Mutsumi Tamura, Yuki Kuwahara and Tomomi Mineuchi/fhana -- Give Me Love

 

Well, the second season of "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid） finished this week, and I was able to catch it yesterday. It was somewhat surprising because I had been expecting something a little more dramatic and action-packed as was the case for the finale of Season 1, but instead, it turned out to be a very relaxing and humour-filled ending (I guess the penultimate episode was going for the drama). No complaints on my part, however, and it was nice to see the show cover not just one but two annual Japanese outdoor traditions. We can only wait for Season 3 to come out sometime in the next couple of years, I hope.

I'd thought that my article on "Ishukan Relationship"（イシュカン♡リレーションシップ）, the special ending theme for one episode in Season 2 as sung by Yuki Kuwahara（桑原由気）, the seiyuu behind the chipper-but-powerful Tohru, would be the final one for the "Kobayashi-san" file for the foreseeable future. However, I'm happily wrong since while browsing through YouTube late last night, I encountered a track from that necessary part of any successful anime franchise merchandise: the character song album.

Sure enough, the Lantis label released "L・O・V・E" yesterday with the main seiyuu providing various songs. The track that I heard was the very first one that starts off the album, "Give Me Love", featuring Kobayashi-san herself, Mutsumi Tamura（田村睦心）, along with Kuwahara, and seiyuu Tomomi Mineuchi（嶺内ともみ）as the new character of Ilulu. fhana's Hideki Hayashi（林英樹）and Junichi Sato（佐藤純一）were responsible for words, music and arrangement of this short-and-sweet-and-fun song with a mix of cute rap, dance beats and Latin. Maybe for next season, instead of just Kanna heading to New York City, it could be the whole gang vacationing in Rio.

From what I see of "L・O・V・E" at the Lantis website itself, it also has Super Chorogons'（スーパーちょろゴンず）version of "Aozora no Rhapsody"（青空のラプソディ）, the opening theme for the first season, and "Maid with Dragons"（めいど・うぃず・どらごんず︎❤︎）, the ending theme for the second season, as sung individually by the seiyuu.

When I was writing up the article, I'd assumed that this would be Tamura's first appearance on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but I had completely forgotten that she was already up here as of 2015, thanks to her singing for the anime "Kill Me Baby".

Should've realized that fhana did do the original as the coupling song for "Ai no Supreme"（愛のシュプリーム！）.

Yuki Kuwahara -- Ishukan Relationship（イシュカン♡リレーションシップ）

 

Well, as they say, good things come to an end, and fans of "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid） will probably be going into major withdrawal early next week when the final episode of Season 2 gets shown. We've seen some more plot and character development and things such as the addition of at least a couple of more regular characters, Kobayashi gaining a new body part temporarily, Tohru and Elma perhaps finally making amends, and Kanna vs The Mafia.

The penultimate episode which I caught a couple of days ago was fairly dramatic as I'd expected but early on, I did find out that Kobayashi was on an eternal search for the perfect massaging device due to her chronic lower back issues. Crazily enough, one of those devices popped up immediately in the above video, and it turned out to be the one that I got from Tokyu Hands back in 2014. And just like Kobayashi, I haven't used it much either. For one thing, it's ouch-y! Fortunately for one of us, though, there was a vibrating dragon tail that finally did the trick.

Anyways, I did say that good things do come to an end, didn't I? So perhaps this song here will probably be the last entry for the "Kobayashi-san" file for the next little while (hopefully, we won't have to wait another four years plus for Season 3). Not certain whether this will remain just that one-minute musical interlude or whether it will get the full three to four minute treatment, but the supremely upbeat song finished off Episode 3 of this season as the ending theme.

The song is titled "Ishukan Relationship" (Interspecies Relationship) as a slight nod of the head to the regular ending theme for Season 1, "Ishukan Communication"(イシュカン・コミュニケーション). Tohru was digging her horns of a dilemma into what could be a good hobby for her. Finally, she opted to become an aidoru fan...the aidoru being Miss Kobayashi herself. Before everyone knew it, the dragon maid amassed a whole plethora of Kobayashi paraphernalia and even the song "Ishukan Relationship" with the lyrics of "lick and kiss". Even the powerful Kanna and Ilulu couldn't hold up under the strain with the former making an emergency call to Miss Kobayashi at the office. Her rush home to see the insanity back at the apartment reminded me of the typical episode from "Bewitched" or "I Dream of Jeannie".

Was able to find the 3rd-episode ender with all of the tenderhearted scenes of Tohru and Kobayashi from the first season and the specials. Yuki Kuwahara（桑原由気）, Tohru's seiyuu, gives that supremely enthusiastic aidoru-like performance for the high-energy "Ishukan Relationship" in character. Ginnojo Hoshi（星銀乃丈）who composed the regular ending theme for Season 2, "Maid with Dragons"（めいど・うぃず・どらごんず︎❤︎）, was behind everything for "Ishukan Relationship".

It looks like the finale may be a pretty heartwarming one with at least some of the story taking place at the annual summer festival with presumably the entire cast of characters. Will there be some sort of cliffhanger, though? Anyways it was a happy sophomore outing with "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon S" and we'll be waiting with bated breath for the third season. 

Now if only we can get a second season of "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun）. Please?

Super Chorogons -- Maid with Dragons（めいど・うぃず・どらごんず︎❤︎）/Ai no Supreme!（愛のシュプリーム！）

 

Well, a third of the way into "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon S"（小林さんちのメイドラゴンS...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S） and it appears as if the fans are happy with what they've seen so far including the inclusion of the newest resident in the Kobayashi household, the foe-turned-friend Ilulu. Yup, that second season opening "Ai no Supreme!"（愛のシュプリーム！）is a bona fide earworm in the same steps as "Aozora no Rhapsody"（青空のラプソディ）.

