I've earnestly covered all sorts of OSTs up to now, but this time around it's more of a gag pick.
I mean, it's that beloved national anime, Sazae-san.
Hmm, what to do. There's almost nothing to introduce.
After all, everybody already knows it... but I can't very well just say there's nothing to talk about, either.
That said, even if everyone knows Sazae-san, I doubt many people know it all THAT well.
For instance, this music collection includes the theme from the Tuesday rerun version of Sazae-san.
A bit early, but let's give it a listen. Here's Mitsuko Horie, the Sunny Singers, and the Columbia Yurikago-kai with 'The Sazae-san Song.'
That's right, back in the day Sazae-san used to air twice a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays.
And the Tuesday slot was prime time too... man, when you consider that nearly all anime these days has been shoved into the late-night hours, things were pretty luxurious back then. The ratings were solid too, hovering around 14%.
Then there's a mysterious song even I didn't know about, 'Let's Go, Sazae-san,' sung by Midori Kato.
Was it an old ED theme? When I looked it up, it turns out it was actually an insert song, and the instrumental of this track was apparently used as the BGM for the next-episode preview.
On top of that, the collection also includes another insert song, 'Katsuo-kun (Looking Up at the Stars),' sung by Kazue Takahashi.
As for actual uses: 'Let's Go, Sazae-san' played in the episode 'Let's Go Sazae' that aired January 24, 1971, and 'Travel With a Companion' that aired October 22, 1972, while 'Katsuo-kun (Looking Up at the Stars)' played in 'I'm Smart' that aired April 4, 1971, and 'The Isono Family Flies North' that aired November 9, 2003.
Both songs played in 'Katsuo Searches for the Isono Family Roots' that aired March 5, 1989, and 'Let's Go Sazae-san' on October 5, 2014... apparently. (Per Wikipedia.)
Truly the stuff of legend.
Now, I was thinking of playing one of them, and of course it's got to be 'Let's Go Sazae-san' here.
Of course, this soundtrack also includes plenty of the staple BGM tracks.
They're all tunes you've definitely heard before, so it's tough to pick which to feature, but broadly speaking this soundtrack breaks down into Isono Family Gathering 1, 2, 3; Subtitle 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Sketch 1, 2, 3, 4; and Ending 1, 2, 3, 4.
Then there's Sazae's Theme, Katsuo's Theme (one track more than Sazae's Theme), Namihei's Theme, and Tara's Theme. And finally it's rounded out with the insert songs, plus SFX like Tama's meows and the sound of little Tara-chan running.
The score is by Nobuyoshi Koshibe, with theme-song arrangements by Kyohei Tsutsumi—those two.
When I looked it up, it seems Tsuchihiro Kono has handled the music from 1998 onward, but Kono's name doesn't appear on this soundtrack.
So, let's close out with the ED theme after all, 'The Sazae-san Family.'
The voice of Noboru Oyama, the original Katsuo, is the highlight here.
Quoted from the official site https://www.sazaesan.jp/index.html
