What is M•U•S•K? It is another lame CCLemon99-ism to describe an anison singer who has sung at least one theme song from a Metal Hero, Ultraman, Sentai, and Kamen Rider feature and/or series. It's an incredibly difficult feat, so the list is fairly short. There are some near-hits, and some of the singers here have made it in by the skin of their teeth.
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In The Club...
Ichiro Mizuki
M-Jikuu Senshi Spielban OP, ED1, ED2 • Chojinki Metalder ED
U-Ultraman Monogatari ED • Ultraman Orb OP
S-Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai ED • Juken Sentai Gekiranger ED
K-Kamen Rider V3 ED1 • Kamen Rider X OP, ED • Kamen Rider Stronger OP, ED2, ED3 • Kamen Rider (1979) OP, OP2, ED1, ED2 • Kamen Rider Super 1 ED2
-Not only is Ichiro Mizuki the most prolific member of the club, but he is also the first name you would think of when asked to name someone who would be in the club. Until very recently, though, his status was pretty murky. Until Ultraman Orb in 2016 his only true Ultraman entry was the ending theme song to the 1984 feature Ultraman Monogatari (as pointed out to me by this helpful chap). Ichiro Mizuki also sang the opening and ending theme songs to Andromelos...which technically could fall under Ultraman, but really doesn't have to. He's in the club...so there.
The rest of his catalog makes him a pretty obvious member of the club. It is a little peculiar that he didn't perform a Sentai theme song until 2001 (he had some songs on the Battle Fever J and Sun Vulcan song collections, but no themes) but they did him right by giving him the ending song for Gekiranger.
Hironobu Kageyama
M-Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack OP
U-Ultraman vs Kamen Rider ED • Ultraman Dyna ED2 (w/LAZY) • Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna OP
S-Dengeki Sentai Changeman OP, ED • Hikari Sentai Maskman OP, ED, Movie OP • Chojin Sentai Jetman OP, ED • Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger ED
K-Kamen Rider SD ED • Ultraman vs Kamen Rider ED
-Another obvious member of the club, but is he really? You really have to dig deep in Kageyama's catalog to find his membership credentials. His Super Sentai, Anime, and Video Game work make him this massive presence among modern anison singers.
-For Kamen Rider you have to go to the 1992(CD)/1993(OVA) Kamen Rider SD OVA. He provided the ending theme song. It's enough to put him in the club, but man...couldn't he have done the ending song to Kamen Rider J or something instead? I know that Rider really wasn't a thing when he was with Columbia (and when Columbia provided music for Rider). He kinda fell through the cracks. For extra credit I suppose you can count the Tsuburaya-produced Ultraman vs Kamen Rider. I file that one under Ultraman, though.
Speaking of Ultraman, Kageyama's Ultra-cred is pretty solid. The most popular theme song of his is the second ending song that he did with LAZY. Technically it's a LAZY song...but why not count it? Kageyama is a singing it, no?
Kageyama really didn't have much to do with Metal Hero outside of a handful of songs for Janperson and a duet with Masaaki Endo in Robotack...which he also provided the theme song to.
Shinichi Ishihara
M-Jukou B-Fighter OP, ED
U-Ultraman USA ED
S-Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo Five OP
K-Kamen Rider AGITΩ OP1, OP2, ED3 • Kamen Rider 555 ED1
-The only credit that really comes into question when it comes to Shinichi Ishihara's qualifications are Ultraman. Sure, he HAS done some Columbia-cover versions of Ultraman theme songs, but his only true theme song was the ending theme to the 1987/1989 Ultraman USA feature. It's good enough to get him into the club!
The rest of his catalog is pretty obvious. It was kinda weird that it took them as long as it did to give him a Sentai theme song (he still managed to get one before Ichiro Mizuki, though). He does have the very rare distinction of being the only singer to have a theme song in both Columbia and avex eras of Kamen Rider (another CCLemon99ism...forget Showa and Heisei...Riders are either Columbia or avex in my book).
