Komadori Shimai -- Souran Wataridori （ソーラン渡り鳥）

Back in the postwar period, there were a lot of songs recorded and released about regular folks having to come into the big city or elsewhere away from their hometowns to find work. They may be working hard and saving up for their families but they truly miss their furusato. One big representative of that type of song is "Ahh, Ueno Eki"（ああ上野駅）from 1964 by Hachiro Izawa（井沢八郎）who sang about the young people flowing into Tokyo's Ueno Station from the various regions.

Another similarly-themed song came in a bit earlier. That would be "Souran Wataridori" (Souran Migratory Birds) from April 1961 by the Komadori Shimai（こまどり姉妹）, Eiko and Yoko Namiki（並木栄子・並木葉子）. I caught an episode of NHK's "Itsuki Sensei no Utau! SHOW Gakko"（五木先生の 歌う！SHOW学校...Itsuki-sensei's Singing Show School） on Tuesday..."Uta Con"（うたコン）has been on summer hiatus...in which the theme was Hokkaido songs, and "Souran Wataridori" was on the playlist.

The thing about "Souran Wataridori" is that the melody by Minoru Endo（遠藤実）and the the lyrics by Miyuki Ishimoto（石本美由起）are very familiar to me especially the chorus of  "yaaren, souran, souran, souran"（ヤーレン、ソーラン、ソーラン、ソーラン）that the sisters chant out. Unlike "Aah, Ueno Eki" with its setting of a major station in the capital, I think "Souran Wataridori" is more likely set at one of the larger but regional port cities employing fishery workers who may have come south from Hokkaido or moved to one of the coastal cities in Japan's northernmost prefecture.

What I found out from jisho.org is that a souran bushi（ソーラン節）is a "traditional work song of Hokkaido herring fishery workers, performed by school students in modern choreographed interpretations". So, perhaps the workers didn't actually sing and bring in the fish in a rhythmic fashion but the teachers and kids interpreted their work that way.

In the first verse, though, there was a mention about someone plucking away at the shamisen so maybe the song wasn't just devoted to the migrant port workers but also to all those who left their hometowns (labourers, entertainers, etc.) to find work in the big cities. The Komadori Shimai themselves were born in Hokkaido and came to Tokyo to work as strolling musicians on the streets.

Being able to remember the song is probably not so surprising considering that it has probably been covered countless times since the 1960s. Above we have Toshimi Tagawa（田川寿美）and Natsuko Godai（伍代夏子）among others providing their version. The songwriters, by the way, also provided the Komadori Shimai with their first single, "Asakusa Shimai"（浅草姉妹）back in 1959.

Minami Kuribayashi, Miyuki Hashimoto, Faylan, Aki Misato, yozuca*, rino -- Super Affection （すーぱー☆あふぇくしょん）

Ahhh...the alternate universe plot....the o-toro (fatty tuna) of the sushi platter that is science-fiction/fantasy. It's always fascinating to sample but not particularly healthy to have on a regular basis (and no, I didn't get into "Fringe" past the first season). The trope has been there for decades. The earliest example I can remember is from Capra's Christmas classic, "It's A Wonderful Life". But then arguably, the most well-known geek example is that 2nd-season episode from the original "Star Trek", "Mirror, Mirror" when Kirk and some of the Enterprise crew end up in the Mirror Universe and come face-to-face with the supposedly evil Mr. Spock...with the beard.

Anime isn't exactly a stranger to alternate universes either. "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" (2006)? Meet "The Disappearance of Nagato Yuko-chan" (2015). And also this season, I've been watching the epic "Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works" (2014) with a very robust dose of sword & sorcery. Plus, there's been quite a lot of heaviness and darkness during the last few episodes including one episode in which one of the characters meets a very brutal and sad demise. It was so depressing that both my anime buddy and I agreed that we needed to re-watch the much happier and fluffier alt-universe version that starred that dead lass, "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya" (2013).

When I think of the above two anime franchises, I wonder if anime production houses actually use the alternate universe gimmick to provide solace to everyone involved: writers, animators, audience and voice cast. Your favourite character gets sliced to ribbons? No worries....here's an alt-universe show where he/she buys ribbons!

Then, I found out that there was yet another alt-universe version which came in earlier in 2011 called "Carnival Phantasm" which not only stars the cast from "Fate/stay night" but another franchise, "Tsukihime", all put together in an absolutely madcap set of situations that seems to be a shout out to productions such as "Robot Chicken", "South Park". "Wacky Races" (that's going waaaaaay back) and "Yogi's Gang" (the "Ocean's Eleven" of Hanna-Barbera). If I ever get too down from watching Shirou and Rin bleeding all over the floor on "Unlimited Blade Works", I can just watch them goofing about on "Carnival Phantasm".

And then there is the opening theme which had me at the first WhoaWHOA. To bring in another pop cultural trope, I got hit with an earworm again. "Super Affection" and that Busby Berkeley-like dance sequence in the opening credits was just too much for me...I ended up watching the video a few times since I couldn't quite believe the normally dour Rin and Saber energetically waving their arms and kicking up their heels.

"Super Affection" was written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）, whom I'm starting to think is on the way to becoming the Yu Aku（阿久悠）of modern-day anime (I just seem to see her everywhere in the credits), and composed by Masatomo Ohta（太田雅友）. Quite the crowded recording studio as well with Minami Kuribayashi（栗林みな実）, Miyuki Hashimoto（橋本みゆき）, Faylan（飛蘭）, Aki Misato（美郷あき）, yozuca* and rino, only one of whom I know because of Marcos V's articles on her. For me, I think it's not only the cheerful melody that hooked me but also because of those WhoaWHOAs. And those WhoaWHOAs even remind me of an old Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）song, "Ren'ai Revolution 21"（恋愛レボリューション21）.

I'm not sure how "Super Affection" did on the rankings but I kinda wonder if the anime fans had a good time with this one in the karaoke boxes.

A very inside joke to finish off the article, but since I have been writing about alternate universes as a form of spiritual reassurance, perhaps it wouldn't be too much to ask for "School Days: Nice Boat" with some cute and goofy and non-homicidal high school students?