“Disco Time Magic”

Intro: The Glittering Human Disco Ball

Hailing from Shibuya, Tokyo, ORESAMA is a male-female music unit bringing a new style of J-music. Hideya Kojima writes the tracks leading in the composition, arrangements, programming, and guitar; while vocalist Pon provides the voice and lyrics. At glance, ORESAMA seems to be inspired by the pop culture of the late 80’s early 90’s, the Japanese Bubble economy era. Their music can be described as disco infused with electro and funk. They are known for performing ‘Wonder Drive’, the opening song for the 2017 spring anime Alice & Zouroku, ‘Trip Trip Trip’ and "Ryusei Dance Floor" for 2017 summer anime Mahoujin Guru Guru.

On a chilly Saturday night, Honey-chan and Bee-kun flew off to Shinkiba and attended to the “WELCOME TO WONDERLAND” show at Studio Coast. The place was packed with people of all ages, and Honey-chan was ecstatic to see many girls in the audience, Bee-kun was too, of course. There was no time to waste, so our bees flew over the lively audience and rested on the top of one of the spotlights, 7 meters high. The lights went off, and a giant disco ball started spinning, sparkling all over the venue, and then they came in. ORESAMA on stage are a 4 piece band: Guitar, Bass, DJ and Vocalist.

Our beloved Pon was wearing a long silver long dress that reflected the lights, and like a walking disco ball, she was glittering on stage. Hideya, as the chill guy he is, was sporting black jacket and silver sneakers that matched Pon dress.

Pon entered the stage! Pon IS ON STAGE!!!

Calm down, you’ll have a heart attack

Performance: It Doesn’t Get Funkier Than This

They started the show with “Welcome to Wonderland” which is the first track of their recently released digital single album, WELCOME TO WONDERLAND / Himitsu. Hideya’s self-confident aura on-stage leads the song with funky riffs, while the percussion was performed by the DJ dancing in her booth one story above the stage. Pon’s voice was energetic, setting the mood and inviting the audience to dance.

Soon after, they performed the song, “Hi-Fi TRAIN”, one of the audience favorite! From their first album Hi-Fi POPS. This track is more chill than the previous one, but this didn’t stop the audience from signing and jumping along with Pon. Next up, was the song most of us were waiting for, “Trip Trip Trip”, the OP of TV anime Mahoujin Guruguru. What a charming voice! But the secret of the catchiness of this song lies in the bassline, that rhythm keeps repeating in your head long after the song has finished.

ORESAMA is full of vibrant dance songs, so we were expecting to have dancers on stage, and yes! They did come!. Two beautiful girls danced along Pon for the next songs. We recognized this next one! Yes, it was "Wonder Drive", The OP theme of TV anime Alice & Zouroku. Pon hitting skillfully those high notes while the DJ was working of those synths solo reminiscence of 80s disco music.

The climax of the show arrived with the song “Ryusei Dance Floor”, and it was like this; the DJ was killing it at her booth with her millions of space and alien noises. Hideya was ripping off those electric funky chords. Pon, the dancing queen, kept choreographing with two girls and their Disco Time Magic through the pulsating bassline. Another high praise for the bassline because it doesn’t get funkier than this song.

ORESAMA not only delivered powerful vibes and emotions with their music, they also made sure every single person in the audience is having a hella good time. It’s very refreshing to get to see a J-pop performance that doesn’t look stiff and extremely rehearsed, but one that looks naturally dynamic, ORESAMA’s freestyle performance was so contagious that everyone kept dancing to their heart's content instead of rising their hands up in the air at command like programmed robots.

I can't get enough of this music. This show felt like it was 3 seconds long. Please ORESAMA keep making this kind of music.

I was so impressed by Pon, dancing and singing is so hard, she is a goddess!

Outro: ORESAMA’s Universe is Expanding

We feel like Hideya creativeness is endless. Every song has its own peculiar time phrases and feeling. ORESAMA doesn't sound like a revival band, they bring the disco and funky influence from the 80s and 90s and add a futuristic feeling into their tracks, then they mix it all with solid vocals and decorate it all with extremely cool visuals. They have no competition, they are their own game. We would like to see what the future will bring to this band. We are hoping the do a big leap to the overseas market very soon, especially because music that sounds like this doesn’t need translation.

At the end of the show, ORESAMA announced that their upcoming single “OPEN THE WORLDS” will be released on April 24, 2019. This song will be the opening theme for the second season of Han-Gyaku-Sei Million Arthur, we’re sure we’ll start seeing previews and hopefully a music video from them very soon, keep an eye open for this.

I didn’t get the name of the DJ, I need to find it out!

Great performance! The outfits were so beautiful, I’m looking forward to their next concert.

Editor/Translator

Author: Angie Vásquez

Aspiring fiction writer and experimental musician, anime characters collector (rather than their action figures, I collect their psyche). My current mission is to bring Honey`s Anime to the Spanish speaking world. You can always find me in a dismal and filthy live house in some backstreet of Tokyo.

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