Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Seatbelts, Dali & Petits Rabbit's (Anime)

 

Well, it's been almost three weeks since the last time we had a visit to the AI gallery, so let's enjoy another one with some anison.

Seatbelts -- Tank!

Dali -- Moonlight Densetsu (ムーンライト伝説）

Petits Rabbit's -- Daydream Café

Petit Rabbit's -- Daydream Café (Rearranged)

 

I was out most of the day today which explains why Wednesday was stuffed with a few more articles than usual including Marcos V.'s posting on "Ninna Nanna" last night so many thanks to him. Actually, I met up with my old anime buddy for brunch this morning and it was a bit of old times as we returned to his place for a truncated version of the old routine of anime and food that we'd once had before the arrival of the pandemic. I don't think we're resuming it but it was nice to visit again.

We even had a short respite of anison playing over the speakers and my friend had been steadily collecting his soundtracks and the like over the years. I was surprised then when he played a variation of a song that I've always enjoyed. 

It turns out back in November 2021, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the original manga "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）, a CD was released titled "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? 10th Anniversary Shudaika Rearrange & Hi Reso Best"（ご注文はうさぎですか? 10th Anniversary主題歌リアレンジ&ハイレゾベスト...Main Theme Rearrangements and High Resolution Best） which provides some of those "Gochiusa" songs with a new twist. My friend was able to play the new version of "Daydream Café", hands down my favourite theme song out of all of them in the anime franchise. Shoichiro Hirata（平田祥一郎） rearranged the original Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）version of the song that best reflected the atmosphere of one of the most moe anime ever made in the 2010s. I'm not saying that we'll be hearing the new "Daydream Café" being played by some DJ in a Harajuku dance club but it's got some nifty beats.

Rabbit Kayo -- Welcome to 2023!

 

Well, a Happy New Year to everyone out there and welcome to 2023! 新年あけましておめでとうございます。

As would usually be the case in my family, we had the traditional o-zoni（お雑煮）breakfast this morning after the New Year's greetings. Because our ancestors originally hailed from western Japan, our o-zoni have round mochi in a miso soup. Folks in the Kanto area, however, tend to grill square mochi before putting the cakes into a clear soup. I've had both styles but in each case, I'm always careful to chew pieces of mochi well and over several seconds lest I end up a victim of choking. French kissing a vacuum cleaner isn't my idea of enjoying January 1st.

Anyways, getting onto the first business of KKP this year, 2023 is known as the Year of the Rabbit and I've illustrated that with the thumbnail of the cute little bunny at the top of the article. Not that I'm into astrology, but I did manage to find what Rabbit people are supposed to be like from the website Chinese New Year, although the paragraphs below don't tell the whole story:

To outsiders, the Rabbit’s kindness may make them seem soft and weak. In truth, the Rabbit’s quiet personality hides their confidence and strength. They are steadily moving towards their goal, no matter what negativity the others give them.

With their good reasoning skills and attention to detail, they make great scholars. They are socializers with an attractive aura. However, they find it hard to open up to others and often turn to escapism.

A plain and routine life is not their style. Though conservative and careful in their actions, they need surprises every so often to spice things up.

Just to let you know, I'm not a Rabbit but a Snake person, so it'll be a few more years before I commemorate that. However, as the first article for 2023 on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I thought I would pay tribute to the occasion by putting up some rabbit-themed songs or songs that have something to do with rabbits just for kicks.

1. Dali -- Moonlight Densetsu (ムーンライト伝説）(1992)

Well, the main character's name is Usagi after all.

2. Petits Rabbit's -- Daydream Café (2014)

All of the cafés in the franchise "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka"（ご注文はうさぎですか）have rabbits in their titles among other rabbit connections.

3.  Miharu Koshi -- Hashire Usagi （走れウサギ）(1985)

4. Noriko Sakai -- Aoi Usagi (碧いうさぎ) (1995)

Petit Rabbit's -- Tenkuu Cafeteria（天空カフェテリア）/Chimame Tai -- Nakayoshi! Maru! Nakayoshi!（なかよし！○！なかよし！）

 

My anime buddy and I were talking the other night and he marveled at the fact that 5 years have gone by since the second season of that show of moe and coffee and rabbits had ended its run. Yes, indeed. I am talking about the franchise "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）. At one point, I thought that everything was all done with Cocoa, Chino and the rest of the characters but a couple of specials in the intervening years kept hope alive, and sure enough, last year, it was announced that a Season 3 called "Bloom" would be heading out the gates in October...which it has.

