They're called The Seatbelts because they have to be belted in to wail that hard in zero gravity without floating away from the mics. Yoko Kanno is Queen
He should look into their work they did during Covid. "The Real Folk Blues For These Days" They started an official RUclips channel, Yoko Kanno / 菅野よう子
That's what it was like some 10 or 15 years ago. 😅 Nowadays people are glued to their smartphones, reading manga or doing some other stuff. Or they're simply sleeping.
Cartoons in the west were originally for adults, then there was a big battle between adults and child focused cartoons in like the 50s or something and "family friendly" won. Before then cartoons were about drunkards going to hell and getting tortured for being lecherous and stuff like that.
That’s very true. I think that’s a hangover effect from the 70’s when animation was almost exclusively relegated to Saturday mornings. This is how I grew up (I’m 57) and this is the common perception among my peers. But it wasn’t always like this. The Looney Tunes crew from the early 1940’s crafted some absolute masterpieces. Bugs Bunny was always fast, fluid, and technically brilliant (unlike Hanna-Barbera’s lovable garbage). The music featured an ensemble of pros playing classical or big band pieces scored to the action. And the jokes were all aimed at a theater audience, not kids.
I've loved anime since my first ever sight of a vhs anime case. Armitage III when I was 9 or 10. Since that video I've been hooked. Second was fist of the north star then 3x3 eyes. 30 years later I'm still loving stuff like tensura no slime.
Nujabes: samurai champloo ost - This is THE album that created the whole genre of chillhop. Aside from Bebop, this might be the most influential OST ever made. Nujabes created a laidback quirky style of hip hop and then died straight after, his work completed. Kevin Penkin: Made in Abyss OST (fourth layer) --- Eerie atmospheric. Does incredible work building the fantastic and strange world they travel through. They start on the surface and gradually descend through layers and the music reflects this as they get further and further from normal. Yuki Kajiura: .hack OST (the world, fake wings) - Heavy strings of all sorts, high paced violin sections, heavy drones, crisp classical guitar. Tribal voices to gentle melodic songs. Kenji Kawai - Mob Psycho 100 OST 2 (Explosion of Mob) - This anime goes wild with a character powered by emotions, and as he loses his mind the music does too. Susumu Hirasawa - Paprika - This is by far the strangest yet beautiful ost I've ever heard. I have no idea how to describe it. Yoshiaki Fujisawa - Houseki no Kuni - Ghibli vibes. Simple instrument choices. Often just 2 or 3 instruments working together. Just sit and enjoy. Cutting it down to this is actual torture. :( If anyone listens to these or has any to add please do! I tried to keep it to popular anime for the youtube algorithm but I should also mention: Ikoku Meiro no Croisée and Ristorante Paradiso - both have the whole OST played by the same small (3 person) jazz band called Ko-ko-ya with no extra effects or tweaking. The direct connection with the music is wonderful. "Ikoku no Choro" is insanely good! But wouldn't do much for the algorithm :/ Edit: He has reacted to Lupin3 right? That's literally a jazz standard in Japan now. It is likely the most recognizable jazz in the country. Edit: I also think a review of the ost for Guu by Akifumi Tada (he also did bomberman 64) would be hilarious. That OST is just so much fun samba weirdness.
Quick comment on Nujabes, They are fantastic and they definitely contributed massively to its popularity but they were actually inspired by others like Dilla!
Kevin Penkin is my favorite artist of the modern age. I love how different his music is, he is so perfectly suited to composing for the strange, be it Made in Abyss or Tower of God. A few of my favorites of his: I. AM. BURNING. MAN Faputa Jungle Run Kuhn - also credit to Ben Mathews (from Tower of God, might be more in @CharlesCornellStudios 's wheelhouse as it is jazzy af)
I'm a drummer and always laugh/point out how what is being heard isn't being played, but they captured Every! Single! Hit! And it's not just that the sticks are hitting the right drum/cymbal, but they animated the proper technique to hit them. Feels so much more real
they do it for the WHOLE SHOW! even when Sentaro plays on a rail with sticks, he holds them like a proper drummer and you can almost feel every hit with the sound. one of my top 5 anime for sure.
@@grimheathen But it's not the only anime that animates the instrumentation. K-on did this also with all the intro having the girls playing a song with them playing correctly. That was Animated.
The main theme from "Princess Mononoke" is phenominal. Yoko Kanno's "Voices" from Macross Plus is one I've orchestrated on multiple synths. The whole soundtrack of the 5th OAV for "Oh! My Goddess" was filled with 80's takes on 60's music.
What I admire and love with Japanese composers is that they took American jazz, European classical music, and forged versions of their own with such talent and creativity!
The method of animation for Kids on the Slope is called rotoscoping, where you film someone and draw over the film to capture exact movements. What you're seeing is an animated version of someone's actual movements, and this is probably one of the best uses of rotoscoping I've ever seen.
This is the comment I was looking for. I think Charles got caught up in how amazing it was that someone had animated the drumming movements so perfectly when in fact that wasn't really the case.
@@YellowJello57 I mean, rotoscoping takes nothing away from the attention to detail and mastery of animation so I say it doesn't really make a difference
@@wumbojet Rotoscoping is a VERY old 'trick'. There's footage knocking around of the girl who was Alice in Disney's Alice in wonderland, the woman for Sleeping Beauty (yes, that figure was rotoscoped) and even Snow White was rotoscoped iirc. It's also used for live action stuff too, such as the more recent western Godzilla film (specifically the airport scene where the planes domino explode).
@NJP-Supremacist Bad? That's a tough criticism to qualify. I don't actually like Champloo much, but I can't put my finger on why. I wouldn't call it bad though.
The intro song to The ancient magus bride is one of the only anime ost songs I have ever sought out for purchase. Porco Rosso has some simple composition, but there is something about it that just hypnotizes me, almost like a lullaby.
Yoko Kanno is a prodigy. Listen to her compisitions for _Please_ _Save_ _My_ _Earth_ (1994), _Macross_ _Plus_ (1994), _The_ _Vision_ _of_ _Escaflowne_ (1996), _Cowboy_ _Bebop_ (1998), _Earth_ _Maiden_ _Arjuna_ (2001), and _Wolf's_ _Rain_ (2003), and the breadth of her skill is apparent -- she has mastered so many genres of music.
You know that feeling you get as the roller coaster climbs the first slope? The attack on titan theam feels like a rollercoaster that only goes up. The entire time the song feels like its ramping up
One big reason anime make it big internationally (Miyazaki's work is the perfect example) is that the musical arrangement just matches perfectly the atmosphere of the story. Going from the orchestrated marvel of studio Ghibli, to punchy jazzy intro for Neon Genesis Evangelion, to the lighthearted Dango Daikazoku outro for Clannad, to psychedelic theme for Paprika (Parade by Susumu Hirasawa), you get filled with joy, sadness, hope, despair, excitement while watching masterpieces of art.
Evangelion's intro doesn't match the atmosphere of the story at all, especially after the second half. The song is upbeat and adventurous, while the story is melancholic and depressing (except in the middle). Especially the lyrics are showing. As the show progresses the contrast becomes more obvious, and I think it was done intentionally, as the show's core idea was a subverison of the Mecha genre, by making it about pilots and their psychology, not about robots. Viewers were drawn to the Mecha, but were fooled and got something else. It is the same as Komm Susser Tod from the End of Evangelion. It is the subversion, it does not match the atmosphere at all, which makes it even more disturbing.
@@BORN753 I don't perceive it that way, it can be that everybody feel music differently and has different emotions while listening to songs. Nevertheless, half the lyrics of the song are melancholic and depressing, and from the viewpoint of a mother (some say it's the mother of Shinji, Yui, or one of her clones, other say it's his superior Misato). And in a nutshell, they tell of the protagonist not knowing that he'll have to shoulder everything for survival, even betraying the things he loves the most, while he only hopes to be loved.
the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack is something i unironically listen to whenever i just need some solid background jams for cleaning or getting some boring work or chores done: not every song is as hype and pizazz as TANK! but the ENTIRE OST is just filled with absolute vibes. HIGHLY recommend for anyone reading this, just slap it on in the background and chill
It took me three years of daily perma listening to be fed enough that I started to look for something else. Space lion blowed my mind first time and I remember where I was and what I did.
I love knowing that when I need to know my internal reaction to amazing music isn’t just me being insane I can come here and enjoy it together. I had the same reaction to Moving Castle and Bebop. Now for something that seriously makes me feel amazing: if you haven’t yet, PLEASE try the music from Madoka Magica. Especially the movie soundtrack. There are some songs that just blow me away from the first measure. Also, there is some crazy good stuff from the Land of the Lustrous anime. The opening alone is amazingly complex but beautiful. Also I love the Spirited Away section too :)
They do mostly American folk think anime is just "meh" they said it just for kid they said when it's not. Anime is one of sick culture that Japan had because there's lot of masterpiece art from manga, animation, singer band, orchestra. And masterpiece musician Japan had. They miss everything if they don't start watching anime and listen to all song music and musician that work for all anime in japan
The man behind Cowboy Bebop and Kids on the slope is Shinichiro Watanabe, and all of his work has a huge focus on music. I recommend everyone to check his other anime series, Samurai Champloo, Terror in Resonance or Space Dandy
Unfortunately, while Terror in resonance would be phenomenal to see here, it would also immediately result in some kind of copyright issue. All complete versions of the soundtrack have been wiped from youtube and many of the most known tracks are unfindable here in their original state. Uploading even seconds of it would probably not be great.
John Williams makes me feel: Cinematic, or like I'm "IN THE MOMENT" Bearing witness. Joe Hisaishi makes me feel like I'm reminiscing of a old memory, and the music hugs you with "nostalgia"
Right????? You said it so well! It's the "this is now! experience it! Feel the emotion of now!" versus "So, this is part of the person". When I think of Luke Skywalker's theme, it's nothing to do about his past, present, or future .. it's his character now. But when you hear Cowboy Bebop's theme, you're already confronted with his life.
the only way I can describe One Summer's Day by Joe Hisaishi, it is like the feeling you get, when you have a distant memory, one that you can't quite be sure if it's real or if it were a dream, like all you have are flashes of emotions you felt a long time ago on summer's day of your childhood, now almost completely lost to time almost lost, except for the lingering feeling you still get from time to time when you remember how it all felt it's that feeling put to song
i'd argue it is not nostalgia. it is reminiscing of a past. a memory that means a lot to you, that defines you but you don't want to be there. but you need to remember it to move forward
I think it’s more accurate to draw the distinction as “epic” versus “intimate”. Both are full of emotion and power; it’s just that Williams is more the external and grandiose, whereas Hisaishi is more internal and private.
