#ANISONG

[pochqmqri]

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In celebration of the premiere of the 26th Detective Conan movie, “Black Iron Submarine,” the official YouTube channel posted a cover of the 60th TV ending theme, “Sissy Sky" by Ai Haibara’s voice actress, Megumi Hayashibara, sung as her character. The ending theme of course, is themed around Haibara, as is the most recent movie.

The original video on YouTube is region-locked and appears to be only available for a limited time only until May 7, so here’s a mirror.

The official Twitter announcement included a message from Haibara herself:

Congratulations on the release of the anime-based movie, “Detective Conan: The Black Iron Submarine,” as well as File 1111 of the original manga.

This is the one year where I can’t be in hiding too, so I’m even doing my best to move around as much as I can.

While making an effort, I was able to experience recording a cover for the first time.

I was very nervous, but the entire staff was kind, and moreover, the original artist of the song, Airi Miyakawa, even came to support me, which made me very happy.

You might say, that I did this to prevent Edogawa-kun from singing, right...? Haha.

Please listen to the song, “Sissy Sky,” covered by me, Ai Haibara.

[flustered-earl]

Japanese VTuber Kanon Hanayura covered Black Butler's OP, check it out on his YouTube!

[cutiegrumpycerym]

My latest cover, a Jojo one again, please check it out ! 🌸

Next cover will be Kick Back from Chainsaw Man !

[tardigrade-translations]

“Can-do Dreamer” — Tokyo Mew Mew New S2-ED, fansubbed with ENG/JPN lyrics

Performed by Smewthie

It's been more than halfway into the second season of Tokyo Mew Mew New, and it doesn't seem like any of the songs have been subbed for the simulcast yet, such as the OP, ED, and insert songs (of which there are quite a number of this time). Usually, translating songs for an official sub involve licensing deals, which is why they can take a while, if they ever get subbed at all.

So, in the meantime, we've decided to sub the songs of this second season. Here is the ending theme, color coded to indicate which character/seiyuu/idol is singing during certain parts.

Listen to other subbed songs from this series here.

[corndogninja]

Space Dandy's musical homage to John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13

Space Dandy is one of my all-time favorite anime series, and a huge part of that is the soundtrack. A collaboration from many artists in a variety of funky, retro styles that bring together a ton of influences – I often find myself listening to it apart from the show, and still follow several artists that I discovered from their Dandy contributions.

I recently watched Assault on Precinct 13 (directed, written, and scored by John Carpenter) and had a moment of recognition at one of the music pieces - a slow, moody track (typically called "Julie" on later soundtrack releases):

I had heard this before... in Space Dandy! The track "Napoleon & Bishop" is an extremely similar take on this piece!

Furthering the connection, the track name refers to two of the starring characters: convicted murderer Napoleon Wilson and police Lieutenant Ethan Bishop, who become unlikely allies during the titular assault.

Although some quick Googling found I wasn't the first person to notice this, I didn't immediately see any insight about why this pretty specific homage was made. I was really curious as to what was going on behind the scenes, so I did some research...

First, I looked to see if series director Shinichiro Watanabe had mentioned anything about it. During an appearance at Otakon 2013, Watanabe explained his approach to the soundtrack. He selected a variety of musicians whose work he personally enjoyed. They were given an open-ended direction of what sort of music to make, and there was a general request to avoid using any instruments invented after 1984 to give an old-school/retro feeling.

I pulled out my ol' Space Dandy Official Fan Book, which covers the first season of the show and features brief interviews with many artists, to see if Mito's profile section had any specific insights:

(Note: I can't read Japanese myself, so this information is paraphrasing a mix of machine and manual translations.)

The musician Mito (of the band Clammbon) is responsible for the piece in question. He mentions meeting Watanabe at a James Blake show, where the topic of John Carpenter's music came up. Discovering they had a mutual appreciation of Carpenter, Watanabe expressed a desire to work with Mito on a future anime production.

Watanabe's Dandy direction for Mito was to make something to express his love for John Carpenter's horror music.

In keeping with the pre-1984 limitation on music, Mito took advantage of Carpenter fans' work identifying the synthesizers the director had used and strove to use that original analog equipment as much as possible. Adding that this manual audio mixing process meant that he couldn't provide stems, he jokingly acknowledges his approach may have caused trouble for the post-production staff.

