Koichi Kawazu -- Ginga no Seishun （銀河の青春）

With all of the anime that was flooding into North America and then re-shaped and dubbed into new forms back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, one of those shows that arrived when I was in high school was "Voltron" (I guess "Wattron" didn't have the right ring). I'm not sure how exactly but I vaguely remember a show about a giant mecha formed from 5 ferocious robot cats, and then strangely enough, an English-dubbed cartoon starring that exact character popped up on the TV screen.

Along with the Cat Voltron, there was also a Vehicle Voltron series (with a huge cast) which came after the cats. I only found out yesterday that this particular part of "Voltron" was originally known as "Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV"（機甲艦隊ダイラガーXV...Armored Fleet Dairugger XV）from TV Tokyo that had its run for one year between 1982 and 1983. Where these producers came up with the names of these mecha is beyond me. My theory is that they all had their own versions of Scrabble or Boggle, just threw out the tiles or blocks at random and then added a few choice vowels.

Moving on from there, I was at my anime buddy's house once more yesterday for the usual anime outing and of course there was the anison hour. Feeling in the nostalgic mood, he put on the theme song for "Dairugger", and although it's one thing to hear the opening theme on YouTube, it's quite another to hear it on my friend's souped-up stereo. He put it on since he wanted to show how much the bass was working overtime on these old anison back then. However, I also heard the characteristic soaring strings and the rat-a-tat horns (especially that howling French horn) working together to create this heroic song that pretty much populated every super robot anime. Koichi Kawazu（川津恒一）did his level best to sing "Ginga no Seishun" (Youth of the Galaxy) like a national anthem.

"Ginga no Seishun" was written by Keisuke Fujikawa（藤川桂介）and composed by Seiji Yokoyama（横山菁児）.

Now that I think of it, I wonder what has become of this supposed live-action version of "Voltron". Perhaps it ran into the most dreaded of Hollywood monsters, Development Hell.

StylipS -- Junsui na Fujunbutsu （純粋なフジュンブツ）

It's been a bad day-good night for Toronto sports. The Blue Jays lost their 2nd game against the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS (those Texas Rangers are probably snarking "Et tu, Toronto?") in the late afternoon but the rejuvenating Maple Leafs got some good production from the rookies to win their home opener on the ice tonight.

Had a brief talk with a fellow anime fan about the fun to be had from watching "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん）when he suggested that I also take a gander at another manga artist-based comedy called "Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to"（マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと...The Manga Artist and His Assistants） from 2014. With a slight chuckle, I told him that I have already seen it a couple of times and am currently doing a third round since I've enjoyed it so much.

Fair warning, though. Unlike "Nozaki-kun" in which manga artist Nozaki-kun is almost stubbornly clueless about his assistant's major love for him, the artist in "Mangaka-san", Aito, is overflowing way too much with hormones to perverted levels, much to the consternation of most of the women surrounding him. Nozaki-kun and Chiyo-chan would run screaming from Aito's neighbourhood on seeing some of his antics. In fact, my anime buddy who introduced the show to me told me that a lot of jaws initially dropped on finding out that Aito's seiyuu, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka（松岡禎丞）, was willing to go full pervert for this role. And I think the scene above is one of the milder parts although things don't go anywhere into the X rating.

So as such, the opening theme for "Mangaka-san" has slowly wormed its way into my head. This would be "Junsui na Fujunbutsu" (Pure Impurities) sung by the anison aidoru group consisting of seiyuu, StylipS. Written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed by Kyo Takada（高田暁）, the song doesn't break the mold at all in the anison genre; however it is a fun and happy-go-lucky take on how the ladies in Aito's life barely tolerate him but can't seem to let go of him, a topic that has actually been broached within the episodes once or twice. The opening credits for the show even illustrate this. The women often have to resort to violence to quell Aito but they still inevitably run over to his apartment regardless.

"Mangaka-san" keeps it even closer within the family as two of the members of StylipS have roles in the show: senior member Arisa Noto（能登有沙）plays the ever-cranky editor Mihari Otosuna while Miku Ito（伊藤美来）has a recurring role as the younger sister of Aito's chief assistant Sahoto Ashisu as played by creamy-voiced Saori Hayami（早見沙織）.

Rounding out the quartet in the video with Noto and Ito are Moe Toyota（豊田萌絵）and Maho Matsunaga（松永真穂）. Matsunaga actually graduated from the group just a few months ago in May. "Junsui na Fujunbutsu" was released in May 2014 as StylipS' 6th single and peaked at No. 46. Since their debut in 2011, the group has had 8 singles and 3 albums.

