Listening to “Fantasy” is like getting hit by a solar flare made of champagne and hairspray. It’s the sonic equivalent of a 1980s Japanese business executive accidentally discovering a portal to a dimension where the stock market never crashes and every street corner smells like expensive perfume and ozone. It’s not just a song; it’s a temporal rift back to a time when the future looked like a chrome-plated playground.
The backbone of this track is a funk-drenched, slap-heavy bassline that hits with the precision of a quantum laser. It doesn’t just walk; it struts through the mix like it owns the building.
Arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa, the brass section (featuring Shin Kazuhara and Shigeharu Mukai) provides those punchy, bright stabs that define the high-production “City Pop” era.
Meiko Nakahara’s voice is effortlessly cool—saccharine but with a hidden edge. The lyrics revolve around “Love is a prism fantasy,” using metaphors of spinning doors and prismatic lights to describe a fleeting, glamorous romance.
Released on the album Friday Magic, the production quality is terrifyingly pristine for 1982. The inclusion of the Tomato Strings Ensemble adds a layer of disco-opulence that makes the track feel massive.
This track absolutely slaps. It makes modern lo-fi “chill beats” look like a damp napkin. When that signature “Wooooo!” hits early in the track, I feel my soul being transported to a rooftop lounge in Shinjuku. It’s the ultimate “shower song” if your shower has strobe lights and gold-plated fixtures. If you don’t feel like a high-rolling protagonist while listening to this, you might actually be a robot.
Meiko Nakahara was a powerhouse of the 80s, even contributing iconic themes to anime like Dirty Pair and Kimagure Orange Road. “Fantasy” arrived right as Japan’s “Bubble Economy” was peaking, capturing that specific urban optimism before the “Lost Decade” hit. Curiously, Meiko vanished from the public eye in 1992, leaving fans in a state of existential longing that only adds to the “fantasy” of her discography.
- Highs:
- Genuinely one of the slickest in the genre.
- Instantly cures 90% of all known bad moods.
- Even if you weren’t alive in ’82, this song will make you miss it.
- Lows:
- Knowing she retired and “disappeared” makes the song feel like a beautiful ghost.
Final Verdict
9.5/10
Play this while driving slightly above the speed limit on a highway at 2 AM. It grants +50 charisma and makes the world look like it was filmed on 35mm Technicolor.