I've decided to devote this post to my favourite band, JAM Project. JAM stands for Japan Animation Music, just so you know. They are so awesome, it wouldn't do to just have Post 13 in the title fighting for space with their name. Individually, they are Over Nine Thousand. Yeah. JAM Project has about 100+ songs credited to their name, which you can find somewhere on the internet as "JAM Project Complete Discography" or something. Yeah. On to the members.
Mizuki Ichiro is a founder of JAM Project. Yes, you're reading right, aniki is a founder of JAM Project. Wait, you don't know who aniki is? Oh phooey. Mizuki Ichiro is one of, if not the most famous anime song singer there is, due to him being one of the pioneers of the anime song industry (thus earning him the "aniki" (i.e. big brother) nickname). He also sings for live-action Japanese shows (a.k.a. tokusatsu). To date, he has over 1200 songs to his name. Hot stuff. His most prominent song to me is Mazinger Z no Uta, which is the famous opening theme for Mazinger Z, the first ever Super Robot show. MAZIN GO! MAZIN GO! MAZINGA... ZED!!! He recently sang in Singapore at AnimeFest Asia, and it was awesome to see him performing, simply because he is so lively and awesome and action-y. More singers should be like Mizuki Ichiro. Over Nine Thousand is a meme that cannot even begin to describe his win-ness. I vividly remember during AnimeFest Asia, when he was singing the theme for "Hundred Beast King Go-Lion", instead of inserting Go-Lion where it should be, he went "GO! GO! MER-LI-II-YON!!!" It was awesome. It really was. :D GO! GO! MERLION! He's easily recognisable in songs with his deep and rich voice, capable of awesome shouts too. :P
Linky for an interview about AnimeFest Asia
Wiki (LOL Wiki)
Next up is Kageyama Hironobu, forever remembered by DragonBall fans as Mr. DragonBall Z because he sang nearly all the DragonBall songs, including movie themes and all. He is rather prolific, with hundreds of songs to his name, and a boatload of DragonBall songs (can't stop harping on that). CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA, the first-ever opening theme for DragonBall Z, is probably his most famous song, given the immense popularity of the show, and that fact that it showed up in a Taiko no Tatsujin game proves that it is truely a household song (considering the fact that all the other anime songs that get put into Taiko no Tatsujin are all household names as well, with stuff like Uchiuu Senkan Yamato and Odoru Ponpokorin and Doraemon and Touch showing up). He is currently the formal leader of JAM Project, as well as one of the founders. He's been singing since 16, so that's something for you aspiring singers to mull over (he's now 48, by the way). He's one of those singers that get better and better over time. There's a world of difference between the CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA he sang years ago and the ones he sings now. His voice is pretty hard to distinguish from Endoh Masaaki's, but his voice is slightly higher.
Wiki
Endoh Masaaki is not nearly as famous as Kageyama or aniki, but if you want somebody to shout something, he's your man. His most famous song is the opening for Yuusha-Oh GaoGaiGar, Yuusha-Oh Tanjou, which just demonstrates how awesome he can sing. There's not much information that can be found about Masaaki on the web, and I can't read Japanese at all, so boo, but he is one of the founding members as well, and also an old-timer, singing Super Robot Wars songs with aniki and Kageyama. All three are permanent staff at the annual Super Robot Spirits concert, proving just how incredible he is. He's my favourite singer though, with all the super manly awesome shouts. GA-GA-GA GA-GA-GA-GAO GAI GAR!!! He also has plenty of songs to his name, but nothing really sticks out at me beyond Yuusha-Oh Tanjou and a cover of the English Power Rangers theme. (Yeah, he sung that. :P) His voice is slightly deeper than Kageyama's, but nowhere as deep as aniki's. Yeah. Maybe it's just me, but I feel that Kageyama and Masaaki sound really close to one another. Doesn't help that they tend to sing together.
No links because most of them that pertain to Masaaki alone that are in English are uninformative. >:(
Matsumoto Rica, another founding member of JAM Project, will be immortalised as Ash Ketchum from Pokemon forever, being his voice actor all the way from EP1 till now. She has sung an entire horde of Pokemon songs for the anime, the best of which in my opinion is of course the first opening, Mezasei Pokemon Master. She is also a voice actor with a massive number of roles. The way it is, it's hard to tell if she started voice acting or singing first. Anyway, more women should sing like Rica Matsumoto. She sounds kinda tomboyish, probably because of the sheer amount of hot-blooded awesomeness that she pumps into her voice, and it doesn't help that her voice is naturally kinda low-ish. She also generally plays young boys in anime as well, so... yeah. Her voice is really easy to tell out: You can tell instantly it's a woman, but it's low enough to blend in with the male voices.