I think that’s what sets John Williams’s “Schindler’s List” score apart, it’s less “John Williams-y” (while still being distinctly John Williams) and more along the lines of what he’s talking about with Hisaiahi here. Just a beautiful, heartwrenching, story-filled melody (the story of an entire people group’s plight)
I think John Williams and Hans Zimmer paint beautiful soundscapes (as Charles describes), which are supplementary and iconic to their films similar to how costumes are designed as an integral element to the story. However, I think what makes Joe Hisashi’s compositions different is that they not only accompany films, but make us remember things in our own lives to draw us closer to the film. It’s like sonic nostalgia
Every single time I hear One Summer's Day, I immediately picture the scene in Spirited Away with the wind blowing across the grass and the giant summer clouds in the sky. I love that scene so much.
I definitely recommend checking out more of the albums from bebop! It is amazing and beautiful! Kanno's music from ghost in the shell and macross plus are beautiful tooo!
Yoko Kanno’s work is legendary in the anime community. Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain, Genesis of Aquarion, Vision of Escaflowne, she does more than just jazz. She is an amazing composer and you could probably do an entire video on her alone.
Green Bird. she she strung together a bunch of nonsense syllables into an entire made up language just to make a cool, haunting song for one scene of a show.
Definitely one of his best. I think it encapsulates well Joe Hisaishi's skill. The very start sounds like something that could be in Kiki, then you get more Mononoke style violin bit but this is much more free, like you're flying with birds or running with antelopes. Then again it gets more melancholic, something that could be in Spirited Away like, and then it changes again and the very end feels like something that fits into Nausicaa.
One of the things I love about anime themes is the range of genres they stretch across. From the hip hop sounds of Rip Slyme's Super Shooter (Gantz) to the metal bellows of Maximum the Hormone's What's up People (Death Note) to The Pillows' Ride on a Shooting Star (FLCL) damn near every genre you can think of opens some anime. I highly recommend checking out basically every opening to Bleach but especially Orange Range's Asterisk *goosebumps* excellent memories associated with that opening :D Another rec for a future video is Final Fantasy Six's OST. Many of the songs will refer to other tracks all culminating in the end boss theme Dancing Mad which is, imo one of the most brilliant pieces of video game music ever composed. I'm thrilled to have found your channel and adore your enthusiasm! I look forward to checking out more of what ya got!
There's two directions I would suggest. First, dig deeper into Yoko Kanno. One might think that because she did Bebop, that she just does Jazz, but her ability to match music genre to the show genre is just godly. Check out her soundtracks to Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (Particularly the opening themes with Origa) which is essentially electronica matching the cyberpunk vibe of the show, and Vision of Escaflowne (I am partial to Dance of Curse, but the whole thing is great) which leans more into the John Williams-y epic fantasy orchestral style of the show. The other direction is to look at some more shows (like Kids on the Slope) that are directly about the characters making music: K-ON!, Bocchi! The Rock, takt op.Destiny, Your Lie in April, and even The Idolm@ster.
I believe he has covered your lie previously. I think he should just watch that show though. It is novel that they actually explain the musical choices being made in an interpretation. That brings a new level of depth, rather than just hearing the clip.
Yoko Kanno... omg... she is a master of music. It isn't really that any individual piece is perfectly amazing (though Tank is amazing and has been my ringtone of my phone for literal decades!), but that every show she wrote for has a completely different genera and feel, and all of it is solidly good if not amazing is mind-blowing! Others specialize and are absolutely better than her, but the breadth of styles that she covers is difficult to find a comparison with. Also... any show that Yoko Kanno writes for is just gold. Escaflowne, RahXephon, Ghost in the Shell, Oban Racers, Kids on the Slope, Space Dandy, Spy Family, Wolf's Rain, later Macross shows... I mean... good stuff! Each with different styles, instruments, and feel. Few composers have the variety and scope that Yoko Kanno has. Also, I remember being in jazz band in high school in the 90's, and there was a saying that 'Asians can't swing', and I was like 'clearly you haven't heard Tank yet' lol.
I just want to echo and highlight--Charles would *love* the Wolf's Rain soundtrack. Especially "Paradiso" and "Go to Rakuen" which are heartwrenching. The plodding piano chords that sound like churchbells tolling make you confront the inevitability of death.
Everyone be sleeping on Yuji Ohno's music ruclips.net/video/wAmPHG5j43I/видео.htmlfeature=shared ruclips.net/video/P7MDyIv4FD4/видео.htmlfeature=shared ruclips.net/video/wjVjBCsLS-0/видео.htmlfeature=shared ruclips.net/video/cniteGJ6yy0/видео.htmlfeature=shared ruclips.net/video/THCPWSuHfsE/видео.htmlfeature=shared
Yoko Kanno's work on the Turn A Gundam OST is a fucking incredible blending of styles. The few guitar tracks on the soundtrack are so fucking good it's unreal
Hehe, now listen to Lilium from Elfenlied to complete this list :D Its more opera style music, but it still gives me goosebumbs after all those years. It adds so much to the already dark and brutal nature of this anime.
Seatbelts are awesome. The drummer and the keyboardist were rotoscoped (animation technique where they film and then draw on the action from the film) for 1 to 1 action
I second this. J-jazz is a real treasure trove from Jiro Inagaki (that 70s cop show music era 😅) to Hiromi and crazy ensembles like Soil & Pimp Sessions to HZettrio.
@@cooldebt Hiromi and Soil & "Pimp" are incredible. H Zettrio is great too. Soil and Pimp and the pianist H Zett M have played with Sheena Ringo as well
Real Folk Blues was my "screw power levels" song. IE how some might make a playlist of music that is going to be heard by other people (like say at work) so they specifically leave out certain music that they might have in there when listening privately, be it anime music, game music, etc (to "Hide Your Power Level"). This was the one japanese language song that would be left in cause its f***ing Real Folk Blues.
Charles Here's some other suggestions for ya: "With Reflection" - Kokia, featured in Origin: Spirits of the Past "Human Typhoon" - from Trigun (Try "Colorless Sky" as another incredible vibe) "Ride on shooting star" - The Pillows, from FLCL (This show is pretty much one giant music video for the Pillows) There's so many other but can remember them off the top of my head
Joe Hiashi music is so special. I like to say that his compositions captures the ache of nostalgia. Beautiful, aching longing for something half-remembered.
Please consider listening to more of Yoko Kanno's work, such as the Wolf's Rain soundtrack, almost entirely composed by her. Her work is legendary and she doesn't get the recognition she deserves in the Western world.
I'd recommend looking up the Noir OST. It's older, and wasn't as popular, but thanks to a gamer who'd play it on repeat on my dorm floor, every track is embedded in my long term memory. And I'm okay with that. Coppelia, Canta per Me and Melodie remain on my current playlist
" Baccano " is also a gem with Jazz music especialy the intro song. The anime ( and novel ) are the most Tarantino-esque art not created by Tarantino himself, I strongly recommend to watch and to listen to.
The Trigun OSTs still blow me away. "Permenant Vacation" is an absolute gem, performed by two members of the Seatbelts I think (Naruyoshi Kikuchi on sax and Tsuneo Imahori on guitar).
As a piano player you should watch the entire anime of "Your lie in April" some of the best piano music and the anime plays not only its original music but Beethoven, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Choplin and many more. Beautiful story and beautiful music.
@@king_of_thorns6301 honestly the sound track from the original movie too. Stand alone complex just has a little more nostalgia for me. Adult swim came through with the goods.
One of my favourites is "Brothers" from Full Metal Alchemist. I just absolutely adore it. The version with russian vocals is amazing, as well as the instrumental one.
Yoko Kanno’s orchestral score for Vision of Escaflowne is criminally underrated!!! As if Prokofiev, Bartok, Joe Hisaishi, and Basil Poledouris melded together to blow your mind with sheer bombast and beauty. Hell, they even got the Warsaw Philharmonic into to a studio to do it justice. If you only listen to one track, make it Dance of Curse. Other top notch tracks: Farewell, Wings, Arcadia, Blaze, Shrilly, Epistle, Again, Revenge, and Angel. Only Beethoven and Dvorak’s 9th symphonies played live have EVER hit me so hard as the music from this show. Escaflowne is my ultimate choice for ANY music (anime, cinematic, or otherwise) that DID NOT have to go that hard.
2 of the biggest names in Anime music composition right now are Kevin Penkin and Evan Call. They are both masters at crafting music, which captures the heart of what their projects are about. Penkin is best known for his OST work on Made in Abyss, The Apothecary Diaries, and the 2024 remake of Spice & Wolf Call is best known for his OST work on Violet Evergarden, My Happy Marriage, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
@@Nirton93 gosh, there! I was like 'why no one mentions Sword Art Online?' Also, if it must be one track I definitely wanted Charles to hear, let it be Kajiura Yuki - Deusolbert. Tough choice but I think this track expresses like everything about Kajiura's music
The saxophonist in Tank! is Masato Honda. He's an absolute beast, and i highly recommend some of his other works like Smack Out, Panther, and Saxophpne Sonata no. 18
Anything Joe Hisaishi writes is absolutely incredible. When I listen to his music I feel like I'm falling into a galaxy of emotion. They are musical paintings.
I hope you do more analyses of Joe Hisaishi’s music. He’s the John Williams to Miyazaki’s Spielberg, and those movies are not the same without his scoring. I also would love you to do Radwimps’ score to Your Name, a modern classic of the anime genre.
A major difference in the music shown here by Kanno and Hisaishi compared with the western style of composition (Williams etc.) is the method of composition. For american films the film is nearly finished when the composers get their hands on it to make the music for it. This leads to some stuff that is the consequence of it. For example when the director has put a stock track on the edit for editing the film and got in love with it so the composer has to match it. This also happens in anime of course but especially Kanno and Hisaishi produce their music differently (most of the times as far as I am aware). Both are given scripts or early drafts of the show and start composing with that limited information. That is the reason why the Ghibli films have som many different versions of their soundtracks. The image album is the one that Hiaishi made with just the script. He is creating an image in your mind. This makes a lot of difference for the animation process because the animators can listen into the music that has already been made for that sequence. They can work towards a vibe. Kanno is known to produce hours of music where a lot is never being used on the show because she is given just a few basic ideas and just produces music around that.
