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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Kana Hanazawa -- Bamboo Rendezvous(バンブー・ランデヴー♡)


I haven't seen or heard seiyuu Kana Hanazawa(花澤香菜)this year aside from her co-starring role in the Winter 2017 anime "Gabriel Dropout"(ガヴリールドロップアウト)since my anime buddy hasn't shown anything with her although considering that she's an A-lister, she probably has had another busy year.


However, I've been having some fun watching an old series of videos in which Hanazawa and one of her co-stars from another show, the irrepressible Tomokazu Sugita(杉田智和), showed up for a cast live-action event. Basically, Sugita mercilessly teases the heck out of her including in a game of "Guess What's In The Box?"


Although I never saw that particular anime that Hanazawa and Sugita appeared on, my memories still return to my beloved "Shirokuma Cafe"(しろくまカフェ)in which she played the younger sister of the main character Panda-kun, Mei-Mei. Her schtick was that she was crazily in love with Mr. Handa, the chief zookeeper where Panda-kun worked. To say that she fangirled whenever she was in his presence is a gross understatement.

Hanazawa, being one of the cast members, also had her time in the sun as the singer of one of the multiple ending themes for "Shirokuma Cafe". So she sang a song for her beloved Handa in the form of "Bamboo Rendezvous" with her secret code of "H-A-N-D-A". This particular song came out in January 2013 going into the homestretch of the year-long anime.

To say it's cute is like saying Mt. Fuji is a nice hill. She even fangirls near the end of the song. As was the case with all of the ending themes for "Shirokuma Cafe", "Bamboo Rendezvous" was written and composed by Saki(紗希). It's a 1980s candy pop tune that would probably be more at home for one of those Sunday morning anime. It's definitely a great fit for Mei-Mei.


Of course, everyone is going panda wild for Shang-Shang, the baby panda born at Ueno Zoo a few months ago.

2 comments:

  1. OMG しろくまカフェ is the best! The puns, the dead pan humour, Penguinさん Rakugo attempts...
    Plus I like how every time MeiMei asks Pandaさん about Handaさん,
    Pandaさん always says super boring things like: "Yeah, he likes to clean hi bathroom" or "He's very good at doing laundry" and MeiMei goes all crazy like that was the coolest thing ever!
    So much fun! (≥m≤)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello again, Beat.

      It looks like you're my second fellow Shirokuma fan. Noelle Tham, our enka expert, is also a fan of the antics of Panda, Shirokuma and Penguin. When you and your girlfriend get to Tokyo someday, you will have to visit Shirokuma Cafe in Takadanobaba.

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