Somehow I think this actually makes them look more human.

Part 1: Idol Bodies, Idle Minds

There was a time where musicians were like meticulous artists brushing paint onto a canvas: noble  Bohemians living for their art; here, I lament musicians becoming more and more like the brush itself: a replaceable tool that can be used and disposed.

You may have noticed a somewhat disturbing trend over the course of this past decade in the collective music industries of Japan and Korea. There has been a notable drift towards mass-market appeal and short-term financial gain through sexual titillation – something I’ve dubbed the “Idol Culture” – that has come to permeate much of East Asia. The idol process perniciously eliminates the creative nativity between the musician and music, wherein the artist has become more of an attractive representative for the music than the actual creator. I’d like to offer some of my thoughts on the matter that have stemmed from my personal experiences with people who are deeply immersed in this culture and big fans of the music created in this sort of environment. Also, please take the time to check out zzero’s post from this past October regarding a similar topic.

I’d like to start out by explaining a bit of my background. I’m a Korean American born in New York City currently living in the suburbs of Metro Atlanta. Culturally, I was raised very “American;” I really only related myself to Korean popular culture through the dated and often quaint viewpoints of my parents. Most of my friends growing up were also “American” in the typical sense, aside from a circle of Korean friends that will come up later. The point is that, growing up, I was very far removed from anything popular in Korea and have remained as oblivious until relatively recently.

The early/mid-2000’s was around the time that boy groups and girl groups were really starting to get popular in Korea. Groups like Big Bang and Wonder Girls and Girls’ Generation (aka SNSD) (consider them Korean versions of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC) started to appear. My Korean friends just ate this stuff up.

Given that I am the most cynical person this side of the local insane asylum, I just could not understand what they were on about. Sure, the girls were attractive, the marketing was clever, and the music videos were well-edited, but there was no lasting value to me, nothing “there.” These idols and their boob jobs and their pretty faces and expensive haircuts and fashionable outfits seemed like vehicles to wow people into spending their money. They are ideal images who lend their voices and likenesses to songs made by a technician on his MacBook. Could these people even be called musicians given their shallow participation in the creative process?

I bring this up because much fuss has been made over the producer/artist dynamic in music production. The ideas and feedback generated from this relationship are often profound, helping transform the work from its early visions into the finished product. A good example of this on the anime side of things is the oft-cited relationship between Yoko Kanno and the singers with whom she works. I won’t go into details here, but the gist is that when artist and producer come together as creative equals, the synergies result in a richer final product that is ultimately a lasting work with staying power. Not so, in idol land. The vast majority of these idols are as involved in the creative process as McDonald’s employees are in the cooking process. They stand there, follow instructions, and have someone else deliver the final product. The artist that can talk about the music, what it means to them, and how the creative process unfolded is quickly becoming the exception rather than the norm.

Instead, idols, boiled-down, are facades, tools to create sexual tension and incite desire to buy albums, merchandise, and concert tickets. They are the result of a well-oiled corporate machine that has learned how to efficiently and quickly maximize profit.

It’s no longer enough to have talent to become successful. In fact, now it’s not even necessary. If you look good, people will buy your song. If it has a catchy beat and auto-tuning, have a guest artist fill in a hip-hop section in the middle and stick a “FEATURING [NAME]” label at the end of the song  title, and you’ve got a top-ten hit. If a studio happens to find a looker that also has a semblance of singing talent, they’ve hit the jackpot. More recently, I’ve noticed my friends saying that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with the influx of new artists. The competition is ferocious, and the market is becoming saturated; the supply and demand curves only intersect at one point, and the former sure is shifting to the right.

At the very least, this competition may invite attempts by labels to differentiate themselves by improving the quality of their music. There is some genuinely good music out there by idols that give a damn about what they’re pumping into the mic. Some even write their own songs! It’s just that they’re being drowned out by the sheer mass of utter garbage. What I’m saying here, basically, is this: be an intelligent listener. Listen to what moves you, but know when what you’re listening to isn’t good enough to be worth your time. McDonald’s is delicious, but I don’t eat there exclusively. Know quality when you hear it. Reject instrumentality.

You may not have an idol body, but, for heaven’s sake, don’t have an idle mind.

Rating: Concerned

So with April soon over, it’s time to acknowledge that Anime Instrumentality has passed its third year in existence, with all of the privileges that the milestone brings. For one, it puts us in a class alongside other blogs that somehow aren’t sensible enough to die at the commonly-observed two-year mark. Also, there are quite a few curmudgeony benefits that come with age that’ll explain a bit later.

But first, the reminiscing! That naturally leads into my attempts to come up with a series of posts that try to cover a wider topic so that they’ll bring some diversity to the steady stream of review after review after review. Last year’s focus was on all of the anime music, both BGM and OP/ED, from 2000-2009 (indexed here for your pleasure). That series was a whole lot of fun to write and people enjoyed the snippets that I put up. This year, as you can probably guess, the focus is on anime composers. In the interest of completeness, we’re finding that this series is actually very challenging to write about, mostly because listening to a composer’s entire discography is no small task. Still, we’re having fun with that and you can expect Taku Iwasaki’s profile to come out sometime in May.

A lot of other things happened too. The Aniblog Tourney brought us into the mainstream (and scaring away our hipster fanbase for good). I attended Anime Expo as a member of the press corps, albeit, for Original Sound Version (but still got an article about Megumi Nakajima and May’n as well as an abridged concert report out of it anyways). We also scored an interview with the jazz arranger, Rasmus Faber (and you really should check out his music!). Oh, and we also doubled our dedicated staff, adding Aftershok and Yu to the team, encouraged others to contribute guest posts, and through that, possibly discouraging anyone else from creating a site wholly devoted to anime music critiques/reviews. That last bit is kind of a shame, but what can you do?

I mentioned above that the three-year mark entitles me to certain benefits. Not to the point where I can pontificate like what Andy Rooney does every week (if Anime Instrumentality reaches the five-year mark, I’ll think about it then), but close. A few examples:

• When normal, average people take me out to karaoke, expecting me to join in and sing Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga songs with them, I’m allowed to be totally shameless in picking and singing anison while they look on, wide-eyed in shock, surprised that I can sing in Japanese (with the aid of Romanized lyrics written on a piece of paper). Besides, I’m not familiar with any Top40 song that’s come out in the last 20 years in the States anyways, so it’s a bit of a lost cause to expect me to know the tunes that everyone else knows.
• I can loudly proclaim that the music today is worse than the music from ten years ago, abetted by the idol phenomenon that prizes looks over ability and whose fans have the attention-span of a gnat as they move from idol to idol with no concept of loyalty. And then sheepishly admit that I don’t really listen to idol-pop. In all seriousness, the only issue I have with idols is their ubiquity. Sometimes, I wish they’d just go away, but most of the time, they’re pretty easy to ignore.
• Complain when shows with good music (I’m frowning at you, Cross Game) never get a soundtrack release. Complain when shows with good music only issue soundtrack releases bundled with the DVDs/Blu-rays. This latter issue is actually becoming more and more commonplace. While I can see why the bundling happens (I doubt soundtrack CDs sell all that well unless it’s for something like Macross Frontier), it absolutely drives me nuts all the same. Sometimes, we get lucky like we did with Working!! and Kara no Kyoukai’s soundtracks. Sometimes not. All I can say is that Madoka better have a standalone soundtrack release or I’ll quietly rage. Or find some more productive way of showing my displeasure.

So yes, Anime Instrumentality might be old, but it has not quite reached the point of being crotchety just yet. Either way, we look forwards to seeing faces old and new as we venture into our fourth year of existence!

Back when I started watching anime, it never occurred to me that Japan would embrace the holiday to the point that they’d roll out their own Christmas tunes; up to that point, my experience with “foreign” Christmas music was mostly confined to “Feliz Navidad” and Asian-language variations of popular Christmas carols. It wasn’t until I finally watched Nadesico that I realized, to a mixture of horror and delight, that Japanese Christmas music is just as cheesy and unbearable as those commonly heard over here in the States!

“Christmas in the Galaxy” has that festive air that lights up the anime through the Nadesico’s kitchen crew’s joyous, peppy melody. This song ranks pretty high on the cheese factor, even when I first encountered it, but now, listening to it is tolerable on account of the nostalgia this piece invokes. It hearkens back to my younger days where I was first introduced to anime and, despite not having a solid background with the anime tropes Nadesico poked fun of, I still found the show hilarious.

