Welcome to another double-feature! This time around I am doing something a little bit different. As you probably noted by clicking on this link, you are about to read my review of the Tokusou Robo Janperson Song Collection. Instead of a related song collection, I am also taking a listen to the Tokusatsu GaGaGa Original Soundtrack. What's the relation? Check it out over there.
This post actually does serve another great purpose. I've previously reviewed the song collections from Winspector, Solbrain, Exceedraft, and Blue SWAT. The gap between the last two? Consider it filled! Even better...I actually dig this one.
For this review I'll be listening via my trusty Super Hero Chronicle Metal Hero Shudaika Sonyuuka Daizenshuu III. I previously took a look at the entire CD series in this woefully incomplete post. I'm running out of things to review from this set...finally...!
Janpserson is the center of the universe
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01. Tokusou Robo Janperson / Susumu Ooya
This is a killer theme song. The tragedy behind some of the more underrated Tokusatsu series is that their theme songs tend to go under the radar.
Susumu Ooya is a perfect fit for this somewhat glum, yet energetic series opener. The guitar work is killer from beginning to end with the perfect amount of brass lashings in the background. As a Tokusatsu theme song, this is about as wonderfully standard as it should be. Hopeful, yet drab. Really, I wouldn't change a thing here. Even the Children's Choir is delightfully ignorable.
02. Ore wa Gunman ~Gun Gibson no Theme~ / Hironobu Kageyama
Like any classic Tokusatsu series, a bad guy is created in the image of our hero. I feel that more often than not we see that baddie becoming the sidekick. Yeah, well Gun Gibson is no exception.
We're kicking off the image songs with the theme to Gun Gibson. This upbeat theme song is the very first Metal Hero song by Hironobu Kageyama. Hard to believe it, but it was definitely overdue to have our boy Kageyama join the Metal Hero anison club. He delivers his excellent vocals in the fun action song. Really, I dig this song.
03. Seigi no tame ni / Susumu Ooya
This is easily my favorite song from the collection. Ooya's vocals are great, but this song REALLY rocks. It has a slight tinge of "this was the rejected theme song" as it has some similarities to the OP. While the theme plays it a tad safer, the somewhat desolate mood mirrors that of this song. The layering is incredible. I appreciate how dense everything sound from the oscillating feature of the guitar and to the very slight backing vocals. Seigi no tame ni is such a well-balanced and perfect song.
For Justice!
04. Kimi wa nemure soshite utae / Hironobu Kageyama
Our next track is a ballad by Kageyama. I actually dig this song quite a bit thanks to it's interesting structure. It has it's slow bits, but it definitely picks up at the right times. There are even little bits of synth thrown in to keep things more lively.
Kageyama can't sing songs like this any more...but we can certainly look to the past and appreciate gems like this.
05. Omae ga iru kara ~JP & Gun Gibson yuujo no theme~ / Hironobu Kageyama
Another Gun Gibson song by Kageyama...? OK!
Well, it's the theme of their friendship. It's an oddly specific premise, but here we are. Great song, though. The horns will be stuck in your head all day. The horns are just one element, though. Everything just flows along at a great, fluid pace. It has a bit of feeling of a Space Sheriff image song...
06. Hello JP! / Susumu Ooya
Another ballad, but this one is by Ooya. Like Kimi wa nemure soshite utae, this song is a perfectly balanced ballad with highs and lows. Even if the structure is similar to the previous ballad, this is a totally different song.
07. Murasaki ookami densetsu / Hironobu Kageyama
To finish out the image songs, we get a more traditional power ballad. Really, this is such a beautiful tune. I really don't like to rail on the guy, but Kageyama used to be this amazingly diverse singer. The only thing he doesn't do on this song collection is rap...and there is proof that he can do that pretty well (better on the studio version, I promise). He was such a great singer...until he kinda switched to just yelling.
Amazing ballad. It's really too good for a show about a purple robot.
08. Asayake no Lullaby / Susumu Ooya
The series ending song. I didn't care for it as a kid, but I actually really like it now. The selling point of this is the eerie-sounding reverb when Ooya sings Janperson's name. It's a basic song, and probably the weakest on the set, but I really like it.
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This song collection was woefully short thanks to the Forte curse. Eight songs including the themes is way too brief. The lack of character songs is welcome and the two singers featured, Ooya and Kageyama, do a fantastic job. Kageyama is still in top form in 1993 and Susumu Ooya, in my opinion, isn't a bad singer at all. Beyond Janperson he has a handful of decent Dragonball Z songs under his belt before disappearing.
If I could change one thing, it would probably be the tracklisting. Ending the image/insert songs with Seigi no tame ni would've been a great change of pace before slipping into Asayake no Lullaby.
Short and sweet. I definitely enjoy this song collection and recommend it!
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Thanks for checking out my latest song collection review. Be sure to check out my review of the oddly rare Tokusatsu GaGaGa Original Soundtrack.
Bye!
-CC
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