I came across this quite late. But you asked for recommendations, so here are a few. I hope you see this. 1st. Clannad, especially the opening scene. 2nd. Arpeggio of blue steel. Silver sky, by Nano. 3rd. Heavens lost property. A silly anime with a beautiful soundtrack. 4th. Black summoner. You'll love the outro. 5th. Hell girl. Beautiful music featuring oriental instruments. 6th. The third, the girl with the blue eye. Highly recommended. There's a song in the soundtrack that you won't get to hear in its entirety until about episode six or later.
From Cowboy Bebop it’s “Bad Dog No Biscuits” and “Too Good Too Bad” that do it for me. They’re the action songs used in the show for chase scenes, and they’re just pure momentum.
“BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad” is a story about an up-and-coming indie band and its soundtrack contains banger after banger. The dub uses the same instrumentals but the VAs sing over translated and de-Engrished lyrics. Both sets of songs are fantastic. Not to mention, the performances are animated by Madhouse and they do a fantastic job infusing each member of the band with their own personality, usually in homage to an RL artist (their rapper channeling Zack de la Rocha, the bassist Flea being the most obvious). Worth a watch.
The ending theme from the anime FLCL is a classic, too. The song is called Ride on Shooting Stars by The Pillows. There's a lot of good anime themes out there.
I heard a quote once, I forget exactly how it goes, but it was something along the lines of "Western shows write the music to fit the _scene,_ while anime writes the music to fit the _story."_ There are a lot of good recommendations in these comments, so here are a couple I haven't seen mentioned yet: - The "Haruhi Suzumiya" series. It's not a "these are all bangers" kind of soundtrack, but there are some really good ones. "Oi Oi" in particular has a very clear influence from Fatboy Slim's "Everybody Loves A Carnival". - Solty Rei. I only watched the series once, long ago, but I recall the soundtrack was big into the "big band jazz" style. - Record of Lodoss War. Often called "The Lord of the Rings of Anime", and considered foundational to the Fantasy anime genre. The ending themes of the original 13-episode OVA and the "Chronicles of the Heroic Knight" TV series are both great, and the theme of "Chronicles", Kiseki no Umi (Sea of Miracles) really sells the "epic fantasy" feel. Other than those, though, the soundtrack is fairly standard fantasy fare, as I recall. - Azumanga Daioh. The majority of the music was specifically written to fade into the background and blend into the scenes without intruding on the dialogue, but it ranges in style from jazz, to surf rock, to chill Bossa Nova, to polka, to waltz, to orchestral pieces. The title theme "Soramimi Cake" is a goofy, slightly nonsensical and unhinged song that really sets the tone of the show, the end credit theme "Raspberry Heaven" is a lovely song that still has a bit of the title theme's goofiness, "Nice desu yo" is a jazzy little background piece that shifts into soft surf rock in the middle and then a bluegrass harmonica over jazz piano near the end, "Bakuhatsu Bonkuraazu" is a discordant mess that suits the antics of those three lovable idiots, and "Chiyo-chan Runs!" is taken straight out of an orchestral piece whose name I forget at the moment. (Can you tell I _really_ like Azumanga Daioh?)
It's been so long since I watched Azumanga Daioh that I had forgotten the music. The OP was one of my go-to's to brighten up my day for a long time. And I ordered a minidisk from Japan of Record of Lodoss War's ending song, it's just that beautiful.
“Ride on Shooting Star” by The Pillows beautifully expresses the chaos of FLCL. By having the voice actors perform, “Be As One” from Yowamushi Pedal perfectly matches the theme of the specific story arc. “The Light Before We Land” by The Delgados was used as the opening theme for Gunslinger Girl. It’s a haunting piece of music, especially packaged with the show. Also check out the orchestral theme from “My Neighbor’s the Yamadas.” It’s yet another amazing Studio Ghibli film that features great music.
Very happy to hear all of this coming from yourself and welcome in to the beautiful world of anime. I personally always had 2 distinct categories for music that I described/labelled as - musical poetry/ritual and second as - music illustration.
If you like Joe Hisaishi I'd suggest listening to his live action scores also. My favourite is Okuribito (Departures). The movie is about a cellist who can't find any job and has to work in a funerary. There he has to deal with their clients and how each people is confronted with the loss of a loved one. Just imagine what Joe Hisaishi created with this premise.
Evan Call composed the music for Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and he did an amazing job creating a unique sound that draws you into the world and deeply complements the emotional impact of the writing and animation. The motifs in the main theme come up in so many little ways throughout to emphasize the significance of certain moments and they use the presence of background music so thoughtfully.
Evan Call is another treasure for anime music, indeed! He also did Violet Evergarden, and not only that, but he also made a big success with drama OST such as The 13 Lords of the Shogun (shame NHK does not release it Internationally) My trust for this man is concrete- I started to watch Frieren because of him.
Everything about Frieren is a complete masterpiece, and the music is a huge part of that. They gave him like two years to work on the soundtrack, and it was so worth it.
One of my all time favourite animated concert scenes has got to be the in-episode concert for Alchemy by Girls Dead Monster for the anime Angel Beats. It absolutely blew my mind that they assembled a real-life band for the anime which then disbanded and went their separate ways at the end of 2010, 5 or 6 months after the final episode of the anime. They essentially did a farewell concert and that was that. Crow Song was another absolute banger from that series.
I can only recommend you to watch Blue Giant (2023), which is a movie about someone from the countryside trying to make a name in the Jazz industry in Tokyo, and in what way it changed the life of everyone he met during his journey. Also, the OSTs of Kekkai Sensen, Made in Abyss and Hibike! Euphonium (I avoid saying names from composers that already did an anime you watched, otherwise I would add Zankyou no Terror, from the same compositor that did Cowboy Bebop)
This man NEEDS to take a look at Made in Abyss OST. "VOH" is one of those pieces that throws you on the ground without a single word. Nice video, great stuff as always.
Seriously, and the music really feels as if you are going deep into the abyss with the main characters. Kevin Penkin really knows how to worldbuild with his music, and he's a legend because of that.
The anime music that has been most impactful for me is Space Lion from Cowboy Bebop. Ever since I first heard it as the end credits of the episodes Jupiter Jazz, a remarkable example of story telling of any kind, it has been the most soothing, meditative, and relaxing and healing theme I’ve ever heard. Any time I feel depressed or are on the edge of an anxiety attack Space Lion has helped me through those times in ways that are difficult to describe. But I have an iTunes play list with just Space Lion on it and according to the play list count I’ve listed to to in almost 9000 times and that’s not including the number of plays on the various iPods and iPhones over the years. It’s the music I love the most and I hope you find it as healing as I have.
I love space lion too! At the end of that episode, it's so many emotions at that point but if music can heal, I think space lion is the song that hugs you as you see tragedy and yet the fact that you can find some peace still with such tragedy with the help of that music is reason for hope.
One of my fav anime composers is the prolific Yuki Kajiura, who did a lot with the Fate series (Zero is my favorite 🤌, especially the tracks Grief and If You Leave), amongst many others, like Princess Principal, which gets a bit more of a jazz vibe. Truly excellent stuff, if generally on the more darkly thematic side of things
From Studio Ghibli - their recent A Boy and the Heron.. the sound track to that just yanks right on my heart strings. It was worked into the whole movie, similarly to how Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For was threaded through Barbie. So by the time you get to the end, it comes together in a nice crescendo that you didn't know was building.
You wanted some recommendations so get ready =D: Sadness and Sorrow from Naruto Erza's Theme from Fairy Tail Requiem from Death Note Brothers from Full Metal Alchemist To the Grand Line from One Piece For the Princess from Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Man of the World from Naruto Shippuden The Musician (14th's song) from D.Gray-man You Say Run from Boku no Hero Academia (My Hero Academy) Flying Light from Naruto Shippuden the Movie 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire Gamestart from Rising Shield Hero Only I am Missing from Erased Goshintai from Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name) Last Lie from Death Parade Escanor's Theme from Nanatsu no Taizai (The Seven Deadly Sins) The Wars of the Last Wolves from Rorouni Kenshin There are so many amazing soundtracks in anime. I tried to limit myself and only suggest one per anime/movie so hopefully it isn't too much. I tend to like the more emotional tracks, but I think I got a good balance in the list. I hope you enjoy!
I spent years scouring the internet for a physical copy of Cowboy Bebop OST. When I finally found a copy, I gladly paid $18, and then anxiously waited 3 weeks for it to arrive in MN from a small boutique shop in Tokyo.
Everyone chill. It was nearly 10 years ago from *Sovereign Japan*. I'm doubtful they'll have any copies because when I got mine in 2015, the site said there were only a few left. I checked their Amazon storefront today, and it looks like they sell a lot of Nintendo products.
you are missing out if you dont watch the action scenes of cowboy bebop along with the music. It is Shinichirō Watanabes last hand drawn masterpiece. some of the stills that are on screen for only a few moments are beautiful and add a tremendous amount of world building. Cowboy bebop wouldn't be the same without those small yet emissive frames. remember... hand drawn. amazing.
Check out Trigun Soundtrack! Some favs: Philosophy in a Tea Cup Big Bluff (Tunes with awesome western feel; its a steampunk/western themed anime) Colorless Sky, and Never could have been worse And the beautiful solo guitar tune: Suna No Hoshi
@@Bulelengmanif you ever want an unforgettable experience, watch the movie released with Totoro as a double feature. Some good musical moments there as well in service of the story, though the music is not what people remember.
Something that blew me away quite recently was the OST from 'Trigun Stampede' (a re-adaptation of an older anime), specifically the theme 'Knives' Piano'. The first time it was played was so badass and the playing looked pretty accurate to me, although it always gets interrupted by dialogue. The music of the original Trigun is also just something else.
I was into Trigun long before I did any deep dives into music. When I went down the folk/blues rabbit hole and discovered Stephen Stills, I was like the DiCaprio meme pointing at the speakers like "I know that tone! That's all over the Trigun OST!"
