To-y" - Original Video Animation HD REMASTER Blu-ray Limited Premium Box [Ryozo Fuwa's "Anime no otto" Vol.10

To-y" is a manga series by Junji Kamijo that ran in Shogakukan's "Weekly Shōnen Sunday" from 1985 to 1987. In this legendary comic book, Kamijo Junji realistically depicted Japanese music culture of the late 1980s with beautiful line drawings and shadows, including the heyday of idol singers, the booming entertainment and TV industry, and street punks just before the band boom, and can be called the gold standard of music and band manga.

The anime adaptation was released as an original video animation (OVA) on October 1, 1987, soon after the manga series ended. The animation director is a "Mobile Warrior" who was chosen by Kamijo, the author of the original manga, who immediately said, "This is the only person who can do it! Mr. Onda Naoyuki, who was famous for his beautiful drawings in "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" (1985) and other works, was in charge of the animation direction. The music director was Masaya Matsuura of PSY-S [saiz], an up-and-coming music unit that made full use of the "Fairlight CMI" music workstation equipment, which cost more than 10 million yen at the time. The film was a precursor to the horror film "Sweet Home" (1989), directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and produced by Juzo Itami, for which Matsuura was in charge of music. The anime version of "To-y" must be an important work for Japanese pop culture/media culture, considering the fact that he made his name known around the world as the "originator of the sound game" with the release of the PlayStation game "Parapperapper" in 1996. However, this work was never re-released on DVD or other media, and 34 years have passed since then.

This June, such a fantastic OVA "To-y" was finally reissued on Blu-ray. It was digitally remastered from the original 35mm film and reissued in a high quality image, something that could not be wished for. The limited edition of 1,000 sets was sold out before the release date. The 10th edition of "Anime no otto" will focus on the "To-y Original Video Animation HD REMASTER Blu-ray Limited Premium Box" released by Sony Music Direct on June 30, 2021. The main product is a Blu-ray disc of the OVA, but it also includes the "To-y Original Image Album," which is a substantial soundtrack disc, and in addition, this OVA "To-y" itself has the musicality of Mr. Masaya Matsuura and the music by the participating Sony label artists. In addition, the OVA "To-y" itself is inseparable from Masaya Matsuura's musicality and the presence of the music by the participating Sony label artists.

Before going into the main topic, I would like to look back at the history of Sony labels (CBS Sony, EPIC Sony, etc.) and anime songs. In the anime song market of the 1960s and 1970s, when Asahi Sonorama and Nippon Columbia had an oligopoly, Sony released the following anime song records: "Moomin" (1969, a "competing disc" also released by other companies), "Mon Cheri CoCo" ( (1972), "The First Human Gatles" (1974), "Gamba's Adventure" (1975), and only a few others on a one-off basis. However, like Victor and Canyon (now Pony Canyon), the company began its full-fledged entry into animation songs around 1980, with such hits as "Seaton Zoological Record: Risu no Banner" (1979), "Science Adventure Squadron Tansar 5" (1979), "Gordian the Fighter" (1979), "Battlestar Blue Noah" (1979 (1979), "Ace Nerae! (1979), "Tsurikichi Sanpei" (1980), "Manga Jiten" (1980), and "Jarinko Chie" (1981). The picture changed dramatically with "City Hunter" (1987).

In the late 1980s, many of Sony's leading artists participated in the theme song and insert songs, but the tie-ups were not limited to simple "song donation. City Hunter" was a great challenge and achievement. (For more details, please refer to [Ryozo Fuwa's "Anime no otto" Vol. 04] The Late 1980's Sony All-Stars' J-POP Sound of Total Power: "CITY HUNTER Original Animation Soundtrack" CD series. (Please refer to "CITY HUNTER Original Animation Soundtrack" series.)

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The music strategy of "City Hunter" and OVA "To-y" by the same Sony is reflected in the use of "Angel Night ~Angel no iru basho~" by PSY-S[saiz] for the theme song of "City Hunter 2" (1988), as well as in "the appointment of multiple up-and-coming Sony artists The music strategies of "City Hunter" and OVA "To-y" by the same Sony company are filled with a sense of commonality, such as the "emphasis on matching the music with the style of the work".

