PON! to iu Sekai: Pop Goes the World

Hello Hey Hello!

I'm on a Spitz kick m'friends.

I don't actually know much about them. All I know is after listening to that worn copy of Hayabusa a few times, I tend to attack my dusty issues of Naruto manga with renewed vigor. Just when I think I'm fed up with tired storylines, boring diatribes about Super Special Attack #753 and another spazzy ninja brat trying to be king of the world...

....SPITZ smacks me right back into the groove.

J pop and comics mean the same thing to me. Ready-to-serve gratification. Ear candy, pretty pictures and plots I don't need to crack a dictionary to appreciate. SPITZ is an old JPOP war horse still trottin. They've got a gazillion albums which you can probably get used and half price at Book Offs.

Which is not to say that Spitz is cheap simply because they are consumed en masse.

They are not (I'd like to think) the same breed of embarrassment bands like SMAP or KINKI KIDS are. They're cheesy to be sure but with different tact. Kusano Masamune's voice has a permanent trace of the melancholy even when he's singing upbeat. He doesn't beg and never calls you "baby".

He'd rather sing about the tear swaying on the fringe of your lashes.

Did I not mention the sap never runs dry?

There's harmonicky in Hotaru (Firefly). Something resembling ska in Hayabusa (8823). The freakin harpsichord in Namida (Tear) I cave for orchestral arrangements. If it's got a cello, violin or a Masterpiece Theateresque harpsichord I am in rapt attention, lameness be damned. My mood for it is specific.

Like most war horses, they've been covered a bunch. Sure, I like Puffy's obnoxious version of Ai no Shirushi but there's just no replacement for Spitz's swanky original. I fucking flipped 3 different ways when I came across Shiina Ringo's (can'tshutupWON'TSHUTUP!!!) live cover of Hayabusa. So naturally I was elated when Masamune and Ringo did a duet for Ringo's cover album, Utaite Myouri. It was unreal hearing them sing together in Haiiro no Hitomi (Gray Eyes)*. Ringo! Masamune! Argentina! Somehow, Masamune's voice still sounded at home with Kameda san* at the helm.

If you've ever wondered what empty time feels like to a typical Japanese high schooler (or eh regressive anime geek girl), go to Saint Marks, nab yourself a manga (opt for Ranma ½ instead of that waste of space Inu Yasha. Or better yet, go attack Blade of the Immortal! W00t!), stop a few doors down for the Pocky of your choice and pop in a SPITZ CD.

Let that eat a sizeable cavity in your brain.


*Shiina's producer

*Una Ramos- Aquellos Ojos Grises