Noriko Watanabe -- Itsuka Dareka ga...（いつか誰かが…）

From Columbia.jp

 

It's been several years since I last put up a song by actress/singer Noriko Watanabe（渡辺典子）and that was "Hare, Tokidoki Kill Me"（晴れ、ときどき殺人）, her second single from April 1984. Looking up her file on J-Wiki, someone was kind enough to even include her history of singles sales as a bar graph, and regrettably, it was a case of diminishing returns for the Fukuoka-born Watanabe.

Although I have never done a deep dive into her discography and although her vocals were perhaps not the most inspiring, her third single from later in September, "Itsuka Dareka ga..." (Sometime Somebody) is an interestingly arranged song. With Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）handling that job, the husband-and-wife songwriting team of lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）and composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）who had created the second single were also on hand for this third single.

"Itsuka Dareka ga..." as the title may imply is a song of enigma as a woman may be lost from all angles, literally and/or psychologically for starters. The melody and arrangement amp that feeling up as they shape the song into something like exotic kayo or Fashion Music as if the setting were somewhere in another nation or dimension involving a spooky castle of some sort. Although there is nothing at all mentioned about it in Aki's lyrics, I was even thinking something along the lines of Halloween. 

According to that sales chart, the single managed to sell a little over 60,000 records with the Oricon ranking for it holding at No. 26. 

Well, whaddaya know? Just like the second single becoming the theme song for a suspense movie of the same name starring Watanabe, "Itsuka Dareka ga..." got hit with the same function for another cinematic adaptation of a Jiro Akagawa（赤川次郎）mystery novel, "Itsuka Dareka ga Korosareru" (いつか誰かが殺される...Sometime Somebody Will Be Killed). Once again, Watanabe is on the hook...figuratively speaking.

Gosanke: Kadokawa Sannin Musume（角川三人娘）

 

Yeah, I know...I was getting cute with the arrangement again. 🙄 Anyways, for the Gosanke（御三家...The Big Three） file, I first want to thank Noelle for her inclusion of the Sengo Sanba Garasu (戦後三羽烏) a few days ago. Of course, last Saturday I did my bit for the Group Sounds equivalent.

Today, I've opted to take things a little further in time to the 1980s since I did find another trio of young ladies who were given their own trio name. For those who knew their Japanese starlets from that decade, they were Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）, Noriko Watanabe（渡辺典子）and Tomoyo Harada（原田知世）. All three of them have been on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" because of their singing but the trio wasn't put together by the media for their time in the recording booth. Known collectively as the Kadokawa Sannin Musume (The Three Women of Kadokawa), they were most likely formed as such by what was once known as Kadokawa Pictures (now called Kadokawa Daiei Studio, according to Wikipedia) because of their association with the studio as up-and-coming actresses. However, as I said above, since they have also released their own singles and albums, I think that we can put them here, too. Watanabe was the latest to debut with her music in 1984.

Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu （セーラー服と機関銃）

Tomoyo Harada -- Toki wo Kakeru Shojo （時をかける少女）

Noriko Watanabe -- Hare, Tokidoki Kill Me （晴れ、ときどき殺人）

Noriko Watanabe -- Hare, Tokidoki Kill Me （晴れ、ときどき殺人）

I first introduced the singing actress Noriko Watanabe（渡辺典子）a little over a month ago with her 2nd-last single, "Sora Iro no Pierce"（空色のピアス）. Well, here is her 2nd single, "Hare, Tokidoki Kill Me" (Sunny with a Chance of Kill Me) from April 1984, and with a title like that, I was quite intrigued.

The song was the title theme for a movie with the same title starring Watanabe which was based on a mystery novel by Jiro Akagawa（赤川次郎）. I don't really have to watch the movie to get that strange feeling of mystery since the trailer as seen above depicts some rather dark happenings involving poor Watanabe's character of Kanako while this happy-go-lucky aidoru-style song is playing in the background. It's almost as if a theme from a Hayao Miyazaki（宮崎駿）movie was grafted onto an Alfred Hitchcock flick. "Tonari no Totoro"（となりのトトロ）for "North by Northwest", anyone?

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm12865712

The other surprising thing is that "Hare, Tokidoki Kill Me" was created by the husband-and-wife team of Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki（宇崎竜童・阿木耀子）who were whipping up all those muscular hits for Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）in the latter half of her career such as "Playback, Part II". This is probably the cutest song I have ever heard by that duo.

Noriko Sakai -- Yume Boken （夢冒険）/ Noriko Watanabe -- Sora Iro no Pierce （空色のピアス）

Happy Monday! Well, I figure if the the anime world can come up with their programs devoted to Heidi, Anne of Green Gables (yeah, Canada) and even Princess Diana, then The Three Musketeers shouldn't be a problem. And I found out that there was indeed an anime about the adventures of Athos, D'Artagnan and the rest of the gang in the late 80s known as "Anime San Juushi"（アニメ三銃士...The Three Musketeers Anime ）by NHK.

I also discovered that none other than Noriko Nori-P Sakai（酒井法子）took care of the opening theme, "Yume Boken" (Dream Adventure) as her 4th single from November 1987. I mentioned on an article for another late 80s aidoru some time ago that a number of the aidoru tunes from that time were infused with a hint of melody lines from other genres. I think with "Yume Boken", there was something faintly classical thrown in by composer Eiji Nishiki（西木栄二）which fit in with the anime it opened for. Hiromi Mori（森浩美）provided the lyrics.

My memory of how Nori-P sounded back in the early days is somewhat hazy unfortunately but listening to her in the opening credits for "Anime San Juushi" and in the cute little video above, I think she had quite the pure delivery for a lack of a better way to describe her vocals. I once borrowed a videotape of the singer one time and I vaguely remember seeing this particular video.

"Yume Boken" placed at No. 4 on Oricon and was the title track on her 2nd album "Yume Boken/NORIKO SPECIAL" which came out later on New Year's Day in 1988. The song was also adopted as the theme for the opening ceremonies of the 1988 High School Baseball Tournament at Koshien Stadium. And there's nothing better for the record companies than having a tune used in that sports tournament as promotion.

Actually, the first thing that had me noticing the anime was this song which I discovered on YouTube titled "Sora Iro no Pierce" (Sky-Blue Earrings) sung by actress/singer Noriko Watanabe（渡辺典子）. The Oita Prefecture-born Watanabe debuted in 1982 and was placed alongside Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）and Tomoyo Harada（原田知世）to be collectively known as Kadokawa San-nin Musume（角川三人娘...The Three Daughters of Kadokawa） representing Kadokawa Pictures.

"Sora Iro no Pierce" was used as an image song during part of the anime, and it has more of an urban contemporary feel. It was Watanabe's 9th and 2nd-last single from December 1987, and although she didn't vocally hit it out of the park, the music by Godiego's Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ ）helps it out. Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）provided the words.