Disc 1

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Disc 2

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Review: Possibly my favorite show of all time, FLCL is something very close to my heart, so, unsurprisingly, I find it difficult to review its soundtrack with the editorial impartiality that it deserves. That said, no praise is ever unwarranted, nor is any OST without its faults, and that is certainly the case here.

Much of the compositional credit for this soundtrack goes to The Pillows, a Japanese alternative rock band. Formed in 1989, The Pillows have proven time and time again that rock music can be deeply affecting and a lot of fun without turning the distortion to 11 or resorting to unintelligible primal screaming. Their songs are marked by careful layering and thoughtful two-guitar interplay that is almost unheard of in contemporary Western rock, showing surprising levels of sophistication without exhibiting the tiresome repetition and lazy songwriting that plague recent rock songs. Unlike those of many English-speaking bands, Sawao Yamanaka’s vocals sound honest and genuine, never angst-ridden or whiny. Those elements, combined with their good-natured, soul-searching lyrical style and overall persona, match the tone of FLCL perfectly.

Ride on shooting star

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The Pillows’ representation on these two discs consists of full songs and edits/remixes of selections taken off the albums Little Busters, Runners High, and Happy Bivouac, the final three albums of their so-called “golden age.” Notable immediately is the one song The Pillows specially composed for the show: “Ride on shooting star.” Lasting barely over two-minutes, the song is a blunt explosion of brash energy and punchy riffs that nary stops for a breath. Though it lacks a true guitar solo (a rarity for a non-edited Pillows tune), the song is simplistic and effective without overstaying its welcome. Interesting to note is the liberal use of extended interval chord tones in the melody and the harmony, characteristic of Yamanaka’s songwriting style at the time. There are lots of major sevenths and sharp ninths to be had, and, boy, are they fun to pick out.

Carnival

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“Carnival” has since become a Pillows classic and is regarded as one of their standout hits. The version included here is an edited and shortened version with the vocals removed. Despite featuring tight instrumentals and impressive guitar synchronization, “Carnival” in its edited state just doesn’t work without its vocals. Perhaps it’s due to the generic chord progression, but this edit somehow feels like a demotion to being pleasing background music. Regardless, this song is an example of the long-running Pillows tradition of inserting tidbits of pleasantly surprising sophistication into their compositions. Here, the entire guitar intro is written entirely in parallel fifths. For those who subscribe to the outdated 15^th-century “rule” of avoiding parallel fifths, I would respond by quoting composer Samuel R. Hazo: “WELCOME TO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.” While this sort of harmony can come off as strange or off-putting, The Pillows make the intro sound good, and there’s nothing more to be said in this day and age of music. (See this video for an excellent explanation of why people are taught to avoid parallel fifths.)

Bran-new lovesong

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Bran-new lovesong [FULL] [For comparison; not on the disc]

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Whereas “Carnival” was adversely affected by editing, “Bran-new lovesong” is a case where removing the vocals and tightening up the length worked very well. With the vocals removed, one can really appreciate the thought put into the instrumentals, which are too often overpowered by Sawao’s singing.  The song has a very ethereal, “life goes on” vibe that is signature of the Pillows’ work around this time. Shinichirou Sato’s drumming really shines here, while Yoshiaki Manabe’s lead guitar is artfully restrained and subdued. Much of the mood of the song comes from a very interesting I-III-vi-IV progression that is not often heard in many compositions. This song (edited or not) is among my favorite Pillows tunes, as it explores themes like self-realization, coping with loss, and the ups and downs of everyday life.

While I could explore every intricacy of every Pillows song here, I’ll keep it short and say that every one of their songs on FLCL’s soundtrack holds the standard of excellence they exhibited around this time. From the rockabilly “Crazy Sunshine” to the simply excellent “Funny Bunny” to the iconic “Little Busters” and “Hybrid Rainbow,” there are few misses by them gathered here, especially in an unedited state.

Crazy Sunshine

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Funny Bunny

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Little Busters

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Hybrid Rainbow

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Often overlooked on this soundtrack are Shinkichi Mitsumune’s pieces, which fill in the parts where a guitars n’ drums affair wouldn’t have been appropriate. Ranging from soft acoustic guitar and piano numbers to electronica dance pieces, his efforts here are effective and competent, if a bit generic and derivative.

