Mikuni Shimokawa/MINMI/Nao Toyama -- Omoide ga Ippai（思い出がいっぱい）

 

I remember when I first heard "Omoide ga Ippai" (Full of Memories) by the folk-pop duo H2O on an episode of "Sounds of Japan" on CHIN-FM decades ago. Not having known about its status as the first ending theme for the 1983 anime "Miyuki"（みゆき）, I found it a splendid wistful ballad. Years later, the 3rd-year homeroom teachers of the school that I had taught during my time on the JET Programme sang the song for the soon-to-be graduates. Not a dry eye in the room. And I've learned that "Omoide ga Ippai" has been a stalwart song for Japanese graduations.

Well, commenter Brian Mitchell asked me earlier about some of the cover versions and not surprisingly, considering how beloved and sentimental "Omoide ga Ippai" has become since the early 1980s, the list of singers who have given their own versions of the ballad reads like a Santa Claus list. At Brian's request, I went over three of those covers.

The first one here is by actress and singer Mikuni Shimokawa（下川みくに）, and although she's only had one role as an anime seiyuu, she often sings her fair share of anison. But in this case, she did cover "Omoide ga Ippai" via her December 2003 "Review ~ Shimokawa Mikuni Seishun Anison Cover Album"（Review 〜下川みくに青春アニソンカバーアルバム〜）. Her take is an even breezier and languid take on the anison classic.

MINMI is a singer that I have mentioned on KKP before when she collaborated with m-flo for the dance hall-friendly "Lotta Love". However, she's regularly a reggae singer and that's the genre which is powering her cover of "Omoide ga Ippai" which is a track on her August 2011 album "The Heart Song Collection" which is filled with tunes that she enjoyed as a teenager. 

Nao Toyama（東山奈央）is a seiyuu and singer who's shown up on the blog a number of times in the past and she sings "Omoide ga Ippai" for the second in the series of anime character albums for the anime "Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai"（神のみぞ知るセカイ...The World God Only Knows） which was released in 2014. Under her character of Kanon Nakagawa（中川かのん）, she sings the song under a shoegaze and pop arrangement. 

Walküre -- Ikenai Borderline（いけないボーダーライン）

 

This is a slightly irregular approach for this particular tune but if you can bear with me. I was doing a bit of adjusting last night on an old 2015 article featuring "Futari no Kimochi no Honto no Himitsu" （ふたりのきもちのほんとのひみつ）, the ending theme for the nutty anime "Kill Me Baby", and as I was doing so, I noticed at the right side of YouTube that there was another song from another anime, and something told me that I should give it a shot. Instinct has led me to many a great tune in the past on the blog, so I did as I was inspired.

Instinct...I owe you a Big Mac set! I heard "Ikenai Borderline" (The Borderline You Don't Cross) and was automatically smitten by the really bouncy ska beat and the feeling that this could have been the theme song for a really action-packed anime.

Well, I wasn't too far off the mark. This was actually Track 3 on the debut single for the fictional aidoru group, Walküre（ワルキューレ）, on the 2016 anime "Macross Delta"（マクロスΔ）. And sure enough, that single was "Ichido dake no Koi nara/Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara"（一度だけの恋なら/ルンがピカッと光ったら...If It's a One-Time Love/When the Rune Sparkles） whose second song was one that I covered back in 2019. "Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara" was also one banger of a tune whose spiritual ancestor happens to be one of my favourite songs of all time, "September" by Earth Wind & Fire.

As was the case with that song, "Ikenai Borderline" was also created by lyricist Naoki Nishi（西直紀）and composer Minoru Komorita（コモリタミノル）. This time, it's actress JUNNA as Mikumo on lead vocals with the rest of Walküre on backing vocals.

This video only came up in the last 48 hours or so and that is because the album only came out in the last 24. Yup, on April 6th, "Macross Yonjuu Shuunen Kinen Korabo Album Deculture!! Mixture!!!!!"（マクロス40周年記念コラボアルバム デカルチャー!! ミクスチャー!!!!!...Macross 40th Anniversary Collaborative Album） was released, and a cover of "Ikenai Borderline" is included as sung by seiyuu May'n and Megumi Nakajima（中島愛）as their characters Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee respectively.

Asami Seto, Nao Toyama, Atsumi Tanezaki, Maaya Uchida, Yurika Kubo & Inori Minase -- Fukashigi no Carte（不可思議のカルテ）

Never heard of this anime or the series of light novels that it originated from (then again, my anime buddy has developed an allergy against light novels for the past several years, so it's no surprise that he's never informed me), but by chance the other day, I heard the ending theme for "Seishun Buta Yaro wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai"（青春ブタ野郎はバニーガール先輩の夢を見ない...Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai）, "Fukashigi no Carte" (Inexplicable Carte). I think I heard it for the first time when it was used as the ending music for one of those anime compilation videos on YouTube whether it be KHORnime or one of the other channels.

