Hi, my name is Arthur Marsh from Adelaide, South Australia. I’ve enjoyed the music of anime since the days of Marine Boy, Gigantor and Kimba on black-and-white television, and more recently rediscovered the music of anime through the works of Studio Ghibli (including my first blu-ray purchase, Joe Hisaishi in Budokan – 25 years with the Animations of Hayao Miyazaki), and movies like Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and series like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The blu-ray box set of the latter included a concert Suzumiya Haruhi no Gensō which included a singer with amazing diction who turned out to be Minori Chihara. That leads to…

Part 1 – Preamble and Travelogue

What do you get when you start an interest anime music, collecting CD’s, DVD’s and blu-ray discs and then discover Animelo Summer Live?

In my case, extensively watching clips on YouTube, and buying previous concert videos, left me interested in going to Japan to see it live. Video clips such as 輪舞-revolution with Minori Chihara and Masami Okui revealed a dynamic that wasn’t a “sausage factory” approach to putting a concert together. The performers enjoyed doing their best with others. The theme songs, particularly those from 2006, 2007 and 2009, also conveyed a feel-good atmosphere amongst the performers. By watching and listening to videos by performers I wasn’t familiar with, and reading the artist lists for the 2011 concerts, I discovered that there would be several performers at each of the 2011 concerts that I really enjoyed. That left me wanting to go. The question would be how to get to Animelo Summer Live 2011 – Rainbow.

Though I lacked any overseas travel experience and knowledge of the Japanese language, I was able to contact a couple of travel agents with expertise in travel to Japan and one of them was able to secure me tickets to Animelo along with flights, accommodations and travel insurance. Although one review of 2009′s Animelo Summer Live I had read (day 1, day 2) mentioned that the reviewer flew in on the day of the first concert (Saturday), I elected to arrive Thursday morning to visit a few tourist locations and then return home on Monday evening.

Anything one can do to prepare for the trip pays off! This includes learning what you can of the Japanese language and politeness customs, route planning, printing out information, and knowing what the weather and food will be like. Also, an encyclopedic knowledge of the music of anime helps. TV-Tokyo’s Anison Plus program is a good source of such knowledge for those already in Tokyo. For me, the Madman message boards, Wikipedia, tvtropes.org anime and Japanese culture sections, YouTube and cdjapan.co.jp helped fill me in. The Visit Japan site on YouTube is also worth visiting.

Armed with all the knowledge that I could cram into such a short amount of time, the adventure began. I travelled light – one carry-on back-pack and one back-pack in stowed luggage, both with a good amount of space to spare. A friend loaned me a waterproof digital compact camera. Because I was on my own I had little need for a mobile handset and did without one, except as an alarm clock. I took cash (Yen) although I believe that I could have used the Seven-bank ATM’s at convenience stores.

Travelling from Adelaide to Sydney was familiar, having attended SMASH on 16 July 2011, mainly to see Memories of Fantasia performed by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra with guest composers Kenji Ito and Hiroki Kikuta. (Getting along to the Japan Foundation Sydney presentation was also very worthwhile). I briefly met Eminence founder Hiroaki Yura and guest vocalist Mari Yoshida after the concert. They seemed to be the only people at the convention familiar with Animelo. I only realised after I had returned home from SMASH that Hiroaki Yura had also featured in the concert Suzumiya Haruhi no Gensō. [I also bought a copy of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Original Soundtrack just before the concert.]

Sydney to Tokyo was a non-stop overnight flight where one could feel the Japanese adventure beginning. Half the cabin crew were Japanese and probably more than half the passengers were Japanese. I didn’t manage to get much sleep, but having selected a window seat, did see the moon rise, and eventually the sun’s arrival. After sunrise, the ocean looked like the scene from the beginning of Kyoto Animation videos.

As soon as I headed out the plane after landing, the warmth and humidity hit. Air conditioning in large buildings had been significantly reduced because of the power shortages following the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. However, everything was well-laid out and our exit was handled efficiently.

