No.87121
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGdEBBKA-MWhat are /qa/'s favorite scores for anime and such? Are they mostly comprised of scores for older series or has anything recent really drawn your attention and favor as well? Or, do you even notice the soundtrack while watching?
Also I don't mean an anime with say 1 good track throughout the whole thing with the rest forgettable, but one where the music as a whole is good.
No.87124
JRPG music in particular is something I cherish very dearly. One character and theme that has stuck to me for over 20 years is Rena from Star Ocean 2. Motoi Sakuraba has an extremely recognizable style in general, and his work for the Star Ocean, Tales and Valkyrie Profile games are legendary. He also does the soundtrack for the Souls games.
Theme of Rena:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlP1N7s-MEEMusic Box version (sad moments):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcZza3_Ng54Arranged version (off an album):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5NMakAUE_0Ah, young love, even if it's for a fictitious video game girl...
No.87130
My ears tend to be biassed in favor of the whole packaging, so an ok OST can be charmed by the experience of a great show. Great OSTs of great shows which I instantly remember include Hellsing and NHK. A surprisingly good OST for a show under the radar was used in Bocchi's show.
No.87132
>>87129It's not for that reasons, it's complicated... Don't worry about it.
No.87133
>>87131uah I'd kill for a kebab right now
No.87155
File:GA.jpg (469.62 KB,670x777)
Too many to list, mostly series from over a decade ago. The sound is a major part of the viewing experience for me.
Two that I think might deserve more appreciation are Bartender and GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class. In fact, the music is what I like most about these two shows. I like listening to variations of the same motif. Bartender has several repeated motifs, while for GA it might be just the main theme's motif that gets repeated several times. Oh, and the main motif of the OVA ED theme is also used for the next episode preview.
Bartender:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpGJ_OOh58c&list=PLonNmoP_O6LF_xcrPL287diEa1DkvDa5J&index=1GA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7YR1d72qVw&list=PLZ-5xVKu9PUmUEB0oVRgHxWMG98kOVosW&index=12I enjoyed the Spice and Wolf soundtrack as part of the anime, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much when I listened to it on its own, except for the OP and ED themes. On the other hand, for my favorite soundtracks, I enjoy them greatly both as part of the anime and on their own.
No.87157
>>87133I can't believe you would kill a fellow human being for something so trivial. You're a monster!
No.87170
There are two specific ones that come to mind.
First one is Noir. Purely as a soundtrack (i.e. in terms of matching the work, creating a fitting atmosphere, use of leitmotifs, etc.), I think this one is hard to top. Also happens to have probably my favorite OP ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJpHU--A--8 No.87172
And yeah, I do notice the soundtrack while watching, I just find most of it unremarkable and forget it completely after I finish the series. Can't even remember the most recent one that I liked. Mashiro no Oto, if you count that? Oh yeah, there was a track in Akebi-chan that sounded like You from Higurashi. I know it's a common chord progression, but the contrast was amusing, what with the rural middle school setting and all.
No.87220
I maintain that Touka Gettan has one of the all time greatest anime soundtracks. Done by Tada Akifumi, who's written a number of anime soundtracks, but on this one they really gave him carte blanche to write whatever he saw fit for the scene. It's got themes ranging from classical eastern music, classical western music, jazz, hip hop, and there's even a mambo thrown in for good measure. Almost all of the pieces use a range of instruments too, it's surprisingly complex music for what was probably not a very high budget tv show.
>>87155agree on Bartender having a great soundtrack too.
No.87361
I'm probably in the minority, or maybe it's just that most anime have bland "wall paper" soundtracks, but I almost never notice the music aside from maybe taking note of the OP/ED if they're particularly good. Very rarely do I think much of music. More important to me is sound design.
No.87362
>>87361Most anime don't have a stand-out soundtrack, you're right. But that's not really an anime thing that's more a soundtrack thing in general. Good ones are usually hard to come by.
No.87383
D4DJ
No.88015
>>87987Yeah that one is great too, but it might go over some people's heads since it's all soft and relaxing ambiental music.
No.88417
>>87383I liked some of that too, anime about idols always has many different songs so at least some of them are bound to be to someones liking.
No.88419
Welcome to the NHK is the 1st one that comes to mind.
765 has great music too.
No.89989
what kind of soldier
No.90711
>>90694I prefer soundtracks of Japanese games to Western ones though, mostly because Western games are obsessed with trying to emulate Hollywood orchestra and it always sounds bland and uninspired to me.
Also, did you guys know that Automata is getting an anime adaption?
No.92096
>>91845I love GA too. Have you played the PSP game? It is pretty cozy and emulates well.
No.92177
>>92096I've tried it before for a bit, but I didn't get very far and never got around to finishing it. Part of the reason why might be that I was disappointed that the soundtrack is different. The game soundtrack isn't bad per se, but it feels a bit bland and generic compared to the overall groovier feel of the anime soundtrack. Maybe I'll come back to it someday. I still haven't even read the manga yet, and I definitely want to do that first.
Have you listened to the drama CD that came with the limited edition of the game? You might enjoy it if you're still craving for more GA.