It wasn’t until I watched the Christmas episode of Love Hina that I was exposed to the kind of Christmas music that really resonated with me. The Love Hina Christmas Special, if memory serves, opened with the wonderful “Koi no Tenshi Mai Orite.” Like the Nadesico track, it maintains the joyous levels of energy through it’s pop-ish flavor, but mixes in enough of the heavenly high chorus in the introduction as to render it a perfect song for the season.

Koi no Tenshi Mai Orite

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Now, if high bursts of energy aren’t your thing, the Love Hina Christmas Special did add a very heartfelt, sentimental track in Yonekura Chihiro’s “Winter Wish.” Her vocals are already really soothing, but what clinched it for me was the guitar work (or is it a dulcimer?). Between the two Love Hina Christmas tracks, I have difficulties deciding between them. It’s really dependent on the mood I’m in. When I want that infusion of happiness, “Koi no Tenshi” works. When I’m looking for mellower holiday fare, “Winter Wish” fits the bill.

Winter Wish

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
You’d have to make a jump all the way to 2005 to listen to the next one, but by doing so, you’ll hit upon a series that’s well-loved on this site. Yes, I’m referring to none other than ARIA the Animation, which features a track titled “Santa Claus no Sora” performed by the late Eri Kawai. I love how evocative it is. Just imagine Santa Claus’s predicament for a moment. You’ve got the job of delivering toys for girls and boys around the world at night. What must the world look like from the skies above at this late hour? This song answers that through a soft, tranquil melody that’s wonderfully soothing, conjuring images of the world in a deep, peaceful slumber, hearkening to the lines of that iconic poem where “all through the house,/not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” As the song proceeds, the twinkling sound cultivates a magical energy that augments the quiet joy that gently issues forth.

Santa Claus no Sora

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
“Silent Night” by any other name would be just as serene, and that’s exactly what you get out of Bartender’s “CHRISTMAS CHAMPAGNE ~ Kiyoshiko.” The arrangement takes the original theme and sets down a strong, serene melody, while retaining the quiet sense of joy that’s similar to the ARIA track. It’s difficult to dissociate the show’s content from this track, so whenever I hear it, I imagine myself sitting in some quiet lounge, taking a sip here and there, and letting the alcohol warm me up as I enjoy the snow falling outside.

CHRISTMAS CHAMPAGNE ~ Kiyoshiko

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Ef – a tale of memories’s “Holy Day” takes more of a traditional approach to Christmas, what with the introduction filled with harpsichord, organ, and bells that jingle on through the night. The joy that flows through the piece once it hits its stride immerses you into the bright lights and festive air that characterizes many a town square at this time of year, filled with throngs of revelers. It’s a great mood-setter, one that captures the upbeat tones of the season as the piece fills your heart with gladness.

Holy Day

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Last, but not least, a discussion of Christmas anime music wouldn’t be complete without a mention of Toradora!’s Christmas insert song, “Holy Night.” Now, I’m not altogether fond of this theme since well… it feels like a generic Christmas song except sung by Rie Kugimiya and Eri Kitamura. That said, it’s not lacking in sentiment, especially when taken in the anime’s context. The singing might leave much to be desired, but it still made for a special moment when it showed up during the anime all the same.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A few ground rules: when I say anime composers, any composer who’s written any music for anime (including OPs/EDs/insert songs) qualifies. That was easy, wasn’t it? Basically, the only vocalists that are permissible for this are those who actually compose music. Obviously the extent to which you enjoy their music is important and will probably be the primary criterion by which you assemble your list. You can also consider other things like their quantity of work they’ve done. But when you put together your list, do rank order them from most favorite to tenth favorite. Nothing more needs to be done, but you are welcome to add comments about why you chose X person.

Lastly, do try to come up with ten. I specifically stress the word try, because it’s perfectly OK if you aren’t able to come up with that many. If you’re stuck, it does help to look through some of your favorite shows and see who composed their music, but if all else fails, just list one, or two, or five. That’s totally fine. This is mostly to satisfy my brimming curiosity anyhow. Yes, I will use the results for an upcoming article series that focuses upon composers and not to attempt at an objective measurement of who exactly are the ten best anime composers out there. Do fill this out by December 31, 2010. I’ll be scattering reminders every so often!

For what it’s worth, it’d be terrible of me if I didn’t include my own Top 10 list, so here goes:

1. Joe Hisaishi
2. Yoko Kanno
3. Michiru Ooshima
4. Shiro Sagisu
5. Akira Senju
6. Yasuharu Takanashi
7. Yuki Kajiura
8. Taku Iwasaki
9. Toshihiko Sahashi
10. Masumi Itou (also goes by Hikaru Nanase)

Whether you’re new to this article series or you’ve hung around since its inception, here are all of the posts exploring the past, located in a list for your convenience. Feel free to reminisce along; there’s no expiration date when it comes to gushing about the music that’s defined some of your favorite shows:

• The Introduction – From Whence this Idea was Conceived and How the Journey Began
• Anime Music of 2000 – Love, War, and Guitar Smashing. (Love Hina, Inu Yasha, and FLCL)
• Anime Music of 2001 – Read it or Die & Miss Out on Kajiura’s First Major Success (Noir, Kenshin, Spirited Away)
• Anime Music of 2002 – Drinking at Cafe Alpha in Purgatory (Haibane Renmei, FMP, 12 Kingdoms)
• Anime Music of 2003 – Feeling the Gravity While Aloft in the Grand Stream (Gunslinger Girl, FMA, Kino’s Journey)
• Anime Music of 2004 – For the Love of Life, Dolls Materialize Beyond the Clouds (Mai-HiME, Rozen Maiden, Elfen Lied)
• Anime Music of 2005 – Chronicling a Summer-lit ARIA in the Silhouette of a Breeze (Blood+, Honey and Clover, Nanoha)
• Anime Music of 2006 – Lost My Music in the Host Club’s Red Garden (Paprika, Ergo Proxy, Welcome to the NHK)
• Anime Music of 2007 – Two Sketches that Pierce the Heavens (Moribito, ef, Romeo x Juliet)
• Anime Music of 2008 – A Spicy Library War Lacking in Deculture (Code Geass, kurenai, True Tears)
• Anime Music of 2009 – A Finale to the Design Class’s Summer Wars (Erin, Xam’d, KnK, Bakemonogatari)

On top of all this, I’ve gotten close to two dozen recommendations for stuff I should be listening to, from the near-unanimous cry for giving Toshihiko Sahashi’s Simoun score a shot (many consider it to be his best work), to Yasuharu Takanashi’s Towards the Terra, to a couple shots completely out of left field in Kaze no Shoujo Emily and an anime baseball movie. There’s obviously a lot to try out, and as the Fall 2010 season has shown so far, the quantity of good soundtracks continues to pile on with no end in sight. I’d go as far as to say 2010 has been an enjoyable year musically, and you can look forward to a summary once the year ends.

When all is said and done, I’m left with a huge queue of stuff to review and as daunting as it seems, I really look forward to exploring the albums of yesteryear while keeping my ears alert for newer stuff. I’ll also try to come up with another article series to give myself some breathing room between review writing just to mix it up a bit. If you’ve any suggestions on what could make for a fine article series, feel free to send them my way.

Random thoughts that prevent this post from being content-free:

• Is there a Japanese-run anime music blog that does what I do here? Even if I have to run that site through Google Translate, I’d still like to know. Save for contests like Saimoe, there seems to be very little cross-pollination going on between the fanbases in Japan and those in the West. I’d like to see that changed somehow. For now, links to anime soundtrack sites is sufficient.
• While we’re on the bit about cross-pollination, what about the lines drawn between anime and game music? Will there be more artists who cross the lines and work in both mediums? Already, names like Nobuo Uematsu, Kou Ootani, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Taku Iwasaki, Michiru Ooshima, Yoko Kanno, Yuki Kajiura, among others, have worked on both game and anime music, and I expect this number to increase as games become more and more cinematic, and so, will have similar requirements for their melodies.
• To stir the pot a little, my top 10 soundtracks from the last decade are, in order: Spirited Away, Red Garden, ARIA (entire franchise), Gunslinger Girl, Kenshin Seisouhen, Romeo x Juliet, Ouran High School Host Club, Mai HiME, Haibane Renmei, and Spice and Wolf. I expect some vehement disagreements here and that my responses to at least half of those will be: “I haven’t listened to that soundtrack. Sorry. :p”
• The above list is a boring concept. I should come up with a list of the best soundtracks you’re not listening to though given my readership, I don’t know how well that’ll fly since you might be listening to them already.
• One short project up for consideration is to determine whether the soundtracks to all yuri anime are solid and enjoyable. Number of counterexamples found so far: 0
• Composers who aren’t as well known, but who I’ve learned to look out for: Masaru Yokoyama, Makoto Yoshimori, Shougo Kaida, Ken Muramatsu, Akihiko Matsumoto, Kotaro Nakagawa, and Hiroyuki Sawano.
• Composers who need to write more anime music: Kaoruko Ohtake (maybe I should just listen to more Natural Highs), Takeshi Senoo, John Williams (I can dream, right?).

