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.
Well, good heavens, it's been almost five years since I last posted up anything to do with the beloved anime "Shirokuma Café"（しろくまカフェ）. I believe my last article on the various ending themes was Katsuyuki Konishi's（小西克幸）"ZOOtto, ne"（ZOOっと、ね♪） in character as Jougin Panda（常勤パンダ...Full-Time Panda）. That was a pretty slice of Grand Ole Opry-friendly country music right there.
There were plenty of other panda bears as side characters on "Shirokuma Café" but one who also garnered a slightly higher status alongside Jougin Panda was Panda Mama（パンダママ）, main character Panda-kun's（パンダくん）mother. Her main claim to fame on the show was as a patient parent always doing her best cleaning the house but even that patience can be sorely tested by her lazy son, and when Panda-kun finally snaps that patience, out comes the vacuum as more than a mere household appliance.
Played by veteran seiyuuToshiyuki Morikawa（.森川智之）, Panda Mama gets her own ending theme which was featured throughout October 2012, "Kimama ni Panda Mama" (The Indulgent Panda Mama) as written and composed by Saki（紗希）. Although it's not quite as down-home as "ZOOtto, ne", it still comes across as a very friendly slab of country jazz with those strings. I'd say that it even has a bit of that Disney musical in the arrangement, too.
It's been several months since one of the many ending themes for my beloved "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ）has been put up as an article on the blog. I actually decided to re-watch the first episode of the 2012-2013 series again last night, and as such, I did another quick look for another ending theme that had yet to be covered.
Well, it didn't take too long since the character appeared right in Episode 1. Jougin Panda（常勤パンダ...Full-Time Panda） popped up as Panda-kun's calm and wise zoo mate when the latter began his first part-time job, although even he had to take pause at some of his kohai's remarks. He sounded oh-so-mellow and yet he remained an absolute professional at his job (his mantra: Service, Service) before his transfer to Singapore late in the series (the one tearjerker Episode 44 in a show that was almost always light and happy).
Couldn't find the ending credits for Jougin Panda's turn at the microphone. His voice, by the way, was provided by seiyuu Katsuyuki Konishi（小西克幸）, who's currently voicing one of the supporting characters on "En En no Shouboutai"（炎炎ノ消防隊）. But although I couldn't find those credits with Jougin playing all the instruments, I did find the full version of his song which he sang for the July 2012 episodes (and for Episode 44, the sad episode, as a tribute to the character), "ZOOtto, ne" (A Zoo is...). The title could also be a pun on "zutto, ne"（ずっとね）meaning "always".
Written and composed by Saki（紗希）, who took care of all of the other ending themes, I'm only half-joking when I say that Konishi/Jougin could have been welcomed warmly at the Grand Ole Opry with his contribution to the "Shirokuma Cafe" musical tapestry. "ZOOtto, ne" is the pleasant and melodic equivalent of a drive through bluegrass country. Saki has come up with pop, enka, show tune and Latin. Why not country music as well? And as the lyrics go, Jougin seems to be the most inviting of the characters. Come for the cute pandas, stay for the congenial conversation.
Glad to hear that Shirokuma Cafe...the real café in Takadanobaba in Tokyo...is still around. Wouldn't mind another visit there for lunch or dinner when I drop by the megalopolis next time.
I haven't seen or heard seiyuu Kana Hanazawa（花澤香菜）this year aside from her co-starring role in the Winter 2017anime "Gabriel Dropout"（ガヴリールドロップアウト）since my anime buddy hasn't shown anything with her although considering that she's an A-lister, she probably has had another busy year.
However, I've been having some fun watching an old series of videos in which Hanazawa and one of her co-stars from another show, the irrepressible Tomokazu Sugita（杉田智和）, showed up for a cast live-action event. Basically, Sugita mercilessly teases the heck out of her including in a game of "Guess What's In The Box?"