I've been able to see the first two episodes of "Bloom" via YouTube and not through the auspices of my friend's giant TV screen this time around, but that's cool. The show has been fine and what better series to keep spirits nice and light like a well-made croissant during these times? It looks like the Japanese equivalent of Colmar, France is still going through summer, and I've gotten to see the girls and Tippy handle a flea market and the adventures of Lapin.

Of course, we gotta think about the themes and although the actual release of the singles will probably be some weeks down the line, at least, we can have a listen through the credits. The opening theme is "Tenkuu Cafeteria" (Heaven Cafeteria) by Petits Rabbit's (i.e. the main five seiyuu as listed at the bottom) as usual. Written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed/arranged by Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）, the same duo behind Season 1's "Daydream Café" and Season 2's "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）, "Tenkuu Cafeteria" has the bounciness of the former and the tempo of the latter to basically create the melodic equivalent of...well, a rabbit.

In terms of the ending credits, Season 1 had that spinning wheel and the adorable and sedate "Poppin' Jump"（ぽっぴんジャンプ）to accompany it. Then Season 2 had viewers go into diabetic shock in terms of the visuals and the ending song "Tokimeki Poporon" （ときめきポポロン♪）, and the FBI in the United States was probably wondering why their offices got inundated with phone calls.

Well, this time around, the ending credits and song have their cuteness but quite a bit more toned down compared to Season 2. Going mostly with an "Alice in Wonderland" motif, Chimame Tai（チマメ隊）consisting of seiyuu Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）, Sora Tokui（徳井青空）and Rie Murakami（村川梨衣）sing, as they did for the above two enders, and go a bit jazzier with "Nakayoshi! Maru! Nakayoshi!" (Buddies! Circle! Buddies!). Although I like both the new opening and ending themes, I am even more curious about how the full version of "Nakayoshi! Maru! Nakayoshi!" will sound since I would like to hear the jazz band get even more into the riff during the instrumental bridge. Hata was again providing the lyrics while Tomotaka Ohsumi（大隅知宇）took care of music and arrangement. It's nice and catchy and this time, I don't think the FBI will need to hire more operators.

(cover version)

Petits Rabbit's -- Takarabako no Jet Coaster（宝箱のジェットコースター）

Welcome to another new week. News has perhaps not been the happiest of late but for those fans of "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか）, I think there's something to celebrate. Late last month, it was announced that the third season of high school girls, rabbits and cafes that can soothe the heck out of viewers has been slated for October 2020, so hopefully, in another 6 months, we can all see the latest adventures of Cocoa, Chino and the rest of the hot drink-loving gang in their lovely town.

In the meantime, we can all enjoy "Takarabako no Jet Coaster" (Treasure Box Roller Coaster) that came out in July 2015, between the first and second seasons. Performed by Petits Rabbit's, namely the main quintet of the cast: Ayane Sakura（佐倉綾音）, Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）, Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）, Risa Taneda（種田梨沙）and Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）, it's a supremely breezy and bouncy number which brings to mind the opening theme for the second season, "No Poi!". Not surprisingly, it was made by the same duo, lyricist Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composer Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）.

This is probably a very cornball thing to say, but I think if there is that hidden character that makes "GochiUsa" the adorable and popular franchise it is, it would have to be the town itself. The architecture and layout have always struck me as being so heartwarming and welcoming that I would love to visit it. Of course, with the money and time, I can because it does exist as the city of Colmar in northeastern France (the above video is given in French). Perhaps a good chunk of the inbound tourism to Colmar in the last few years has perhaps been due to those particular anime fans themselves. I can add that the original manga artist Koi should have earned a key to the city from the mayor.

Anyways, here's hoping that our current problems will blow away soon enough so that "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? Bloom" will hit screens on schedule later this fall, and tourism will return in good numbers again to Colmar.

Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?? ~ Sing For You

Last month, I wrote about the joyful jazz/pop waltz "Gin no Spoon ~ Blend of Memory"（銀のスプーン）that ended the Fall 2019 special in the "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？）franchise with a duet between seiyuu Minori Inase（水瀬いのり）and Nana Mizuki（水樹奈々）that would have put a tear in a number of Gochiusa fans' eyes.

Well, along with that OVA, "Sing For You", came a DVD-ROM containing the songs that were created and performed during the special, including "Gin no Spoon". Unfortunately, a lot of those full versions of those tracks have been taken down by the powers-that-be, so I had to do some scrambling around. Basically, most of what I could find are just the montage-type snippets during the show.

