I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
When I think of the words "night beat", I don't automatically think of something groovy from City Pop. Being a Torontonian, my memories go to the title of the evening news on CFTO Channel 9 which was "Night Beat News".
And that was the case when I came across duo ORESAMA's"Night Beat", a track from their October 2022 Blu-Ray and EP combo package "Trek Trunk" which sounds like a box that I kept under my bed for paraphernalia connected with my once-favourite TV sci-fi series. Although I did provide a song of theirs on the blog a little over a year ago which had originated on the 2017 anime "Mahoujin Guru Guru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guru Guru）, I still feel like it's been ages since I mentioned anything about the groovy group.
"Night Beat" is Track 4 on the EP but it still feels like a Track 1 with that characteristic ORESAMA disco groove, and as far as I know, I don't think it has any connection to an anime which is too bad. I wonder if there will be a music video attached to this one. I've always enjoyed the illustrations and animation attached to the group.
It's approaching seven years since I saw the 2017 version of the anime "Mahoujin Guru Guru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guru Guru） which starred among others, A-list seiyuu Konomi Kohara（小原好美）who had just started out in the industry when she got the main role of Kukuri（ククリ）. The show was often hilarious and despite its status as a mystical isekai program, the theme songs for the 2017 version were often on the catchy and danceable synthpop end of things.
Strangely enough, I was listening to one of those opening theme songs from "Mahoujin Guru Guru" the other day. I posted the single "Trip Trip Trip" back in August 2017. Created and performed by the duo ORESAMA, it has been a fun technopop romp. But I haven't ignored the coupling songs either. For instance, there is "Mimimoto de Tsukamaete" (Grab Me by the Ears) which is more of the same albeit at a much mellower tempo, and as lyricist and vocalist Pon（ぽん）sings it, it's all about the joy and wonder about getting the notes of a splendid song in those ears.
The second coupling song is a perky tune called "Kuusou Flight"(Flight of Fantasy). As is the case with all of the songs from the single, ORESAMA partner Hideya Kojima（小島英也）came up with the bouncy techno disco beat about spending a great time traveling around the world. Shoutouts are given to Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Germany, Rome and Paris. I think the song is far more well-traveled than I am.
It was about a year ago that due to various circumstances my family was without live television for about a week and for a couple of days, even the Internet was inaccessible. A high-tech fellow I am not, and that was a pretty difficult time since I had to be my family's ad hoc television scheduler through a combination of ancient videotapes of Japanese TV and YouTube programming. Until everything was finally resolved, I was getting pretty frazzled.
Last night, there was a large series of thunderstorms which roared through the Southern Ontario region like a biker gang, and it apparently sent a few conniptions through our TV box so that we found ourselves without television. Luckily, the outage was just overnight and I was able to find a way to get the TV back early this morning. However, I realized that I must still be suffering from a form of PTSD from last year's telecommunications nightmare since sleep definitely abandoned me. I ended up getting up a couple of hours before schedule and I basically just tackled the TV problem until the solution was finally discovered. Hopefully, I will get my proper rest tonight.
Ironically enough, there is an anime in this current Fall 2020 season which involves a moe but surprisingly ruthless princess who only desires a good night's sleep and will do anything to get it. My anime buddy told me about "Maōjō de Oyasumi"（魔王城でおやすみ...Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle） in fairly glowing terms and unfortunately although I cannot find any whole episodes, there have been some amusing scenes on YouTube.
Seiyuu Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）as one of the current A-listers in the industry has a full plate on her schedule this year, and she's also back in Season 3of the "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）franchise as the button-down Chino, day barista at Rabbit House. However, she's also playing the sleep-deprived Princess Syalis on "Maōjō de Oyasumi" and takes care of the opening theme, "Kaimin! Anmin! Syalist Seikatsu" (Sleep! A Good Night's Sleep! Syalist Life), a bouncy pop tune with a bit of the Transylvanian fantasy treatment created by Shun Aratame（新田目駿）. One would think that this could have been a cute little ditty to be inserted into "The Addams Family".