I'm so glad to see anime and its music becoming more widely known! Joe Hisaishi is an absolute MASTER, and he's worked with Hayao Miyazaki for so long that I think they just *get* each other when it comes to telling stories. And different anime pull from such a wide variety of genres, you'll really hear just about everything if you watch/listen long enough (jazz, metal, classical, you name it!). I love that there are also shows dedicated to traditional Japanese instruments and music. I really loved Those Snow White Notes, which is about the relationship the main character has with his shamisen, his family and the music his grandfather taught him to play. The Apple Blossom Shamisen (Ohara Bushi) duet between the main character and his mother had my jaw dropping.
2:40 My background is with trombone, and what always jumps out to me in "Tank!" is how the horns are all overblowing. Not a lot, but you definitely get some spreading in the tone that really helps establish that raw feeling you're talking about.
Joe Hisaishi's music makes you experience memories and nostalgia you never had. Listening to that Spirited Away track, it feels like recalling an emotional and tender memory.
Hisashi's masterpieces always make me happy cry, even as a grown man. There is just so much there. I had the classical guitar player at my wedding play spirited away. It was perfection.
Not to mention the visuals that accompany what is actually a music competition. I'd love to hear what someone who plays piano at your level thinks of this one.
I think the thing with the music in studio ghibli films is that it feels like its a one to one representative of the world that you're seeing on the screen. It isnt describing the world, it isnt providing another layer to the world, it IS the world. When i hear the theme for Howls Moving Castle, i INSTANTLY picture the festivities in Sophies town at the beginning of the movie. The theme from spirited away in this video makes me see the train traveling along the tracks in the water. Its impossible to separate the world from the music
Gamagori's theme just *oozes* power. The man's a walking mountain. Same with Nonon. Her theme gives away her role as the hype-girl, but by far, Kiryuin's theme is *power*
I think with Howl's the phrase you're looking for is that it's personal in scope, it's intimate. It invites you in. It's honestly something we don't get enough of with all these soundtracks that are booming, grand, and epic in scale.
Samurai Champloo. The soundtrack, and more specifically Nujabes, literally saved my life in my worst times. There is a heavy jazz influence and tremendous classical jazz sampling littered throughout his music. Clearly he draws inspiration from artists like J DIlla, but his music always carried a unique life and soul that I didn't connect with in other artists foundational to the genre. Also, it is foundational for what is now some of the most popular genres of music to exist. You can hear his influence in modern rap, chillhop, and lofi music. It might not be your exact type of music, since it isn't quite as complex in composition compared to some of the orchestration and jazz work in the things you've already reviewed, but it is transformative and innovative in the most beautiful way nonetheless. I'd love to hear you review some of the pieces by who will eternally be my favorite artist. Rest in Beats Nujabes.
should check out this series too - Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad bit older but very cool series about young musicians and their struggles in life and music. and love the songs they used in there
They're called The Seatbelts because they have to be belted in to wail that hard in zero gravity without floating away from the mics.
Yoko Kanno is Queen
She manifested into existence as a divine force to rectify the havoc Yoko Ono wrought upon their name.
He should look into their work they did during Covid. "The Real Folk Blues For These Days" They started an official RUclips channel, Yoko Kanno / 菅野よう子
@@dudedude600those special performances are incredible, especially the breakdown of each song, the melodic vibes, unforgettable, and magical
Yes she is. she is peak artist
say that agaaain
It's hilarious. People who never got in touch with video games and Anime slowly realise, that this is a Rabbithole full of masterful music.
People want to make money from their talents and passions, and there's a *lot* of money waiting to be made in anime and video games.
@@Xynth25it’s coming, this season yungblud even made an op
Quick, someone get Charles an Ace Combat soundtrack. Or at least Keiki Kobayashi's 'Zero'
@@danieljensen6154 He did?
@@key-s6507 yep it’s called abyss
homie got sucked into Howls moving castle and spirited away so hard making this video he just let it play lol
Some of the best soundtracks of all time if you ask me!
It's the emotions they manage to pull from us through the music - genius
It's like the music generates an imperative to continue listening on every note.
animes have some of THE GREATEST compositions omg
Right, no analysis, just fawning over greatness
The idea that "cartoons are just for kids" is a very western concept. In Asia, salary men read Japanese comics on their subway rides home from work.
That's what it was like some 10 or 15 years ago. 😅
Nowadays people are glued to their smartphones, reading manga or doing some other stuff.
Or they're simply sleeping.
Cartoons in the west were originally for adults, then there was a big battle between adults and child focused cartoons in like the 50s or something and "family friendly" won. Before then cartoons were about drunkards going to hell and getting tortured for being lecherous and stuff like that.
That’s very true. I think that’s a hangover effect from the 70’s when animation was almost exclusively relegated to Saturday mornings. This is how I grew up (I’m 57) and this is the common perception among my peers.
But it wasn’t always like this. The Looney Tunes crew from the early 1940’s crafted some absolute masterpieces. Bugs Bunny was always fast, fluid, and technically brilliant (unlike Hanna-Barbera’s lovable garbage). The music featured an ensemble of pros playing classical or big band pieces scored to the action. And the jokes were all aimed at a theater audience, not kids.
I've loved anime since my first ever sight of a vhs anime case. Armitage III when I was 9 or 10. Since that video I've been hooked. Second was fist of the north star then 3x3 eyes. 30 years later I'm still loving stuff like tensura no slime.
Robert Crumb: Hold my beer
Nujabes: samurai champloo ost - This is THE album that created the whole genre of chillhop. Aside from Bebop, this might be the most influential OST ever made. Nujabes created a laidback quirky style of hip hop and then died straight after, his work completed.
Kevin Penkin: Made in Abyss OST (fourth layer) --- Eerie atmospheric. Does incredible work building the fantastic and strange world they travel through. They start on the surface and gradually descend through layers and the music reflects this as they get further and further from normal.
Yuki Kajiura: .hack OST (the world, fake wings) - Heavy strings of all sorts, high paced violin sections, heavy drones, crisp classical guitar. Tribal voices to gentle melodic songs.
Kenji Kawai - Mob Psycho 100 OST 2 (Explosion of Mob) - This anime goes wild with a character powered by emotions, and as he loses his mind the music does too.
Susumu Hirasawa - Paprika - This is by far the strangest yet beautiful ost I've ever heard. I have no idea how to describe it.
Yoshiaki Fujisawa - Houseki no Kuni - Ghibli vibes. Simple instrument choices. Often just 2 or 3 instruments working together. Just sit and enjoy.
Cutting it down to this is actual torture. :( If anyone listens to these or has any to add please do! I tried to keep it to popular anime for the youtube algorithm but I should also mention:
Ikoku Meiro no Croisée and Ristorante Paradiso - both have the whole OST played by the same small (3 person) jazz band called Ko-ko-ya with no extra effects or tweaking. The direct connection with the music is wonderful. "Ikoku no Choro" is insanely good! But wouldn't do much for the algorithm :/
Edit: He has reacted to Lupin3 right? That's literally a jazz standard in Japan now. It is likely the most recognizable jazz in the country.
Edit: I also think a review of the ost for Guu by Akifumi Tada (he also did bomberman 64) would be hilarious. That OST is just so much fun samba weirdness.
Quick comment on Nujabes, They are fantastic and they definitely contributed massively to its popularity but they were actually inspired by others like Dilla!
Kevin Penkin is my favorite artist of the modern age. I love how different his music is, he is so perfectly suited to composing for the strange, be it Made in Abyss or Tower of God. A few of my favorites of his:
I. AM. BURNING. MAN
Faputa
Jungle Run
Kuhn - also credit to Ben Mathews (from Tower of God, might be more in @CharlesCornellStudios 's wheelhouse as it is jazzy af)
Hirasawa also did the original Berserk ost.
Also any of the Katamari OST’s
@@keef920 Lol, I can hear his reaction to katamari music now. Not an anime though!
love it when someone finds music and just goes "YOOOOOOOOOO" for 19 minutes and 01 seconds
every charles cornell video is like 20m of “OMG music is so awesome you guys!” and it absolutely is 😂
...apart from the ad inbetween
i freaking love your comment, it has so much of a vibe to it 😭
Love it when someone finds music and just goes "YOOOOOO" for 19 minutes and 01 seconds AND can play it right back!
his absolute delight and enthusiasm is why I subscribed after like 2 videos, it's just so charming and lifts my mood every time
I'm a drummer and always laugh/point out how what is being heard isn't being played, but they captured Every! Single! Hit! And it's not just that the sticks are hitting the right drum/cymbal, but they animated the proper technique to hit them. Feels so much more real
they do it for the WHOLE SHOW! even when Sentaro plays on a rail with sticks, he holds them like a proper drummer and you can almost feel every hit with the sound. one of my top 5 anime for sure.
I would guess it was rotoscoped.
@@grimheathen yeah it definitely looks that way
@@grimheathen But it's not the only anime that animates the instrumentation. K-on did this also with all the intro having the girls playing a song with them playing correctly. That was Animated.
@@faervas1234 K-on was a fun watch. They did animate the playing. I know from experience what a pain it is to get hands to look "right"
The main theme from "Princess Mononoke" is phenominal. Yoko Kanno's "Voices" from Macross Plus is one I've orchestrated on multiple synths. The whole soundtrack of the 5th OAV for "Oh! My Goddess" was filled with 80's takes on 60's music.
What I admire and love with Japanese composers is that they took American jazz, European classical music, and forged versions of their own with such talent and creativity!
This is said so well
This! They are not afraid to mix genres.
Japanese Techno and Trance music are amazing! It's almost its own genre with what the producers add through their musical heritage!
The pentatonic scale is a big part of that
Oooh, let’s add eurobeat combining with Initial D!
The method of animation for Kids on the Slope is called rotoscoping, where you film someone and draw over the film to capture exact movements. What you're seeing is an animated version of someone's actual movements, and this is probably one of the best uses of rotoscoping I've ever seen.
This is the comment I was looking for. I think Charles got caught up in how amazing it was that someone had animated the drumming movements so perfectly when in fact that wasn't really the case.
@@YellowJello57 I mean, rotoscoping takes nothing away from the attention to detail and mastery of animation so I say it doesn't really make a difference
@@YellowJello57 Here's the thing - they DID animate it perfectly. They just used photography as a reference.