His remarks seem to indicate that "Napoleon & Bishop" was written for episode 4 ("Sometimes You Can't Live With Dying, Baby", it plays during the finale as the galaxy becomes zombified), although it can be heard in several other episodes.

Now, "Sometimes You Can't Live With Dying, Baby" is obviously primarily referencing George A. Romero's Dead movies: the zombie's desire to go to the mall references the setting of Dawn of the Dead, and Romero himself is name-dropped in the movie the characters watch as the episode closes. But there's a bit of Carpenterian connection there, too, if you're willing to look at it that way...

John Carpenter never made a true "zombie" movie, despite his frequent forays into horror. However, Assault on Precinct 13 has been noted for its resemblance to the zombie subgenre: the relentlessly murderous gang members are presented nearly without dialogue and act in an eerily deliberate manner, with a single-minded focus on attacking the protagonists regardless of how many losses they take, so despite their use of firearms they come across almost like mindless zombies. The plots are also loosely similar, with both movies featuring several individuals brought together by chance barricaded against the waves of enemies. Many reviewers have compared Assault on Precinct 13 to Night of the Living Dead; Carpenter himself acknowledged that, as his primary influence was Rio Bravo, the production of the movie was "cross[ing] the western genre with a Night of the Living Dead horror movie" on the DVD commentary.

So there you have it!

Both director and musician had a fondness for John Carpenter's music, leading to the specific request to homage Carpenter's scores

A horror-inspired episode Space Dandy episode served as a good place to exercise that fondness for Carpenter

Mito combined the request to evoke Carpenter with the guideline to use vintage instruments, and recreated Carpenter's 70s sound with analog equipment in a way that very closely mirrored the original musical cue

This was a fun connection to discover, and I enjoyed digging deeper to figure out what motivated Watanabe and Mito to make the homage.

------

Additional footnotes:

1. Carpenter's remarks on his Precinct 13 score:

From the liner notes of the 2003 soundtrack release:

It is interesting (but not surprising) that the soundtrack for Assault on Precinct 13 is only 26 minutes long. In my own defense, it was all the time I could afford in the recording studio. I had to compose and perform a few mood pieces that I could use again and again through the movie.

He also recalls "having great difficulty" composing the "quiet piano sequence" that would become "Julie" (and would inspire "Napoleon & Bishop").

I find it interesting that the process of using mood pieces "again and again" also serves to describe Space Dandy, with many tracks (including "Napoleon & Bishop") used multiple times to evoke emotion.

2. Watanabe's remarks on John Carpenter

At Otakon 2013, when asked about 1970s movies that inspired Space Dandy, Watanabe mentioned Carpenter (in general, not Assault on Precinct 13 in particular):

I like John Carpenter movies. Space Dandy is greatly influenced by John Carpenter. Do you guys know the movie Dark Star? It’s heavily influenced by that.

He also remarked that all Dandy crew members had to watch a few movies, including Dark Star, prior to starting. During a Q&A, he told a fan that Dark Star "is a very dumb movie, so please check it out."

3. Mito Goes To Hollywood

Mito also brings up the song he wrote for episode 13 ("Even Vacuum Cleaners Fall in Love, Baby"):

For this song, he was requested to make "something like Frankie Goes to Hollywood," which he describes as a niche request. I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the work of Messrs. Frankie, but "I should be..." might be a pastiche of "The Power of Love":

[avomagazine]

Hironobu Kageyama to perform at the first edition of Japan Fes in Belgium

Click here if the image doesn't refer you to the article.

[sadandpoutyandfrench]

Yu Serizawa JUNGLE FIRE feat. MOTSU opening for MF Ghost profile

[jewlwpet]

My good friend @pochqmqri subbed the first Blue Reflection Ray OP based on the translation I did!

[laboitediabolique]

8cm CD Single for Midnight Blue c/w Shining Girl preformed by Megumi Hayashibara Closing theme and Image Song for Slayers the motion picture ©&℗1995 King Record Co., Ltd. Scanned from my personal collection

[pochqmqri]

It has been reported that Hiroshi Morie, known more commonly by his stage name "HEATH," has suddenly passed away at the age of 55.

He is best known as the bass guitarist for the J-Rock band, X Japan.

