The “longing for Akina’s return” that bubbles up after 31 years of watching “Bare Faces,” starring Akina Nakamori and Narumi Yasuda in W…

Unexpected relationship with Kenji Sawada

(Spoilers here and in the next paragraph.) Yumiko (Yasuda Narumi), who has become a writer of children’s stories, is pregnant. The father is Kazuya (Mikihisa Higashi), an ex-boyfriend of Kanna (Akina Nakamori), who is an aspiring musical actress (the complicated relationships in this area are like a trendy drama) and has come to the U.S. to study musicals. However, it is discovered that Yumiko has a heart condition. Because of the danger to the mother, Kanna demands that Yumiko have an abortion, but Yumiko gives birth. Nevertheless, her heart disease worsens and she dies.

Kanna later becomes a successful musical actress and takes the place of the mother of the daughter “Yuna” (Yuna = Yumiko + Kanna) left behind by Yumiko. In the last scene, Kanna reads a picture book drawn by Yumiko to Yuna on the beach. The title of the book is – “As Bare-Faced”.

Watching the last episode again, I am more impressed by Akina Nakamori dancing, screaming, and sobbing as she physically plays the yankee and garrulous Kanna than by the story.

According to Nobuhiko Nishizaki’s “Missing diva Akina Nakamori” (Bungei Shunju), Akina Nakamori’s management system was very unstable during this period, and she was on the edge of her seat when she recorded this drama. In the same book, Katsuhiko Tochinouchi, who worked with her as a staff member in the early 1990s, comments

–He says, “Akina did not come out of the dressing room at all, and her co-star, Narumi Yasuda, was also puzzled. When I rushed to the studio upon receiving the news, this time she hid herself in the bathroom and did not come out. When she finally came out, her eyes were bright red, she was vomiting repeatedly, and she was in a dizzy state.

While gazing at Akina Nakamori, who was on the edge of her seat, playing the role of Kanna, I was reminded of an old TV drama – TBS’s “Akina Nakamori: The Devil’s Advocate” (1975), starring Kenji Sawada as Kanna. It starred Kenji Sawada.

It was a drama starring a singer who had taken the music scene by storm. The singer played a rather sinister character (by the way, Kenji Sawada played a criminal in the 300 million yen case), and the similarities between the two dramas were that the singer gave a physical performance with a realistic intensity. Furthermore, Akina Nakamori in “Bare Faces” and Kenji Sawada in “The Devil’s Advocate” (at the time of the first broadcast) were both 26 years old!

To begin with, Akina Nakamori and Kenji Sawada have a shallow relationship. To begin with, Akina Nakamori and Kenji Sawada have a close relationship: Akina has listed Kenji Sawada as her “target singer,” the lyrics to her hit song “Shojo A” (1982) were originally intended for Kenji Sawada, she was the second guest on the TBS program “The Sawada Kenji Show” (1983), and they performed a comedy together, and so on. –And, above all, they have one thing in common: they are both solitary.

Above all, they share one thing in common: they are both “the vocalists” who are independent and unassuming, who are not afraid of being alone, which is extremely rare in the Japanese music scene.

The “longing for Akina Nakamori” theory has been boiling over. It shows no sign of abating. In contrast, Kenji Sawada is finally in good spirits. On June 25, his 75th birthday, he is scheduled to perform at the Saitama Super Arena.

The day of Akina Nakamori’s resurrection is eagerly awaited. I want her to sing “Mizu ni Sashita Hana (Flower in the Water)” one more time. I don’t need any more pretense. I want her to sing it with her heart and true colors, just like Kenji Sawada does now. Yes, with his real face.