Although I never saw that particular anime that Hanazawa and Sugita appeared on, my memories still return to my beloved "Shirokuma Café"（しろくまカフェ）in which she played the younger sister of the main character Panda-kun, Mei-Mei. Her schtick was that she was crazily in love with Mr. Handa, the chief zookeeper where Panda-kun worked. To say that she fangirled whenever she was in his presence is a gross understatement.
Hanazawa, being one of the cast members, also had her time in the sun as the singer of one of the multiple ending themes for "Shirokuma Café". So she sang a song for her beloved Handa in the form of "Bamboo Rendezvous" with her secret code of "H-A-N-D-A". This particular song came out in January 2013 going into the homestretch of the year-long anime.
To say it's cute is like saying Mt. Fuji is a nice hill. She even fangirls near the end of the song. As was the case with all of the ending themes for "Shirokuma Cafe", "Bamboo Rendezvous" was written and composed by Saki（紗希）. It's a 1980s candy pop tune that would probably be more at home for one of those Sunday morning anime. It's definitely a great fit for Mei-Mei.
Of course, everyone is going panda wild for Shang-Shang, the baby panda born at Ueno Zoo a few months ago.
Following all of the hijinks at Waseda University, my friends decided to call it a day. After they went home, I decided that I would have dinner at a place nearby in student-friendly Takadanobaba that I had always wanted to visit since the anime "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ）was introduced to me several years ago.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Shirokuma Cafe in Tokyo! I had seen the YouTube videos of folks visiting the place and even my colleague Noelle has dropped in on the home of Shirokuma, Penguin and Panda. Well, this was my turn.
Compared to the anime version, the real Shirokuma Cafe wasn't quite as spacious (or populated by anthropomorphized animals) but I couldn't deny the friendliness of the staff. I was still fairly full from the Korean lunch earlier in the day but there was no way I would deny myself the opportunity of dining at my first anime pilgrimage on this trip.
I ordered the Shirokuma Plate consisting of karaage, hamburg under some zesty and chunky tomato sauce with a mound of rice done up in the shape of the master himself. It was truly home cooking in that it was food that could have been whipped up by anybody in the kitchen but I never expected haute cuisine. The dish fit the bill.
Naturally, episodes of the year-long show were rolling on the screen and there were the various products for "Shirokuma Cafe" on sale at the front of the place. I ended up buying a couple of schedulers for my anime buddy, who had introduced me to the show in the first place, and myself.
Although my belt was threatening to explode as I left the cafe, I still had some regrets that I didn't have any room for dessert, and with my schedule, I could only visit once. Ah, well...next time it is for the sweets. Perhaps the menu might even have the apple pie mentioned in the song below itself.
Hump Day....actually, it was supposed to have been something else today. Unfortunately, my old friend informed me that he wouldn't be able to meet up due to sudden work obligations. And to compound things, it's rather too late to inform my powers-that-be that I'm available for work due to time sensitivity. However, I was able to make some lemonade out of lemons since I decided to cook for dinner on my own tonight. I'll be making my own Pepperoncino Pasta for the first time since my Japan days so I picked up the ingredients an hour ago.
Now, one of my wishes when I get to Tokyo next time is to visit the actual Shirokuma Café in Takadanobaba. It's been open for a few years now and looking at YouTube, it looks like it's gotten its fair share of overseas customers since the anime has garnered a lot of non-Japanese fans, including yours truly. Let us hope that it continues to do so before I get there, so I'm appealing to anyone working at the café who may read this article: make a welcome for J-Canuck!
Well, I've decided to do a follow-up of sorts to the lovely anime soundtrack of "Shirokuma Cafe" that I first wrote about a little over a year ago. The one trigger for the follow-up was actually a statement at the end of the first article about my wish to find some hint of the glorious and hilarious music surrounding Penguin's supposedly successful attempts to court Penko-san.
I did find a video with the actual track which features "Romance Kumikyoku"（ロマンス組曲...The Romance Suite） in the video above. The track truly is a sweet suite as composer Kenji Kondo（近藤研二）goes melodically through the highs and lows of love...the full track is indeed marvelous. The old-style jazz violin swoops and soars like a virtuoso Stephane Grappelli around the love struck yet ineffectual Penguin. In a way, it reflects the character's creation of a mountain out of a molehill in terms of a simple confession of love to Penko-san (buyer's remorse though much later); mind you, having been in a similar situation when I was a lad, I don't think I have any right to make fun of the bird.
