The Boy's Dream Has Come Alive

 

When we talk about anime composers, many people will always talk about the most popular ones, such as Yoko Kanno, Kenji Kawai, Kohei Tanaka, Yasuharu Takanashi and others. We're talking about retro anime where music isn't just full-on action or slice-of-life music. Back when anime themes aren't really full-fledged pop/rock tunes and instead explains the premise of an anime show. It was one time when he claimed himself the first anison singer-songwriter. And little did he know that he was right all along...

It was the mid-70s. Japan had the likes of Takeo Watanabe, Chumei Watanabe (not related), and Shunsuke Kikuchi providing just the most Showa-esqe tunes to ever grace the anime and tokusatsu period. Little problem is that none of the singers who provided the themes ever had done some lyrics and composing for those themes. Isao Sasaki, Ichiro Mizuki and Mitsuko Horie are such popular singers during that time, but neither of them ever made their own songs until later in their careers.

Dororon Enma-kun in October 1973 is the closest anime music got to its first singer-songwriter; Chinatsu Nakayama only sung and wrote the theme songs to that anime while it was composed by Asei Kobayashi.

To be qualified as a singer-songwriter, a singer also has to write and compose his/her own music. This all changed when Tatsunoko Production premiered an anime that would save the company from failures they'd caused for the past couple of years. The anime that gave Japanese viewers the first evil trio. The anime that helped the Anjo native become what he is known for today. The man wherein it's easy to write his kanji name.

And he was only 24 when he made his mark (made sense, eh?).

Say it with me: Masayuki Yamamoto.

He is the man behind the music of the Time Bokan Series and (for Western fans of retro anime) the J9 Series. Yamamoto is also credited for popularizing the fight song of the Chunichi Dragons.

After putting lots of cartoony and hard rock styles of anime music throughout the 70s and 80s, he shifted into his music career that stuck with him since, while still letting the fans remember that he's still famous for anime music. He's the Randy Newman of Japan (if I can call it).

I want to create this fansite as an alternative where I can post stuff related to Masa-kun himself. Information on his discography and updates on upcoming and recent projects are located at The Masayukist's Zone so please check it out if you like. Romanized lyrics on his songs can be found on my MyJournal page. While posts will be inconsistent due to my personal work, there will be more than meets the eye for this well-celebrated composer, especially with his return to live concerts since the pandemic outbreak for January 2023.

Jaa ne, mata au hi made~~