The one that I really wanted to put up is the contribution by demure (but with a sly sense of humour) Chiya as played by Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）since she actually puts up an enka number with the title of "Furimukeba Tsuki, Iie Dango"（振り向けば月、いいえ団子。...When I Turn, There is the Moon...Nope, It's a Dumpling.）as befitting her Wa style. With lyrics by the prolific Aki Hata（畑亜貴）, I tip my hat off to composer Masahiro Mizoguchi（溝口雅大）since "Furimukeba" has some similarity to an enka classic by Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, "Amagi Goe" （天城越え）.

Once again, just the briefest of snippets here but the song list also includes Syaro's aidoru-tastic "Hi Hi High☆" which has the usually button-down waitress of the Fleur de Lapin going bonkers on the stage, thanks to that most dangerous of drinks, coffee. Written by Aiko Takase（高瀬愛虹）and composed by Tako Yamaguchi（山口たこ）, the song is well-titled since it may refer to Syaro's state of mind. It's for one of those times when decaffeinated simply won't do.

The only full version of a song on the soundtrack that I could find is the ultra-cheerful "Sing a Song Paya Poya Melody"（しんがーそんぐぱやぽやメロディー）that has the entire main cast of Petits Rabbit's and Chimame-tai（チマメ隊）performing. With lyricist Hata paired with Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）again, after creating the adorable "Daydream Cafe", the very first opening theme for "Gochiusa", the two of them came up with "Sing a Song Paya Poya Melody" which could easily suffice as a possible opening theme for the the third season of the franchise next year. The beat is such that it could even rival the strongest rabbits in terms of how much bounce it can attain, and the song is quite similar to the opening for the second season, "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）.

Hopefully, the other full versions of the songs will return someday, and there is one more song from the soundtrack that I would like to cover if the original gets put back up.

Petits Rabbit's -- Nantonaku Mirai（なんとなくミライ）

I couldn't quite believe it when I first heard about this Japanese cafe's existence in Toronto (as of this writing, it's been open for about a year). Not that I didn't think that a Japanese sweets establishment would actually show up in my city (we've been getting a diversity of Japanese restaurants over the past decade: ramen, izakaya, udon, tonkatsu, etc.), but I had never assumed one with that particular name, Amausaan Uji Matcha, existed.

The reason is the anime "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか?）which deals with happy-go-lucky teenagers taking care of their own distinct cafes. The prim and proper young lady with a subversive streak, Chiya Ujimatsu（宇治松千夜）, is the proprietress of Amausaan「甘兎庵」, a cafe specializing in traditional Japanese sweets. If I'm not mistaken, the same kanji is used to describe the one that I went to yesterday afternoon, and with that rabbit logo, I just had to go "Hmmmm...". Getting back to the real Amausaan in Chinatown, apparently, Toronto is the latest in a number of branches in Asia and North America with this particular one being the biggest in floor size.

I had the matcha mille-feuille cake along with the cold hojicha. The cake was good and had both sweet and bitter tastes, and I was surprised that my hojicha was quite sweet...truly like iced tea from down south. It was also nice that it wasn't too busy during our hour there; don't let the interior photo fool you, customers did come in after the photo had been shot.

Since we're on the topic, allow me to throw in "Nantonaku Mirai"（Somehow The Future）, the ending theme for the finale of Season 2 of "Gochuumon". Unfortunately, I could only find the truncated version but it's good enough to give you the idea of how the two seasons and movie have been like in terms of atmosphere: all very positive and gushingly cute. Performed by the main cast in the form of Petits Rabbit's (you can see the cast names in Labels under the article), "Nantonaku Mirai" was the coupling song for "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）, the 3rd single by the unit released in November 2015 which peaked at No. 4 on Oricon. Prolific anime lyricist Aki Hata（畑亜貴）was at work here along with Tadashi Tsukida（ツキダタダシ）for the adorable music.

The thing is that when "Nantonaku Mirai" was playing over the ending credits for that second season finale, it just seemed to me and I'm assuming much of the viewing audience that the producers were putting a big period at the end of the "Gochuumon" sentence. However, a movie did come out and an OVA is scheduled for this month followed by a third season sometime next year. The gift indeed keeps on giving.

I don't get a chance to go downtown all that much but I figure that I will probably meet up with a fellow translator for lunch sometime this month and he was pretty eager to try out a new tendon place, Akimitsu, not too far away from Amausaan. The walk between the two establishments will come in handy, although calorie guilt will arise at the end of that day.