Upon leaving customs at Narita airport terminal 2, I purchased a Keiso line “Morningliner” limited express ticket for about 1400 Yen and after arriving at Nippori station, bought a Suica smart card to use the trains (the Suica poster at a station on the way from Narita featuring Yui Horie might have helped persuade me). I had printed a copy of the Suica card English language network map for guidance on getting from point A to B (it only shows interchange stations and terminal stations, so you may need to mark in other stations like Saitama-Shintoshin and also note the names of the lines you will be using).

The hotel at Yanaka in the old Taito part of Tokyo looked after my larger back-pack before check-in time, and then I was free to head out to Washinomiya Shrine (featured in Lucky☆Star). The shrine is at the edge of a quiet town and is impressive – dating back more than 1300 years and yet featuring the signs of a sustained anime presence.

The historic city of Kawagoe was reachable via a train from Kuki – no need to back-track towards central Tokyo. I had some confusion at first finding the street to the old part of town but maps on display, plus the maps I had printed, revealed the location of very long, relatively narrow street featuring many historic buildings and shops. One could easily spend much longer there. An express train back to Tokyo gave me time to look at Akihabara before nightfall.

On Friday I headed to Akihabara for a replacement mini-SD card for the camera. The first store where someone greeted me was able to sell me exactly what I needed. Then it was out to the Ghibli Museum (pre-booking essential). If Studio Ghibli’s movies mean anything to you, don’t miss going there. One gets to see a short film there, as well as lots of displays and a replica of a robot from Laputa on the roof-top. The museum is a work of art in itself and the exterior of the building is covered in vegetation. (I didn’t realise what effect visiting the museum would have on me until after I returned home and watched Laputa on blu-ray). After that I strolled through the adjacent park back to Kichijoji station but heavy rain in the afternoon left me riding the Yamanote line back to Nippori station and waiting for the rain to stop rather than looking at Tokyo.

On Saturday I headed out just past the concert venue to Ōmiya and Tetsudō-Hakubutsukan stations to visit the Railway Museum – highly recommended. I bought a sushi lunch pack there and headed back to Saitama-Shintoshin station in plenty of time for the first concert. Do look forward to my thoughts on Day 1 of the concert!

Addenda

Part of the inspirations for my travels comes from various blogs around the internet. In addition to the ones mentioned in the article, here is a review by someone else of day 2 of Animelo Summer Live 2010 in English here). (PS, there is also a review of the first of the 2011 concerts here.)

When I say difficulty, I really do mean it. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned writing all these music reviews, it’s that the writing process never gets easier with time; you’d think it would with 2+ years under my belt. I don’t know how some of my peers in the anime blogosphere deal with it, but I’m always in awe at the folks who can turn out a post every day and still have them be insightful and enjoyable reads. I’m not one of those people, unfortunately, and so, continue to struggle. It’s a long process, though not an unpleasant one (otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it!), but I do encounter those rough patches from time to time.

Writing is ultimately a form of self-expression, but for me, it’s also a reflection of the clarity of my thinking process. And if what I’ve experienced tells me anything, it’s that my thinking process is messy. It’s not uncommon for me to write a jumble of paragraphs only to reread what I’ve written and find it nearly incomprehensible. Problems abound: repetitive phrases, utter incoherence, contradictory statements, superficial analysis, boring passages, the list goes on. I try to catch as many as I can, obviously, but I’m sure I don’t catch them all. If too many of those issues pop up though, then it’s time to head back to the drawing board so I can figure out how to refine and clarify my thoughts further or scrap it and start over if necessary. It’s important that my writing is coherent at the bare minimum even if it lacks the flourish that others possess.

So for those curious to see how messy my thinking process is, check out how my review of Makoto Shinkai’s Promise album unfolds on the TypeWith.me Time Slider. Just hit the play button to watch my thoughts evolve from a rough draft version to the final form. Do keep in mind that it’s pretty lengthy though, and you’ll only need sit through half of it to get an idea. Maybe this’ll give aspiring writers hope in the fact that even people who write extensively still have difficulties! We’ll see.

As promised in the thread title, I also perform an unboxing, this one of the Makoto Shinkai album. Though Pireze_icie at Hunting the Elusive has taken pictures of his copy, I decided to go ahead and do mine in video form. I do have a tendency to babble/ramble when I narrate, which is why this unboxing is close to 10 minutes long, but I hope you enjoy it!

