Tatsunoko 60th Legends Summary

 Last year was the 60th anniversary of Tatsunoko Production, considered to be the Hanna-Barbera of Japan. The celebrations were not yet over with a special Tatsunoko 60th Legends concert held at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo last January 9. All the living featured performers (as Ichiro Mizuki passed away) had their anison debut on a Tatsunoko show, and it's really interesting for a popular anison singer who's that famous.

While we foreigners never saw the live, I browsed all the live reactions from people across Twitter on the day of performance. Here's the full summary of the entire concert covered so far.

The opening number was Isao Sasaki's anison debut, Shinzo Ningen Casshan, singing both the opening and ending themes. Before Casshan, Sasaki lend his voice to Joe the Condor in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman using his real kanji name. In between these songs, Sasaki congratulated the studio on his, quote on quote, 70th anniversary; he meant to say 60th, but even at a mistake he just said made the audience laugh. Pretty ironic for someone who sang in a couple of Tatsunoko shows for years.

Then came Mitsuko Horie, who was only a pre-teen when she made her debut as an anison singer. There, she sang her debut song, the second opening to Kurenai Sanshiro, as well as the ending theme from Hakushon Daimaou, Akubi Musume, and the OP to Tentoumushi no Uta. In her MC section. she remembered the first time she met the late Tatsuo Yoshida, the founder of Tatsunoko Pro, and stated he looked like an uncle as she initially thought.

Isao Sasaki came back to sing the themes to Hurricane Polymar. In between these songs, he finally managed to correct the mistake he said earlier. I felt kinda bad for Sasaki getting so nervous he would commit mistakes here and there, but nevertheless, it is a live performance after all.

Sasaki also mentioned the time when he forgot he was also a singer, as he started his career as an Elvis impersonator, when he was voice acting in Gatchaman.

The last, but not the least, featured performer is probably the best out of the three. As soon as the brassy intro to "Ah! Gyakuten-oh" started playing, the audience screamed and cheered as loud as they can as Masayuki Yamamoto entered the stage. The harmonica solo during the interlude made them even wilder. It's been three years since Yamamoto last held a concert, and it's probably not just because of the coronavirus.

And with that came his favorite stage style: an acoustic corner. Yamamoto reappeared with a guitar wrapped around him and strummed more anime themes he composed for: the second opening theme to Yatterman, self-covers of the Yattodetaman and Ougon Senshi Gold Lightan OPs & Halley Suisei, an insert song from Time Patrol-tai Otasukeman.

Finishing up this section -- and the first set -- is the extended opening to Gyakuten Ippatsuman with The Kinds and Apple Pie joining him for the chorus. In case you didn't know, the OP was given an additional verse as a tribute to both Kei Tomiyama (the original Time Bokan narrator and Sokyuu Gou) and Hirotaka Suzuoki (Ippatsuman narrator) who had passed away years ago. Gyakuten Ippatsuman 3C was released as the finale track to Sainou no Rakuen in 2007, and it's amazing to have this version performed live.

The second set begins with a 20-something minute talk corner that also featured guest appearances mentioned in the flyer: voice actors Katsuji Mori and Miyuki Ueda, animation supervisor Hiroshi Sasagawa and character designer Suzuka Yoshida, who was the daughter of Tatsuo Yoshida. They all sang Gatchaman no Uta after a conversation with three of the Gatchaman seiyuus.

Right after, Isao Sasaki and Mitsuko Horie paid tribute to the late Ichiro Mizuki, who was supposed to attend the concert while under treatment from lung cancer. He never made it. Birthday Song, the organizer behind the concert, didn't want fans to think Aniki is not at the concert at all, so they grabbed a video archive of Mizuki from AJF 2021 performing the opening theme to Tekkaman the Space Knight. Mizuki also sang the OP to Tondemo Senshi Muteking. 

The next performer to come to the stage was Hironobu Kageyama, who surprisingly made his anison debut on a Tatsunoko show as well: in Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross. Kage-chan even made a tribute to Aniki, who also appear in the video that was shown earlier.

Kage-chan brought along Hiroko Asakawa to sing a duet to a very obscure Tatsunoko anime: Dokkan! Robo Tendon. It's a nice breather to see some of lesser-known anime shows from the company getting attention. Kage-chan alone also performed the theme song to the Casshan OVA.

Two more songs filled in. Masayuki Yamamoto came back for Zesshou Karaokeman no Uta, made for Tatsunoko's 30th anniversary in 1992. Mitsuko Horie then stepped in for the Kerokko Demetan OP. Pihyoro kerokero pihyororon~~

It was time for Gatchaman to gain the spotlight again. Isao Sasaki made way for Horie to sing the OP to Gatchaman F. He even didn't made a single mistake! It feels like being 80 doesn't mean you could occasionally get nervous while releasing that energy onstage. Then came the themes to Gatchaman II, the first Tatsunoko show without any involvement from Tatsuo Yoshida. Apple Pie provided the chorus to Warera Gatchman; Horie joined Sasaki for a duet in Ashita Yumemite.

As the concert was coming to a close, all the featured performers came together onstage, each sending their own messages one by one. It's nice to see that all but one anison legend who debuted on a Tatsunoko show greatly affected their lives that changed themselves forever in the anison industry. Because without Tatsunoko, the anison world would feel very empty, both in Japan and overseas.

The concert wouldn't end with one of the greatest Tatsunoko anime themes of all time: Yatterman no Uta. As Masayuki Yamamoto is the original singer, he stood in the center sandwiched with Asakawa and Kageyama on his right and Sasaki and Horie on his left. Everyone in the audience (and those watching the stream at the same time) joined in for some call-and-response.

And that concludes the Tatsunoko 60th Legends concert! What a way to end the 60th anniversary celebration for Tatsunoko Pro, now that it's time for the studio to get back to normal. Tatsunoko was responsible for some of the most popular and nostalgic anime franchises ever existed, whether you're in for tokusatsu tropes in Gatchaman, or time-traveling crime adventures in the Time Bokan Series. It was also an extraordinary concert comeback for Yamamoto that he's determined to perform in front of the live audience again. Looking forward for further projects and concerts throughout 2023!

courtesy of Hiroko Asakawa