is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese pop rock

Pop rock

Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...

 band consisting of two members: on vocals and on guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

. Active since 1997, Funta have not released any full-length albums to date, focusing instead on releasing singles for use as theme songs in anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

.

Funta's more recent credits have been primarily for the lyrics and composition of anime themes performed by other artists, including Mika Kikuchi

Mika Kikuchi

Mika Kikuchi , born on December 16, 1983 in Misato, Saitama, Japan, is a Japanese actress and seiyū. She is affiliated with Production Ogi.-Biography:...

, Suitei-Shojo, and Mai Nakahara

Mai Nakahara

is a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...

. Despite the arguably infrequent nature of band activity, the duo are still active; the Official Funta Website is updated regularly by UCO, who keeps diaries on the site for herself as well as for her three dogs.

Musical style

Funta's decidedly upbeat sound, which they describe (with contested accuracy) as technopop, incorporates elements of techno

Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

, ska

Ska

Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

, pop punk

Pop punk

Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...

, and industrial rock

Industrial rock

Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...

, occasionally blending these styles together at a relatively frenetic pace within a single composition ("Wake up Angel"), and other times simply adhering to standard pop music conventions ("Mienai Happy"). With such a limited discography, however, it is perhaps UCO's intentionally cute

Cuteness in Japanese culture

Since the 1970s, cuteness, in Japanese the noun , has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms...

, occasionally munchkin

Munchkin

The Munchkins are the natives of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. They first appeared in the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which they are described as being somewhat short of stature, and wear only blue...

-esque singing style that is the band's most distinguishing characteristic. With upbeat lyrics, babyish vocals, and perhaps even their very existence as a two-member band, the duo exhibits characteristics relatively common of Japanese musical acts commissioned for work in anime and videogame production.

Soundtrack contributions

Most songs listed below are available on the original soundtrack

Soundtrack

A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

s (OSTs) of their respective Series, usually as televised edits (TV SIZE), and only those songs for which "N/A" does not apply as Type. The singles below are cited for containing the full-length versions of all songs listed, and constitute the entirety of Funta's known body of work.

Year	Series	Type	Song	Disc
1998 1998 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...	Dr. Slump Dr. Slump is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was serialized in Shueisha's anthology comic Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984 which were collected into 18 tankōbon volumes...	OP#1	"Kao Dekaai"	顔でかーい [Single]
		N/A	"It's a HAPPY WORLD"
		ED#1	"Hanage ga Chotto Tobidashiteiru."	鼻毛がちょっととびだしている。 [Single]
		N/A	"ONBORO no Jitensha ni Notte"
2000 2000 in music See also:* 2000 in music Record labels established in 2000-Events:*January – Gary Glitter is released from jail, two months before his sentence for sexual offences ends.*January 1**John Tavener is knighted in the New Year's Honours List....	Samurai: Hunt for the Sword (OVA Original video animation , abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation... )	OP	"I Must Live"	快刀乱麻ー音楽編 - Original Soundtrack
2002 2002 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2002.-Events:*February 3 – U2 perform during the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVI...	Pita-Ten	OP	"Wake up Angel ~Negaimashite wa ∞ (mugen) Nari~"	Wake up Angel ~ねがいましては∞(無限)なり~ [Maxi]
		N/A	"We are all Dreamer"
2003 2003 in music -January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...	Popotan Popotan is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Petit Ferret with character designs by Akio Watanabe under the alias Poyoyon Rock. It was originally released as a PC game for CD-ROM on December 13, 2002 and subsequently re-released on DVD-ROM and for the PlayStation 2 with certain scenes removed...	ED	"S･U･K･I"	ぽぽたん e.p. [Maxi]
		N/A	"Gem Stone" (with Under17 Under17 Under17 was a popular Japanese duo, which included Haruko Momoi and Masaya Koike, that wrote and performed many moe songs that are featured in anime and video games. The lead singer, Haruko Momoi, is well known for her unique vocals and catchy lyrics... )
	Nanaka 6/17 Nanaka 6/17 is a 12-tankoubon manga and 12-episode anime series created by Ken Yagami.The manga was published by Akita Shoten, while the anime was aired on TV Tokyo. The series is licensed for distribution in the United States by ADV Films...	OP	"Sunao na Mama"	「ななか6/17」OPテーマ - 素直なまま [Maxi]
		N/A	"Mienai HAPPY ~Sagashimono wa Itsumo~"

