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.
Yeah, I gotta say that "Urusei Yatsura"（うる星やつら）is really urusei yatsura. I don't think I've heard a trailer that almost had me turning down the volume from all of the vocal cacophony present. In any case, earlier this year, I contributed an article for the 2022 redux version of the anime regarding its first opening theme "aiue"（アイウエ）by music project MAISONdes.
From the quote that I referred to in that first article, MAISONdes is notable for considering itself as a growing apartment building with each song being a unit in that building. So, "aiue", which had Minami（美波）and SAKURAmoti creating and performing it, is known as Unit 373. Well, those contemporary "Urusei Yatsura" fans most likely already know this, but MAISONdes was responsible for all of the theme songs including the second ending theme.
Titled "Ai Tarinai"(Not Enough Love), this probably came out as a digital single in January 2023, and Unit 210's residents are music makers yama and Nito（ニト。）with the latter handling lyrics and music. Not surprisingly, "Ai Tarinai" is one hectic synthpop adventure reflecting a typical "Urusei Yatsura" episode. The official music video certainly shows Lum in a new light. And I'm kinda wondering whether one scene wasn't influenced by "Doctor Who" (sorry, my geek is showing).
I have seen one of the original animated movies featuring Rumiko Takahashi's（高橋留美子）classic "Urusei Yatsura"（うる星やつら）, "Beautiful Dreamer" when I was still going to my anime buddy's house on Sundays, and of course, the anime adaptation has become somewhat legendary. However, I never really caught onto the show although I have done a few of the theme songs including the opening theme for that 1981 series, "Lum no Love Song"（ラムのラブソング）.
Well, last year, the powers-that-be decided that there would be a 2022 redux of "Urusei Yatsura" starring some big names in the seiyuu industry including Sumire Uesaka（上坂すみれ）, Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）, Mamoru Miyano（宮野真守） and Hiroshi Kamiya（神谷浩史）. And if the opening credits are any indication, those animators must have had a heck of a time at their assignment.
One of the commenters keyed me into the new show and its theme songs, one of which I will do here. The opening theme for Season 1 of this new version of "Urusei Yatsura" is "aiue" created through the aegis of MAISONdes with words and music provided by SAKURAmoti and Minami（美波）who also sings here. Minami tears into "aiue" at warp speed and breathlessly zings through it; maybe she's channeling her inner Lum.
"MAISONdes is a unique music project. Extremely popular on TikTok, it’s described only as ‘a fictional apartment building somewhere,’ where a different singer and creator features on each and every track. Each song is even labeled with a room number. This allows up-and-coming artists to collaborate in ways they never expected, and leaves the listeners enjoying an all-new sound. Rather than stick to what’s comfortable, artists taking part in the project express themselves freely with their new creative partner."
It has been a while since I have picked up writing a blog post. Earlier this year I moved out into a different city with my boyfriend, which involved hard work such as joining our manga collections. I simultaneously got a new job and I needed a few months to settle in.
Japanese music and anime are two things I never stopped caring about, even during those busier times. Back in May I decided to start watching Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら). A reboot of the 80's classic anime had just been announced and even though I had just finished a long series, I was ready to jump into another one. I am now left with only 18 episodes to finish the main series, and will be ready to start the new anime as soon as it begins airing on October 14th.
There are many things I love about Urusei Yatsura: the 80's idol references (of course), the aesthetics, the social criticism, and even though it can be repetitive, it was interesting enough that it always kept me going. It is comfortable to come back home after a day of work and knowing there is an episode of Urusei Yatsura waiting for me with its characters and their specific type of jokes.
My favorite character in the anime is Lum, which is an uninteresting choice, I guess, but I do feel like she is the most interesting character in the series. I have not watched all the movies yet, but I believe they will only reinforce that opinion. I like seeing her all relaxed while chaos ensues (until her Darling starts girl-hunting again).
Lum's voice is lovely, courtesy of Fumi Hirano (平野文). In this post I am showcasing the insert song Fushigi Kirei (ふしぎ・きれい) that shows up in some of the later episodes. It is a simple, relaxing synth-pop piece where Hirano alias Lum exposes the unpredictability and beauty of the human (Earthling) heart. Lyrics are by Tokuhisa Kobashi (小橋徳久, not sure about the reading since he does not have any other credits), arrangement by Bun Itakura (板倉文). The composer is actually Yuko Matsutani (松谷祐子), better known for borrowing her vocals to the classic opening theme Lum no Love Song.
I finish with this amazing video of a TV show aired in 2019, featuring several works by mangaka Rumiko Takahashi, where the voice actors for Lum and Ataru reunite to enact some lines of their characters. It is unbelievable how similar their voices are after almost 40 years.
Happy Monday!...sort of. I got more exercise that I had been expecting because I ended up plowing my way through two feet of snow this morning after being in the midst of one of the biggest blizzards that Toronto has ever seen in many years. The white stuff finally quietened down at around noon but it's going to take a very long while for the snowplows to get even the major arteries cleared. My thighs are still burning with rage (don't take that the wrong way😝).
The pajamas will definitely be needed for tonight but ironically, to begin this week of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we have a song titled "Pajama Jama da!" (The Pajamas Are In The Way). I'd never heard of the song, or for that matter, the singer Kanako Narikiyo（成清加奈子）before, but quickly identifying this as an 80s aidorutune, my first impression was "Oh, golly, was she a part of Onyanko Club?" with that somewhat suggestive title. As it turns out, Narikiyo, who hails from Kumamoto Prefecture, was a solo aidoru and "Pajama Jama da!" was actually the third opening theme song for the famous manga-turned-anime "Urusei Yatsura"（うる星やつら）in that decade. It's got that similarly cute, cuddly and slightly naughty feeling with a little tropical twist which the first theme song "Lum no Love Song"（ラムのラブソング）had.
