Song Collection: Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya

Welcome back to my series of documenting Tokusatsu song collections through the ages. This time around I am going to listen to the song collection from Sheriff Skyfire Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya! I guess I'm just picking things up from where I left off. All last month I was listening to all of the song collections from 1987 (Hikari Sentai Maskman, Kamen Rider Black, and Chojinki Metalder) so why not join my Chojuu Sentai Liveman review with another from 1988? 

For this post I'll be listening to the Jiraiya Song Collection through the Superhero Chronicle Metal Hero Vol. 2. I previously talked about this set here.

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01. Jiraiya / Akira Kushida

This is the series opening theme song. It's so slick and smooth that it almost feels like it could be from the 90s. Akira Kushida returns to Metal Hero after sitting out '86 and '87. He even sounds a bit refreshed. Honestly, I think he did a great job matching the vibe that this song has. 

While I loooove this song deeply, I can't really say it's the most memorable Metal Hero theme song. It's a great song to chill to, but it doesn't really have too much memorable bite to it. Sure it has that great guitar part, but it's missing out on that crazy hook like "MAYDAY! MAYDAY! SOS!".

Fun fact: In addition to being the opening theme song to this series, it's also considered an IN song to Shuriken Sentai Ninninger. How about that??

02. Jiraiya Sanjo! / Akira Kushida

A great action song that kinda picks up the slack from the opening theme song. It has the "Sanjo!" drops and a really memorable guitar lick. It's hard to describe... Songs like Seigi no tame ni from Tokusou Robo Janperson are the same way. 

03. Hikaru Kaze / Akira Kushida

This is something of a prototype for a lot of songs we would hear in Metal Hero song collections going forward. You'll hear synth-heavy songs with some chill singing well into the Excreedraft days. I like this song. It has energy, but it's almost anti-action. 

I think the only thing I can knock on this one are the irritating background singers. It's not even Koorogi '73 this time! I don't know, they're a bit distracting in their over-singing.

04. Yami no Karyuudo ~Yoma no tema~ / Akida Kushida

The villain's theme song if you weren't able to tell from the title...or the opening notes. 

Maybe we were spoiled by the wacky Koorogi '73 villain songs from Maskman and Metalder...hell, even Shaider. This is kinda generic in terms of evil theme songs. If you can't make it stand out, why do it at all? 

It's not a bad song, I just... *sigh* I just miss Koorogi '73. Just this once. I want some funky ninja jam for this one instead of a generic rock song.

05. Kagayake! Jiraiya / Takumi Tsutsui

This is Toha's theme song by Toha's actor Takumi Tsutsui and a gaggle of brats. Yeah, this song is incredibly lousy. I haven't listened to it in years, but man...it's unforgettable how bad this is. 

The only nice thing I can say is that Tsutsui isn't as bad of a singer as Kamen Rider Black/RX's Tetsuo Kurata, but he is just about as flat. They at least had the sense to give the theme song to Akira Kushida instead for this series. Thank heavens.....

06. Unare Jiko Shinkuu ken / Akira Kushida

This is *the* song from this song collection. It represents the series on the Metal Hero Karaoke Collection Vol.1, so you know that this is held in decent regard. While Kushida is borderline lethargic in the rest of his song on this collection, he comes at us in full force for this one. It has pace and energy. Really, I challenge you not to at least dig this one a little bit. 

The title of the song is in reference to Jiraiya's sword, which also has some fantastic BGM during his finisher. I miss the days of awesome finisher music... Bimotion Buster... Howling Cannon... Rolling Vulcan... 

10/10 I love this song the most out of all of the Jiraiya songs. This is actually probably my favorite 80s Metal Hero song *fullstop*. 

07. Kei to Emiha ~Emiha no tema~ / Megumi Sekiguchi

The second of the two character songs on the Jiraiya song collection. This one is by Emiha actress Megumi Sekiguchi and...no brats to hide her skillz. Yikes. This is some really bad singing on top of a generic sweet track. It's not a song I listen to often for obvious reasons. I can't say I'll give this one more of a chance in the future either.

08. Sora kara Hibiku Koe / Akira Kushida

This is pretty much the lone ballad of the series. Kushida isn't the greatest choice for something like this, but does a serviceable job. Really, I wish I had more to say about this, but this is the most standard ballad ever.

09. Soko ni Paradise / Akira Kushida

This is a pretty bland song. It isn't a ballad. It isn't an action song. It's just a song. It exists. It fits in with a lot of the other chill songs on the song collection, but this is definitely the least memorable of the bunch. 

10. SHI NO BI '88 / Akira Kushida

The series ending song. As subdued as this is, I actually like it a lot. Not only is it pretty catchy, but Kushida does a great job matching it. I know I said the same thing about the opening theme song, but fast forward a year to Jiban and listen to that ending theme song. Kushida sounds...off compared to the music. 

This is a great and chill song to close the show out to every week.

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OVERALL: There are a handful of terrific songs on this song collection...but there is one thing sorely missing. I don't know what it is about the song collection and the BGM from this series, but there is not a shred of Japanese-style flair. The ending theme song is titled in a way where you think it may have something, but no. It really took composer Eiji Kawamura to bring a little specific flavor to shows like Dairanger and Kakuranger with their respective series BGM collections. 

I guess Jiraiya was so ahead of it's time that they didn't really know how to handle it the songs and music. In this case, I would check out the songs I highlighted, sure, but definitely check out the BGM. I've always found that to be a bit more engaging than the song collection on a whole.

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Thanks for swinging by once again for another song collection review. I really wanted to have some more in depth content for this post, but life is pretty complicated in 2020. Anyway...I hope you enjoyed the post. I have at least one massive post on the horizon to kick off 2021. Stay tuned...

Take care!

-CC

PREVIOUSLY...

Song Collection: Chojinki Metalder
Song Collection: Hikari Sentai Maskman
Song Collection: Kamen Rider Black
Song Collection: Dennou Keisatsu Cybercop REVISED