Other credits

Year	Series	Type	Song	Performed by	Credit
2003 2003 in music -January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...	E's Otherwise E's Otherwise is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and drawn by Satoru Yuiga. It was originally serialized in Monthly GFantasy from 1997 through 2005, and later published in 16 tankōbon volumes by Square Enix from March 18, 2003 to February 27, 2010...	OP	"Jouhou"	Suitei-Shojo	Composition
2005 2005 in music -Events:*During the year 2005, 12 rock music albums scored number 1 in the USA. This was the first time even ten albums have scored number 1 since 1996.-January:...	Capeta Capeta is a Japanese sports manga and anime about kart racing by Masahito Soda. The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen in 2005.The series consists of three separate arcs. The first is about Capeta's first experiences with kart racing at the age of 10...	ED#4	"My Star"	Mika Kikuchi Mika Kikuchi Mika Kikuchi , born on December 16, 1983 in Misato, Saitama, Japan, is a Japanese actress and seiyū. She is affiliated with Production Ogi.-Biography:...	Composition & Lyrics
2006 2006 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2006.-January:*January 10 – Eric Burdon releases his album Soul of a Man and begins touring with a new band....	Kage Kara Mamoru! Kage Kara Mamoru! is a series of light novels written by Achi Taro. The light novels had ended in March 2008 with the release of Volume 12, but as of July 2009, a new series entitled has started serialization. It features manga and anime adaptations...	OP	"Million Love"	Mai Nakahara Mai Nakahara is a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...	Composition & Lyrics
	Kyou no Go no Ni (OVA)	OP	"Baby Love"	Mai Kadowaki Mai Kadowaki is a Japanese voice actress. Her old name , had a different writing from the current one.She is popular as a radio actress who wears glasses. She is also known for portraying meganekko characters on a regular basis. Her nickname is 舞太. It originated from a mail address registration, where she... , Mamiko Noto Mamiko Noto is a Japanese voice actress working under Office Osawa. She was born in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa, and graduated from Hokuriku Gakuen Senior High School.-Voice:... , Mikako Takahashi Mikako Takahashi is a seiyū and J-pop singer born May 29, 1980 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Under the alias Mikako Hyatt, she forms one half of the Excel Saga seiyū duo The Excel Girls . She is employed by I'm Enterprise...	Composition
		ED	"Yakusoku"		Composition & Lyrics
	Yoshinaga-san Chi no Gargoyle Yoshinaga-san Chi no Gargoyle is a Japanese light novel series written by Sennendou Taguchi, published by Famitsu Bunko .-Story:The story is set in Goshiki where the Totensha alchemist, Iyo Takahara, has created a rock in the shape of a wolf gargoyle that is rumored to be linked to a legendary Philosopher's Stone...	OP	"Ohayou (オハヨウ)"	Chiwa Saito Chiwa Saito is a Japanese voice actress employed by I'm Enterprise.Saitō is one half of the voice acting duo "coopee", along with Natsuko Kuwatani. In the "Divine Design" arc of the Getbackers drama CDs, she voices a character who battles the character voiced by Kuwatani. She is a member of the voice acting... , Nana Mizuki Nana Mizuki is a popular Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress. She was born and raised in Niihama, Ehime, Japan, Mizuki was trained as an enka singer. She made her debut as a voice actress in 1998; however, she released her debut single "Omoi", under the King Records label on December 6, 2000... , Yuuna Inamura	Composition & Lyrics

Note: Guitarist Yoshimi is sometimes given composition and/or production credit as Hide, not to be confused with Hideto Matsumoto

Hide (musician)

, better known by his stage name hide , was a popular Japanese musician. He was primarily known for his work as lead guitarist of the heavy metal band X Japan from 1987 to 1997...

.

External links

• Funta Official Homepage

FunTa (ManGo) is a person in internet, his homepage is http://www.funtas-world.de from germany, berlin