In looking at a list of shows and movies released in 2004, the one thing that I notice is the huge gulf in the quantity of shows released during 2004 versus 2003. When I look at such lists, it becomes a constant reminder of what great shows I’ve missed out on. For instance, 2004 was a year that saw the airing of titles like BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, Elfen Lied, and Paranoia Agent and I have yet to see any of those. Perhaps time will be kind enough for me to go back to give these shows a fair shot, but at this stage in my life, that’s not exactly an option.

So what of the shows that I did see? It’s so huge a list that to cover them all requires me to spend days happily rolling a soundtrack and taking in every note and chord that comes my way and describe it in elaborate detail. In short, it’s not practical, so I’ll keep it as short as I can and leave it to you readers to reminisce and explore these soundtracks on your own.

Note: Once again, youtube videos are spoilered, clips contain the entire track, and with that, let’s go!

It’s really hard for me to believe that Mai-HiME came out in 2004 since it’s always seemed like only yesterday that I watched the action and drama unfold. Maybe a part of that is because how often I give Yuki Kajiura’s score a listen and how tracks like “Ensei ~Omou Kokoro~” are always going to impress me in the way it weaves a mix of mystery and beauty while tracks like “Gakuten-Ou Kenzan!” never skimps out on the action. The soundtrack covers its bases pretty well, and it’s not a surprise that of Kajiura’s soundtracks, this gets the most listens from me.

Ensei ~Omou Kokoro~
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
In contrast to Mai-HiME, Fafner in the Azure might have had action, but it left me utterly bored. The effect that this had was that I ended up paying a whole lot of attention to the soundtrack because it was that good. I really marveled at Tsuneyoshi Saito’s compositions because his orchestral melodies that bordered on the epic while retaining a sense of the melancholy. While the orchestral bit is usually enough to win me over, he also puts in a piano concerto in “-SHOKO-,” which elevates the soundtrack further. I just love the way “-SHOKO-” brings out the depths of despair as we are constantly reminded of the tragedy. Also, you won’t find any atmospheric pieces as this soundtrack brings a really strong focus on the melody which is something I can definitely appreciate.

-SHOKO-
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
We depart from the action-oriented shows and get into the taboo love that characterizes Koi Kaze. Not only were they able to bring out a really mature story given the setup they had, the soundtrack was also a blast with Takumi Masanori and Makoto Yoshimori at the helm. I’m particularly won over by the former’s piano tracks through with stuff like the “Main Theme” catching my attention really well. Maybe that’s just because I’ve really enjoyed it after listening to it on loop in the DVD’s menu. The general atmosphere is emotionally rich, yet restrained which reflects the taboo-laden nature of the relationship between the two siblings.

Main Theme
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Since we’re pretty heavy on the themes of love, Tenmon’s soundtrack for Beyond the Clouds: The Place Promised in our Early Days is always worth a listen. There might be quite a few similarities across Tenmon’s works, but this consistency allows us to compare how he depicts his love themes. “Beyond the Clouds” might start a bit heavily, but as the piece progresses, it sure does an excellent job of bringing those heartfelt loving feelings to the surface.

Beyond the Clouds – The Promised Place
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Finally, we come to Rozen Maiden, which features a good mix of violin, piano, harpsichord, and other instruments scattered about the album which works together to match the show’s setup. In a way, this show requires the mix that you get from a show like Mai-HiME; that is, you need many different kinds of themes to capture both the serious and the whimsical moments that the show serves up. For the most part, Shinkichi Mitsumune succeeds in delivering them unto us.

Bright Red
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

It ain’t over yet though. This list is already getting too long and is sorely in need of a page 2 where I’ve cobbled a list of OPs (and an ED) that I found to be worth my while. They might be worth yours too.

On to Page 2

Review: Before I start, I’d like to mention that this review will make numerous references to pieces from both the Rozen Maiden (abbreviated RMOST) and the Rozen Maiden Träumend (abbreviated RMTOST) soundtracks, so it might be handy to have them at your disposal if you want to follow along. Granted, I understand that not everyone will have access to these, so I’ll try to describe the pieces as I go.

But first, I’d like to share this full-length piece that’s unrelated to this album. The video game music fanatics among you will recognize this as an arrangement of the Balamb Garden and Ami themes from Final Fantasy VIII, composed by Nobuo Uematsu and arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

The point of this exercise isn’t to admire “Balamb Garden ~ Ami’s” elegance (though it is a very beautiful piece), but it’s to show how an arrangement can blend two themes so seamlessly that it sounds complete rather than a piece that resulted when someone stitched two pieces together. I’d say that an arranger who seeks to do this should learn from Hamaguchi and consider which two pieces to combine and how to combine them to make the arrangement a solid, standalone piece.

