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 TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND. Show all posts
Golly! I had never been to a Tokyo book apartment before and I probably never will because the above facility is apparently closed down now. According to some of the images online though, it looked like a stylish and relaxing (and probably expensive) place to browse through those books. When I was in Japan, I used to really enjoy visiting the conventional bookstores including the big brands of Maruzen, Kinokuniya and Yaesu. But I also dropped in on the neighbourhood places across from my subway station on the way home where a lot of office workers shared my idea and were browsing through the variety of weekly and monthly magazines. The staff were always wearing Business Casual with those aprons.
Maybe I should have caught this 2018 anime "Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san"（ガイコツ書店員 本田さん...Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san） when it had its run near the end of the year. From what I've seen above, it's a pretty hilarious slice-of-life comedy with zany staffers of a bookstore wearing various masks while dealing with some just-as-hilarious situations. I guess it didn't really fit my anime buddy's aesthetics, though. Incidentally, that first foreign customer in the video above made me wonder whether retired NCIS SAC Gibbs had opted to take a vacation in Japan for a few weeks.
I'd also been wondering how both singer-songwriter Hiroshi Takano（高野寛）and the technopop unit TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND have been doing these past few years because I hadn't heard too much from either of them. Well, at least back in 2018, the two acts got together to collaborate on the ending theme for "Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san", "Book-end, Happy-end". With lyrics by Takano and melody by TPGF, it's got the plummy and groovy arrangements that I have recognized the latter band for, and the overall tone fits a nice long visit to a beloved bookstore where customers can pick their favourite tomes or manga to flip through for hours.
It was during our old ritual of anime-and-meals Sunday between my anime buddy and me when this trio of dapper technopop fellows known as TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND made themselves known through their contributions to the anime industry. I was dazzled by the supreme catchiness of "Witch Activity"（ウィッチ☆アクティビティ）from "Witchcraft Works" as well as "Round&Round&Round", their collaboration with Bonjour Suzuki（ボンジュール鈴木）, for the long-running show "Mahoujin Guru Guru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guru Guru）. Also, I remember "Uchiyoserareta Bōkyaku no Zankyō ni"（打ち寄せられた忘却の残響に）from "Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru"（櫻子さんの足下には死体が埋まっている...Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation） featuring Yuki Otake（大竹佑季）.
Well, even before "Witch Activity" and "Round&Round&Round" came out as singles in November 2015 and August 2017 respectively, TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND had their debut single in March 2015 but only on digital. "visible invisible" also had nothing to do with any anime and it sticks out from any of their anime-friendly music in that it's a pretty laidback technopop tune with what sounds like simulated whale song mixed with some romantic piano. Overall, there is a feeling of late-stage Yellow Magic Orchestra and even a hint of David Bowie/Queen's"Under Pressure" in the delivery. Heck, even the stark music video above is something that I could imagine YMO filming themselves.
I'd heard of the expression Russian Roulette a number of times as a kid but never actually knew what it meant until that famous scene from "The Deer Hunter" starring Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken. The scene didn't exactly sit well with me since up to then roulette had always been about that fun spinning game in Las Vegas (or as my high school history teacher used to say: Lost Wages).
Many years later, I found out that the concept behind Russian Roulette also lent itself to many a humorous scene in anime (and it has occurred in real life, usually at year-end parties). Not that cute girls put guns to their heads but they would have a game in which there were some cream puffs that they had to ingest with only one of them containing something atypical and gross such as spicy mustard. That was indeed the case in one episode of "Gabriel Dropout".
Even more recently, the concept came to the fore with balloons in the second season of "Kaguya-sama".
I never expected that there would ever be a kayo with an actual title of "R-R-R-Russian Roulette", but indeed there was and it was written, composed and performed by Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）. For the past several entries, the articles have been mainly focusing on her purely City Pop material in the 1980s going into the 1990s such as "Friday Night", but I remember that the first song that I had ever heard by her was "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne"（君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね）, the zany tropical fruit boogie-woogie tune.
Arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, Nakahara's"R-R-R-Russian Roulette" was Nakahara's 9th single from July 1985, and it was the opening theme for the television anime "Dirty Pair"（ダーティペア）. With a high-octane vibe bringing in elements of City Pop and rock (and some dance remix tropes), it's raucous and sexy and perfect as the song for the show of two troublemaking trouble consultants. In all likelihood, for anyone within 100 metres radius of the Dirty Pair, it was pretty much playing Russian Roulette with their lives.
