Mission: Impossible 1996

 

Well, I'm only putting up one article tonight since I'm getting at this rather late in the day. And that's because earlier today, I caught the latest "Mission: Impossible" movie, "The Final Reckoning" with a good friend. I'd heard that it got somewhat mixed reviews from critics and viewers but when I saw it, I thought it was better than I'd assumed although there were at least a couple of handwaves at physics and physiology to show that Ethan Hunt would have been an Avenger in the Marvel Universe. Still, it had a style and tone that distinguished it from the last few entries as much as those entries were quite different from the very first movie in 1996. To be honest, I thought "The Final Reckoning" probably had more in common with a cinematic adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel.

Is it the best IMF movie? Uh, nope, but it isn't the worst either. And maybe Tom Cruise is going to hand in his IMF ID for the final time but money and ambition will probably have the series coming up again at least once more with a new leader. 

Well, now, I did do a ROY article a few years ago on the famous theme song for "Mission: Impossible" and I also gave my opinions on the original TV series and the movie that started the film franchise. Therefore, I'll just cut to the chase and provide three of the Japanese pop songs that were in the Oricon list around the time that the very first movie premiered on May 22nd 1996. I'll give you Nos. 11, 12 and 13 from May 20th.

11. Namie Amuro -- Don't Wanna Cry

12. Tomomi Kahala -- I'm Proud

13. Rats & Star -- Yume de Aetara （夢で逢えたら）

Tomomi Kahala -- I Believe

Time is marching on...and I can believe this since it's been over 20 years since Tomomi Kahala（華原朋美）debuted on the scene. I recently saw her on an episode of "Uta Kon" (うたコン) and she happened to perform her old hit "I Believe".

Now for me, Kahala grabbed my attention when she released her 3rd single "I'm Proud" but according to J-Wiki, it was her 2nd single from October 1995 "I Believe" that marked her breakthrough. To be honest, I didn't quite believe when I first heard it through commercials and TV appearances but then hearing it again on "Uta Con" years later and then on YouTube, I'm actually starting to finally enjoy the arrangement by Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）. I think the one thing that had me reluctant initially was the wobbliness of Kahala's vocals.

However I think over the years, her voice has gotten stronger so "I Believe" and her other hits have gotten better in delivery. And I'm sure Kahala must have been very grateful for the chance since it had originally meant to have been sung by another entity under the Komuro umbrella, her mentor's band globe. But the Urayasu native got the assignment and the rest is history.

"I Believe" went all the way up to No. 4 and became a million-seller. In fact, although it was the 86th-ranked single for 1995, it climbed further up for the annual sales in 1996, reaching No. 38. And on the Oricon karaoke rankings, it was the 4th-most popular song. Kinda too bad that I couldn't find the original music video, though.

Tomomi Kahala -- Keep Yourself Alive

Another cultural touchstone of my life in the 1990s, I remember Tomomi Kahala（華原朋美）mainly for her biggest hit "I'm Proud", the disco-like anthem by Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）with the expensive music video in Los Angeles. But some 6 months earlier, she had debuted at the age of 21 with "Keep Yourself Alive" in September 1995.

Komuro was already hitting paydirt with TRF and Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）so when he introduced Kahala, I just thought he was really trying to carve out his own niche in J-Pop (and he was....Komuro Boom). I remember "Keep Yourself Alive" primarily for the music video with Komuro's young padawan all glossed up in makeup which had me imagining that bizarre fashion trend in Shibuya called yamamba when a certain segment of the gyaru corps there spackled on that makeup which made them look like photo negative versions of themselves. I wasn't too sad to see that fad fade.

So, strangely enough, it was only in the past few hours that I was finally able to hear the entire tune. With the enhancement of time and a sense of nostalgia, "Keep Yourself Alive" doesn't sound too bad. Unlike the disco of "I'm Proud", Kahala's debut has got that old-style punchy Komuro technopop running things behind the singer's high voice. The song got as high as No. 8 on Oricon and went Platinum. It was also on her hit debut album, "Love Brace" in June 1996.