In fact, as follows,

CITY HUNTER Original Animation Soundtrack" released on June 3, 1987

To-y Original Image Album" released on October 1, 1987

CITY HUNTER 2 Original Animation Soundtrack Vol. 1" released on June 22, 1988

......, and "To-y Original Image Album" was released between the "City Hunter" and "City Hunter 2" albums. In other words, without the music of "City Hunter," there would be no music for the OVA "To-y," and without the music of the OVA "To-y," there would be no music for "City Hunter 2. I believe that "City Hunter" and the OVA "To-y" were important milestones that clearly defined how Sony, as a record company, viewed and created anime songs.

The surprising inside story of the production of the music for the OVA "To-y" is revealed in the bonus video "Special Talk: Original Author: Junji Kamijo x Music Director: Masaya Matsuura" in the "To-y Original Video Animation HD REMASTER Blu-ray Limited Premium Box". The music request to Mr. Matsuura was actually a request from the director of the film. In fact, the request for Mr. Matsuura's music came from a half-finished film with images and dialogues, and he was asked to think about how to fit the music into the film. I think that "retrofitting all the music" to the already completed film is a special technique that is rarely used in normal animation production. Mr. Kamijo said, "It was a very unreasonable request," and Mr. Matsuura recalls, "It must have been difficult for a composer who is used to producing regular accompaniment to a play to handle it. Mr. Kamijo, the author of the original manga, also said that at the time, the original manga had just finished its serialization, and considering the feelings of the fans, he thought it would be violent to express the "songs" of the characters in the play, such as Toy and Yoji Aikawa, as they were in the anime, and asked that the animation be created on the premise of "not having them sing. It is also revealed that they had made a request to .......

In response to these multiple and difficult prerequisites, Mr. Matsuura chose two methods. The first approach was to create a dramatic accompaniment to match the movements of the already created pictures. This approach is not only for a few songs in the entire work, but also maintains a "sense of continuity" with the other songs by using melody motifs from past PSY-S[saiz] songs and sounds extracted from specific tracks (e.g., drum rhythm only) rather than creating the music completely from scratch. It is clear that the music is made with a sense of "continuity" with the other songs.

Of particular note is the special version of the song played at the climax of the film, entitled "Lemon no Yuuki (Special Remix Edit Version)," which can only be heard in the film. The song begins with a performance by Toy and his punk band "GASP" at the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall and a concert by Yoji Aikawa at the Large Concert Hall, and the song continues to be played while the scene changes (as requested by Kamijo, the song does not include vocals by Toy or Yoji). (However, as requested by Kamijo, the song is treated as an instrumental piece, without vocals from Toy or Yoji.) However, before long, it leaves the sound of the band playing and turns into a gradation of the theme song "Lemon's Courage," eventually leading to "Lemon's Courage" itself, which even includes the singing of PSY-S[saiz] vocalist CHAKA (Mami Yasunori).

In the meantime, it lasts about 10 minutes. The sound of the band's performance, which is the sound of reality in the film, changes to a psychological portrayal of the play, and then seamlessly leads to the theme song that symbolizes the theme of the film. Considering the premise of the example that "the images and dialogue were already created," Matsuura's work is an unbelievable feat. The original author, Mr. Kamijo, also praised the music direction, saying, "I think Mr. Matsuura was the first to express a band performance scene without having the characters sing, and to wrap it up as the theme song for the entire world..." Looking around at the various music animations that followed, Mr. Matsuura was the first to use this technique. In a special interview, he recalls, "I think Mr. Matsuura was the first to use such a technique to express the band performance scene without singing the characters and wrap it up as a theme song for the entire world....

The second approach that Mr. Matsuura chose was to select songs from existing music. In addition to the opening and closing songs, "Lemon's Courage" and "Cubic Lovers," the 6th single from his unit PSY-S[saiz], he selected music from the following Sony artists at the time that suited the image of the work and the scene. This was the first step in the process of selecting the music for the film. According to Mr. Matsuura, the request to participate in the OVA "To-y" and the production of the music for "Courage of Lemon" were made at about the same time, and the two images were compatible with each other.

This is not just a matter of the timing of the production, but the sense that the atmosphere of the times in 1987 was inevitably a sign of the times. As for the selection of songs from the Sony artists, there was no particular request from the animation staff, and they were all selected by Matsuura. Let's take a look at the songs that appear in the play one by one. (The order of the songs below is the order in which they were used in the OVA "To-y", and differs from the order of the songs on the "To-y Original Image Album")

01. Lemon no Yuuki / PSY・S[saiz]" is the theme song of the work and is first played at the opening. The beginning of the story, the GASP show at Shinjuku Loft and the encounter with Yoji Aikawa, is depicted without dialogue, and "Lemon no Yuuki" plays in the background. As mentioned above, this song is PSY-S[saiz]'s 6th single and also appears on their 3rd album "Mint-Electric" (1987).