Going through the comments for Hiroshi Kamiya's（神谷浩史）portrayal of Penguin, I still come across a lot of amazement about how the seiyuu for a kickass character in "Code Geass" could master what comes across as the Barney Fife (Google or YouTube him) of "Shirokuma Cafe".
I'm kinda surprised that I hadn't included this track in the original article but I guess since I had already included a couple of wistful tracks there, it was just as well. Anyways, this is "Onaji Hoshi wo Miteita"（同じ星を見ていた...We Were Watching The Same Star）which popped up in a number of the more introspective scenes of the show.
The other one is another funny tongue-in-cheek musical jab. Just like Kondo decided to take a poke at Arashi（嵐）and other male aidoru groups through "Yama Arashi Tonight!"（ヤマアラシ☆トゥナイト!）, he also took on the tokusatsu theme genre with "Nankyoku Sentai Penguingers"（南極戦隊ペンギンジャー...South Pole Squad Penguin Rangers）. There was a running gag during the later episodes of the show in which some of the minor penguin characters decided that they had to make a name for themselves in show business so why not become the first Antarctica-based superheroes? Cue the heroic synth-horns!
Allow me once more to end things with another post-credits routine by the main characters.
I bet the author for the original manga of "Shirokuma Cafe" (しろくまカフェ),Aloha Higa (ヒガアロハ), must have giggled her lungs up when she came up with this animal-based aidoru group by the name of Yama Arashi that exists in the comfy world of sentient animals and humans. Yamaarashi（山荒）just happens to mean porcupines and guess who's arguably been the top aidoru group on the Johnny's Entertainment heap for the past several years?
Panda-kun's mother and her buddies from the neighborhood are just bonkers over these cute and spiky wonders while the main characters are somewhat bemused to say the least.
In any case, their Yama Arashi's theme song did come up in one of the later episodes of the anime "Shirokuma Cafe" called "Yama Arashi Tonight" (Porcupines Tonight!), and by golly, doesn't it sound just like an Arashi（嵐）tune? It was never used as one of the many ending themes for the show but writer and composer Saki（紗希）, who came up with all those show-enders can pretty much do it all when it comes to transcending the J-Pop genres, as she has by coming up with this oh-so-boy-aidoru tune.
As for Yama Arashi, they consist of the following seiyuu: Mamoru Miyano（宮野真守）, Takayuki Kondo（近藤孝行）, Tokuyoshi Kawashima（川島得愛）, Yuuki Fujiwara（藤原祐規）and Yosuke Ito（伊藤陽佑）. If I'm not mistaken, the above video has the first two guys performing the song with choreography which had the house coming down along with at least a couple of the other cast members.
Some of the funnier scenes during the yearlong run of "Shirokuma Cafe" (しろくまカフェ) in 2012-2013 involved Grizzly, Shirokuma's bestie (or should I say beastie), since he easily became flustered or frustrated with the antics of his old friend and some of the other patrons at the Shirokuma Cafe. I'm not sure if it had also been the case in the original manga but in the anime, Grizzly started out as a recurring role but near the end of the series, it seems as if he got promoted to co-star. All the better for all of us.
Yuuichi Nakamura（中村悠一）was the one who played the gruff (but with a heart of gold) bruin owner of his own bar, and since getting to know the seiyuu for the first time from that role, I've seen him play the romantically clueless Nozaki-kun in "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん）in 2014, the sullen Hazuki from "Natsuyuki Rendezvous"（夏雪ランデブー）which aired in the same year as "Shirokuma Cafe", and currently the kindly widowed father in the foodie fave "Amaama to Inazuma"（甘々と稲妻）during this summer. However, he never got to sing any of the theme songs for those anime although I do have him represented on the blog as one of the Matsuno sextuplets singing the earworm "Six Same Faces" for "Osomatsu-san"（おそ松さん）.