Another similarity is that like "Lum no Love Song" which had City Pop-friendly keyboardist and composer Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美）come up with the melody, "Pajama Jama da!" was created by lyricist Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, two fellows who know the genre very well. Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）arranged the song, and it's quite the happy and twinkly affair. The two themes also share the same story of Lum getting all hot and bothered over her beloved.
Narikiyo's time in the limelight lasted between 1984 and somewhere in the 1990s with "Pajama Jama da!" being her debut single in May 1984. According to her J-Wiki profile, she released five singles but no solo albums, though she was included in a compilation album of other aidoru. She also had some time as an actress and as a tarento on a couple of variety shows. Finally, the article even revealed her hobbies as being shopping, music, movies and collecting Mickey Mouse goods with her abilities being focused on various forms of dance ranging from ballet to traditional Japanese dance.
Back in 2015, I wrote about the theme song for "Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer"（うる星やつら2： ビューティフル・ドリーマー）, "Ai wa Boomerang"（愛はブーメラン）, which had come out in 1984. I confessed that I was never a fan of the original series but that the character of Lum（ラム）was pretty well iconic to the point that even I knew about her.
Years ago, when I was living and working in the Tokyo area, a friend and I dropped into the famous Mandarake（まんだらけ）shop in Shibuya since my friend wanted to find a few things such as some manga. Apparently, it may have been one of the rules that at least some of the staffers there had to perform some sort of cosplay. Well, as I was walking through one of the narrow aisles, I encountered a young lithe lady who was decked out as the Lum. Yep, shrinking tiger-patterned outfit and all...just like the lady in the video above at Moa Channel, although the staffer at Mandarake was far more nonchalant. I quickly moved back the other way.
Last week, I wrote about singer-songwriter Izumi "Mimi" Kobayashi（小林泉美）who had been in the urban contemporary side of Japanese pop music from the 1970s. I found out that she had a lot to do with a number of the theme songs for "Urusei Yatsura", although "Ai wa Boomerang" wasn't one of them. However, she was partially responsible for the very first opening theme for the TV anime, "Lum no Love Song" (Lum's Love Song) which came out as a single in October 1981.
Sung by Yuko Matsutani（松谷祐子）, who would also sing "Ai wa Boomerang", Kobayashi took care of music and arrangement while Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）provided the lyrics. I only heard it for the first time a few nights ago, and it seems to come across just as saucy and coquettish as Lum herself. Nice touch with the Latin in there. The original version topped off at No. 50 on Oricon.
misono came out with her more hard-rocking version of "Lum no Love Song" as her 14th single in September 2009 which came out on the same day as her first album of cover songs "Cover Album"（カバALBUM）. The single did even better than the original on Oricon by peaking at No. 18 while the album went as high as No. 28.
According to J-Wiki, when asked for the reason behind covering "Lum no Love Song", misono replied that since her older sister, Kumi Koda（倖田來未）, had gotten her big break with her cover of the theme song for "Cutie Honey"（キューティーハニー）, another anime from yesteryear, she naturally thought that she could do the same with her own cover of an anison.
Hope you folks are enjoying the summer! Currently here in Toronto, we're enjoying another long weekend with today being Simcoe Day. I got together with my anime buddy yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks so it was good to get together again. The usual case is that we watch the latest batch of anime, but as part of the lineup on Sunday, my friend also wanted to show me an oldie-but-goodie, "Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer"（うる星やつら2： ビューティフル・ドリーマー）.
I had never seen a full episode of the long-running TV series nor any of the movies before yesterday, but even I knew about the character of Lum, one of the most iconic characters in history. At the annual FanExpo, I've always remarked that it wouldn't be a FanExpo without seeing a Sailor Moon walking around. I can guess that at the San Diego ComiCon, it wouldn't be a ComiCon without catching a Lum traipsing around.
Anyhow, my peripheral knowledge of the show by Rumiko Takahashi（高橋留美子）is that the show had the usual goofy hijinks involving the characters. However, my good friend informed me that the second movie was quite different in terms of tone and plot. And he was quite right. The nutso humour was still there but as the movie proceeded, it started to creep more and more into Christopher Nolan territory which I was surprised about. I read later on that the movie was rather polarizing with a number of Japanese fans complaining about the sudden seriousness (relatively speaking), although it has been regarded favourably by English-speaking fans.
As for me, I was just suddenly thrust into the world of "Urusei Yatsura" so I didn't have all that background of the TV series to color my opinions of "Beautiful Dreamer". But I did pick up on the fact that all of the characters who had reveled in goofiness were now put into a suspense-mystery of sorts. Speaking of the characters, I actually enjoyed the camaraderie among them; they might scream at each other at the drop of a hat but these are still people who will stick with each other to the utmost.
At the end of the movie, the theme song for "Beautiful Dreamer" came on, "Ai wa Boomerang"(Love is a Boomerang) by Yuko Matsutani（松谷祐子）. It didn't have quite the effect on me that another theme for a later "Urusei Yatsura" flick had, but it pressed that nostalgia button when it came to anison of the 1980s which seemed to pay tribute to the soundtrack for "Flashdance". The lyrics were by veteran Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and the music was by Ryo Matsuda（松田良）. It was released in January 1984 about a month before the movie's debut in theatres, and it got as high as No. 34 on the Oricon weeklies.
