Anime Juke Box - Tabi no Tochuu - Spice and Wolf

Got a new bit of Japanese pop for you today. It is a bit more easy going than the usual opening credits material, but it fits the series Spice and Wolf pretty well in that regard. The series has a casual easy going feel for a good portion of it. It revolves around a medieval peddler who happens upon a pagan wolf goddess who wishes to join him in his travels. While he is savvy in business, she is skilled at reading people. The two make a good team as they travel the land negotiating deals and learning a bit more about each other... and yes, maybe falling in love. It is a very unique show that I really enjoyed. Looking forward to the second season.

The song the opens Spice and Wolf is sung by Natsumi Kiyoura. Her voice has a gentleness and almost a sadness to it that carries the tune along. Hope you enjoy Tabi no Touchuu from the anime series Spice and Wolf.

Anime Juke Box - No Need for Promises - The Vision of Escaflowne

Been a while since the old Anime Juke Box has spun some j-pop for you. I was going through some of my older anime soundtracks and ran into all three of the wonderful CDs for Vision of Escaflowne. The music was co-composed by wonder woman Yoko Kanno and her husband at the time Hajime Mizoguchi. The score is one of her most bombastic orchestral powerhouses, with amazing action cues, sweeping romance and gothic horror. It works well in the series and is always a treat to listen to.

But Kanno's skills go well beyond her ability to compose for orchestra. She almost always writes the opening and ending pop/rock songs for the anime series she works on. Vision of Escaflowne is no exception. She gets the series started with this cheerful number called No Need for Promises. Like most J-pop of the 90s it is perky, happy, and well produced. Kanno has a thing for using bagpipes in her 90s scores and songs, so you get an interlude with them here too.

Perhaps the biggest thing about this song is that Kanno got the voice actress playing the main role of Hitomi to sing the song. The actress's name is Maaya Sakamoto, and this song launched her successful singing career at the tender age of 16. Kanno and Sakamoto worked on many projects afterward, with Kanno even writing the songs for an entire album of Sakamoto's songs. Both women are still hard at work in the world of film and anime music to this day. So here is where it all began with No Need for Promises from Vision of Escaflowne, written by Yoko Kanno and sung by Maaya Sakamoto.

Anime Juke Box - Rock Me - Bubblegum Crisis

One of the first anime series I picked up on DVD was Bubblegum Crisis. At the time anime fans were salivating for this one. These days, I don't see too many people talk about it.  Probably because the whole thing can be pretty derivative and the thin plot and characters lack the depth of the 1998 reboot Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040. But for me the original has a lot of great elements going for it. It is very much based in the 1980s vision of a cyberpunk future, and I love the character and mecha design of the show. But I also have to say that the rockin' 80s J-pop from this series is a lot of fun. Most folks who've seen the series will comment about the music. Here is a tune sung by rough and tumble rocker Priss and her band The Replicants aka Yuiko Tsubokura. And yes she is saying Rock Me! Just You!.

Anime Juke Box - Pulse - Macross Plus

A while back I wrote a blog about Yoko Kanno explaining why she is one of my favorite film/anime composers. In that blog I wrote a bit about her first real break out score for an anime series called Macross Plus. I figured it was time to revisit Kanno's music and in particular her J-pop. 

When one of the main characters in the series is an idol singer, you need a composer who can craft both score and songs. Kanno did both on Macross Plus. The other issue was that the idol was popular because she could sing any kind of song and appeal to any kind of listener. So the variety of songs is pretty interesting and impressive. Now keep in mind this was made in 1994, so much of the pop sound in these tracks is very grounded in the 90s.

The song I'm featuring is Pulse, which should remind listeners of the group Enigma who shot to fame in the early 90s with Sadeness Part 1. The opening music is actually used in the opening title card for Macross Plus, and the rest of the song appeared in various forms throughout the series. So here is Sharon Apple singing Pulse with a little help from Akino Arai.

Anime Juke Box - My Heart, Your Heart - The Goddess Family Club

You want peppy candy colored J-pop, than it is hard to beat the songs used in the series Oh My Goddess. Performed by the Japanese voice actresses who performed as the goddesses Belldandy, Urd and Skuld, you may be surprised that they all sing fairly well and in character. The OAV series featured several songs (and even more were released on an full album released at the time of the series). But everyone who's seen the show remembers the opening and ending credits. Here is the opening credits song My Heart, Your Heart. Yeah it is sugary sweet, but it fits the series.

Anime Juke Box - Hiru no Tsuki - Outlaw Star

For this tune from the anime juke box I picked one of my favorite vocalists, Akino Arai. She seemed to pop up in some of my favorite anime of the 1990s. She has a lovely voice, and usually performs a love theme, or ballad for the show. I first encountered her in the OAV series Macross Plus as the singer of the love theme "Voices". But one of my favorite pieces is the end credits to the space opera adventure series Outlaw Star. She performed two different end title songs, and both are great. Here is the one used for the first half, "Hiru no Tsuki". Enjoy!

Anime Juke Box- Tenchi Muyo (J) - Tenchi Universe

Here's the peppy opening theme song to the Tenchi Universe series. This the the Japanese version of the song, and it's a typical example of 1990s style J-pop. Honestly the English version that Pioneer created for the English dub is just as fun, and sounds so much like the original it's scary. While not all J-pop transformations were as successful as this one, I do miss the days when the dubbing studios gave some some fun English versions of these songs.