It looks like work will be ramping up again pretty soon so I'll better get going on the unboxing of "Princess Principal" Original Soundtrack: Sound of Foggy London as well. The Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregotozukai Sound Collection and the Kalafina 9+one at Tokyo International Forum Hall A BD have shipped but since I didn't pick Fedex this time, the earliest it'll get to me will probably be nearer the end of this week. So I need to try and get this unboxing out of the way as soon as I can.
First up photos of the release:
Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to watch the anime. All I managed was the first episode. I do want to watch the rest of it and when I have time I will. Unfortunately, I already have a couple of other things I am working on, tutorials and other stuff, so this has to take a back seat till I have more time.
From what I gather, it's an anime about young girls who operate as spies in steampunk England. I'm very fond of steampunk inspired stuff and one of my favourite anime ever is R.O.D. which was also about spies operating in steampunk England. If people haven't seen it, I totally recommend it too. Especially the OVA.
Anyway, back to Princess Principal. This OST is not bad at all, even for someone who hasn't watched the anime, I found quite a few tracks that I quite liked and some I even found quite evocative. It's not as iconic as Kajiura's OST for Kara no Kyoukai or the OST for the Mai Hime franchise etc but few are and few can be because sometimes the circumstances or the material just doesn't allow for it.
Without having seen the anime, it's hard for me to say whether Princess Principal worked well as the OST for the anime but I trust that Kajiura took care to make it so. Her past work proves it. Like the Boku Dake ga Inai Machi OST. I liked it because I felt it worked really well with the anime which is first and foremost the job of a good OST. And till today, I regret that I didn't do an unboxing of the two boxset releases of this anime. I got them for Kajiura's OST of course. :) But I also enjoyed the anime which is why I did splurge a little on them. :)
Anyway, here's my thoughts about the album. It does contain some kajiura-go but only in a few of the tracks. Interestingly, when we do get the new-age sounding kajiura-go bits, a lot of that ethereal sound is balanced out or broken up by mixing another audio element. For example, D1 T1 - shadows and fog. The track starts with a few simple notes on the vibraphone, followed by a sequence of notes on the vibraphone. It's all quite enchanting till this tone which is first underscored with a sound effect increases in volume and changes the tone to one of heavy foreboding. Soon we hear Remi's lovely voice in Vocal and the equally lovely Yuriko Kaida in support and we are in the familiar Kajiura land of fantasy. But as we are lulled into a dreamlike state, the quick and staccato sound of drums break that mood and a very brash Saxaphone takes over the song. And we're left wondering what just happened?!?!? After which we get a good dose of genre mashing for the rest of the song.
Well, I'm not sure how this worked in the anime but I quite liked the idea that went behind this song. Steampunk England doesn't actually exist in real life. Well, although there are festivals and art work that celebrate it etc, the era never truly existed. It's a fantasy alternative world where old England, usually Victorian England, is mixed in with some advanced technology and weaponry. It's quite a juxtaposition and that first Track really set the mood and tone for this anime (at least from what I remember of ep1) in many ways.
There are several tracks with a heavy bass which I like. I really like tracks like D1 T4 - go and get it! where the heavy base is underscored by an even more urgent beat. I can imagine them working very well in chase sequences in the dark alleys of steampunk London I think. It really did get me quite excited and those electric guitars, they keep getting faster and faster till near the end they trail of and get mixed in with more ambient effects. That last sound actually sounded like a monster swallowed something up.
There's also this track which I quite like. D1 T15 - room with no window
I love the use of the violins and the occasional sequence of notes form the vibraphone. The violins are fast and quick and inconsistent. It almost conjures up an image of a person running around a room looking for an exit only to be stopped by when the vibraphone sounds. There is very low hum almost through out the entire track which really adds to the ominous and claustrophobic feel of this track.
