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.
Showing posts with label Seitokai Yakuindomo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seitokai Yakuindomo. Show all posts
Well, it comes in cycles but once again, I've returned to enjoy the simple pleasures of the long-running anime "Seitokai Yakuindomo"（生徒会役員共...Student Council Staff Members） with its treasure house of perverted sex jokes. It's from a manga but I can't believe the anime franchise has lasted well over a decade.
The first season landed all the way back in 2010 with a second season coming several years later in 2014. Not surprisingly, the entire seiyuu cast didn't miss a beat or seem rusty, the dirty jokes and gags continued to gush forth like a massive flood of ji--...well you know what I mean.
Triple Booking（トリプルブッキング）, the fictional aidoru trio voiced by Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）, Sayuri Yahagi（矢作紗友里）and Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）, the same three behind the main characters of Shino, Suzu and Aria respectively, performed the opening theme for the first season, and they were back to do the second season's song "Hanasaku ☆ Saikyo Legend Days" (Blooming ☆ The Strongest Legend Days). Written by Hanai（花衣）and composed by Hiroki Arai（新井弘毅）, it's a chugging rock tune compared to the cute synthpop of original theme song "Yamato Nadeshiko Education"（大和撫子エデュケイション）.
I can't imagine what it must have been like in the studio when these guys were giving out their jokes during recording. Anyways, "Hanasaku ☆ Saikyo Legend Days" peaked at No. 24 on Oricon.
Back to Monday! I've realized that now that my anime routine with my anime buddy has been stopped for several months, I really haven't done a lot with my anison here. I'm only watching one show this season and the theme songs there haven't exactly lit a fire under me, so I was left wondering what to do for a typical anime theme tune. Then I re-realized that I had yet to do any of the themes from the devilishly dirty show "Seitokai Yakuindomo"（生徒会役員共...Student Council Staff Members） that had its premier season in 2010. Good golly...an entire decade ago!
Mind you, I've written about some of the soundtrack which sounds like composer, Yuuya Mori（森悠也）, really was punching above the show's weight. His theme for the quietly pervy Uomi, "Party Shimashou"（パーティーしましょ） is a slice of bossa nova heaven, for instance.
I should warn you first that the above opening credits are from the Blu-Ray version which means that a certain hobby of one of the minor characters has been uncensored. Now the opening theme for that first season was "Yamato Nadeshiko Education" (Education for the Traditional Japanese Woman) by Triple Booking（トリプルブッキング）, a fictional aidoru trio that actually originated from the 2001 manga "Aidoru no Akahon"（アイドルのあかほん...Idol Pulp Fiction） created by Tozen Ujiie（氏家ト全）, the same fellow behind the original manga for "Seitokai Yakuindomo". Triple Booking consists of Shiho Iida（飯田シホ）, Yuuri Arina（有銘ユーリ）and Karuna Kisaragi（如月カルナ）and the seiyuu behind those three: Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）, Sayuri Yahagi（矢作紗友里）and Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）respectively who also happen to be the same voice actresses behind the three main female characters in "Seitokai Yakuindomo".
Written by Saori Kodama（こだまさおり）and composed by Akihiko Yamaguchi（山口朗彦）, in contrast with Yuuya Mori's soundtrack, "Yamato Nadeshiko Education" is one very seemingly child-friendly Xmas candy-like piece of bouncy happiness. This would be a breezy cheer song that could fit any magical girl anime but of course, those opening credits quickly dispel any notion of innocence and also remind me of some Benny Hill sequences, although I don't think even Benny included any sexual aids in his skits. In any case, the song peaked at No. 28 on Oricon when it was released in July 2010.
If you like, give the opening theme for the second season in 2014 a try.
Before I decided to write this particular article today, I had been wondering why I was enjoying myself so much with this anime that first had its start as a manga in 2007 before making the leap to TV in 2010 and then to the movie screens. It is definitely raunchy and hilarious in a way that would make even Eric Cartman on "South Park" blurt out in his wheezy voice "WHOA! You Japanese are really SICK!...especially you, Naruko!". But I've seen some similarly "Porky's"-like behavior on other anime on YouTube and on the wide screen in my anime buddy's house this decade but those shows never quite adhered to me like "Seitokai Yakuindomo" (Student Council Officers) has.
The crazy thing is that I have never seen "Seitokai Yakuindomo" on TV or DVD as of yet. It's just been through the various excerpts on YouTube that have appeared so much on so many videos that I can say with some confidence that I may have already seen almost all of the two series, multiple OVAs and even the movie without getting out of my chair, despite the disjointedness of my viewing experience.
Yes, the jokes can have me laughing as much as they can have me dropping my jaw, but I was still wondering why I've been stuck on these particular pervy high school student council officers. Well, there is still that family element among them providing a certain happy beating heart. But I think the other thing is that the soundtrack that composer Yuuya Mori（森悠也）has presented for "Seitokai Yakuindomo" has also enhanced my enjoyment of the show. I did mention in my first article on a tune from that soundtrack that it was run-of-the-mill. Well, I was wrong! Even TV Tropes has mentioned "The series has songs that are far more epic than any Sex Comedy has a right to be".
That first article was for "Party Shimashou"（パーティーしましょ）which I've often associated with the character of the soft-spoken Chihiro Uomi（魚見チヒロ）, and I've liked it so much that I'm also including it again above.
