Reminiscing over the Decade’s Anime Music – 2007
OP/ED
The commentary on the soundtracks will continue since I do have some opinions to lay out here, but this area will prominently focus on the OP/EDs that we all love so much.
Admit it, when you listen to the kind of music that Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! serves up, everything just plays second fiddle to the “Seioh School Anthem,” which fills you with inspiration. But I do like the OP theme though, since it’s the first time I’ve heard Megumi Hayashibara in a long long time.
[spoiler show=”Manabi School Anthem”]
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[spoiler show=”Manabi OP – Happy Life”]
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Blue Drop’s inclusion on this list probably comes from the Suara factor since I do like her voice even if the songs start meshing together since they all sound the same. I am a sucker for soft, serene music in the opening, and Suara’s energetic fare in the ending.
[spoiler show=”Blue Drop OP/ED”]
[/spoiler]
I say Bokurano, you think “Uninstall.” The ending themes were decent, but I’ve yet to find someone who wasn’t totally entranced by Chiaki Ishikawa’s delivery on the OP.
[spoiler show=”Bokurano OP – Uninstall”]
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Somehow, Ghost Hound’s OP theme always struck me as being just a tad underrated. Do pay attention to how the singer manages to channel that haunted vibe really well and how it combines with the saxophone’s discordant melody that grates at your ears to depict some supernatural entity screaming or something. Not your typical, everyday kind of opening, so here’s one for creativity and diversity.
[spoiler show=”Ghost Hound OP – Poltergeist”]
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I’m not really sure what to do here since nearly every one of Hayate the Combat Butler’s OP and ED sequences were really catchy and fun. KOTOKO certainly delivers in the OP (the second one, not so much), I’ll occasionally find myself humming “Chasse’s” really catchy opener, and of course, IKU’s wonderful voice in “Ko no me kaze” will always stick with me. Mell’s effort for “Proof” and Mami Kawada’s “Get My Way” are decent, though the latter gets a bit too repetitive for my tastes.
[spoiler show=”Hayate OP/EDs”]
Hayate no Gotoku
Proof
Chasse
Ko no me kaze
[/spoiler]
The best part of Myself; Yourself, is probably not the content of the show so much as the OP sequence, which really gets its groove on in a way that’s very pleasing. The show is a bit of a mess though, so you’ll want to stay away. As for me, I’ll just grab the full-length OP with all the animation included and watch that over and over since there’s more entertainment to be had.
[spoiler show=”Myself; Yourself OP – Tears Infection”]
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KimiKiss is one of those series that I can never will myself to listen to the soundtrack and there aren’t really any good reasons for that beyond my attention flitting elsewhere, such as when new stuff comes out. But the OP/EDs are those that I’ll find myself returning to, especially when you have the sheer emotive beauty that Suara’s “Wasurenaide” put forth. Add in an OP by marble and you’ve got me sold.
[spoiler show=”Kimikiss OP/ED”]
[/spoiler]
I’ve never cared for Nodame Cantabile’s actual BGM mostly because they end up being dwarfed by the awesome classical pieces that the characters would play in pretty much every episode. Why bother with Suguru Matsutani’s compositions when you have Rachmaninoff and Brahms delivering their majestic pieces unto us? There isn’t. At least the OP is solid and I’m not sure many can turn away from its high-octane energy delivered through the piano.
[spoiler show=”Nodame Cantabile OP – Allegro Cantabile”]
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Other Mentions
I’d try to say something meaningful about Heroic Age, except I’ve only listened to one track so far. Granted, it’s a really impressive track that feels like the coming of a new dawn, but that’s hardly enough to judge a soundtrack off of. The same can be said for Bamboo Blade and El Cazador de la Bruja. The former got some praise from people, though I haven’t listened to it myself. As for the latter, it’s Yuki Kajiura composing once more, though people do like her effort on El Cazador just a bit more mostly because it doesn’t sound like the usual Kajiura soundtrack. That last sentence is unconfirmed though since I haven’t heard enough of it to formulate an opinion one way or another.
I’ve already mentioned Baccano! once above, and while I’m full of praise for the OP, the soundtrack doesn’t exactly light my fire. Most of the problem lies in the tracks not being all too distinct. While Oh! Edo Rocket’s music is always full of energy and life, you can tell them apart. Baccano!’s score is more of an amorphous blob in the way the tracks meld together and when I can’t tell one track from the next, I’m not going to remember a great deal about the soundtrack.
