Vinphonic
01-02-2018, 02:15 PM
Proudly presenting:
2017 in Concert
Anime and Games Symphony
The wonderful music world of Japanese media
Part 1 (https://mega.nz/#!lnBWTCAY!stobUMo6UOCIXJfpu51DuTG9kebBBuFmGc4gkkwibb8) / Part 2 (https://mega.nz/#!J6Bz0BAJ!N1PeEpVwf7AIyRdnXwV85ZCVAD_IkScnxpAjXqPXmN4) / Part 3 (https://mega.nz/#!VqAwiYAI!ejezYBmSL1DmDZkbw8eVJZK4dC0N7eLSvG_mhId6_lo) / Part 4 (https://mega.nz/#!szIExRjL!KVWMq6tjD5MsQkP7PGV7Fly2vD9WTrcMBKFdcF1_4UM)
I put A LOT of effort into arranging the best of the Japanese Media world has to offer this year. I bet quite a sum that roughly half of it you probably never heard, because some of it is very obscure. I did this project occasionally across the year. Arranging Valkyria Revolution, Taishi, Gravity Daze 2 and dozens of others into a quasi-symphonic suite was a lot of work (because loops suck), but I’m very pleased by the final results.
My criteria were the following: The music must be recorded by a full orchestra or at least emulate a full orchestra recording, and must either be heard in 2017 media or on a soundtrack released in 2017.
In total, over 24 hours of music, a whole day’s worth, with over one hundred pieces, mark my most ambitious project to date: A project to truly encapsulate the Japanese Media world of 2017.
Keep in mind this is still a selection, there’s more orchestral scores out there than I listed here, but they are mostly unavailable at the present time. For example, Virgin Soul is not out until January, so that counts as a 2018 release.
Of course this collection/library would not be possible without a strong and dedicated community, here and elsewhere, certainly not without nextday's efforts and people on the sidelines making it happen so that I can share it before the year is over.
If you have a bit more space available, here are my favorite Media score arrangements from Japan this year in FLAC (from soundtracks I own), you can either replace the tracks from the main collection or use this as a separate "Best-of" album, but I strongly advice to listen to the main collection first:
2017 in Concert
My Favorite Scores [FLAC]
Download (https://mega.nz/#!PpY3BbyR!p2u8WsrDferDtFWzdDYSrpGMbR1S1mwD0UYLxt7hQTg)
What now follows are detailed reasons why the future looks very bright.
I. Japan is a country that utterly devotes itself to the orchestra and traditional music instruments
Every child in Japan grows up listening to western classical music and is on average much more likely to end up playing in an orchestral ensemble, Wind Band or Big Band than anywhere else on the planet. Japan has by far the most orchestras of the world per capita and the amount of Wind Band Ensembles and Big Bands tops even that. Orchestral music and Jazz is now strongly tied to their culture and tradition. There exists a whole indy orchestral scene, freelance orchestras and a love for classical and classic film composers that borders on idolatry. Even in media ads, switch on their television channels and you can hear orchestra and Jazz ALL THE TIME, ads with H�ndel or even Mancini’s Moonriver are not the exception but the norm! MUSIC MATTERS to their daily lives and their daily entertainment. To this day they let their old religion and ancient culture prosper amidst technological and social advancement, so that leads me to believe they will treat the orchestral symphonic score in similar fashion.
II. Japan treats Media products as “items of cultural value” dead serious and makes zero distinction between E-music and U-music.
Whether anime, game or live-action, orchestral tribute concerts are on the rise. The Tokyo Philharmonic alone was featured on over ten orchestral albums this year celebrating music from anime and games. If you look at video footage of Japanese tribute concerts they put an insane amount of work behind the scene, dedicating themselves to honor the history of long-running franchises with respect, love and care. A proper developed concert culture (among mostly young people) certainly is visible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2uA-ac9N3w
The same can be said for Wind Ensembles. They treat their music with a level of respect that utterly amazes me. Doesn’t matter if it’s music not connected to the concert world in any way (Kemono Friends), they put serious effort into making it a “serious” affair.