@@wumbojet Rotoscoping is a VERY old 'trick'. There's footage knocking around of the girl who was Alice in Disney's Alice in wonderland, the woman for Sleeping Beauty (yes, that figure was rotoscoped) and even Snow White was rotoscoped iirc.
It's also used for live action stuff too, such as the more recent western Godzilla film (specifically the airport scene where the planes domino explode).
@@JohnDoe-vm5rb yes, I am aware. The. Very old Disney animated movies are practically completely rotoscoped
Samurai Champloo, the music is part of the story and the characters, absolutely fantastic.
I second this
@NJP-Supremacist everyone likes what they like
@NJP-Supremacist Bad? That's a tough criticism to qualify. I don't actually like Champloo much, but I can't put my finger on why. I wouldn't call it bad though.
Completely same, but it may sound too simplistic for jazz and classical music heads
RIP Nujabes
The intro song to The ancient magus bride is one of the only anime ost songs I have ever sought out for purchase. Porco Rosso has some simple composition, but there is something about it that just hypnotizes me, almost like a lullaby.
The Ancient Magnus bride blew me away with its composition. It became one of my favorite things to watch just because of the music.
Yoko Kanno is a prodigy. Listen to her compisitions for _Please_ _Save_ _My_ _Earth_ (1994), _Macross_ _Plus_ (1994), _The_ _Vision_ _of_ _Escaflowne_ (1996), _Cowboy_ _Bebop_ (1998), _Earth_ _Maiden_ _Arjuna_ (2001), and _Wolf's_ _Rain_ (2003), and the breadth of her skill is apparent -- she has mastered so many genres of music.
Don't forget Macross Plus and Macross Frontier
Wolf's Rain was something ngl
My favorite is 月の繭 from Gundam Turn A🥹
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex!!
Legit just learned that she composed for macross , turn A and escaflown??
No wonder they all were BANGERS.
"This is basically just the Blues, right?"
No, its Bebop!
He’s talking about the form of the tune. It is a Blues form with an interesting bridge.
It's just the real folk blues.
@@christofthedead what the fuck
@@adamliebreich-johnsen6104Cowboy… Cowboy Bebop
@@bigbennythurman Yeah, but that doesn't make the music bebop.
The piano works of Joe Hisaishi are the stuff of legend. His compositions for the Miyazaki films are simply god tier.
His album with the Royal Philharmonic has to be counted amongst the most amazing orchestral recordings. The emotion in his music!
His work on the film "Departures" made me cry. Beautiful movie.
You know that feeling you get as the roller coaster climbs the first slope? The attack on titan theam feels like a rollercoaster that only goes up. The entire time the song feels like its ramping up
One big reason anime make it big internationally (Miyazaki's work is the perfect example) is that the musical arrangement just matches perfectly the atmosphere of the story. Going from the orchestrated marvel of studio Ghibli, to punchy jazzy intro for Neon Genesis Evangelion, to the lighthearted Dango Daikazoku outro for Clannad, to psychedelic theme for Paprika (Parade by Susumu Hirasawa), you get filled with joy, sadness, hope, despair, excitement while watching masterpieces of art.
"A Cruel Angel's Thesis" from Evangelion I'd be interested to see for sure. One of the all-time fist pump openings to a song.
@@czechlineage The Consouls did a banger cover of that too
Evangelion's intro doesn't match the atmosphere of the story at all, especially after the second half. The song is upbeat and adventurous, while the story is melancholic and depressing (except in the middle). Especially the lyrics are showing.
As the show progresses the contrast becomes more obvious, and I think it was done intentionally, as the show's core idea was a subverison of the Mecha genre, by making it about pilots and their psychology, not about robots. Viewers were drawn to the Mecha, but were fooled and got something else.
It is the same as Komm Susser Tod from the End of Evangelion. It is the subversion, it does not match the atmosphere at all, which makes it even more disturbing.
@@BORN753 I don't perceive it that way, it can be that everybody feel music differently and has different emotions while listening to songs. Nevertheless, half the lyrics of the song are melancholic and depressing, and from the viewpoint of a mother (some say it's the mother of Shinji, Yui, or one of her clones, other say it's his superior Misato). And in a nutshell, they tell of the protagonist not knowing that he'll have to shoulder everything for survival, even betraying the things he loves the most, while he only hopes to be loved.
@@hazilo Okay, you got me on lyrics, fair point. But the music is contrasting to the story.
the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack is something i unironically listen to whenever i just need some solid background jams for cleaning or getting some boring work or chores done: not every song is as hype and pizazz as TANK! but the ENTIRE OST is just filled with absolute vibes.
HIGHLY recommend for anyone reading this, just slap it on in the background and chill
Oh I 💯 agree! I have so many CDs of the music. One of my favorites is "Call Me Call Me".
Live in Baghdad is dangerous to listen to while driving lol. It's like Radar Love, you WILL speed hahaha.
It took me three years of daily perma listening to be fed enough that I started to look for something else.
Space lion blowed my mind first time and I remember where I was and what I did.
Doggy doggy dog
Knock a little Harder. Gahh it hits.
As Japanese,I will recommend "Lupin the 3rd" composed by Yuji Ohno.
Yes! Lupin the 3rd has really great music, I love it! Good recommendation
What about Detective Conan's main theme?
YES!! LOVE IT!!
YES LUPIN YES It's that goof
Classic. Good taste
I love knowing that when I need to know my internal reaction to amazing music isn’t just me being insane I can come here and enjoy it together. I had the same reaction to Moving Castle and Bebop.
Now for something that seriously makes me feel amazing: if you haven’t yet, PLEASE try the music from Madoka Magica. Especially the movie soundtrack. There are some songs that just blow me away from the first measure.
Also, there is some crazy good stuff from the Land of the Lustrous anime. The opening alone is amazingly complex but beautiful.
Also I love the Spirited Away section too :)
I love it when people who have never seen anime before and think it's something so simple truly experience it and are just blown away.
They do mostly American folk think anime is just "meh" they said it just for kid they said when it's not. Anime is one of sick culture that Japan had because there's lot of masterpiece art from manga, animation, singer band, orchestra. And masterpiece musician Japan had. They miss everything if they don't start watching anime and listen to all song music and musician that work for all anime in japan
They're usually geared to older teens and adults. And we appreciate them lmao.
The man behind Cowboy Bebop and Kids on the slope is Shinichiro Watanabe, and all of his work has a huge focus on music. I recommend everyone to check his other anime series, Samurai Champloo, Terror in Resonance or Space Dandy
and Carole and Tuesday
And Macross Plus (with Yoko Kanno again)
Unfortunately, while Terror in resonance would be phenomenal to see here, it would also immediately result in some kind of copyright issue. All complete versions of the soundtrack have been wiped from youtube and many of the most known tracks are unfindable here in their original state. Uploading even seconds of it would probably not be great.
Honestly, Terror in Resonance has such good music. Only sad part is that its not on Spotify :(
@@dadopur8405 Also Yoko Kanno, inspired by icelandic music. Truly amazing!
John Williams makes me feel: Cinematic, or like I'm "IN THE MOMENT" Bearing witness.
Joe Hisaishi makes me feel like I'm reminiscing of a old memory, and the music hugs you with "nostalgia"
Right????? You said it so well!
It's the "this is now! experience it! Feel the emotion of now!" versus "So, this is part of the person".
When I think of Luke Skywalker's theme, it's nothing to do about his past, present, or future .. it's his character now.
But when you hear Cowboy Bebop's theme, you're already confronted with his life.
the only way I can describe One Summer's Day by Joe Hisaishi,
it is like the feeling you get, when you have a distant memory, one that you can't quite be sure if it's real or if it were a dream, like all you have are flashes of emotions you felt a long time ago on summer's day of your childhood, now almost completely lost to time
almost lost, except for the lingering feeling you still get from time to time when you remember how it all felt
it's that feeling put to song
i'd argue it is not nostalgia. it is reminiscing of a past. a memory that means a lot to you, that defines you but you don't want to be there. but you need to remember it to move forward
I think it’s more accurate to draw the distinction as “epic” versus “intimate”. Both are full of emotion and power; it’s just that Williams is more the external and grandiose, whereas Hisaishi is more internal and private.
I think that’s what sets John Williams’s “Schindler’s List” score apart, it’s less “John Williams-y” (while still being distinctly John Williams) and more along the lines of what he’s talking about with Hisaiahi here. Just a beautiful, heartwrenching, story-filled melody (the story of an entire people group’s plight)
That drum animation and music playing synchronization is awesome.
I think John Williams and Hans Zimmer paint beautiful soundscapes (as Charles describes), which are supplementary and iconic to their films similar to how costumes are designed as an integral element to the story. However, I think what makes Joe Hisashi’s compositions different is that they not only accompany films, but make us remember things in our own lives to draw us closer to the film. It’s like sonic nostalgia
Incredible description! I wholly agree with you: Hisaishi invokes our memories so cleanly. That music is capable of such a thing is incredible.
Nostalgia strikes me the most with Hisaishi. It invokes a time in the past.
I really wonder musically how that happens since it's in so many of his Ghibli music.
Sonic nostalgia is incredible.
Every single time I hear One Summer's Day, I immediately picture the scene in Spirited Away with the wind blowing across the grass and the giant summer clouds in the sky. I love that scene so much.
The ghost in the shell soundtrack was really otherworldly gorgeous with those choir parts.
Facts
And the SAC themes right with it!
watching Bladerunner makes your head explode as it was done before gits and matrix
absolutely sick!!
I haven’t watched it but I grew up with The Other Universe and OMG is it good
Yokko Kano’s work on Visions of Escaflowne is just breathtaking
Also Macross Plus and GITS.
Y E S ❤ ❤ ❤
YES
Love Escaflowne so much. ❤
Also Wolf’s Rain
YES!!!! People don’t talk about Escaflowne enough!!
I definitely recommend checking out more of the albums from bebop! It is amazing and beautiful! Kanno's music from ghost in the shell and macross plus are beautiful tooo!
Yoko Kanno’s work is legendary in the anime community. Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain, Genesis of Aquarion, Vision of Escaflowne, she does more than just jazz. She is an amazing composer and you could probably do an entire video on her alone.
Escaflowne music scores ... such memories.
Her music has converted so many of my non-believer friends into anime lovers 😂
Escaflowne... the soundtrack is so much better than the anime itself
Green Bird. she she strung together a bunch of nonsense syllables into an entire made up language just to make a cool, haunting song for one scene of a show.