I’ve also hit 250K views recently. Guess this post is an excuse to celebrate that arbitrary milestone.

Tracklist

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Review: Makoto Shinkai’s works may derive much of their power by stirring the emotions that many can identify with, but the power of his works gets an additional boost from Tenmon’s score, which plays a crucial role in driving home the impact of Shinkai’s scenes. For me, tracks like “Memories from days far away” come to mind just as readily as the beautiful scene that unfolds when Takaki meets with Akari when someone mentions 5 Centimeters Per Second. It’s fitting then that a celebration of ten years of Shinkai include not only a re-viewing of his works but also a chance to listen to some of Tenmon’s impactful compositions. To that end, the Eminence Symphony Orchestra, along with arrangers Shiro Hamaguchi, Akifumi Tada, and Yasunori Iwasaki have gifted us with a solid orchestral compilation of Tenmon’s collaborations with Shinkai through Promise.

And what better way than to look at the recent past than by starting with the moving insert song “One more time, one more chance” from 5 Centimeters. The original’s power comes from the way it conveys the protagonist’s bittersweet feelings and Eminence’s ensemble faithfully captures that pain most poignantly. Its warm introduction makes way for an airy flute solo that expresses a sort of impermanance, like a precious, yet ephemeral fragment of one’s memory that is always close to disappearing, triggering the yearning and the heartaches. The latter factors in heavily, especially during the introspective cello solo, and continues up to the end until the piece fades out gently. What this track does well is express the regrets and heartaches beautifully and sets things rolling, priming us for what’s to come.

One more time, one more chance

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
The procession of 5 Centimeter’s tracks continues with “Memories from days far away.” This piece grasps our attention through the melancholy piano melody that conveys the scope of the anguish that befalls the protagonist. The distress and worries, which materialize in the continual delays that plague his visit during the movie’s first segment, are captured through the halting, measured phrases. Yet, hope still shines through when the lighter tones weave in and out of the heavier fare, creating a mix of joy and sadness that “Kanae’s feelings” follows up upon. “Kanae’s feelings’” initially upbeat guitar segues into a melancholy sound that expresses the yearning feelings scattered throughout the movie, and in so doing, encapsulates the movie’s tragic sentiments perfectly.

Memories from days far away

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
The next section begins with the “Main Theme” from The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and opens with a mystical aura brought about by the guitar before launching into the slow, graceful melody that uplifts one’s soul. Its airy flute solo does well in evoking images of the early dawn, and with the arrival of the rest of the orchestra, the rich timbre that follows has an upwelling effect that isn’t unlike watching a slow, radiant sunrise. The optimism and excitement it conjures is almost idealistic, especially as it culminates in a wonderful section where ideas and dreams seemingly take flight.

Main Theme from “Beyond the Clouds, the Promised Place”

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Those sentiments toward the end of the “Main Theme” give birth to “Plans by the two, Hope and love” which combines two different tracks seamlessly. The first, “Plans by the two,” is driven by the oboe’s sense of optimism layered atop the string section’s purposeful rhythm that gives it the energy of a grand undertaking. The transition into “Hope and Love’s” theme seizes that energy and melts it away slowly to bring in a burgeoning gladness into my heart. When listening to the graceful air that the strings express, I just can’t help but feel that bubbling sense of joy that is reinforced many times later on in tracks such as “Sayuri” and “Your voice.”

Plans by the two, Hope and love

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Going further, we come to Voices of a Distant Star’s “Through the Years & Far Away.” True to its title, its pensive oboe melody conveys the scope of the distance that separates the lovers that are central to the OVA’s plot. Once the piano part takes over, its calmer air induces contemplation as it draws forth the myriad memories through its nostalgic expression. Though an undercurrent of hope can still be heard as the piece progresses, the wistful, somewhat melancholy air dominates much of the track, holding the listener back by stirring the forlorn feelings that Shinkai wants you to experience in this particular work. These longing feelings that linger is erased somewhat by the warm tones flowing out of “Letter from Mikako” to close out Voices’ segment on this disc. Short, sweet, and dainty, this track wins me over through its loving sentiments that work in bridging the vast distance.