Sadly, she kinda withdrew from JAM Project since April 2008, but she'll probably be back, because she's so win that JAM Project needs her and JAM Project can't do without one of its four cornerstones/founders. :o
MORE WOMEN NEED TO SING LIKE RICA MATSUMOTO. >:O POKEMON! GETTO DA ZE!!!
Fan translation of her site
Wiki
Eh, no more founders.
Fukuyama Yoshiki is an extremely popular musician, and is pretty awesome, since he sings and his wife composes. HE GETS THE POWER OF LOVE!!! [/Gong reference] He's been with JAM Project for about five years, since about 2003. He's pretty famous for singing all of Nekki Basara's songs of Macross 7 fame, and boy are they good. He's sung for a pretty long time and has plenty of songs to his name, so yeah. He did the opening for Busou Renkin, Makka Na Chikai as well, so don't mind if he sounds familiar. He didn't really get into anison till Macross 7, so yeah, but for stuff outside of anison, he's good. Listening out for Fukuyama Yoshiki is so easy it's not even funny. He's the guy who sounds like he's really young, and he does the screamo parts. If you want screaming to be done, look for him. STOP THE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~ Really, he can shame all those teenage aspiring screamos at the age of 47. Just listen to Dynamite Explosion or Hagane no Messiah.
Surprisingly, the Wiki is detailed on him.
Kitadani Hiroshi... If you watch One Piece, you've definitely heard him before. Yup, he's the guy who sings the first-ever One Piece opening theme, We Are! Other than that, there's not much info on him, like Masaaki, made worse because he's not so obscenely famous like Masaaki. As for his voice, you can pick him out easily if you keep listening out for a voice that sounds refreshing like a spring breeze or something. Don't bother trying the older songs, since he only joined JAM Project in 2003.
No links because I can't find any good site. D:
Masami Okui's voice should be familiar if you follow Yu-Gi-Oh enough, since she sings the second opening theme, Shuffle. She's rather talented, and her voice is real good stuff. She really stands out in JAM Project songs mostly because the only other female voice is Rica Matsumoto and as already mentioned she sounds guyish, so when you hear a high-pitched woman singing you know it's her. For all her fame with rock+dance+anison, she can do hot-blooded too, which is definitely awesome in anyone's book, but she doesn't do it as well as Rica. Again, don't try to look for her in JAM Project songs from before 2003, since she only joined in that year with Hiroshi and Fukuyama.
Once again the Wiki is pretty detailed here. Wow. :o
Now, what makes JAM Project so special? Simple. Because they burn with great passion, and they sing with so much hot-blood that stuff should explode from their awesomeness. They truly believe in their dream, and together they have so darn many awesome songs that have so much pure, unadulterated emotion in them that if you listen to them everyday, you just can't seem to stop burning with the same emotion they put in. You might not understand their songs of friendship, courage, sadness, chivalry and most of all, love that conquers all, but you can feel their song resonate with the passion burning in your soul! Now blaze up hotter hotter hotter hotter hotter!!! ALMOST DANGER!!!
More links to JAM Project:
Click on the JAM Project link. Short article about the band and their participation in SRW themes.
Wiki
Official site for those who can read Japanese
lol I found the link to the Discography
MORE WOMEN SHOULD SING LIKE RICA MATSUMOTO
Yeah, that's it. If I get anything wrong or if you wanna add something, just shout in the chatbox or leave a comment. I don't mind turning this into a full-fledged reference for JAM Project v2.0 (i.e. current JAM Project, consisting of Kageyama Hironobu, Endoh Masaaki, Fukuyama Yoshiki, Kitadani Hiroshi, Okui Masami and sometimes Mizuki Ichiro [he demoted himself into part-time member as of 2004]) seeing as how the Gate of Magus page is perpetually stuck on JAM Project v1.0 and only updates with SRW songs instead of really keeping up to date with changes in the band.
