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continued... Actually, while I also like the end song Mystic Eyes, I can’t figure why it’s in there in the first place. Strong beat. Nice tune. But if I lose it, I wouldn’t probably miss it. It seems to have little to do with the series. And that bugs me. I’d rather have the English song White Dove. For those of you who may not know, please recall the first episodes. They all start with the scene of tarot cards fading in with the “phantom moon” earth and Hitomi’s pendant. That scene which starts off every one of the early episodes has this eerie flute music in the background. Then it fades out. If the music were allowed to continue it would slowly develop into a march beat and develop into a real nice percussive tempo which would introduce the song White Dove. Don’t believe me? Buy the CD. Yes, I would definitely rather have that as the end song. Speaking of songs, there are other tunes in the Esca music set sung by Maaya Sakamoto as well as other people. Pocket wo Kara ni Shite is another light bounce tune, along with Kaze ga Fuku Hi and Tomodachi. Aoi Hitomi and Hikari no Naka e are more somber songs. Other image songs which are also nicely done are Love (fairly noisy song), If You (pa-melancholy effect), I Recommend Instincts (a friend says it sounds like Sharon Cuneta), Perfect World (feeling 80s Giorgio Moroder), and my favorite image song, Neko no Kimochi (Cat’s Feelings). The light flute, piccolo, and later, piano accompaniment coupled with Merle’s voice make the song an excellent song-picture of a cat. This is music that is very well delivered to cater beyond just pop-song ears. Oh but that’s not all. I would daresay that in all anime history, this is the first time that such a musical undertaking for the background pieces had such care and detail put into it. Enter Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. And Choir, to boot. From the Gregorian Chant-like meditations of “esca.. flow... ne...” (sabay kidlat [in cojunction with lightning]) to light quality of wings in Angel to sense of danger and action in Dance of Curse, the music of an orchestra shows how potent it is compared to typical BGMs. This is music for real storytelling. No piddly musicbytes just for pa-support. This is the real stuff. There are times, though, when the Escaflowne chant gets a little too overexposed. If you have the CDs, you know what I mean. Nevertheless, the large selection of other orchestral tunes make up for a selection of various moods delivered with musical excellence. A Far Cry (with deep drums and cello)(used often in the scenes of Folken and the flying Zaibach fortress) is one of my favorites. Very plaintive and brooding. The colors painted by the orchestral music are full and layered. If you hate the orchestra, you won’t hate it anymore after listening to this set of musical pieces. There is one piece, Arcadia, used in the Temple where the first revelation of the Atlantians and the Power of Atlantis was shown. The song had both beautiful orchestration as well as beautiful singing by an alto. This type of song is done again in Brain Powered, music also by Kanno Yoko. And perhaps the most powerful renditions of orchestra and choir occur in the songs Epistle, Chain, and Blaze, used in different episodes. Emotional power, a sense of eternity, a sense of danger, a sense of heavenly destruction. Only a choir and orchestra can do such things. Try it, you will become a believer.
~editors note: Ah. what an anime this is. What music this is. You will notice that from this point on, music in anime has never stayed dull. RK OAV music is even more brooding and just as excellent (the TV music set is a bit more so-so). EVA music was done more with an action pace to it (in fact, some of its action BGMs are rooted directly from early 007 flicks). Kimagure Orange Road has a simpler down-to-earth, girl-next-door feel. I guess I remember different music coming from different anime I like (surely I will remember the piano pieces of Utena too). But Escaflowne’s music will not be forgotten anytime soon.
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