Sola’s soundtrack suffers from a similar problem, except this time, it’s the piano that feels uninspiring, and so, I end up falling asleep when I listen to Sola’s offerings. Hopefully, I’m not missing anything special though, since I can’t, for the life of me, remember much of the BGM beyond the soporific effects. Maybe it’s better that way.
Finally, Clannad is probably something I can gloss over since I’ve already talked about it at great length. If you ask me, the major takeaway there is that Lia should be doing more of the singing since riya’s delivery, especially in “Tiny Palm,” isn’t heartfelt enough.
Whew, that about wraps it up. Even with this effort, I wouldn’t be surprised if I left something out so do chime in with your thoughts about these selections or other stuff that you think deserve to be propped.
Yes, 2007 was a good year. In the later Nodame seasons my wife and I both just couldn’t get into the other OPs, but we did love Allegro Cantabile so much. The later ones just didn’t capture the same essence or energy that song had.
And ditto on the Myself;Yourself opening. I think I may have sat through that whole series just because of that. One of those things I started, and needed to finish
Gigantic Formula was one series I truly enjoyed, and partially because the music fit the piece so well. When I think back to it, the music does stand out as one of my first thoughts.
I’d add Tsuneyoshi Saito’s soundtrack to Dennou Coil to the list of 2007’s best. Dennou Coil is possibly the best series since Haibane Renmei, and part of the reason is the soundtrack, which fits the anime perfectly and stands well on its own.
Oh! Edo Rocket, the second-best series of 2007, is every bit as bold and brash as you guessed, and completely off-the-wall as well. Much as I like the soundtrack, though, it leaves me a bit uneasy — at what point does homage to the swing originals become plagiarism?
Ghost Hound was the worst disappointment of 2007, but the opening song is great. Mayumi Kojima has since become one of my favorite singers.
Dennou Coil definitely deserves a mention here, especially the OP. I really didn’t like the Myself; Yourself OP at all (in fact, the only thing I did like about that show was the character designs), while sometimes I feel like the only person who thinks the Kimikiss OP >>>> the Kimikiss ED. (Although the EDs are integral to Kasai’s trademark cliffhangers… I swear, he’s built his house on those). Speaking of Kasai (he was busy that yeah… and in form), if the Nodame Cantabile OP rates a mention, then so does the first ED.
Is the Kaiji soundtrack worth a mention? It probably isn’t quite as good as the Akagi one, but a few of the tracks are memorable.
I don’t remember much about the Sola soundtrack either… Except the song from the very beginning of the first episode. Slow, soporific, but also haunting in retrospect.
This is the first time I’ve really tried listening to the Kimikiss OP. It’s actually kinda catchy!
There are a lot of OP/ED that could also have been included like Minami-ke, Seto no Hanayome, Moyashimon as well as Dennou Coil.
Dennou Coils OST never has grabbed me. I agree it has quality of production but only one or two of the pieces ever grabbed me.
I find it funnier I thought of both Uninstall and Blue for the Ethereal theme. I’ve been looking for a week to nom Uninstall it’s such a good song. Maybe cover week since everyone and there mother has covered it.
@kimaguresan
Agreed that “Allegro Cantabile” was just heads and shoulders above all of the subsequent Nodame OP/EDs and even though I love “Sky High,” it never has the energy that “Allegro” packs to make it a memorable experience.
And Gigantic Formula just packs its epicness really well and I can listen to it over and over without ever feeling bored. At this point, it’s a matter of when I get to watching the show rather than if I get to it at all.
@Don and @Sorrow-kun Re: Dennou Coil
Dennou Coil is one of those shows that I watched 3 episodes of and promptly stopped watching for no good apparent reason. Now, Tsuneyoshi’s name is familiar to me since I loved the work he did on Fafner’s OST, so I guess summer might be a good opportunity to immerse myself into Dennou Coil’s setting.
@Don
Glad to hear another opinion on Oh! Edo Rocket, which backs up the two opinions I’ve heard so far in praise of that series. Given my lack of background on American jazz, which artists would you say Oh! Edo draws its inspiration from?
Agreed with Ghost Hound for starting off so well, and then falling apart at the end. I was really irritated with that since the story was pretty good up until the point in which they just ran out of ideas completely.