I've also discovered that the electro-funk duo ORESAMA was taking care of the ending theme, and it's been a good long while since I've heard from vocalist Pon（ぽん）and guitarist Hideya Kojima（小島英也）. I think the last time I mentioned about them was for their contribution to the fun 2017 "Mahoujin Guruguru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guruguru）, "Ryuusei Dance Floor"（流星ダンスフロア）. Nice to hear their brand of disco and candy pop once more.
"Gimmme!" may describe Princess Syalis' demands (including a decent pillow) but it's also the ending theme for "Maōjō de Oyasumi" and their 9th single released about 10 days ago on October 14th. Written by Pon and composed by Kojima, ahhh, it's certainly nice to hear the beats from these guys again. Nighty-night!😴
Yep, it's been fun. Of all of the anime that's been shown during Fall 2017 at my friend's place, my biggest enjoyment has been with "Mahoujin Guruguru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guruguru）through the second half of its 6-month run. Good heavens, they even pulled off a "24" gag in one of the recent episodes. Managed to watch it right up to the second-last episode yesterday so I'm gonna have to wait some weeks before catching the finale since my buddy is heading off to Japan over the Holidays at the end of this week.
As was the case with the first opening theme for the 2017 reboot, the duo ORESAMA has come up with the second opening theme, another catchy number called "Ryuusei Dance Floor" (Shooting Star Dance Floor).
I do love the disco here for ORESAMA's 5th single from October this year. Could have sworn that 1978 Rod Stewart was gonna suddenly pop in but I still managed to see a "cousin" of Daft Punk drop by for a little jig on the dance floor. "Ryuusei Dance Floor" has become the duo's most successful single so far, getting as high as No. 65 on Oricon.
Will probably check out some of the theme songs for the earlier versions of "Mahoujin Guruguru".
It was another loaded anime-and-meal routine Sunday with my anime buddy. However, we did actually meet up with another couple of friends who were part of my movie circle for dinner at a relatively new Taiwanese restaurant called Zen-Q, just north of the Toronto border. On the way back home, my anime buddy agreed that we've been on a roll for the past several months from last year with there being at least a goodly sum of enjoyable shows from each season, this one included.
One of the shows that we've been watching is "Mahoujin Guru Guru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guru Guru） which has had previous iterations on TV since 1994. Although the above video doesn't have a great example of the humour, the show is pretty close to scatterbrain comedy with tsukkomi coming out of the wazoo pretty much minute-by-minute.
Perhaps it's a bit weird to proclaim, but the animation and the humour remind me of the drollery I remember from episodes of "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" that I had caught on Sunday mornings when I was a kid. Of course, the 2017 edition of "Mahoujin Guru Guru" (which is the first time that I've seen any of the franchise) is a bit naughtier at times.
Nothing better than an anime with earworms in both the opening and ending themes. And "Mahoujin Guru Guru" was the first program past the post this season whose themes grabbed my ears.
No wonder! The show has got ORESAMA and TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND who've come up with some catchy themes and songs in general over the past few years. ORESAMA has been the newer-bie for me since I first heard about them through the anime "Alice to Zouroku"（アリスと蔵六）from earlier this year, which incidentally my buddy abandoned a little over halfway for losing focus. The duo of Pon（ぽん）and Hideya Kojima（小島英也）has come up with another uptempo and happy tune in "Trip Trip Trip", their 4th single released on July 26th, to set the mood of adventure and fun for each episode.
Not sure how long the above video will stay up but it does have the opening credits with the Mahoujin dance accompanying "Trip Trip Trip". My buddy says he's heard that there are real-life folks trying to do the dance on YouTube.
This is where my friend and I disagree but if I had to choose between "Trip Trip Trip" and the ending theme "Round&Round&Round", I would go with the latter (although I do like both). I simply like the no-less-cool but slightly more dramatic arrangement of this song better by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND, who are also responsible for the music in "Mahoujin Guru Guru" in general. Plus, the music video shows the mysterious singer-songwriter Bonjour Suzuki（ボンジュール鈴木）, and even reveals her (kinda, sorta) singing the words as well. Another check on the 2017 Bucket List!
