Who is the singer for Drifting Away from Wario Ware Inc (GBA)

[BitBlitz]

This song is amazing, and it appears to be pretty well established that Ryoji Yoshitomi wrote it (although even that is just based on a Nintendo song collection credit for an ARRANGEMENT, not the original...) however I'm very curious if anybody knows who may be singing this?

Note: I've found numerous different english translations for the lyrics and title, but it always seems to have a "drifting towards the sea" type vibe.

Here's a link to the track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4HAWMw5zcs&t=90s

[zierts]

Originally Posted by BitBlitz

This song is amazing, and it appears to be pretty well established that Ryoji Yoshitomi wrote it (although even that is just based on a Nintendo song collection credit for an ARRANGEMENT, not the original...) however I'm very curious if anybody knows who may be singing this?

Note: I've found numerous different english translations for the lyrics and title, but it always seems to have a "drifting towards the sea" type vibe.

Here's a link to the track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4HAWMw5zcs&t=90s

The album lists the composers, so it's definitely composed by sound director Ryoji Yoshitomi. Though somewhat clunky and verbose, the fully translated title is "To the Waves between which the Voice is Drifting" (this is the full Japanese title of the song, different WarioWare games shorten it somewhat; the English versions call it "Drifting Away" or "Floating Voices"). It's the background music to a portion of the game where taxi driver Dribble has to drive to the coast. As he picks up his guest (who is called by the name the player used for their save file) and asks him where to go, he answers こえのただよう、なみままで, to the waves between which the voice is drifting (the English version only says: "That voice... It was like the sea..." and thus loses the reference to the song's title). Dribble is tuning the radio in his taxi until he hears that woman's voice, sticking with the song for the rest of the way. The song's title is sort of a pun in that the waves mean both the radio waves and the ocean waves where the voice seemingly emanates from. After Dribble drives his guest to the coast, he turns into a merman and jumps into the sea, probably uniting with the mermaid who sang the song on the radio. And leaving Dribble aghast with no fare collected. As with everything in the WarioWare series, the story and lyrics are completely bonkers.

Judging by the GBA credits, the vocals could be by Kyoko Watanabe, Junko Yoshitomi or Reiko Ninomiya. We can rule out Junko Yoshitomi as she isn't credited in WarioWare, Inc. Mega Party Games although the song is included there as well (with a music video, even!). Kyoko Watanabe is the most likely pick, judging by this interview on Mega Party Games:

N.O.M: But I heard that the sound is also quite captivating.

[Ryutaro] Takahashi: It is, right? And I think the sound effects are quite captivating, too. The voices, sound effects etc. the staff put into the game are hand-crafted by them.

[Kyoko] Watanabe: Whenever the sound director would be surreal in what he said - which was usually the case - we would all scold him: "Would you think straight, please!" (laughs)

If that doesn't describe the song's story to a tee, I don't know what does. She also performed track 25 with others on the above-mentioned album. And here's the liner notes to "To the Waves between which the Voice is Drifting":

Because it's drifting between the waves...the voice, that is. Even though the moon is waning, it goes "gloob-gloob" [onomatopoeia of someone moving underwater to stay in one place] and "swoosh-swoosh" [onomatopoeia for ocean waves] there all the time. Could it be the "language" long forgotten by someone, at the coast on the outskirts of Diamond City?

They thought about this way too long.

Edit: I'm not so sure we can use the credits to rule out names as Kyoko Watanabe isn't listed in some games the song supposedly appears in, while Reiko Ninomiya is. I still think it's Watanabe, though. She's the only one we can confirm as a singer per the album.

Edit 2: Character name corrected.

[Nathan95Harris]

Junko Yoshitomi