Petit Rabbit's with beans -- Sekai ga Cafe ni Nacchatta!（セカイがカフェになっちゃった！）

After several months of waiting following the release of the 60-minute special for "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??"（ご注文はうさぎですか??...Is The Order A Rabbit??）titled "Dear My Sister" in theatres late last year, my anime buddy was finally able to get his hands onto the Blu-Ray (although he did see it at the theatre in Japan when he visited).

Yup, yesterday was the usual biweekly session of anime-and-food, and there was a fair bit of drama mixed in with the comedy for the afternoon part. However, after coming back from dinner (a lot of dumplings and fried rice), my buddy warned me that watching this short movie of the cafe-based adventures of Cocoa, Chino and the rest could potentially plunge me into either sugar shock or cotton-swaddled euphoria. Actually, it wasn't nearly that fatal although it was rather pleasant to see something so harmless that wouldn't even hint at psychological damage.

Heck, even in the rare moments when characters are angry (yes, even Cocoa has a momentary snit), they are cute angry. And any drama generated in "Dear My Sister" was basically at the beginning of the movie with some of the girls overreacting to Cocoa leaving town...for an entire week.

The ending theme for the movie is "Sekai ga Cafe ni Nacchatta!" (The World Has Become A Cafe!). Now, my favourite theme song for the entire "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??" franchise will always be "Daydream Cafe", but "Sekai ga Cafe ni Nacchatta!" is pretty nice and is more reminiscent of the really genki second season opening theme "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）with some of that sunny 60s and some disco thrown in there. No surprise since both songs were written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed by Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）who also took care of "Daydream Cafe".

The only difference with "Sekai ga Cafe ni Nacchatta!" is that all of the seiyuu voicing the teen baristas, aka Petit Rabbit's and Chimame Tai are together for perhaps the first time singing a theme song in the form of Petit Rabbit's with beans. And, yes, I would say that they probably would have needed to have downed quite a lot of coffee to record this with the energy that was mustered here.

On the way home, I asked my friend whether there could be another series or another movie from the franchise since one of the characters had hinted the possibility of the baristas going over to Cocoa's smaller hometown to the Hot Bakery. We both later agreed that chances are possible if small since we've heard that most of the material from the original manga has been used up for the original anime and that "Dear My Sister" is a wholly new work not based on the manga. Well, if so, then the movie was a nice way of saying goodbye to everybody in the world of coffee and rabbits.

Return to Shibuya

Following a somewhat uneventful visit to Shimo Kitazawa on the 6th, I quickly made a beeline over to Shibuya. Unsurprisingly, the Teen Mecca was still as lively as ever even on a Monday. And the area continues to evolve with new buildings going up all the time. I am wondering whether it may turn out looking more like Coruscant by the time of my next visit.

Still, good ol' Hachiko was there keeping watch for his master in front of Shibuya Station. Wouldn't it be something if Richard Gere actually showed up?

Of course, there was the cuteness factor with that local bus.

And Shibuya 109 kept its eye over the pedestrians like an eternal sentinel. Speaking of fashion, one of the things I saw fairly often during my walks throughout the Big Sushi was women wearing these bizarre combinations of bathroom slippers/sandals. I would later find out that they are officially called fur sandals and were a big thing in 2016 although the impression is that they are making the slow fade-out.

Whimsy was also on full display as those real-life Super Mario carts were revving up to cross one of the world's busiest intersections.

My anime buddy had given me the heads up before I left Toronto but the popular anime "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？）was being given the motion picture treatment on the 11th. Therefore, the marketing campaign was in full swing in a lot of areas, including the show window of a department store in Shibuya.

So, here is "Daydream Cafe", the original opening theme.

Petits Rabbit's -- No Poi! （ノーポイッ!）

Well, almost 3 months ago, I put up an article about what could be one of the most diabetes-inducing anison themes of the year with "Tokimeki Poporon"（ときめきポポロン♪） which has been the ending theme for the mellow "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??"（ご注文はうさぎですか？？）

Now that the 2nd series of moe girls in cafes is about to wrap up this weekend, I thought it was as a good time as any to talk about the opening theme "No Poi!" Compared to the adorable "Daydream Cafe" from the 1st series, "No Poi!" has more of a dynamic streak which rather fits the slightly more fantastical opening credits. I would say that there was even a bit of Swinging 60s pop fueling the song created by Aki Hata and Kaoru Okubo（畑亜貴・大久保薫）, the same duo behind "Daydream Cafe".

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

I've got to give my compliments to XLEZZYTECHNIKA, the YouTube uploader and one of the folks who brought the band together to give their extended take on "No Poi!" After listening to this version, I'm now reconsidering whether I like the opening or ending themes better. I had thought that "No Poi!" was in an unenviable position being the 2nd opening theme after the great and still my favourite of all the themes for "GochiUsa", but listening to the full version on a cloud service, I've come to appreciate the joyful aspects of the song especially with the main voice cast being further challenged here.