Oh! Escaflowne! You gave me goosebumps!
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky!! It’s the opening track to Castle in the Sky, composed by Joe Hisaishi, and it’s incredible.
That particular track has such a longing and nostalgic but also tragic feel for something that happened long ago fits perfectly with the movie
I was going to suggest the acapella/choir version when the castle begins to fall apart myself!!
Charles probably has listened to all of Joe pieces already
Definitely one of his best. I think it encapsulates well Joe Hisaishi's skill. The very start sounds like something that could be in Kiki, then you get more Mononoke style violin bit but this is much more free, like you're flying with birds or running with antelopes. Then again it gets more melancholic, something that could be in Spirited Away like, and then it changes again and the very end feels like something that fits into Nausicaa.
I just cry whenever I watch the opening of Castle in the sky. The girl who Fell From the Sky is just the definition of overwhelming beauty to me
Ghibli soundtrack feels intimate. Like someone pouring their heart out to you. As opposed to someone performing their all in front of a crowd.
Check out French pastoral classics. You're gonna love it.
Damn, that actually nails it right on the head
@@WhereIsMyKek Example ?
@@LizzieJaneBennet It's not about examples, it's about general style/genre feeling.
One of the things I love about anime themes is the range of genres they stretch across. From the hip hop sounds of Rip Slyme's Super Shooter (Gantz) to the metal bellows of Maximum the Hormone's What's up People (Death Note) to The Pillows' Ride on a Shooting Star (FLCL) damn near every genre you can think of opens some anime. I highly recommend checking out basically every opening to Bleach but especially Orange Range's Asterisk *goosebumps* excellent memories associated with that opening :D Another rec for a future video is Final Fantasy Six's OST. Many of the songs will refer to other tracks all culminating in the end boss theme Dancing Mad which is, imo one of the most brilliant pieces of video game music ever composed. I'm thrilled to have found your channel and adore your enthusiasm! I look forward to checking out more of what ya got!
There's two directions I would suggest. First, dig deeper into Yoko Kanno. One might think that because she did Bebop, that she just does Jazz, but her ability to match music genre to the show genre is just godly. Check out her soundtracks to Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (Particularly the opening themes with Origa) which is essentially electronica matching the cyberpunk vibe of the show, and Vision of Escaflowne (I am partial to Dance of Curse, but the whole thing is great) which leans more into the John Williams-y epic fantasy orchestral style of the show.
The other direction is to look at some more shows (like Kids on the Slope) that are directly about the characters making music: K-ON!, Bocchi! The Rock, takt op.Destiny, Your Lie in April, and even The Idolm@ster.
I was going to bring up Escaflowne. Hot damn, that soundtrack gets intense.
Add Mongolian Chop Squad and FLCL to your animusic to blow your mind list!
I believe he has covered your lie previously. I think he should just watch that show though. It is novel that they actually explain the musical choices being made in an interpretation. That brings a new level of depth, rather than just hearing the clip.
Have you seen Gravitation? I think DA waa just kind of clowning around writing music for that show...
@@PaulTaylor-z8pgood to see someone mentioned Beck, so nice to
Yoko Kanno... omg... she is a master of music. It isn't really that any individual piece is perfectly amazing (though Tank is amazing and has been my ringtone of my phone for literal decades!), but that every show she wrote for has a completely different genera and feel, and all of it is solidly good if not amazing is mind-blowing! Others specialize and are absolutely better than her, but the breadth of styles that she covers is difficult to find a comparison with.
Also... any show that Yoko Kanno writes for is just gold. Escaflowne, RahXephon, Ghost in the Shell, Oban Racers, Kids on the Slope, Space Dandy, Spy Family, Wolf's Rain, later Macross shows... I mean... good stuff! Each with different styles, instruments, and feel. Few composers have the variety and scope that Yoko Kanno has.
Also, I remember being in jazz band in high school in the 90's, and there was a saying that 'Asians can't swing', and I was like 'clearly you haven't heard Tank yet' lol.
I just want to echo and highlight--Charles would *love* the Wolf's Rain soundtrack. Especially "Paradiso" and "Go to Rakuen" which are heartwrenching. The plodding piano chords that sound like churchbells tolling make you confront the inevitability of death.
And the Arjuna soundtrack! Everyone sleeps on that one
Arjuna soundtrack!!!!!!❤❤❤
Everyone be sleeping on Yuji Ohno's music
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Yoko Kanno's work on the Turn A Gundam OST is a fucking incredible blending of styles. The few guitar tracks on the soundtrack are so fucking good it's unreal
3:36 I am SO happy to see someone else point out that insane switch up!! Have loved that little detail for years
It's dope as hell, but the first time they hit the bridge it makes me feel like I'm being shot out of a cannon.
That switch up actually reminds me of the New Donk City theme from Mario Odyssey.
Hehe, now listen to Lilium from Elfenlied to complete this list :D Its more opera style music, but it still gives me goosebumbs after all those years. It adds so much to the already dark and brutal nature of this anime.
Seatbelts are awesome. The drummer and the keyboardist were rotoscoped (animation technique where they film and then draw on the action from the film) for 1 to 1 action
dude you've got to listen to 80s japanese jazz if you don't already. it's INCREDIBLE. Flying Beagle is an incredible album.
I second this. J-jazz is a real treasure trove from Jiro Inagaki (that 70s cop show music era 😅) to Hiromi and crazy ensembles like Soil & Pimp Sessions to HZettrio.
@@cooldebt Hiromi and Soil & "Pimp" are incredible. H Zettrio is great too. Soil and Pimp and the pianist H Zett M have played with Sheena Ringo as well
I always liked Keiko Matsui but she was more in the 90's
You should listen to Masayoshi Takanaka. He makes incredible Japanese funk from the 70s. It is so good!
i dont see that album on spotify...
"Tank" is dope, but "Real Folk Blues" is amazing. To have an intro and an outro that strong is incredibly rare.
Yes. Also great: Rain. The organs. Boom!
Real Folk Blues was my "screw power levels" song. IE how some might make a playlist of music that is going to be heard by other people (like say at work) so they specifically leave out certain music that they might have in there when listening privately, be it anime music, game music, etc (to "Hide Your Power Level"). This was the one japanese language song that would be left in cause its f***ing Real Folk Blues.
@@ChrisBigBad Another favorite of mine is "Gotta Knock a little harder".
Memory is also good!
Charles Here's some other suggestions for ya:
"With Reflection" - Kokia, featured in Origin: Spirits of the Past
"Human Typhoon" - from Trigun (Try "Colorless Sky" as another incredible vibe)
"Ride on shooting star" - The Pillows, from FLCL (This show is pretty much one giant music video for the Pillows)
There's so many other but can remember them off the top of my head
Joe Hiashi music is so special. I like to say that his compositions captures the ache of nostalgia. Beautiful, aching longing for something half-remembered.
Hes always atop my favorite film composers list
*Hisaishi
I highly recommend his work from the film adaptation of Parasite Eve. It was absolutely gorgeous work
My favourite Ghibli soundtrack is Nausica of the Valley of the Wind. Makes me cry. My children sing along with it too.
to me "bygone days" porco rosso.
Please consider listening to more of Yoko Kanno's work, such as the Wolf's Rain soundtrack, almost entirely composed by her.
Her work is legendary and she doesn't get the recognition she deserves in the Western world.
im such a huge fan of hers that her music is the main reason i watched several anime
the darker than black soundtrack is fantastic as well
@@goobag123 oh it was her? that makes sense
Wolf's Rain is super underrated.
I'd recommend looking up the Noir OST. It's older, and wasn't as popular, but thanks to a gamer who'd play it on repeat on my dorm floor, every track is embedded in my long term memory. And I'm okay with that. Coppelia, Canta per Me and Melodie remain on my current playlist
" Baccano " is also a gem with Jazz music especialy the intro song.
The anime ( and novel ) are the most Tarantino-esque art not created by Tarantino himself, I strongly recommend to watch and to listen to.
Warms my heart to see someone else recommending Baccano as well.
He's covered Baccano in another video and he loved it.
Oh yes it is! I was about to write it myself. :)
Oh goodness Yes!
The OP to Baccano! fucking slaps!
The Trigun OSTs still blow me away. "Permenant Vacation" is an absolute gem, performed by two members of the Seatbelts I think (Naruyoshi Kikuchi on sax and Tsuneo Imahori on guitar).
Trigun was a great series
Omg I never knew that Imahori was a member of The Seatbelts. You just blew my freakin mind!
Tsuneo Imahori is actually the composer for the whole OST of the original Trigun anime 😊
I was scrolling the comments because I knew someone must have already pointed it out. The entire ost, not just the opening them is incredible.
One Summer's Day never fails to give me chills every time I hear it, so many gems within anime music!
The goat himself has arrived
Ayo, Fonzi the man himself is here!!
Totally! I was at maximum chills hearing it in this video with Charles and y'all
Fonzii!!!!
As a piano player you should watch the entire anime of "Your lie in April" some of the best piano music and the anime plays not only its original music but Beethoven, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Choplin and many more. Beautiful story and beautiful music.
The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex soundtrack is insane!!!
came here looking to say this Glad some one beat me to it
I’ve had Rise as an ear worm for a week now. Nothing can replace it for long.
@@king_of_thorns6301 honestly the sound track from the original movie too. Stand alone complex just has a little more nostalgia for me. Adult swim came through with the goods.
The fact that Yoko Kanno and Origa created new languages for that soundtrack is amazing.
@@PiousSlayer wasn't it just a mix of Latin, Russian & English?
One of my favourites is "Brothers" from Full Metal Alchemist. I just absolutely adore it. The version with russian vocals is amazing, as well as the instrumental one.
So beautiful and haunting! ❤
Thank you, for reminding me of this. It had me in a choke hold in middle school that and the The Musician, (14th Melody) from D.grayman
That's one thing Brotherhood didn't have. That song friggin' ruled
OMG yes! The piano version of that song still gives me chills to this day! Absolutely stunning!
Yoko Kanno’s orchestral score for Vision of Escaflowne is criminally underrated!!! As if Prokofiev, Bartok, Joe Hisaishi, and Basil Poledouris melded together to blow your mind with sheer bombast and beauty. Hell, they even got the Warsaw Philharmonic into to a studio to do it justice.
