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.
I remember that particular scene from Season 2, Episode 10 of "Space Dandy"（スペース☆ダンディ）in 2014 but not the entire episode.
The episode, "Koibito-tachi wa Trendy jan yo"（恋人たちはトレンディじゃんよ...Lovers are Trendy, Baby）, came close to its end with perhaps a ray of hope that Dandy and the recurring character of Scarlet, the specimen inspector at the Alien Registration Bureau who kinda acts like the guy's boss, would discover a romantic relationship with each other. However, the ray was dissipated by the untimely appearance of a train. Hearts were broken all over.💔
But then again, would the relationship have lasted knowing Dandy's randy ways? And if Dandy did settle down, would he have been still worth watching? We'll never know and it's just as well. While we all philosophically stew over this for the length of time it takes to read through this article, perhaps I can introduce the song that accompanied the poignancy surrounding the scene, "I'm Losing You" by BTB (Pan Pacific Playa).
BTB is a trackmaker and someone who loves his vocoder and like his professional colleague, LUVRAW, there's not much out there regarding who he is. However, they did work together on the 2010 "Yokohama City Breeze", and LUVRAW has also contributed his funkiness to the "Space Dandy" soundtrack. As such, BTB has "I'm Losing You" on that same soundtrack as well. Along with the funk, I can also pick up on some Stevie Wondersoul in there, too, as the lad buzzes about inviting someone for some doggy style because he misses her so much...and that's as far as I will go in interpreting the lyrics. 🐩 I would think from what I know of Dandy and Scarlet's personalities, if they were able to hook up, they would probably prefer it Klingon style.
All joking aside, if anyone can tell me a little more about BTB and/or LUVRAW, I'd sure appreciate it. Before I forget, Kou Sugie（杉江晃）was behind words, music and arrangement for "I'm Losing You". Not sure if he would indeed be BTB himself or even if I have the correct reading of his name.
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's been a while since I covered anything from the oft-fun and always way-out-there "Space Dandy"（スペース☆ダンディ）. This time, my memories go back to that episode from the 4th season in summer 2014, "Tenkosei wa Dandy, jan yo"（転校生はダンディじゃんよ...The Transfer Student is Dandy, Baby）.
The fans will know it. It's the one where Dandy heads to a spacy high school and ends up as part of a "Glee"-type musical. The guys behind this one went all out on this one: Dandy as the slick dude, a bespectacled young innocent girl, Freckles, struggling to fit in, the cool arrogant kids, and musical interludes.
Finally comes the big number near the end at the annual prom (of course) in which Dandy and Freckles show off and convince everyone that everyone is cool and fine and all that. Maybe that's why the song is called "All is All" but unfortunately I couldn't find out who created the tune.
It's pretty ambitious as well. The above video is a condensed version of the final part of the episode but the uploader does a good job in having "All is All" start off with a cute technopop number then morph into an 80s dance club bit before going quiet for Freckles' heart-on-a-sleeve ballad and before the entire cast goes into a barnstorming finale reminiscent of "Grease" and "Footloose". The only thing missing is the anti-grav car taking Dandy and the girl off into the wild blue yonder as it did John and Olivia at the end of "Grease".
"Space Dandy" has gone off into all sorts of musical directions so why not the high school musical? "All is All" would never have set off any Tony Award alarms but that wasn't the point. It was simply a nice affectionate poke at the genre and the songwriters and animators pulled it off. I even have a favourite point during the finale which is 4:20 of the video where Freckles and Dandy beam for the camera.. There was even a small part in me who wished that the lass joined the crew of the Aloha Oe but I figured that she earned her space in the high school community so why would she want to give that up?
All in all, "All is All" was another nice highlight from the series, and it's one spark that has me still wishing that a third season can be pulled off, or at the very least, a movie can be made of Dandy and his crew. That music is part and parcel of the experience.
I figure it would be nice to have the English version of the finale on as well.
I don't think I had ever come seen an anime with as many hook-happy songs as "Space Dandy"（スペース☆ダンディ）. There is the funkadelic opening theme "Viva Namida"（ビバナミダ）and the surprising and delightful tribute to all things Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）,"Hoshikuzu no Pipeline"（星屑のパイプライン）which popped up in Episode 6 of Season 1, and those were merely two of the tunes. So, I guess it couldn't have been any surprise to have Dandy himself get in on the act by unleashing some of that musical talent.
He did get involved in that "Glee"/"High School Musical" episode in Season 2 (and I will probably cover one of the songs in there soon enough) but tonight, here is his 80s rock tribute. Junichi Sawabe（諏訪部順一）, the seiyuu for Dandy, channeled his inner BOOWY to sing out "Kanchigai Lonely Night" (Misunderstood Lonely Night) in one of the later episodes of that same season. In that show, Dandy got together with his friend/rival Johnny (voiced by Hiroshi 'Penguin' Kamiya/ 神谷浩史) to form DROPKIX which got to go full stadium with some unintended pyrotechnics. And if I remember the concert correctly, I think "Kanchigai Lonely Night" ended up the only song on the playlist which got performed over and over again, much to the audience's growing chagrin and rage. I don't think even The Rolling Stones would be able to get away with sort of stuff even if it is "Satisfaction".
