Anime Music Pt.2 - Singer-Songwriters
This is the second in a series of posts focusing on the people who write the songs for anime and games. The following trio all have one thing in common - their strong ties with Lantis, a subsidiary of Bandai Visual and one of the biggest anime music record labels & publishers in Japan.
Most of this stuff is just a brief look at their musical careers cos to be honest, songwriters don’t get into the spotlight that much. A lot of them don’t even use their real names, as illustrated by two of the three below.
Hata Aki
Probably the most prolific (and most successful) anime lyricist in the last 4-5 years, the Tokyo born songwriter used to compose for Konami in the 90s before branching out into writing lyrics. I’m positive that any anime fan will know at least one of the songs Hata’s penned, from her earlier works such as Raspberry Heaven & Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line to otaku faves Hare Hare Yukai & Motteke! Sailor fuku. In fact, she’s written most of the lyrics for the Haruhi and Lucky Star series, including all the character/image songs plus some of Shiraishi Minoru’s ridiculous ending themes. Hata has churned out lyrics for virtually all of the artists on Lantis from Shimizu Ai to Misato Aki to Goto Yuko and Chihara Minori as well as most of the anime series that the company produces - sola, Venus Virsus Virus and Moetan being recent examples.
Apart from lyric writing Hata has her own music career, and is also part of an goth electropop band called Tsukihiko. Hopefully people won’t be too curious to check either venture out cos I can assure you that most of it is utter rubbish. Her lyrics are always written in collaboration with other established anisong writers such as Okubo Kaoru, Kikuya Tomoki and Kurosu Katsuhiko which is a bit of a relief given her own tendencies to write dark, weird Ali Project-like music. Her voice might be described by some as ethereal, but I reckon it’s more like a mouse with a clothes peg on its nose. Stick with the day job please ^^;
Hata also has a blog which she regularly updates, detailing the live shows she attended (Misato Aki’s was the most recent one she went to), musical projects she’s involved in, the manga and books she’s currently reading (Blood+ and From Eroica With Love are some of her faves) and the occasional tales of her travels (she’s been to Singapore before, and some of those snaps look awfully familiar to me ^^;;; - Merlion and Orchard Road especially).
Official site: Dokurojo (charmingly translated as Castle Skull)
Hata Aki Radio Show Archive (which ran throughout December ‘06 to January ‘07)
Yuumao
Next up is Yuumao (real name unknown), who is a good friend of Hata Aki (referring to her as oneesama). The name Yuumao is derived from the phrase 優しい魔王 (Yasashii Mao; Gentle Devil) & shortened to 優魔王 （ゆうまお, Yuumao). She only uses Yuumao when writing or performing anime material, otherwise MAYUKO is what she goes by. She’s released two mini-albums under that name, both of which are only available for purchase by mail order at her live shows. Interestingly she plays the piano at her live shows but not on record.
Though Yuumao had done a lot of writing for anime/game series like Da Capo and Galaxy Angel, it wasn’t until Kashimashi that she sang her first anime theme song Michishirube - having already written the radio theme song Compass~Egao no Yukue~ for Ueda Kana, Tamura Yukari & Horie Yui. She also wrote all the songs on the Norte(sic) amour image song collection, which is still one of my fave anime albums ever.
The next anime that Yuumao got involved with was Asatte no Houkou, where she attended the live events with the seiyuu cast and opening theme singer Suara - with whom she has become good friends, performing at a live event under the name Suamao. Yuumao sang the anime’s ending song Sweet Home Song and also wrote Karada and Shoko’s four image songs.
clockwise from top left: with Suara + a Karada pillow, with singer Yuria, with Hata Aki (and a beer)
Yuumao also used to host a radio show with seiyuu Nakahara Mai on Lantis-net. I say used to, as though it officially ended some time in 2005 there were still sporadic updates throughout 2006 and some of the episodes are still being hosted. Yuumao is one of Nakahara’s main songwriters (along with rino), and I never really noticed until Mai mentioned it that a lot of Yuumao-written songs are sad, break-up tunes ^^; Boohoo.
Apart from that, notable songs that Yuumao has written include lyrics for Mizuki Nana’s Tears’ Night (one of my faves ^_^), 3 songs on Chihara Minori’s first album HEROINE, and the lyrics for Tobenai Tori (Shimotsuki Haruka) & Montage (Misato Aki) from the Saishuu Shiken Kujira game. Her most recent works include songs for the sola image album oratorio and last week’s Hidamari Sketch album.
I was surprised to learn that she’s contributing 2 lyrics (including a Japanese version of The Nolans’ I’m In The Mood For Dancing) to teenage duo Kigurumi’s self-titled album out next week. You must know Kigurumi…. they did that fricking Tarako song for the pasta ad that inflicted a morbid fear of Kewpie dolls upon the unsuspecting children of Japan…. Anyway Yuumao’ll also be singing the ending song Clubhouse Sandwich for the upcoming Genshiken 2 which can be heard on the short promo video at the anime’s official site (the black box with white text under the main picture).
Official site: MAYUKO@Yuumao
rino
rino came to prominence as part of CooRie along with former Keno (remember the Hunter x Hunter OP?) keyboardist Osada Naoyuki. The pair only released two singles before Osada left the group. Confusingly, rino retained the CooRie name for releasing anime theme songs whilst her own rino moniker is used for video game themes, collaborations & songwriting credits.
Both CooRie and rino are often associated with the Da Capo series, writing and performing most of the songs for the games and anime. That includes the two songs Horie Yui’s character Kotori sang in D.C. & D.C.S.S (Soyokaze no Harmony and Andante). CooRie did the ending song for the first two seasons of the anime, and will be doing the honours again for the upcoming Da Capo II with Yasashisa wa Ame no Youni.
CooRie’s arrived on the scene in 2003 with Taisetsu na Negai from the Nanaka6/17 anime, and it caught my attention immediately - their melodic sound was like a breath of fresh air. It was quickly followed up by Nagareboshi (Narue no Sekai opening) and Mirai e no Melody (Da Capo). Osada then left the group but CooRie’s output remains constant, though rino has focused more on songwriting the over the last 2 years. Her list of credits is pretty extensive - enough for an album of recordings of songs she wrote for other artists (Komorebi Calendar).
clockwise from top left: yozurino with Hashimoto Miyuki, Ceui, Nakahara Mai & Yuumao
rino’s closest associate in the anisong business would be yozuca*, with whom she performs as yozurino* and has hosted an internet radio show called Web-kissa yozurino that has been running for 3 and a half years & counting. It’s not really the sort of show most people would want to listen to unless they were fans of either singer - it’s mostly them talking about what they ate for breakfast and other mundane things like that.
She possesses a really floaty, soothing voice that’s great on record but I hesitate to say that rino’s much good live. The performances of hers I’ve seen haven’t impressed me much - she sounds like she’s struggling to breathe at times. Doesn’t stop me liking her songs though.
As a note, rino’s not to be confused with the seiyuu Rino (りの) who voiced Rosa Canina in the Marimite series. They sound completely different for goodness’ sake……
CooRie Official Web Site
Web Radio-kissa yozurino
Next up is something I’m more familiar with - I’m gonna make a list of my 10 favourite singer-seiyuu. Or is it singing seiyuu? Or maybe seiyuu singers. Oh whatever, no matter how I put it it still looks & sounds strange………