![[MUSIC CDs]](images/section_music.gif)
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TENCHI MUYO! RYO-OH-KI
NO CHRISTMAS
AIC / Pioneer
PICA-1024
11/25/1993
53:15
12 Tracks
¥3000
-- by Roderick "Agitator" Lee
| 1. |
|
Standard Medley
(Vocal: Cast) |
3:38 |
| 2. |
|
Drama - Little Match Girl Part 1 |
5:08 |
| 3. |
|
Koi wa Sesshoya Omahenka (Don't You Think Love is Cruel?)
(Vocal: Takada "Aeka" Yumi) |
3:46 |
| 4. |
|
Drama - Little Match Girl Part 2 |
3:31 |
| 5. |
|
(Love is Extraterritorial)
(Vocal: Orikasa "Ryouko" Ai) |
4:30 |
| 6. |
|
Drama - Little Match Girl Part 3 |
3:56 |
| 7. |
|
(Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Love)
(Vocal: Mizutani "Mihoshi" Yuko and Kobayashi "Washuu" Yuko) |
4:41 |
| 8. |
|
Mama ga Santa ni Kiss Soshite (I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus)
(Vocal: Yokoyama "Sasami" Chisa) |
3:43 |
| 9. |
|
Jingle Bells
(Vocal: Cast) |
3:07 |
| 10. |
|
Drama - Christmas Carol |
8:06 |
| 11. |
|
Koi wa Discommunication (Love is Discommunication) |
4:39 |
| 12. |
|
Silent Night |
4:28 |
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Less than one percent of Japan practices Christianity, yet the Christmas
episode is something of an anime mainstay. Whether it serves to accelerate many
a relationship in a romantic series (AA! MEGAMISAMA "For the
Love of Goddess" or any of the six Christmases during the course of
MAISON IKKOKU), provide a comedic
backdrop (RANMA OVA
vol 2: "Tendo Christmas Scramble"), or act just as a background event
for larger things (MACROSS episode 35), Christmas is a major
plot point. Thus, it is curious that the TENCHI MUYO! RYO-OH-KI OVA
series never had a Christmas episode, especially in light of the fact that
creator Hayashi Hiroki describes his show as the ordinary lives of
extraordinary characters.
TENCHI MUYO!
RYO-OH-KI NO CHRISTMAS (TENCHI MUYO!
RYO-OH-KI CHRISTMAS ALBUM) is a Christmas image album released in November 1993
for that year's Christmas season. Its four drama tracks are windows
of possibility on what a TENCHI Christmas episode could be like. Its
eight musical tracks comprise a balance of four traditional Christmas
favorites and four original seiyuu character tracks.
The disc opens with "Standard Medley," which is exactly as it is
named, a composite mix of "Sleigh Ride," "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed
Reindeer," and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" by the entire ensemble.
Next is a drama track, the first of three variations on the classic
Little Match Girl story. In this first part, Mihoshi plays the Little
Match Girl, a poor ex-policewoman who must now sell matches to earn a
living. In later tracks, all the characters (except Tenchi, who is
always the customer) will assume the role of sometimes competing Match
Girls. Ryouko and Aeka, not surprisingly, fight for the attention of
customer Tenchi while Washuu extols the scientific merits of her
matches. And, surprise! Little Match Girl Sasami marks the first
ever appearance as well as the origin of Maho Shoujo Pretty
Sami. (Her animated debut, in the TENCHI MUYO! RYO-OH-KI SOUND FILE, would be January 1994, just two months
later.)
Third is a character track, "Koi wa Sesshoya Omahenka" (Don't You
Think Love is Cruel?), Aeka's alcohol-soaked lamentations of
unrequited love during the season. Not exactly typical holiday cheer.
Neither is hot candle wax on bare flesh, but it is very
character-appropriate to Ryouko's bawdy Christmas Eve romp of "Love is
Extraterritorial" by Orikasa Ai.
For seasoned seiyuu fans, though, what may be even more surprising
than these decidedly unconventional viewpoints on Christmas is this
stunning revelation: Aeka's Takada Yumi
actually manages to sing halfway decently on this disc.
The closing three tracks are a microcosm of the disc: one each of
drama, seiyuu image, and Christmas classic. The final drama is
another takeoff on a classic, this time Charles Dickens's A
Christmas Carol, starring "Scrooge Ryouko" and featuring Aeka,
Mihoshi, and Sasami as the Ghosts of Christmases Present, Past, and
Yet to Come. Of course, the hapless Tenchi serves the role of Bob
Cratchit while Washuu acts as the narrator (and also Scrooge Ryouko's
mother during the Ghost of Christmas Past sequence). Following is
"Koi wa Discommunication" (Love is Discommunication), an original
ensemble piece wrapped around Merry Christmas wishes from the cast.
Finally, the disc closes fittingly with "Silent Night."
Listeners are forewarned. This disc is not for the faint-of-heart.
For starters, anyone lacking Christmas sentimentality should obviously
stay away. The zenith of sickeningly sweet, adorable cuteness
is Yokoyama Chisa as Sasami singing "Mama ga Santa ni Kiss Soshite" (I Saw
Mommy Kissing Santa Claus). The reader who has not yet flinched has nothing
to fear; the rest of the disc is a cake walk. Made it
this far and still ready to hear "Jingle Bells" heavily peppered by
"Miya!" every stanza? Then, maybe this disc really is for you. But,
never let it be said that I did not give you fair warning. |
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