Plasmagica -- Seishun wa Non-Stop!（青春はNon-Stop!）

We're well into the Summer 2018 season of anime, and so far, the one really catchy anison has been the opener for "Back Street Girls ~ Gokudols". To be honest, I may never ever take that yakuza horn fanfare all that seriously anymore after listening to that theme.

So, I've gone back into the time vaults of anison by only a few years and come across the multitude of songs from the "Show By Rock!!" anime. The second season may have ended with an unfortunate thud but I'm still kinda hoping that there may be a third go for Cyan and the band. In any case, since I have had the ending theme from the first season up on the blog for about a year, it's time to get that opening theme and therefore the very first song that I heard from the good-gal band Plasmagica（プラズマジカ）up here, too.

"Seishun wa Non-Stop!" (Youth is Non-Stop!) was indeed the greeting song for the show in 2015 and has Eri Inagawa（稲川英里）as Cyan leading the all-star seiyuu grouping of Manami Numakura（沼倉愛美）, Sumire Uesaka（佐倉綾音）and Ayane Sakura（佐倉綾音）in a fun and bouncy number that still has me thinking Princess Princess and Lindberg at the same time....as filtered through Disney.

Fictionally written and composed by Cyan, everything was actually created by RegaSound. If I had to pick between the opener and closer for Season 1, I would probably still go with "Have a nice MUSIC!!" but "Seishun wa Non-Stop!" still makes for a nice welcome into Midi City.

Plasmagica -- Ryuusei Dreamline

Met up with my anime buddy for the first time in quite a while. He was quite happy with the souvenirs. To be honest, though, I haven't been as enthused about this current group of anime that he has shown me with the exception of the continuing hilarity of "Mahojin Guruguru"（魔法陣グルグル）and the fascinating "Konohana Kitan"（このはな綺譚）.

However, during the anison hour segment of my day, I got to hear an old song from the initial season of "Show By Rock!!". "Ryuusei Dreamline" (Comet Dreamline) was a tune by Plasmagica（プラズマジカ）that I heard now and then. My buddy reminded me that it was the song that got Cyan and the band to the top.

"Ryuusei Dreamline" was written and composed by the musical group RegaSound and I'm sure the song is placed on one of the many CDs that the show has spawned since that first season in 2015. Not sure if there will be a third season since the end of the second season was underwhelming but I know that some franchises have a sophomore jinx so perhaps another "Show By Rock!!" can be brought back. If so, a ton of more soundtrack-and-song CDs are on the way.

Tsurezurenaru Ayatsuri Mugenan -- Tabiji Yoiyoi Yume Hanabi（旅路宵酔ゐ夢花火）

I figure that the "Show By Rock!!" category has garnered a rousing technopop tune and the Princess Princess-reminiscent opening theme from the first season on the blog so far.

Well, I'm now putting this song in since it's probably the one that I've heard the most since I saw that first season a couple of years ago. My anime buddy has frequently put "Tabiji Yoiyoi Yume Hanabi" (Enchanting Dream Fireworks of a Night Journey) on the stereo during anison hour or anison hour-and-a-half.

In recent years, I've been hearing of this music boom surrounding a genre known as wagakki（和楽器）which features rock bands using traditional Japanese instruments such as shamisen with the electric guitars. I've already seen a few of these bands perform on certain shows, but strangely enough, the first time I heard of wagakki was through this fictional band on "Show By Rock!!" known as Tsurezurenaru Ayatsuri Mugenan（徒然なる操り霧幻庵）...whew, imagine being the members who have to autograph tons of books with that name.

Tsurezurenaru Ayatsuri Mugenan has popped up on both seasons of "Show By Rock!!" as recurring characters. The band struck me as being one of those distant characters that pops up at key moments on some sort of police procedural, and they have that sort of ninja quality. Although I don't know much about seiyuu Eriko Matsui（松井恵理子）who plays Un（吽）the bassist, I definitely know about Saori Hayami（早見沙織）as guitarist A（阿）and Megumi Han（潘めぐみ）as the charismatic drummer Daru Dayu（ダル太夫）. Hinata Ogi（仰木日向）provided the lyrics while the composer was Tsubasa Ito（伊藤翼）.

