And back to anime music!
Aug. 27th, 2023 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennariaSo Wife and I have recently moved, and you know what that means - a new library to explore! (I mean, lots of other things, too, but I have a vague theme to stick to, here.) Specifically, in this case, the discovery of a CD in the Soundtrack section, labeled The Best of Anime.
Hmmm, says I, and home it comes.
The CD itself came out in 1998, so we're not talking anything more modern than SAILOR MOON. Mostly, this is a slice of old-school anime fandom, with English theme songs for ASTRO BOY, GIGANTOR (which even the liner notes admit was popular as a song as much because it's easily parodied as because it's good), and SPEED RACER, all three dating from the 60s. Then we blithely leap over the 70s (because BATTLESHIP YAMATO or SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK couldn't fit on the CD?) to the 80s.
Now. I have been an anime fan for considerably more than a hot minute! Hell, I spent one Blogathon writing up reviews of classic anime (or at least classic anime as per Some Random Person On The Internet). And I still don't recognize half of the anime on this list. MEGAZONE 23? CAT GIRL NUKU NUKU? WINDARIA? A few of them I feel like I should recognize (DOMINION TANK POLICE, for example, which was apparently popular enough to get a sequel series!), but I just...don't. So much for my anime knowledge.
On the bright side, I do recognize the other half of the anime, even if I don't recognize the music. Honestly, the only music that I recognize on the first few seconds is SAILOR MOON, which I feel like is sorta a gimme - I was in college in the late 90s, and friends with anime fans even if I wasn't one myself yet, I defy anyone to avoid that particular ear-worm in those circumstances.
Is the CD any good? Eh - depends on your taste. Fred Patten wrote up the liner notes, and there's a mini-bio that claims he helped start the first anime fan club back in 1977! And has written about anime as a profession for all these magazines! And is the director of marketing for Streamline Pictures, which was one of the first distributors of dubbed anime! (...and went defunct in 2002.) So there's a bit of wondering why he didn't include, say, any music from AKIRA or MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (which were both distributed in dub form by his own company, seriously, were the music rights too expensive?), and a bit of suspecting it's a collection of his personal favorite anime music that he's trying to claim is objectively the best. :shrug: The reality is that it's a time capsule, and fascinating in that snapshot quality. I like the CD okay. But I don't love it.
Hmmm, says I, and home it comes.
The CD itself came out in 1998, so we're not talking anything more modern than SAILOR MOON. Mostly, this is a slice of old-school anime fandom, with English theme songs for ASTRO BOY, GIGANTOR (which even the liner notes admit was popular as a song as much because it's easily parodied as because it's good), and SPEED RACER, all three dating from the 60s. Then we blithely leap over the 70s (because BATTLESHIP YAMATO or SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK couldn't fit on the CD?) to the 80s.
Now. I have been an anime fan for considerably more than a hot minute! Hell, I spent one Blogathon writing up reviews of classic anime (or at least classic anime as per Some Random Person On The Internet). And I still don't recognize half of the anime on this list. MEGAZONE 23? CAT GIRL NUKU NUKU? WINDARIA? A few of them I feel like I should recognize (DOMINION TANK POLICE, for example, which was apparently popular enough to get a sequel series!), but I just...don't. So much for my anime knowledge.
On the bright side, I do recognize the other half of the anime, even if I don't recognize the music. Honestly, the only music that I recognize on the first few seconds is SAILOR MOON, which I feel like is sorta a gimme - I was in college in the late 90s, and friends with anime fans even if I wasn't one myself yet, I defy anyone to avoid that particular ear-worm in those circumstances.
Is the CD any good? Eh - depends on your taste. Fred Patten wrote up the liner notes, and there's a mini-bio that claims he helped start the first anime fan club back in 1977! And has written about anime as a profession for all these magazines! And is the director of marketing for Streamline Pictures, which was one of the first distributors of dubbed anime! (...and went defunct in 2002.) So there's a bit of wondering why he didn't include, say, any music from AKIRA or MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (which were both distributed in dub form by his own company, seriously, were the music rights too expensive?), and a bit of suspecting it's a collection of his personal favorite anime music that he's trying to claim is objectively the best. :shrug: The reality is that it's a time capsule, and fascinating in that snapshot quality. I like the CD okay. But I don't love it.