Kuragehime Opening - Chatmonchy

Well, first let me say that if it weren’t for fatalefromage, I would never have tried this wonderful wonderful show out. (Btw, I’ve rated this a 10 out of 10...) Since it’s already been reviewed, I thought I would take a stab at reviewing the opening for this show.

This OP is probably one of my favorite anime openings ever. From the music to the animation, I can think of nothing more fitting for this feel good light hearted show. The opening theme, by the well known group Chatmonchy, is a very bright and moving treat of music. It starts with Eriko Hashimoto singing and playing guitar with a very lighthearted lyrics while on screen the main characters are introduced. As the song leaves the exposition, the characters appropriately move with the beat towards the viewer. Overall this is a very playful, colorful moment that I classify as my favorite moment of the opening.

The next scene, as Akiko Fukuoka and Kumiko Takahashi come in stronger on bass and drums respectively, comes as a pleasant surprise. I must say I was not expecting the Star Wars parody, but it was very fun to watch.

The next parody is Singing in the Rain, which happens to be one of my favorite movies, and is definitely in my top 3 favorite musicals. The fact that one of my new favorite anime is parodying it was what essentially got me excited for the real show to show me what it could do...

Next, comes a little Disney magic, with a Mary Poppins parody.

Then a scene on the train parodies an old American early1970s movie, Emporer of the North Pole.  It's actually more popular in Japan than it is here, surprisingly enough. More info on it here.

The next scene is a parody from an old 80’s movie from China entitled God of Gamblers.

James Bond comes next, parodying the classic gun barrel sequence.

Then next allusion is actually an uncommonly known double allusion. Mayaya shows up wearing the yellow jump suit which is mostly known from it’s appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s classic cult hit Kill Bill. However, that is actually a reference to a Bruce Lee film called Game of Death.

The parodies then go to the wedding scene from The Graduate.

At the end of all this, the main character Tsugumi walks into the light, holding hands with many jellyfish who are all shaped like her favorite one named Clara, an obvious parody of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Waking up, as if from a dream, the song repeats its opening sequence, creating a refreshing repeat to close the song. As Tsugumi looks out her open window we see the residence house with all the characters and in a playful pink text Kuregahime. The end of the opening is so catchy and perfect that I believe it makes a great segue into the show itself.

The overall animation of the opening is the same as the show with no artistic differences. Though usually I frown on it, taking the parodies and presenting the characters in said parodies, it actually makes sense since it shows the characters in a different light like it should.

The music, like I said is a perfect match. Chatmonchy is a easy going light rock type sound that perfectly matches the half comedy half romance that is Jellyfish Princess.

Luckily, this show got an early license and US fans will soon be able to purchase the show from Funimation. But, if you are unwilling to wait, or are too poor too buy it, it’s available to stream at Funimation’s website and on Youtube and Hulu. Check it out if you want a fantastic quick show that’ll knock you off your feet.

To Download the track for the opening go here

Soundtrack Spotlight - Megaman X5

Soundtrack Spotlight

#001: Megaman X5

This is an article for remembering. Remembering games, remembering playing games, and remembering being absorbed into the world of a game. To me, the most effective way this can be done is with the music. Music holds the entire foundation of a games atmosphere in place. When you listen to video game music, it's more than just the music. It's like hearing an old lullaby or melody from a music box. It puts you back to a place and frame of mind you used to be in. The purpose of this article will be varied, between sharing my own experiences and memories of games and their atmosphere and music, or telling about soundtracks that maybe got forgotten or overlooked for one reason or another.

I am Mega Man, here's my Mega-plan...You die!

Everybody knows Mega Man. It's a series that has been going strong since 1987 and has seen countless sequels, series, spin-offs, and what-have-yous. Classic video game enthusiasts and video game music savants will talk about games like Mega Man 2 and Mega Man X and their soundtracks until they're blue in the face. Mega Man 2 in particular has had countless remixes and re-imaginings of it's tunes, and if you can't recognize this tune immediately, you can hardly be called a gamer, let a lone a fan of video game music.

But while I have nothing but love for those games and their music, and the awesome remixes Capcom and others have come up with, it gets tiring after awhile. Mega Man has long, long history and an extensive lines of games, but they tend to get overshadowed by the towering behemoth of Mega Man 2 and Wily Stage 1. The other soundtracks get left behind, and don't get nearly as much attention as they deserve, and as you go further into the series, the more true this becomes.

Mega Man X5 was meant to be the end of the X series, and to pave the way for the handheld Mega Man Zero series. That wouldn't end up being the case, as later X6 would be made without any involvement from series artist/producer Keiji Inafune and end up being one of the poorest entries in the series, but at the time, I thought it was for the most part, a satisfying closure.

