otonari (Ririko) -- Uraomote Aquarium（ウラオモテアクアリウム）/Rie Takahashi -- Olivia wo Kikinagara（オリビアを聴きながら）

 

Somewhere in my dusty collection of old-fashioned print photos, there is an album containing my shots from my trip to Sapporo years ago. It was a mere three days in the northern city in Hokkaido but it was a nice one especially since things were so comfortably cool and dry in June over there compared to the hot and humid conditions that were already creeping into Tokyo. I would have put one of those photos up, most likely one of the shots of the neighbourhood of Susukino, Sapporo's own equivalent of Shinjuku or Kabukicho in Tokyo, but I haven't had the wherewithal to dig into the cabinets quite yet. Instead, I've posted a YouTube video from the good people at Tokyo Walker with their own traipse through Susukino.

What's with all of the nostalgic memories of Sapporo all of a sudden? Well, although the last season of anime was fairly sparse for me in terms of what I wanted to watch, it appears that there may be a few for Winter 2024 that have popped up favourably on my could-watch radar. Two of those are actually set in Japan's northernmost prefecture

"Snack Basue"（スナックバス江）is based on the 2017 manga by Forbidden Shibukawa（フォビドゥン澁川）and the trailer has had me thinking that the nutty humour and weird characters are probably something that would get me to watch. Supposedly the tiny but stylish titular bar is located five stations away from Susukino so it's even further away from the hotel where I'd stayed during my trip there. When I do finally get to see "Snack Basue", it'll be interesting comparing this anime with the ultimate in bar sitcoms in America, "Cheers". Not sure if any of the regulars there will yell "YAMADA!" whenever Yamada steps in, though.

The opening credits for "Snack Basue" pretty much gives us the cast of characters and the tone of the show, and I recognize the first several seconds as a parody of the opening animation for one of the movie-of-the-week programs on Japanese TV. However, the opening theme is something a little different; I'd expected something folksy jovial or a Mood Kayo in the spirit of a typical Japanese watering hole, but actually it's fast-paced synthpop by otonari (Ririko) called "Uraomote Aquarium" (Two-Face Aquarium) written by Ririko and composed/arranged by Ryohei Sataka（佐高陵平）. Ririko's breathlessly delivered lyrics describe what I think is the usual rant by tipsy salarymen at places like Snack Basue about bullying bosses and terrible clients, so there is the whole tatemae and honne issue within Japanese society.

From what I've seen on the J-Wiki article for the series, the ending songs will be a series of covers of the old kayo kyoku which is refreshing to see and hear. For Episode 1, it was Anri's（杏里）debut song "Olivia wo Kikinagara" from 1978 as performed by seiyuu Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）in character as the bar's proprietress Akemi（明美）. It's pretty close to the original arrangement, too. Compare that with Takahashi's other cover of a kid's song in the anime "Tomo-chan wa Onna no Ko!"（トモちゃんは女の子！...Tomo-chan is a Girl!）last year. 

Rie Takahashi, Rina Hidaka & Sally Amaki -- yurukuru*love

 

Well, I'm halfway through watching "Tomo-chan wa Onna no Ko!"（トモちゃんは女の子!...Tomo-chan is a Girl!）and it's been very enjoyable. I figure that since I've gotten a couple of other articles up associated with the show regarding the opening theme and some hilarious karaoke involving the lead character, I may as well give the show its own Label. There is at least one more song that I can include in addition to the one that I have here.

In comparison with the rock n' roll of Maharajan's（マハラージャン）opener "Kurae! Telepathy"（くらえ！テレパシー）, the ending "yurukuru*love" is a cute pop number at an even-steven tempo performed by three of the main characters: Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）as the tomboy Tomo, Rina Hidaka（日高里菜）as the stoic and scheming Misuzu, and Sally Amaki（天城サリー）as the ditzy-and-clever Carol. Masaru Yokoyama（横山克）composed the song with Natsumi Tadano（只野菜摘）providing the lyrics which basically summarizes the premise of the show. I have to say that Tomo's vocals sure have improved since her time at the karaoke box.

For some reason, I couldn't find any full version of "yurukuru*love" online whether it be due to copyright oversight or perhaps the song is only meant to be a minute or so long. But I did find a techno remix by 174UDSI.