Again, it's not usually my custom to feature a singer or a band twice within a month but some time after I read commenter Karen's remark how much she liked ORESAMA's debut single after reading my article on their contribution of an anison to the show "Alice to Zouroku"（アリスと蔵六）, I decided to take a look at the song.
Well, I gotta say that "Ohkami Heart" (Wolf's Heart) is quite the fun song and I think the video really helps! I guess I've always enjoyed those whimsical day-glo images that transports me back to the 80s. Don't know or can't quite remember who they were but there were some artists back then who came up with those images. In any case, whoever produced the video gets my compliments especially in their rendition of ORESAMA members Pon（ぽん）and Hideya Kojima（小島英也）. As for the song itself, there is something old and new in the arrangement as if 80s technopop band PSY-S passed the baton to its next generation.
ORESAMA's debut came out in December 2014 as the ending theme song for the anime "Ōkami Shōjo to Kuro Ōji"（オオカミ少女と黒王子...Wolf Girl and Black Prince）. My anime buddy never showed me this one despite the big-name seiyuu; I guess from what I've read of the plot, perhaps it was a little too sappy romantic for him. Vocalist Pon took care of the lyrics while Kojima composed the music.
I see that the band's other single, "Dramatic" has a video with a similar graphic design theme. Will have to look at that one, too.
Looking at the above trailer, you would be forgiven if you had thought that this was merely one of those heartwarming slice-of-life anime starring a little cosplayer. However "Alice to Zouroku"（アリスと蔵六...Alice and Zouroku）has a split personality. I've been watching this as one of my buddy's presentations during the biweekly sessions this season, and it seems like it can swing almost fully into sci-fi thriller for one episode while swinging into a slice-of-life light comedy for another. However, everything hinges on the relationship between the perky and headstrong super-powered Sana and the cranky Zouroku with the heart of gold.
As I said on the article for the theme songs of "Uchoten Kazoku 2"（有頂天家族2）, none of the anison for the shows this season have been instant hits, but at least, the ones on offer here for "Alice to Zouroku" have been appealingly quirky. For instance, the opening theme, "Wonder Drive"（ワンダードライブ）by ORESAMA has got a nice pop beat that reminds me of ZAQ's "Hopeness" for last year's "Koukaku no Pandora: Ghost Urn"（紅殻のパンドラ）.
ORESAMA consists currently of vocalist and lyricist Pon（ぽん）and guitarist and composer Hideya Kojima（小島英也）, both from Nagano Prefecture. Since their debut single in 2014, they have released 1 album and 3 singles including "Wonder Drive". During their high school days, they covered a number of hits by Tokyo Jihen（東京事変）, Avril Lavigne and Judy and Mary. Lyrical Nonsense has the English translation of the lyrics right here.
It's the ending theme that I think fits in with the overall feeling of "Alice to Zouroku" because of its dreamy, innocent and whimsical nature. And in meeting with that mysterious vibe, I've got no idea who this unit, toi toy toi, is. Whoever they are, though, I'm starting to like "Chant" since there is something rather Enya with that layered vocalization. However I've been getting some push from my anime buddy about the lyricist and composer for "Chant", songwriter Kotringo（コトリンゴ）. Even before this show started, he had been telling how accomplished she is and I've passed by some of her videos on YouTube so perhaps I should give her more of a look-see. Translated lyrics are also up at Lyrical Nonsense.
June 13 2017: Well, Lantis Channel on YouTube put up the official music video for "Chant" yesterday, and I did find out that toi toy toi is made up of Kotringo herself, Babi, Rie Yoshihara（良原リエ）and Masumi Ito（伊藤真澄）.
Due to various circumstances, I've been running behind the sessions and with the spring season wrapping up in a couple of weeks, I'm wondering if my anime buddy might end up showing me the rest of episodes in a massive marathon session.
