Gera Gera Po

"Gera Gera Po" (Japanese: ゲラゲラポーのうた, Hepburn: Geragerapō no Uta, lit. "The Hahaha Song"), also known as "Gera Gera Po Song", is the debut single by the Japanese music group King Cream Soda, consisting of Maiko, Gerapper, and ZZROCK.[lower-alpha 1] Releasing on April 30, 2014, the song was used as the opening to the 2014 TV-series Yo-kai Watch up until the series' 36th episode, which aired on August 12, 2016. The Japanese version was written by Move's Mototaka Segawa and was performed by King Cream Soda; the English version was written by Mark Risley and David H. Steinberg and was performed by Peter Michail and Kathryn Lynn.

"Gera Gera Po"
Single by King Cream Soda
from the album Bye Bye Geragerapo
ReleasedApril 30, 2014 (2014-04-30)
Genre
Length4:11
LabelFRAME
Songwriter(s)Mototaka Segawa
King Cream Soda singles chronology
"Gera Gera Po"
(2014)		 "The Festival Band's Gera Gera Po"
(2014)
Music video
DVD art work

Multiple remixes and renditions of "Gera Gera Po" has been released by King Cream Soda and Level-5, the creators of the Yo-kai Watch franchise, such as "The Festival Band's Gera Gera Po"[2] and "Matsuribayashi de Geragerapo".[3] "Gera Gera Po" was also included in King Cream Soda's 2015 album Bye Bye Geragerapo.[4]

"Gera Gera Po" peaked at number 4 on Oricon's Singles Chart[5] and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.[6]

Background and release

In Japanese, "Gera Gera Po" was performed by the music group King Cream Soda,[5] and was their debut single.

In the song's chorus, the words "Gera Gera Po" are repeated multiple times, which composer and arranger Tomoki Kikuya stated was so that listeners could "easily get on the [song's] rhythm". Kikuya originally thought that "Gera Gera Po" wouldn't be popular among children due to it being creepy, stating that he "thought the kids would be scared and wouldn't listen to the song". Kikuya would later cite the creepiness as a reason for why the song became popular among children, thinking that Yo-kai Watch's "cute" characters mixed well with the creepy melody.[1] "Gera Gera" is a reference to the Japanese variety show Kyosen x Maebu Gebageba 90 Minutes!, which uses a similar sound after punch lines.[7]

"Gera Gera Po" was used as the opening theme to the 2014 anime TV-series Yo-kai Watch,[8] where it was used until the series' 36th episode. The single was released on DVD and CD on April 30, 2014[9][10] and was rereleased as an exercise song by the Japanese publishing company Takarajimasha on December 29, 2014.[11] "Gera Gera Po" was later included in King Cream Soda's compilation album, Bye Bye Geragerapo, which released on July 22, 2015.[4]

Music video and choreography

The song's music video was choreographed by Lucky Ikeda.[11] The song's main dance requires performers to cross their arms in front of their chest in rhythm to the "gera gera", and then pointing their index fingers up at the "po". The dance was choreographed to be simple so that viewers and listeners could easily imitate it.[1]

Legacy

Multiple official remixes and renditions have been released of "Gera Gera Po", such as the Japanese opening to Yo-kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits, "The Festival Band's Gera Gera Po",[2] and the 4th Japanese opening to the Yo-kai Watch TV-series, "Matsuribayashi de Geragerapo".[3] For the opening of the 4th mainline entry in the Yo-kai Watch video game series, Yo-kai Watch 4, a cover of "Gera Gera Po" by HardBirds was used.[8][12][13]

A rhythm game spin-off in the Yo-kai Watch video game series titled after "Gera Gera Po", Yo-kai Watch: Gerapo Rhythm, was released for mobile devices exclusively in Japan on May 10, 2018.[14] "Gera Gera Po" has also appeared in two other video games: Yo-kai Watch Dance: Just Dance Special Version as one of the 10 included songs,[15][16] and Taiko no Tatsujin: Don to Katsu no Jikū Daibōken, where it was one of the songs the player could drum to.[17]

Sales and reception

"Gera Gera Po" peaked on the Oricon weekly singles chart at number 4 in the week of May 12, 2014. In total, the song made 52 appearances on the weekly charts.[5] In October 2014, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, indicating over 100 thousand sales.[6] "Gera Gera Po" was reported by Real Sound to have sold over 20 thousand copies in its first week of release.[18] The song was later ranked as the 50th best-selling single in Japan of 2014 by Oricon, who reported 136 thousand sales.[19] The song also appeared on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at number 9.[20] Due to its "unique" choreography and "catchy" rhythm, the song was hugely popular among children.[1]

