In the second (and perhaps final) installment of My Favorite Anime Soundtracks we pay due homage to another of Japan’s great composers. We’ll also discuss the eccentric music of a somewhat obscure gothic anime that deserves your attention.

In Part 1 of My Favorite Anime Soundtracks we talked about some very well known series and one very well known composer, the amazing Yoko Kanno. She makes another appearance in this list, but we’ve got to give some props to some other fine music first.

Noir OST
There are two names that are constantly mentioned in any well-informed conversation about Anime soundtracks. One is obviously Yoko Kanno. The other is a young lady by the name of Yuki Kajiura. She’s done a lot of work in anime, including Loveless, Madlax, and the .hack series. In my opinion though, her work in Noir was some of her best.

Noir’s soundtrack (which is broken up into 3 compilations) is kind of comprised of two types of music: the techno and pop tracks that help provide energy for the action scenes in the anime, and the soft, sad tunes that set the tone for the more emotional moments. It’s impressive that one composer (that isn’t named Yoko Kanno) can cover both areas so well.

The brilliant and beautiful…Yuki Kajiura

Salva Nos and Liar you Lie are two of the more frenetic tracks. A familiar techno beat provides the base for operatic vocals in the former, while the later has what sounds like a tribal group thing going on. Both tracks are well composed and provide a good counterpoint for the sadder songs that occupy the soundtrack.

There’s a track called Sorrow on OST 1 that pretty much is what the title suggests. The only instrument is a lone cello, sending out deep sorrowful tones. It’s a great piece musically, but it’s damn depressing.

Some of the best tunes in the soundtrack start out pretty sad, but then rapidly pick up the pace and become very uplifting. In Memory of You is such a song, it starts out very softly with a lone acoustic guitar then picks up the pace and adds an accordion.

That’s right, I said an accordion. You see, Yuki Kajiura is such a brilliant composer that she can even compose pop music for the squeezebox. There are several songs here that use this often ridiculed instrument extremely well, including another pairing with the acoustic guitar in Romance (one of my personal favorites). The accordion isn’t just for polka, as proven by the amazing Noir soundtrack.

Hellsing OST
Hellsing is a series that has been around for a while, but it still hasn’t picked up much attention in the West. It’s a great, dark series though and I’ll give it a review at some point in the future. We’re here to talk about music for now though. :icon_smile:

Hellsing’s soundtrack is pretty unique. For the most part, it falls into easily definable categories. Sometimes though, it goes into an odd realm of off key notes and unexpected changes in pace. Sometimes it borders on just plain noise. Oddness and noise aren’t exactly bad things though, look at Aphex Twin and Mars Volta.

Bodhisattva of Cathedral - Raid, Tatsuo Tabei (track 11 on OST 1) is one of those weird songs that’s hard to define. It starts out as a slow, light acoustic guitar piece. Then it goes to a full band driven by electrics, only to end with a complex fingerpicking on an acoustic again. It’s a wonderful song, but it has multiple personalities.

Piano and guitar really drive this soundtrack, with both instruments spending a lot of the time on the bass notes. It all adds to the dark, gritty, gothic atmosphere of the anime. One of my personal favorites is Act of Demon or Work of God, a sad and somewhat foreboding acoustic guitar tune. The organ is also used quite a bit, providing a subtle hint to the religious tones that exist in the series as well.

Hellsing’s soundtrack provides an eclectic mix of upbeat and slow paced tunes, and it’s all very unpredictable. Just when you think you have it figured it out, it takes you into unfamiliar territory. If you’re looking for an anime soundtrack that walks a different path, definitely give Hellsing a try.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Soundtrack
Once again, Yoko Kanno proves that she deserves the praise and adoration that all the anime fans shower her with. The GITS:SAC soundtrack is, in a word, incredible. From beginning to end, the soundtrack offers track after track of musical genius.

The music in GITS touches upon many genres: a little classical here, a little techno there, a little adult contemporary over there. Every song is different, and brilliant, in its own way. The music is also perfectly synched up with the anime itself, each song enhancing the scene that it plays in.

The soundtrack spans the globe musically and lyrically. Russian pop singer Origa provides fantastic vocals in Rise and Inner Universe, Ilaria Graziano lends her talents to I Can’t Be Cool and the wonderful I Do. I don’t know Italian, but the pure emotion and need that Graziano conveys in I do gets the meaning across. Emily Curtis provides a similar tone in English with What’s it Really For, and Steve Conte works with Yoko Kanno once again in Living Inside the Shell. The instrumental tracks also have an international flair to them. Pet Food has a bit of a South American feel to it, with a driving acoustic guitar and fluttery percussion.

I really can’t say enough about this soundtrack. I often find myself jamming to the collection while I work. The soundtrack spans 3 OST CDs and covers the music from both seasons of Stand Alone Complex (OST 1, OST2, and Be Human). The ENTIRE set is worth having.

Tags for this posts: Anime, Manga, Soundtrack, Yoko Kanno, hellsing, Yuki Kajiura, Ghost In the Shell

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