I only took a glance at some of the scenes and apparently it's some psychological slice-of-life involving a bunch of high school girls and their relationships with one rather blunt-talking high school boy (would explain why I seem to have only caught scenes where he's being yelled at). The Fall 2018 anime had a pretty high-powered cast including Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）and Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）who also hail from "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか）, along with Nao Toyama（東山奈央）, Atsumi Tanezaki（種崎敦美）, Asami Seto（瀬戸麻沙美） and Yurika Kubo（久保ユリカ）.

Getting back to "Fukashigi no Carte", I like it because of the cool jazziness of it all although I wouldn't place it strictly as a jazz piece, and I noticed a reggae rhythm in there, too. Strangely enough, there is something Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）about it as well; not sure if she's even ever provided an anison. It just relays a feeling of a pleasant nighttime walk through the metropolis for me. Ameko Kodama（児玉雨子）and Hidehiro Kawai（カワイヒデヒロ）were responsible for lyrics and music respectively. The above video has all of the seiyuu singing together.

At the end of most of the episodes, the seiyuu performed "Fukashigi no Carte" separately although everyone got together for the song for the first and last episodes. The above video features Kubo's part while the video below stars Toyama.

Nao Toyama -- Aruite Ikou!（歩いていこう！）/Minori Suzuki -- Yozora（夜空）

One of the other anime for Winter 2020 that I've been watching is "Koi Suru Asteroid"（恋する小惑星...Asteroid In Love）. It's another in the line of "Manga Time Kirara Charat" to be adapted into animated form, and basically my understanding now with anything having to do with Kirara is that it will be a very soft and fluffy slice-of-life show. For example, one other anime that was adapted from the same manga company is "Machikado Mazoku"（まちカドまぞく）. So I would say that the likelihood of eye gouging and sexually compromising positions is zero, if not in minus territory.

Something that I've learned from anime viewing at my friend's house is that it's best, though, not to watch a Kirara anime right after coming back from lunch. Digesting a large meal and a show like "Koi Suru Asteroid" don't mix well since the latter is so pleasant and mellow that a viewer can easily head off to La-La Land because of the former. Indeed, that is what happened to me with the first couple of episodes of this particular show (and certain episodes of "Machikado Mazoku") about high school girls getting interested in astronomy and geology. I found that catching the last three episodes was a whole lot more easier later in the afternoon, especially when getting that sugar rush from eating a Tim Horton's donut while downing a Double-Double.

Not surprisingly, the opening and ending themes for "Koi Suru Asteroid" fit very well due to their gentle arrangement. The opener, "Aruite Ikou!" (Let's Go There on Foot!) performed by one of the seiyuu in the show, Nao Toyama（東山奈央）, has got that down-home violin and sparkly piano. The song picks up some speed along the way but its tempo is such that it's still more analogous to an excited exploratory stride through a new town. Singer-songwriter Ai Kawashima（川嶋あい）took care of words and music here.

The ending theme, "Yozora" (Night Sky) is sung by Minori Suzuki（鈴木みのり）and has a similar tone to "Aruite Ikou!" but perhaps with a bit more epicness, perhaps in reflection of viewing that vast night sky from the title. Sawa Nakamura（中村砂羽）and h-wonder were responsible for the lyrics and music here respectively. "Yozora" was released as Suzuki's 4th single almost 2 weeks ago. For that matter, "Aruite Ikou!" was also the 4th single for Toyama from almost 3 weeks ago.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the right scenes on YouTube, but for one episode, the girls are in the traditional Koedo district of Kawagoe City in Saitama Prefecture. If memory serves, I believe that it was the one where a couple of them are helping out in their buddy's bakery. I certainly recognized the neighbourhood since I visited that same area back in late 2017 with one of my former students, and one scene even had a shot of Toki no Kane or the Time Bell Tower as you can see below.

Walküre -- Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara（ルンがピカッと光ったら）

I have a tradition whenever the 9th month of the year arrives, and that is to listen to both versions of "September", the early single by Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and the epic joyful R&B anthem by Earth Wind & Fire. "September" by EW&F was released in 1978 but it seems like a song that I've been hearing ever since my early childhood. Moreover, it's been the one song that could get me dancing each time in my chair at home, and as far as I'm concerned, it will be the only song that will get me onto the dance floor even at my current age (as horrifying as that image might be to many).