Through the Years & Far Away

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Last but not least, She and Her Cat gets a chance to shine. Though there are only three minutes of music that ever got played during the course of the anime, the arrangers were able to squeeze out the blossoming tones while mixing in the anxiety that crops up in the second half of the short film. The piano version works to end it all since the melody lends itself well to a regal air that lets you empathize with the cat’s owner’s sorrows, yet instilling the hope that things will turn out well for her by the end.

Main Theme from “She and her cat” (String Ensemble)

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
The arranging team of Hamaguchi, Iwasaki, and Tada has done an excellent job in capturing the spirit if Tenmon’s compositions. As I sit and listen, the images of Shinkai’s works enter my thoughts with ease, and with it, the pains, sorrows, but also the triumphs that the characters experience. The sheer emotional power of Tenmon’s tracks cannot be denied. Let’s hope that the music from Tenmon’s and Shinkai’s collaborations will continue to be as sublime as they have been over this past decade as we move deeper into the 2010s.

Rating: Very Good

Tracklist and miscellaneous album information provided by VGMdb.

Tracklist
Disc 1

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Disc 2

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Review: Now I understand why anime directors love Satoru Kousaki’s compositions so much: his music blends in wonderfully with the scenes, yet isn’t so overpowering that it takes away from whatever the scene is trying to convey. Throughout The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the background pieces weaved themselves seamlessly into the movie with their ambiance, going from inspiring hope to inciting panic. But by doing so, the album is harder to listen to and enjoy on its own. Bereft of the scenes, the soundtrack to The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya doesn’t have quite the same level of impact. While that’s not totally a bad thing, it does mean that if you’re looking to get a decent amount of mileage out of this album, it’s best to listen to it after you’ve seen the movie.

After all, when you listen to an opener like “A Story Beginning from the Usual Scenery,” there’s not really much to it that you can put your finger on. The trumpet’s languid pacing fits the title of the track like a glove. It’s so seeped in the pleasantness of the ordinary that you’d be hard-pressed to find something remarkable about it. Maybe its optimistic flavor is worth commenting upon or the shift over to a guitar section is nice, but beyond that, it doesn’t offer any line or melody that would keep you rapt at attention. And if it did, it’d be missing the point of depicting ordinary ordinariness completely.

A Story Beginning from the Usual Scenery

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
So in looking for pieces that will catch your attention, you’ll have to do some digging around because this album has a tendency to stay far from the bombast and aim towards subtler fare. Tracks like “Footprints to the Future” channel a mellow mood that positively exudes its optimism ever so slowly, but nevertheless, it comes off beautifully. “What Lies in Yuki Nagato’s Heart” is similarly subtle, though it differs in that the strings’ tone is more introspective. Through it, you can feel Kyon considering every single one of his options in terms of what makes him and those around him happy. The cloud of uncertainty hangs over the track, but its depiction of the main dilemma is spot-on, and by the end, a smidgen of hope appears, assuring you that things will turn out all right in the end.

Footprints to the Future

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

What Lies in Yuki Nagato’s Heart

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
That said, there were a few tracks that caught my attention on the first pass. “From Anxiety to Fear” was absolutely dazzling as the strings brought out that heightened sense of panic that Kyon must have felt when his world was turned upside down. The brass section’s entry accentuates that feeling of fear, and the piece builds up spectacularly as it unleashes a rousing finish to illustrate Kyon’s stunning realization of what’s happening to him. “READY?’s” dramatic buildup is also worth mentioning, especially its deliberate pacing that develops into a beautifully grandiose moment before leveling off slightly as Kyon makes his fateful decision. It doesn’t end definitively, suggesting that making the choice sends Kyon into a new adventure as he works to bring order to the chaotic state of affairs.

From Anxiety to Fear

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

READY?