Here is the English version above. The original version was written and composed by Shutoku Mukai（向井秀徳）, lead vocalist/guitarist for the rock band Zazen Boys. Come to think of it, I think that guitar in there also had me thinking about The Police.
Just before we left for Japan in October for that long-awaited vacation, my anime buddy and I finally wrapped up the 2nd season of"Space Dandy". I was slightly disappointed with the finale...there was a ton of action but at some sacrifice of the fun whimsy that the show had become famous for. Still, I'm hoping for a 3rd season, and at the very end of those end credits, there was a hint that my wish might come true.
When it comes to the show, I came for the fun but stayed for the music. I've already written up stuff on four songs from "Space Dandy" alone.... the last one being the slow-and-sultry LUVRAW's "Anatato" back in August this year. And once again, tonight I give you "Space Dandy" the song.
Man, shades of Bootsy Collins! Time to put on the silver platform boots! A couple of weeks ago, my buddy purchased the the second official soundtrack for the show with the hilarious title of "Boobies Wonderland", named after Dandy's favourite hangout and with the cover parodying good ol' Earth Wind & Fire. And yup, ZEN-LA-ROCK with rapping girl group Yomeiriland（嫁入りランド）bring back the funky dancelious sounds of the 70s. I got to hear the soundtrack on the stereo yesterday and this happened to be Track 1. It's one thing to hear the brief excerpt of the tune as part of the end credits for Episode 22,"Onaji Baka nara Odoranya Son Jan yo"(同じバカなら踊らにゃ損じゃんよ...We're All Fools, So Let's All Dance, Baby) , the big dance-off between Dandy and Ton Joravolta, and then it's another thing to listen to the whole thing through my buddy's huge airplane wing speakers. I almost felt like boogeying down myself, though my sense of good taste won out....it was darn close, though.
Nah, instead I'll let Tom and Dandy handle that department.
I've heard the name ZEN-LA-ROCK off-and-on over the years, and he is the one who wrote and composed "Space Dandy", but I couldn't find too much about him. There isn't any information about him on either Wiki or J-Wiki. However, he does have his own website in which it's described in English that he debuted as a Japanese hip-hop singer back in 2004. Along with the various singles and albums, he was also invited to help out with the "Space Dandy" show as part of a group of musicians loosely known as The Space Dandy Band.
I can only hope that the dance remixes start coming out on YouTube someday over the Holidays.
At the beginning of the year, I started talking about the music attached to the zany anime, "Space Dandy". The show has already garnered a lot of attention from the way-out stories and the wackadoodle situations that the crew of the Aloha-Oe end up in. But it seems like the music has also played a good part in the show's popularity. There are the super funky theme songs,"Viva Namida" by Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）, "X-Jigen e Yokoso"（Ｘ次元へようこそ） by Etsuko Yakushimaru（やくしまるえつこ）, and the one song that first got me thinking about the music placement for "Space Dandy", the smoothly soaring "Hoshikuzu no Pipeline"（星屑のパイプライン）by Junk Fujiyama.
I just saw the recent episode for the 2nd season which was a seeming tribute to "Glee" and "High School Musical", and although the songs in there were more parody (as they were supposed to be) than actual singles to be released, the dedication of the producers to the additional music had me thinking back to the final episode of the 1st season, "Sōjiki Datte Koisuru Jan yo"（掃除機だって恋するじゃんよ...Even Vacuum Cleaners Fall In Love）.
That episode was about one of the crew, the robot QT, falling in love with a coffee maker. The story reminded me of the plot for the Pixar movie, "WALL-E"; there, I remember Louis Armstrong's version of "La Vie En Rose" following the cute little robot. And just like that movie, there was music following a robot in love in that final episode of "Space Dandy". However, instead of the old-style jazz of "La Vie En Rose", it was a slow-groove techno ballad that accompanied QT and his first love, Maker (at around 8:50 of the episode at the link below).
At first, I thought "Holy Cow! Those guys actually got Daft Punk to perform!" Uh-uh, nope. It was actually a unit called LUVRAW that came up with "ANATATO"(With You), a song that not only reminded me of the French techno duo but also some of the R&B love songs that I used to hear back in the 70s & 80s. I've tried to look up any information about the unit, and he/they have a Twitter account (@LUVRAW), but there isn't much. I've gleaned that LUVRAW has been around since at least 2010 with a couple of albums out, and the unit's weapon of choice is the talk box. Below is another example of their music.
As for "ANATATO", it can be found on the official soundtrack for "Space Dandy". Have a listen to this one at night with the lights down low....except for a lamp on your vacuum cleaner. It looks like no matter what kind of mayhem QT ends up for the remainder of the series, his theme song will always be this one for me.