The Symphonic Gamers Concert this year speaks volumes: Thread 220609
The Japanese themselves (various agencies and individuals) even acknowledge they want to further push and evolve classical music through Media music (Games, Anime, Live-Action). There is some serious effort made behind the scenes, with Naotora hopefully being just a precursor.
III. A strong love for Film music and no distinction between classical works and Film music works in the concert hall
This year marks an unprecedented amount of classic Hollywood tribute albums, mostly by the Japan Philharmonic from the Golden Age to the Silver Age, from Cleopatra and Ben-Hur to Titanic and Avatar in addition to tribute albums to classic Japanese cinema and songs.
This year Japan established a fulltime professional symphony orchestra called “The Film Score Philharmonic” that plays ONLY film music in the concert hall and for new “cinematic projects”.
Since this year marks the 85th Birthday of living legend John Williams, Japan put together two Birthday concerts, a whole tribute album (John Williams Film Spectacular) and finally a special tribute to Star Wars (Heptatology).
To this day many Japanese composers are inspired by the Hollywood greats and Alan Silvestri is a name known to all. You can hear numerous film music references this year, from Ron Goodwin’s Squadron 633 in Gravity Daze 2 to Magnificent Seven in Anime-Gataris.
What is also worthy of note, among the nearly twenty film music albums released this year, despite the occasional oddball, in general nothing goes further than the 90s unless its by John Williams or Horner.
IV. Japanese Media has a strong individuality; (new) Western influence is not as pronounced as before
I really noticed this with Games this year. As a veteran gamer there existed a time until recently where Japanese Games were chasing after western trends (Call of Duty in Resident Evil) but that has now almost completely stopped. My favorite games ereleased this year (GD2, Nier, P5 etc.) are all obviously, undeniably, Japanese in aesthetic, narrative, presentation and music. It sure speaks volumes that at a western Game award show that tries to be the Oscars, Japanese Games dominate. The Japanese philosophy about putting gameplay first, let games be games,, with strong aesthetic, incredible artdesign and thought-out core concept, while also being the first country to establish a serious video game culture, especially through music, certainly payed off big time for me this year. And this abandment of "new" western influences across all of Japanese media is actually ironic because now everyone tries to rip off Japanese media items instead, from a Hollywood series of One Piece to Death Note to Battle Angel Alita.
V. The Sound of it
My main reason why I decided to NOT use any remastering on this project is simple, I want to make a point that Japanese scores are simply starting to sound good. And most of the meaty scores in this collection, with a few exceptions, sound good!
Whether that’s because its recorded in a real hall or a “tin-can” studio with a decent engineer, Japanese scores sound now miles better this year on average than ever before, and that was one of the major problems holding Japanese scores back. There’s actually numerous symphony-orchestra recordings this year but also a fair share of studio recordings that sound totally fine, with a noticeable increase in orchestra-size (Godzilla, Black Butler, Virgin Soul, Naotora, Gravity Daze 2). It will probably never reach, say, David Newman’s Hollywood recordings in scope but that was a bit overblown anyway.
VI. Recordings with a Symphony Orchestras and overseas collaborations are increasing
London, Budapest, Berlin, Brussels, Prague, Warsaw, Paris and Boston: All featured this year on Japanese soundtacks. The Tokyo Symphony, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony, the Tokyo City, Kanagawa Philharmonic, Senzoku Gakuen College Orchestra and newcomer JAGMO: All featured this year on Japanese soundtracks. Especially with Boston there exists a whole catalogue of announced projects, starting with two Go Shiina scores for God Eater and Code Vein, and many many more. Warsaw is still holding joint events in Japan and is featured on their media products, from Berserk to Drifters to Fafner Beyond. Japanese composers still love to travel around the world and the numbers are going up.