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
And what a fantastic ride that turns out to be! “A Turning Point of History,” which plays during the most intense, standout moments of the film, uses dissonance to convey the scope of the danger that Kyon faces. The opener nails the ominous atmosphere through the chorus and the piece moves in slow motion as it depicts imminent doom. The climax, where the chorus crescendos to a near-fevered pitch, then makes way for a quieter melody that comes with a slight tilt towards the melancholy, as though to depict Kyon’s final moments. Once again, there’s no conclusiveness as the piece closes out, but when “The Brigade Members Who Met Again” plays, you know everything ends well. The soundtrack closes with the chipper “A Story Ending in the Usual Scenery” which is upbeat as the strings and woodwinds bounce along. Kyon’s struggles result in a newfound appreciation for the anomalies which, while inconvenient, spice up his life. “A Story Ending in the Usual Scenery” reflects those sentiments through its joyful sound that contains a hint of mischief mixed in with a pleasant sense of normalcy and makes us look forward to the next chapter in the Haruhi franchise.

A Turning Point of History

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

A Story Ending in the Usual Scenery

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
In the realm of ambient orchestral music, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya’s soundtrack is one of the best; I can listen to it while reading a book or doing work because it somehow blends in perfectly without distracting me from my work. It’s when I want to listen to it carefully that it becomes difficult to fully commit my attention to it. My preference for engaging background music that can function well in context and on its own means that I’ve yet to find a Satoru Kousaki composition that has kept me riveted over the long haul. That said, Disappearance’s soundtrack is his best work yet, and I did enjoy it even if I do hope Kousaki will get to the point where his compositions can stand well on their own.

Rating: Good

For the past few months, I’ve heard reports about how people who’ve watch the cam-rip of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya absolutely loved it. I didn’t pay too much attention to the details though since I didn’t want any of it spoiled, at least, that’s the reason I told myself. In reality, I might have been just a bit burnt out from the Endless Eight debacle and was pushing that out of my memory.

When I heard that they’d have a showing in LA, I was lukewarm about it, but what the hell, I gave it a shot and, buoyed by Shadowmage’s review of the movie on the Nihon Review, hoped that it would at least be passable.

Do you remember when you watched the first episode of the second season of Haruhi and all the positive goodwill you had about the franchise just kind of gushed out and gave you that pleasant buzz that made you feel warm and fuzzy? Well, watching the movie gives the same kind of feeling, except it felt even better than that!

Without going too much into a discussion of the movie (feel free to talk about it in the comments section though!) all I’d have to say is that the experience was an amazing one. Watching the ramifications of Haruhi’s disappearance was wonderful because the calm, sober atmosphere contrasted so much with the usual level of energy and excitement that we’ve come to associate with the Haruhi franchise. It just felt wrong, and in doing so, fit the scenario perfectly!

So yes, if you want a take on the movie, just read the review I linked to above. My only disagreement is that I thought it was worthy of a 9/10, but that just might be because the high the movie gave me resulted in a euphoria that’s lasted up until now and is still going strong. It made up for Endless Eight and then some and being able to experience it in the setting of a movie theater along with other anime fans who made the trek was fantastic!

So what else happened there?

Well, it was kind of cool that they gave us a free copy of the first volume of the manga. Beyond that, they had Wendee Lee (who voices Haruhi) and Crispin Freeman (who voices Kyon) show up to give a 1-2 minute blurb on how much voice acting meant to them and in being able to see the popularity of anime grow since they started their careers. Stephanie Sheh (Mikuru) was also there to sign movie posters.

The Haruhi girls (no idea who any of them were) also performed a song and dance routine right before the movie started. It’s not hard to guess at which of the songs came up. They also told some lame jokes that people laughed at out of politeness and only made me more impatient for the film to start.

At the very end, they had a drawing for some Crunchyroll subscriptions, and that concluded the night.

The music

I call these “preludes” because I do want to hit on the music the way it was presented in the film as opposed to listening to the soundtrack on a standalone basis, which can affect my judgment of it depending on how strongly I can conjure images of the anime in question while listening to it.

Well, I did pay attention to the music while watching the movie, and afterward, I can recall about 6-7 tracks that made a good impression on me. Naturally, me knowing that Eminence Symphony Orchestra performed the music for the movie gave me hope that it would be amazing and as far as I can tell, Disappearance’s music is promising both within the context and as a standalone listen. The panicky track that plays as Kyon is trying to get a lay for the altered world carries the urgency that you’d expect. Another was the piece that plays when the SOS-dan is reunified once more since it does the “happy-end” theme really well.

