Mio Honda -- Ai Dancer/Dreamy Night（哀ダンサー～・ドリーミー・ナイト）

 

In December last year, I introduced singer Mio Honda（本田美緒）, thanks to her languid "Monochrome Fantasy"（モノクローム・ファンタジー）, her contribution to the mid-1980s anime adaptation of Seizo Watase's（わたせせいぞう）"Heart Cocktail"（ハートカクテル）. Just bring out the hammock and the Orange Mimosa. Well, at least it didn't take years for this article to be made...just months.

Well, her debut single in November 1982 was "Ai Dancer" or "Kanashii Dancer" (Sad Dancer), however the kanji is pronounced (let me know if I need to make any corrections). This was an award winner for Honda at a number of contests including the 13th World Kayo Festival and it's a samba-powered number about a dancer's history of one-night stands which was written and composed by singer-songwriter Mitsue Ohshiro（大城光恵）. Ohshiro was all of 17 years of age when she offered this one to Honda. Well, as they say, knowledge is half the battle.

Anyways, the samba flavour in "Ai Dancer" reminded me of a few other similarly arranged hits from around the same time such as Southern All Stars'（サザンオールスターズ）"Niji Iro The Night Club"（匂艶「にじいろ」THE NIGHT CLUB） and Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）"Oyome Samba"（お嫁サンバ）. So, I gather that the Brazilian music genre was quite popular back then for those dance emporium-themed tunes in high-flying Japan back then.

The B-side to "Ai Dancer" was also included in the video above at 3:58, so let me tackle that one, too. "Dreamy Night" is a much more sedate song but also in the City Pop vein. Written and composed by Sumiko Okazaki（岡崎朱美子）with some assistance from Honda in the melody, this feels like the dancer heading up to the roof at about 5 am to cool off her feet and watch the refreshing sunrise.

I would also like to note that composer Ohshiro passed away earlier this February at the age of 57 from cancer. My condolences to her family and friends.

Mio Honda -- Monochrome Fantasy（モノクローム・ファンタジー）

 

Earlier this afternoon, I presented WISE's "Glass ni Yubiwa"（グラスに指輪）which was the musical accompaniment for one of the vignettes in the 1986 anime adaptation of Seizo Watase's（わたせせいぞう）"Heart Cocktail"（ハートカクテル）. Since last night, I've viewed a few of those 3-minute romantic introspectives. I was struck first by the City Pop stroll of "Glass ni Yubiwa"; considering the content of "Cinderella Express 4 ~ Sepia Iro no Kamome"（シンデレラエクスプレス 4 「セピア色のカモメ」）, I was surprised that the song hadn't been made a campaign song for Japan National Railways.

Well, after "Cinderella Express 4", I tried my luck some more like a guy at the slots to see if I could find some more similarly cool City Pop among the "Heart Cocktail" mini-episodes. Unlike the poor guys at the one-armed bandits, I did hit another jackpot soon enough. The vignette here, "Aki ni Mukatte"（秋に向かって...Heading Into Fall）, has struck me as being a little less straightforward. If I have the script right, the narrator is a friend of a rather self-absorbed guy who seems to express more love for his new Suzuki motorcycle than for his girlfriend. The girlfriend is in one scene only and once she's gone, that's probably all for that relationship. The rest of the vignette has the boyfriend go on his touring trip when he may finally realize that there is no one to come home to. Judging from his final appearance, he may not be too unhappy either. But that's my take...if anyone can understand Japanese and confirm or correct me, please let me know.

The vignette's title "Aki ni Mukatte" should have hit me right on the head where the plot was going to go. After all, a lot of kayo which are set in the autumn have illustrated that the season is one where romance goes to die. Bittersweet to be sure, but the accompanying song is another fascinating element. "Monochrome Fantasy", which turned out to be Mio Honda's（本田美緒）4th and final single, was released some time in 1987, and just like the episode itself, the tone is bittersweet and uncertain about the future although it expresses some beauty through Honda's firm yet feathery vocals.

Kouichi Seitou（清藤耕一）handled the lyrics of a woman on her own after the death of her own romance while jazz pianist and composer/arranger Ken Shima（島健）took care of the melody. "Monochrome Fantasy" fits the tone of the vignette but I can also see it as being an ideal one as a sophisticated pop tune for a night out in Tokyo.

There's not much on Honda's bio but what I could find on "Idol.ne.jp" is that she did pretty well on the 1981 edition of the audition show "Star Tanjo!"（スター誕生!）and made her debut in 1982. I also sampled her debut single but I'm not quite sure how to pronounce it: is it "Ai Dancer" or "Kanashii Dancer"（哀ダンサー）? Regardless, the meaning is "Sad Dancer". I'll cover that one soon enough although knowing how my memory works, I may decide to do it sooner than later rather than risk forgetting about it for years.