@Sorrow-kun
I guess that position on Kimikiss depends on how big of a marble fan you are =p Also agreed with the Kasai angle. He does do a good job of building up that tension which somehow segues into the ED really well. Now that you mention it, I remember feeling that way for Honey and Clover, Nodame, and of course, Kimikiss.
As for Kaiji, the omission is because I simply never listened to its music. Too focused on the Games o’ Death and the tension that it all entailed to pay attention to it all.
@2DT
Sounds like I’ll need to jog my memory on that one, though the show did irritate me enough that I’d rather not 😀 And yeah, has marble done any mediocre anime OP/EDs? I sure can’t think of any!
@Taka
There’s a lot that can be put in there, but that would have been overkill, though I will readily admit that Moyashimon’s chiptune goodness deserves a spot. Maybe I’ll go and do a few stealth edits….
And maybe you should toss in Uninstall for Ethereal.. unless something else comes to mind…
Dennou Coil -> seconded!
Two OSTs that I feel need some recognition:
Manabi Straight’s OST > OP/ED IMO, though not by very much. It’s one soundtrack that characterises the vibrant teenage years and its ups and downs well.
Toward the Terra. To me it’s Takanashi’s best OST even now, and also he needs some recognition after rising to the spotlight with Jigoku Shoujo in ’06… but well there’s the Fairy Tail review here already. 🙂
And I need to watch Sketchbook.
Karu! makes me want to watch episode three of Seirei no Moribito again (which opens with this track). That is one of my favorite fight scenes of all time, and the episode on the whole is amazing.
An interesting part of that series was how a folksong was adopted as the main theme and arranged in several different ways (including the “stately” version you provided). It was an interesting use of music.
I brought up the question of just whose music the Oh! Edo Rocket soundtrack is on my other weblog a couple of years ago. The consensus was that there’s a lot of Glenn Miller there.
@ottocycle
I’m trying to get a grasp for how to describe Dennou Coil’s soundtrack. It really does have this modern edge to it that compares to… I don’t know… Shostakovich? Maybe some other Russian composer.
As far as Manabi’s OST, it’s due for a relisten since I honestly don’t remember a whole lot about it. And Toward the Terra? Well, we’ve pretty much beat that discussion to bits, so it’s something I’ll get to… eventually.
And yes, everyone needs to watch Sketchbook.
@Joojoobees
Isn’t it? I can remember that seen with all its fluidity and clarity. That’s got to rank as one of my favorite animated battle sequences I’ve ever seen since the choreography was mind-blowingly good. I also really do like that folk song they used. It’s a good way to impart the setting unto the viewer.
@Don
Well, that’s a name I’m familiar with, but I’ve not listened to his works, so that’s a good lead to work off of. I’ve always needed a good lead-in for jazz anyhow. Thanks!
I haven’t been following you long enough to realize… Sakimoto Hitoshi fan weee~!!! Although, his works didn’t stand out for me until recently (starting with the FF12 OST), since his style has been changing and developing more and more into a Hans Zimmer feel. Epic music is epic~
ef OSTs proved the Minori’s music team is quite solid, especially on matching the melodrama; still bit of a toss-up when compared to Key’s team with Shinji Orito though.
I just realized that 2007 has not been a good anime year for me. Strike Witches is the only one I’ve seen from the list. It does have a really fun track.
@Aorii
Oh man, I’ve been a Sakimoto fan since I’ve first laid ears on the FFT soundtrack. While I disagree that he’s becoming a Zimmer, since his music has that distinct medieval feel to it, it has definitely evolved and I’ve always marveled at how far he’s come since his soundtrack for Ogre Battle (which is the earliest work of his that I’ve heard). Now, if you’re saying he’s scaling up the epic ladder like the way Zimmer does, I’d agree with that.
Also, I still maintain that Maeda is the better composer between him and Orito. Togoshi is pretty solid too, and once you combine all the Key composers together, they’d make a good match against Tenmon and the others at Minori.
@Yi
I think you’d be missing out on quite a few gems. Dennou Coil is, by all accounts, a solid show, and I can testify to sketchbook and Hidamari Sketch being both excellent, beating K-ON handily in the entertainment department. You may want to give either of those two a shot.
But yeah, Strike Witches is a bit underrated, but the music is really enjoyable.
RxJ and Heroic Age are the two soundtracks you’ve talked about that I’m most familiar with. RxJ has a beautiful main theme, sounds like it’s been recorded in a good place (you wouldn’t believe how important this is), and Sakimoto really just shows off his skills in general.