Anyway, here’s the article in question. Based on the article’s approach, I’m inclined to say that the author hasn’t really been immersed in anime music beyond skimming the Oricon charts and noticing some anime albums placing in the top ten. Some of the points it makes are contentious, especially in light of the “talented” claim, which I’ll dig into later on. In any case, I’ll give the article a blow by blow account.

So the first thing they noted was:

Theme songs and soundtracks from Japanese anime are making inroads into the mainstream J-pop music genre, drawing popularity particularly from female consumers as talented voice actresses sing the songs.

More than 60 anime songs hit the top 10 singles chart this year, according to entertainment information provider Oricon Co. Sales of CDs in the anime and soundtrack genre totaled 29.3 billion yen in 2009, up from 24.9 billion yen in 2005, according to Oricon.

I’m doubtful as to whether the soundtracks themselves has really made any particular inroads, especially into the realm of J-pop since soundtracks tend towards non-pop instrumentals, but seeing that I don’t bother looking up whether Oricon has any sort of instrumental Top Ten page, I guess I can’t really confirm whether my suspicions are true or not. If they consider insert songs scattered in some albums (think Macross Frontier’s soundtrack) I suppose they have some ground to work with.

But their noting that anime intro/outro singles tend to sell well is correct since anime music threads on forums like ASuki and news sites like ANN have documented how well the OP/ED singles for popular shows or contain popular artists (Nana Mizuki) tend to do on the Oricon charts. Now, the question of why they place so high is debatable. For instance, have these albums really succeeded in penetrating the mainstream or are anime fans buying multiple copies as a means of showing their dedication and love to the show? And if it’s the latter case, is that indicative of how well album sales can be perpetuated regardless of the singer’s vocal abilities and the album’s overall quality? I guess this reveals where I stand on the whole “talented voice actresses” bit.

The article continues:

The songs have ‘‘good melody lines and the voice actresses singing are talented,’’ Majima says. He believes customers including women, who are not necessarily ardent anime fans, can easily connect with songs sung by popular anime voice actresses.

And here we have more contentious lines. I don’t think the melodies have been all that great since each season has offered two or three OP/ED themes that have caught my fancy, which is close enough to what Sturgeon’s Law predicts. Etsuko Yakushimaru’s performances for Arakawa Under the Bridge’s OP and Tatami Galaxy’s ED theme have been enjoyable as have Lia and Aoi Tada’s work on Angel Beats!, granted, neither of the ones listed above are performed by seiyuu (a point the article emphasizes). Of the ones that are, Sphere has done decent work, but aside from “Now loading… SKY!!,” I don’t really find their other songs to be as memorable since they’re more of a zeitgeist thing than songs that’ll stand the test of time.

As for the songs resonating with the audience, that’s somewhat understandable. I suppose dealing with themes as universal as love (pretty much 90% of all the J-pop out there) or fond recollections of school life means a greater ease in striking the right chord with the listener. It makes me wonder why the connection to these pop songs’ subject material is stronger now (something I infer from Majima’s words) versus then. Has the zeitgeist really shaped how these newer works are treated compared to the older stuff? Are the Japanese still searching for their own sense of identity akin to teenagers and tweens figuring out their place in life? Maybe stuff like K-ON!’s music offers that sort of respite by using good old rose-colored nostalgia while love songs emphasize a more heartful love that is perceived to be generally missing.

‘‘This is a big boom that we’ve never seen before,’’ says Katsuragi. ‘‘The talents are going into the anime songs genre and I believe the popularity will last,’’ she added.

It’s a big boom all right, but only because music sales as a whole have gone down (see Sony’s Annual Report describing their music division) to the point that any increase in sales of albums in a particular sector will garner attention. Because of this, it’s no surprise that talents (including the not-so-talented) are going into the anisong genre for their own sake and not so much for a love of the medium but as an avenue for them to get the extra attention and ergo, sales from rabid consumers. I’ve already talked a bit about the intertwining tendencies between the music business and anime OP/EDs, and so, the marketing engine moves on.

This leads back to a major major gripe, one that’s started with a comment to my Anime Expo Macross Concert on OSV. Since I can’t link to the actual comment, I’ll write it out here, typos and all:

Nakajime on the otherhand is playing the role of an idol (Mamegu) who, depending on the performance, is also playing Ranka on top of that. She makes a lot of mistakes in her regular concerts because its expected, its cute, its what idols do. And the fans eat it up.

While I wouldnt disagree that May’n has some awesomely powerful vocal chords, from experience Megumi has a much broader range (which is why she normally covers the past Macross stuff from Macross to Macross Plus) and, more importantly, is really good at interacting with the audience. Of course, this is something you arent going to get at a concert outside of Japan though. Certainly you could argue that she should tailor her performance (and cut what I daresay were some of the mistakes she made on purpose at the beginning of the concert)to the audience she is performing for, but to that I’d reply that, since there is (legally & officially at least) no release of the albums in the US and therefore no market to speak of, that she isnt obligated to change her style to fit US tastes.

Have consumers de-evolved to the point where deliberate mistakes are an acceptable practice and must be done for the sake of keeping up appearances? Whatever happened to valuing competence?

Assuming that the comment is spot-on in capturing the expectations placed upon seiyuu and having them deliberately suck so as to pander to fans, it might explain a lot about why J1m0ne’s has been experiencing what she’s been experiencing and why I’ve been generally unmotivated in reviewing anime OP/EDs. The increasing emphasis on having seiyuu look good so as to work within the soulless idol-creation process is taking a toll on the quality of the vocalists out there as well as the quality of the voice acting work. Unfortunately, there’s no end in sight.

There’s been a lot of negativity thrown about here, so let’s end on a positive note. The music will keep me going because the quality of the BGM is going to be consistent. To crib day’s words, “I think its harder to make legitimately awful BGM; its easy to make pretty forgettable BGM, but there are honestly so many shortcuts to making wholly inoffensive BGM that to make it truly terrible is a bit of a challenge, it seems.” I’ve found it to be the case as I’ve explored what BGM has to offer. Unlike vocalists and seiyuu, composers are under no compunction to look as impeccable as a pretty picture, and so, can do their own thing without needing to answer to the fan’s beck and call. And for that, I’m thankful for this one area that rabid fans can’t despoil.

As a note, the backlog will be on hold until I can get Angel Beats!’s soundtrack reviewed. Right now, I’ve just been letting my ears drink in Jun Maeda/ANANT-GARDE EYES’ musical brew, and listening to it did bring some thoughts that I tossed haphazardly on my twitter account.

Anyhow, that thought received a response! A response that I’ll fully admit I wasn’t prepared to tackle because of how difficult it is to come up with a set of criteria that would differentiate a game score from an anime score. After all, both have their place in setting the atmosphere for their respective media and there’s enough commingling going on that it might as well be useless. (As an aside, when a game soundtrack sounds like something more than just a game soundtrack, I don’t say, “it sounds like an anime soundtrack,” I just say “it sounds cinematic.” See The Unsung War. )

Still, I did make that statement, I continue to stand by it, so I suppose I ought to explain what I meant.

Considering that my first love for VGM started through playing RPGs, the tracks typical to that particular genre still remain as a sort of unconscious bias that I use to determine whether something does indeed sound like video game music. So once I hear a collection of tracks that consist of battle tracks, character themes, and various locales, all of which that sound like they could be looped, it’s about 75-80% of the way there to being labeled a game soundtrack.