As I may have mentioned about my bi-weekly get-togethers with my anime buddy, about an hour of my visit to his place involves listening to music and theme songs from his humoungous collection of various anime soundtracks. I'm not quite as big into the anison as he obviously is, but I have been keying in on "Space Dandy" since its debut in January this year. It's one of a few examples in which I have enjoyed both the opening AND ending themes. In fact, I've already talked on Yasuyuki Okamura's（岡村靖幸）Princely piece of funk, "Viva Namida" as the opening theme, and not too long ago, I also mentioned about one song that was inserted at the end of Episode 6, "Hoshikuzu no Pipeline"（星屑のパイプライン）by Junk Fujiyama that probably has been satisfying fans of City Pop/Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）.
So, this is the ending theme, "X-Jigen e Yokoso"(Welcome to the X Dimension), an appropriately titled song for an anime that's pretty way out there. Sung by the enigmatic and whisper-voiced Etsuko Yakushimaru（やくしまるえつこ）, it's an infectiously catchy little technopop tune with a bit of old disco, to boot. It goes quite well with the ending credit graphics, and apparently, the multitasking Yakushimaru was also responsible for coming up with the alien illustrations during those credits, too.
Yakushimaru is a stage name for this singer-songwriter and producer and illustrator and narrator. She also goes under the name of Tica Alpha while in songwriter mode (she was responsible for the music and words behind "X-Jigen"), and also belongs to a just-as-mysterious rock band by the name of Sotaisei Riron（相対性理論...Theory of Relativity） which debuted in 2006. The above video is the official one for the song in which the singer (maybe?) is co-starring with what is apparently a future employee of Amazon.com. The intro is pretty interesting in that it sounds like the beginning of Pink Lady's"UFO". Considering the song's spacey nature, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.
"X-Jigen e Yokoso" came out as Yakushimaru's 7th single in January 2014, and is most likely a track on the official soundtrack album for "Space Dandy", something that my anime buddy has already ordered and is waiting for with great anticipation.
What I hadn't also realized until very recently was that she was also behind the opening theme for the anime, "Mawaru Penguindrum". Now, that was truly a mind-screw of epic proportions.
P.S. I just found out about this fusion between "X-Jigen e Yokoso" and Musiq Soulchild's"Love", and I'm pretty impressed. Put the lights down low, baby!
Junk Fujiyama（ジャンクフジヤマ）was a name I've heard before.... strangely enough, right here in Toronto. As part of our cable TV service, we get several stations which basically act as video radio specializing in specific genres. I heard Junk on the Asian Music channel once and thought his music was very nice but didn't really go into the research about him.
Then, yesterday, my anime buddy and I got together again for another round of viewings. One of our must-sees has been the wild-&-crazy "Space Dandy". I've become a fan of the opening theme of the funkalistic "Viva Namida" by Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）and I'll probably be writing about the ending theme by Etsuko Yakushimaru（やくしまるえつこ）pretty soon as well.
However, my buddy told me beforehand about this tune that starts up at the finale of Episode 6. As has been the case with most of the shows for "Space Dandy", the plot is nuts, but my friend told me that the song was by Junk Fujiyama, who basically set out to croon in the style of Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）back in his City Pop days of the late 70s and early 80s.
Junk's tribute to Tats in what I found out was titled "Hoshikuzu no Pipeline" (Stardust Pipeline) is a smooth and summery and oh-so-nice song. It fits the surprisingly simply big-hearted scene of the main character surfing away through the space waves after trying and failing to avert the tragicomic demise of two hardened enemies. My ears and eyes are now fully alert to the Junk. I did a bit of digging and the song has just come out and included as a new track on "The Best of Junk Fujiyama" which came out on January 22, 2014.
According to his bio on J-Wiki, Junk Fujiyama was born as Naofumi Fujiki（藤木直史） in 1983 and is a singer-songwriter/guitarist who can go into rock, soul and jazz....and do his Tatsuro Yamashita thing, so City Pop as well. It's nice to see that genre slide back in a bit, and the design for the cover for his BEST album brings back memories of those times as well. I'm sorely tempted to dish out the yen for this one.
Well, my anime buddy and I have gotten 2014 started with a new rash of programs to check out. One of them that started just on January 5 this year is one of those literally and figuratively out-there shows called "Space Dandy". Starring an Elvis-pompadour-sporting Lothario who searches for rare examples of exobiology throughout the galaxy, he brings along a crew consisting of a long-suffering robot that looks like an evolved Hoover vacuum cleaner and a cat-like Betelgeusian. In terms of looks and tone, the first two episodes that I've seen strike me as being a mix between "Futurama" and "Lensman" from the 1980s.
However, what has also stood out for me is the theme song by Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）. When I saw his name pop up on the opening credits as his funkalistic and sexy little tune was underway, a bell kept ringing in my memory until I looked up J-Wiki and found out that he has written a number of songs for other singers, most notably for Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）. Okamura has also been releasing his own singles since 1986, and "Viva Namida" (Viva Tears) happens to be his 27th one which got out in October 2013.
As soon as I first heard the song, I knew that I would have to get the full version of it someday. That hasn't happened quite yet but maybe I'll start hitting Amazon in the next few weeks if "Viva Namida" further digs into my brain. The official video is at the very top with even Okamura himself getting into the anime act and you can enjoy the live version below.
