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.
My anime buddy and I had been noticing that there were going to be a few more anime sequels than usual for Summer 2025, and one that has been grandly anticipated for years is finally here. After seven years of waiting and probably repeated viewings of the first season in 2018 by ravenous fans, "Grand Blue"（ぐらんぶる）with its second season is back!
I've seen the first episode, and it seems as if the animators in their desire to remind us of what we'd seen and enjoyed in Season 1 have given us plenty of quick flashbacks and a heightened sense of the main characters' neuroses. In other words, we're getting loads of laughs.
Of course, the show has to have its summery oceanic opening credits sequence. And once again, the band Shonan no Kaze（湘南乃風）is here to provide the dynamic party-hearty opening theme "Seishun Towa" (Youth Eternal) with help from song-and-dance group Atarashii Gakko no Leaders（新しい学校のリーダーズ）. This time, there seems to be a back-and-forth between the burly Shonan no Kaze and the chipper Atarashii Gakko no Leaders which I can't help but feel represents the relationship between the men and women of the Peek a Boo diving club.
Both groups had their hand in the creation of "Seishun Towa". This early in the season, we're still waiting for the full version of the song, but it'll arrive in the weeks to come. But now with Season 2 in the pipeline and this song along with the ending theme that I'll cover shortly, I gather that I can finally put up a Grand Blue category in Labels.
I was looking back at my August 2018 article for Shonan no Kaze's（湘南乃風）"Grand Blue"（ぐらんぶる）, the opening theme song for the hilarious Summer 2018anime of the same name, and I couldn't believe that I put it up even before I got to watch a single episode. Since then, the show has become one of the funniest anime comedies ever made, and I'm happy to say that I have my own copy and whenever I'm in need of a quick laugh, I watch the reaction videos for the episodes of which there are plenty on YouTube. Personally, Episode 11 is my favourite which is saying a lot considering that virtually every episode has been amazing. I'm still waiting for Season 2, and with the return of "Hataraku Maō-sama!"（はたらく魔王さま!...The Devil is a Part-Timer!）for its second season after almost a decade following its inaugural one, there is hope out there because the "Grand Blue"manga is still chugging away with additional characters and situations.
But it is Shonan no Kaze's"Grand Blue" which sets the scene every episode with its upbeat and good-buddy fun. I did mention, though, that the band had an earlier hit called "Junrenka" (Pure Love Song) that I would have to do "soon". Well, once again I've proven that "soon" isn't soon so I'm going to have to really ditch those so-called promises of getting to a particular song soon enough.
Let me digress, though. "Junrenka" is Shonan no Kaze's 5th single from March 2006 that proved to be one of their early hits by hitting No. 2 on Oricon and ending up as the 8th-ranked single of the year, going Double Platinum. Truly a pure love song, the music video describes things perfectly as a teen grows up to be a young lady finally finding love along the way, although the central setting is the beach. Meanwhile, at the end of the video, her mother also takes a walk to the beach on a rainy day perhaps remembering her old romance leading to marriage.
If there is a second season for "Grand Blue", maybe "Junrenka" could make for an ideal ending theme since I could see certain characters from the anime actually taking the parts of some of the folks in the video. In a wonderful turn of events, according to J-Wiki, the model Mie, who plays the young lady, and the beach dude who proposes to her, pro surfer Teppei Tajima（田嶋鉄兵）, actually ended up getting married a couple of years following the release of the song.
Wouldn't it be something if Iori and Aina finally work things out and end up like Mie and Teppei? However, I would miss scenes like the one under here.
The very first Author's Picks article in late 2013 belongs to JTM and he chose the opportunity to cover some of his favourite anison, J-Drama and Japanese movie themes. Strangely enough, I realized that I have yet to describe some of my own favourite anison although I have often touched upon the genre in articles going all the way to KKP's inaugural year of 2012.
Well, challenge accepted then! However, when I was dreaming up my list, I also realized that I had forgotten to include some of the very first anison themes that had come to my ears such as the ones belonging to "Space Cruiser Yamato" and other tunes before 2011. So, when it comes down to it, I've decided to make this list under one simple condition: my favourite anison are to be for shows that I've seen over the past decade since returning from Japan in December 2011. I will make a separate list for beloved anime themes pre-2011 at a later date.
Thinking up the list, I believe and I think you will also believe that a lot of my choices for favourite anison have that certain funk and groove, and that is probably due to the fact that my favourite genre in Japanese popular music is City Pop/AOR. But there will be a few exceptions.
Shall we being then? Ah, before I forget, the list isn't in any particular order.
