Sobakasu (Rurouni Kenshin)

Sobakasu arrives like a gust of wind that refuses to apologize for itself — a propulsive, almost reckless burst of mid-90s Japanese alternative rock driven by a jagged guitar riff and a rhythm section that keeps tumbling forward before you've had a chance to catch your breath. Judy and Mary's vocalist Yuki delivers her lines with this uniquely girlish yet sardonic edge, half-speaking, half-singing in a way that feels perpetually on the verge of laughter or exasperation. The production is bright and slightly raw, favoring energy over polish, which suits the song's subject matter perfectly: the quiet indignity of being overlooked, of having freckles and crooked teeth and being deemed somehow less. There's no wallowing here — the song transforms that feeling into something defiant and almost celebratory. It belongs to the explosion of "shibuya-kei adjacent" alt-pop that defined the mid-decade Japanese music scene, when female-fronted bands were injecting real bite into mainstream radio. As the opening theme to a samurai anime, it's a disarmingly odd yet perfect choice — all that restless forward momentum mirrors the show's own kinetic energy. You'd reach for this on a fast walk when you're slightly annoyed at the world but too alive to stay angry about it.