I figured that "R-R-R-Russian Roulette" would be ripe for covering some day, and sure enough, it got its opportunity thanks to TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND with the inspired help of quirky seiyuu/singer Sumire Uesaka（上坂すみれ）who is famous for her studies of Russia/USSR culture. The Technoboys and Uesaka turn the song into a delectable synthpop treat which made its way onto the former's November 2017 single"Magical Circle", although it didn't have any direct connection with the updated anime "Mahoujin Guruguru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guruguru）.
For another "Dirty Pair"anison sung by a City Pop legend, try out Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Safari Eyes".
One of the things that happens when my anime buddy does his usual traveling to Japan at the end of the year is that obviously the biweekly anime-and-food sessions come to an end without being able to catch the last two or three episodes of the Fall season. In that case, when he comes back the following January, he usually gives me the copies of those unseen eps for me to catch up on. One of the shows for Fall 2019 was "Africa no Salaryman"（アフリカのサラリーマン...African Office Worker）, the series involving the hijinks of a trio of animal corporate cogs.
Back in late November last year, I did cover the opening and ending themes for "Africa no Salaryman". The ending theme, "White Collar Elegy" by seiyuuAkio Otsuka（大塚明夫）who played pussycat (usually) supervisor Lion is this relaxing campfire ballad that helped cool things down after another anarchic episode, almost always because of Ohashi the Toucan.
However, I've just found out that the coupling song for "White Collar Elegy" has high-energy Hiro Shimono（下野紘）, who plays the deranged toucan, back to sing a techno dance tune. Now that none of us can really dance at a club anymore for the foreseeable future, it's kinda nice to have this one for a Friday night. "Get Your Wild! ~African Night~" has got Shimono assisted this time by fellow seiyuuKenjiro Tsuda（津田健次郎）as the cool-as-ice Tokage (Lizard).
I couldn't find the full version of "Get Your Wild!" but even the one minute and forty-four seconds for the ad video above is entertaining enough to mention it. Both Ohashi and Tokage show off some mighty fine moves, especially the latter and his flossing. But I also have to say that Shimono does a pretty good job here as well in terms of his delivery. Meanwhile, Mitsuki Tokuda（徳田光希）handled the music and Yohei Matsui（松井洋平）from TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND took care of the lyrics. I might just be interested in picking up the single.
I finally got through the first cour of the second season of "Hoozuki no Reitetsu"（鬼灯の冷徹...Hozuki's Coolheadedness） from late 2017 about the motley crew of folks toiling down in Hell as a monastic corporation of sorts. Earlier this year, I had written about the opening theme for that first cour "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi"（大！地獄地獄節）and mentioned that the show hadn't quite grabbed me. Well, part of it was that without the subtitles, it's a tad difficult for me to understand some of the more esoteric parts. Plus, I have to admit that the humour is far more droll than the craziness that I've come across in this summer's bunch of anime such as "Grand Blue" and "Gokudolls".
Still, by the time I got to the end of the first cour at Episode 13 where even the devils and other staffers enjoy a good year-end party, there was a certain level of comfort achieved in watching these characters interact like a nice sitcom family. Question marks will still flutter over my head at some of the discussions but I can still roll with the show. My anime buddy was kind enough to give me the second cour so I will start on that fairly soon.
It took me a while but the ending theme for that first cour of the second season has finally grown on me as well. I guess with the increase in comfort for the show, "Riverside Lovers ~ Naraku no Koi"(Love in Hell), there was a direct relationship with my affinity for this ballad which is quite different in tone from the down-home country-style of "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi".
There's almost a healing music vibe with Sumire Uesaka's（上坂すみれ）Kyoto-esque love song, completed with the familiar techno beats from the good folks at TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND. Perhaps this may be a trip to Hell, but it's certainly downright calming and relaxing going down the river.
It was another loaded anime-and-meal routine Sunday with my anime buddy. However, we did actually meet up with another couple of friends who were part of my movie circle for dinner at a relatively new Taiwanese restaurant called Zen-Q, just north of the Toronto border. On the way back home, my anime buddy agreed that we've been on a roll for the past several months from last year with there being at least a goodly sum of enjoyable shows from each season, this one included.
