Gawr Gura -- Shyness Boy

 

This will be the last article of the three advance City Pop tunes I'm starting up today on Thursday, so I'll put up the remaining two tomorrow. Admittedly, this isn't a particularly deep think piece but then again, City Pop by its nature isn't about the metaphysics of it all. It's always been about having some great fun in the metropolis or even in the resort areas.

Back in the fall of 2023, I was surprised to find out from commenter Gen Kanai that VTubers were also plying their hands and voices on City Pop, and so I took a try with Houshou Marine（宝鐘マリン）& Gawr Gura（がうる・ぐら）and their duet "SHINKIRO" from 2023. Incidentally, it was also the first time that I presented KKP official cartoon representative Kayo Grace Kyoku up at the top though she didn't have a name at the time.

I also found out that Gawr Gura had enjoyed covering some of the City Pop classics from the 1980s including Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）"Magic Ways" whose video came out in 2022. She did a really nice job there, and just recently, I found her other 2022 cover of one of my favourite songs of the genre, Anri's（杏里）"Shyness Boy" from her 1983 album "Timely!!". Yes, I realize that it's basically her doing karaoke but still, it's not just a row of terrifying teeth emanating from the mouth of the VTuber shark! Of course, it's Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）who came up with the words and music for "Shyness Boy".

One other thing that I've discovered is that Gawr Gura retired from Hololive last year in May, so I'm hoping that whoever portrayed her is enjoying a happy life somewhere.

Gawr Gura -- Magic Ways

 

It was in the middle of last month that I brought in a couple of VTubers, Houshou Marine（宝鐘マリン）& Gawr Gura（がうる・ぐら）, and their original Neo-City Pop song "SHINKIRO". I've never gotten into the whole virtual YouTuber phenomenon, but hey, I have to admit that the City Pop was the hook for me. Plus the article led indirectly to the introduction of KKP AI representative Kayo Grace Kyoku.

So I guess due to the number of times that I've seen and listened to "SHINKIRO" in recent weeks, I've also been getting my fair share of recommended YouTube videos for these VTubers doing their own karaoke. Therefore, just to add to the Gawr Gura file at least, I've done a follow-up on Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）fun and footloose and fancy-free "Magic Ways" from 1984 with Gura herself taking the vocal reins. Not sure whether VTubers' favourite shark has officially given a recording of "Magic Ways" onto CD or digital, but she does a great job with the song, even injecting a bit more soul into the proceedings. The year by the way is just when the YouTube video was posted.

Houshou Marine & Gawr Gura -- SHINKIRO

 

OK, I had a little too much time on my hands so I tried out one of those AI art generator sites that fortunately didn't have any computer viruses. All I did was punch in "80s Aidoru" and asked for it to be done anime style, and I ended up with the above. The lass is striking to be sure but I don't think it's the right decade. I'm taking offers on what to call her.

Anyways, veteran commenter Gen Kanai told me about this duet between two VTubers that has also been getting the City Pop vote out. I don't know very much about virtual YouTubers aside from the fact that they are different from Vocaloids but the two lasses here are Houshou Marine（宝鐘マリン）and Gawr Gura（がうる・ぐら）, both from Hololive Production, an agency specializing in VTubers. You can check the links above to find out about the characters at "TV Tropes".

I gotta say that their duet "SHINKIRO", which means "Mirage" in Japanese, and the accompanying video are quite the accomplishment. The song itself, written by Takeshi Matsumoto（松本武史）and composed by Kanke（カンケ）, has got so much City Pop-phase Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）goodness imbued into the arrangement that my scalp suddenly sprouted long scraggly hair and my knees broke inwards. The love affair video above has also brought back a wonderful nostalgic summery style and I've got a feeling that there may be lectures at universities around the world about what that ending was about. The song premiered just a few days ago on November 12th.