VII. Mobile Games with orchestral symphonic scores
From a fullfleshed symphonic suite “Aerial Legends” and “DEEMO” to bombastic Hollywood action in “Black Knight and White Devil”, mobile games from Japan more often than not featured an orchestral score this year either by a full symphony orchestra or a decent orchestral ensemble. And it brings with them plenty of old veterans (Sahashi for Soen no Kantai, Tanaka for Reconne, Kaoru Wada for Battle Destiny 2) or launches newcomers on the scene (Tsumo Narita for Granblue). Let’s see what the future holds but since a mobile game brought us Rage of Bahamut: Genesis I’m certainly anticipating the future.
They put a lot of care into them. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVSQxcWDcGc)
VIII. Veteran composers are making a comeback
Kohei Tanaka is busier than ever, this year he released one of the best game scores I ever heard from Japan, numerous pop singles, various anime projects and next year he has a symphonic score in some capacity for us in store and that is definitely not all
Oshima flies around the globe day and night and recently has a film series to score. Among those is an Esmeralda remake.
Takayuki Hattori is increasingly scoring anime and live-action, and also has a film series to score. Next year he is the one scoring Doraemon’s Treasure Island, and the soundtrack will be released in February.
Naoki Sato is busier than ever scoring for live-action and anime, and also has a film series to score. He is now on a whole other level than when he started out.
Shiro Hamaguchi has some projects in the works and also has a film series to score. Right now he’s in 60s war film mode.
Hayato Matsuo is back in the game, scoring at least two shows next year, one of them a Warsaw score
Taku Iwasaki is increasingly writing more classical and operatc music and next year has two film scores in store for us, all with confirmed soundtrack releases
Toshiyuki Watanabe is returning big time with not one but two Sci-Fi firecrackers
Kaoru Wada not only returned to the anime scene but also has various game projects for us in store
Yoshihiro Ike is now busier than ever, scoring for Cygames and Netflix (with a confirmed symphony orchestra)
Kosuke Yamashita is still busy with Sentai, PxD, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and arranging numerous concerts, next up is Seiken Densetsu in January.
Taro Iwashiro is an anime regular now and increasingly writing symphonic music
Yasunori Mitsuda is now busier than ever, writing one orchestral score after the next
Toshihiko Sahashi is very busy next year, not only an opera but “three big media projects”, and he’s also on the Netflix composer list
Hitoshi Sakimoto returns with a big title and with reorchestrated versions of Zodiac Age and Dragon’s Crow as bonus
Kotaro Nakagawa and Hitomi have quite a few projects next year, of course Code Geass S3 being the big title
Yoko Kanno returns big time with one of the greatest media scores ever written
Meanwhile Joe Hisaishi is busy with concert works, conducting classical symphonies and writing for various media projects across all Asia. If you see him in the concert hall, he still has the brightest smile on his face and conducts (and plays) with vigorous passion.
IX. Anime NEXT 100 and Netflix Bad=Good? Intentions
Anime NEXT 100 is a serious undertaking of the Japanese Animation Association to expand the Anime Industry until 2020 to ensure a prosperous future for this Industry at least until 2117 with numerous cultural programs and events (concerts), schools and university collaborations (Senzoku Gakuen college of music). They have direct ties to the Japanese Government (many politicans are also involved) for fundings, education and cultural events.
"Animation is basically for children, although we admit whole-heartedly that there are lots of grown-ups who do not forget the naiveness of children, so to nurture in their mind “dream and friendship, love and courage, spiritual excitement and power to live”, it is our delight that Japanese animations could contribute in this regards not only for Japanese "children" but in global, transcending generations, sexualities and borders. It should “animate” the human being and epoch.
- Animation Cultural Program and Japanese Animation Film 100th Anniversary Project
It’s no coincidence all these classic series from the 60/70/80/90/00s are being remade or getting sequels. Sometimes they are so stubborn in staying true to the original that they are reluctant to change the music IN ANY WAY, which can equally be a curse and a blessing. Good luck finding Wah-Wah Pedal action and 80's Drum batteries anywhere else on the planet.
And not just anime, many games also receive similar treatment, from Zodiac Age to Secret of Mana.