One of the shows that we've been watching is "Mahoujin Guru Guru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guru Guru） which has had previous iterations on TV since 1994. Although the above video doesn't have a great example of the humour, the show is pretty close to scatterbrain comedy with tsukkomi coming out of the wazoo pretty much minute-by-minute.
Perhaps it's a bit weird to proclaim, but the animation and the humour remind me of the drollery I remember from episodes of "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" that I had caught on Sunday mornings when I was a kid. Of course, the 2017 edition of "Mahoujin Guru Guru" (which is the first time that I've seen any of the franchise) is a bit naughtier at times.
Nothing better than an anime with earworms in both the opening and ending themes. And "Mahoujin Guru Guru" was the first program past the post this season whose themes grabbed my ears.
No wonder! The show has got ORESAMA and TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND who've come up with some catchy themes and songs in general over the past few years. ORESAMA has been the newer-bie for me since I first heard about them through the anime "Alice to Zouroku"（アリスと蔵六）from earlier this year, which incidentally my buddy abandoned a little over halfway for losing focus. The duo of Pon（ぽん）and Hideya Kojima（小島英也）has come up with another uptempo and happy tune in "Trip Trip Trip", their 4th single released on July 26th, to set the mood of adventure and fun for each episode.
Not sure how long the above video will stay up but it does have the opening credits with the Mahoujin dance accompanying "Trip Trip Trip". My buddy says he's heard that there are real-life folks trying to do the dance on YouTube.
This is where my friend and I disagree but if I had to choose between "Trip Trip Trip" and the ending theme "Round&Round&Round", I would go with the latter (although I do like both). I simply like the no-less-cool but slightly more dramatic arrangement of this song better by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND, who are also responsible for the music in "Mahoujin Guru Guru" in general. Plus, the music video shows the mysterious singer-songwriter Bonjour Suzuki（ボンジュール鈴木）, and even reveals her (kinda, sorta) singing the words as well. Another check on the 2017 Bucket List!
First, a bit of background. The fellow you see in the video is Iyami (イヤミ), one of the characters from the famous "Osomatsu-kun"（おそ松くん）which started out as a manga by Fujio Akatsuka（赤塚不二夫）in 1962 before becoming an anime in 1966. Iyami has become legendary since he came up with what has become the all-round international anime gesture for shock: standing on one foot while making an angular shape with his body and arms before screeching "SHEEH!" It became a meme even before memes officially existed and it has since jumped into the 3D world. I've seen comedians use it all the time on TV and even Godzilla used it once in one of his movies....at the cost of several buildings and probably several hundred more lives.
And yet, Iyami was supposed to be just one of the silly supporting characters for the main sextuplet of ne'er-do-wells (known as NEETs in Japan) on "Osomatsu-kun". That one gesture probably upended the hierarchy. I never saw any of the anime variations of the franchise but even I knew "SHEEH!" and the gesture.
To continue on, after I did the article on the opening and ending themes of the anime "Kono Bijutsu-bu ni wa Mondai ga aru"（この美術部には問題がある！）yesterday, I innocently decided to check out whether the three fellows of TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND had ever done stuff outside of the anison realm. And I think I came across at least one of their more ambient efforts on YouTube, but then after, I came across the above video featuring the song "Same Six Faces ~ Konya wa Saiko!!!!!!" (Tonight's The Best!!!!!!). What happened afterwards was the equivalent of a spider (the song) snagging a juicy fly (namely, me) for dinner. Dang, welcome back to the disco 80s! I was ready to order a mirror ball from Amazon after listening to this...2 or 3 times in succession.
Yup, the Technoboys came up with another earworm late last year, and this time, I didn't hear too many of those syn-drums that have become a sign of their work on their another anime. "Same Six Faces" turned out to be the ending theme for the sequel series for "Osomatsu-kun", "Osomatsu-san"（おそ松さん）, which came out in October 2015 before finishing its run at the end of March 2016. The original series had the Brothers Matsuno as these six scallywag kids but this new series had them as grownups but still not too mature.