02. Mona Park/GONTITI" is an instrumental song played in the background of GASP members dabbling in Shinjuku Chuo Park after their show. gontiti is a musical unit and acoustic guitar duo consisting of Gonzalez Mikami and Chichi Matsumura. This song is also included in their 4th album "SUNDAY MARKET" (1986).

03. Uptown Traffic/Kenji Suzuki" is used as an image of Yoji Aikawa's own song (the performance part) in the recording of a singing program at a TV station. Kenji Suzuki is a Japanese guitarist who made his debut with EPIC Sony in 1983 and now lives in London. 1998 he became a member of Simply Red and remained a guitarist until 2010, when the band broke up. This song also appears on his 4th album "BEAT OF ROCK" (1987).

04. BRUCE / Hajime Mizoguchi" is an instrumental song used as an image of Sonoko Morigaoka's own song (the performance part), an idol singer, in the recording of a singing program at the same TV station. Hajime Mizoguchi is a cellist and composer. He is widely known for his theme song "Sekai no Kurumawara kara" (From the Window of the World) for the long-running TV program "Sekai no Kurumawara kara" on TV Asahi. This song is not included in the "To-y Original Image Album," but it was included in his second album "Oasis in the Water" (1986), which is now available on various distribution and subscribe services. If you want to get the complete soundtrack of OVA "To-y," this is the song you should listen to.

Dream Soup/AMOR" is the song played in the scene where Hijirou Koishikawa (Sonoko Morigaoka) returns to his room where Toy and Niya are sleeping. Natsumi Shimazaki of CHIROLINE, and Takao Abe, formerly of the Barbee Boys. This song was originally composed as a monthly song for NHK-FM's "Sound Street (Tuesday)," where Matsuura was a DJ, in September 1986, and was released in February 1987 as a collaboration with PSY-S [saiz], which included songs related to "Sound Street. It is also included in the album "PSY・S Presents "Collection"" released in February 1987, which contains songs related to "Sound Street.

06. SANSO / Whale" is the song played in the scene where Toi, Niya, and Hijirou eat breakfast after a long night. Kujira (Qujila) is a band that made its major debut in 1985 on EPIC Sony. Although there have been changes in members and composition, they are still active today, participating in NHK E-TV's "0655" and "2355" programs. This song is also included in their third album "Hana" (1987).

Silent Song/PSY・S[Saiz]" is a memorable song played at the Sumida River Fireworks Festival and the summer festival scene at Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku, featuring collaborations by Tomotaka Imamichi of Barbee Boys, Yuji Okiyama formerly of Juicy Fruit, and Hitoshi Kusunoki of Kujira. Unfortunately, this song was not included in the "To-y Original Image Album. Like "05. Dream Soup," it was NHK-FM's "Sound Street" monthly song for October 1986, released as PSY・S[saiz]'s 5th single (only one side included), and also included in the aforementioned PSY・S[saiz]'s collaboration album "PSY・S Presents " Collection".

This album is a kind of "To-y's backstage soundtrack disc," so to speak, but it is currently difficult to obtain. However, "Silent Song" itself can be heard on various distribution and subscription services.

As an aside, since this song was composed by Tomotaka Imamichi of the Barbee Boys, the lyrics were changed and it is also sung in the repertoire of the Barbee Boys, and is included in their 4th album "LISTEN! BARBEE BOYS 4" (1987) as the song "Noisy".

The song "08. Clockwork Kake no Setsuna/ZELDA" is played in the rainy city scene where Toy and Yoji meet. zelda made their major label debut in 1982 and moved to CBS Sony in 1985. This song was also included in their 4th album "C-ROCK WORK" (1987) with Masahide Sakuma as producer.

09. "Just Before Shorting / Barbee Boys" is heard only briefly as background music in the billiard hall where To-y and Yoji quietly confront each other Barbee Boys made their major debut in 1984 with the single "DANCE in the dark" just one year before the release of their OVA "To-y." Their big break came with their 6th single "What was it? 7DAYS", which was released on October 1, 1986, exactly one year before the release of the OVA "To-y". This song was also included in their 3rd album "3rd BREAK" (1986).

The Street Sliders made their major label debut in 1983 with EPIC Sony. The Street Sliders were the closest to the image of GASP in terms of both music and look, although they were not punk. This song is also included in their 5th album "Angels" (1986).

