Sayonara Ponytail/Houkago Tea Time -- Tenshi ni Fureta yo!（天使にふれたよ！）

 

I have covered the female group Sayonara Ponytail（さよならポニーテール）a few times in the past, including their "Shin Sekai Koukyougaku"（新世界交響楽）which was one ending theme to the truly chaotic anime "Kill La Kill"（キルラキル）.

Just by happenstance, I stumbled across another song by this mystery group whose members have apparently never appeared live in concert or through any other visual media. They may not have even seen each other...at least as a full group. But anyways, there is much to like about their "Tenshi ni Fureta yo!" (We Met An Angel!) which was written by Emi Inaba（稲葉エミ）and composed by Susumu Kawaguchi（川口進）. It's got a nice groove but also has this wistfulness which comes with being reminded of those salad days in school. Plus, I like the illustrations accompanying the video which make it look like the disparate members of SayoPony actually hung out together all those years. The song was a bonus track on the group's three-disc album "Enban Utopia"（円盤ゆ～とぴあ...Disc Utopia） which was released in November 2015.

The crazy thing is that the SayoPony song is actually a cover of an insert song from the popular anime "K-ON". I'd always heard about this show from my anime buddy but never got to see it although it's gained quite the reputation over the years since it was first shown in 2009. I was surprised by the original version that was performed by the in-universe band Houkago Tea Time（放課後ティータイム...Afterschool Tea Time） with its different pop-rock flavour as performed by Aki Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）, Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）, Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）and Minako Kotobuki（寿美菜子）, seiyuu that have become very familiar to me through other roles in other anime. "Tenshi ni Fureta yo!" was placed as a track on the October 2010 album "Houkago Tea Time Second"（放課後ティータイムII）.

Triple Booking -- Hanasaku ☆ Saikyo Legend Days（花咲く☆最強レジェンドDays）

 

Well, it comes in cycles but once again, I've returned to enjoy the simple pleasures of the long-running anime "Seitokai Yakuindomo"（生徒会役員共...Student Council Staff Members） with its treasure house of perverted sex jokes. It's from a manga but I can't believe the anime franchise has lasted well over a decade. 

The first season landed all the way back in 2010 with a second season coming several years later in 2014. Not surprisingly, the entire seiyuu cast didn't miss a beat or seem rusty, the dirty jokes and gags continued to gush forth like a massive flood of ji--...well you know what I mean.

Triple Booking（トリプルブッキング）, the fictional aidoru trio voiced by Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）, Sayuri Yahagi（矢作紗友里）and Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）, the same three behind the main characters of Shino, Suzu and Aria respectively, performed the opening theme for the first season, and they were back to do the second season's song "Hanasaku ☆ Saikyo Legend Days" (Blooming ☆ The Strongest Legend Days). Written by Hanai（花衣）and composed by Hiroki Arai（新井弘毅）, it's a chugging rock tune compared to the cute synthpop of original theme song "Yamato Nadeshiko Education"（大和撫子エデュケイション）. 

I can't imagine what it must have been like in the studio when these guys were giving out their jokes during recording. Anyways, "Hanasaku ☆ Saikyo Legend Days" peaked at No. 24 on Oricon. 

Triple Booking -- Yamato Nadeshiko Education（大和撫子エデュケイション）

Back to Monday! I've realized that now that my anime routine with my anime buddy has been stopped for several months, I really haven't done a lot with my anison here. I'm only watching one show this season and the theme songs there haven't exactly lit a fire under me, so I was left wondering what to do for a typical anime theme tune. Then I re-realized that I had yet to do any of the themes from the devilishly dirty show "Seitokai Yakuindomo"（生徒会役員共...Student Council Staff Members） that had its premier season in 2010. Good golly...an entire decade ago!

Mind you, I've written about some of the soundtrack which sounds like composer, Yuuya Mori（森悠也）, really was punching above the show's weight. His theme for the quietly pervy Uomi, "Party Shimashou"（パーティーしましょ） is a slice of bossa nova heaven, for instance.