Destructoid's Chris Carter described "Gera Gera Po" as an "always lovable" song;[13] Sato of Siliconera thought that it wouldn't have been "strange" for "Gera Gera Po" to replace "Kimigayo" as the national anthem of Japan, due to its popularity.[21]

Personnel

Credits adapted from YouTube.[22]

  • Tomoki Kikuya – composer, arrangement
  • Mototaka Segawa – Japanese songwriter
  • Mark Risley – English songwriter
  • David H. Steinberg – English songwriter
  • King Cream Soda – Japanese vocals
  • Peter Michail – English vocals
  • Kathryn Lynn – English vocals
  • Will Anderson – English voice director, mixing

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Gera Gera Po"4:11
2."Yo-kai Exercise No. 1"4:00
3."Gera Gera Po" (Karaoke)4:11
4."Yo-kai Taiso Dai-ni" (Karaoke)1:25

Charts
Chart performance for "Gera Gera Po"
Chart (2014) Peak
position
Japan (Oricon)[5] 4
Japan (Japan Hot 100)[20] 9

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[6] Gold 100,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Notes
  1. 3 years after the release of "Gera Gera Po", Maiko left King Cream Soda and was replaced with Sayaka Komuro.

References
  1. "【サタデープラス】「妖怪ウォッチ」主題歌作曲・菊谷知樹さんに聞くアニメのいろは". Sports Hochi (in Japanese). Hochi Shimbun. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  2. "祭り囃子でゲラゲラポー/初恋峠でゲラゲラポー(初回生産盤/DVD付)" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  3. "ゲラッポ・ダンストレイン(DVD付)" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  4. "バイバイゲラゲラポー(DVD付)" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  5. "ゲラゲラポーのうた" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  6. "The Record vol. 659" (PDF) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. October 2014. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  7. Kudo, Hiroe. "妖怪ウォッチの"ゲラゲラポー"は「巨泉×前武ゲバゲバ90分！」の"ゲバゲバ・ピー"からであることが判明！". Neta Topi (in Japanese). Impress Corporation. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  8. Yasuda, Toshiaki (April 26, 2019). "「妖怪ウォッチ4」、「ゲラゲラポーのうた」が流れるオープニング映像を公開". GAME Watch (in Japanese). Impress Corporation. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  9. "ゲラゲラポーのうた(DVD付)" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  10. "ゲラゲラポーのうた" [Geragerapo no Uta]. Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  11. "『妖怪ウォッチ』大ヒットの裏にある、ラッキィ池田の"存在感"". Oricon Music (in Japanese). Oricon. December 24, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  12. Sato (April 26, 2019). "Yo-kai Watch 4's Opening Movie Shows Its Different Heroes, Worlds, And New Gera Gera Po Song". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  13. Carter, Chris (April 27, 2019). "Yo-Kai Watch 4 brings back the always lovable 'Gera Gera Po' theme". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  14. Chihiro (May 10, 2018). "スマホ向け新作アプリ「妖怪ウォッチ ゲラポリズム」が配信開始。「ゲラゲラポーのうた」など，おなじみの楽曲で音ゲーを楽しめる". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  15. Romano, Sal (October 18, 2015). "Yo-kai Watch Dance will only have 10 songs". Gematsu. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  16. Sato (August 19, 2015). "You Can Get Your "Gera Gera Po" On With Yo-kai Watch Dance". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  17. Shiga, Yasunori (June 16, 2016). "3DS「太鼓の達人 どんとかつの時空大冒険」コラボキャラクターをドドンと一挙公開！". GAME Watch (in Japanese). Impress Corporation. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  18. Itabashi, Imuko (September 14, 2014). ""ゲラゲラポー"なぜ大ヒット？　『妖怪ウォッチ』に見る子供向けコンテンツと音楽の関係". Real Sound (in Japanese). Blueprint. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  19. "2014年 年間音楽＆映像ランキング発表". Oricon Music (in Japanese). Oricon. December 20, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  20. "Japan Hot 100: The Week of July 12, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  21. Sato (May 11, 2017). "The Rise And Fall Of The Yo-kai Watch Boom That Took Japan By Storm". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  22. "GERA GERA PO SONG (ENGLISH VER.) | YO-KAI WATCH OP Song" (video). YouTube. Yo-kai Watch Official Channel. September 26, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
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