Tontokoton Staff -- Maid Dai Kaiten（メイド大回転）

 

Well, we're just about halfway through the current anime season and that includes the gritty-as-sand but frilly-as-frills show "Akiba Meido Senso"（アキバ冥途戦争...Akiba Maid War）. The series has been following the pattern of a typical yakuza movie but instead of thugs, we have maids battling it out. At the same time, there has also been a goodly amount of fun music coming out of this as well. So far on the blog, it's been the homicidally hilarious "Junjou Maid Bukkoroshi Kiss"（純情メイドぶっころ主KISS）in the standout scene of Episode 1 and the ending theme "Meido no Komori Uta"（冥途の子守唄）which is in the same vein of the downtrodden-but-unbowed type of Mood Kayo of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Now, let's tackle the opening. First off, those opening credits with all of us entering the tough-and-bloody streets of Akihabara communicate to us in those one minute and forty-odd seconds about what the whole premise is right down to the combination of aprons and arms and of course, the power walk of the staff of the Tontokoton Maid Cafe（メイドカフェ とんとことん）which ought to bring a smile to the face of Quentin Tarentino.

As for that opening theme, it's "Maid Dai Kaiten" (Giant Maid Slalom) by the Tontokoton staff themselves. We have Reina Kondo（近藤玲奈）as the scared newbie Nagomi (although after Episode 6, there may be changes ahead for her), Rina Sato（佐藤利奈）as the hardened warrior Ranko, Minami Tanaka（田中美海）as the alternately sweet-and-snarky Yumechi, Tomoyo Kurosawa（黒沢ともよ）as the gyaru maid Shiipon, Jenya（ジェーニャ）as the Russian battle maid Zoya, and Ayahi Takagaki（高垣彩陽）as the scheming manager Yasuko Yaegashi. Words and music were provided by SHIBU and Getamono Land Keiei Senryaku Shitsu（ケダモノランド経営戦略室...Beast Land Administrative Strategies Office）, the latter of which produced the show.

One YouTube commenter pointed it out well that "Maid Dai Kaiten" is a hard techno piece that seems to have come out of the "Matrix" franchise, and the contrast between those dark beats and the typical Maid Cafe patter works well, both as something oddly kakkoii and tongue-in-cheek. However, the main chorus then launches into something major chord upbeat and aidoru-esque. Maybe that means there is hope around the corner for the Tontokoton maids. Regardless, there are a couple of music snippets that have also popped up; I hope that they get their due as full-fledged songs soon enough on the soundtrack.

D-Pi/France Gall -- Le temps de la rentrée

It was a nice Sunday yesterday. Got some really good, really seasonal weather for the first time in several months and it wasn't just me and my anime buddy but we had a guest appearance from another old friend and his son. So it was time to go out for some spicy Szechuan fare and then some dessert.

I gotta say that there are some offbeat shows this season of Spring 2018. We got another anime about dragons although this one isn't listed as a slice-of-life comedy but more of a wartime drama according to Wikipedia. Looking at the first few scenes of "Hisone to Masotan"（ひそねとまそたん...Hisone & Masotan）, I thought it was a straight show about a young awkward lady trying to fulfill her dreams of becoming an ASDF pilot for Japan.

Then I saw the dragon Masotan and, nope, it wasn't going to be all that simple. Still, there is plenty of humour to be had with the main character of Hisone Amakasu（甘粕ひそね）who might have Asperger's and awkwardness, and her frenemy (?), the cranky and resentful punk Nao Kaizaki（貝崎名緒）. My friend told me that Mari Okada（岡田麿里）is the screenwriter for the show, and apparently she has a penchant for killing off her characters in horrible myriad ways so perhaps I shouldn't get too attached to any of them. But then again, the notorious Gen Urobuchi（虚淵玄）was actually pretty nice (relatively speaking) on "Suisei no Gargantia"（翠星のガルガンティア...Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet）, so you never know.

Although Winter 2018 didn't have any instant earworms among the anime themes (although a few of them have grown on me), it looks like Spring 2018 may unearth a few musical maggots including the ending theme for "Hisone to Masotan", a cover of the late France Gall's "Le temps de la rentrée" with the added Japanese subtitle of "Koi no Ieji (Shin Gakki)"（恋の家路（新学期）...Love's Road Home (New School Term)）. As if things couldn't get even more weirder. The show has this cover of a French ye-ye tune performed by all of the Dragon Pilots or D-Pi (although not all of them have been introduced yet as of the 2nd episode) played by Misako Kuno（久野美咲）as Hisone, Tomoyo Kurosawa（黒沢ともよ）as Nao, Maki Kawase（河瀬茉希）, Satomi Arai（新井里美）and Kaori Nazuka（名塚佳織）. Plus, the ending credits have the characters channeling their inner American Bandstand.

The original song was a track on Gall's "Baby Pop" album from 1966 with father Robert and brother Patrice creating "Le temps de la rentrée". The song is only around a minute and change long so perhaps what I heard on the ending credits is the entire version. Short but very sweet.

Tomoyo Kurosawa -- Field Trip!!

The previous year of 2016 had some pretty good anime for me. There were the calming slice-of-life shows such as "Flying Witch" (ふらいんぐうぃっち) and ones packing a bit more drama including the just-concluded "Hibike! Euphonium"（響け! ユーフォニアム）. Then there were the science fiction-adventures like "Kuromukuro" (クロムクロ) and "Active Raid". That latter show was quite fun as it mixed the usual armoured robots with the often-inane bureaucracy and personal interactions of working inside a company. However, I thought that final episode of the second season just crunched things together a little too quickly for my liking.

Illustrating my need for a guide book on the casts of characters and singers for the various theme songs, I didn't find out until well after the fact that there was one connection between "Active Raid" and "Hibike! Euphonium". And that connection was seiyuu/singer Tomoyo Kurosawa（黒沢ともよ）. She has been getting accolades on the scale of Meryl Streep about her performance as the main character of Kumiko Omae（黄前久美子）on "Euphonium" over that show's two seasons. There's even a YouTube video depicting all of her vocal quirks as you can see above. I figure she may as well start writing up her acceptance speech for any anime award she will get.

However, I also found out that she's been doing her fair share of anison. Kurosawa also had a minor role on "Active Raid" as the perky AI, Liko, and in-character, she provided the ending theme for the second season, "Field Trip!!" Instead of being an instant earworm, "Field Trip!!" did more of a slow burn to finally implant itself into my brain. Written by Mehko Yamamoto（山本メーコ）and composed by IKUO, I think the song is about Liko's desire to get out of her digital environment and enjoy a fun day out in the city. Considering some of the mayhem that happens even within Public Mobile Assault Unit Eight, I don't quite blame her.

I guess another reason that "Field Trip!!" has finally touched down with me is perhaps that the arrangement has some nostalgia, strange as it may be to admit. Shades of Ayumi Hamasaki（浜崎あゆみ）and Trance music keep dancing about in my head.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm29361217