There's also D2 T6 - in the fog which I quite liked too. This track really reminded me of the OST for Blade Runner 2049. So much ambient dissonance that I think the speakers will complain. It screams industrial and dystopian future. Oh and just in case you think I'm saying that she "copied" Blade Runner 2049, I'm not. Princess Principal's release date is earlier than Blade Runner 2049 so if she got any inspiration from somewhere, it's not from Blade Runner 2049.
And in classic Kajiura genre mashing fashion we have stuff like D2 T7 - operations in action. It's like Jazz and Funk with flute solos and classical sounding violins. Interesting stuff!
She does a similar thing with D2 T1 - a fighter girl from east. It opens with a very traditional Japanese sound with a bit of Japanese flute and the shamisen before a Jazzy beat kicks in. And over-layed on top of this spy movie type caper music is a flute playing a very Eastern sounding tune and all kinds of percussion going on in the background. Interesting once again.
Ahhhhh.... I think I've said this before and I'll say it again. Kajiura is AMAZING. Her music is rarely typical. Her music is often interesting and different and daring. And I love how her music can "talk" to me. It can fill my head with images and stories. It's really evocative stuff and can be so varied and so complicated but yet not messy or pretentious.
That's not to say everything is complex. There are simple songs that prioritize certain instruments too like the tranquil piano in D1 T5 - on a day so calm and the acoustic guitar in D1 T8 - bitter times for example. And quite a few more to prove that she can write less complex and layered material when needed. :)
There are four songs in this release. Two are from Kajiura and the other two are from Takahashi Ryo. I really like もひとつまわして (mohitostu mawashite). It has a very hypnotic beat and has really interesting lyrics. You can check it out here. (CLICK ME) The vocalist also sings in a very consistent beat and it really feels like the she is stuck in a cheerless routine. Meanwhile the more emotionally laden violins, flute and female chorus breaks through occasionally and actually takes over in the middle of the song. This song is so brilliant. The music completely supports the lyrics and vice-versa.
The song opens with:
Let’s turn it once more and give it our best to earn our living
in order to eat delicious food
When we’re tired, let’s sing all together
in order to stop sighing
(courtesy canta-per-me)
She's singing of a kind of daily drudgery but at the same time she also has hopes and dreams of something better. So while she sings in a consistent and somewhat downbeat fashion which expresses her current situation, the music surrounding her vocals is hopeful and emotional. I like it. Nicely done Kajiura sensei!!
The other song by Kajiura is D2 T18 - moonlight melody. It's a waltz like tune made somewhat different from other songs because of that duet between what sounds like an autotune anime character and a human being. It's okay. I enjoyed it enough but I'm really not a fan of cutesy anime vocals so I'm never going to like this song as much as the rest of the OST.
I really could go on and on, I suppose. But that would mean that it would take me forever to finish writing this post. :P And since I'm mainly a Kajiura Yuki fan, I won't comment about Takahashi Ryo's music except that D1 T19 - The Other Side of the Wall is really very different from Kajiura's work and not really my cup of tea. I prefer D1 T20 - A Page of My Story which feels like a simple ditty, enjoyable enough and with a title that quite fits the feel of the song.
Okay, that's it for now. I need to stop, if not I will never get around to posting it and to other stuff I would like to and need to do. :)
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it and please forgive any grammatical errors etc. I'm a terrible proof-reader. :)
If you like the soundtrack, please do consider supporting the composers and all who were involved in its production. Here is a link to the product page on CDJapan where you will find sample audio links.
"Princess Principal" Original Soundtrack: Sound of Foggy London
cheers
p.s. This post will be cross shared on another blog my friends and I are slowly working on. The blog is relatively new and we're pretty busy people but we love writing and sharing our thoughts and love for Japanese entertainment and pop-culture. Their interests are often quite different from mine so you might find something of interest to you on the blog that I would not normally write about. If you have time and interest, please check out Okonomikaki's at https://okonomikaki.blogspot.sg/ Thanks. :)
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