I've known Han as some of her fluffier characters, especially in her triumphant turn as the high-pitched and goofy Akko Kagari in "Little Witch Academia". So to hear her Daru Dayu purr and sing so regally in a much lower and sexier voice was quite the revelation, although I'm well aware that the best seiyuu have a wide range of vocal abilities.

As for the song itself, wagakki isn't exactly my genre so it's been a case of "Tabiji Yoiyoi Yume Hanabi" gradually infusing itself into me over the months. Plus, the factor of Hayami and Han, whom I've usually known for their speaking roles, getting into the rock star stuff hasn't hurt either.

Now, as for the real-life example, this is the Wagakki Band with "Yoshiwara Lament"（吉原ラメント）. I could see this unit performing at the Olympics.

Plasmagica -- Have a nice MUSIC!!

Considering all the music that has been pumped out of the two seasons of the game-turned-anime "Show By Rock!!". the actual category for the show here on the blog has been extremely sparse. Mind you, I did say in the first article for the show that not all of the songs became earworms for me, at least. However, there have been a few which have managed to hang on over the months although Season 2 ended its run (in somewhat disappointing fashion...sophomore jinx?) almost a year ago.

I always knew if I were to start up the "Show By Rock!!" category for "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I would have to include at least one or two of the songs by main heroine band Plasmagica（プラズマジカ）, especially since the first article was for a band, Dolly Dolci（ドーリィドルチ）, that wasn't featured too often during the series but had such a killer song on YouTube. So it's wonderful that the ending theme for the first season in 2015, "Have a nice MUSIC!!" is such an earworm.

Taking things out of the Midi City universe for a few lines, Plasmagica has got quite the celeb seiyuu lineup. Although Eri Inagawa（稲川英里）as Cyan is still new to me, she's backed up by veterans Manami Numakura（沼倉愛美）as slightly tsundere Retoree the bassist, Sumire Uesaka（佐倉綾音）as guitar-wielding ChuChu, and Ayane Sakura（佐倉綾音）as drummer Moa. Going back in-universe, Retoree and Moa came up with the super-cheerful song but in the real world, it was lyricist Aiko Takase（高瀬愛虹）and composer no_my behind the tune.

The entire song is fine but it's that line "GO GO LUCKY Have a nice MUSIC!!" followed by some appealing Shibuya-kei strings in the first verse that have permanently hooked into my cerebellum. Have a cup of coffee in the morning while listening to this, and Mondays won't seem to be too blue heading to work or school. I'm fairly confident that my anime buddy may have taken this advice to heart.

I've got no idea how "Have a nice MUSIC!!" did on the charts but considering a number of the other various anison climbing onto Oricon, something as catchy as this must have made some progress.

Dolly Dolci -- Koi to Merry-Go-Round （恋とメリーゴーランド）

It was another round of the routine with my anime buddy today. Some good Chinese fare at Asian Legend before some coffee at the local Second Cup before we tucked into the anime. We've been enjoying a number of the shows this season although my friend is a bit worried about the upcoming winter season since he feels that there may be a dearth of quality material. Hopefully, we won't be undergoing withdrawal during the Holidays.

One of the shows that we've been watching is "Show By Rock!!", a Sanrio anime adaptation of a game that became a hit in its debut season and is now halfway through its second season. It follows the story of budding teenage singer-songwriter Cyan as she enters another universe of music-oriented beings and gets involved with the band Plasmagica to rock out and fight the good fight against the bad guys.

"Show By Rock!!" has gained its fame from the dozens of seiyuu popping up in various bands and all of the music that has been churned out. In fact, my friend has been buying a number of singles and full albums containing the many tunes that have cropped up.

During anison hour today, my buddy played several songs from one of the "Show By Rock!!" compilation albums with one of them becoming an earworm. It's called "Koi to Merry-Go-Round" (Love and Merry-Go-Round) by the in-show or in-game fictional band known as Dolly Dolci (ドーリィドルチ). With a bit of a Vocaloid sensibility, the urgent beat and synths caught my ears and failed to let go. Although most of the songs from the game and anime haven't quite burrowed into my brain, this one managed to do the trick.

"Koi to Merry-Go-Round" was written and composed by James Panda Jr. and the seiyuu-singer behind it is Mikoi Sasaki（佐々木未来）.

At the rate these songs and fictional bands are coming out of this one show, "Show By Rock!!" is going to end up as its own genre (and it has).