Based on the above objective, UbiQuinta’s efforts on the Rozen Maiden Strings Sound Album demonstrate that UbiQuinta has a ways to go before matching Shiro Hamaguchi’s skill at arranging music, but the gap isn’t as wide as before. While flaws like the abruptness of the transition from one theme to the next and the mixing of two incongruous themes in the same track do crop up in this album, they aren’t nearly as maddening as they were in the Piano Sound Album, making these flaws a slight annoyance rather than an outright distraction.

Unfortunately, you’ll still have to bear with them and the first instance of this occurs in “Laplace no Ma,” which exhibits an abrupt transition as it goes from the “Destiny” (RMTOST) theme over to “Coward’s” (RMOST) theme at the 1:29 mark. Up until that point, the piece delivers a solid arrangement by keeping “Destiny’s” melancholy violin melody until “Coward’s” staccato rhythm makes its jarring entry because it’s stylistically different from “Destiny’s” rhythm. Luckily, from that point on, there’s little to complain about because the theme from “Laplace” (RMTOST) is so seamlessly blended into “Coward’s” midst that you won’t notice its presence unless you listen carefully. That is how the piece should have been executed all along and had that little hiccup not occurred from “Destiny” to “Coward,” we would have had an excellent, thematically consistent track on our hands.

One cannot say the same for “Otome wa Tenshin Ranman’s” consistency because it does a poor job of combining its three themes. The piece begins the bouncy, upbeat melody from “Worrying Hobby” (RMOST) which is more enjoyable this time around through a variation on the theme while retaining the identifiable baseline harmony. The transition issue crops up after the pizzicato section where “Days of Agony’s” (RMOST) entry is atrocious because its funky, grim rhythm is at odds with “Worrying Hobby’s” general upbeat atmosphere. Once the piece segue’s into “Naïveté’s” (RMOST) more joyful, innocent-sounding melody, the transition sticks out slightly, but its inclusion gives this piece some structure that’s one can appreciate since the two tracks mesh well with each other since “Worrying Hobby” and “Naïveté” mesh well together.

The good news is that “Laplace no Ma” and “Otome wa Tenshin Ranman” bear the brunt of my complaints, which speaks well for the rest of the album. To be fair though, UbiQuinta doesn’t make as many attempts at combining themes together, so the opportunities for messing up aren’t as numerous as it was in the Piano Sound Album.

In any case, there’s plenty of variety to delight the listener. “Detective Kunkun” sticks to the cheesy, but enjoyable funky jazzy feel of the original, albeit with string instruments that makes for an interesting listening experience if you’ve never heard a violin play jazz. “Shun” and “Hitori” together demonstrate that UbiQuinta’s skill in arranging some of the more melancholy fare from the soundtrack. The former manages to bring out a feeling of loneliness and isolation through a dominating violin melody while the rest of the strings stay subtly in the background. “Hitori,” on the other hand stays true to “Lonely Heart’s” (RMOST) despondent melody while adding just a glimmer of hope here and there. And of course, people looking for more action-y tracks will be pleased with “Tatakai no Unmei,” which takes the violin and guitar vibes from “Old Adversary” (RMOST) and brings out the intensity of the fighting scenes in the anime.

Finally, “Kibou wo Dai te’s” arrangement of “Towards Tomorrow” (RMTOST) offers a soothing melody that’s filled with optimism as to suggest that the characters will find a way to break the chains of fate that’s bound them to eternal warfare, making it a suitable piece with which to close out the BGM portion of this album.

This album wouldn’t be complete without a violin version of the opening and ending themes to Rozen Maiden Träumend. Unlike in the Piano Sound Album the quality of the tracks are reversed. ALI PROJECT’s “Seishoujo Ryouiki” is better presented through a string quartet compared to “Kinjirareta Asobi’s” piano treatment because of the way the string quartet brings forth a sense of anxiety that the original piece exhibits. On the other hand, the arrangement of kukui’s “Hikari no Rasenritsu” results in a dull track because its attempt stays too true to the original, which robs it of the creativity it needs to stand on its own.

Overall, Rozen Maiden Strings Sound Album represents a step up for UbiQuinta, who feels more comfortable dealing with the timbre that a string quartet offers over a solo piano. Had UbiQuinta been able to fix the issues that plagued the Piano Sound Album, this album would have become an instant favorite. While I have this lingering feeling that this was a missed opportunity to correct the deficiencies that existed in the piano album, those problems aren’t quite as virulent, making this disc one that’s worth your while, especially if you enjoy Rozen Maiden’s music or want to listen to a string quartet as a diversion from your usual repertoire.

Rating: Good

Music Sampler

Review: I wouldn’t have expected Rozen Maiden to receive the piano treatment, but in retrospect, there’s a strong case for doing so since many of the pieces on the soundtrack either use piano or make for good candidates for rearrangement. So after going through the Rozen Maiden Piano Sound Album, only one word came to mind when the music stopped: underwhelming. The execution fell short of my expectations and though the music isn’t bad per se, there were enough moments in which one or a combination of the following took place: either the harmony and melody didn’t work well in tandem, the transitions between the sections within each piece weren’t quite as smooth, or the piece should never have been rearranged in the first place. All told, the Piano Sound Album suffers from a series of tiny missteps that mar an otherwise good album.