However, Nakamura got his time behind the recording mike at the end of a few episodes of "Shirokuma Cafe" in character as Grizzly with "Grizzly-san no G☆ROCK"(Grizzly's G☆ROCK) which was written and composed (as all of the ending themes have been) by Saki（紗希）. Grizzly has always been the passionate buddy in the group with his hair-trigger temper and his cries of "Enjo, enjo!"（炎上、炎上！...Burn it up, burn it up!）, and he brings a lot of that energy to his own ending theme which was the second in the series. It's done like an old 50s or 60s rock n' roll tune that any of those old pompadour-sporting and hip-twisting teens in Harajuku of the late 70s and early 80s would have gyrated to. I'm not sure if his pride would allow it but Grizzly could set up his own sock hop at BAR THE GRIZZLY. Speaking of which, Grizzly even has his own instrumental theme as heard below...perfect with that glass of I.W. Harper.
This is a bit of an indirect sequel to Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）"Ohkami"（狼）from the other day where I was talking about my friend's performance at her buyokai at the Toronto Buddhist Church. We were actually conversing about which song she could base her next performance on when she mentioned some of the selections from the legendary Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）. Of course, I thought of her early hit "Tsugaru Kaikyo - Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）.
And since I had yet to put up my anison for the week, I immediately remembered the enka entry from "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ）which has some influence from not only "Tsugaru Kaikyo" but also my old karaoke song, "Yukiguni"（雪国）by Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）. As all "Shirokuma Cafe" fans know, the ending themes were all crafted by Saki（紗希）. Is there a genre in Japanese music that this singer-songwriter does NOT handle?! I say, nay!
"Michinoku Shiiku Blues" can be translated as Michinoku Breeding Blues but I think that sounds a bit dicey so I have decided to go with Michinoku Zookeeper Blues. After all, it is sung by the character of Handa-san, the kindly zookeeper where Panda and Llama work. As portrayed by seiyuu Wataru Hatano（羽多野渉）, Handa-san is a beloved miracle worker when it comes to his animals but he seems hopelessly out of his depth when it comes to the matters of the heart.
Hatano truly puts his heart on his sleeve like all true enka balladeers with "Michinoku Shiiku Blues" as he croons about wanting some of that tonic called love. He could be holding that mike right at the bar with a tumbler of Old Parr in his other hand. All Handa-san wants is some sort of positive response from the congenial waitress at Shirokuma Cafe, Sasako-san, while holding off the amourous advances of Panda's little sister, Mei-Mei. Mind you, near the end of the series, there looked to be some hope between Handa and Sasako. I almost forgot that the song also has that bit of Mood Kayo through that backup chorus which sounds reminiscent of The Cool Five.
For one of my articles on the many theme songs in the anime "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ...Polar Bear Cafe）, I started to write half-jokingly that the way things were going, I would end up making the show its own category on the blog. Well, it's no joke anymore. I've actually upgraded one of my favourite shows to Labels status. Considering the three opening themes and the myriad of ending themes during its year (2012-2013), I figured it was going to happen. And the last straw was when I purchased the actual soundtrack for the show by Fukuoka-born composer Kenji Kondo（近藤研二）.
Compared to the tons of regular pop CDs I've bought over the years, soundtracks have been more in the minority and anime soundtracks are even fewer on my shelves. So "Shirokuma Cafe Music Playlist" is pretty special to me. I thought the background music accompanying the overall slice-of-life mellowness was just perfect with its mix of whimsical pop and light jazz...perhaps something along the lines of that clarinet jazz which got interspersed between scenes of "Cheers", the classic US sitcom that I associate "Shirokuma Cafe" most with.