As much as the tradition of having the band fhana come up with the opening theme, the ending theme custom of having the female dragon portion of the cast perform it is also continuing. However, Chorogons have been upgraded to Super Chorogons（スーパーちょろゴンず）with the addition of seiyuu Tomomi Mineuchi（嶺内ともみ）as the aforementioned Ilulu, joining Yūki Kuwahara（桑原由気）as Tohru, Maria Naganawa（長縄まりあ）as Kanna, Minami Takahashi（高橋未奈美）as Lucoa, and Yūki Takada（高田憂希）as Elma.

"Maid with Dragons" begins with a bit of that vaudevillian feeling that infused the ending theme for the last season, "Ishukan Communication" (イシュカン・コミュニケーション), but then it shifts over to a more conventional pop style although the upbeat nature is retained. As was the case with "Ishukan Communication", Yohei Matsui（松井洋平）is the lyricist but the composer this time is Ginnojo Hoshi（星銀乃丈）.

Gotta have the live-action video, too. And it looks like Super Chorogons have followed up on their cover of fhana's "Aozora no Rhapsody" by even performing their version of this season's opener "Ai no Supreme!". No need to ingest any desserts tonight.

Super Chorogons -- Aozora no Rhapsody（青空のラプソディ）

 

Well, I'll tell ya something. In January 2017, I wrote up an article on pop band fhana's incredibly catchy and beloved "Aozora no Rhapsody" （青空のラプソディ...Blue Sky Rhapsody） and stated that it was the first time that I'd ever cottoned onto an anime theme song even before catching the series itself. That series is "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid）, and sure enough, the two theme songs including the ending "Ishukan Communication" (イシュカン・コミュニケーション), performed by most of the cast under the unit name of Chorogons  (ちょろゴンず), and the anime became the talk of the town in those early months.

Of course, there were the various live-action appearances of the cast for the fans' sake which have been placed onto YouTube. One particular video that I remember very well was when Chorogons, voiced by  Yūki Kuwahara（桑原由気）, Maria Naganawa（長縄まりあ）, Minami Takahashi（高橋未奈美）, and Yūki Takada（高田憂希）, went into a sudden dance party for "Aozora no Rhapsody" that was both adorable and awkward at the same time. But it stuck to me like wallpaper.

Let's roll ahead 4 1/2 years later when all of us "Kobayashi-san" fans were wondering whether a second season of the show would ever show up. Well, indeed it has and it will be titled "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon S" with the first episode being broadcast in early July on Tokyo MX. Yay! 

Returning to that video of the cast dancing to "Aozora no Rhapsody", I wonder if that had been the spark for the immediate above presentation that was just launched on the Lantis YouTube channel today. The song is back on but this time it's the Super Chorogons with the expanded cast helping out in their cover of "Aozora no Rhapsody". It's basically an affectionate near-clone of the original music video by fhana (who make guest cameos) to commemorate the launch of the second season, and happiness still bounds out of the screen. Not sure if the video will be popping up on a later Blu-Ray or if the cover itself will get onto the soundtrack.

Of course, I can't finish things without providing the trailer for "S", and it looks like fhana has come out with another banger of an opening theme.

Chorogons -- Ishukan Communication (イシュカン・コミュニケーション)

Well, what a difference a couple of days make. Approaching the end of last week, we were in quite the deep freeze after getting a pounding of snow last weekend. Then from the weekend, the temperatures rose up to very spring-like levels. A good amount of the snow has dissipated so we can enjoy some of this good weather before things inevitably get back to normal for the remaining weeks of winter.

And what a difference a month makes in the anime season. A little over a month ago, I had written up about the opening theme for "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid） which was fhana's super-happy earworm "Aozora no Rhapsody"（青空のラプソディ）. Back in January, I hadn't even caught the first episode of the anime and was wondering whether the show would live up to the promise of that song.

Well, my anime buddy and I have now almost reached the halfway point of the season and it looks like "Kobayashi-san" has become a pleasant surprise to a lot of the viewers including us. The titular female character was this rather lonely and stoic office worker until a whole group of dragons-turned-humans entered her life and apartment. It's gotten rather crazy now but at the same time, Miss Kobayashi has come to the realization that she has also become happier with this sudden addition of a family. Considering that today is Family Day here in the province of Ontario, I couldn't have asked for a better article to write about.

Plugging onto the satisfaction level is the fact that the ending theme is also an earworm. Titled "Ishukan Communication" (Interspecies Communication), this is performed by four of the dragon characters voiced by  Yūki Kuwahara（桑原由気）, Maria Naganawa（長縄まりあ）, Minami Takahashi（高橋未奈美）, and Yūki Takada（高田憂希）. On the website "TV Tropes", the opening theme of "Aozora no Rhapsody" was described as being arranged in a "classic" style. Well, it looks like "Ishukan Communication" is following in a similar vein although I would call the snappy arrangement here as almost being old-style vaudevillian.

The full version of "Ishukan Communication" is back up on YouTube (for now). Yohei Matsui and Junichi Sato（松井洋平・佐藤純一）, the latter being a member of fhana, created this earworm. The group name for the seiyuu performing this is Chorogons (ちょろゴンず), a term that was coined by Miss Kobayashi in one episode to describe her new buddies as "laidback dragons". Not sure how it has done on Oricon but for fans of the show, I'm fairly positive that the song has also managed to bury itself deep into their heads.

When I first read the title for "Ishukan Communication", I had thought
that first word was isshukan or "one week" which seemed rather
odd for this show. Ishukan makes much more sense.