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The story
Voice actress Kana Hanazawa (37) appeared on Fuji TV’s “Pokapoka” on September 22 and revealed that the very first CD she ever bought was “Romance” by visual-kei band PENICILLIN. Released in 1998, the track is a 28-year-old hit often mentioned in the same breath as the equally popular Judy and Mary of that era. On 5ch, users reminisced with comments like “I bought it because Masaru-san was popular” — a reference to the anime “Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san,” whose theme song was “Romance” — and the thread turned into people trading stories about their own first CD purchases, with 90s names like SIAM SHADE, WANDS, and B’z coming up one after another. At the same time, some questioned why the theme song of a late-night mini-anime became such a massive hit, sparking discussion about the background of its success at the time.
Tue, Sep 22, 15:45
Voice actress Kana Hanazawa, popular for roles including Mitsuri Kanroji in “Demon Slayer,” made a live appearance on Fuji TV’s “Pokapoka” (airing from 11:47 am) on the 22nd. She revealed her first-ever CD purchase and even did an impression.
The episode, titled “Showa/Heisei Glitz Team vs. Reiwa Fresh-Faced Team: Pokapoka Generation Gap Quiz Special,” featured guests Yukiko Nonomura, Naenano, and idol group =LOVE members Kiara Saito, Hitomi Takamatsu, and Emiri Otani. During a segment about nostalgic songs, Hanazawa revealed, “The first CD I ever bought was a song called ‘Romance’ by PENICILLIN.”
Source: oricon.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Sorry, we can't buy that back from you…
But I hated folding them, so I never actually tried it.
Nyaintii nyaintii nyai (a garbled mimicry of how "99" is sung in the song's odd pronunciation)
Isn't that way too many kanji strokes for one name?
Mine was either KAN's "Yakyuu Senshu ni Naaritakatta" (I Wanted to Be a Baseball Player) or Yumi Matsutoya's "Tengoku no Door" (Heaven's Door) — can't quite recall which.
Inoue's voice acting on the Yoroshiku Kamen song is way too smooth/hot. (both are character insert songs from the "Masaru-san" anime)
Well, to put it simply: perfect timing plus that wonderfully quirky singing style is what stole all the attention.
Of course it's a true story.
Yeah, still going strong. By the way, Lacrima Christi and Fanatic Crisis, who were big around the same era, both broke up once too, but they've reunited in recent years and are getting a lot of buzz in the scene.
Zegapain is great. It's just dark, though — it's a pretty hopeless, despairing story.
Her first voice-acting job wasn't actually Zegapain — it should've been something earlier than that. Though Zegapain is what pushed her to make voice acting her main focus.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
PENICILLIN is a visual-kei band formed in 1988, and “Romance,” released in January 1998, served as the theme song for “Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san,” an anime segment within the late-night variety show “Wonderful.” Around the same time, Judy and Mary was scoring hits like “Sanpo Michi,” and among junior high and high school girls of that era there was a general split between the “Judy and Mary camp” and the “visual-kei camp.” In the thread, opinions were divided over why the theme song of a late-night mini-segment show became such a massive hit, with some pointing to its distinctively quirky vocal style as the source of its buzz. Users also swapped information about the era when 8cm CD singles were the norm, as well as the current status of bands from that time (PENICILLIN is still active, while many peers have broken up and later reunited) — background that may need spelling out for readers unfamiliar with the late-90s Japanese music scene.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Kana Hanazawa (37): First CD She Ever Bought Was a ‘Visual-Kei Rock Band’ Hit from 28 Years Ago — “I Was Torn Between It and Judy and Mary…”.”
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