I should warn you first that the above opening credits are from the Blu-Ray version which means that a certain hobby of one of the minor characters has been uncensored. Now the opening theme for that first season was "Yamato Nadeshiko Education" (Education for the Traditional Japanese Woman) by Triple Booking（トリプルブッキング）, a fictional aidoru trio that actually originated from the 2001 manga "Aidoru no Akahon"（アイドルのあかほん...Idol Pulp Fiction） created by Tozen Ujiie（氏家ト全）, the same fellow behind the original manga for "Seitokai Yakuindomo". Triple Booking consists of Shiho Iida（飯田シホ）, Yuuri Arina（有銘ユーリ）and Karuna Kisaragi（如月カルナ）and the seiyuu behind those three: Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）, Sayuri Yahagi（矢作紗友里）and Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）respectively who also happen to be the same voice actresses behind the three main female characters in "Seitokai Yakuindomo".

Written by Saori Kodama（こだまさおり）and composed by Akihiko Yamaguchi（山口朗彦）, in contrast with Yuuya Mori's soundtrack, "Yamato Nadeshiko Education" is one very seemingly child-friendly Xmas candy-like piece of bouncy happiness. This would be a breezy cheer song that could fit any magical girl anime but of course, those opening credits quickly dispel any notion of innocence and also remind me of some Benny Hill sequences, although I don't think even Benny included any sexual aids in his skits. In any case, the song peaked at No. 28 on Oricon when it was released in July 2010.

If you like, give the opening theme for the second season in 2014 a try.

Ena/Yoko Hikasa -- Bungaku Shojo（文学少女）

Yes...the Japanese high school. A critical institution for adolescents and the molder of young minds and bodies, but apparently in the anime world, it also seems to be the figurative pressure cooker for future lunatics.

Last anime season, we got to see all sorts of hilarity on "Asobi Asobase"（あそびあそばせ）involving the hijinks of three high school girls, and I mentioned in the article for that show's theme songs that there have been similar school-based crazy anime comedies in the past.

Well, I was watching a video showing some of the vocal acrobatics by the anime force of nature that walks like a man, seiyuu Tomokazu Sugita（杉田智和）, and saw a couple of scenes featuring him as crazed high school kid Hidenori（ヒデノリ）in 2012's "Danshi Kokosei no Nichijo"（男子高校生の日常...Daily Lives of High School Boys）. Hidenori's scenes of identifying himself as "JYAAACK!" are the stuff of legend as far as I am concerned.

So way back when apparently, it wasn't just the girls who were having the nutso times at school. I witnessed some more of the hilarity on "Danshi Kokosei no Nichijo" and then I encountered this series of vignettes featuring Hidenori and Yassan The Literature Girl. Watching this repeated parody on the trope of high school boy meets high school girl on the bank of a river for some deep talk on love reminded me of some of the running gags on American comedy-variety shows such as "Laugh-In".

The parody lays it on real thick leading to the nutty hilarity partially because of the musical accompaniment that comes on each time. In fact, the wistfully sad piano ditty is even titled after the lass herself, "Bungaku Shojo" (Literature Girl), and as a number of commenters on YouTube have said, this would normally have presaged a very bittersweet sequence involving a terminally ill student or the death of the family dog. Instead, it probably has garnered some knowing snickers and laughter due to all of the deadpan slapstick.

Ena sang this with Yasunobu Yamauchi（山内泰延）, the original author of the manga, coming up with the lyrics while Audio Highs composed the Kleenex-worthy melody.

I would like to welcome veteran seiyuu Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）to "Kayo Kyoku Plus". From some of her roles and her live appearances, I've gotten the impression that she may be just as loopy as Sugita. Hikasa is the Literature Girl, who actually doesn't say too much but she doesn't need to. To be honest, I can't really distinguish her voice with Ena's when she sings her own theme song. But hey, it's a nice ballad.

And, indeed, the wind is sparkling...