The 53-track disc starts with the TV cuts of the first two opening themes"Boku ni Invitation"（ボクにインビテーション）by JP and "Rough & Laugh" by Clammbon. Then comes the overall instrumental theme for the show, appropriately named "Shirokuma Cafe Eigyochuu"（しろくまカフェ営業中...Shirokuma Cafe Open For Business）. It's not an epic welcome on the order of "Be Our Guest" on "Beauty & The Beast" but a cute little old-style jazz number illustrating the usual day in the life of the place where every animal and human know your name. Shirokuma is your congenial host with Sasako kindly guiding you to your table and taking your order. Meanwhile, Panda, Penguin, Llama and the rest of the gang banter on while trying not to fall into Shirokuma's pun trap.
Of course, if you are looking for the harder stuff, then a trip to The Grizzly is in order. "Grizzly's Bar" has so much of a Southern Comfort sort of feeling that the track ought to be served in a tumbler on the rocks. I can even imagine gruff Grizzly smoothly narrating the lines of a Dodge Ram commercial while this song is playing.
But as fellow fans of "Shirokuma Café" already know, the music wasn't always in the comical jazz category. There were also some wistful pieces such as "Oyasumi, Arigato"（おやすみ、ありがとう...Good Night, Thank You）which was used during some of the quieter and more introspective scenes including the above montage of Shirokuma and Grizzly getting to know each other as cubs. It was one of my favourite numbers.
"Panda wa Yawaraka ni Sasa wo Hami"（パンダはやわらかに笹を食み...Panda Chews The Bamboo Softly）was the very sad song played on THAT episode. The fans know....Episode 44 when Panda went into a major downward spiral on the news that his friend and zoomate, Jougin Panda（常勤パンダ...Full-Time Panda）, was suddenly transferred to Singapore. This was truly the one dramatic episode on the series that had folks grabbing for the Kleenex or a nearby bamboo leaf. If there had been a promotion for this episode on prime time American TV, it would have had a basso profundo announcer's voice going "And on a very special episode of Shirokuma Cafe....". I have gone through the show twice now but have only seen Episode 44 once....just not ready to see it again....excuse me, I've got something in my eye...
I tried to search for any information about the making of 44 but the only tidbit that I could find was that the episode was something made solely for the anime and was never in the original manga. I got the information from the "TV Tropes" entry for "Shirokuma Cafe" under the heading of "Pragmatic Adaptation".
I read one YouTube commenter stating that he couldn't find the slightly jazzier version of "Shirokuma Cafe Eigyochuu". Well, here it is..."Shirokuma Cafe Junbichuu"（しろくまカフェ準備中）. As with any other real-life cafe sign, I would have translated it as Shirokuma Cafe Getting Ready but considering that the piece was always used during the post-credits "Next Episode" sequence, I would probably say that Shirokuma Cafe Stay Tuned is the more appropriate way to title it. In any case, I always looked forward to this part of the show since the main characters enjoyed throwing around the shtick while on location somewhere in Japan. I rather wonder whether the anime producers and directors had watched early American variety shows for research.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any video containing the track of Penguin falling in love which has these soaring jazzy violins at the climax but perhaps someday. In any case, there are a couple of vocal tracks from the album that I will have to cover at a future date. But for those folks who continue to enjoy "Shirokuma Cafe" on sites like Crunchyroll or on their own DVDs, I can recommend "Shirokuma Cafe Music Playlist".
I made my semi-annual binge purchases of CDs the other day via CD Japan (thank you very much) and one of the discs happens to be the soundtrack to one of my beloved anime "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ...Polar Bear Cafe）from 2012-2013. As some of the viewers may be aware, I've written up a number of articles on the various opening and ending themes for the show which seemed to have had the policy of promoting an ending theme of the month as sung by each seiyuu from the cast.
Ending theme No. 3 which was featured in June 2012 was notable for me in that it wasn't a super quirky or barnstorming epic such as the tour de force effort of all of the seiyuu doing their covers of the song "Shirokuma Cafe". As befitting Aya Endo's（遠藤綾）calm and sweet (well, at least, most of the time) character of Sasako（笹子）, her "Mizuiro" (Water Colours) is also just as calm and sweet and very comfy. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any evidence of that particular ending credit sequence on YouTube, but it featured a supposedly live-action Sasako riding through the town on her bicycle while she sang the nice mix of folk, pop and Latin.
