Kingrun Anime Songs Kouhaku~report

• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• CevherShare

• Tweet
• Share
• Email

 As I wrote here before, http://www.tenkai-japan.com/2009/12/19/anime-songs-kouhaku-utagassen-is-going-to-be-held-on-this-new-years-eve/   “Kingrun Anime Songs Kouhaku”  was held and aired on the Dec.31 on BS11.http://www.anison-kouhaku.jp/

 Besides all the good performances of old and new popular anime songs, there were some other aspects in the show, such as the announcement of  the ten big news relating anime world in 2009, and report over The Third Seiyu Awards (The third Voice Actor Awards)　http://www.seiyuawards.jp/eng/　, and the announcemenst  the top ten popular anime songs.

 Of  the ten news of  the anime world, there were two items that I took interested in. One is that a new Japanese fad word ” rekijyo” (歴女/  “history woman”  or ” history girl” ) became boom.  Actually all at once, there turned up many young women who were  interested in and very knowledgable  about  Japanese history, and some of them have become tvpersonalities or idols. Those women are said to have become that way because  they had been so fond of  manga, anime, and games and had been influenced by some works of those measures relating Japanese history especially about the Sengoku Jidai(/戦国時代 ,the Warring State Period  said to be 1467-1573) and the Bakumatsu(/幕末,  the end of  Edo Period, or the last days of  the Tokugawa Shogunate said to be 1853-1868).  Therefore,  the “rekijoes” are also huge fans of  contemporary Japanese subculture. The two eras which I mentioned were the most volatile days in our history and through the chaotic,bloodshed, belligerent, yet somehow dramatic situations, there were advents of  a lot of  heroes and huge personages who have still been loved or worshipped by many people. The rekijoes may love those outstanding personages as if they had been  current stars or idols.  As a historian as well as a tour guide, I would like to welcome this boom and expect it to trigger greater hitory boom itself.  I also hope the number of  those who take interest in Japanese history will increase more even outside of  Japan, for Japanese anime,manga, games, and other stuff are becoming popular  worldwide today.

 The second item of  the top ten anime news which I took interest in was that two Japanese old and popular anime works commemorated the 35th anniversary at the same time. They are “Uchuu Senkan Yamato” (宇宙戦艦ヤマト, Space Battleship Yamato; based on the manga work  that has the same title as the anime by Reiji Matsumoto)  and  ” Alps no shoujo Heidi” (アルプスの少女ハイジ, Heidi,Girl of the Alps  based on Johanna Spyri’s novel “Heidi”).  The two works were first run at the same airtime and same date by different tv stations 36 years ago. I remember their first run when I was a young kid.  Special  dvd-boxes of  both of  the two works went on sale  on again the same date of  Feb.22nd in 2008. Yamato’s Tv dvd-box of  entirely limited production cost ￥３９９００(approx. $400), while Heidi’s 35th memorial dvd-box is ￥27300 (approx.$280).

Both of the  tv anime works have been popular and re-run many times and  remakes and sequels have been produced.  Especially, Yamato has many tv versions and anime-movie versions.  Yamato’s latest work  is “Uchuu Senkan Yamato- Fukkatsu-hen” （/宇宙戦艦ヤマト～復活編, “Space Battleship Yamato Ressurection”） which was released on Dec.12th last year and still showing at the movie theaters.  That one was made for the first time in 26 years and is a sequel to precedently made ones. http://yamato2009.jp/index.html

Moreover, this year a  live-action film version “SPACE BATTLESHIP ヤマト” is going to release the coming December.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiDlWzdqtjM&feature=player_embedded

As  I wrote above, the anime-movie version has English title in part, which may imply the studio has a strong intent to sell and promote the work in  international markets. The hero is going to be played by Takuya Kimura, one of  the most popular stars of Japan currently ,who is a member of  a most popular idol group SMAP. And the heroine is to be played by a young popular actress, Meisa Kuroki.

 The “Yamato saga” is a sci-fi story about wars of the Earth human kind and  various aliens. The word  “Yamato” is an old name of  some western region of  Japan, old name of Japan it self which means ” grand peace”, but it also was a name of  the largest battleship of the Japanese navy which really existed. many people have been enjoying the latest anime-movie-version and are looking forward to the  release of the very first live-action film version.