I never got to see the series and reading and watching some of the clips, I have a feeling that "Osomatsu-san" is not really my anime buddy's type of show despite the mostly nutso humour involved. But man, is that ending theme catchy! "Same Six Faces" as it was used in the ending credits had the actual voice cast bantering and singing over the Technoboys' delivery with the seiyuu for Iyami, Kenichi Suzumura（鈴村健一）, leading the way (complete with the background chorus coolly crooning the "SHEEH!"). As for the Brothers Matsuno themselves, I was surprised in that it looks like the entire cast of "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ）decided to re-unite to voice the characters. Takahiro Sakurai（櫻井孝宏）, Jun Fukuyama（福山潤）, Hiroshi Kamiya（神谷浩史）, Daisuke Ono（小野大輔）, Yuuichi Nakamura（中村悠一）and Miyu Irino（入野自由）go all in.
Released in December 2015, the single went Gold and it went as high as No. 3 on Oricon. Now I feel like grabbing one of my old 80s compilation CDs and searching for S-Express again!
Ah, before I finish off...the current lineup of Technoboys is Tomohisa Ishikawa, Tohru Fujimura and Yohei Matsui（石川智久・フジムラトヲル・松井洋平）.
Looking above at one particular scene from Summer 2016anime "Kono Bijutsu-bu ni wa Mondai ga aru"（この美術部には問題がある！...This Art Club Has a Problem!）, I do remember some of those weird vending machine drinks. Yup, I recall drinking banana au lait and peach nectar especially the latter during the scorching hot months in Tokyo (I've got no idea how the athletes are gonna cope in 2020...hope they have a lot of spare change). There was also this one drink called MAX COFFEE which supposedly was only sold east of Tokyo (not quite true...I have seen a few examples in the west end of the megalopolis) that I was greatly addicted to even more than Coke. It was basically coffee-flavoured liquid sugar that I just gulped down with my Chip Star...and so you must wonder how I actually survived past 2010. However, I must digress.
"Kono Bijutsu-bu ni wa Mondai ga aru" is one of the shows that my anime buddy and I have been watching for the past several weeks and it's been fun. Strangely enough, it's another Ari Ozawa（小澤亜李）-headed show featuring her as a high-strung high school student in love with a romantically oblivious schoolmate who is a talented artist while she is supported by at least one other high-powered seiyuu. If I had seen the script treatment before watching the show, I would have thought that a sequel to "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん）was finally on the air. To be fair, though, the target of Ozawa's character's love this time is not a hulking fellow with a basso profundo voice but someone who looks a lot more twerpy.
Another similarity between "Bijutsu-bu" and "Nozaki-kun" is that both programs have earworm-y opening and ending themes.
First up is the opening "STARTING NOW!" with that high-powered seiyuu, Nana Mizuki（水樹奈々）, showing that she hasn't left her anison world behind. I'm not usually a huge rock anison fan but there is something about this one including the part where Mizuki uses the vocoder to yell out the title that really sticks in my eardrums along with the usual wax (my apologies if you were eating something when you read that just now).
Man, is she the youngest-looking 36-year-old (as of this writing) or what? In any case, "STARTING NOW!" was released in July 2016 with Mizuki coming up with the lyrics while Takuya Fujita（藤田卓也）composed the tune. Perhaps it has already peaked, but at this point it has gotten to No. 3 on Oricon. The above video is just a 2-minute short version but there is the longer take on the song via TV below. By the way, Mizuki plays the shy rookie teacher, Tachibana-sensei who supervises the art club in question.
Over the past few years, I've learned that whenever I hear a bunch of YMO-era syn-drums on an anison, it has got to be the TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND behind it. Ever since hearing that earworm the size of an anaconda by them, "Witch Activity"（ウィッチ☆アクティビティ）, which ended each episode of "Witchcraft Works"（ウィッチクラフトワークス）a couple of years ago, I've been wondering if the Technoboys could come up with something that could top that.
Well, maybe I have with the ending theme for "Bijutsu-bu". This is "Koi suru Zukei"(A Figure in Love) sung by the Russian-speaking seiyuu and singer Sumire Uesaka（上坂すみれ）. Those pulses, bleeps and synthesized percussion are back to create something that I like even more than "STARTING NOW!" I couldn't find the actual ending credits for the show with the song, but that's OK considering the music video is far more mesmerizing. As Uesaka has put up, it's encouraged to watch it on a smartphone for the best effect. However, I have never owned one of those contraptions and don't plan on getting one any time soon but even watching it on conventional YouTube is fun enough for me.