An anime series doesn't necessarily demand a cookin' theme song to be successful. I've seen some pretty fine shows for which I can't really remember the themes, to be honest. However, a great opening theme can act as a splendid business card for what the show can bring to your senses. Case in point: "Viva Namida"（ビバナミダ）by Prince-ly funk artist Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）for the out-of-left-universe show "Space Dandy". As I mentioned in the original article for the song, I knew that I had to get the single when I heard it on Episode 1. Seeing all of the sexy opening credits paired with this sexy song made my choice pretty inevitable. I was getting major Bootsy Collins vibes from Okamura who at the time looked like a buttoned-down company cog until he began hitting the dance floor.
Okamura got all funky? Well, so did Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, and he and his namesake, Airi（鈴木愛理）, added dollops of soul to "DADDY! DO! DO!" to this opening theme for the second season of "Kaguya-sama: Love is War" which will end next weekend, much to fans' disappointment. Folks had been wondering whether Martin would be back to reprise opening theme duties and they were celebrating in the streets when he and his new partner brought a song that may have even eclipsed the amazing "Love Dramatic" from Season 1. Like many YouTube viewers, I've listened to "DADDY! DO! DO!" a ton of times since it was put up and I've yet to get tired of it. Who would have thought that such cool songs would be associated with a rom-com manga-based anime (albeit maybe one of the most popular works ever made)? Now, the pressure is on whether Suzuki can pull off a three-peat with Season 3 (and yeah, there just HAS to be a Season 3).
Getting all sentimental here, but "Joshiraku"（じょしらく）is one of the first anime that I got to see at my buddy's place soon after getting back to Toronto for good. "Kaguya-sama" is the "Frasier" of anime to me, but "Joshiraku" has always been my anime "Seinfeld". The five female rakugo artists simply banter about anything under the sun in their tiny resting room away from the stage. And that raucous opening theme "O-Ato ga Yoroshikutte...YO!"（お後がよろしくって。。。よ！）has had the same effect on me as the theme song for "The Flintstones" did for me whenever I got to see the adventures of Fred and Barney. It's just a welcoming happy tune for each episode while the credits show off the loony mayhem that is to follow. It's just a pity that a second season never came to fruition but at least I got to see the beginnings of Ayane Sakura's（佐倉綾音）career.
4. Petit Rabbit's -- Daydream Café (Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? Season 1, 2014)
Speaking of Sakura, here she is as part of Petit Rabbit's, the main cast singing the first opening theme for the franchise "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか）. "Daydream Café" in its own way is very similar to the opener for "Joshiraku" in that it gives off that welcome shiny and cheery tune basically describing a typical episode of what is basically Girls und Cafés, and the cast perform the tune in character. Although there have been a number of theme songs now for "GochiUsa" in the past six years of its anime existence (including the one that will adorn Season 3 later this fall), I think "Daydream Café" will always be the one theme that fits everyone to a tea...tee.
5. Chinatsu Akasaki, Haruka Tomatsu & Aki Toyosaki -- Wa! Moon! dass! cry! (Joshi Kosei no Mudazukai, 2019)
Since I've been throwing in these comparisons of these anime to American sitcoms that I've known, how about saying that the zany "Joshi Kosei no Mudazukai"（女子高生の無駄づかい）is a mix between "MASH" and "Welcome Back, Kotter"? Discuss! As I recall, there were a few really catchy theme songs in the summer of 2019, but "Wa! Moon! dass! cry!"（輪！Moon！dass！cry！）has come out on top for me because it has been the earworm that has kept on giving all these months leading to the 1-year anniversary since its appearance as an anime. Akasaki（赤崎千夏）, Tomatsu（戸松遥）and Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）who play the main trio in the show must have earned their vocal hazard pay in lunging into this playful sing-song rap with a dance remix rhythm. And the song even gets rather poignantly sweet at the end. It just makes me hope that a second season might come out.
6. Shonan no Kaze -- Grand Blue (Grand Blue, 2018)
Talk about hoping for a Season 2. It's hard to believe that it will soon be two years since the wall-to-wall hilarity of "Grand Blue"（ぐらんぶる）assaulted my funny bone. I still go to the reaction videos from time to time to share in the laughter, and I finally got my own copy of the show. "Grand Blue" the opening theme by Shonan no Kaze（湘南乃風）is the ultimate mood maker for summery good times and dancing on the beach (maybe there can be some actual diving, too!). Like the other themes, it has prepped me into a good mood for each episode.