Of those characteristics, I’d say the looping trait is an important one. While anime scores do exhibit the tendency to loop, it’s not quite to the same extent. With games, it’s done practically by design since one can never predict just how long a player will stay within a certain area and how long it will take for the player to complete a given battle. And so, each track will start out with a catchy section, shift over to a variation of the first section and ending it so that it can segue into where it wants to go, be it taking a side path to develop the piece further or just toss its hands up and loop back to the original section to close it out. The game music that I really go for tends to develop the tracks a bit while the ones that aren’t as strong will opt for the latter approach, and that’s when I’ll complain about the music being repetitive and boring.

The other component that puts a soundtrack closer to a game’s would be a wide scattershot of tracks that reflect locales, people, and events, but not the overarching story. Pick out any of the older Final Fantasy scores from the PSX era and back and you’ll see what I mean. Can you listen to FF6 and say with any sort of certainty as to what the story will encompass? It’s hard to figure that out based on listening to the battle themes, town themes, and character themes and the only way you can get a feel for the game’s narrative scope through the music is by actually playing through the game and letting the music instill the nostalgia to provide the mental imagery. In anime, you can figure a lot about the anime’s plot simply by listening to its soundtrack.

You can bring up Angel Beats! heavy use of synth to bring the association closer to game music, but it doesn’t eclipse the two factors. In listening to the soundtrack, you cannot figure out what the story will encompass beyond maybe suggesting it to be a typical RPG plot and the music uses frequent doses of looping, fitting of game music’s idiom. Combine that with the knowledge that Jun Maeda primarily composes music to visual novels and it’s even easier to categorize it as game music.

And Jun Maeda… who knows what his role is in this soundtrack anyways? I’ve had some back and forth conversations with relentlessflame and ETERNAL about ANANT-GARDE EYES’s role and frankly, I’m clueless. There really isn’t a whole lot of information out there about who ANANT-GARDE EYES really is, and so, I’ve taken to mindless speculating.

My thought is that ANANT-GARDE EYES is a group of musicians who primarily take the works that Jun Maeda has composed and arranges them. At least, that was before they were given composer credits to the Angel Beats! soundtrack. After listening to its music, a lot of the tracks credited to ANANT-GARDE EYES carries Maeda’s signature style and so, I have this suspicion that Maeda works as a member of ANANT-GARDE EYES, taking charge of the more poignant tracks on the album while letting the other composers on the team take care of some of the more rhythm-heavy synth-oriented tracks. Each composer is assigned a track, and once complete, the members help each other refine the tracks until they take their current form. Composing by committee if you will.

Of course, I have no way to back it up and credible arguments can be made that the reason their works sound a lot like Maeda is because they’ve worked alongside him so much that they can replicate his style (and let’s be fair here, Maeda’s style is catchy, but not overly complicated). It’s food for thought anyhow.

(Note: Much of my coverage of Anime Expo this year is on behalf of Original Sound Version. So over the next few days, my concert report of the May’n/Megumi Nakajima concert will be written and posted over there to accompany my report of the MELL Concert that has already been posted. The same will go for the information I gleaned out of May’n and Megumi Nakajima’s press conference. I will write shorter versions here though for people who don’t have the time to read through all the text, so you can look forward to that!)

With that out of the way, Anime Expo this year was a blast from start to finish. I started that Friday by bumbling my way into my colleague Kylaran at the Nihon Review and Benu at Anime Genesis and things just took off from there. Most of that day was spent scurrying around from one event to the next without really having much in the way of downtime, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way. Through it all, I experienced two amazing concerts, one that was just phenomenal and the other of which was just amazing, got a chance to hear what May’n and Megumi Nakajima had to say about the work they’re doing, where they’re looking to go and not go with their careers, and what they thought about their experience in coming over to America and performing before a group of Western anime fans. Needless to say, this left me drained by the time the day ended. After all, two concerts in one day? It’s a good kind of tired though and the only thing I really wish I’d done better was make sure the camera I was using had full batteries before I attended the concerts!

Saturday was mostly reserved for “me time” so I could kind of enjoy the convention at a slower pace. Given my bent towards Megumi Nakajima, I did drop by her panel and stayed for about half of it where I got to hear her do things like sing that “Chou Jikuu Hanten Nyan Nyan” jingle from Macross Frontier and say a random line from Kampfer. I also stumbled upon the tail end of a Minami Kuribayashi concert right in the Exhibit Hall hosted by Manga Gamer. There was also a press panel session with Eri Kitamura and Horie Yui, and I managed to ask one lame question about Horie Yui’s involvement with the seiyuu group Aice5, but the response she gave was sort of what I had expected. I guess that means Sphere will be the seiyuu group to beat for now.

Much of the material covered during that session is more relevant to stuff that the Nihon Review covers anyhow, so do look forward to Kylaran’s report of the event.

And meetups! The world was a much smaller place than I realized as I met Auden Sorlie and Chris Ling, both of whom also write for Original Sound Version and the latter of whom knows Akira from the Nihon Review. Really kind of strange to know that the network is that tight to say the least, and I’d have to say that both of them were pretty chill and we had a lot of fun trading stories back and forth about things ranging from the state of OSV to strange occurrences at a MangaGamer dinner. Also hoping a meeting with a developer over at GoldfishProductions will bear fruit, and if nothing else, I’ve never met a bigger AKB48 fan. Finally, the Anime Diet guys, Mike, Ray, and Rome were also very fun to talk to and I’m looking forward to their videos and interviews. The ones that they’ve posted have been really fun and informative.

The highlight of Saturday was, of course, the big meetup where Shinmaru of UNMEI KAIHEN, Mystlord of THAT Anime Blog, Yumeka from Mainichi Anime Yume, and a crossdressing Keine (CCY) from Mega Megane Moe. No Omo until we were on the way back to the convention hall from dinner though, so my hope of meeting him face to face for longer than 2 minutes has yet to happen. That we all know each other to some degree through online interactions helped make it easier to get the conversation going and it’s great that the people there were really chill and awesome. Also learned a lot by just listening to their perspectives ranging from Touhou to various eroge, to even venturing into Sankaku Complex (don’t ask how we segued into that tangent). With all the enjoyment I got out of it, it looks like I have something to look forward to next year when AX rolls around!

Obligatory loot section. Given that this site’s raison d’etre is on anime music, you could almost say that this shopping trip was kind of a failure. Half the CDs I purchased were VGM CDs though I suppose you could count Yoko Kanno’s Napple Tale soundtrack as tangentially related. I also decided to take the plunge and grab Saki’s soundtrack. Though I wasn’t that fond of it, it’s still good enough to warrant a few listens here and there. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood’s second soundtrack is more of on a whim; I’d already gotten the first one and was disappointed in how that sounded, but I do hear the second one is better. If Akira Senju’s compositions for FMA: Brotherhood represents a lower bound in the quality of his work, I’ll take it. Finally, getting my hands on the Gundam SEED Destiny orchestral disc is a bonus. I loved the heck out of the first Symphony SEED album, and though I have no emotional ties to the Gundam SEED franchise, Toshihiko Sahashi wins me over every time. Moreso if it’s played by the London Symphony Orchestra. Additions to the review queue? You bet!

That’s about it. This experience was really over the top, making it the best Anime Expo experience I’ve had to date. It’d be crazy to expect any future incarnation of this convention to reach the heights it did this year, but we can hope. And even if it doesn’t, the people I can look forward to meeting for years to come will give me a good reason to seriously ponder going even if the guest list is blah.

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!

Remember when I posted about watching TV during my vacation a month or so ago and being surprised about hearing that snippet from Victorian Romance Emma come up? Well, I did get a response awhile ago when I e-mailed the folks at Bloomberg, and here’s what they had to say:

The song during Judy Woodruff is called Ruby Rain.

Source: http://www.audionetworkplc.com/production-music/ruby-rain_5497.aspx

So basically, they’re saying that the song originated from a work composed by Igor Dvorkin and Duncan Pittock!

Now, there’s no date as to when “Ruby Rain” was composed, so it’s going to be difficult to nail down which came first: Kunihiko’s “The Season” or Dvorkin/Pittock’s “Ruby Rain.” Furthermore, the booklet for the Emma soundtrack doesn’t come with any liner notes that could be translated so you really aren’t able to see into Kunihiko’s mind and determine where he derived inspiration from when he composed the piece.

Obviously, when you compare the two tracks, the only similarity is in that short motive so plagiarism is the furthest thing from my mind. But hearing that does emphasize just how often composers quote other pieces of music.