Rie Takahashi -- Donguri Korokoro（どんぐりころころ）/Neko Funjatta（猫踏んじゃった）

From clipart-library.com

 

Last night, when I wrote about the venerable children's song "Te no Hira wo Taiyou ni"（手のひらを太陽に）from 1962, I first sent a shoutout to an even older kids' tune that the character of Tomo from "Tomo-chan wa Onna no Ko!"（トモちゃんは女の子！...Tomo-chan is a Girl!）sang at karaoke, much to the mirth of the guy she loves and to her utter embarrassment. Yep, I do feel her pain.

Now, "Donguri Korokoro" (An Acorn Rolled Down) is a children's song that is apparently now part of the public domain so I gather that to mean that no one really has ownership (for you legal eagles, if I've made an error here, please correct me). I'm only using seiyuu Rie Takahashi's（高橋李依）name here because her character Tomo's awesome depiction of the song is so different from the many songs her other popular character Takagi-san did in "Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san） that I just had to give her the mike, so to speak.

The century-old "Donguri Korokoro" was released in either 1921 or 1922 (for argument's sake, I'll go with the latter year), and it was written by novelist and Japanese literature expert Nagayoshi Aoki（青木存義）and composed by educator Tadashi Yanada（梁田貞）. Soon after the end of World War II, the song was placed into school music textbooks. This tale of errant acorns and loaches was a song that I also often heard here and there over the decades.

I might as well kill two birds (or a cat) with one stone here and also include Tomo-chan's take on another classic "Neko Funjatta" (I Stepped on a Cat). This time, though, I'm not talking about a made-in-Japan kids' song but one whose origins are German and is a song that has been known worldwide, since its probable creation in 1890 by Ferdinand Alfred Gustav Loh according to LS Piano Music. The original title is "Flohwalzer" (The Flea Waltz) although it isn't a waltz, and in Japanese, there are no fleas...just an unlucky cat with back/tail issues. Once again, I used to hear this all the time by folks in band class and other venues when someone just wanted to play around on the 88 keys.

According to J-Wiki, the Japanese version of "Flohwalzer" under the title of "Neko Funjatta" was used in NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）TV vignette series with lyrics by Hiroo Sakata（阪田寛夫）. However in 1954, Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）placed his own lyrics onto Loh's original music. Going over to English Wikipedia, the song has different titles depending on the nation such as "La Chocolatera" in Spain and "Szamárinduló" (Donkey March) in Hungary.

Personally, I will be looking forward to any more contributions by the Queen of Children's Songs.

Rie Takahashi -- Santa ga Machi ni Yatte Kuru（サンタが町にやってくる）

 

Well, it is November 25th which means on the "Kayo Kyoku Plus" calendar that we're entering the Christmas season on the blog so expect the Yuletide tunes to come out fairly often over the next few weeks leading up to December 25th. By the way, the photo of Santa Claus above was taken in front of Hakuhinkan Toy Shop in Ginza. It's kinda like Tokyo's version of FAO Schwarz.

It was only about two weeks ago that I put up the latest in the "Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san） articles with main seiyuu Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）as the titular Takagi-san performing a couple of covers of Japanese pop tunes. However, a few days back, I just happened to view Season 3's Episode 9 which was the Christmas episode for the entire franchise. Great timing that. And if viewers had thought that the show couldn't get any sweeter, well, they had a whole bunch of mistletoe thrown at them. 

Of course, the show topped this cake off with a candy cane or ribbon or gingerbread cookie with Takahashi singing "Santa ga Machi ni Yatte Kuru", aka "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", during the end credits. The arrangement was so adorable and old-fashioned that Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）probably turned green with envy. I hadn't mentioned it before, but those Japanese lyrics were provided by opera singer and composer Takao Kanbe（神戸孝夫）, and they were first used on The Peanuts' cover of the song all the way back in 1962.

Yeah, it's got some of that Hallmark Xmas card type of orchestra behind it, but also some of that piano from Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You". What's not to love? And of course, for the fans, it's Takagi-san herself at the mike. Along with this version and The Peanuts' cover, the blog also has Tony Bennett's immortal take as a ROY article which ironically began last year's Xmas season on KKP exactly one year ago.

