The Super Sentai Series is regarded as a gateway to success for up-and-coming actors, and now the phenomenon is extending to rookie singers as well, with the tokusatsu sci-fi action series increasingly enlisting young talent to sing new theme songs. The young singers, with few exceptions, are nervous when they perform onstage at events introducing the songs. Yet watching them grow and improve during the course of the show's one-year season is a joy for long-time fans of the series like myself.
Several of these young singers approached me to ask if I would work with them on something. We came up with the event "340 Rookie Matsuri," called that because the number 340 can be read "mishio," as in my name, and the word matsuri means festival in Japanese. The second such event was recently held at the Asagaya / Loft A club in Suginami Ward, Tokyo. On hand were singers Showgo Kamada, Daiki Ise and Yohei Onishi, as well as guitarist Imajo of the duo Psychic Lover and keyboardist Mizuki Kamada.
The set list was not limited to tokusatsu theme songs. In fact, such songs comprised only a small part of the show because I suggested that they instead try various new things they don't dare tackle at other events.
For example, I asked them to perform pop songs from the Showa era (1926-89), which were popular before they were born, complete with the accompanying choreography. Or for two men to form a team and cover duets meant for a man and a woman.
As for songs from the Super Sentai Series, I had them choose ones that are different in terms of both vocal range and atmosphere from those they usually cover at regular concerts related to the series. I felt the whole point of the festival was for the singers to show the audience a side of themselves they don't display at other concerts.
It must be tough for the singers to learn a bunch of songs that are mostly new to them. But they really enjoy the process and respond enthusiastically to my outrageous requests. Hearing the fruits of their earnest efforts in the songs they performed felt like a breath of fresh air to me.
At the latest event, singer Kamada tackled the theme song from "Tenso Sentai Goseiger," pulling off a rendition that sounded a touch different from the original. Onishi mastered the theme song to "Kamen Rider Build," which is in a higher vocal range than he's used to. And Ise's version of a theme song from the "Precure" anime series was so spectacular that I started thinking I wouldn't be able to listen to it anywhere else.
I think the best part of the show was when they performed original songs. These songs born of their own creative spark may have been less sophisticated than those written by veteran songwriters, but they were really moving. More than anything else, I loved the sight of them having fun making music.
My big hope for these three singers is that they sing new Super Sentai Series songs, ones written by themselves if possible.
Maybe it's the month of April that heralds the start of many things in Japan, but I felt a wealth of dreams budding inside me as I watched the hard-working young artists.
Suzuki is a Yomiuri Shimbun senior specialist and an expert on tokusatsu superhero films and dramas.
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