As a kid growing up in Hawaii, our children’s shows consisted of not only the usual fare like Batman, Tarzan and Super Friends, but a whole ‘nother kind of Super Hero in Tokusatsu, those Japanese Champions of Justice like KIKAIDA, RAINBOW MAN and KAMEN RIDER V3!
Once the Kikaida boom hit here (and it his HARD) a whole generation of kids got programmed to watch KIKU, the Japanese channel (back then channel 13) to see what the latest popular superhero show was.
In time, It progressed from not only shows like KIKAIDA, DIAMOND EYE, HIMITSU SENTAI GORANGER and INAZUMAN, to also including those “Giant Robot” shows like YUSHA RAIDEEN and GETTA ROBO-G, from there to the not-superheroish at all like ROBOCON and after awhile it strayed even FURTHER from the path when they began showing early anime shows like IKKYU-SAN and CANDY CANDY!
Super Hero or early anime if KIKU was showing it, we watched it all!
As we got older, this love of Tokusatsu (and the like) became a collectible hobby, and we spent our time trying to track down episodes of those long lost television show as well as toys like the Kikaida dolls and those expensive die-cast figures, and last but not least: the MUSIC from those shows!
For some reason, even as a kid, more than wanting to get the latest Amazon Rider doll, I wanted the albums and singles of the theme songs I heard every night at the beginning and endings to my favorite shows, and this naturally led to me to collecting as many of those songs as I could on CD, and fortunately, the Japanese culture is pretty good on the nostalgia thing, and they release these wonderful “Memories” collections with all those superhero shows I grew up with!
One day I’m listening to a bunch of those CDs, and, while flipping through the booklets, happen to notice that the name of the girl singing the theme song for CANDY CANDY is the same girl who sang with Isao Sasaki in the HIMITSU SENTAI GORANGER theme! Of course, I couldn’t read the names at the time, but the could easily see that the Japanese kanji was identical!
One day I’m listening to a bunch of those CDs, and, while flipping through the booklets, happen to notice that the name of the girl singing the theme song for CANDY CANDY is the same girl who sang with Isao Sasaki in the HIMITSU SENTAI GORANGER theme! Of course, I couldn’t read the names at the time, but the could easily see that the Japanese kanji was identical!
The next day when I saw some of my fellow Tokusatsu followers, I proudly proclaimed,” I just found out something! That girl singing the 5 Rangers song is the same girl singing Candy Candy!” then they said, “What’s her name?” to which I admitted, “I dunno”.
Well, it was years and years later, but I finally found out who that gal was! Watching a Japanese special featuring singers from yesteryear, they initially had Isao Sasaki (who DIDN’T sing his 5 Rangers song) perform, and then they brought out a genki lady who was announced as Horie Mitsuko. Imagine my surprise when they began the clip and Candy Candy started! I was like “AHHH! This is her…that lady who sang both themes!”
Ah. Yes, it was! And no sooner did I register that then orchestra started and she began singing that very Candy Candy song! Though I was hoping Sasaki and Horie’d get together and sing Goranger, I had to admit, this perf made me smile, as it’s such a HAPPY performance!!!
Going online later, I was to find that Candy Candy and Goranger was only two songs out of a long and established career for Seiyuu Horie Mitsuko that also included shows like Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, Sailor Moon, Robo Gakken, Voltes V and the incredibly catchy Majokko Tickle!