Rie Takahashi -- Gakuen Tengoku（学園天国）/Joyful（じょいふる）

 

Last night, I wrote up an article on "Massugu"（まっすぐ）, the opening theme song for Season 3 of the warmhearted anime "Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san）, and I figured that I could also take care of a couple of songs from that franchise tonight. As has been the tradition ever since Season 1, seiyuu Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）as the titular Takagi-san has been providing the ending themes every couple of episodes which are covers of kayo kyoku and J-Pop tunes of the past.

Season 3's Episode 6 had the climax of the annual school culture festival in which Takagi-san and Nishikata-kun ended up in a performance of a variant on "Romeo and Juliet". One of the peak moments in the entire franchise occurred there, so of course, everyone involved was more than happy to be over and done with the festivities, which led to the celebratory karaoke session at the end.

Well, Takagi-san chose her song wisely since "Gakuen Tengoku" is a karaoke favourite for everyone to join in. It's also quite the chestnut from 1974 as originally done by the family singing group Finger Five（フィンガーファイブ）and then even more popularized through Kyoko Koizumi's（小泉今日子）1989 cover. Several of the cast also joined in the fun with Takahashi.

Couldn't find the ending credits for Episodes 7 and 8, but for those, Takahashi sang a cover of Ikimonogakari's（いきものがかり）"Joyful" from 2009. I've always had a nice feeling about that one since it was used as the commercial jingle for those Pocky commercials featuring a joyfully dancing Yui Aragaki（新垣結衣）.

HY/Rie Takahashi -- AM11:00

 

I've enjoyed the anime "Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Teasing Master Takagi-san） but at this point, I'm only getting started on the second season from 2019. Well, Season 3 just ended several days ago and it ended on a whopper of a scene which probably has had fans punching the air in joy. They don't have to wait so long for the continuation since there will be a movie coming out with teasing Takagi and adorkable Nishikata in June this year. 

As has been the case for the past three seasons, seiyuu Rie "Takagi" Takahashi（高橋李依）has been singing the many ending themes which are covers of various pop and rock hits. This one here was Takahashi singing in character at the end of Episodes 3 and 4 for Season 1 (2018), HY's "AM11:00", and she definitely hits the high notes and the rap mid-tune. The song is a track on the first of the cover song collection albums for the anime.

Considering that it is the 11 o'clock hour Sunday morning that I'm writing this, what better time for "AM11:00"? This was never released as a single but it was a part of HY's 2nd album "Street Story" from April 2003, and it's all about a couple in love luxuriating in a late-morning wake-up and then perhaps hitting the road for a nice drive. Never a bad thing. The song certainly hit a pleasure nerve nonetheless since it got its heavy rotation on the Japanese music channel Space Shower TV, and it was a big hit on the karaoke and cellphone ringtone charts. "Street Story" reached No. 1 on Oricon and stayed there for four straight weeks, finishing the year as the No. 9 album.

According to their Wikipedia entry, HY formed in 2000 with a group of friends covering different types of rock and hip-hop. The name originated from the initials of HY's neighbourhood, Higashi-Yakena in Okinawa. Starting out with five members, they are guitarist/vocalist Hideyuki Shinzato（新里英之）, drummer Shun Naka（名嘉俊）, bassist Shinsuke Kyoda（許田信介）, keyboardist/vocalist Izumi Nakasone（仲宗根泉） and guitarist Yuuhei Miyazato（宮里悠平）. Miyazato left HY in 2019. Naka, by the way, was the composer and lyricist for "AM11:00" under his nom de plume, TUN.

The band has apparently only released albums, 14 of them up to last year, although J-Wiki lists one single "Rail"（レール）from November 2009. HY has also appeared on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen twice in 2010 and 2012.

Ikimonogatari/Rie Takahashi -- Kimagure Romantic（気まぐれロマンティック）

With some of the more insane anime that have come out this summer, it's hard to believe that earlier this year, my anime buddy and I had been watching something as gently humourous as "Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san）. Frankly I wouldn't mind if something similar came out in the soon-to-arrive fall season.

It's been almost 6 months since I put up the last of the multiple ending themes for the show, the gimmick being that they were covers of hit J-Pop songs performed by the seiyuu portraying the titular Takagi-san, Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）. Back in March, just when "Takagi-san" finished its run, I wrote about the adorable final theme, a cover of Every Little Thing's "Deatta Koro no you ni"（出逢った頃のように）.