11. Kaze no Naka De / Seishiro Kusunose" is the song played in the scene where Toy and Niya are walking aimlessly in Hibiya Park, where they can no longer perform live. Presents "Collection". Looking this far, we can see that Matsuura's activities on NHK-FM's "Sound Street," the personal connections that emerged from these activities, and the "PSY・S Presents "Collection"" album had a significant influence on the musical plan for the OVA "To-y.

12. Lemon no Yuuki (Special Remix Edit Version) / PSY・S" is a special version played at the climax, as mentioned above. The song begins with a performance by Toy and his punk band "GASP" at the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall, and continues for nearly 10 minutes, with various scene changes, seamlessly transitioning from the sound of the band playing, to the psychological drama, to the ending theme song, just as in the opening scene. The song seamlessly transitions from the sound of the band playing, to the psychological drama, to the ending theme song. Unfortunately, this song has never been released as a stand-alone product. In addition, several other songs can be heard in the film, which Matsuura seems to have produced as "accompaniment to match the movements of an already existing picture," his first approach. The song GASP is practicing in Nakano's studio in the middle of the story is a band-style arrangement of the intro riff to PSY-S[saiz]'s debut single "Teenage" (1985), and there is a scene where an acoustic arrangement of "Lemon no Yuuki" is played. The source of the flashy opening song of the Yoji Aikawa concert is also unknown, and the only time these can be heard is in the full-length footage of the OVA "To-y.

13. CUBIC LOVERS/PSY・S[saiz]" is the closing song played during the closing credits of the OVA "To-y. As can be seen from the common intro melody, this song is inextricably linked to "Lemon no Yuuki" and is actually the B-side song of PSY・S[saiz]'s 6th single "Lemon no Yuuki". The film shows Niya in her school uniform walking backwards hand in hand with Toy as the ending credits roll. I am sure that I am not the only one who felt that the film condensed the bond between Toy and Niya in the original "TO-Y" manga, a bond that only the two of them could understand, their separation, and their feelings toward the end of the story, which could not be touched upon in depth in the OVA. The lyrics "Blinking kisses are forever" overlap with it. It is too perfect an ending. The music direction of the OVA "To-y," which should have been a difficult project that would go down in the annals of Japanese animation history, was not only "turning a pinch into a chance" but also a great come-from-behind victory, thanks to the power of Mr. Matsuura, and the curtain was closed with a brilliant finish to the very end. This is why I said at the beginning of this article that ...... is an important work for Japanese pop/media culture.

In the liner notes to the To-y Original Image Album, which was released on vinyl and CD at the time, Matsuura states

In the liner notes of "To-y Original Image Album," which was released on vinyl and CD at the time, Matsuura states, "The purpose of my work was to see how sharply this work could capture the musical landscape of the year 1987. In the extreme, any music that is alive in this era has some overlap with the To-y material. I would be happy if people could somehow sense such a sense of the times and the everyday.

Those who have watched the OVA "To-y" again 34 years later must have realized that Matsuura's plan was successful and accomplished, as it blends beautifully with the 1987 Tokyo cityscape depicted in the animation. I believe that the ...... OVA "To-y" is a work that captures the atmosphere of the late 1980s and encapsulates it all in a film.

＜I believe that this is what the OVA "To-y" is all about.

Product Information

Blu-ray "'To-y' - Original Video Animation HD REMASTER Blu-ray Limited Premium Box

Release date: June 30, 2021

Price: 16,500 yen (including tax)

Label: Sony Music Direct (Japan) Inc.

Product Specifications: enclosed in an analog record-size box:

1 Blu-ray disc + 1 Blu-spec CD2 disc, LP-size booklet (latest comments by the original author Junji Kamijo / lyrics of all songs on CD + commentary), T-shirt (XL size), 1 film bookmark (total 10 kinds, randomly selected) / limited to 1,000 sets (with serial numbers)

Songs included in the Blu-ray video

Lemon's courage / PSY・S[saiz]

Mona Park / GONTITI

Uptown Traffic / Kenji Suzuki

BRUCE / Hajime Mizoguchi

05.Dream Soup / AMOR

SANSO/Kujira

Silent Song / PSY-S[saiz]

Clockwork Kake no Setsuna / ZELDA

09.shortest minute /Barbee Boys

After the Storm / The Street Sliders

In the Wind / Seishiro Kusunose