The solo piano stuff was also a joy to listen to. Of course, Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies made its appearance, but there were also a few others that hit upon the minimalist feeling that Kousaki is known for composing (see his work on Bakemonogatari) but those somehow had the depth of emotions that worked with the context of the movie. I do hope it’ll translate over well once I give the soundtrack a closer listen.

Anyways, that was a long way to say that I have high hopes for Disappearance’s score to really jibe with me. I’ll be working on that for the next few days as well as cobble my Anime Expo schedule together so that I can figure out who I can meet when depending on what I happen to be doing. Finally, if you’re even remotely cautious about the Haruhi franchise post-Endless Eight and aren’t sure whether you want to give the movie a go or not, don’t be. It’s very much worth it in every way!

The information is a bit old by now, but if anyone has been following Hiroaki Yura’s blogging activities, you may have noticed that he’s made a post regarding the recording of the soundtrack to the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie which is currently looking towards a February release date in Japanese theaters. Satoru Kousaki will still be the composer as usual and I’ll be looking forward to seeing how his minimalist style interacts with the orchestral work that Eminence puts out. Somehow, my gut feeling tells me that they won’t be using the entirety of the Eminence ensemble. Maybe something on a smaller scale unless they’re flying Kousaki out to Australia to do the recording. Still, a fully orchestrated movie score is something to look forward to at any rate.

As a note, the minimalist piece heard in the one-minute trailer for the movie is apparently Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies N°1. My pretensions to having a hefty amount of knowledge about classical music took a beating that day. (Thanks Smankh! :p)

Speaking of Eminence and Australia, those of you out in Perth have the Destiny: Promised Legacy concert event to look forward to if you’re planning to attend the Perth Anime Convention (or PAniC) on January 23. The concert is going to play a few of the songs used in the Project Promise album using around 7 of its musicians. Tickets can be purchased here. Also, if you’re not that big on Makoto Shinkai and are more of a game music fan, Yasunori Mitsuda will be making an appearance, so that’ll make your trip worth your while.

More information here.

We’ve affiliated ourselves with the Nihon Review as their main provider for soundtrack reviews (and they’ll be contributing soundtrack reviews from time to time as well). To help them out, we’ll be linking to their reviews from time to time. Do take a look at what they’ve put out because their reviews come highly recommended and are definitely worth reading. Also, their staff blog makes for good complementary reading to the reviews so that you get a chance to pick at their minds. If you’ve the time, do join their forums and say hi.

And if you’ve even more time, you can apply to write for them. They’re running a staff contest right now with the objective being to add a few more writers to their review crew. If you’re looking for a fun experience and an avenue to strengthen your writing chops, do apply! They have spots open for blog writers too.

Finally, I’ll be contributing a bit to Original Sound Version in the area of J-music that isn’t VGM. It’s nothing time-intensive and will not detract from my focus here, but it’ll be fun helping out their blog team which I’ve worked with a bit over at Eminence. They’ve done an excellent job at keeping their pulse close to the VGM scene, and since I’m on break from Eminence at the moment, it’ll give me something to do in the meantime.

And that’s it. We should have a few reviews coming down the pipeline as well as a resumption of the Decades Reminiscing thing that I’ve been doing.

UPDATE: We finally have a review up of the Makoto Shinkai Promise album.

For people who have not read this post, the Eminence Symphony Orchestra, based out in Sydney, Australia, will be releasing a 13-track disc this December containing arrangements of Tenmon’s musical compositions in honor of Makoto Shinkai and his 10 years of work as an anime director, animator, and scriptwriter. Until recently, we’ve only had a glimpse of what this disc was capable of delivering through the tracklist; what we didn’t have was a solid idea of what what to should expect out of these arrangements. But now that my Eminence contact has disclosed the names of the arrangers, fans of Tenmon and Makoto Shinkai can rejoice! With people like Shiro Hamaguchi, Akifumi Tada, and Yasunori Iwasaki at the helm, the arrangements should turn out to be awesome!