My other favorite track on the Heroic Age soundtrack besides the main theme? http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/tEW_vJB_HHY/
I love the sense of urgency this piece conveys.
The strings in Kawaii’s usually sound very echoey. I’m sure he adds in the sound effect, but sometimes I’d prefer the instruments to not sound so wishy-washy and distant. I’m sure it works for mood-setting in anime, but it doesn’t work (for me) as a stand alone listen.
I enjoyed Dennou Coil’s EP/OP singer Ayako Ikeda’s voice very much, but the actual OST didn’t make big impressions.
Pretty good year overall.
Pretty good writeup, 2007 was a stellar year for anime music in general.
I do think you missed two big ones: Code Geass and Darker than Black. CG has one of the most bombastic scores of the decade, and DtB has the Yoko Kanno thing going on along with one of the most awesome and meme-tastic openings of all time: “Howling”. You can’t bring up 2007 without bringing either show up, Code Geass’ score put Kotaro Nakagawa, FLOW, and Sunset Swish on the map (JINN and Ali Project were already on the map), and Darker than Black had an immersive, atmospheric score (though the released soundtrack wasn’t all that great, the tracks that were put on the Japanese Blu-Ray release really flesh that soundtrack out).
@Yu
Yup, Naoki Sato sure knows how to compose epic-sounding music. His work on Eureka Seven and then Heroic Age are just two good examples of that. As for RxJ, it was recorded via the Eminence Symphony Orchestra, so that’s always going to make it sound great.
And bingo for nailing the issue I have with Kawai (as if I can’t mention it enough!).
@macattack
Good lord, I can’t believe I forgot about Code Geass (it would have appeared in 2006’s column, except I didn’t touch on it there either. blargh!). Yeah, I’ll make sure to make amends in 2008 for Geass2 once I listen to it. Kotaro Nakagawa has been pretty awesome anyhow…
As for DtB, I’ve heard from other people that it’s one of Kanno’s weaker offerings, but I’ve not confirmed that myself though you seem to agree with the general opinion that the soundtrack disc itself wasn’t that memorable. Not sure what people say about the tracks that came with the BR release though.
If you can’t tell, I haven’t seen Geass or DtB =P
I love your “over the decades” articles on anime music!! 2007 is a very unfamiliar year concerning anime for me. I haven’t heard much of most of the anime series and music that you mentioned.
I especially enjoyed A Moon Filled Sky from ef – a tale of memories, that melancholic violin is just too tempting for me, lol.
@cj
ef also packs a lot of enjoyable melodrama on top of that, and if you can get yourself used to Shaft’s visual style in depicting some of those scenes, you’ll find it to be an enjoyable ride. Also, it goes without saying that Tenmon’s/Yanagi’s score is going to make for an enjoyable listen.
Coincidentally, I have listened to only one theme from Heroic Age as well. I can’t recall the name but it was the large-scale main theme; fantastic. Oh yes, Uninstall from Bokurano is great and it still remains in my current playlist 🙂
Oh man, “Touch” makes me want to go finish watching Romeo x Juliet…
@Canne
Yup, when you’re dealing with Ishikawa (even during her See-Saw days), she’ll still turn in solid results, and Bokurano’s OP is about as solid as you get. Also, I think the main theme for Heroic Age is… “Heroic Age” :p
@Reltair
Do let me know what you think. I got sick of the characters about halfway through. Not even Tybalt could have saved the show for me.
Gigantic Formula’s theme makes me smile and regret that I only watched 1 episode of the show.
@zzeroparticle
Oh really, how silly of me XP
@Kaioshin Sama
Never too late to catch up on it and make amends (though I don’t know how good of a show it is, so)
@Canne
All good and perhaps I ought to listen to the entire thing =p
Your mention of Romeo X Juliet is much deserved. Like you I have been a fan of Sakimoto since FFT and Romeo X Juliet is by far one of his best works. It is also the only work he did that I know of where he got an orchestra for the entire soundtrack. I hope he does another anime soundtrack like it at some point.
@Sirusjr
Yup! FFT was the first Sakimoto soundtrack I’ve ever purchased and Romeo x Juliet was the first anime soundtrack I’ve ever purchased. The work Eminence Symphony did on this was absolutely outstanding and I’d easily peg RxJ to be in his top 3 compositions.
And now that you mention it, maybe I should listen to his work on Tower of Uruk or whatever that show was…
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