Isao Sasaki
M-Chojinki Metalder OP
U-The☆Ultraman OP
S-Himitsu Sentai Goranger OP, ED1, ED2 • JAKQ Dengekitai OP/ED • Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger ED, Movie 2 ED
K-Kamen Rider (1979) Movie OP
-Yet another member of the club who barely made it in. Isao Sasaki's Rider theme song is his version of the song Kagayake! 8nin Rider. It's kinda of a strange credit since the more memorable version of the song was sung by Ichiro Mizuki. The Mizuki version was used as Skyrider's second ending theme...but the Sasaki version seemingly only existed to be the theme for the 8 Rider movie.
His Metal Hero and Ultraman credits are sparse, but they are opening theme songs to full-blown TV series. I absolutely love both of them...
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Honorable Mentions...
Akira Kushida
M-Uchuu Keiji Gavan OP, ED, 2012 Movie • Uchuu Keiji Sharivan OP, ED • Uchuu Keiji Shaider OP, ED • Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya OP, ED • Kidou Keiji Jiban OP, ED
U-N/A
S-Taiyo Sentai Sunvulcan OP, ED1, ED2 • Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger ED • Boukenger vs Super Sentai ED
K-10gou Tanjo! Kamen Rider zenin shugo!! OP • Heisei Rider tai Showa Rider Kamen Rider Taisen feat Super Sentai TM
-I have to put Kushida at the top of this list as he is someone who could join the club tomorrow if Tsuburaya threw a damn theme song his way. The most difficult credit to obtain on this list is Metal Hero for obvious reasons...but Ultraman also seems to be a tough nut to crack. Come on, Tsuburaya...make this happen! He hasn't even done an IN song!
The rest of his credits are pretty obvious. Even though Dragon Road was used once, the song is kinda immortal. It was made even more immortal a few years back when a 2014 version (featuring the terrible Rider Girls) was used for one of those idiotic Rider crapfest films. I guess Akira Kushida can be considered Columbia and avex...but should it count if it's for a ruined version of the same song? Nah...
Masato Shimon
M-N/A
U-Ultraseven Hawaii Dub OP
S-Seijuu Sentai Gingaman OP, ED
K-Kamen Rider OP2, ED1, ED2, ED3 • Kamen Rider V3 ED2 • Kamen Rider Amazon OP, ED • Kamen Rider Stronger ED1
-His prolific work on Rider isn't enough to earn him a spot in the club. Fun fact about the Kamen Rider Stronger ending he performed... It was used for the first two episodes before it was replaced with the same song with Ichiro Mizuki singing the lead. There is a lot to say about Kamen Rider Stronger's theme song weirdness...but that's for another day...
Shimon's work on Ultraman is limited to his weird dub of the Ultraseven theme song that was meant for the Hawaiian English dub. His Super Sentai credit is actually uncredited. As he formally retired in 1993, he was forced to sing the Gingaman themes under the credit Ryo Kisami. Seeing as Shimon is done with the business and Metal Hero isn't a thing anymore, His membership is virtually impossible. Forever S•U•K...
Takayuki Miyauchi
M-Tokkei Winspector OP, ED • Tokkyushirei Solbrain OP, ED • Tokusou Exceedraft OP, ED
U-N/A
S-Chodenshi Bioman OP, ED • Boukenger vs Super Sentai ED
K-Kamen Rider BLACK RX OP, ED
-Another singer you probably expected to be on the list thanks to his prolific career. Takayuki Miyauchi *did* have a Columbia cover of Ultraman Tiga's ending theme song Brave Love, TIGA (w/Ichiro Mizuki) as well as a cover of Ultraman Gaia's theme song (w/Masaaki Endo). The only official Ultraman credit Miyauchi has is being part of the sea of people that made up the Ultra Choir in 1991's Ultraman charity song Love For Children.
Tatsuya Maeda
M-Blue SWAT OP, ED
U-Ultraman Powered OP, ED • Ultraman Chotoshi Gekidan OP • Ultraman Dyna OP • Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna OP
S-N/A
K-N/A
-Credit where it's due...Tatsuya Maeda has the two most difficult credits to obtain. He even did an IN song for Super Sentai (Carranger). It's not enough to make it into the club, though. He still needs those Sentai and Rider themes...
