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by Fox from Anime@Arki I remember my first days of anime immersion (Animersion) (ahaha plug ba? [ain’t this a plug?]). While I have viewed Nausicaa in dub format before, along with Crying Freeman and Mermaid’s Scar, it did not seem anything special to me. Anime attempt # 1 failed. A number of months later, contact with our good old friend who has immigrated to Canada was re-established. Lo and behold! He was into anime. At this point in time I actually did not recognize the term “anime” yet. Anyway. In his first package of video tapes were some titles that were not really impressing to me at the time. “What is this Bubblegum Crisis? Sounds corny... ano ito [what is this?]. Kimagure Orange Road... what is that?” Spoken like a true anime heathen. After watching the first OAVs of BGC, I sat in front of the TV saying “ hey not as bad as I would expect”. And that cool 80s sounding rock tune. The last 4 OAVS of the OAV set were visibly drawn better and the songs and music became more ear-catching as well. Ah. We are on to something here... Let’s pop in this one... YUK. Ano ba yan? [what was that?] Pa romance romance [mushy romance]. Baduy naman nitong Kimagure Orange Road [Kimagure sucks]. That was episodes 1 and 2. Songs were actually okay. 2 more eps and I was hooked for some reason. More More! I was craving for something in this series. Anime attempt # 2 fairly succeeded. Next batch of tapes. Ah My Goddess. Excellent art. Urd was a babe. Dinky tunes but catchy nevertheless. Macross Plus. I wonder if this is nice. Sure hope its not another lame-brained fighting robot show. Woohoo. What a ride. 4 OAVs. Later, I’m reeling with awe. This is NOT a cartoon. This deals with relationships and personal fights. Macross Plus Rules. Anime attempt # 3 is successful. Specimen is totally immersed. Resistance is Futile. What got me totally was the music, more than anything else. Never have I heard such excellent compositions. For an animated feature, no less. Later, after some diligent web research, I find out it is by Kanno Yoko and performed by the Czech Philharmonic. Naks! [Wow!] A recognized high-caliber orchestra for anime. Anime rocks. Cartoons suck. But anime rocks. Part of the excellence in music was the mix of oriental-eerie sounding tunes. This mix produced a set of compositions beyond just one genre. Add to this the Sharon Apple songs. We really have a winner here. Shortly afterward, I hear of a new anime (back then, it was still new) called Escaflowne. I hear about it first as the next music project of Kanno Yoko rather than hearing about it as the next anime title to rival the then over-popular Evangelion (yep you heard me, I think NGE is disfunctionally overrated, but very good nonetheless, just overhyped). I didn’t care too much about the story of Escaflowne at that time. Only the music. After hearing a few mp3 samples, I come across the now-familiar sound of Czech Philharmonic doing “Eyes”. Also, I hear the opening tune “Yakusoku wa Iranai”. Both were excellent. The strings in Eyes were soothing and calm. Fitting a tender moment in any Oscar qualifier of a movie. The op tune was different. It wasn’t blast-off high-blood-sugar pumping beats. It was a very light 3/4 or 6/8 tune with a full young voice and good accompaniment. It stuck very fast. Get the CDS GET THE CDS. And so. This is a quick review of the Music of Tenku no Escaflowne (Escaflowne of the Skies)(translated to Vision of Escaflowne as we know it). No I will not do a track by track analysis. I will not list which CD is better than what. Go get ‘em all. Okay Okay. Sure there are some number of music pieces that are fairly losable. But to say “get only CD number 1 and... “ That would kinda fracture the thing. Therefore, what I will do is perhaps give titles of notable tracks. You figure where it is located. mwahahahahaha... ehek. Without doubt, most fans will look for the opening and ending themes. Yakusoku wa Iranai is definitely one of the much better theme songs ever to appear in anime history. Without doubt its tune is as recognizable as Evangelion’s Cruel Angel’s Thesis. But Yakusoku is not after being an action-song. It did not compete with the other anime theme songs out there. It exceeded the standard by being its own. With Evangelion or Gundam Wing or other titles, you are pumped up into a state of excitement with their op themes (Rhythm Emotion is one of my favorite songs too). But with Escaflowne, one doesn’t necessarily feel required to fight. The song does not make me feel excited but whole. A sort of clean ray of morning sunshine kind of feeling. Hey Hey. I’m doing the review so I don’t wanna hear any complaints. If ye got yer opinion then by the ancient scripture of anime ethics write yer own article. Hehehe.
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