Member-only story
Bubblegum Crisis: Is Japanese Pop Star Crystal Kay the Answer to a 20-Year-Old Anime Soundtrack Mystery?
Her biggest fan in America says…‘hai!’
It’s somewhat astounding to think now that the dark, violent, sexy, and…(ahem) also sexually violent Bubblegum Crisis-related anime Parasite Dolls was released way back in 2003.
What’s so astounding about it?
Well, for 20 astounding years now, fans of Kazushi Miyakoda’s electronica-powered music for the anime have been left kinda clueless about the vocalist whose soulful, high-octane soprano is heard on “Get On the Beat,” the anime’s pulsating opening theme, and “Off,” its brooding closing tune.
That’s right — 20 years.
But then, we have to factor in the big, fat, super-relevant fact that the J-pop recording artist Crystal Kay (born in 1986) was only a sweet, 16-year-old girl when the very mature-themed Parasite Dolls OVA (original video animation) was released.
Easy logic suggests that it was for a good reason, possibly a scandal-dodging one, that the then-high school student’s actual name was withheld from the…