Rika Matsumoto
M-N/A
U-Ultraman Neos ED
S-N/A
K-Kamen Rider Ryuki OP
-Unless you're a Pokemon fan, you may be thinking "Who??" on this one. Rika Matsumoto is a prolific seiyu who managed to sneak in a rare Tokusatsu credit here and there earlier in her career. You may remember her as the voice of Arthur G6 in Fiveman (she subsequently sang his theme song as well). I know her mostly as the voice of Dora Reiga in episode 33 of Zyuranger (one of my favorite episodes).
She may not have many Tokusatsu singing credits to her name, but she did songs for three out of four of the categories...two of which were themes. Not bad...
Mitsuko Horie
M-N/A
U-N/A
S-Himitsu Sentai Goranger OP • Gaoranger vs Super Sentai ED
K-Kamen Rider Stronger ED1, ED2
-It's kinda obvious why there aren't any female singers in the club. Like I said before, that Metal Hero credit is the toughest to get. For someone who has been there through it all, Mitsuko Horie probably should have been tossed some songs...the Blue SWAT ending theme......something! She seemed largely into Anime songs in the 80s and 90s, so I guess it wasn't meant to be.
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It's a tough club to get into, but a few have made it! Are you really surprised at who made it in, though? I think the more surprising thing is those who haven't made it in. You would think Akira Kushida would be there, right? Takayuki Miyauchi...??
So what did you think about this post? Did I miss anyone? Do you think I have too much time on my hands to think up such things (this post may seem well-researched, but I pulled 95% of it from memory)? Let me know either in the comments below or on Twitter.
I'll be back soon with a brand new entry in the CD Collection. Hint: Box Set. One that blows.
-CC
It’s really hard to put anyone in to the list, since among the list, Sentai is the only series that’s been running continuously for 40 years. Kamen Rider, Metal Hero, and Ultraman had several year hiatus between the show and Metal Hero is essentially dead after Robotack, so the door is mostly closed if you want to add anyone in future; unless you count unnecessary/pointless Space Sheriff reboot/sequel movies songs (there’s going to be crossover movie with Dekaranger… ugh).
ReplyDeleteRegarding the member of the club, I noticed that if you rearrange their last name (Mizuki, Kageyama, Ishihara, Sasaki), you get M.I.S.K; a 1 letter different from MUSK.
If Ishihara had last name started with U (Ueda, Ushio, Urabe, Umeda, etc.), then we would have had M.U.S.K on MUSK list. lol
Among the list, Ishihara is my favorite, then Sasaki, 3rd is Mizuki, last is Kageyama (that guy really needs a break… or retire).
From that list I noticed that most of the songs are ED; Isao did the most OP (I’m surprised he did ED for Dekaranger after long hiatus of Sentai OP/ED).
I also noticed that no one did BOTH OP/ED on all 4 categories; Mizuki is the closest, and I wished he did OP for sentai (which is still possible though).
If anyone accomplishes it, then he should deserve GOLDEN MUSK. lol
I’m surprised how many didn’t end up on the list.
Kushida and Miyauchi are 2 of my favorite toku artists, and I’m shocked they didn’t get the cut.
I didn’t know Kushida didn’t do any Ultraman song. He could have done a great OP/ED had there been the TV series in most of the 80s~early 90s. Hopefully, he would get one after Orb.
Miyauchi did BOTH OP/ED for respective shows and sooooo close to get into MUSK (or GOLDEN MUSK, if he did OP/ED for same Ultraman show).
Take care.
I feel that if they decided to move on from Gavan's bloated corpse, we might actually get a new singer in the mix for Metal Hero. Until then, we're basically stuck with Akira Kushida as the only singer with new songs.
DeleteI'm kinda bummed about Takayuki Miyauchi not making it. If those damn Columbia covers he did were in fact used in the series, he would be the only one to have OP/ED credits in all categories. Columbia covers would have also given Shinichi Ishihara some additional OP/ED credits with Ultraman Powered.
