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The film's theme song, "Kokoro no Antenna" (Antenna of the Heart) is performed by Shoko Nakagawa. Nakagawa is a "multi-threat" talent (Seiyuu / voice acting, singing, TV acting, etc), and alongside singing the theme song, she has a guest role in the film as a Pichu.
Being an on-again off-again fan of the Pokmon franchise, particularly the animation, I decided to check out Nakagawa's vocal single and see if it could stand up to some of my past favorites. How did Nakagawa fare with Kokoro no Antenna? Find out after the jump!
Pok-TRACKLIST!
01 Kokoro no Antenna
02 Sei no de Koishi Cha ?
03 Glass Prism
04 Kokoro no Antenna (Haruomi Hosono Original Mix)
So, if you buy the single proper (catalog number SRCL-7065, released July 2009) you get Kokoro no Antenna, a remix of the song, and two B-Sides. We'll be talking about all of these pieces.
Starting with the star attraction, "Kokoro no Antenna." From the moment I first heard Nakagawa's voice, I knew what I was in for. You ever heard a single from a Seiyuu that probably shouldn't be in the business of singing, but is anyway? Listen to any game's "character song album" and you'll get the idea. You can hear all the mixing, production, autotune-based fixes, etc that goes into masking a weak vocalist's voice. Nakagawa's voice is a little stronger than the ultra-high-pitched breathy,
mousy voices that come from many "cutesy" Seiyuu. But that doesn't mean she has a strong singing voice in general. It took a few listens of this song for me to confidently say what I suspected from the start, but I'm prepared to take the heat for it if anyone disagrees. Shoko Nakagawa = weak voice
As for the music around "Kokoro no Antenna," it's a decent production: mostly pop with a little bit of jazz influence (piano and guitar solos included). The melody annoys me though, particularly the chorus. It is the true "vanilla" of modern pop music. If the song is indicative of the film's quality, I think I'll happily skip it and keep to my "classics" (that's a relative term since Pokmon isn't even 20 years old). The mix version on track 4 is a little more enjoyable to me because of the interesting synths used and the slowed tempo. But that's a mere matter of preference. I really don't like either version.
Those of us in the business of listening to singles love deciding whether the titular "single" is the better piece, or if the B-Sides come out superior. In this case, the choice is clear. Both B-Side tracks are preferable to Kokoro no Antenna.