Great theme (and it's an ending theme this time, too!)...too bad about the anime, though. Frankly, I thought that "Kumamiko"（くまみこ）finished its run somewhat like Roman Polanski's 1965 psychological horror "Repulsion", but on happier news, that ending theme "Kumamiko Dancing" was just oodles of fun along the same lines of "Uptown Funk" by Bruno Mars. Who'da thought that a tune about a relationship between a talking bear and a teenage shrine maiden could be so deliciously danceable? If the show hadn't ended the way it did, I would have said looking at the ending credits that everyone was in a happy place in that village.
Of all of the shows listed here, "Amanchu!"（あまんちゅ！）is the one show that isn't a zany comedy. I mean, it has its examples of gentle humour but really the anime that really focuses on diving is one of the sweetest and most wistful slice-of-life shows that I've ever seen, and it's far away from the "Animal House" that is "Grand Blue". It would only be logical that the opening theme matches that calm coming-of-age atmosphere, and that has been achieved with Maaya Sakamoto's（坂本真綾）"Million Clouds", one very moving theme song that captures the feeling of growing up, making new friends and learning about life.
"Witchcraft Works" was an intriguing anime although as the episodes moved on, I was starting to lose track of the story. However, what stayed constant was the earworm status of the ending theme by KMM Dan, "Witchcraft Activity", and one of the group happens to be seiyuuNatsumi Hioka（日岡なつみ）who's already represented above. The first time I heard this song whipped up by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND at the end of the pilot episode was all I needed to get that urge to get the CD. The full-speed beats and the rat-a-tat delivery by the group absolutely bewitched me.
10. fhana -- Aozora no Rhapsody (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, 2017)
Another opening theme that welcomed me and other viewers into the world of corporate cogs, elementary school students and magical beings, fhana's"Aozora no Rhapsody"（青空のラプソディ）is trippy and sweeping at the same time. Those opening words and the disco strings had me crying "Uncle!" and what was additionally wonderful was that jazzy guitar bridge in the full version of the song. Now, if only a second season would come for this one, too.
Whew! Got those 10 up there. Hopefully, there are some of them that you like and I realize that there are some that I would have liked to have gotten up here but that's all she wrote. I'm just glad that I could finally get my first anison list up.
It doesn't happen all that often during my anime buddy's sessions, but once in a while, one or two anime kinda end up not being all that great. So what happens is that my friend simply ditches it out of the schedule after giving me a heads-up. That was the case with "Last Period" which kinda petered out (although I still like the theme songs), and perhaps might be the case with "Uchuu Senkan Tiramisu"（宇宙戦艦ティラミス）.
Then, as might be the case with any television broadcaster who has to deal with a cancelled series, my friend sometimes looks for a replacement. When I was talking with him earlier this week, he was rather gushing about this Summer 2018anime called "Grand Blue"（ぐらんぶる）.
Spring 2018 had "Amanchu! Advance"（あまんちゅ！～あどばんす～）, the oh-so-mellow sequel to the original series of high school girls finding friendship and serenity through diving somewhere along the Izu Peninsula. Things became downright fantastical, especially in the latter half of the series this time around. Basically, that particular part of Japan was a magical place.
But then, just down the shoreline...
"Grand Blue" also has the setting of the Izu Peninsula, but this time it's a bunch of guys who nominally like diving like fish but really like drinking like fish. It's apparently as raunchy as much as "Amanchu!" is comforting. Teko from the latter show would probably faint at these guys' antics while Pikari could jump right in. And some slang has erupted from "Grand Blue" from what I've seen from the YouTube comments, such as water and oolong tea for something far more potent.
I will be seeing the comedy "Grand Blue" for the first time later this weekend, but I'm already enjoying the opening theme song by reggae bandShonan no Kaze（湘南乃風）, "Grand Blue".
This would be the type of summery song that would have the college folks running down the coastline with every sense of abandon. It's all about sweating, swimming, sunning and squeezing every little bit of enjoyment out of the hot season before the leaves start turning.
Shonan no Kaze also took care of words and music for "Grand Blue". The band consists of Red Rice, Wakadanna, Shock Eye and Han-Kun, and they first got together in 2001 with former member Goki. They've released 19 singles and 7 original albums since going major in 2003. Their best known song, according to Wikipedia, is "Junrenka"（純恋歌...Pure Love Song） from 2006 which I will have to also check out soon.
In any case, like some of the newbies in "Grand Blue", back in my university days, I treated a whole mess of screwdrivers and creamsicles (the cocktail variety) during a barhopping Xmas party like water, and paid for my folly dearly. Treat alcohol with respect, kids!