Well, today I'm going back to the beginning. For the first couple of episodes and the OVA, the ending theme was the cover of Ikimonogatari's（いきものがかり）"Kimagure Romantic" (Capricious Romantic), a cheerful rendition by Takahashi whose lyrics seem to fit perfectly with the overall story arc of "Takagi-san": for Takagi to get young and crabby Nishikata to like her. If I had been the school counselor, I probably would have advised the girl to stop teasing the poor lad, but then there would have been no purpose for the story to air.

In any case, it was definitely one ultra-happy way to end the show.

The original Ikimonogatari version was the band's 12th single from December 2008, and it's no less cheerful and upbeat. Written and composed by Ikimonogatari guitarist Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）, "Kimagure Romantic" is certainly a crowd pleaser as well, judging by the audience response. I haven't been a huge follower of the band but this particular song has struck me as being the most upbeat tune that I've heard so far as voiced by Kiyoe Yoshioka（吉岡聖恵）. 

"Kimagure Romantic" went Double Platinum and peaked at No. 4 on Oricon. The song was also a track on Ikimonogatari's 3rd major studio album "My song, Your song" which came out on Xmas Eve in the same year. It hit No. 1 for 2 weeks and was the 14th-ranked album for 2009.

Every Little Thing/Rie Takahashi -- Deatta Koro no you ni（出逢った頃のように）

Back in 2015, a small part of the anime-loving corner of YouTube had an explosion when the good folks behind "Hibike! Euphonium"（響け! ユーフォニアム）in its first season decided to surprise the socks off the viewers by having the high school band perform none other than "Rydeen" by Yellow Magic Orchestra. The comment "'Hibike! Euphonium' brought me here" underneath videos of the concert or recorded versions of YMO's trademark song should have been given meme status. To be honest, a part of me inside also threatened to squee when I first heard the marching band version of one of my very favourite Japanese songs.

Well, I think the same thing may be happening in 2018 although the phenomenon might be a bit more muted. Although I won't be seeing the final couple of episodes of "Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san） until this coming Sunday, the last scene from the last episode has already gotten onto YouTube and it has already earned an "Awwww...." with so many Ws in it that it would go all the way from my computer down to Lake Ontario. I won't describe what can be seen so easily in the video above but let us say that Takagi-san got her second critical hit (inside joke) and a punch-in-the-air win at the same time.

What put the icing on this swoon-worthy cake was a cover version of an old Every Little Thing hit by Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）, the seiyuu for Takagi-san herself. Just the abrupt way it started when the character made her realization shot a lot of viewers including me right in the heart.

So, unsurprisingly, viewers of "Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san" may be flocking over to the original song by ELT, "Deatta Koro no you ni" (Just Like When We First Met), right now. In fact, I've already seen at least one example of "'Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san' brought me here" in the comments section. Released in August 1997 as the band's 5th single, this was another song that got lots of attention in the mass media. Hearing it once more got me thinking about the 90s again thanks to those punchy synths. Wow! They did sound like that back then.

Written and composed by ELT keyboardist Mitsuru Igarashi（五十嵐充）, "Deatta Koro no you ni" peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and became the 45th-ranked single for 1997 as it went Triple Platinum. It also got recorded onto the band's 2nd album "Time to Destination" from April 1998. That album hit No. 1 for 2 weeks, was the 3rd-ranked release for 1998, and currently stands as the 11th-ranked album in Oricon history by achieving over 4 million in sales.

Not sure how long the above will stay on YouTube but enjoy the not-so-full version of Takahashi's softer cover of "Deatta Koro no you ni". It is so Takagi-san and there's even a nice little shoutout to the opening theme "Iwanai kedo ne."（言わないけどね。）in the instrumental bridge. Apparently, it's been included in a release associated with the show, "Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san ~ Cover Song Collection"（からかい上手の高木さん Cover Song Collection） that just got on sale yesterday. I hadn't realized it but all 7 ending themes sung by Takahashi are cover versions of past J-Pop tunes. Will have to see whether my anime buddy will be picking that up since there were a couple of those ending themes that I enjoyed hearing over the credits.