First off, we have none other than Shiro Hamaguchi. The fact that his name came up isn’t a huge surprise since he’s done a lot of orchestral arrangements for such franchises like the Final Fantasy series as well as the spectacular String Concert of Haruhi Suzumiya along with anime works like One Piece and Rosario to Vampire (both of which were done with Kouhei Tanaka). Furthermore he has worked alongside Eminence for many of their concerts including the Night in Fantasia Concert just last month and because of his experience, he was probably a natural choice to have in this group of arrangers. His presence alone is a strong indication that this CD will be definitely worth listening to because of the creative spin that Hamaguchi puts into his music. That is, he does a really good job with taking the original piece and seamlessly working it so that while one can still recognize the original melody, it’s different enough such that it can stand really well on its own. After all, if he can improve something like “Koi no Mikuru Dentetsu,” there’s no piece that’s beyond his ability to arrange into an excellent orchestral or piano track.

Koi no Mikuru Densetsu
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Though I’m very much familiar with Hamaguchi, the other two aren’t exactly household names (at least, they didn’t ring a bell to me when I saw their names). As you might have been able to guess from the picture, Akifumi Tada will also be a part of the circle of arrangers and while I recognize the titles that he’s worked on, I’ve never actually watched any of them, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you how skillful he is with composing and arranging music. I suppose the least I can do is listen to Ah! My Goddess’s ED theme to at least get some idea for how it’ll go.

Finally, Yasunori Iwasaki rounds out the list of arrangers. Like Tada, the anime series that he has worked on are recognizable, and unlike Tada, I have watched one of the shows that Iwasaki has worked on. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I actually remember much about its music. The show in question was Grenadier, and given that show’s fanservicey tendencies, I don’t really remember all too much about the music, effectively putting me at square zero in terms of knowing what to expect out of Iwasaki.

Upcoming Q&A
With that in mind, I’d like to turn it over to you, the reader. I have been granted an opportunity to send a list of questions to the people working on Project Promise and while I do have my list, it’s also likely that you’ll have some questions you’d like to have answered by the arrangers and even by Tenmon himself! If so, just type your questions into the comments and I’ll include it along with my list of questions to be submitted to the arrangers. Just let me know to whom the question is to be addressed (e.g. Hamaguchi, Tada, Iwasaki, or the group as a whole). Also feel free to ask general questions about Project Promise if you have them since Eminence’s founder, Hiroaki Yura, will be more than happy to take your questions. I’ll be sending the questions fairly quickly (in about 24 hours) so get them in while you can!

As a note, the Q&A will be submitted on the Eminence website. Hopefully a response will come by quickly so with no further ado, submit away!

UPDATE: We finally have a review up of the Makoto Shinkai Promise album. Do enjoy the thoughts and opinions in that review!

It’s kind of funny actually. I had already been aware that the Eminence Symphony Orchestra was working on something called Project Promise because I had seen the name come up on Hiroaki Yura’s signature on Eminence’s forums. What I didn’t know was whether it would focus on anime or game music, so when I saw nyoronyolo link to Xcomp Randomness’s post on this latest Eminence project which celebrates 10 years of Makoto Shinkai’s collaboration with Tenmon through an orchestral arrangement of some of the most memorable pieces from Shinkai’s works, I was pretty excited.

The tracklist is already posted on the Xcomp Randomness site and the music covers Tenmon’s stuff from Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second, Beyond the Clouds: The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and even the short She and Her Cat. Of those works, I’m probably most familiar with 5 Centimeters Per Second, so over the next few days, I’ll be making some time to reacquaint myself with some of those other works, mostly to ponder how exactly the tracks from those works will be arranged. It should be delightful though since Tenmon does have the ability to write simple, but wonderful tracks like in 5 Centimeter’s “Sora to Umi no Shi.”

Sora to Umi no Shi
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Anyhow, people will inevitably have questions about Project Promise and I’ll do my best to see if anyone over at Eminence will divulge more information about this. Omo has come up with a few good ones already and if anyone else has any questions they’d like me to ask, just put them here and I’ll forward the questions on. No guarantees on the replies, but it’s worth a shot anyhow.

