Vickeblanka -- Natsu no Yume（夏の夢）

In less than a couple of hours, Toronto will be going into Stage 3 of the re-opening of the economy which means that places like gyms and movie theatres will be opening back up, and restaurants can finally offer dine-in service again after months of closure. I hope things go well and smoothly but I think it'll still be a few more weeks before I'm willing to chance a meal out.

One piece of good news is that I've been back earning a real income again for the past couple of weeks after more than three months relying on emergency government benefits. I was busy on one project today, and of course, in the afternoon while I'm doing that, I like to inject some music through the headphones. Sure enough, I decide to listen to pop singer Vickeblanka's（ビッケブランカ）2018 "Wizard" album and come across another track that I do indeed like.

This would be "Natsu no Yume" (Summer Dream), his 2nd single as a major artist which was released in August 2018. I first heard about this happy-go-lucky pop singer-songwriter because of his performance of the ending theme for the anime "DOUBLE DECKER! Doug & Kirill"（ダグ&キリル）, "Buntline Special", a grinding rock thriller along the lines of "Born to be Wild". Then out of curiosity, I checked out some of his other songs on YouTube and found him to be quite the musical chameleon in a very good way which ultimately got me a copy of "Wizard" from my anime buddy who was also a fan of "Buntline Special".

"Natsu no Yume" is no different. It's the typical mellow pop summer tune with a bit of jazziness, but what gives it a bit more lift is that echoing piano which comes in and out throughout the number as if it were coming in from a different dimension. Listening to it on the hard drive, I checked on YouTube whether there was some representation, and luckily, Vickeblanka has his own channel and the official music video for "Natsu no Yume". As I see him prancing about in the video, I rather thought that if Doctor Who ever regenerated into someone Japanese, it would be this guy in that getup (well, him and seiyuu Mamoru Miyano).

A couple of days ago, commenter Michael and I were talking about underrated singer-songwriter Shin Rizumu（シンリズム）and were hoping that his career was chugging along nicely. I can also hope for the same with Vickeblanka.

Anyways, it'll be another big step for us in Toronto. Do wish us luck!👍

Vickeblanka -- Wizard

Based on my amity for the catchy "Buntline Special" and some of his other songs from YouTube by singer-songwriter Junya "Vickeblanka" Yamaike（山池純矢）, I decided to get his 2nd album "Wizard". As you can see above, the good folks at Avex have even provided an "appetizer" video of sorts for the November 2018 release.

Track 2 is "Winter Beat". Kinda sounding like a mix of Queen and Spitz（スピッツ）, Vickeblanka（ビッケブランカ）seems to like his videos infused with a generous heaping of whimsy. From what I could understand from his lyrics, the lad is going the extra mile to express his undying affection for the lucky lass. The truck carrying him and his piano may as well be hauling from Toronto down to Miami.

Not to say that Vickeblanka is Japan's 21st-century answer to Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, but he does like hoofing it up a fair bit in his videos, I find. Adds some good fun there. Anyways, I'm not 100% sure whether to romanize Track 5's 「ウララ」as "Ooh La La" or "Urara". Although the title is never mentioned in the lyrics, I'm kinda wondering whether the young lady that Vickeblanka's caddish persona is pursuing is actually named the latter or the former is referring to his raging libido. Whichever the case, it's a pretty fun tune with the strings and piano. is also Vickeblanka's first CD single released in April 2018 although there have been three previous digital singles by him.

From the whimsical to the wistful...Track 3 is "Masshiro"（まっしろ...Pure White）, a ballad about two people with the world seemingly against them trying to make their way into a better place and time. "Masshiro" was used as an insert song for the Fuji-TV drama "Kemono ni Narenai Watashi Tachi"（獣になれない私たち...We Who Can't Become Beasts）, and thanks to its strings, I get reminded of some of the sweeter material by Misia.

The last song here that I will provide is "Black Rover" which was one of the opening themes for the anime "Black Clover"（ブラッククローバー）that has been going on and on like the Duracell Bunny since October 2017. Although it doesn't quite grab me like "Buntline Special" did for "DOUBLE DECKER! Doug & Kirill"（ダグ&キリル）, it still strikes me as a quintessential anison opener for an action-packed show.