I wonder if those three guys who seem to be paying tribute to the British fellows from the old Art of Noise videos are the actual Technoboys. "Koi suru Zukei" is Uesaka's 7th single released just a couple of weeks ago on August 3rd. As for some trivia from J-Wiki, the title was simply just going to be "cubic futurismo" but since Uesaka is such a big fan of singer Jun Togawa（戸川純）, she was able to add on the Japanese title which is a twist on one of Togawa's songs from the 1980s, "Zukei no Koi"（図形の恋...Figure Love）. Uesaka also has a role in the show as the perky blonde buddy Collette who seems to be Dekomori from "Chuunibyo demo Koi ga shitai"（中二病でも恋がしたい）without the weaponized twin tails.
Now I can only wonder what would happen if I guzzled down a bottle of MAX COFFEE while listening to a TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND-created tune. The last thing I would probably hear is "Death officially listed at...."
Not quite an earworm but still fun enough to bury down into my meninges, I've also gotten somewhat into the ending theme for "Koukaku no Pandora: Ghost Urn"（紅殻のパンドラ -GHOST URN-）along with the opening theme which I wrote about a month ago, "hopeness" by ZAQ. The singer-songwriter also took care of the lyrics for "LoSe±CoNtRoL" with TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND handling the music. After hearing a couple of more of the band's anison creations, I've got the feeling that they really enjoy beating those syn-drums. The two starring seiyuu of the series Sanae Fuku（福沙奈恵）and Manami Numakura（沼倉愛美）perform the duet.
From what I could understand from ZAQ's lyrics, "LoSe±CoNtRoL" is all about the relationship between bubbly Nene and not-so-effervescent Clarion. The former has got some fairly deep feelings for the latter but reciprocation isn't too easy. Perhaps it's not so much "can't compute" on Clarion's side as it is "won't compute". In any case, the percolating technopop along with the technobabbly exchange between the two makes for a cute example of robot love.
No, it's not BUER but Pon de Lion
the mascot for Mister Donut.
Up to about the end of last year, my anime buddy and I were watching the suspense-drama "Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru"（櫻子さんの足下には死体が埋まっている...Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation）which literally translates as "A Corpse is Buried Under Sakurako's Feet". Aside from the fact that the title of this 2015 anime for the fall season is so long that it and its translations took up three whole lines, "Sakurako-san" was also one of the few anime that I've seen which came across as a down-to-earth mystery drama without any out-of-left-field high technology, supremely cute characters or wild spots of wackadoodle humour.
I'm gonna quote the plot as is described in the Wikipedia article:
Sakurako Kujō is a genius beauty in her mid-twenties whose life is centered around one thing and one thing only: bones. With little tolerance for others, she would be completely isolated in her study full of skeletons if it weren’t for high school boy Shotaro—her new assistant and constant companion. Why exactly she has taken a shine to him remains a mystery, but one thing is clear: Whenever the two go out together, the chances are high that they will come across a human corpse.
As for that last sentence, that could also describe Detective Conan, Haibara-san and their elementary school buddies....which is terrifying to think in real life. No wonder they don't seem to have any friends outside of themselves.
In any case, when my buddy first introduced this series to me a few months back, I didn't quite hear him properly as I thought he said that "Sakurako-san" was a bit of a lift from the the American TV series "Bones". So I kinda popped up and thought "Wow! An anime version of 'Bones'?" I guess Japan must have been thanking Emily Deschanel and Hart Hanson for allowing Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）to guest star in an episode a few years ago.
But all kidding aside, the anime is based on the original mystery novel series written by Shiori Ota（太田紫織）. I had to re-adjust my thought processes a bit when I saw the pilot episode since a lot of the usual anime wackiness was simply not in this series but once things got going, I started to enjoy each of the grim cases and their resolutions along with the overarching plot of this genius near-misanthrope with an obsession for bones, Sakurako Kujo（九条櫻子）, still internally grieving over the death of her younger brother but being able to develop this somewhat warm relationship with her partner-in-crimefighting, high schooler Shotaro Tatewaki（館脇正太郎）.
I thought the one thing that kinda stuck out like a sore thumb was this henshin-type scene in the first couple of episodes which seemed a little too whimsical for this show, so I was glad that the producers took it out lickety-split for the rest of the series.