Then one day, not too long ago, I came across this video:

To say that I was smitten and delighted would be an understatement. This was a minute of concentrated anime joy!

What I would later discover that the original song was "Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara" (When the Rune Sparkles), one of the ending themes for the 2016 anime "Macross Delta"（マクロスΔ）which just has to have been inspired by "September".

A dang catchy song in itself, "Rune" was performed by the aidoru group in the show, Walküre（ワルキューレ）, with Freyja Wion as played by seiyuu Minori Suzuki（鈴木みのり）as the lead vocal, and then the rest of the band helping out through fellow voice actors JUNNA, Nao Toyama（東山奈央）, Kiyono Yasuno（安野希世乃）and Nozomi Nishida（西田望見）. The above is the full version covered by Nyadus on YouTube, but man, she really does sound like Suzuki! You know, this could be the type of feel-good song that could even be covered by Little Glee Monster. Naoki Nishi（西直紀）wrote the lyrics while Minoru Komorita（コモリタミノル）took care of the music.

"Rune" was one song on the Walküre single "Ichido dake no Koi nara/Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara"（一度だけの恋なら/ルンがピカッと光ったら...If It's a One-Time Love） released in May 2016. It made it to No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 94th-ranked single of the year. That first song was also the first of the two opening themes for "Macross Delta". Both songs were also included on "Walküre Attack!", the group's debut album released in July that year which made it to No. 2 on the album charts and later became the 34th-ranked album.

Of course, with YouTube, the ever-popular "September" and the similarly groovy beat throughout "Rune", it was inevitable that an epic mashup just had to be done, so thanks to folks like Emdyion, there is "When the Rune Sparkles in September". Dance away!

But Emdyion wasn't finished. The YouTuber even came up with an amazing inverted version of the song, this time with the late, great Maurice White taking over on vocals.

I learned a lot here. I will no longer admire Minori Suzuki for just "FEELING AROUND" and I have a new song to love from the "Macross" franchise.

GUMI/Ari Ozawa, Nana Mizuki, Sumire Uesaka, Nao Toyama -- Kokoro Palette (ココロ＊パレット)

It's been several months since one of my favourite anime from the Summer 2016 season, "Kono Bijutsu-bu ni wa Mondai ga aru!" (この美術部には問題がある!), finished its run, and being a fan of the comedic slice-of-life sub-genre, the show managed to fulfill a promise that any televised project wants to achieve...leave the audience wanting more. I've read that the original manga is still plowing ahead but I don't know whether there will be a second season. However, that ending scene in the final episode was good enough for me.

Of course with this blog, I've brought in the anime for the purpose of introducing anison earworms and near-earworms, and what also helped "Konobi" was the really catchy themes of Nana Mizuki's（水樹奈々）"STARTING NOW!" and Sumire Uesaka's（上坂すみれ）"Koi suru Zukei (cubic futurismo)"（恋する図形）. And of course, I already wrote about those two tunes as the series was wrapping up.

However, I neglected to talk about a cute little tune adorably sung by Ari Ozawa's（小澤亜李）main character of Mizuki Usami（宇佐美みずき）during a brief montage scene in the penultimate episode which involved prepping for the annual Culture Day festival at the school. I later found out that the song was titled "Kokoro Palette" (Heart Palette).

Then "Kokoro Palette" came out in its full rousing glory as the ending theme for that final episode with the four main female seiyuu, Ozawa, Mizuki, Uesaka and Nao Toyama（東山奈央）bringing the group effort. I was finally able to get my own copy of "Konobi" and enjoyed my second round; listening to the song once more made me realize that this was a pleasant and worthy song to talk about.

But the final trigger was when I was reading the "TV Tropes" entry on the show and I discovered this kernel of knowledge in the YMMV section. Apparently, the song wasn't a product of the anime and was actually a campaign song for the manga by Imigimuru (いみぎむる) a number of years before. I couldn't be sure of the actual year that "Kokoro Palette" was recorded but considering that the original manga came out in 2012 and the YouTube video above was uploaded in 2013, I think 2013 is a fairly safe bet.

The original recording artist was a Vocaloid by the name of GUMI with "Kokoro Palette" written and composed by musician 40mP. It was a hard choice but ultimately I went with this original version as my favourite due to that hint of Shibuya-kei in there. Plus, that video above with the manga characters being drawn in as the song is playing struck me as a true labour of love. I wouldn't have been surprised if the author got slightly misty-eyed watching it.

And perhaps some of the fans of "Konobi" even before the anime must have gotten a thrill at hearing the song performed in the show, thinking that it should have been used as either the opening or closing theme.