And as it turned out, "No Poi!" has become the most successful of the themes on Oricon, getting as high as No. 4 on the charts.

Petits Rabbit’s -- Nichijo Decoration （日常デコレーション）

Well, in commemoration of the return of the bunch from "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか?...Is The Order A Rabbit?）for their 2nd season tomorrow morning Toronto time, I've decided to put up "Nichijo Decoration" (Everyday Decoration). This was the goodbye (or see you again soon, as it turned out) song that was at the end of the final episode of the first season of the anime which went from April to June 2014 last year.

Sung by the entire main cast in the form of Petits Rabbit's, "Nichijo Decoration" is not quite as hoppy as the opening theme, "Daydream Cafe", but it's still plenty sweet...as in "Would you like some coffee with your sugar?" sweet. This would be the type of song that would get the often insecure and dour character of Sharo flying all over the place. Written by Uran（うらん）and composed by Tomotaka Ohsumi（大隅知宇）, it was a nice way to finish things off for the next several months before "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??" (now with added question mark).

As much as this song, "Daydream Cafe" and the official ending theme of "Poppin' Jump" were some of my earworms for 2014, the entire anime has become an eyeworm of sorts since I've gone through the series about 3 or 4 times already and enjoyed specific funny scenes a number of times more. So I will be waiting with some anticipation the next time I head over to my anime buddy's home in about 10 days.

Petits Rabbit's -- Daydream Café/Chimame-tai -- Poppin' Jump （ぽっぴんジャンプ）

According to the good folks at Wikipedia, an earworm is "...a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing...The word earworm is a calque from the German Ohrwurm...first used in the 1980s".

I myself also like to envision the earworm as the Ceti Eel used to torture and subdue Commander Chekov and poor Captain Terrell in the original version of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" all the way back in 1982. One wonders whether a German Trekkie was inspired by that movie to come up with the name for a song that just...blast it all...won't leave your mind.

For this year, I've got a couple of those aural larvae hanging out in my brain, and they just happen to come from the same anime. My buddy unleashed "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）on me earlier this year, complete with the opening and ending themes. As for the show itself, it was adapted from a manga, and it's basically a pleasant half hour of watching 5 cute girls going through life while working at 3 different cafés in a small European-type town. Mind you, among those kids are a girl with a sister complex, a future NRA member and a moe version of Mr. Spock (yes, another "Star Trek" reference). Bringing in the foodie analogy, when I view "Space Cruiser Yamato" as some serious kaiseki ryori and "Space Dandy" as delectable junk food, "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?" is basically a nice cup of coffee with a small slice of strawberry shortcake. And I do appreciate my cup of joe and shortcake.

"Daydream Café" is the opening theme, and just like the show itself, it is an adorable and breezy ditty featuring all of the 5 main seiyuu put together as the group Petits Rabbit's (as a former English teacher, that apostrophe in there annoys me to no end). Written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed by Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）, it is as sugary as a Xmas candy cane but without the added calories and can almost get me to skip on the street whenever I hear it...over and over again. I was surprised to find out that Petits Rabbit's Ayane Sakura（佐倉綾音）, Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）, Risa Taneda（種田梨沙）, Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）and Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）even pull off a nice little song-and-dance in the official music video as above.

Ceti Eel II is the ending theme, "Poppin' Jump" by Chimame Tai（ チマメ隊）. Inori Minase is joined by Sora Tokui and Rie Murakawa（徳井青空・村川梨衣）who voice two of the minor characters, and the name chimame is an acronym of the three characters of Chino, Maya and Megu who are classmates. If anything, "Poppin' Jump" is even cuter than the opening theme and if taken in large doses, could induce uncontrollable hopping just like the titular animal in the show's title. As it is, though, it has just gotten me to sway my head. Still, it is what it's doing inside my head that's been the problem. I can blame the creators of the song, Uran（うらん）and Yuuki Kimura（木村有希）for making me feel like a 5-year-old at Xmas time.

"Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?" will most likely not enter the annals of significant anime in the 2010s (note from 2019 me: Oh, really?) but neither will it send me to bed racking my brain about what the meaning of life is or trying to purge existential horrors. And you know what? The songs there are probably what I would like to hear in my brain when I enter and exit a particularly welcoming small café...not a Starbucks or even a Timmies.

Tiramisu and coffee at Cova
in Shinjuku Times Square