All the while the Anime industry is growing rapidly with increased global interest. In recent years Animation Studios across the board are either trying to go for the Oscars (Ex1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuQA5_O0RxE) / Ex2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnOa2TFXWRY)) OR bring back glorious 60/70/80 kitsch in full force (Ex1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js2-r_KB3xk) / Ex2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCjRKXwdIho)).
Bonus:
2017 in Brass
Anime and Game Jazz
Download (https://mega.nz/#!cuRU0apb!sZqRVXp6sEcy3GxTYT19NSM_MOMO2N2TF57HJcvVRxE)
From the establishment of various Big Band ensembles dedicated entirely to anime and games (JAGMO Big Band being the most popular) to numerous Jazz and Wind Band pieces on soundtrack and indy albums by newcomers and veterans, 2this year has been one hell of a swing!
Life is full of dreams! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDnLHd2Ei3Y)
This year I can make an entire album with over two hours of diverse Jazz styles. The first 24 tracks fall into this category. The next ten pieces are all about brassy funk and wind band and finally ending with my favorite “Brass Pop” pieces from this year, ranging from funk to pop ballad. There are some pop songs coming out from time to time that simply have to stay on my hard drive. Most notably, Kohei Tanaka has been very active as a pop composer this year with his greatest contribution to the Anime Next 100 project. Some incredibly catchy music for sure. Speaking of Big Band, some scores this year could fit right into Family Guy.
I did arrange various soundtracks to “Jazz Suites” and again, I’m very pleased how that turned out.
On another bonus note: More and more Japanese Pop songs feature at least a string ensemble, brass band or a full orchestral ensemble.
Not your average pop song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYvcjzQ-gys)
Conclusion
2017 exceeded my expectation that I had from 2016 on a level that is truly astounding. Japan in this day and age has absorbed various components of European and American Culture in addition to having a strong desire to culturally preserve their own media output. The heart of Symphonic music and Jazz is not dead in our times but vividly beating elsewhere, on the other side of the world, in the Land of the Rising Sun.
And finally:
Happy New Year
Onward to 2018
2017 in Concert
Anime and Games Symphony
The wonderful music world of Japanese media
Part 1 (https://mega.nz/#!lnBWTCAY!stobUMo6UOCIXJfpu51DuTG9kebBBuFmGc4gkkwibb8) / Part 2 (https://mega.nz/#!J6Bz0BAJ!N1PeEpVwf7AIyRdnXwV85ZCVAD_IkScnxpAjXqPXmN4) / Part 3 (https://mega.nz/#!VqAwiYAI!ejezYBmSL1DmDZkbw8eVJZK4dC0N7eLSvG_mhId6_lo) / Part 4 (https://mega.nz/#!szIExRjL!KVWMq6tjD5MsQkP7PGV7Fly2vD9WTrcMBKFdcF1_4UM)
I put A LOT of effort into arranging the best of the Japanese Media world has to offer this year. I bet quite a sum that roughly half of it you probably never heard, because some of it is very obscure. I did this project occasionally across the year. Arranging Valkyria Revolution, Taishi, Gravity Daze 2 and dozens of others into a quasi-symphonic suite was a lot of work (because loops suck), but I’m very pleased by the final results.
My criteria were the following: The music must be recorded by a full orchestra or at least emulate a full orchestra recording, and must either be heard in 2017 media or on a soundtrack released in 2017.
In total, over 24 hours of music, a whole day’s worth, with over one hundred pieces, mark my most ambitious project to date: A project to truly encapsulate the Japanese Media world of 2017.
Keep in mind this is still a selection, there’s more orchestral scores out there than I listed here, but they are mostly unavailable at the present time. For example, Virgin Soul is not out until January, so that counts as a 2018 release.
Of course this collection/library would not be possible without a strong and dedicated community, here and elsewhere, certainly not without nextday's efforts and people on the sidelines making it happen so that I can share it before the year is over.