One piece of trivia from the J-Wiki article on "Keep Yourself Alive" was that chanteuse Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）was apparently quite impressed with the quality of Kahala's vibrato when she listened to the song.

Tomomi Kahala -- save your dream

Recently, I watched Tomomi Kahala’s (華原朋美) 2014 Tour and it reminded me how much I like the majority of her 90s Komuro-penned songs. For my surprise, the song she chose to open the concert was “save your dream”, a hit single released by her in October 1996 that she rarely sings nowadays.

I was not the biggest fan of “save your dream” in the past, but it surely grew on me. Unlike TK’s Techno songs, "save your dream" is more pop-oriented with lovely keyboards and guitars. As for Tomomi Kahala, she has always been a good singer, and “save your dream” showcases interesting notes she could reach at the time (she was good in the 90s, but nowadays she is great). One other thing is that you can hear Komuro doing his clumsy background vocals through the song, an unfortunate common practice he had back in his heydays.

Other than that, everytime I listen to this "save your dream" I think about a bright sunny day and remember all the great J-Pop songs from the mid-90s, a time when Komuro was the king and produced a bunch of different artists. It was not the greatest time for traditional aidoru singers, but Tomomi Kahala managed to make a name for her still using the old aidoru tag, which meant a more restrained image if compared to rival Namie Amuro (安室奈美恵), for example.

"save your dream" reached #1 on the Oricon charts, selling 808,570 copies. Lyrics, music and arrangement were all done by Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉).

Source: generasia.com

Tomomi Kahala -- I'm Proud

I remember the early days of Tomomi Kahala（華原朋美）in the mid-90s. As another new member in the Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲也）family, the titles of her first 3 singles read like mantras at a self-help clinic: "Keep Yourself Alive", "I Believe" and "I'm Proud". The first two songs I know just from the commercials and the video excerpts: with "Keep Yourself Alive", it was Kahala in all sorts of heavy sci-fi-ish makeup, and then with "I Believe" it was her performing in front of what looked like a CG barren winterscape.

With "I'm Proud" though....well, as Leonardo DiCaprio said in Quentino Tarentino's "Django Unchained" last year, "....you had my curiosity, now you have my attention." (Never thought I would have Tomomi and Leonardo in the same article.)

The song, written and composed by J-Svengali Komuro, is this heroic-sounding anthem done to an old-time disco beat and a little girl's voice. I could almost imagine Kahala coming out in a Wonder Woman outfit...and knowing her other job as a tarento, she probably did at one point or another. I just wanted to look up at the sky and beam with "I'm Proud". But I think what also helped send Kahala's 3rd single over the top was the sepia-toned video with the two TKs on the top of a Los Angeles skyscraper at 1100 Wilshire, and of course, the helicopter....that must've taken some serious yen. I'm not sure if anything like that had ever happened in a Japanese music video.

"I'm Proud" was released in March 1996. It was Kahala's most successful single, selling over 1.3 million copies (outselling even Namie Amuro's singles for that year), peaking at No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and eventually becoming the 8th-ranked single of the year. It also earned a Japan Record Award and an invitation to that year's Kohaku Utagassen. But perhaps the greatest recognition by the listening masses was its No. 1 ranking of the year on the Oricon Karaoke chart. The single was also included on her debut album, "Love Brace" which came out in June of the same year. It hit No. 1 on the weeklies and was the 9th-ranked album for 1996.

As for Kahala herself, she was born as Tomomi Shimogawara（下河原朋美） in either Koto Ward, Tokyo (according to Wikipedia) or Urayasu City (according to J-Wiki) in Chiba Prefecture (in either case, pretty darn close to my old neck of the woods in Ichikawa City where the Tozai Line was concerned). She was a huge fan of Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）and wanted to make her own mark in show business, and despite parental opposition, she started out appearing as an assistant on TV programs and as a magazine model. She was spotted on one such show by her future producer and paramour, and the rest was history. Since then, she has had her share of ups and downs, including the professional and personal breakup with Komuro, but has been in the midst of a comeback from last year with her 27th single, "I Dreamed A Dream" being released in March 2013.

Tomomi Kahala -- I'm Proud