka（田中美海）. I was kinda hoping that the Kotono Mitsuishi（三石琴乃...yep, Sailor Moon）was in the recording booth but her character still merely growls a lot and eats dried squid. "Adabana Necromancy" ended up peaking at No. 13 on Oricon.

And just so you know that Xmas is around the corner...