From left: Hiroko Yakushimaru, Tomoyo Harada (C) Asahi Shimbun Co., Ltd. Photo of Noriko Watanabe taken in 1989 (C) Asahi Shimbun Co., Ltd.
Hiroko Yakushimaru will appear on “SONGS” broadcast on the 8th (NHK General, every Thursday at 10 p.m.). She will perform with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and sing many of her famous songs. For host Hiroshi Oizumi, it will be exciting to talk about his singing career with Hiroko Yakushimaru, his senior colleague who is both a singer and an actor. Let’s take a look back at past articles about the appeal of the Kadokawa film “Three Girls,” which was a hit with Hiroko Yakushimaru and others. (This is a re-edited article from “AERA dot.” distributed on November 8, 2020. Ages etc. in the text are at the time of distribution)
[Photo]Valuable! Noriko Watanabe’s beautiful shot 30 years ago
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What do you associate with the word “Kadokawa”? Some people may call it “paperback,” while others may call it “movie.” And some people may even call them “idols.”
In 1976, Haruki Kadokawa entered the film industry as the second president of Kadokawa Shoten, creating a sensation with his media mix strategy that linked his company’s literary works with film production. Two years later, Hiroko Yakushimaru, who was 14 years old at the time, made her debut in the movie “Proof of the Wild” and made her popular. In 1982, he discovered Tomoyo Harada (14 years old at the time of audition) and Noriko Watanabe (16 years old at the time of audition), and trained them to become leading actresses.
These three girls were called the “Kadokawa Sannin Musume” and became a major force in the idol boom of the 1980s.
Approximately 40 years later, they are still active. Yakushimaru has a strong presence as the heroine’s mother in NHK’s morning drama “Ale,” and Harada has appeared in “The Covers” (NHKBS Premium) and “Sawako no Asa” (TBS), etc., and has become a fan favorite. It made me feel nostalgic.
Additionally, Yakushimaru and Watanabe appear in the movie “Miwotsukushi Ryoricho,” which was released in October. This is the film that Kadokawa declared to be his last directorial work, and many of the actors who had previously starred in Kadokawa films, including Koji Ishizaka, also appear in it. These two also look gorgeous.
So, what were the three Kadokawa girls?
During their heyday as idols, they stood out from other idols. While Seiko Matsuda and Akina Nakamori released singles in a short cycle of 3 to 4 months, her career is basically an actress, and yet she takes the stance of singing the theme songs of movies in which she stars. This may be the result of Kadokawa being influenced by the star system (a method that places stars above all else) that Nikkatsu used to succeed with Yujiro Ishihara and Sayuri Yoshinaga.
It was reactionary, so to speak, but it also appeared fresh in the eyes of the public. The most iconic song is “Sailor Uniform and Machine Gun,” the first hit song by Kadokawa Idol. It was also the debut song for Yakushimaru, the lead actress in the movie of the same name, and her serious singing style, which had experience in a choir, gave the impression of being both classic and old-fashioned.
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Kaoru Hoizumi
Born in 1964. After being expelled from Waseda University’s Faculty of Letters, she worked as the publisher of the mini-comic magazine “Yoiko no Kayokyoku” and wrote for “Weekly Myojo,” “Takarajima 30” and “TV Bros.”Her books include “Memorial of Death in the Heisei Era is Food for Living”, “Record of Heisei’s One-Hit Wonders”, “Bunshun Mook: Why That Idol Is Nude”, etc.
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Haruki Kadokawa was like a father to me