Prominent artists like Yoko Kanno have been known to engage in musically quoting. If you’ve listened to her works on Macross Frontier, you’ll be able to pick out some prominent themes from the soundtrack such as “The Target,” which uses a part of John Williams’s melody from Star Wars and, of course, “Big Boys,” which derives a large part its music from Hans Zimmer’s Gladiator soundtrack (Pirates of the Caribbean would later use the same theme). And those compositions that borrow the same technique from Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana? Those are far too numerous to count.

Big Boys

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

None of this is a cause for alarm – unless it’s frighteningly close like Satoshi Kadokura’s compositions for Gundam F91 – nor should it result in less appreciation for compositions by Kunihiko, Kanno, et al. Rather, it reminds us just how music from new composers continually builds upon the works of those who came before, whether it’s by quoting or writing a variation upon a theme. Through that, it’s really easy to appreciate how the world of music is intertwined between contemporary artists, artists from different cultures, and artists from different eras. After all, Beethoven operated no differently (the well-known theme from his 9th Symphony can be heard in a Mozart work) and so, one shouldn’t expect anime composers to be bucking that trend. It all comes together into the sticky, but wonderful body of music compositions anyhow, and as long as current musicians continue to add their own flourishes and quirks to their own works and not descend into the perilous path of plagiarism, I’ll stay a happy camper.

This post features Ryo Kunihiko’s name rather than Yoko Kanno or some other composer, and for good reason: Kunihiko’s been on my mind as of late. It shouldn’t be too hard for you all to guess why that is. And no, it’s not Aion’s soundtrack either.

Time has a weird way of sneaking up on you sometimes. It’s always moving at the same steady rate, but when you turn around to really keep tabs on it, it already seems to have skipped ahead a few months, leaving you to wonder what exactly you’ve achieved while time went on its merry jaunt.

You might be surprised or shocked by what you see since you can never really where you’ll end up. At least, that’s the impression I’ve gotten writing about anime music soundtracks for this site. When I started, there was no grand, cosmic imperative telling me that “THOU SHALT WRITE ABOUT ANIME MUSIC”; it was borne out of a desire to simply connect the music to the material so as to enrich the anime experience on a more personal level. Because of its subjective nature, there’s really not much concrete stuff to go off of in writing about why I liked or dislike a given song or album and I figured to make the best of it. Early on, I often wondered what the hell I was doing since this seemed like a trivial diversion at best. After all, shouldn’t I be concerned about securing my future through more concrete endeavors like trying to get a job promotion? Why burn my spare time doing this?

My simple answer is that I enjoy sharing the joys that I’ve gotten from listening to anime scores and either visualizing the fantastic scenes before me or just reminiscing fondly upon the series’ unforgettable moments. Soundtracks, particularly those for video games and anime, have been something that has always been with me. While I was younger, armed with a cassette tape, I’d play through Final Fantasy VI just to record the music. Once I got into anime, I’d also pay attention to the background music. I might not be eccentric enough to try to record it, but I suppose this blog is the present-day incarnation of that particular obsession. And I do hope that all of you have been able to glean something out of this effort.

Needless to say, I’ve gotten a lot more than I bargained for, given this blog’s modest beginnings. The opportunities that have popped up through channels like the Eminence Symphony Orchestra which then got me connected to Jayson Napolitano, Patrick Gann and the others at Original Sound Version are the more visible aspects of where Anime Instrumentality has taken me. No less important is the interaction with the anime fans, whether it’s here, on other people’s blogs, or elsewhere, and I’m constantly learning something new each day. Whether you’ve left a short comment calling my attention to a soundtrack that merits a look or introducing music that would otherwise not have reached my ears via MALKeionbu, it’s been a great experience all around. There were some tough times like when I had to balance working life with writing on this blog, but on the whole, it’s been gratifying. I look forward to seeing new faces and palling around with the familiar folks over this coming year.

Anniversaries give me a reason to add something new. Last year, we had the MALKeionbu set up so that it’s become a place for people to hang out and show to others some anime track that’s caught their ear. This year… well, I’m not completely sure, but the staff and I are working on something and with due time and effort, I do hope to see it materialize soon.

No, I’m not referring to the unboxing video that I made for ARIA the Box, but if you’re curious as to what was in the soundtrack collection holds, look no further:

Until then, I hope to see you around this corner of the anime fandom! Here’s to a wonderful, memorable year 3!

Vacations allow me to get away from a lot of things and I primarily use that time to undergo urban detox by going camping. For the days when I’m not out in the wilderness, I spend that time watching TV in hotel rooms. It seems like the only time I ever touch the TV is when I’m on vacation. That suits me just fine since I make up for that by watching anime the rest of the year anyhow.

Taking a vacation doesn’t get me away from anime music. I’ll blast video game and anime tunes from my iPod when I drive or fly around the country, and that is to be expected. What is unexpected is hearing anime music come out of a 24-hour financial news station. While I was in Portland, I found myself tuning in to Bloomberg TV and more specifically, a show titled “Conversations with Judy Woodruff.” I was somewhat familiar with Judy Woodruff’s work as a journalist, but I was even more familiar with the theme used for her show. Give it a listen, and no, you don’t need to listen to it in its entirety unless you like Paul Volcker; the first 10 seconds will do.

Well, that was a surprise! Maybe some of you recognized it as a work composed by Ryo Kunihiko for the Victorian Romance Emma soundtrack:

The Season
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Now, I didn’t stick around long enough for the credits to roll (it was late and I was tired). All I know is that Charles Tomaras is the show’s sound mixer, which I guess means that he selects the music and puts it all together. Does this mean that either he, or someone on Woodruff’s staff, listens to anime music and might even be an anime fan? Is that person aware of where the melody comes from or was it chosen for the show because it sounds pretty? I’m sure a quick e-mail could answer all of that if I could find out who to contact and how to contact them (the Bloomberg website is labyrinthine in this regard).

Mundane reason or not, as long as Ryo Kunihiko gets a royalty check from Judy Woodruff’s show, that’s all I can really ask for.

Ahh, terrible anime music. It’s not really an area I get to dive in as often as I’d like. Though I may search far and wide, only a handful of anime soundtracks would qualify as being truly bad. Either I’ve been too lenient with my judging criteria or there just aren’t really many genuinely bad soundtracks around. I guess that when producers or directors bring a composer on board, there’s a minimum level of competency that the composer must have, and that bar prevents the truly horrendous stuff from really surfacing. So maybe I need to be a bit harsher on the uncreative stuff like K-ON!’s soundtrack just so that I can make full use of the review spectrum. It’d probably be difficult to find soundtracks that toddlers with pots and pans could exceed anyhow.

With J-pop, it’s a different story and you don’t have to look far to find some screechfest that’s really difficult to tolerate all around. But those just end up being easy pickings and aren’t really all that fun to listen to. The gems would be the pieces that transcend badness to the point that they become unforgettable.

So in what I hope will become a recurring trend, April 1st will be reserved for the terribad. I sort of did it last year when I featured Kaere’s character song “Buta no Gohan” but that was a lame attempt at some April Fools humor. This year, I’m just going to skip the pranking and go straight on in to highlight three of the worst pieces of anime music I’ve listened to over the past year and ramble a bit. Like with my notice for the relevant MALKeionbu thread though, I’ll try to make it laughably bad.

Akikan – Koisora Recycling

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

I think I’m doomed towards liking this song in spite of its off-tune vocals and buttloads of engrish. Part of it is because I don’t think that Nomiko is really trying to sing well here and that she knows the show she’s singing for is one big joke anyhow and another part of it is because this reminds me of her work on Renkin 3-kyu Magical? Pokan’s ED, which was also silly, but memorable because of it. If nothing else, the nonsensical lyrics here fit in well with the show’s scatterbrained approach (at least, the portions of it that I did watch) and it’s good for both groans and laughter, especially if you’re like me and use it to troll friends.

Maria†Holic – Fufufu
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
This song is highly context-dependent. That is, you do need to get a feel for Kanako Miyamae’s perversions to really “get it” otherwise it’s just bad and you won’t really get your fill of entertainment value out of this piece. For those who don’t know, Kanako is a lesbian (might even be a fake lesbian; I’ll leave that to you to decide) prone to disturbing (hilarious even) fantasies. Needless to say, this ditty works because of the way Asami Sanada vocalizes Kanako’s lecherous thoughts, delivering in a manner that’s downright creepy. It still is funny though, but I will say this: if music is the window to the soul, I sure as hell don’t want to dig further into Kanako’s.