I wouldn't go GOLDEN MUSK so much as I would ETERNAL MUSK. Hahaa
I kinda understand why Kushida doesn't have an Ultraman credit. It's kinda the same reason Kageyama barely has a Kamen Rider credit...poor timing. When Kushida hit the scene, Ultraman was virtually dead. Ultraman never really lined up...until now. I think the timing would be perfect for him to finally get into the club. Mizuki just got a theme, why not Kushida?
It DID actually surprise me that Takayuki Miyauchi & Akira Kushida couldn't make it to the club.
ReplyDeleteAnd cheers to Aniki! He finally made it with the latest Ultraman theme song. Kept me wonder why it took so long to give him an Ultraman credit though.
By the way, if it's not considered off the post, I would like to hear your opinion toward his Orb no Inori.
Gotta say my favorite from the club goes to Shinichi Ishihara. He might got the barely recognize Ultraman theme song, but it was surely rock and memorable enough.
If there are any singer I would like to join the club in the future, that should be Tatsuya Maeda. His performance on Blueswat theme was wonderful. Sentai and Kamen Rider are still a thing and should be there for awhile, so he still has some chances. Would be quite difficult for Kamen Rider though, since this is avex era.
One name that just come in to question for me is Naoto Fuuga.
has he ever done anything Toku outside of Megarangers theme songs? (He did both OP & ED, wow)
Thank you for another enjoyable CClemon99ism you had put up.
Take care :D
Thanks!
DeleteActually, Mizuki's first Ultraman theme song was back in 1984 with the Ultraman Monogatari ending song. It's kinda funny that this entry was in planning stages before they announced he would be singing the theme to Orb. It just goes to show that there is still hope for Akira Kushida and Takayuki Miyauchi...!
Speaking of Orb... I like Orb no inori quite a bit. It's a solid song...but I kinda wish it was a solo Mizuki singing. Oh well...it's still better than any Rider or Sentai theme I've heard in years.
Naoto Fuuga. Heh. He's an interesting one. If covers counted, he would actually be in the club. He did themes for Megaranger, Kamen Rider AGITO (makes sense since he has close ties with Shinichi Ishihara--he sang back-up on Ishihara's first two albums) and did a cover of Winspector's theme and participated in the Columbia cover of TAKE ME HIGHER. Pretty wild, huh?
Right! I almost forgot that Believe Yourself was Naoto Fuuga. It is one of the best Heisei Rider insert theme if you ask me.
DeleteI used to mixed up between Naoto Fuuga and Shinichi Ishihara before. Now I can clearly see why, lol. Their voices are quite alike in my opinion. And they both shone out in Tokusatsu entry around the same period. (90-early 2000)
Would love to see Takayuki Miyauchi's Ultraman theme in the future. He should be fit more with the Gekijouban theme though.
Still can't imagine Akira Kushida singing Ultra songs. Guess I'm stick with his style of Metal Heroes and Sunvulcan themes which doesn't sounds right to me as for Ultraman.
But who knows, he's even done the kid-friendly "We are the ONE' for Abaranger before. Gotta admit it was a pretty fun song.
"Believe Yourself" is a great song. He also did the ending song "extremes meet". Maybe that one isn't as great, but it's still a decent song.
DeleteI kinda feel the same way about Akira Kushida. As accomplished as he is, I don't know what he would do for an Ultraman theme song. Maybe he we would have been a little more at home in the 90s when a lot of Ultraman existed in animation. You had things like Ultraman Chotoshi Gekiden and Ultranyan (hey, it could have worked!). But yeah, it's one of those things where it never lined up.
Who knows, though. This list can still change. I wrote this up before it was even announced that Kageyama was going to be involved with Ex-Aid. Who knows... I'd be happy to come back and edit the list in the future. Hahaa.
About Orb no Inori there is a Mizuki Solo version as well as a Voyager Solo as that is sort of there way of doing covers now as of recently tokusatsu covers have gone down hill in recent years with it taking King Records 3 years to make a Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger cover or heck even a tokusatsu cover in general a while so I say its a accomplishment
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