As with all of the ending themes for "Shirokuma Cafe", "Mizuiro" was written and composed by the virtuoso Saki（紗希）. And Endo has a pretty nice set of pipes. I read that she had gotten married recently and although I don't know if she has entered motherhood quite yet, I would think that she would be able to sing some fine lullabies to her kids with that voice. Alas, the ending themes are not included on the soundtrack I got but perhaps someday I will make that investment to get those as well.
I've just about finished my second round of watching the heartful and humourous"Shirokuma Cafe"(Polar Bear Cafe), and it's become quite a classic in my eyes with seiyuu apparently playing zany characters against type, Shirokuma's running gag of punning everyone to distraction, and the multiple ending theme songs sung by just about the entire cast.
Over the past few years since the ending of the series, though, I've seen one song on YouTube also sung by each voice actor in character that never popped up on the series at all. Given the simple and appropriate title of "Shirokuma Cafe", it's a light and funky tune written and composed by the lady behind all those ending themes, Saki（紗希）, that could have been a great promotion jingle for the actual coffeehouse itself if Shirokuma had ever decided to advertise beyond the pages of a magazine. That one line of "...happuru, pippuru, poppu na apple pie!"（はっぷる、ぴっぷる、ぽっぷなアップルパイ！） should have gotten Saki an extra bonus in her paycheque.
Each of the seiyuu give their own personality quirks to the song. Takahiro Sakurai（櫻井孝宏）as the quietly droll (and perhaps insane) Shirokuma happily trolls his listeners with his way-over-the-top delivery. Methinks Shirokuma may have been drinking something other than coffee under the counter before he hit the mike. I'm sure it took the edge off.
Then, there is Jun Fukuyama（福山潤）as cute Panda. Panda's version apparently had the cutey go Jim Nabors on me and go deep in the voice. Frankly, I think he sings like Jun Fukuyama.
Hiroshi Kamiya（神谷浩史）as Penguin isn't quite as nuts as Shirokuma but he also has his own snappy take on "Shirokuma Cafe". He sounds quite happy, too, since aside from his dream of being a rakugo comedian, he has also wanted to be the finest karaoke singer in town. I've been reading some surprised/delighted responses on YouTube for Kamiya's rendition since apparently the seiyuu is usually known for taking far more badass roles.
Aya Endo's（遠藤綾）Sasako sings her "Shirokuma Cafe" much like how she is in the cafe: straight, sweet and adorable. There are no wackadoodle sidesteps in her performance.
If I included every character's rendition of the song, this article would probably ring alarms in the Blogger hierarchy. And yet, I feel compelled to put in Mei Mei's supremely cheerful take to wrap things up here. I'm not sure if Kana Hanazawa's（花澤香菜）sister panda became the breakout character of the series but her orgasmic excitement at any thought concerning her love of Handa-san the zookeeper has most likely left a permanent impression in the fans' minds....and a ringing in the ears. No coffee for her!
It's a bit of a pity that "Shirokuma Cafe" the song didn't make it into "Shirokuma Cafe" the show, but hopefully there is an album out there which has the various seiyuus' versions.
I'm starting to think whether I should be making the anime "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ...Polar Bear Cafe）its own category to the right since I've put up a number of the opening and ending themes. Just can't help it...each of them has had its own charm.
One of the other things I've noticed about the 2012 show is its seemingly counter-intuitive casting. I've heard that one of the seiyuu, Hiroshi Kamiya（神谷浩史）, has played his share of macho badass characters in other anime, and yet, on "Shirokuma Cafe", he plays the harmless, snarky and insecure-about-love Penguin. Then, there is Daisuke Ono（ 小野大輔）who plays the Perry Como of the animal group that regularly visits the cafe, Llama. Llama-san is such a mild-mannered and amiable soul whose character actor Ono has also been famous for playing the just-as-mild-mannered (if a bit creepy) Itsuki Koizumi on the 2006 "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". But for the anime I've seen, the counter-intuitive part came to me when I realized that he also played the traditionally hot-blooded Susumu Kodai on the reboot of the Yamato franchise, "Space Battleship Yamato 2199". Just try to imagine Llama-san ordering the Wave Motion Gun be fired...he would end up having a heart attack trying to get past the first syllable.