In fact, I would say that "Buntline Special" is still the lone earworm of "Wizard" although I think tracks especially such as 「ウララ」are quickly growing on me. Still curious as to what Vickeblanka has in store in the future and what he has provided in the past. Perhaps a look into his 2017 debut album "Fearless" may be in order.

Vickeblanka -- Slave of Love

After first hearing about singer-songwriter Vickeblanka（ビッケブランカ）through his super-catchy anison for the show "Double Decker" and writing an article about "Buntline Special" in late October, I started getting rather curious about the fellow and his work judging from some of the thumbnails for his music videos on YouTube. Then, last Tuesday, one of my other friends who also has his own passing interest in anime even mentioned that he wouldn't mind getting his hands on a copy of that very song himself.

So I decided to check out those other videos and have been pretty impressed thus far. I mentioned in the "Buntline Special" article that he's been influenced by artists such as Elton John, Michael Jackson and Billy Joel. Somewhat like Joel, especially early in his career, Vickeblanka has been somewhat of a musical chameleon. I've gotten hints of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" from "Buntline Special" while a couple of his other songs have revealed mellow middle-of-the-road guitar-based J-Pop along with a danceable tune as well.

Then, there is "Slave of Love", which is the title track for his 2016 album which has shown to me Vickeblanka's apparent love of "Killer Queen". I actually chuckled with some happy glee at the singer's take on Freddie through his high-toned vocals and the guitar solo. Judging from the fun video as well and one other video of his, Vickeblanka does like to dance around. He may not be a Michael Jackson but he does have the "Glee"-ful spirit of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly within him, I believe.

I'm going to be looking forward to his future stuff on stereo and screen.

Vickeblanka -- Buntline Special

Buntline Special
(Wikipedia)

We're a few weeks into the anime season for Fall 2018 but I got to see some of the new entries yesterday. I had been expecting a more introspective lineup but there were quite a few zany ones in there, including this one whose ending theme I will be writing about tonight.

I never caught "Tiger & Bunny" in its entirety although I remember catching several minutes of one episode on Tokyo MX in my final year in Japan, and the biggest thing that caught my attention was seeing the decals of real corporations pasted on the main characters' uniforms.

Well, the same folks and company behind "Tiger & Bunny" have come up with another intriguing justice-based show called "DOUBLE DECKER! Doug & Kirill"（ダグ&キリル）. Half-sardonically, I had first assumed that the anime was about London-based trolley buses which metamorphose into heroic mecha named Doug and Kirill. Instead, there is indeed a Doug and Kirill but they are actually an initially mismatched duo of special cops on a very colourful team. I saw the first three episodes last night and "DOUBLE DECKER!" seems to be filled with shoutouts across the pop culture geek spectrum. There were tributes to cop shows such as "Hawaii Five-0", "Abunai Deka"（あぶない刑事）and "Taiyo ni Hoero!"（太陽にほえろ！）, and some hints of "X-Men", "Men In Black" and perhaps even "Strikeforce: Morituri". Heck, Episode 1 threw in a "Terminator" reference.

Plus, you got mysterious Doug looking like a young Bruce Greenwood ("Star Trek", "I, Robot", "Thirteen Days") and usually creamy-voiced seiyuu Saori Hayami（早見沙織）playing an extremely tough and sweary Seven-0 team member. My attention has been caught.

Another catchy thing? That ending theme by singer-songwriter Vickeblanka（ビッケブランカ）, "Buntline Special" which comes across as hard as a bullet from the actual gun that it's named after. Let's take that song onto an Anthem raid. It's the one theme song from yesterday's batch of anime that launched as an automatic earworm. So far, it's just been the ending credits that I could find, but I'm hopeful that a full version will hit YouTube pretty soon.

Vickeblanka, who hails from Aichi Prefecture, was born Junya Yamaike（山池純矢）and touts his influences being Elton John, Billy Joel and Michael Jackson. He released a couple of indie albums in 2014 and 2015 along with a downloadable single before making his major studio debut release in 2017, "Fearless" and two singles this year.