Larian Studios Forums General Chat anime

Note: somehow i feel that this thread can & should be expanded from purely anime films/movies & series to soundtracks & maybe even product reviews (e.g. Box Set versus Single Disc version versus Special Edition etc) in the future. this is one little way, i hope, in helping some forum members in deciding what anime stuff is suitable for themselves or others should it be gift ideas.

For those who are interested in writing reviews, please take note that the reviews must be objective. that means you cannot just say "hey this OST rocks! ch..ch..check it out!" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

later on i'll write a simple guideline on review writing. please remember that i'm no professional writer so that's why i call it guideline, not LAW. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

anyway ...... on to the review ....


Soundtrack Review: Wolf's Rain OST 1

Background info: Wolf's Rain is an anime series set in the bleak future where human civilisation is on the decline & nobilities rule over ordinary people. Wolves are known to have extinct for 200 years though a few suspect & even fewer knew about the wolves' existence, much less the legend that the wolves are somehow related to Rakuen, paradise. It is a story of four wolves' searching for it.

The series is produced by Bones Studio, the same that made Cowboy Bebop the movie & all music are composed & arranged by the ever genius Yoko Kanno, whose works are in Cowboy Bebop series & movie, Escaflowne series & movie, Macross Plus, Arjuna series, Ghost In The Shell series, etc.

The songlist

1. Stray (sung by steve conte)
2. Rakuen
3. Coracao Selvagem (sung by joyce)
4. Renga
5. Pilgrim Snow
6. Leaving on red hill
7. Shiro
8. Dogs & Angels
9. Strangers (sung by raj ramayya)
10. Sleeping Wolves
11. Tiptoe waltz
12. My little flower
13. Could You bite the hand (sung by steve conte)
14. Valse de la lune (sung by ilaria graziano)
15. Hotdog wolf
16. Silver river
17. Sold your soul
18. Visions of a flame
19. Run, wolf warrior, run (sung by joyce)
20. Gravity (sung by mayaa sakamoto)
21. Paradiso

Even without watching the series or be an anime film, the music in this album is pure delight & at the same time heart-wrenchingly beautiful. The music is mostly soft with quite a number of them having latin styled guitar & horn plays. Being typically herself, Yoko Kanno makes music without thought of genre & the music, most of them that actually, can't be pinned down as pop or folk or anything.

For the sake of the review, i shall try to pin down the genre, or at least what seemingly to be it.

Pop-ish or Folk-ish?
Tracks 1, 9, 13, 20

The first track is purely pop but nice & sung in english, just like almost all songs with vocals in this album. It is featured as the intro track for the series. The 9th has a very beautiful intro with trumpet playing latin style & i feel this is my favourite vocal track in the album. eveything works beautifully; trumpet solo, soft vocals of raj ramayya, orchestral backing. the beat reminds me of PetShopBoys's Domino Dancing. the 13th track is very stark in the sense that it's only vocal & acoustic guitar but richly layered with mix of strums & plucks. the vocal in the chorus though wonderful may have some people sneer as it's very john meyer though steve conte has been in the music scene longer. Track 20 is straight pop ballad but it's too gorgeous to be called that. Piano, orchestral backing with Mayaa Sakamoto singing, this piece is very moving (or is it just me?) & used in the ending credits.

Folk or Remotely Similar
Tracks 3, 4, 15, 16, 18, 19

Track 3 is very latin-styled with lyrics in language that i cannot identify (i dare not assume) & it's just very light, lively but not loud & very catchy. The guitar works are beautiful. Track 4 is also very catchy, lively but soft with amazing guitar work. 15th track is very folkish with cello & guitar accompanying each other beautifully. very lively yet soft & very uplifting. 16th track has that urgency feel to it though it's still light with percussions coming in later on with sparseness that makes the whole track a delight. very latin-feel. track 18 is all percussion & it's very tribal. think red indian. 19th track sounds a lot like a folk song with vocals & choral backing with guitar, flute & light percussion accompanying. listening to the lyrics paints very vivid picture of the wolves' dreams. very calming & nice.

Orchestral & Whatever in Between (These Are Few Of My Favourite Things - Julie Andrews)

Tracks 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 21

Track 2 starts quietly with melancholic piano then orchestra flowed in beautifully. sad yet hopeful. 5th track has oboe, clarinet playing wonderfully together with flutes with orchestra adorning the background. the guitar, accompanied by the orchestra is simply beautiful. very classical. the wind instruments come in later on & make the track richer. urgency feel comes in later with light percussion & lifts up the feeling of anticipation. incredible. the 7th is quite sad with violins, violas & cellos weeping with wind instruments hovering lightly above. Shiro means white in japanese. 8th track has light vocals that actually accompanies the piano rather than vice versa. orchestra comes in later, lifting up the track. it stops for a while then the vocal continues with guitar then the orchestra follows softly. track 10 has ethnic flute solo which is very haunting but oh-so beautiful. the kind of music u should listen to on misty morning or late evening as the sun sets when all alone. 11th track has that chinese orchestra feel to it; light & playful. violins & flute play with one another almost like butterflies among flowers. the 12th track is soft, calming which later on lifts up to a beautiful melody. too wonderful for words. track 14 is weird in the sense that i have no idea what genre it should sit in other than the fact that it's very wonderful in its own way. sung in french & though i am tempted to just dump it in pop dept, its beautiful orchestral backing with incredible 1st violin are too classy for that. track 17 has the orchestra lumbers gloomily then the guitar weeps. those who love beautiful melancholic music will definitely adore this. 21st track has saxophone solo that plays about the same melody as track 2 but it's beautiful in its quiet little way. it feels like holding a secret sadness within that nobody can appreciate. the sax feels like the lilting heart while the piano feels like sad feet stumbling.

Side Dish

The soundtrack is recorded in various parts of the world; japan (my best guess will be the group of people Yoko Kanno worked with for Cowboy Bebop soundtracks), usa (english songs), italy(french song sung by italian, backed by orchestra di roma), brazil (extremely talented folk musicians), poland (warsaw philharmonic orchestra). Yoko Kanno is certainly the most adventurous of all japanese composers & it shows how she travels around to get the kind of sound she wants for her music. & it's no wonder i love every piece of music she made.

Summary

This album is recommended to music lovers who appreciate incredible music, sound & effort. Every song is momentous, lovingly & masterfully crafted & it's a shame for them to be unheard, therefore unappreciated.

Enjoy!

note about the reviewer: once a headbanger (though some call it grunge) who had pop/electronica music as first love then moved to specific classical music (tchaikovsky) that led him to soundtracks. also was a fan of John Williams (Star Wars) & Howard Shore (LOTR) till he heard the music of Joe Hisaishi (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away). now Yoko Kanno is number 1.