Things don’t start off too badly with “Tanjou -Kedakaki Dolls-,” a piece that mixes tranquility though its slow tempo early on with a tinge of the melancholy that becomes more apparent as the piece builds up to that first shift around 2:22 where the piece becomes more somber by going into the minor key as to hint at the dolls’ eventual struggle. The section that takes over around 3:15 sounds a bit more hopeful as though there were some way to break the cycle of violence, and the hope grows as the piece continues. Overall, it’s a solid track that suffers ever so slightly from having a left hand section that sounds a bit too repetitive, but not overly so as to make it an unpleasant listen.

As far as first impressions go, this was a decent choice because it highlights this album’s biggest strength: its ability to convey the futility that the dolls undergo. “Bara Otome no Unmei” channels this feeling through its flowing melody that carries a solemn vibe as though the dolls are aware of what they must do to survive and achieve their goal of becoming Alice. Likewise, “Otome no Ishi” feels ominous as a result of the overbearing melody before it transitions to a lighter section that nevertheless exudes a sense of desperation. Though there are a few moments in which the melody tries to reassure the listener that things might not end up so bad, the overwhelming mood of this track is slanted towards a sense of grim duty, especially at 3:24 where the tempo slows down and the piece moves slowly and deliberately before leaving the listener hanging in suspense.

However, UbiQuinta’s solemn arrangements do go a bit too far at times, resulting in tracks like “Odayakana Nichijou” which feels just a bit too subdued given the way “Neat Sister” and “Change” originally sounded. It begins by taking the theme from “Neat Sister” and slows the tempo down to the point where it wipes out the spontaneity that the original offered, thereby lowering the piece’s effectiveness, especially in light of “Change,” which also lacks the upbeat feeling that made it enjoyable. Together, you’d expect this combination to yield a bouncy track that carries a sense of fun derived from day to day life, but unfortunately, the tone of this arrangement doesn’t bring out this track to its fullest potential.

Even though “Odayakana Nichijou” might have missed the point of the original, at least it’s nowhere as jarring as “Chiisana Otome” which suffers from a terrible transition as it tries to use a five note motive to hide the incompatibilities of its two sections. The first section goes up to 1:40 and runs the gamut from being regal to carrying a sort of tension through the occasional dissonant part here and there. Everything is fine until the piece switches into slice-of-life mode by putting in an arrangement of “Passion” from the soundtrack. Unfortunately, the two sections don’t fit too well together and it makes the piece feel bipolar as though it is unsure whether to pack in the stately tone or to just let go with “Passion’s” more laid-back melody.

“Rozen Maiden” is much better executed, but suffers from a different sort of integration issue. This light-hearted piece has an underlying regal theme to it as it combines “Noble Dolls” and “Garden Party” into one track. But while “Noble Dolls” was originally composed for violin and harpsichord, giving it a Baroque flavor, “Garden Party” brings out the regal vibe from the Classical tradition, thereby creating a rather strange dichotomy. They match up in terms of the theme, but the sections are stylistically different enough that it becomes noticeable.

Thankfully, the majority of the tracks are enjoyable and as I said earlier, it’s the small, niggling details that lower this album’s stock in my eyes. That’s a shame too because there’s enough variety to keep this album from becoming boring. “Yuukei’s” arrangement of “On a Gentle Hill” is faithful in the way it interprets the original’s relaxing atmosphere without being bound to the original. “Detective Kunkun” manages to one-up the original by bringing out the jazz/swing aspect of its soundtrack counterpart and doing an excellent job in transitioning the original keyboard and guitar melody over to piano. And of course, “Alice Game” is excellent in the way it packs the action and excitement through its pacing and harmony which feels like a big clash as the dolls engage in battle, take a bit of a breather during the fight, and resume the full fury of their assault.

Finally, the album closes out, appropriately enough, with “Toumei Shelter -Piano Sound Version-” which drifts along and gets a bit repetitive at times, but survives the transition to piano better than its OP counterpart, “Kinjirareta Asobi -Piano Sound Version-” which lacks originality and its melodic shifts are too inexplicable to be enjoyable.

By far, the biggest flaws in this album come from the noticeable transitions as the piece switches from one section to the next and the imperfect transitions can get in the way of being able to fully enjoy the tracks for what they are. To be sure, they are slight missteps, but the small missteps add up and one cannot help but think that the Rozen Maiden Piano Sound Album could have been more competently executed with a few more edits to the arrangements themselves. While it’s by no means bad, I’d only strongly recommend this for Rozen Maiden fans who want to see Shinkichi Mitsumune’s works transcribed over to piano. Otherwise, your mileage will vary.

Rating: Decent

Music Sampler