But I digress. As has been the case with every main and secondary character on "Shirokuma Cafe", Ono has had his chance to apply his vocals to one of the ending themes by Saki（ 紗希）. He went Latin with "Llama-san no Llama Mambo" (Llama's Llama Mambo), supposedly a beloved life-long musical project by Llama for which he has wanted to involve his good buddies at the cafe according to the lyrics. Being someone who has liked his share of Latin music over the years, this particular ending theme has rather stuck with me over the past few years, and since I've been re-watching the series over the past few weeks, I'm looking forward to Ono's dulcet tones in the ending credits again.
I haven't been all that prolific on the blog over the past few days since I've been battling a bit of a gastrointestinal issue. It's pretty obvious to say that it hasn't been all that fun but it looks like I've finally started getting a handle on things again. Last night, though, since I wasn't feeling all that happy, I decided to check out an anime once more that brought more than its share of gentle smiles to my face when I watched it for the first time.
"Shirokuma Café"(Polar Bear Café) had a good year. Aside from a certain magical girl franchise or two, it's awfully hard to encounter an anime that actually goes beyond the typical 13-episode cour, and the adventures of Panda, Penguin and Shirokuma went four times as long, from April 2012 to March 2013. It was the anison equivalent of a good hot cocoa with a marshmallow as I viewed this odd fusion of "Cheers" and "Wild Kingdom" with its quirky yet amiable characters and the running gags such as the one above where Panda would frequently fall prey to his Mom's vacuum cleaner.
So, now that some of my energy has been replenished, I've decided to cover all of the three opening theme songs that greeted me through the 50 episodes of the series. The first opening was "Boku ni Invitation"（ボクにインビテーション...An Invitation For Me） by JP which is short for American singer-songwriter John Paul Lam from Hawaii. According to Wikipedia, he collaborated with Misia to write a song titled "Work It Out" for her 2009 album, "Just Ballade". However, "Boku ni Invitation" from 2012 was JP's debut single with Avex Group. JP took care of the melody while Yoshiharu Shiina（椎名慶治）wrote the lyrics.
"Boku ni Invitation" was an appropriately weird and hip-hop way to start off this series about a gently droll animal comedy. I had never heard quite that much Auto-Tune in an anison before, but the song had that 21st-century vibe but was reminiscent of the old welcoming theme song from "The Flintstones" as Shiina incorporated some of the cafe's goodies and the opening credits had the three main characters dancing away. The credits automatically set the friendship core for the series.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down)
Strangely enough, the episode I re-watched last night is represented in some of the stills in the above video. It was the 2nd episode in which the gang hold a picnic in the park. The highlight was seeing a drunk Penguin give his ode to Penko-san, his unrequited love.
Some months later, the opening changed. The credits now centered upon one of the few main human characters, Sasako, as she made her spirited bike commute to the cafe while the new opening theme of "Rough & Laugh" flowed. Of the artists covering the songs here, Clammbon（クラムボン）is the band that I have heard the most about. I've always associated this alternative pop-sounding unit with my old Tower Records in Shibuya since often when I entered the huge emporium, I would usually see either a display of their latest album or hear one of their songs on the store speakers. But to be sheepish, "Rough & Laugh", which was their 11th single from November 2012, was the first song that I've heard by them in its entirety. Written by vocalist Ikuko Harada（原田郁子）and bassist Mito（ミト）, and composed by the latter, I liked the melody which was as spirited and cheerful as Sasako's race to work, and also Harada's sweet vocals. The song peaked at No. 57 on Oricon.
