Watching anime (in particular Bleach) introduced me to J-pop aka Japanese pop music. Enjoying the tracks for the anime, I tracked down the bands which turned out to be pretty girls with guitars. Bonus! While I’ve not a clue what they are singing about it seems to have so much energy and life that comes from kids with guitars and while I suspect it’s just as managed and manufactured as the UK music scene, it feels fresher. It also has a noticeably different iconography. It makes me smile.

So the two bands in question featuring “Super Quick Drying Hair (tm)”: Stereo Pony and Scandal As always, apologies if the links don’t work - the internet is an ephemeral place. Stereo Pony: Tsukiakari No Michishirube Stereo Pony start with a cracking tune sung in a gale with bits flying around. And then some rain, but its all-right ‘cos at the end there is a nice royal rainbow. +1 super-drying hair (tm) +1 playing electrical instruments in the rain +1 facing down a nuclear blast Scandal: Shojo s Pah! call that rain? We’re going to do ours in a monsoon! This was used as the opening Bleach theme, episodes 215-242. No idea why there is a janitor, but he’s obviously a vampire - look at the teeth at the end. Also note the synchronized corridor walk, very intimidating. +1 super-drying hair (tm) +1 playing electrical instruments in the rain +1 used as bleach theme +1 extreme guitar posing - even the drummer gets in the pose. +1 dealing with vampires Stereo Pony: Hitohira no Hanabira Stereo Pony hit back with more rain, but this time while indoors!! Used as the ending Bleach theme episodes 190-201 so kind of started the whole j-pop thing. +1 super-drying hair (tm) +1 playing electrical instruments in the rain +1 used as bleach theme, introduced to j-pop Scandal: BeauTEEN Fed up with the rain Scandal go for a more polished vid with a blue theme. Classic line: “your email doesn’t have any emoticons”, very teen ;-P -1 commercial tie-in (to a drink called “pocari sweat”). Yes sweat not sweet!! Ah the language barrier… +1 skeleton? anime teddy +1 reggae riff.

Surprisingly it’s a draw. Mind you if it came to fisticuffs it’s 3 vs 4, but the drummer from Stereo Pony looks the fighting type. And the Scandal drummer is just too cute to count, she looks shocked when the drums make a noise and probably apologises for hitting them. So probably a draw then.