No.108964
>>108963Took me a few seconds to remember it, but I could hear the trumpets in my head perfectly right before they came on. That groove is hard to forget.
No.108990
>>108980Absolutely. The first murder scene in Umineko is such a memorable scene thanks to the music, a sharp contrast going from classical music to techno.
Going from Umineko to Ciconia, I was really let down by how lackluster the music felt. The near-climax scene in particular where
everybody starts declaring war on each other could have been so much more impactful with the right music.
No.118593
>>108963How groovy it is
and how bizarre the last third of it gets
No.119365
>>119362Sigh. Like everything else
No.119671
(bleh, reposting with fixed links hopefully)
Today is a sports day apparently, so how about some Dodgeball? Technos Japan had some truly amazing soundtracks on the NES and this game is part of the Kunio-kun series of games that had various localized names in the West. River City Ransom, Super Dodgeball, Crash and the Boys, etc.
Some of the songs borrow from known music (like the USSR theme here) while others are original as far as anyone knows.
Super Dodgeball:
USA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi-6X7tmM4USSR (yes it's that old)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxqh18h7J5AClone team (have to beat the game without deaths until that point from what I remember):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBqXwm3MGm02Player Versus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_2xFCHz-wEThe clone team theme really highlights how special these games were. It has THREE different parts which was quite remarkable for a NES theme, or even today's VGM really. These themes really get you excited.
Of course if you would know any Technos Japan theme it would be this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoJ7YFUotTAActually, screw it LET'S LISTEN TO SOME DOUBLE DRAGON! There's no way this stuff hasn't been hugely influential to video game music for being so early and yet so elaborate and catchy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BN3g5OzgUI (this one is interesting for having what is basically a guitar solo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQM0QECxhjc (this one is so good)
I remember there was a cover band called the Minibosses that had recordings of some NES stuff like Double Dragon and you'd find it on Kazaa or limewire. Guitars and drums and playing NES stuff in the late 90s and early 00s and you could find it on the information superhighway.
No.121909
Since someone mentioned Mitsuda in another /qa/ thread I'll link my favorite known soundtracks of his. (I don't listen to VGM without playing the game first)
I'll pick a few songs from each one if you don't have the willingness to listen to them all in order. I still have my old burned CDs of Xenogears and Chrono Cross. Ah, those were the days...
Chrono Cross:
Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40BZyMdDG4s&list=OLAK5uy_m0OQNm22GZz8ZKeymSPrtVBll9ykcwBWY&index=1Great overworld track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVNkROZ0k2YAmazing dungeon theme. The part at 1:02 is so goooood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o68dG1INZA;_;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtvKTCVC93EPossibly the best ending credits theme of any PSX RPG:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3a_iTwQIi4Xenogears (some of these songs have updated names with translations and it's hard for me to accept them after 20 years...)
Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR1NcGdLgmg&list=PLAhS3AgXczdcpqZ8w5oty5hEoMu9xvcXv&index=2One of the 'dramatic stuff is happening' songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfxaDEW4VuUOne of the 'mysterious' themes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvtS3AEW3zwHard to find a better BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND DO YOUR BEST! theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGNVDPvZ6xoI LOVE THIS SONG:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiVt6tHHiGkActually, with so many links I should break up my posts into two. I'll go get the Xenosaga and Soul Sacrifice songs now. I hope they haven't been taken off youtube...
No.121910
>>121909Budgets increased and Mitsuda has an orchestra for these two. Although it's arguable that he shouldn't have for Xenosaga because of how badly they apparently did their finances and it was reduced to a trilogy instead of 6 or more games. They actually used the London Philharmonic for Xenosaga which is probably very expensive. Soul Sacrifice is kind of weird because it had a second release with DLC on it, like a 'final edition' kind of thing and it had new songs. I think Soul Sacrifice in particular has an extremely atmosphereic theme that goes with its fascinating story elements tied to book pages. I've talked about it before on kissu, but it was years ago.
Xenosaga
playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mawsXOEbne4&list=PL75103D71E579CE86;_;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVG0bCOpWxIBad guys need a good theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlSertOUaZ4Specific bad guy needs an even better theme (LOVE the opera singing in this):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlmQiHClfkoPeople compare this to June Mermaid linked in the previous post under Xenogears:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzVA4tDyVXkI think this was dream sequence stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_2pKh5KiCkSoul Sacrifice:
Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GMTKh2xNrM&list=PLm5gVPO9H5ouAyDEGmn6iNTaADuQZW59NSortiara ;_;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJ5_smk134;_;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBXmCOX4pT8;_; again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aEezcolWXQnot entirely ;_;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z_Fl-412Z8Dramatic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFA20Gw33JkGreat battle theme (Soul Sacrifice has like a dozen of them):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUrYrq93NBcMy name is Anonymous and I leave this post mentioning Soul Sacrifice as proof of its existence.
I love that game so much. With my Vita being dead it's lost to me as it's a game that has never left it and probably never will at this point. If there's a Let's Play somewhere you should watch it if you'll never own a Vita, although without being able to freely move the pages in the book you do lose a bit of the story's impact. It's truly a treasure, and a poorly known one at that.