Then, there was the third and final opening theme, "You & Me" by singer-songwriter Rie fu and Saki（紗希）who was behind all of the ending themes sung by the characters of "Shirokuma Café". Splitting up the composing and writing duties, Rie and Saki came up with this huggable tune that seemed to wrap its arms around the entire cast and setting for the series in a sign of affection and thanks for a job well done. Although there were several weeks to go before the show finally wrapped up, "You & Me" and the credits seemed to signify a goodbye of sorts from Shirokuma and the bunch with everyone heading back to that park for another picnic which for me was the first memorable scene from the show.
Allow me to end this tribute to "Shirokuma Café" with another one of the show's rituals, the introduction for the next episode. Also, you can check out a couple of my favourite ending themes from the show by Panda and Penguin.
A couple of months ago, I provided an article on the first ending theme for the droll 2012-2013anime "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ...Polar Bear Cafe）. There aren't a lot of examples of the genre that last an entire year unless they're the crown jewels of a TV station (et tu, PreCure?), and there are very few of them that have more than one or two ending themes. Singer-songwriter Saki（紗希）then probably earned herself a lot of respect (and mucho mugs of beer) for penning no less than 12 ending themes for "Shirokuma Cafe" throughout the show's run...and in different styles, to boot. Plus, a number of the seiyuu involved provided the vocals for all 12.
I'm just a little over halfway through the series so I'm currently on my 7th ending theme. Along with the first cheerful ending by Jun (Panda) Fukuyama, I've become a fan of this earworm...namely the 6th ending theme sung by Hiroshi Kamiya（神谷浩史）who is the seiyuu for the acerbic Penguin (and no, absolutely no relation to the homicidal Batman villain). So far, I've heard rock (Grizzly), ballad (Sasako), country-folk (Jougin Panda) and even enka (Handa-san). However, I've got to admit that Saki took the cake when she came up with this tribute to all things Disney Musical with "Zokkon Penko-san" (I'm Madly In Love With Ms. Penko). I mean, the only things missing here were the talking candle and teapot.
As I've mentioned before, I'm not an expert on seiyuu. However, I did read of some surprise about the person behind this jolly tune since Kamiya has usually been known to voice very cool and erudite characters, albeit guys who inhabit a very wide range on the morality spectrum. In "Shirokuma Cafe" though, his Penguin sounds like a nasal combination of Dr. McCoy from "Star Trek" and the irritated tsukkomi partner of a Japanese comedy duo. It's a wonder that he hasn't smacked his buddies on the show with a paper fan as of yet (then again, it's awfully hard to clasp a big fan with flippers). And then to hear him sing "Zokkon Penko-san" as the ode to his lady love and as the extension of a running gag probably earned him even more accolades.
Yup, the ads are annoying but I gather that the "rent" has to be paid. However, I believe it's the second half of this early episode which provides the lyrical material for Penguin's lovesickness.
My knowledge of anime and seiyuu (voice actor) is very limited compared to my friend who could pretty much lecture on the subject at university. However, I know what I like....programs with heart and loopy humour no matter what the setting (a kickass starship is also a nice touch). Several months ago, my buddy introduced the first couple of episodes from a slice-of-life anime adapted from a manga titled "Shirokuma Café"（しろくまカフェ...Polar Bear Café） which had come out in early 2012. For me, I consider it a mix of the American sitcom "Cheers" and the animal kingdom with the main stars being a realistically rendered (for anime, anyways) polar bear, panda and penguin. I have recently been able to get the entire run of "Shirokuma Café" so have been enjoying the appealing weirdness of a polar bear running a cafe out in the Tokyo 'burbs with his buddies popping by frequently like Norm and Cliff.
Jun Fukuyama（福山潤）is the seiyuu behind the lazy-pants Panda. Apparently, Fukuyama is much more famously known through his role in "Code Geass" as Lelouch Lamperouge but as of this writing, I can only identify him as the whiny but cuddly member of ailuropoda melanoleuca. And as any voice actor will do from time to time, Fukuyama also provides his vocal cords in character to the first of several ending themes for "Shirokuma Cafe". "Bamboo☆Scramble" was written and composed by Saki（紗希）and has that cheerful strut-happy beat with a Chinese twist that reflects somewhat on the droll good humour and camaraderie on the series which lasted a year.