Gen Hoshino -- Koi （恋）

Catchy funk-pop? CHECK!
Quirky choreography? CHECK!
Dapper clothing on the singer? CHECK!
Personal appeal by the singer in the middle of the music video? CHECK!

Yup, it's Gen Hoshino（星野源）again with one of his annual singles, "Koi" (Love). I heard this one for the first time on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）a couple of weeks ago, and although I didn't fall in love with it immediately, it's starting to grow on me. It was released as his 9th single just 10 days ago and it has so far gotten as high as No. 2 on the charts. I did mention the funk-pop above but there's also some Asian in there as well, thanks to a well-placed erhu.

"Koi" was also selected to be the theme song for the October 2016 TBS comedy-drama "Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu"（逃げるは恥だが役に立つ...It's Shameful to Flee But It Has Its Uses） based on the shojo manga series. Hoshino is co-starring with Yui Aragaki（新垣結衣）, who also knows a thing or two about cutting up a rug in front of a TV camera. In fact, 30 seconds into the above video, the main cast strut their stuff to the song. I'm betting that "Koi" will probably get onto the Kohaku Utagassen later this year.

Aragaki came to everyone's attention a decade ago with her dynamic Pocky commercials.

May 19th 2021: Well, in a situation of real life happily emulating art, it was announced today that Aragaki and Hoshino got married!

Pinky and Killers -- Tanjoubi wa Ii Mon da （誕生日はいいもんだ）

Normally I wouldn't tout my birthday...but it looks like SNS like Facebook are more than happy to do the touting for me. And frankly for folks like me who are beyond their 40s, birthdays aren't exactly anything to be all that enthused about anyways. Still, I will officially be going into my 51st year on Earth in a couple of hours.

As is the case here in North America, a lot of those Western-style restaurants in Tokyo such as the Outback Steakhouse are more than happy to help celebrate the birthday occasion. So the wait staff will come on out with a small birthday cake while Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday" plays on the speakers. Our family though is definitely not one of those groups that will advertise a birthday to a restaurant...we relish our privacy.

Last night, I received a message from my Mixi account from one of my friends in Japan which consisted of the above song. It sounded adorable enough so that I wanted to share it with you as well. Titled "Tanjoubi wa Ii Mon da" (A Birthday is a Wonderful Thing), it is sung by the band Pinky and Killers（ピンキーとキラーズ）and was released as their 12th single in 1970.

Now, I've known Pinky and Killers with the clear-voiced Yoko Kon（今陽子）leading the way with the cool 60s number "Koi no Kisetsu"（恋の季節）, so it was a tad surprising to hear them sing this birthday song that was so cute that it could have been made for the kiddies. As for liner note information, I could only find out that Taku Izumi (いずみたく) was responsible for the breezy, let's-go-catch-butterflies music.

http://upopvocal.music.coocan.jp/pkbirthday.html

Katsutaro Kouta & Issei Mishima/Kiyoshi Hikawa -- Tokyo Ondo (東京音頭)

What a wonderful combination: Yonin shu and "Tokyo Ondo".

(Sorry but the original video has been taken down.)

With the theme of this week's "Uta Kon" featuring the metropolis that is Tokyo, I figured that there may be a couple of tunes that, without a doubt, would have been sung on the Shibuya stage. The first of which being one of Ichiro Fujiyama's (藤山一郎) evergreen hit "Tokyo Rhapsody" (東京ラプソディ) and the other being "Tokyo Ondo" - not to be confused with "Daitokyo Ondo" (大東京音頭). I came home late from work that evening so I only caught the later half of the episode but it was enough to confirm the former. As for the latter, I looked up the song lineup on the "Uta Kon" site and it was nowhere to be seen.

Why I anticipated "Tokyo Ondo" to be sung was due to it being a rousing and festive Bon dance tune that features the different parts of the bustling city like Ginza and Ueno, plus Kiyoshi Hikawa (氷川きよし) was present. He is one of the many enka singers who have tackled it with his 2016 rendition being in the C-type version of "Miren Gokoro" (みれん心), and the only time I've heard it was at his album promotion event in Ikebukuro a few months ago. So I was hoping to hear more of this extremely catchy song again rather than just the short stub in the MV above - bummer. That settles it, I'm gonna get myself that C-type single - about time for my annual online CD shopping anyways.