X5 tries to do a lot, and, well...For every thing it did right it fell short in more than few ways. Taking a step back from the fast paced sort of gameplay the X series had been known for, X5 feels more like a pure platformer in the vein of the original NES series. You even fight a Shadow version of the famous “Devil” series of bosses that have frequently appeared in the series.

One of the lamer things about the game is, for whatever reason, the mavericks names were all changed into some increasingly cheesy Guns N' Roses puns. I mean, at first its tolerable, “Grizzly Slash” isn't bad, but beyond that...

At least Mega Man X6 wasn't as bad as Chinese Democracy.

But, this isn't a review of the video game so much as its soundtrack, so I won't go into the gritty details. Mega Man X5 has a pretty awesome soundtrack and some real standouts that contend with even some of the most classic tunes in their quality. The soundtrack was composed and arranged by Naoto Tanaka, Naoya Kamisaka, and Takuya Miyawaki.

The opening theme is an awesome song. Fans of the series will recognize it as a mix of two fairly famous songs from games passed, namely the tracks Variable X from Mega Man X and the song that plays when you've acquired a new weapon in Mega Man 3. The songs blend together well, and it foreshadows the way in which Mega Man X5 calls back to previous games.

Duff McWhalen is as awesome as a name gets. Speaking of, Duff McWhalen's stage music is yet another callback to a previous game, Mega Man X3. Well, it's less of a call back than just a straight up remix of Bubble Crab's stage, but it's still pretty cool. Originally he had his own unique music, but it was scrapped for one reason or another. For comparison, here are the two songs: [Duff McWhalen / Bubble Crab]

My personal favorite track for a maverick's stage is Axle the Red's (who originally had the much-cooler name of Spike Rosered) stage, “Into the Jungle!”. Video game music to me stand out most when it really puts you into the environment, and this song completely encompasses Axle the Red and his level. “You're in the jungle, baby. You're gonna die.”

Before I get to the coup de grâce of this article (or the coop de grace if you're Zero in X4), I'll just go over a couple of other songs I especially enjoyed. I dug the boss fight theme a lot, it just had this sort of quality to it that I can't explain exactly. A dimension to it that just makes it kind of weird and intense. It reminds me sort of Ground Scaravich's stage from X6 (a terribly designed level, but it had cool aesthetics and music) on a lesser scale. Some kind of robotic ethereal feel. Another standout theme to me is Dynamo's music. He's a complete pushover and fighting him is a complete joke, but damn is that a song.

The fight between X and Zero had been a long time coming, and not only is it the best song in the game, but arguably the best song in the entire X series. The inappropriate overuse of the word 'epic' annoys me to no end, but this song is what the word describes, and epitomizes the feeling of a “final” (at the time) fight. It's not the final boss fight of the game, but it's an intense battle theme that to me also as a feeling of closure, like this will be the last encounter. Shame Zero is so damn easy to beat, though. It's a lot more fun when you're Zero fighting X.

If only the fight were more like this...

With that, I've said all I have to say about Mega Man X5 without getting into an actual review of the game itself. It's definitely worth playing, though. My next article will be entry number 9 on my top favorite composers list, and sometime in the future I'll do another edition of this. Take easy, gang.

Tegami Bachi OST

Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) OST


For a short time, there will be a link provided at the end of this article to download the ost.

By: Ryo Kunihiko

Tracklist:

Canon of AMBER GROUND 1:29
LETTER BEE 2:53
Tsuioku no Aria ~ Recollections 2:48
Niche & Steak 3:41
Connor Culh 1:18
Pico-Pico 1:05
White Desert of Jose 2:15
Lag & Niche 2:58
Seirei Kohaku 2:52
Prayer Hill 1:21
Tears of Sylvette 3:27
Tsuioku no Aria ~ Recollections (Harpsicord version) 2:46
Lightning 2:16
Heavy-Metal Enemy (Shuugeki Gaichuu) 2:24
Town of Kyrie ~ Dead End 2:08
MA-KA 1:16
YODAKA 1:10
Boushitsu ~ Goos & Noir 2:35
Attack 1:10
Shoot Down! 2:01
Nocturne ~ a Destiny 1:55
Canon of AMBER GROUND Full version 3:47
LETTER BEE ~ Strings Harpsicord version 2:52

This ost is a golden collection of music. It has a very medieval incantus feel which matches the show incredibly well. A good example for it would have to be the the Canon of AMBER GROUND. Being the theme of the show, it was immediately recognizable and easy to listen to. Since it’s basically a chant, it is very unique in the sense that it stays a chant without much for backup instruments.

My personal favorite song, Town of Kyrie~ Dead End actually fleshes out to have a more middle eastern feel to it. From the stronger woodwinds, you get the feel of a journey-esque song. Played primarily in flash back scenes, it has a haunting feel to it which I love and it is the one song which I revisit over and over again.