Other News:

You may have noticed that as of yesterday, Anime Instrumentality has a new contributor in Jen, who has started things off with an excellent review of Pandora Hearts Original Soundtrack 1. She’s been very enthusiastic about anime music in general and I’m glad to have someone with her passion on board, so join me in giving her a warm welcome to the review staff!

Those of you who have visited the Eminence Website lately should be aware that the website for Eminence’s A Night in Fantasia concert is up and running. My fellow Eminence staff writers over at Original Sound Version have already declared in their post that this concert boasts one of the most impressive groups of video game music composers from both the East and the West. If you’ve checked out the program on the ANiF website, you’ll also notice that it’s heavily slanted towards video game music. So for all VGM aficiondos, it’s a given that music from games like Ace Combat V, Soul Calibur, and Chrono Cross are worth the price of admission alone and that Chiaking’s appearance to sing a song from IDOLM@STER is just the icing on a very delicious cake.

The question then is what this concert offers the anime fan. Well, the anime portion of the program, while not amazingly brilliant, is decent enough with quite a few good picks. I think the big surprise for me was seeing that the music from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was going to be on the program and I’m going to guess based on the fact that because Shiro Hamaguchi is credited as the arranger, that we’ll be getting a piece from The String Concert of Haruhi Suzumiya. That’s not a major surprise since Hiroaki Yura, Eminence’s founder, also performed at the Haruhi concert in Japan. I’m also not too surprised to see Hisaishi’s compositions for Studio Ghibli’s films either since they have been performed in the past and the melodies themselves are well-known given that Miyazaki’s films are relatively mainstream (as mainstream as anime can get currently anyhow). So while they’re not getting a bigger cross-section of anime music out there, the series/movies from which they’ve picked have enjoyable music (moreso than your average anime soundtrack), so in that regard, it should make for a good concert. My only regret is that I’ll miss out on it since I don’t see myself traveling to Australia in the very near future.

The concert is scheduled for September 26 and if you’re planning to go and want to secure your tickets, just check the ANiF website.

Also, if anyone is going and is interested in writing a concert report for me, do let me know :p

This will be fairly short and sweet and will mostly serve to update people on my activities and why this blog isn’t as updated as often as it should be. I think there are only two or three people who already know about this (family doesn’t count), so it’s about time I made this a general announcement. I have been working on building up a decent amount of content on the Eminence Symphony Orchestra’s website. My primary duties on that site are to submit anime soundtrack reviews, the occasional anime music feature article, and of course, anime music news snippets that I’ve gathered from around the web. Aside from the news articles, these are things that I’ve regularly posted about on this blog, so in that regard, it’s not exactly a new experience. What does excite me though is being able to mesh with artists like Minorin and composers so as to expose the English-speaking fan community to them.

So the obvious question will be what will change on this site. The short answer: not much. Though one would think that by contributing to Eminence, my output on here will see a decline, I’ve been contributing since February and have been doing so consistently since then. So no, there will not be any change of pace as far as output goes for Anime Instrumentality. After all, it is kind of nice to be able to have my own space where I can do things like post music clips alongside the reviews to be able to give the reader an idea of what the soundtrack sounds like. It’s not something that has been implemented on Eminence’s site (and I don’t know if it ever will) and seeing the positive response that step has garnered on here, it’s worth having a webspace where I have the freedom to do just that.

And of course, my other sphere of activity will continue on. The #MALKeionbu (the MyAnimeList Anime Music Piece of the Week Club for the uninitiated) has been going strong and Omo’s post discussing how fun it is to be exposed to new artists and composers captures my sentiments exactly. It’s definitely been an enjoyable voyage of discovery every week and I have always managed to learn something new, whether it’s some piece that flew under my radar or even rediscovering some old melodies that I’ve forgotten.

Taken in sum, this represents a tremendous opportunity. The potential for raising a greater amount of awareness of anime music is just too good to pass up and by contributing to the Eminence website, this blog, and the MALKeionbu, I really hope to see a stronger, more active anime music community.

Also, for those who haven’t done so already, you should follow me on Twitter at zzeroparticle (and for that matter, Eminence has a Twitter account as well). Sending me a message through AIM to the nick zzeroparticle works as well. Hope to see some familiar faces poke around the Eminence website!