If you have a bit more space available, here are my favorite Media score arrangements from Japan this year in FLAC (from soundtracks I own), you can either replace the tracks from the main collection or use this as a separate "Best-of" album, but I strongly advice to listen to the main collection first:
2017 in Concert
My Favorite Scores [FLAC]
Download (https://mega.nz/#!PpY3BbyR!p2u8WsrDferDtFWzdDYSrpGMbR1S1mwD0UYLxt7hQTg)
What now follows are detailed reasons why the future looks very bright.
I. Japan is a country that utterly devotes itself to the orchestra and traditional music instruments
Every child in Japan grows up listening to western classical music and is on average much more likely to end up playing in an orchestral ensemble, Wind Band or Big Band than anywhere else on the planet. Japan has by far the most orchestras of the world per capita and the amount of Wind Band Ensembles and Big Bands tops even that. Orchestral music and Jazz is now strongly tied to their culture and tradition. There exists a whole indy orchestral scene, freelance orchestras and a love for classical and classic film composers that borders on idolatry. Even in media ads, switch on their television channels and you can hear orchestra and Jazz ALL THE TIME, ads with H�ndel or even Mancini’s Moonriver are not the exception but the norm! MUSIC MATTERS to their daily lives and their daily entertainment. To this day they let their old religion and ancient culture prosper amidst technological and social advancement, so that leads me to believe they will treat the orchestral symphonic score in similar fashion.
II. Japan treats Media products as “items of cultural value” dead serious and makes zero distinction between E-music and U-music.
Whether anime, game or live-action, orchestral tribute concerts are on the rise. The Tokyo Philharmonic alone was featured on over ten orchestral albums this year celebrating music from anime and games. If you look at video footage of Japanese tribute concerts they put an insane amount of work behind the scene, dedicating themselves to honor the history of long-running franchises with respect, love and care. A proper developed concert culture (among mostly young people) certainly is visible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2uA-ac9N3w
The same can be said for Wind Ensembles. They treat their music with a level of respect that utterly amazes me. Doesn’t matter if it’s music not connected to the concert world in any way (Kemono Friends), they put serious effort into making it a “serious” affair.
The Symphonic Gamers Concert this year speaks volumes: Thread 220609
The Japanese themselves (various agencies and individuals) even acknowledge they want to further push and evolve classical music through Media music (Games, Anime, Live-Action). There is some serious effort made behind the scenes, with Naotora hopefully being just a precursor.
III. A strong love for Film music and no distinction between classical works and Film music works in the concert hall
This year marks an unprecedented amount of classic Hollywood tribute albums, mostly by the Japan Philharmonic from the Golden Age to the Silver Age, from Cleopatra and Ben-Hur to Titanic and Avatar in addition to tribute albums to classic Japanese cinema and songs.
This year Japan established a fulltime professional symphony orchestra called “The Film Score Philharmonic” that plays ONLY film music in the concert hall and for new “cinematic projects”.
Since this year marks the 85th Birthday of living legend John Williams, Japan put together two Birthday concerts, a whole tribute album (John Williams Film Spectacular) and finally a special tribute to Star Wars (Heptatology).
To this day many Japanese composers are inspired by the Hollywood greats and Alan Silvestri is a name known to all. You can hear numerous film music references this year, from Ron Goodwin’s Squadron 633 in Gravity Daze 2 to Magnificent Seven in Anime-Gataris.
What is also worthy of note, among the nearly twenty film music albums released this year, despite the occasional oddball, in general nothing goes further than the 90s unless its by John Williams or Horner.
IV. Japanese Media has a strong individuality; (new) Western influence is not as pronounced as before
I really noticed this with Games this year. As a veteran gamer there existed a time until recently where Japanese Games were chasing after western trends (Call of Duty in Resident Evil) but that has now almost completely stopped. My favorite games ereleased this year (GD2, Nier, P5 etc.) are all obviously, undeniably, Japanese in aesthetic, narrative, presentation and music. It sure speaks volumes that at a western Game award show that tries to be the Oscars, Japanese Games dominate. The Japanese philosophy about putting gameplay first, let games be games,, with strong aesthetic, incredible artdesign and thought-out core concept, while also being the first country to establish a serious video game culture, especially through music, certainly payed off big time for me this year. And this abandment of "new" western influences across all of Japanese media is actually ironic because now everyone tries to rip off Japanese media items instead, from a Hollywood series of One Piece to Death Note to Battle Angel Alita.
