The 2nd Dorama World Awards 2017 - Best Theme Song

From today onwards, I will be announcing the winners in the 7 categories of the 2nd Dorama World Awards 2017. To start the ball rolling, here are the final 5 of the Best Theme Song category and their rankings. Are your favourites in this list? How do you feel about the results? Feel free to leave your comments here!

No. 5 Family Song by Hoshino Gen (Kahogo no Kahoko) - 20 points

At No.5 is the theme song of "Kahogo no Kahoko" starring Takahata Mitsuki i.e. "Family Song" sung by Hoshino Gen. From the voting results, it appears that the voters of this song tended to choose the drama as their best drama and the lead couple in the various individual categories as well. Comparatively, this song from Hoshino might not have made such a huge impact as compared to "Koi" from the previous year thanks to the popularity of "Nigeru wa haji daga yaku ni tatsu" but its music video is definitely worth checking out for Hoshino's "new image" in a very pastel pink-themed background.

No. 4 Bouningen by RADWIMPS (Frankenstein no Koi) - 21 points

This song from RADWIMPS narrowly edged out Hoshino's song to grab the No.4 spot with just a point different. In terms of its results in other categories, the drama hardly made an impact other than a small number of votes in the Best Drama and Best Leading Actor categories which seemed to suggest that it was probably not as watched or as popular as the other offerings in 2017. Despite so, this theme song seemed to have captured some fans along the way perhaps partly due to RADWIMPS thus explaining why it still managed to grab a place in the top 5.

No.3 Nonfiction by Hirai Ken (Chiisana Kyojin) - 26 points

Personally, this is one of my favourites from last year. A good theme song can help to enhance the atmosphere of the drama and in this case, I really liked it when this song started playing towards the end of each episode. Not only the melody suits the mood of the drama, the lyrics are also very fitting for the story. If you are interested, I have the romaji lyrics posted here.
Judging from the results of this drama, it seems like a mixed bag because the drama did pretty well in some categories like Best Drama while hardly making an impression in others. Despite my initial reservations about this drama being a police version of "Hanzawa Naoki", it turned out to be better than I thought although I admit that there were some exaggerated parts. As such, it could be like the situation with the RADWIMPS song i.e. Hirai Ken's personal pull being a key factor in the song's popularity. Here is the music video of the song as hosted on Sony Music Taiwan's YouTube channel so it comes with Chinese subtitles.

No.2 Force by Superfly (Doctor X 5) - 80 points

The fight between No.1 and No.2 was very close especially if you consider the huge point difference between these two and the others in the top 5. Just like what happened in the 1st Dorama World Awards, it seemed like Doctor X fans were out in full force again to support this drama and all related personnel in the other categories. I am not sure if there is an open call somewhere online asking for fans to rally together but if you look at the pattern of voting, the passion that the fans have for this drama is very obvious. As such, this may not come as a huge surprise to those who had actively supported this theme song. In fact, this song looked like it was about to seize the crown again this year (the theme song for Doctor X 4 also sung by Superfly won this category in 2016) if not for a last-minute surge by the eventual No.1. For those who are interested in this song, check out its official music video here.


No.1 Otona no Okite by Doughnuts Hole (Quartet) - 87 points

I have to admit, I am very happy about this song winning this title considering how much I love this drama. However, I didn't think it would win especially when I saw the influx of votes for Doctor X so this turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me (at least). If you look at the voting pattern, the number of votes for Doctor X was higher but most of the voters for this song placed it as their No.1 thus pushing up its total score as a result.
Although the four main actors i.e. Matsu Takako, Matsuda Ryuhei, Takahashi Issei and Mitsushima Hikari were supposed to have sung this song, the guys' vocals didn't really stand out so it sounded more like a duet between Matsu and Mitsushima. I guess this was probably a better arrangement on the whole since the two of them are singers in the first place and have the vocals to hold up this song written by Shiina Ringo. Nonetheless, I would have loved to hear the guys sing distinct solo parts.
If you would like to read the romaji lyrics, you can see them here. There is a clip of the drama's ending credits featuring this song and you can download it from major online music platforms like iTunes and Amazon Play Music.