“Kokoro no Antenna” Review: Theme Song For Pokémon’s 12th Movie

Wait… hold on a second here. Pokémon has twelve movies now? That’s crazy. But yes, it’s true. Specifically, this movie is the third in the Diamond and Pearl generation, and its full English title is Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

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 Pokémon 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!

Poké-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 Pokémon 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.

“Sei no de Koishi Cha ♥” is my favorite track on the single. Now I cannot emphasize enough that I really don’t like Nakagawa’s voice. The timbre, the range, the complete lack of nuance… thinking about it too much makes me want to put my head through my computer screen. But that won’t stop producers and sound engineers from making something decent. The upbeat, sugar-sweet sound works great here. Particularly, in the chorus, there’s a part at the end of each refrain where she does five notes up in a quick eight-note spurt. And when she sings the title line it sounds pretty cool with a huge background choir (her, duplicated many times) joining her. I can respect what the people behind the mixing board (and the ProTools-equipped computer) did with this song.

“Glass Prism” has a disco-pop sound to it, and the non-lyrical vocal stuff reminds me of Sailor Moon. I’m a sucker for that style. But then, Nakagawa starts singing, and I become immediately bored (and/or frustrated) yet again. There are no instrumental versions of the tracks on this single. Had there been any, Glass Prism would’ve been the one I’d want.

So, anyone want to name some superior Pokémon themes in the comments? Better yet, how about some that you’d think even *worse* than Kokoro no Antenna? Please try to stick to the Japanese themes, since we all know that the majority of the English themes stand in a whole different realm of cheese. Mmm… cheese…