If you only listen to one track, make it Dance of Curse.
Other top notch tracks: Farewell, Wings, Arcadia, Blaze, Shrilly, Epistle, Again, Revenge, and Angel.
Only Beethoven and Dvorak’s 9th symphonies played live have EVER hit me so hard as the music from this show. Escaflowne is my ultimate choice for ANY music (anime, cinematic, or otherwise) that DID NOT have to go that hard.
And "Sora" from the "A Girl From Gaea" film. I think it was sung by Shanti Snyder.
Love that Escaflowne mention! Indeed an incredible soundtrack!
Yes! The vision of Escaflowne has a great soundtrack, I love all the discs!
THE DAMN CELLO SONG HAS LIVED IN MY HEAD RENT FREE FOR 3 DECADES
I'll never forget _Dance of Curse_ and _Angel_ from Escaflowne.
Some utter classics.
Space Battleship Yamato(original and remake), Macross, Patlabor, Akira, and Macross Plus.
2 of the biggest names in Anime music composition right now are Kevin Penkin and Evan Call. They are both masters at crafting music, which captures the heart of what their projects are about.
Penkin is best known for his OST work on Made in Abyss, The Apothecary Diaries, and the 2024 remake of Spice & Wolf
Call is best known for his OST work on Violet Evergarden, My Happy Marriage, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
Don’t forget the StarWars anime that Penkin involved with
Um :D who? No they are not. Also they aint japanese. LOL. What a dmb comment.
Also don't forget Yuki Kajiura. She's my favourite.
Just came here to add Yuki Hayashi to the list
@@Nirton93 gosh, there! I was like 'why no one mentions Sword Art Online?'
Also, if it must be one track I definitely wanted Charles to hear, let it be Kajiura Yuki - Deusolbert.
Tough choice but I think this track expresses like everything about Kajiura's music
The saxophonist in Tank! is Masato Honda. He's an absolute beast, and i highly recommend some of his other works like Smack Out, Panther, and Saxophpne Sonata no. 18
Honda's sax is a Yamaha, WTF!
Anything Joe Hisaishi writes is absolutely incredible. When I listen to his music I feel like I'm falling into a galaxy of emotion. They are musical paintings.
He has just recorded an album with the Royal Philharmonic - incredible listening 🎶
"musical paintings", few truer things have been said 💚
His music with Takeshi Kitano films is better than his work with Ghibli.
@@cooldebt Hot damn, gotta get that on vinyl!
@@timmynoir Deutsche Grammaphon
I hope you do more analyses of Joe Hisaishi’s music. He’s the John Williams to Miyazaki’s Spielberg, and those movies are not the same without his scoring. I also would love you to do Radwimps’ score to Your Name, a modern classic of the anime genre.
Played tank with my high school band on my very last concert, I was featured on the Baritone sax! It was an incredible experience
That's awesome!
A major difference in the music shown here by Kanno and Hisaishi compared with the western style of composition (Williams etc.) is the method of composition. For american films the film is nearly finished when the composers get their hands on it to make the music for it. This leads to some stuff that is the consequence of it. For example when the director has put a stock track on the edit for editing the film and got in love with it so the composer has to match it.
This also happens in anime of course but especially Kanno and Hisaishi produce their music differently (most of the times as far as I am aware). Both are given scripts or early drafts of the show and start composing with that limited information. That is the reason why the Ghibli films have som many different versions of their soundtracks. The image album is the one that Hiaishi made with just the script. He is creating an image in your mind. This makes a lot of difference for the animation process because the animators can listen into the music that has already been made for that sequence. They can work towards a vibe. Kanno is known to produce hours of music where a lot is never being used on the show because she is given just a few basic ideas and just produces music around that.
If you were a band nerd growing up: Sound: Euphonium is great. They draw the instruments so well.
Omg Charles pls consider Sound! Euphonium ❤
Crescent Moon Dance 🤌🏽🤌🏽🤌🏽
and the animation is soooooo good, even outside of the instruments being animated
I came across this quite late. But you asked for recommendations, so here are a few. I hope you see this.
1st. Clannad, especially the opening scene.
2nd. Arpeggio of blue steel. Silver sky, by Nano.
3rd. Heavens lost property. A silly anime with a beautiful soundtrack.
4th. Black summoner. You'll love the outro.
5th. Hell girl. Beautiful music featuring oriental instruments.
6th. The third, the girl with the blue eye. Highly recommended. There's a song in the soundtrack that you won't get to hear in its entirety until about episode six or later.
From Cowboy Bebop it’s “Bad Dog No Biscuits” and “Too Good Too Bad” that do it for me. They’re the action songs used in the show for chase scenes, and they’re just pure momentum.
what planet is this?
bad dog no biscuts, that reminds me of ska music, is it?
Yep! Then "Digging My Potato" - that song plays in the background to my lazy Sundays 😂😍
I've always dug the potato myself
“BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad” is a story about an up-and-coming indie band and its soundtrack contains banger after banger. The dub uses the same instrumentals but the VAs sing over translated and de-Engrished lyrics. Both sets of songs are fantastic.
Not to mention, the performances are animated by Madhouse and they do a fantastic job infusing each member of the band with their own personality, usually in homage to an RL artist (their rapper channeling Zack de la Rocha, the bassist Flea being the most obvious). Worth a watch.
I have been wanting this in crunchyroll forever…
@@b.c.slumber3694 Crunchyroll US has it! It’s just called “Mongolian Chop Squad” there.
The manga literally made me cry when I read it years back and got to near the end point of the story. I could feel the music even off the page.
Wish the festival at the end had the original cover of the Beatles “I’ve got a feeling” in the American release
typhoon!! typhoon 21!!
Howl's moving castle intro was so beautiful i used it to walk down the aisle at my wedding it will always be such a special song to me 😊
The ending theme from the anime FLCL is a classic, too. The song is called Ride on Shooting Stars by The Pillows. There's a lot of good anime themes out there.
I heard a quote once, I forget exactly how it goes, but it was something along the lines of "Western shows write the music to fit the _scene,_ while anime writes the music to fit the _story."_
There are a lot of good recommendations in these comments, so here are a couple I haven't seen mentioned yet:
- The "Haruhi Suzumiya" series. It's not a "these are all bangers" kind of soundtrack, but there are some really good ones. "Oi Oi" in particular has a very clear influence from Fatboy Slim's "Everybody Loves A Carnival".
- Solty Rei. I only watched the series once, long ago, but I recall the soundtrack was big into the "big band jazz" style.
- Record of Lodoss War. Often called "The Lord of the Rings of Anime", and considered foundational to the Fantasy anime genre. The ending themes of the original 13-episode OVA and the "Chronicles of the Heroic Knight" TV series are both great, and the theme of "Chronicles", Kiseki no Umi (Sea of Miracles) really sells the "epic fantasy" feel. Other than those, though, the soundtrack is fairly standard fantasy fare, as I recall.
- Azumanga Daioh. The majority of the music was specifically written to fade into the background and blend into the scenes without intruding on the dialogue, but it ranges in style from jazz, to surf rock, to chill Bossa Nova, to polka, to waltz, to orchestral pieces. The title theme "Soramimi Cake" is a goofy, slightly nonsensical and unhinged song that really sets the tone of the show, the end credit theme "Raspberry Heaven" is a lovely song that still has a bit of the title theme's goofiness, "Nice desu yo" is a jazzy little background piece that shifts into soft surf rock in the middle and then a bluegrass harmonica over jazz piano near the end, "Bakuhatsu Bonkuraazu" is a discordant mess that suits the antics of those three lovable idiots, and "Chiyo-chan Runs!" is taken straight out of an orchestral piece whose name I forget at the moment. (Can you tell I _really_ like Azumanga Daioh?)
Record of Lodoss War absolutely
It's been so long since I watched Azumanga Daioh that I had forgotten the music. The OP was one of my go-to's to brighten up my day for a long time.
And I ordered a minidisk from Japan of Record of Lodoss War's ending song, it's just that beautiful.
5:08 when done right rotoscoping is amazing.
“Ride on Shooting Star” by The Pillows beautifully expresses the chaos of FLCL.
By having the voice actors perform, “Be As One” from Yowamushi Pedal perfectly matches the theme of the specific story arc.
“The Light Before We Land” by The Delgados was used as the opening theme for Gunslinger Girl. It’s a haunting piece of music, especially packaged with the show.
Also check out the orchestral theme from “My Neighbor’s the Yamadas.” It’s yet another amazing Studio Ghibli film that features great music.
FLCL is a nutso joyride of an anime!
The Dalgados! Ahhh The Light Before We Land is such a perfect song for that particular story
FLCL is just a vehicle for The Pillows...actually I love them both to death. Such a perfect match.
FLCL is… the most wtf experience I have seen on screen and the whiplash made me forget the music.
Very happy to hear all of this coming from yourself and welcome in to the beautiful world of anime.
I personally always had 2 distinct categories for music that I described/labelled as - musical poetry/ritual and second as - music illustration.
If you like Joe Hisaishi I'd suggest listening to his live action scores also. My favourite is Okuribito (Departures). The movie is about a cellist who can't find any job and has to work in a funerary. There he has to deal with their clients and how each people is confronted with the loss of a loved one. Just imagine what Joe Hisaishi created with this premise.
his scores for Kitano films are great too, like hana-bi or kikujiros summer
Akira from 1988 has some very unique music and sounds that blend with the movie into an insane experience.
Agreed. I sometimes listen to just the music by itself, though the movie is one of my faves.
it’s Balinese Gamelan sounds
Bangga brok jadi orang indo@@robotomato13
Evan Call composed the music for Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and he did an amazing job creating a unique sound that draws you into the world and deeply complements the emotional impact of the writing and animation. The motifs in the main theme come up in so many little ways throughout to emphasize the significance of certain moments and they use the presence of background music so thoughtfully.
Evan Call is another treasure for anime music, indeed! He also did Violet Evergarden, and not only that, but he also made a big success with drama OST such as The 13 Lords of the Shogun (shame NHK does not release it Internationally)
My trust for this man is concrete- I started to watch Frieren because of him.
Everything about Frieren is a complete masterpiece, and the music is a huge part of that. They gave him like two years to work on the soundtrack, and it was so worth it.
One of my all time favourite animated concert scenes has got to be the in-episode concert for Alchemy by Girls Dead Monster for the anime Angel Beats.