  Actually,  the No.1  popular anime song of  the top ten announced at Anime Songs Kouhaku,  was  “Uchuu Senkan Yamato”  the main theme song of  the Yamato. The top ten songs are as follows;

   ● No.1 ” Uchuu Senkan Yamato”(「宇宙戦艦ヤマト」)  (of  ” Uchuu Senkan Yamato”/「宇宙戦艦ヤマト」, “Space Battleship Yamato”)
　●No.2 “Cagayake ! GIRLS ”  (of “Keion”/「けいおん！」, ” K-On! ” )
　●No.3 “Zankoku na Tenshi no Teeze(「残酷な天使のテーゼ」)(” A Cruel Angel’s Thesis)　 (of  ” Shin Seiki Evangelion/   「新世紀エヴァンゲリオン」, ” TheNeon Genesis Evangelion” )』
　●No.4 ” Seikan Hikou ” （「星間飛行」）(” Interstellar Flight”)　 (of  ” Macross F /「マクロスF」,” MACROSS Frontier”)
　●No.5  ” Oshiete ” （「おしえて」）( “Tell me” ) 　  (of ” Alps no shoujo heidi” /「アルプスの少女ハイジ」, ” Heidi, Girl of the Alps “)
　●No.6  ” Motteke ! Sera fuku ” （「もってけ！　セーラー服」）(” Take my sailor-style school uniform! “) 　(of  ” Lucky Star”/「らき☆すた」)
   ●No.7  ” Sora Iro Deizu”（「空色デイズ」）(“Sky Blue Days”)　 (of ” Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann”/「 天元突破グレンラガン」 , ” Break Through Heaven Gurren-Lagann ” ） 
　●No.8 ” Hare Hare Yukai ” （「ハレ晴レユカイ」）（” Sunny Sunny Happiness” ） 　(of  “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu”/「涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱」, ” The Melancholy of  Harui Suzumiya”)

　●No.9 ” Climax Jump DEN-LINER form”  (of ” Kamen Rider DEN-O”/「仮面ライダー電王」)
　●No.10 “Tobe ! GUNDAM” (「翔べ！　ガンダム」)　　（of ” Mobile Suit Gundam” / 「機動戦士ガンダム」）

　And at near the end of the show, there was a suprise guest ; Kazuko Sugiyama(/杉山佳寿子)　who played the heroine  of ” Heidi “. She is a versed voice actress and also played the part of Akane Kimidori of “Dr.Slump”(/「Dr.スランプ」), Korosuke of ” Kiteretsu Daihyakka”(/「キテレツ大百科」,”Kiteretsu Encyclopedia”) , Ten-chan of “Urusei Yatsura” (/「うる星やつら」, “Those Obnoxious Aliens”) , and so forth.　

　At the closing of the show, all the performers came back to the stage and sang  the theme song of “Tetsuwan Atom” （/「鉄腕アトム」,”Astro Boy Atom”） together. Atom is the hero of  manga of that title which was first published in 1952 and made to be an tv anime show in 1963-1968,which was the oldest Japanese anime work. The work was created by Osamu Tezuka(/手塚治虫)1928-1989 ,who was said to be “The legend or God of Japanese Manga” and whose works are still very popular　nation- and worldwide.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka  Actually, two of  his works one of which “MW-ムウ-” was filmed as a live-action film in Japan, and the other of which  “ATOM” , a  Hollywood version of Astro Boy Atom was filmed as a  3D CG animation work  in US  last year 2009 in token of  the 20th anniversary of  his passing .  Like many other people think, I myself  think Tezuka was the greatest father of our current manga and anime culture which has been widely accepted and loved by so many people in the world.

So, the big and beautiful group singing of the Atom’s song by many popular first-rate voice actors and singers at the  finale of the show was so impressive and represented such history of  this sort of our subculture.    

Posted in Anime, J-pop, Old and New Cultural Scenes in Japan • Tags: Evangelion • Top Of Page

(まだ評価されていません)

Loading...

4 Responses to “Kingrun Anime Songs Kouhaku~report”