Rever’s Edge

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Pink

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As much as his contributions worked superbly in context and are in no way incompetent, I can’t shake the feeling that his tracks wallow in genre tropes and aren’t very fun to listen to. “Rever’s Edge” sounds like another Elton John tearjerker that never was, while “Pink” is about 10 notches too far on the mindless techno side of things for my tastes. “Memory of Summer” starts out well but is marred by a baffling similarity to a certain song sung by a tea kettle in Beauty and the Beast. “High Risk” just makes me wonder why they didn’t just use a Pillows song instead, while “Weekend” seems to draw inspiration from the soundtracks of makeup infomercials. Despite all this, the inoffensive, ordinary demeanor of these songs is largely why they were so successful in their implementation in the show. These tracks were meant to unobtrusively set the mood in a way where the licensed band couldn’t, and, for that reason, I can only shrug my shoulders and acknowledge they did what they set out to do, without being anything more.

Memory of Summer

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High Risk

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Weekend

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The biggest demerit to this original soundtrack, though, is that it is not an entirely original soundtrack. As fitting and as fantastic as The Pillows are, the soundtrack’s execution feels like Gainax took the easy way out by not creating a brand-new score for the show; much the same experience can be had by just buying regular Pillows albums, which will obviously contain only full-length tracks. That said, the approach taken to the soundtrack took a lot of guts and remains a unique experience to this day. As a result, the discs achieve a level of re-playability that OSTs rarely do.

Another Morning

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Oh, yeah, and I really like The Pillows.

Rating: Excellent

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
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Pursuit
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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
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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.”

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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
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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.

Voting Thread

As of this blog post for this week’s anime music selections, there are less than 4 hours left before I close things up and prepare for week 5′s stuff.

Anyhow, this week’s theme focuses on legendary anime pieces and we’ve got a pretty decent set with plenty of variety ranging from the expected militaristic fanfares and majestic tracks to ROCKIN’ songs as well as songs infused with a Spanish/Latin flavor. The quality of the selections made it difficult to assign the points, but in the end, four tracks managed to get my favorable nod while the rest fell into the Honorable Mentions category. And with that, here are the tracks from this most legendary week:

Twelve Kingdoms – Junigenmukyou (full version)
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From the beginning, this track has an aura of mystery about it, as though it were depicting a world nestled away from the ravages of time. That atmosphere describes what I know of Twelve Kingdom’s setting really well, and it’s beautiful in that regard. Once the drumming section begins in 1:06, you begin to get a feel for the scope of this war-torn story, with its heroics and tragedies, bringing forth a sense of danger before leveling off into a sort of eerie tranquility which projects an image of the battlefield after a battle. The track’s depiction of the dichotomy between court life and the soldier’s life gives a complete picture of the political dealings of the bygone era, but it’s not over yet since the piece has one final surprise with the segue from the calm, courtly scene into a heroic, rallying battle-cry as you can feel the kingdom mobilize in an inspiring energy-filled melody. (+1)

Code Geass – Black Knights
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The Spanish/Latin rhythm makes for a wonderful effect, especially when combined with the male choral part to yield a piece that’s filled with a certain grimness and works to bring out the seriousness of the overarching plot as well as the intensity of the action-y moments. While this track doesn’t get points this week, it does serve as an enjoyable change of pace amongst the tracks nominated this week as a result of this unique mixture.

Gigantic Formula – Main theme v.0
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The fanfare in the beginning feels like a sunrise as it bursts forth in a showy display of brilliance. It’s not often that the hairs on the back of my neck raise up, but the introduction manages to achieve that like none other. The melody and the harmony complement each other so well in this majestic piece and I love the way the piece moves between the loud/majestic sections and the softer interludes that it’s difficult for me to feel bored listening to this. Awesome from start to finish and the images it instilled in my mind moved me to tears. OK, so I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff, but it’s definitely worth a listen. (+2)

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – “Libera me” From Hell
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The opera part kinda fools you in the beginning into expecting some sort of brilliance like the Queen of the Night’s song in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, but that expectation is dashed once the rap part makes its entry. From what I’ve heard about TTGL (yes, I have not seen this series. BLASPHEMY!!!), I can see how it meshes really well with the themes it espouses. As for the music though, I have difficulty enjoying the opera singer’s performance since the part starting around 1:23 feels cacophonous and directionless even though (oddly enough) I found the rap part to mesh well with the instrumentals. At least it does its job in bringing out the epic side of things and had I seen the series, I think I’d be able to appreciate this track a lot more. As it stands though, the track is decent even if I wouldn’t elevate it to “amazing” status.