V. The Sound of it
My main reason why I decided to NOT use any remastering on this project is simple, I want to make a point that Japanese scores are simply starting to sound good. And most of the meaty scores in this collection, with a few exceptions, sound good!
Whether that’s because its recorded in a real hall or a “tin-can” studio with a decent engineer, Japanese scores sound now miles better this year on average than ever before, and that was one of the major problems holding Japanese scores back. There’s actually numerous symphony-orchestra recordings this year but also a fair share of studio recordings that sound totally fine, with a noticeable increase in orchestra-size (Godzilla, Black Butler, Virgin Soul, Naotora, Gravity Daze 2). It will probably never reach, say, David Newman’s Hollywood recordings in scope but that was a bit overblown anyway.
VI. Recordings with a Symphony Orchestras and overseas collaborations are increasing
London, Budapest, Berlin, Brussels, Prague, Warsaw, Paris and Boston: All featured this year on Japanese soundtacks. The Tokyo Symphony, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony, the Tokyo City, Kanagawa Philharmonic, Senzoku Gakuen College Orchestra and newcomer JAGMO: All featured this year on Japanese soundtracks. Especially with Boston there exists a whole catalogue of announced projects, starting with two Go Shiina scores for God Eater and Code Vein, and many many more. Warsaw is still holding joint events in Japan and is featured on their media products, from Berserk to Drifters to Fafner Beyond. Japanese composers still love to travel around the world and the numbers are going up.
VII. Mobile Games with orchestral symphonic scores
From a fullfleshed symphonic suite “Aerial Legends” and “DEEMO” to bombastic Hollywood action in “Black Knight and White Devil”, mobile games from Japan more often than not featured an orchestral score this year either by a full symphony orchestra or a decent orchestral ensemble. And it brings with them plenty of old veterans (Sahashi for Soen no Kantai, Tanaka for Reconne, Kaoru Wada for Battle Destiny 2) or launches newcomers on the scene (Tsumo Narita for Granblue). Let’s see what the future holds but since a mobile game brought us Rage of Bahamut: Genesis I’m certainly anticipating the future.
They put a lot of care into them. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVSQxcWDcGc)
VIII. Veteran composers are making a comeback
Kohei Tanaka is busier than ever, this year he released one of the best game scores I ever heard from Japan, numerous pop singles, various anime projects and next year he has a symphonic score in some capacity for us in store and that is definitely not all
Oshima flies around the globe day and night and recently has a film series to score. Among those is an Esmeralda remake.
Takayuki Hattori is increasingly scoring anime and live-action, and also has a film series to score. Next year he is the one scoring Doraemon’s Treasure Island, and the soundtrack will be released in February.
Naoki Sato is busier than ever scoring for live-action and anime, and also has a film series to score. He is now on a whole other level than when he started out.
Shiro Hamaguchi has some projects in the works and also has a film series to score. Right now he’s in 60s war film mode.
Hayato Matsuo is back in the game, scoring at least two shows next year, one of them a Warsaw score
Taku Iwasaki is increasingly writing more classical and operatc music and next year has two film scores in store for us, all with confirmed soundtrack releases
Toshiyuki Watanabe is returning big time with not one but two Sci-Fi firecrackers
Kaoru Wada not only returned to the anime scene but also has various game projects for us in store
Yoshihiro Ike is now busier than ever, scoring for Cygames and Netflix (with a confirmed symphony orchestra)
Kosuke Yamashita is still busy with Sentai, PxD, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and arranging numerous concerts, next up is Seiken Densetsu in January.