The other songs on this ost are a mixtures of 4s and 5s (on a 5 star scale)

Overall, this ost easily tells the story of tegami bach, without needing characters and animation. It easily transports you to amberground and is easy to have in the background while you work. The final score would be a 4 out of 5 because, though with freshness it has a few star songs on it, it still has it’s generic anime overtones and does little to break the mold. After about a month, I can see that it will probably fall to the wayside, with an occasional revisit and a rediscovery of it in my iTunes ™ library.




Get it here: Tegami Bachi OST

Please comment or message me if link breaks. I'll fix it right away.

Top 10 Favorite Video Game Composers pt 1.

Top 10 Favorite Video Game Composers

(Honorable mentions: Jack Wall, Yoko Shimomura, Tetsuya Shibata, Toshihiko Horiyama, Manami Matsumae, Daisuke Ishiwatari)

I'd like to preface this with something of a disclaimer, that being that this is a personal list, featuring only my ultra-biased, unfair, opinionated view of things. As such, you shouldn't get worked up about the inclusion, exclusion, or place of any certain composers.

Hideki Naganuma kicks off the list at number 10. He is most famous for his original compositions for Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in America) and its sequel, Jet Set Radio Future. He has also composed music for Ollie King, Sonic Rush, and most recently, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz on the Wii.

Now, most of you probably read that and said to yourself; “Jet Set what? I've never heard of any of these games!” This is because you are bad. You will become not bad by reading this article, because it will be as much about praising Jet Set Radio as it is about praising Naganuma himself.

The main reason you probably have never heard of Jet Set Radio is because it only came out for the Dreamcast. I don't know that many people who owned a Dreamcast, which is a shame, because it is easily one of the most underrated home consoles of all time. There are innumerable buried treasures to dig up on the Dreamcast, and Jet Set Radio is one of the best.

Jet Set Radio takes place in a city in Asia that cannot be found on any map, called Tokyo-to (but everyone just calls it Tokyo.) The two hottest things in Tokyo-to are street-punks (called 'Rudies') wearing magnetically driven in-line skates, and a pirate radio station run by DJ Professor K by the name of 'Jet Set Radio'.

The Rudies skate the streets of Tokyo-to and cover it with graffiti to express themselves to the world. But the Metropolitan Government and it's financial conglomerate, the Rokkaku group, co-founded the 21^st Century Project to protect the streets of Tokyo-to.

And that's the basic gist of it. You skate the streets of Tokyo-to, doing crazy tricks and tagging walls, cars, and even people to fight the oppressive government and rivals gangs, and to gain new members for your gang. And all the while you get a kickin' soundtrack backing you up.

Naganuma was not entirely alone in composing the soundtrack for Jet Set Radio, some tracks were composed by Yukifumi Makino or Fumitaka Shibata, and there were also a select few licensed tracks (such as Dragula by Rob Zombie if you owned an the American version of the game, Jet Grind Radio.)

The soundtrack is unique and pretty memorable overall, and makes a good backdrop for the cel-shaded skating action of the game. If we were all rebelling against the government, skating around and tagging the city as best we could, this is what would be playing through our headphones on pirate radio. The genres are all over the place, and include J-pop, hip-hop, funk, electronic dance music, rock, acid jazz, and trip hop.

Jet Set Radio's soundtrack is a lot of fun and just filled with energy. It's hard to pick a favorite track, but it'd be between Sneakman and Sweet Soul Brother (both of which were remixed for JSRF) for me. Sneakman gives an epic kind of truckin'-along feel to the gameplay, and Sweet Soul Brother is just funky as-- Shut-Yo-Mouth.

I've gushed about Jet Set Radio more than enough for one article, and I could just reiterate my praise for it in regards to the sequel for the original Xbox, Jet Set Radio Future. It's got an even more extensive soundtrack than the first, and they licensed even more awesome music, like Cibo Matto (who did the infamous Birthday Cake song), Guitar Vader, and the side projects of two of the Beastie Boys.

JSRF includes my favorite song between the two games, Teknopathetic. To me it epitomizes what the series is all about, it's just a fast, fun, futuristic, groovy song. Another of my favorites is Right There, Ride On from Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS. Naganuma brings a certain funky groove that the Sonic games have never experienced before, making it seem like a 'smoother' experience while still maintaining the oh-so valued feeling of speed.

The main reason why Naganuma fails to move any higher than number 10, is he simply hasn't worked on much. Beyond the games I've already talked about, he's only worked on a couple more. I hope to see him in some new games soon. But besides that, he does great work for overall good games. You owe it to yourself to hunt down Jet Set Radio and JSRF.

Anyway, that's all for this portion of the list. Next time, we'll be delving into RPG territory. Take easy, gang.