Heroic Age – Heroic Age
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Even though this stands out as yet another majestic track, I can’t seem to be able to get enough of them. This piece’s puts in my mind an aerial view of a nice, quiet, beautiful valley just before dawn as the glider you’re riding upon flies into the heart of this amazing view, instilling you with a sense of serenity, as though to show the vastness and beauty that the world offers. The mood then changes and the sheer regality comes fully into being with the crescendo around 1:30 followed by a fanfare around the 2:00. There, the totality of its majesty comes into being, and one cannot help but look at in awe as it brings out that sense of sanctity, duty, and destiny. Naoki Sato deserves props for conveying that epic journey/view/whatever it’s describing. (+2)

Berserk – BEHILIT
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Yes, this one is different and I wouldn’t call this legendary as much as lost… or maybe that’s because the track gives me the feeling I might get if I were in an untamed jungle where danger might lurk around any corner. You can sort of hear this from the harmony, which has an affect of creating tension through its tempo and repetitive nature. It’s a nice change of pace though, but not point-worthy in light of some of the better selections.

FLCL – I Think I Can
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This particular piece actually sounds pretty good with all the awesome guitar work going in the background to provide an interesting backdrop to the vocals with all its grooviness while going through the verses. However, my rating on this piece plummets around 0:41 when the words “I think I can” are being sung in the chorus section. Those lyrics are just too cheesy for my tastes because it puts the image of The Little Engine That Could into my mind and I can’t divorce those intertwining thoughts from each other, turning a ROCKIN’ song into one that’s silly. If you wanted an example of a piece that could be ruined by just one section, “I think I can’s” chorus section would be a great example of that.

Read or Die OVA – Bring all the wisdom to Great Britain!
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And yet… this piece also brings forth a bit of cheese, but it’s an enjoyable sort of cheese if you keep the backdrop of the series in mind since the concept of the British Library being in control of Britain’s super secret spy squad makes for an entertaining plot. The militaristic music is over-the-top, but I wouldn’t have it any other way and it makes for an enjoyable listen as you imagine the troops assembling to perform the task hinted at in the piece’s title through their objective of preventing powerful books from falling into the wrong hands.

Princess Mononoke – Legend of Ashitaka
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I really love this piece and it’s probably one of the first soundtracks that caught my attention way back in the infancy of my anime experience. It captures the essence of the movie really well, starting off with the grim opening that paints Ashitaka as a man on a mission to cure his disease and in doing so, setting the epic journey into its proper perspective. It’s subtle, but emotionally stirring and it will always stand out as one of Hisaishi’s better pieces.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack – Segment III: Sally
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“Sally” feels grim and brooding with a hint of impatience, conveying the atmosphere and emotions that people feel right before a battle is about to commence. The air is thick with anticipation and both sides seem to be eager to rush forth and engage the opposition and with that crescendo, the piece moves into a rallying cry of sorts. At this point, you can feel the intensity of the battle as both sides send their troops forth (or “sallying,” if you will ) with cries for heroism and valor. Another strong piece that edges out the preceding one based on the novelty factor. (+1)

So there you have it! My point distribution can be found below. Week 5′s theme will be based on pop vocals, so if you want to get a head start, feel free to start digging into that week’s selections. A voting thread will be created once I compile all the music together, but I look forwards to giving them a listen! And I also hope to see some new faces turn up!

(+2) Gigantic Formula – Main theme v.0
(+2) Heroic Age – Heroic Age
(+1) Twelve Kingdoms – Junigenmukyou (full version)
(+1) Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack – Segment III: Sally