"Seitokai Yakuindomo no March ~ Acoustic"（生徒会役員共のマーチ~アコースティック...March of the Student Council Officers） is, as the title suggests, the proud overall theme for the group consisting of straight man Vice President Takatoshi Tsuda（津田タカトシ）, Napoleonic Suzu Hagimura（萩村スズ）and sex-joke-spouting President Shino Amakusa（天草シノ）and Aria Shichijou（七条アリア）. I've realized that the entire soundtrack for "Seitokai Yakuindomo" is just about as good as any soundtrack for a live-action J-Drama, and this march especially sounds like something that has been used for a couple of Fuji-TV dramas that I enjoyed back in the 1990s.
One reason that I've enjoyed the soundtrack is that Mori hasn't hesitated to bring in all sorts of genres. Along with the bossa jazz of "Party Shimashou" and the marching band from the preceding track, there is also some happy-go-lucky sunny pop reminiscent of some sitcom music from the 1970s. "Seitokai no Nichijou"（生徒会の日常...Daily Life of the Student Council） which does convey the feeling of the everyday life of the student council at Ousai Academy, as warped as it often has been. I just realized that it does incorporate the feeling of "Seitokai Yakuindomo no March" and a version of "Party Shimashou".
Of course, not all of the tracks have been put up on YouTube, but I felt that I needed to include this track called "Sonna Toko..."（そんなトコ...Not There）. "Seitokai Yakuindomo" is a series filled with sex jokes, after all, and "Sonna Toko..." is a perfect example of music for such a show. In fact, the track is just another reflection of how Japanese TV has often used the musical cue of 1950s cool jazz via moaning saxophone or muted trumpet to hint at something sexy. I hope that Miles Davis and Bill Evans aren't rolling in their graves too much at this revelation. The above video has an excerpt of the track in a classic sample of the show's humour.
I'm not surprised that a lot of fans absolutely adore the intrepid if sleazy head of the Newspaper Club, Ranko Hata（畑ランコ）. She's just so quirky, and as voiced by Satomi Arai（新井里美）, she sounds like her own eccentric grandmother. Of course, she gets her own theme via "Paparazzi?"（ぱぱらっち?）, a technopoppy piece that fits her perfectly, and especially that intro sounds like a tune that would introduce a news bulletin or farm report (we have had some weird theme music for farm reports in Ontario).
To be honest, I don't recall hearing this particular track "Moe yo, Takatoshi"（燃えよタカトシ...Get Fired Up, Takatoshi） as it's not often that I've seen Takatoshi Tsuda get his flame on in front of the rest of the council since he's often their punching bag. Still, it's a song that has me thinking of tokusatsu heroes and American detective theme tunes from way back when.
Light and happy saxophone is in plenty of supply on "Natsu da! Umi da! Drive da!!"（夏だ!海だ!ドライブだ!!...It's Summer! It's the Sea! It's the Drive!!）which was probably provided during the gang's visit to the beach. It's bright and sparkly smooth jazz heading down to the coast.
Finally, this is "Boku no Takaramono"（僕のたからもの...My Treasure） which I think is another variation on "Party Shimashou" but with a bluesy saxophone taking the lead in another smooth jazz arrangement. I've heard this a few times, including a scene where Prez Amakusa thinks that she has just gotten an indirect confession of love from VP Tsuda. Of course, within a few seconds, that balloon is deflated utterly.
Apparently, the original 2010 soundtrack for "Seitokai Yakuindomo" came in two parts, a Shino-type and an Aria-type. Anyways, drop by for the dirty jokes, stay for the music.
Well, it's a Monday and the final day of winter (technically speaking, anyways) so I will confess to a guilty pleasure. Although this show was never part of my anime buddy's list, I have been watching the many excerpts from "Seitokai Yakuindomo"（生徒会役員共...Student Council Staff Members） over the past several months. This is an anime that's so overtly raunchy that various citizens from Springfield, Quahog in Rhode Island, and South Park, Colorado would probably drop their jaws at some of the gags. Heck, even the notorious Glenn Quagmire would most likely go "Whoa! Just how old are you kids?! Giggity-giggity."
The soundtrack from the show by pianist/arranger/composer Yuuya Mori（森悠也）is your usual run-of-the-mill music for a slice-of-life comedy anime but there is one track that has stood out. It is a very gentle and pleasant theme song for one of the semi-regular characters, the mild-mannered and somewhat pervy Chihiro Uomi（魚見チヒロ）titled simply "Party Shimashou" (Let's Have a Party).
It's always nice to hear a clarinet. Not because I used to play one in high school for 4 years and I certainly don't miss having the ol' licorice stick, but it's just nice to listen to one in a jazz piece (and a bossa-influenced one at that) once in a while that's not connected with a swing number.
"Party Shimashou" reminds me a bit of the theme song from "The Critic" which was a mysteriously underappreciated ABC prime-time cartoon from the mid-1990s ("The Simpsons", I believe, was already well on its way to success, and "Family Guy" was still a few years away). And the composer for that lovely theme was none other than Hans Zimmer, the guy behind "The Dark Knight" trilogy and "Inception", and one of the fellows who had a hand in The Buggles, famous for the anthem for 80s pop music, "Video Killed The Radio Star".
I guess I'm just a sucker for clarinet music that is reminiscent of the Gershwins'"Rhapsody In Blue". Plus, as we get further into "Party Shimashou" , there is even something there that reminds me of Vince Guaraldi from all those classic "Peanuts" broadcasts. Indeed, I have the soundtrack for "A Charlie Brown Christmas".
But lest I get a little too far off on a tangent, let me say that I like "Party Shimashou" as a throwback to mellow music from decades past. Unless I have read the appearance of characters from "Seitokai Yakuindomo" wrong, I think 2012 might be the right year that the character first showed up on the show.