Now, before we all forget that "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is a Japanese music blog and not exclusively an anime one, I have to say that the ending theme also gradually grew upon me. "Uchiyoserareta Bōkyaku no Zankyō ni"(The Reverberation of a Washed Up Oblivion) was written and composed by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND with vocalist Yuki Otake（大竹佑季）providing the soft and haunting delivery. If that rather oddly-name band strikes a chord with you, it's the same group that provided one of the anison earworms of a couple of years back, "Witch Activity" for the anime "Witchcraft Works". I still enjoy drilling that worm into my head from time to time.
Otake's singing of this ending anison for "Sakurako" matches well with the closing credits of the main character swimming through a sea of water and skeletons. There is something very warm, watery and oddly comfortable about listening to "Uchiyoserareta Bōkyaku no Zankyō ni" that made me wonder which inspired which...the end credits on the creation of the song or vice versa. In any case, images of some nice warm milk tea came to mind. That would be quite an interestingly contrasting picture against the general nature of digging up human remains.
The anime is over now but I am hoping that there might have been enough interest in the first go that a sequel series may pop up in the near future.
The only spooky photo I could find for an article
like this. But the sight of a squid-ink burger at
McDs can be construed as terrifying.
I think this might strike readers from outside of North America rather ironically but currently there is a massive snowstorm smashing into the eastern half of the United States while Canada stays quite calm. CNN is doing a full court press.
Meanwhile, KMM Dan（KMM団）will probably have a grand old time at the karaoke box singing this tune, if the above video is any indication. Yup, it's been a couple of years but I'm finally putting up the other song by the group of seiyuu involved in "Witchcraft Works". Not as much of an earworm as "Witchcraft Activity", "Saturday Night Witches" was also written and composed by the technopop unit TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND as an interesting tribute to what I think is old 80s synthpop. It's not quite full funky R&B and not quite full New Wave but it is an intriguing Japanese tribute to the music of the big hair, gaudy makeup and broad shoulders that was all the rage back in the decade of my high school and university years.
In terms of the lyrics, it's all about having a great time downtown tripping the light fantastic, preferably without the gigantic violent bunnies. I very barely head out on Saturday nights nowadays so there is definitely a natsukashii element listening to "Saturday Night Witches"...all those old discos, trips to Kuri and late-night midnight snacks.
Not too long ago, I wrote on Yasuyuki Okamura's（岡村靖幸）funky little number, "Viva Namida", the opening theme for "Space Dandy"...one of the number of anime that I've been watching since the beginning of the new year. Well, during the same showing, I was also witness to another anime by the title of "Witchcraft Works" which seems to have become the big hit of the season.
As I did with "Space Dandy", I will also give my brief fractured description of "Witchcraft Works" through comparison with examples of old TV programs and movies. The show seems to be a mix of "Terminator", "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" with some pretty nifty special effects. However, as much as I have enjoyed the first few episodes featuring the adventures of Honoka and Ayaka, my ears and brain pricked up at the very end of the episodes when this Ceti Alpha Eel of an ending theme managed to burrow deep into my brain where it still resides.
This would be "Witch Activity" by KMM Dan（ＫＭＭ団...The KMM Group）, the coven of teenage witches which has so far antagonized our aforementioned heroes with all manners of hocus pocus, giant bears and bunnies. And I think the coven is having better success breaking the fourth wall and ripping us anime fans down to size with this earworm than getting at Ayaka the witch. The technopop unit TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND was responsible for unleashing this infectious melody. The unit itself was formed all the way back in 1995, but with their first album, "music laundering" coming out over a decade later in 2006.
The music alone should be investigated by the CDC, but what got me at "Hello" was the staccato opening by the KMM girls (voiced by their respective seiyuu) themselves. With the music and the vocals, I didn't stand a chance. I ended up listening to the YouTube video for the ending credits of "Witchcraft Works" a few times after getting home from my anime buddy's place that night, and then a few more times after that until the official single was finally released a few days ago, and a Good Samaritan uploaded the song onto YouTube. Frankly, I don't think the full version of "Witchcraft Activity" actually adds any further audio Valhalla than what I have already heard through the credits, but it's early days.
From CD Japan
Now, when you check out the photo above for the single, you will see the cover in which the KMM Dan is positioned eerily like the famed German techno band, Kraftwerk, for "The Man-Machine". My anime buddy also pointed out that "Witch Activity" also sounded like the band's "Radioactivity".
Well, I'm not quite sure about that....perhaps if the melody for "Radioactivity" were sped up? But in any case, I did enjoy seeing the parody cover.