Lucky Star – Motteke! Sailor Fuku

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Nononono, the original one is actually fine. Not great, but not terrible either. The one that I had in mind was Minoru Shiraishi’s rendition of the song and he takes on the role of the clown good-naturedly and belts out a fun, but abysmal performance. The closest comparison that I can make to Lucky Star ED feat. Shiraishi would be William Hung’s infamous performance of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs,” except that Shiraishi is nowhere as bad and is smart enough to know that it’s all played up for laughs (whether it’s actually funny is something I’ll leave up to you). As taka points out later in the thread in which I nominated this piece, the Shiraishi medley is objectively worse. That is true, but I do think that this performance is just slightly more fun to listen to. Well, relatively anyhow.

Also, if you hear some infernal screaming, that would be Sorrow-kun. I take him at his word when he reviewed Lucky Star and voiced a strong distaste for this recurring gag :p

Parting Thoughts:
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
The above is my favorite bad track of the now. It’s more fun if you listen to the lyrics and try to comprehend what’s going on. Sort of like the “noodle incident” from Calvin and Hobbes in that it’s funnier when you let your imagination loose. I personally don’t know even 25% of what the singer is saying, but the picture I have in my mind is downright hilarious.

And yes, this post sprang from me being too lazy to finish writing a soundtrack review that’s been on my plate for quite some time now.

Update:
Bitmapchaos throws in his two cents. Provides an even worse version of “Koisora Recycling.” Edited in under Akikan ED8. You have been warned.

I guess the previous post in this series was more of a prologue. So bear with the lengthy introduction as I clear out some of the cobwebs. Also, because the year 2000 was when I got into anime, I’ll go a lot more in-depth in this one than I will in later posts because the volume of shows that I watched back then doesn’t even compare to what it is now.

Disclaimer: I unfortunately have not been able to solve the problem on how to turn myself into a being who no longer requires sustenance or sleep, both of which cut into my being able to watch copious amounts of anime and listen to all of their soundtracks. As such, it will be a given that I will not be able to touch upon all of them in this series. If a particular show that came out during the year highlighted did not receive a mention and you believe that it merits one because of its soundtrack, feel free to note that in the comments section. Being the soundtrack freak I am, I will add it to the list of stuff I should listen to. After all, if I can sit through Lingerie Soldier Papillon Rose’s soundtrack, I figure I can stomach anything you can throw my way.

Youtube videos are spoilered, clips contain the entire track, and with that, let’s go!

Reflections: One of the easy things about starting from the beginning is that there’s never really much to go off of and most of what you can recall turns out to be embarrassing anyway, even if you do end up looking back at it with a sigh of nostalgia. After all, when you first get into the medium, everything just seems new; you’re so transfixed by what you see that there are no preconceptions to work off of nor do you carry the sort of baggage that you accumulate as you watch more and more anime. So things that are cliche now doesn’t seem that way back then precisely because you haven’t had enough experience to know what is convention and what isn’t.

Given this blog’s music-centric focus, this seems like an odd way to start until you factor in that a part of what makes soundtracks so special is that it relies partly upon the context of the series and the nostalgia factor associated with watching it to be enjoyable. And looking back to 2000, I find shows like Love Hina standing out prominently. While I wouldn’t classify it as an outstanding show now, back when I first watched it, I was convinced that it was speaking to me regarding my future plans. Just picture someone in their penultimate year of high school who would soon deal with the whole rigmarole of college admissions, and it’s not hard to see why I was able to empathize with the male protagonist of the anime. Its depiction of the stresses and pressure arising from the need to figure out one’s future is what made me fall in love with it. Honestly, there was a time in which I thought it couldn’t be topped [1].

Even though I now know better, the series manages to stay with me not only because of the memories it brings back, but also because it had some very good music. I remember being drawn into the soundtrack, especially the second disc where all of the orchestrated tracks lay. The opening track, “Love Hina ~ Theme of Hinata-sou,” completely blew me away as I found myself enveloped in the warmth of the inn’s setting through the strings which weave a wonderfully inviting melody. Other tracks like “Pursuit” are also very enjoyable. Even though they’re short, they still manage to bring forth the themes and “Pursuit” in particular does an excellent job in bringing forth that hurried pace which brings to mind one of the more comedic scenes in the anime series.

Love Hina ~ Theme of Hinata-sou
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Pursuit
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
So while the symphonic pieces are excellent, the vocal works are worth mentioning because of how some of them grabbed at me, especially Horie Yui’s excellent vocal work on tracks like “Yakusoku,” which has that melancholy aura that brings out the longing feelings within the listener. The scene in which it’s played is really poignant and that, along with the music made it an unforgettable moment because of how my heart really went out to the characters.

Yakusoku
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
So yes, Love Hina has its ups and downs, but on the whole I rather enjoyed watching that series and listening to its excellent score helps in keeping the memories of that show alive.

Inu Yasha, which came out later that year, would not be viewed as favorably. While, it had a strong opening with a good cast of characters and a potentially epic storyline, it effectively pulverized all the goodwill it had built up by drawing itself far too long. Thankfully, it did leave us with some memorable OP/ED sequences. My first contact with Do As Infinity came through “Fukai Mori,” which opens up with a beautiful guitar part to draw me into the song and keep me in rapt attention through the soothing vocal part. Although a lot of the other OP/EDs were pretty good, none of them hold up quite as well as “Fukai Mori.”

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

The BGM’s a different beast though and to be honest, the only theme that I can even remember nowadays is that warrior-esque theme that pervades the entire series. Other than that, I wasn’t too enthralled with and so, most of Inu Yasha’s music has been forgotten. Kaoru Wada’s work has gotten a bit better in recent years though, so stay tuned for that.

Inu Yasha Gensou
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Finally, we come to FLCL, which feels more like something that someone soaks in as an experiences rather than analyze for any coherent meaning [2]. But the music was pretty phenomenal though, using The Pillows’s rock sound to give this OVA an edgy feel (with a slight dash of Shinkichi Mitsumune). It must have worked because even though I’m still vague on what it’s really all about, I still can’t forget the impression the soundtrack made on me. I know a lot of folks will cite “Ride on Shooting Star” as one of the most memorable pieces, but I personally enjoyed “Little Busters” just a bit much more. Its the catchy melody that gives it that slight edge.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

So yeah, that I covered only three anime series just goes to show how few shows I’ve seen that began in 2000. Yes, I’m aware that Boogiepop Phantom and Crest/Banner of the Stars are worthy contenders in terms of quality series and I really should get to them at some point. If someone tells me that the former has a pretty good soundtrack though, I’d place it on a higher priority because Kajiura released an arrange album titled Boogiepop: Music Inspired by Boogiepop and Others and that’s definitely worth looking into at the bare minimum.

Footnotes:
[1] Not only does this reflect my general naivete, it does reinforce the point I made earlier that yes, there is often an embarrassing element when you’re reminiscing
[2] I still don’t understand this OVA to this very day, and believe me, I’ve tried.

Over the next few weeks, save for maybe a few short reviews scattered here or there, I’ll be taking a break from individual soundtracks to look back on this past decade from the anime music enthusiast’s standpoint. This sort of reflection is appropriate; after all, it was around 2000 that I became interested in the medium and from there, the interest grew until it’s become the monstrosity that it is now. It all started with the Record of the Lodoss War OVA, expanded with shows like Cowboy Bebop and the Kenshin Tsuiokuhen OVA, and from there, the rest is history. Along the way, I also seem to have picked up a huge obsession for anime music, a habit which has given me a lot of new music to listen to but has also seemingly stunted my musical growth in other genres. Oh well, we all have our vices, right?

Each decade post will focus on one year and will include my thoughts on the music from the shows that were released in that particular year, both the intro/outro themes and the actual soundtracks themselves. Seeing how the soundtrack march will continue onwards, I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to reviewing the great soundtracks of the past, so I figure that now’s a good time as any to ramble on and give those albums their due.

Other writers out there have beaten me to the anime music decades list punch and you can find those below. Do give them a read and enjoy their thoughts on what albums or OP/EDs are worth checking out for those new to the fold or which ones are worth reminiscing over if you’ve been at this hobby for quite some time.