What a tragic loss, and may he rest in peace. In commemoration, I'd like to post one of his songs, "Meikyuu no Lovers," which was used as the second ending theme to Detective Conan, which I find is an underrated gem among the many songs the anime features.

A fun fact about this ending theme specifically is that, for years, along with the second opening theme, it was never really shown outside of Japan, likely due to licensing issues with the songs. Whenever international broadcasts got to the episodes that originally used those songs, they would instead repeat the first opening and ending themes. It wasn't until the remastered high-definition version of the original anime started streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix in 2021, that these credits were available for viewers outside of Japan to see officially for the first time.

[steelajeeg]

Steel A Jeeg's Magno-Mixtape Vol 08

April arrives, and we are all its fools. So let's all settle in, grab a beverage, and agree to be the silly geese we know we were meant to be.

Instead of subjecting you all to a playlist of joke songs (check the readme to find out the torture I planned) I decided to do something a little different that met the spirit of the day, at least.

APRIL SHUFFLE

The rules are simple: I set my entire music collection on shuffle.

The intent - take the first 20 songs in the shuffle, pick my 12 favorites, and organize them into a playlist. Try to find any emergent themes, good thematic or musical transitions, and have something to say about each track.

The caveats - No repeat tracks, nothing that's been on a mixtape before. No skits, obviously. And no songs from the same album.

Good or bad, it made it on the mix.

I then had to put together a cohesive song order, and maybe even come up with an emergent theme. Did I find one? Check the readme and you'll see!

The access code is: BEAMCONFUSE

Either way, enjoy the music. It's a very jazzy mix this time around, the perfect playlist to ride out the thunderstorms, eclipses, and freak earthquakes while we wait for warmer weather to arrive.

Featuring tracks from: Mos Def, Isao Sasaki, David Bowie, Earth Wind & Fire, Maryanne Murray, The Decemberists, Takayuki Miyauchi, and more!

Choose your format: RETIRED - Check the pinned post for this month's release

[hoodstar-en]

🎤"Hoodstar+" English Fandub Music Video 🎤

Meet our talented team! 🔥

🎵 Vocal Cast

Buster Bros: Nervis as Ichiro, RESBlaze as Jiro, Microphona Sing! as Saburo

Mad Trigger Crew: @the-insanity-of-mojiru as Samatoki, LaEngine as Jyuto, Miles Thatcher as Rio

Fling Posse: @shoona as Ramuda, @escherbug as Gentaro, Jake as Dice

Matenro: @mousart as Jakurai, Jake as Hifumi, David Ing as Doppo

Badass Temple: Emperor of Ruin as Kuko, ZERO as Jyushi SKETCH as Hitoya

Dotsuitare Hompo: @lunabat-mouna as Sasara, David Ing as Rosho, @mousart as Rei

🎨 Character Art

Buster Bros: Lemon, @jinxypigart, FrootzCat

Mad Trigger Crew: @graphiteguardianstudios, EmperorOfRuin, Katou

Fling Posse: Kouen, DROWNEDRABBIT, @noodle-bowl-art

Matenro: haihiu, Godnessaes, @dooppo

Badass Temple: @chemicalkingx, Silvin, Tofu+Beast

Dotsuitare Hompo: @comiktragedy, Mage, TiredBunni

📺 Video Editing

Paubi & ashu

📝 Lyrics:

@lunabat-moon

Please look forward to the music video on Youtube!

For project updates, previews, and contributor spotlights: follow us here at @hoodstar-en, and @blacklightsugarpress on Tiktok, FB, and Twitter!

[saimuffin]

Our English cover of ijigen BIGBANG is out! ❤️

[tardigrade-translations]

“I am Original” — Tokyo Mew Mew New S2-Ep2 Insert Song, fansubbed with ENG/JPN lyrics

Performed by Mirai Hinata as her character, Mint Aizawa.

Listen to other subbed songs from this series here.

[officialangelkeys]

“Nagareboshi He” (Search For Your Love) (English ver.)

Stream on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/07qPXwzDhciyLNykBeAqKQ

[kawaiisst]

The Best Songs

Best Onk Songs Released so far

Hope B-Komachi does a version of Idol and Aqua sings a version of Mephisto in the future