It absolutely blew my mind that they assembled a real-life band for the anime which then disbanded and went their separate ways at the end of 2010, 5 or 6 months after the final episode of the anime. They essentially did a farewell concert and that was that.
Crow Song was another absolute banger from that series.
I can only recommend you to watch Blue Giant (2023), which is a movie about someone from the countryside trying to make a name in the Jazz industry in Tokyo, and in what way it changed the life of everyone he met during his journey.
Also, the OSTs of Kekkai Sensen, Made in Abyss and Hibike! Euphonium
(I avoid saying names from composers that already did an anime you watched, otherwise I would add Zankyou no Terror, from the same compositor that did Cowboy Bebop)
Nice to see Hibike! mentioned
This man NEEDS to take a look at Made in Abyss OST. "VOH" is one of those pieces that throws you on the ground without a single word. Nice video, great stuff as always.
couldnt agree more, kevin penkin`s work on made in abyss is breathtaking
Absolutely! Some of the best music I've ever heard!
Seriously, and the music really feels as if you are going deep into the abyss with the main characters.
Kevin Penkin really knows how to worldbuild with his music, and he's a legend because of that.
I'm glad someone said it. I've been so excited for Charles to check _any_ of MiA's music out.
I really like the sunrise soundtrack
The anime music that has been most impactful for me is Space Lion from Cowboy Bebop. Ever since I first heard it as the end credits of the episodes Jupiter Jazz, a remarkable example of story telling of any kind, it has been the most soothing, meditative, and relaxing and healing theme I’ve ever heard. Any time I feel depressed or are on the edge of an anxiety attack Space Lion has helped me through those times in ways that are difficult to describe. But I have an iTunes play list with just Space Lion on it and according to the play list count I’ve listed to to in almost 9000 times and that’s not including the number of plays on the various iPods and iPhones over the years. It’s the music I love the most and I hope you find it as healing as I have.
I love space lion too! At the end of that episode, it's so many emotions at that point but if music can heal, I think space lion is the song that hugs you as you see tragedy and yet the fact that you can find some peace still with such tragedy with the help of that music is reason for hope.
I played Space Lion/Goodnight Julia for my brother's and my mom's funerals. It is really great to play on Tenor Sax.
Its absolutely the best song from Cowboy Bebop and from any anime in general.
Hell yeah
Space Lion is life.
1) A Million Miles Away (both the english and japanese versions) from Belle
2) ANY songs from Puella Madoka Magica
My favorite sound track was for Macross Plus OVA, especially the Sharon Apple songs.
To this day, Voices gets stuck in my head damn near constantly.
yep.
One of my fav anime composers is the prolific Yuki Kajiura, who did a lot with the Fate series (Zero is my favorite 🤌, especially the tracks Grief and If You Leave), amongst many others, like Princess Principal, which gets a bit more of a jazz vibe. Truly excellent stuff, if generally on the more darkly thematic side of things
Do the Evangelion music next. Not just the original series but also the most recent remasters. Incredible.
From Studio Ghibli - their recent A Boy and the Heron.. the sound track to that just yanks right on my heart strings. It was worked into the whole movie, similarly to how Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For was threaded through Barbie. So by the time you get to the end, it comes together in a nice crescendo that you didn't know was building.
You wanted some recommendations so get ready =D:
Sadness and Sorrow from Naruto
Erza's Theme from Fairy Tail
Requiem from Death Note
Brothers from Full Metal Alchemist
To the Grand Line from One Piece
For the Princess from Sailor Moon Sailor Stars
Man of the World from Naruto Shippuden
The Musician (14th's song) from D.Gray-man
You Say Run from Boku no Hero Academia (My Hero Academy)
Flying Light from Naruto Shippuden the Movie 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire
Gamestart from Rising Shield Hero
Only I am Missing from Erased
Goshintai from Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name)
Last Lie from Death Parade
Escanor's Theme from Nanatsu no Taizai (The Seven Deadly Sins)
The Wars of the Last Wolves from Rorouni Kenshin
There are so many amazing soundtracks in anime. I tried to limit myself and only suggest one per anime/movie so hopefully it isn't too much. I tend to like the more emotional tracks, but I think I got a good balance in the list. I hope you enjoy!
I spent years scouring the internet for a physical copy of Cowboy Bebop OST. When I finally found a copy, I gladly paid $18, and then anxiously waited 3 weeks for it to arrive in MN from a small boutique shop in Tokyo.
cd? lp?
@@Red80008 it's the cd. It's almost always in my car deck.
WHERE DID YOU FIND IT?
Where!?
Everyone chill. It was nearly 10 years ago from *Sovereign Japan*. I'm doubtful they'll have any copies because when I got mine in 2015, the site said there were only a few left. I checked their Amazon storefront today, and it looks like they sell a lot of Nintendo products.
you are missing out if you dont watch the action scenes of cowboy bebop along with the music. It is Shinichirō Watanabes last hand drawn masterpiece. some of the stills that are on screen for only a few moments are beautiful and add a tremendous amount of world building. Cowboy bebop wouldn't be the same without those small yet emissive frames. remember... hand drawn. amazing.
Check out Trigun Soundtrack!
Some favs:
Philosophy in a Tea Cup
Big Bluff
(Tunes with awesome western feel; its a steampunk/western themed anime)
Colorless Sky, and Never could have been worse
And the beautiful solo guitar tune:
Suna No Hoshi
The music from My Neighbor Totoro really changed my opinions on anime when I first watched it.
Yeah
Totoro is my first anime and those music stick with me forever. Guiding me through the myriad of anime and anisong further
@@Bulelengmanif you ever want an unforgettable experience, watch the movie released with Totoro as a double feature.
Some good musical moments there as well in service of the story, though the music is not what people remember.
Tank hits hard. We played it in our set when I was in high-school jazz band
The most tragic part of Tank is that the show doesn't play the entire song.
Something that blew me away quite recently was the OST from 'Trigun Stampede' (a re-adaptation of an older anime), specifically the theme 'Knives' Piano'. The first time it was played was so badass and the playing looked pretty accurate to me, although it always gets interrupted by dialogue. The music of the original Trigun is also just something else.
I was into Trigun long before I did any deep dives into music. When I went down the folk/blues rabbit hole and discovered Stephen Stills, I was like the DiCaprio meme pointing at the speakers like "I know that tone! That's all over the Trigun OST!"
@@tmtmtlsml LOL yeah, I love the vibes of the og Trigun OST!
I'm so glad to see anime and its music becoming more widely known! Joe Hisaishi is an absolute MASTER, and he's worked with Hayao Miyazaki for so long that I think they just *get* each other when it comes to telling stories. And different anime pull from such a wide variety of genres, you'll really hear just about everything if you watch/listen long enough (jazz, metal, classical, you name it!). I love that there are also shows dedicated to traditional Japanese instruments and music. I really loved Those Snow White Notes, which is about the relationship the main character has with his shamisen, his family and the music his grandfather taught him to play. The Apple Blossom Shamisen (Ohara Bushi) duet between the main character and his mother had my jaw dropping.
Kanno Yoko's OST for Macross Plus is well worth your time too.
yes!
Yes. Also Yoko Kanno's OST's for Wolf's Rain and Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex.
@@stefangonzo i second this. Wolf's Rain is so underrated
To be fair her whole discography is amazing!
Totally agree !
2:40 My background is with trombone, and what always jumps out to me in "Tank!" is how the horns are all overblowing. Not a lot, but you definitely get some spreading in the tone that really helps establish that raw feeling you're talking about.
Joe Hisaishi's music makes you experience memories and nostalgia you never had. Listening to that Spirited Away track, it feels like recalling an emotional and tender memory.
Hisashi's masterpieces always make me happy cry, even as a grown man. There is just so much there. I had the classical guitar player at my wedding play spirited away. It was perfection.
"Your lie in April" damn near made me cry. It has an amazing rendition of "Liebeslied"
Let it ring😊
Not to mention the visuals that accompany what is actually a music competition.
I'd love to hear what someone who plays piano at your level thinks of this one.
Absolutely would love to see a breakdown of this series!
It was "your lie in april" that inspired me to play piano
You lie
I think the thing with the music in studio ghibli films is that it feels like its a one to one representative of the world that you're seeing on the screen. It isnt describing the world, it isnt providing another layer to the world, it IS the world. When i hear the theme for Howls Moving Castle, i INSTANTLY picture the festivities in Sophies town at the beginning of the movie. The theme from spirited away in this video makes me see the train traveling along the tracks in the water. Its impossible to separate the world from the music
Kill La Kill also has amazing music. Their use of leitmotifs in the backing music to represent the different characters and factions is really good.
Gamagori's theme just *oozes* power. The man's a walking mountain. Same with Nonon. Her theme gives away her role as the hype-girl, but by far, Kiryuin's theme is *power*
I came here to be sure Kill la Kill was recommended. By Hiroyuki Sawano who later did Attack on Titan which is on this list.
Thank you! I feel the Kill la Kill soundtrack is SO underappreciated!
My fav sonf drom kill la kill is still blumenkranz
Yuki Kajiura has also done wonderful work on multiple anime.
I think with Howl's the phrase you're looking for is that it's personal in scope, it's intimate. It invites you in. It's honestly something we don't get enough of with all these soundtracks that are booming, grand, and epic in scale.
Samurai Champloo. The soundtrack, and more specifically Nujabes, literally saved my life in my worst times. There is a heavy jazz influence and tremendous classical jazz sampling littered throughout his music. Clearly he draws inspiration from artists like J DIlla, but his music always carried a unique life and soul that I didn't connect with in other artists foundational to the genre. Also, it is foundational for what is now some of the most popular genres of music to exist. You can hear his influence in modern rap, chillhop, and lofi music. It might not be your exact type of music, since it isn't quite as complex in composition compared to some of the orchestration and jazz work in the things you've already reviewed, but it is transformative and innovative in the most beautiful way nonetheless. I'd love to hear you review some of the pieces by who will eternally be my favorite artist. Rest in Beats Nujabes.
Chill Lofi beats to study/samurai to
Chill LoFi beats to die on your feet with your head held high
Dancing mad by Nobuo Uematsu (and basically everything by him and yoko shimomura) is just awe inspiring haha
should check out this series too - Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad
bit older but very cool series about young musicians and their struggles in life and music.
and love the songs they used in there