Good Reads:

j1m0ne has already tossed down her list of 15 anisong/seiyuu albums that have come out during the last decade. I was delighted to see a few on there that I recognized like Haruka Shimotsuki’s Tindharia no Tane. Others I need to check out, like Nana Mizuki’s ALIVE & KICKING and Yui Makino’s Tenkyu no Ongaku.

Liz Ohanesian over on the LA Weekly’s West Coast Sound blog Synthful has also published her own list of 10 OP/ED themes of this decade. Narrowing such a big list down to 10 is no mean feat, and all of the OP/EDs featured are those that I can say I approve of.

If you made a post with a similar focus and I missed you, do let me know!

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!

By now, you’re probably tired of reading anything Anime Expo-related from me, but allow me to indulge myself with this last post before we get back to our regularly-scheduled music reviewing. As I mentioned elsewhere, this year’s AX was worth it only if you had lots to spend (and given the economic situation, it probably wasn’t a whole lot), you went to the panel that I’ve ceaselessly rambled on and on about, or your tastes fit in with Morning Musume’s style of music and/or the visual-kei scene. I’ve already covered the panel so I suppose I can relax a bit with the obligatory loot post.

Obviously the centerpiece of all this is the ARIA Avvenire art book, containing images from the anime series (mostly the DVD box cover artwork). Artwork, as you might expect is beautiful and looking at the pictures sparked fond memories of the series.

As you can see from this picture, the top album is none other than Final Fantasy VIII’s FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC which contains arrangements of Final Fantasy VIII’s music set to orchestra. This album has been a favorite of mine for quite some time since Shirou Hamaguchi’s arrangements are utterly impressive and it’s about time I add a hard copy to my collection. The second is none other than Macross Frontier’s soundtrack “Nyan Furo,” an album I’ve already reviewed and but have yet to watch much of the show. Yes, those of you who know me will know that I’ve this very bad habit of listening to soundtracks without even bothering to watch the series (and the MAL Music Club has exacerbated this habit even further) and Macross Frontier’s album is just another example of that.

If the title above made you curious about what I’d be adding to my review queue, the above album should be a dead giveaway. Yes. Finally, after all this time, I’m going to try to tackle that soundtrack by giving it a thorough review that it definitely deserves. Of all the Key-to-KyoAni adaptations, Clannad stands out for having the best music and since I had been unable to locate a copy at the online stores I frequent, when I saw that album, I figured it was time to take the plunge. Last, but not least, I had a hell of a time trying to locate Toki Wo Kizamu Uta/Torch in online stores, so upon seeing that single, it became an inevitable purchase since I love Lia’s vocal work on that album.

Anyhow, didn’t purchase a whole lot compared to other con goers but I’m still quite pleased with these ill-gotten gains. There were a few regrets, like me not purchasing the Headphone Musume Art Book that ETERNAL brought to my attention awhile back, but there’s always next time (I hope). Being able to add a few soundtracks/arrange albums/singles to my ever-increasing collection is always nice even if it hurts the wallet pretty bad. Either way, now that I’ve set up an expectation as to what I’ll be reviewing, I’ve no excuses and can’t back out, so stay tuned for a Clannad OST review (after I plow through the ones that I’m currently working on).

The second installment. As you can probably tell, the first part of the talk and by extension, the post, focused more on older series and this post will move into some of the newer stuff. The previous post also had the effect of getting the Cutey Honey OP stuck in my head, partly because I was listening to it while looking for their respective OPs on YouTube. Anyways, here’s the continuation of my thoughts with regard to Alex Leavitt’s panel:

Up until this point, the samples Alex showed us were from anime series aired before 2000 (I’m not going to count Re: Cutey Honey) and so, the next sample, Honey and Clover’s ED song “Waltz” is the first to break the millennial barrier in this panel. My memory is a bit fuzzy at this point about the significance of this particular ED aside from how it sparked a personal connection since it reminded him of his days as an avid biker, a connection that was strengthened further during that segment in Honey and Clover where Takemoto undertook that journey of self-discovery on bicycle. On my end, one of the things that “Waltz” does well is the way it channels that journey in search of one’s identity in the face of expectations that society places upon you. Not a surprise that it remains a regular feature on my playlist because of its mellow, wistful melody.

Next up is the OP to Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory which was shown as an example of an opening sequence in which sound effects from the animation are used in conjunction with the music. Alex’s take on it was that the use of sound effects help get the audience involved in the show. This is where my memory gets a little hazy since I don’t recall whether he mentioned that it forges a bond between viewer and the characters or if it was some other factor. If the former, I think this was a weak example since the sound effects came from various spacecraft, which aren’t objects one could find oneself empathizing with unless one is a total mechaphile. Of course, I could have misheard what he said and that the sound effects give the audience an adrenaline rush because of the expectation that the episode will be packed to the brim with action. As for the music, I’m not all too fond of its pronounced beat nor do I think the singer puts forth that emphatic a delivery for me to be totally hooked.

We then make a short detour into the land of parody OP/EDs that deal with subculture references and what better of a choice than Lucky Star’s karaoke ED which uses Dragonball Z’s OP “Cha-La Head-Cha-La.” Given Lucky Star’s aim of being a show targeted towards an audience made up of mostly anime fans, the inclusion of “Cha-La Head-Cha-La” makes for a wonderful tribute that will resonate with most viewers. The only issue with this detour is that there aren’t that many parody OP/EDs that come to mind immediately, so bringing up this topic at all doesn’t yield a whole lot of material that one can cover. Somehow, I get the feeling that someone will comment up a list of shows that use a parody OP/ED, and I’d like to hear of any other titles that meet this criteria for the sole purpose of expanding my body of knowledge in this subject.

Neon Genesis Evangelion’s OP “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” is almost too big to ignore, and so, I wasn’t too surprised to see that one come up. According to Alex, one of the positives that OP/EDs have is that unless the music is absolutely horrid, one will inevitably come around to liking it after hearing it play for 24-26 episodes, and even then, “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” still sticks out in a class of its own, given how 2ch denizens rated it as the best OP/ED song in the most recent vote. Even now, after so many OP/EDs have come and gone, that song still manages to bring upon a wave of nostalgia whenever most anime fans hear it.

That he picked that song was no surprise, but what was interesting about this choice was when he showed us the last episode of Evangelion and you get to that scene where Shinji begins summoning up his strength of character and discards his sense of self-loathing. During that segment, the background music uses a version of “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” that starts off sad, but gradually grows to become more inspirational and confident by speeding the tempo up a bit until it reaches a breakthrough where it lingers before coming to a definite close as the screen shows all of Evangelion’s characters praising him. I’d say the use of the OP’s arrangement helps deliver that strong impact that lelangir refers to in his post about the use of the sadder arrangement of Kannagi’s OP “motto☆Hade ni ne!”

And speaking of Evangelion and by extension, Gainax, we’re treated to a bit of a history lesson in the form of the opening animation to DAICON IV which featured excellent animation work by the soon-to-be studio Gainax. The music channels that futuristic vibe through the electronica and the synthesized voice which befits the image of how people expected the future to turn out. For those not in the know, DAICON is a Japanese sci-fi convention and while what happened during that convention is largely forgotten, the animation sequence still remains memorable as a tribute to nerd culture as the sequence incorporates superheroes, spacecraft like the Yamato, and all sorts of sci-fi/nerd icons.

And since we’re still talking somewhat about OP/EDs that one must include in a presentation on OP/EDs, Haruhi’s “Hare Hare Yukai” was a no-brainer given its ability to permeate throughout the anime community, bringing in many curious onlookers and turning the show into a phenomenon. Even now, I still find its spread to be a marvel and with the second season, the excitement doesn’t seem to be abating (though the Endless Eight arc is wearing thin on quite a few out there). Alex addressed its viral tendencies and illustrated that by showing us a video of the Hare Hare Yukai live performance at Akihabara. One of the more interesting remarks he made was a comparison of how the anime subculture in Japan and the West differ. In the West, the biggest display that one might see is of people doing the dance at anime conventions, but you’ll rarely see it a performance that is out in the public sphere like the one in Akihabara. So while the West hasn’t had an otaku-related display like what we saw in Japan, you could almost say that it’s lying dormant for now, mostly restricted to posts on blogs and anime forums. Once anime becomes more accepted, it’s not hard to imagine such a performance duplicated here once the next anime with Haruhi-like levels of viralness makes its appearance.