Moving on, "Tokyo Ondo" goes way back to the 1930's. Lyricist Yaso Saijo and composer Shinpei Nakayama (西條八十 . 中山晋平) had originally created it in 1932 for a Bon dance event in the Hibiya park and was titled "Marunouchi Ondo" (丸の内音頭).Victor Records then decided to turn "Marunouchi Ondo" into a commercial record and was marketed as a "destination song"; it had minyo singers Fumikichi Fujimoto 's (藤本二三吉) version on the A-side and Issei Mishima's (三島一声) on the B-side.

The really long version with Mishima's nasally delivery and Kouta's piercing vocals.

A year later in 1933, "Marunouchi Ondo" turned into "Tokyo Ondo" when the lyrics were changed to include more areas in Tokyo, and it became a duet between Mishima and Katsutaro Kouta (小唄勝太郎) - Kouta is a lady, by the way, with her real name being Katsu Makino (眞野 かつ). It was then when it's popularity exploded and eventually it became a long hit that stayed popular over the decades. By 1971, it was said to have sold around 20 million copies. Kouta became synonymous with ditties that had her going "Haaa...", a.k.a. "Ha Kouta", after the success of "Tokyo Ondo".

"Tokyo Ondo" isn't just a minyo track as, much to my surprise when doing my research, it is used as a fight song for two Tokyo-based sports teams: the baseball team Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and FC Tokyo from the J-League (football/soccer). Never thought I'd see such a combination: sports and minyo. The fight song version has a quicker pace and definitely has a more rah-rah spirit to it than usual.

Here's Masako Mori (森昌子) in a cool kimono-dress hybrid cheering on the Yakult Swallows at one of their games. Hikawa had done something similar too recently. (J-Canuck: Unfortunately, that video has been taken down.)

Since I've been saying that "Tokyo Ondo" is the backup tune for a Bon dance, here is how the dance goes to wrap things up.

billboard-japan.com/goods/detail/514238

Yaa-to-na sore yoi yoi yoi
YAAAaa-to-na sore yoi yoi yoi

Oh geez this is gonna be stuck in my head for the next few weeks...

Yumi Matsutoya -- Toki no Nai Hotel （時のないホテル）

Up to now, the only Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）song that I have covered from this album with the intriguing cover photo of the singer is "Yosoyuki Gao de"（よそゆき顔で）, the wistful mid-tempo track about a woman enjoying one last day alone on a drive before she gets wed the next day.

"Toki no Nai Hotel" (The Timeless Hotel) is Yuming's 9th album from June 1980 and probably among all of the covers of her many albums, the one for this particular release is the most standout for me. By this point in her career, the singer-songwriter was already getting bolder in her own shots so to see her in that flashy outfit making that pose in the revolving door of the Brown's Hotel in London caught my eye most definitely. I would love to stay in that hotel if I ever get to London but noticing that it has labeled itself a 5-Star Luxury Hotel on its website, in all likelihood, the closest I will ever get to it is looking at it from across the street taking a photograph of it. Apparently, Mrs. Matsutoya was already enjoying the fruits of her labours.

I haven't heard every one of her albums under her more poppier banner as Yumi Matsutoya but among the ones that I own, I think "Toki no Nai Hotel" is more mixed in the genres. There's some mellow AOR interspersed with the slightly rock ballads for example. However, I also feel that Yuming was getting deeper and more dramatic with her storytelling. In fact, I wonder whether she saw herself as a movie script writer when she crafted this album.

Case in point is the title track itself. I first saw the performance of "Toki no Nai Hotel" on the video of her "Wings of Light" tour where I found out how much of an entertainer she was on stage. And that was the trigger that got me to buy the album so many years ago; I hadn't known at the time that "Yosoyuki Gao de" was included.

"Toki no Nai Hotel" has Yuming describing a tale of intrigue along the lines of an old wartime spy novella with an antenna in that powder puff and a transmitter in the lipstick holder (actually written in the lyrics). I have the feeling that the singer saw herself as a J-Mata Hari...perhaps that photo of her in the cover may have been her trying to flee the enemy. Unfortunately the video doesn't have her doing so but in the original recording, much of her vocals are filtered through an old-style wireless which adds to the moodiness. It's an unusual song to be sure since her music seems to be acting out all the drama.

The opening track is "Cecile no Shuumatsu"（セシルの週末...Cecile's Weekend）, a rock love song that sounds as if it would have been performed by acts like Heart back in the States. I don't have a solid hold on the lyrics but I think it's the guy who has come from the wrong side of the tracks to woo the good girl with Yuming singing about the inner turmoil that his proposal has brought. It will be one intense weekend for Cecile.