Taro Iwashiro is an anime regular now and increasingly writing symphonic music
Yasunori Mitsuda is now busier than ever, writing one orchestral score after the next
Toshihiko Sahashi is very busy next year, not only an opera but “three big media projects”, and he’s also on the Netflix composer list
Hitoshi Sakimoto returns with a big title and with reorchestrated versions of Zodiac Age and Dragon’s Crow as bonus
Kotaro Nakagawa and Hitomi have quite a few projects next year, of course Code Geass S3 being the big title
Yoko Kanno returns big time with one of the greatest media scores ever written
Meanwhile Joe Hisaishi is busy with concert works, conducting classical symphonies and writing for various media projects across all Asia. If you see him in the concert hall, he still has the brightest smile on his face and conducts (and plays) with vigorous passion.
IX. Anime NEXT 100 and Netflix Bad=Good? Intentions
Anime NEXT 100 is a serious undertaking of the Japanese Animation Association to expand the Anime Industry until 2020 to ensure a prosperous future for this Industry at least until 2117 with numerous cultural programs and events (concerts), schools and university collaborations (Senzoku Gakuen college of music). They have direct ties to the Japanese Government (many politicans are also involved) for fundings, education and cultural events.
"Animation is basically for children, although we admit whole-heartedly that there are lots of grown-ups who do not forget the naiveness of children, so to nurture in their mind “dream and friendship, love and courage, spiritual excitement and power to live”, it is our delight that Japanese animations could contribute in this regards not only for Japanese "children" but in global, transcending generations, sexualities and borders. It should “animate” the human being and epoch.
- Animation Cultural Program and Japanese Animation Film 100th Anniversary Project
It’s no coincidence all these classic series from the 60/70/80/90/00s are being remade or getting sequels. Sometimes they are so stubborn in staying true to the original that they are reluctant to change the music IN ANY WAY, which can equally be a curse and a blessing. Good luck finding Wah-Wah Pedal action and 80's Drum batteries anywhere else on the planet.
And not just anime, many games also receive similar treatment, from Zodiac Age to Secret of Mana.
All the while the Anime industry is growing rapidly with increased global interest. In recent years Animation Studios across the board are either trying to go for the Oscars (Ex1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuQA5_O0RxE) / Ex2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnOa2TFXWRY)) OR bring back glorious 60/70/80 kitsch in full force (Ex1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js2-r_KB3xk) / Ex2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCjRKXwdIho)).
Bonus:
2017 in Brass
Anime and Game Jazz
Download (https://mega.nz/#!cuRU0apb!sZqRVXp6sEcy3GxTYT19NSM_MOMO2N2TF57HJcvVRxE)
From the establishment of various Big Band ensembles dedicated entirely to anime and games (JAGMO Big Band being the most popular) to numerous Jazz and Wind Band pieces on soundtrack and indy albums by newcomers and veterans, 2this year has been one hell of a swing!
Life is full of dreams! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDnLHd2Ei3Y)
This year I can make an entire album with over two hours of diverse Jazz styles. The first 24 tracks fall into this category. The next ten pieces are all about brassy funk and wind band and finally ending with my favorite “Brass Pop” pieces from this year, ranging from funk to pop ballad. There are some pop songs coming out from time to time that simply have to stay on my hard drive. Most notably, Kohei Tanaka has been very active as a pop composer this year with his greatest contribution to the Anime Next 100 project. Some incredibly catchy music for sure. Speaking of Big Band, some scores this year could fit right into Family Guy.
I did arrange various soundtracks to “Jazz Suites” and again, I’m very pleased how that turned out.
On another bonus note: More and more Japanese Pop songs feature at least a string ensemble, brass band or a full orchestral ensemble.
Not your average pop song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYvcjzQ-gys)
Conclusion
2017 exceeded my expectation that I had from 2016 on a level that is truly astounding. Japan in this day and age has absorbed various components of European and American Culture in addition to having a strong desire to culturally preserve their own media output. The heart of Symphonic music and Jazz is not dead in our times but vividly beating elsewhere, on the other side of the world, in the Land of the Rising Sun.
And finally:
Happy New Year
Onward to 2018