Anyhow, this is starting to become just somewhat lengthy, so I’ll cut it off here. I should have the final installment of his talk before the week’s over. The fact that this post required 3 entries should indicate how awesome the talk was and I hope that you’ve been able to get something out of these posts.

As I wrote in my Anime Expo itinerary, one of the events that I had been looking forwards to seeing was Alex Leavitt’s panel covering anime OPs and EDs since I was interested in listening what he had to say about the music and the animation behind that. Alex started things off by giving a bit of background information and how he had already given this talk over at Anime Boston. I didn’t recall a post discussing his talk in great detail from any of the Anime Boston goers, so I think I might as well throw my two cents into the mix. But before I go any further, let me say this: the panel was conducted really well and Alex definitely demonstrated a good amount of knowledge on the subject, especially the history behind the various OP/EDs as well as doing a good comparative analysis on how OP/EDs have evolved over time. The material managed to hit that sweet spot between breadth and depth given the audience makeup, and judging from the crowd reactions, most people were enthusiastic and enjoyed the talk a lot. The only issue was that it was too short (you could seriously make a semester-long lecture series seeing just how much material one can cover). So with that in mind, here were the thoughts that went through my head during that talk:

Alex started things off by talking about the OP to Astro Boy, which I thought matched the core ideas of the show by using a children’s chorus singing in a way that clearly lauds the title character and puts him on a heroic pedestal and showed how well-liked he was by the general populace. The animation itself mostly showed him doing heroic deeds which complemented the message of the music rather well. It definitely showed its age though and Alex talks about that later (and so will I).

Next up was the OP to Space Battleship Yamato, which used a song that brings to mind the image of a long odyssey. The use of a male chorus during this segment gave it a grand atmosphere, conveying a sort of boldness that channels that age-old mantra “where no man has gone before.” I don’t think the OP’s grandiosity is something that Yamato pioneered since people back then did view space as that final frontier to be explored by the brave and the ambitious and even though we’ve advanced pretty far since the 1970s, I could almost swear that modern shows like Tytania take its cue from Yamato, insofar as OPs are concerned.

Rounding out the OPs of older shows is none other than Mazinger Z which was technically the first super robot show to grace the TV screen. As is expected, the OP uses a heroic, glorifying theme and the accompanying animation shows the robot Mazinger Z (I can safely assume that’s the robot shown in the OP) doing what I’ll simplify into “cool stuff” like shooting its arm to do a long range punch, having the head unite with the torso, and so on. After taking us through this OP, Alex then went on to show the American version, which was nothing short of cheesy. The vocals were pretty bad, but what made the piece hilariously awful was that squeal/scream at the very end, which really took the cake. Sadly, this wouldn’t be the only OP that would be used as an example of how things fell apart when brought over to the States. More on that later.

The OP to The Big O left me a bit puzzled though since I wasn’t quite sure what the stated purpose of that particular OP was. I think it had to do with the fact that the OP animation gave us very little idea of what the series is about (I think I saw a robot here and there) and the music itself gives off that generic 1970s spy music except the lyrics served no purpose other than to hit the audience over the head by telling them that they were, indeed, watching The Big O. You know, just in case they thought they were watching a James Bond movie which, from my standpoint, seemed like what the OP animation was trying to emulate.

At this point, Alex begins talking about how OPs have begun to evolve. That is, they were no longer just music overlaid on the animation sequence; a concentrated effort was made to have the two complement each other. The first example he used to highlight that was the OP to Serial Experiments Lain and the whole mysterious vibe you get from the animation captures what the show was all about. As for the music, “Duvet” remains one of my favorite OP/EDs with its melancholy, lamenting feel. The match here between the music and the animation isn’t perfect, and the next example that he uses much better illustrates this.

The three iterations of Cutie Honey serves as his example, and the interesting thing to note about it is the way he uses the same piece in all three iterations even if the effect is a bit different in each one. The original Cutie Honey’s animation had that 1970s feel to it, both in the animation and the music, though the striking thing was the animation, which, for that time period, was pretty risque given all the fanservice elements they threw around. Cutie Honey Flash, which aired in 1997, was toned down a whole lot given its target audience. The music followed suit by delivering a performance that doesn’t have quite the energy of the original song (I guess the difference in the performers had something to do with that). Finally, with the Re: Cutie Honey OVA, we saw a return to the fanservice elements, appropriately aged to fit the mores of the twenty first century and though the music for this one had a more pop-ish flavor to it, you could still feel the old version of the song just lurking beneath the surface. Unlike most of the earlier samples he showed us, Cutie Honey’s animation and music meshed together really well and that one step effectively brings us closer to the OP/EDs of today.

This would be about the halfway point of his talk. Obviously, there’s more coming, but I figure that people might want to search these OPs out and digest them so to speak. There’s a lot of history to go through and I’d highly encourage exploring the examples that Alex used to get a feel for how things have changed since the 1970s. Anyhow, you can expect Part 2 sometime tomorrow, so stay tuned for that!

Part 2 is up!

For those of you who’ve been following me on my twitter account, you should have gotten a feel for my thoughts regarding Anime Expo this year and will know that none of the available concerts have piqued my interest. I’m not a fan of Morning Musume by any stretch and visual-kei holds very little interest to me, which means the Moi dix Mois concert is completely out of the question since there are better things for me to waste time on. Since most of the value I derive from AX comes from the concerts, the lack of quality showings left me with little incentive to go, except I think I’ve found enough interesting stuff to warrant the trip. Read on after the jump to see what I will (and won’t) be doing:

First of all, I’ll only be attending on Friday, which means there’s a lot of stuff I won’t be doing, and that is a shame since they sound pretty awesome and deserve a shoutout and well wishes from me regardless (not that they’ll need it since I’m sure they’ll do great!). Animediet, AnimeGenesis, and Dancing Queen seem all set to run the Indecent Otaku Comedy Hour which they’ve been pushing pretty hard online. As if the content isn’t enough, the giveaways are just another icing on the cake, so I’d definitely encourage you all to check it out if you’re going. And of course, there’s the AX blogger meetup that’s been organized by IcyStorm and will provide an excellent opportunity to match names to faces so that you all can find out who’s behind all the mysterious posts that come up so often on all those blogs you read from time to time. Getting a chance to interface with the community is always enjoyable, but alas, I’ll have to give it a pass. Next year!

So no concerts and no community interfacing. Whatever shall I do? Turns out a lot actually. Here’s what my schedule is looking like:

Bandai Entertainment Industry Panel – 9:00am to 9:50am
Some announcements perhaps? That’d be nice to go and see what they’re up to and it’ll give me something to do instead of waiting forever for the Exhibit Hall to open while people are lining up to walk into there.

Daisuke Ishiwatari – 10:30am to 11:20am
Again, should be interesting to listen in on since I do like the Guilty Gear series of games. Not that I’m any good, mind you since I mostly play it for the music. Plus, BlazBlue got a release fairly recently and I’m wondering how they’ve done there, both from the gameplay standpoint and the music standpoint. A shame they don’t have a concert of Ishiwatari’s music though. That would have been awesome to hear “Holy Orders” live.

Anime Trivia Show – 1:00pm to 2:50pm
This is mostly to test what I don’t know because surprisingly, I don’t actually know a whole lot. My lack of knowledge about the popular stuff and mecha anime is absolutely going to crush me here. I’ve always wanted to participate in this in previous years, but somehow, I always seem to miss the day they’re holding it. Hopefully this one turns out to be enjoyable for those with limited knowledge like myself.

VIZ Media Anime & Manga Panel – 3:30pm to 4:20pm
This is actually a “maybe” since I’m not really all that into Viz’s properties. Except for maybe Monster.

Without Watching the Anime: Opening & Ending Themes – 6:00pm to 6:50pm
This is hosted by a group/person that calls itself Department of Alchemy and given the content of this blog, you can definitely bet that I’ll be showing up to this one. Not only am I interested in seeing what sorts of topics the panel runner will take us through, I’d like to be able to compare notes since I do have an article written on OP/ED themes that has yet to be published on a different website that I’ve been working on. In any case, I do look forwards to an insightful discussion here.

And that should be it! Not exactly planning to stick around for the AMV contest, but that’s effectively my tentative schedule. If there are any interesting going-ons that I’m completely missing on this list for Friday, drop me a line so I can plan appropriately!