(cover version)

I had first thought that the melody for "Ame ni Kieta Jogger"（雨に消えたジョガー...The Jogger Who Disappeared Into The Rain） was a little too cheery if languid since my assumption from Yuming's way-out inclusion of "Myelogenous Leukemia" into the lyrics suggested that the heroine or hero was not too long for this world. However, looking into the words a bit more, I realized that the young lady was probably studying medicine in the library and came across the term while admiring that handsome jogger running in the rain.

There's a bit more on the movie front here with "5 cm no Mukogishi"（5cmの向う岸...The 5cm Opposite Cliff）. According to the J-Wiki article on the album, Yuming may have received inspiration for the song from the 1979 flick "Agatha" starring Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman since the latter looked pretty short standing next to the statuesque actress at 6 feet. The song deals with the trials and tribulations that a romantic couple is going through when their peers gawk at the fact that the boyfriend is 5 cm or 2 inches shorter than the girlfriend....as if that is a problem...really? However, the happy beat of the song illustrates that the situation is more mirthful than sad. The above video has the song being performed by a band called Otokogumi（漢組）.

If there were a Hollywood movie made based on the song, I would have Steve Carell (although he is an inch taller than I am) and Famke Janssen as the couple...7 cm difference. Hilarity ensues.

(cover version)

Unlike "5 cm no Mukogishi", the following song is very dark and very long. "Compartment"（コンパートメント）is the longest song that Yuming has ever made to date at a little over 7 minutes, and it's the sad story of someone who has finally had enough of life and decides to end it all in a train compartment by overdosing on sleeping pills. I wonder if Yuming took more inspiration from "Agatha" when creating this song since the movie dealt with the mysterious 11-day disappearance of mystery writer Agatha Christie with the movie's speculation that attempted suicide was the reason.

"Toki no Nai Hotel" went as high as No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies. I guess if I were to describe this particular album to a new Yuming fan in a short phrase, it would be to say that it is her trip to the movies.

P.S. In trying to find the song "Toki no Nai Hotel", I encountered the YouTube channel of one Nammy Mikami（三上ナミ）who has been singing the old standards. She also has her own website.

Chisato Moritaka -- Nozokanaide (のぞかないで)

Recently, I’ve been listening to some odd songs released by Chisato Moritaka (森高千里). I’m talking mainly of coupling songs that were released on singles, but rarely saw the light of the day on albums. One of the most interesting ones is “Nozokanaide”, which was “Kusaimono ni wa Futa wo Shiro!!’s” (臭いものにはフタをしろ！！) coupling song, from May 1990.

As “Kusaimono...” was a more rock-oriented song, and – at the time – Chisato only released her more hyper Techno songs or midtempo ballads as main songs, I really think this single served as a major change in her marketing strategy. Probably aware of this, and trying not to alienate her dance music fans, she (or whoever took the decisions) decided to include the edgy “Nozokanaide” as “Kusaimono...’s” coupling song.

In fact, I think “Nozokanaide” was recorded way before “Kusaimono...” – maybe still in 1989 –, as the song opened the “Moritaka Land Tour” concerts from January to March 1990. I can’t say if the song was, at first, created to be a single on its own, but what I know is that it ended relegated as a coupling song later.

One of “Nozokanaide’s” interesting features is, of course, the hyper active dance arrangement, which, as my dad argued one day, is similar to some Sonic The Hedgehog themes from the same time. He’s probably right, but that’s not exclusive to “Nozokanaide”, since a good portion of the electronic music produced at the time could sound a little bit like video game.

Other than that, as I never quite understood why Chisato dressed like a bug (cockroach?) during “Nozokanaide’s” performances (she also did it in the “Moritaka Land Tour” concerts), I decided to take a look at the lyrics.

The lyrics are very strong... probably the strongest I’ve seen from Moritaka so far. As I could understand, she talks about a pervert guy, maybe a boyfriend, who wants to do things that are not appropriate with her. She, then, compares him to a molester during the chorus, aiming for some kind of punishment for this guy. However, it has nothing to do with the costume. Maybe dressing like a disgusting cockroach, she’s addressing how the attitude of this guy is disgusting. I’m just guessing, though.

To finish, here’s Moritaka singing a new version of “Nozokanaide” in one of her recent concerts.

The “Kusaimono ni wa Futa wo Shiro!!” single reached #4 on the Oricon chart, selling 117,000 copies. As for “Nozokanaide”, it was remixed and included in the remix album “The Moritaka” (ザ・森高), from 1991. Years later, in 1999, the original version was included in a compilation called “harvest time”. The song was written by Moritaka herself, while music and arrangement were done by Hideo Saito (斉藤英夫).

Source: generasia.com