Sousei no Aquarion Original Soundtrack II

Sousei no Aquarion Original Soundtrack 2
Composed by Kanno Youko
feat. AKINO, Hiromi Satou, Gabriela Robin and dorota lachowricz

Tracklist
01. GO TIGHT!
02. CyberFolk Music
03. Drible Drible
04. Vatican Dance
05. Shinwa Teki Gikou Sonata
06. Baron to Taiyou
07. Celiane
08. Diet Waltz
09. Psychedric Academy
10. Nike 15sai
11. Heavens Gate
12. Exodus
13. BLAQARION
14. Tooma no Shintaku
15. Seikan Renrakusen
16. Vector Return
17. Genesis of Aquarion
18. First love Final love
19. Rena to Tanpopo


It was this comment which gave me an idea on the first ever Anime Soundtrack to review. I’ve always kept in mind how Sousei No Aquarion’s theme really captivated me and had me humming years ago when I was still in college. So when someone mentioned opera, I thought I hit point blank. So into the review then...

Review: This album is without a doubt a collection of very strong and solid bgms. However, it pretty much jumps off the building in terms of pure music listening pleasure. You can however, just get the single and cut the hassle if you have no fond of bgms. But wait! Do read this review to find out what you might be missing.

The role of each song is clear. Upon listening I could tell whether if that certain song was meant to be a bgm, or an enjoyable instrumental piece, or a good old vocal song. However, it obviously has problems trying to convey the message hidden in most of the music pieces. Only after the 4th try only did I start picking up the message or emotions the album was conveying. For example, some had such chaotic beats. One moment it was fast, another moment slow, which really made me wonder, what feeling it wanted the listeners to bear at that time. It was jumping from chord to chord without any smooth transition. But no matter the reason, I’m putting out a plea to all of you to just listen to the album at least twice before you brush it aside. Heck, I listened to this album 11 whole times in 2 days.

One thing to take note of is that they really did stick to the theme of the anime, Sousei No Aquarion, which has a combination of angelic characters and mecha battles. Hence why some songs had techno-like feeling (fast paced drum beats) and instrumental classics like how the anime setting was portrayed.


Immediately starting off with Go tight as song no 1. It gets a hold of you when listening to it for the first time. However, the more I listened to the song, the more I realized it is actually rather bland. A few more times and I was already bored. And it really did felt like the album was trying to grab hold of its listener using Go Tight! Hoping the momentary upbeat will last throughout the following 4 songs.


Go tight! by Akino

Next we have CyberFolk Music. The title itself tells you what to expect. This song is a combination of classic meets techno. The music felt lost in translation. At no point did I feel anything the song was trying to convey to its listener. Only the ending of this song did anything for me. Problem is I wouldn’t go through 4 minutes of meaningless “Bump-A-Dump-Bump” just to enjoy the last 1 minute of music.

Drible Drible really is nothing worth mentioning. Only comment I have for this piece is that it really feels like something pulled out of Michiko To Hatchin episode. If you do enjoy Salsa like music or anything of the like, chances are this is your thing. Vatican Dance comes out next to help relaxes its listeners after being fed with the previous 3 fast beat songs by bringing a ballroom waltz feel. Doesn’t leave much of an impression to comment on however.

Shinwa Teki Gikou Sonata is one song I definitely have to talk about. I was just doing the usual at work. Listening to this album. Then this song starts. Upon a few seconds into the piano plays, images of tidal waves and hurricane hitting the shores of a beach pop in my head. Literally!
Then as the song ended, images of the shores calming down appeared, though this time, the calm beach image was something I came up with to match what felt like the story the music was trying to tell me. I gave myself a smirk of doubt and thought, “Hey, let’s see what else this song can do”. Call me crazy but that’s what happened. So what I can tell you is that this song does its job extremely well. It manages to bring listeners the message in the music. But it still isn’t something I see myself listening to in the long run.


Shinwa Teki Gikou Sonata by Yoko Kanno

Baron to Taiyou is something nice and light. Give this song a few tries; see if it grows on you. It certainly did on me. And it certainly worked as great opener for the next piece which I deem the meaning of existence for this album, the song Celiane. So soothing it brings about a serene feeling which till today and to me, remains a piece only matched by a select few. To be honest, Celiane is the whole reason I chose to review this album. So what I would do now is that to remain unbiased, I will not comment any further and let you fellow readers to sample the music and judge for yourself. I am confident however, that this song is not to everyone’s taste. All I ask is for an open mind when listening to it and if possible accept the calmness it brings.


Celiane by Gabriela Robin

Unfortunately, immediately after that the album again plummets with music which were never meant for listening pleasure. Diet Waltz an uninspiring piece qualified at most to only appear as bgm for animes. Psychedric Academy’s first impression was it was just another Techno-crap. However, when I listen to it over and over again, I could get a slight hint of the strong violin and I realize that this could have been a good song. If only it wasn’t overcrowded by the funky beats and the monkey effects. Lol! Literally. There were monkey cries in the song going “HuHuHaHa”.

Nike 15sai, a song which really felt out of place here. Having a good song like this trapped between the others. Another song which I grew to enjoy. Akina’s dry feeling voice has a certain type of charm to the ears. Wasn’t too fond of the instrumental break at 3:25 though. Something about that just didn’t feel smooth. Otherwise, definitely a nice song to listen to every now and then.

Heaven’s Gate, Exodus and BLAQARION. These three are pieces which manage to build up tension especially during the end of the music. And with this I realize another flaw with this album. It was too stagnant. There were too many songs portraying the same emotions. And to have them arranged back to back three in a row. It really got irritating.

Now this piece, Tooma no Shintaku, I really took a liking to. It actually has a nice slow start which really made me feel like this song had potential and *Snap!* It transits into a nice tune with a vocal which, although felt down-to-earth, but exceptionally calming. Seikan Renrakusen, strictly just a bgm piece and will not work anywhere else without a visual. Offering what felt like a combination of just a handful of notes, it almost felt monotone. Vector Return provides a majestic like experience to the album. It felt like something grand, like something out of a “The King and I” play. Again, although it does not provide much entertainment for the ears. It did achieve its goal of providing listeners with images which I felt were intentional.

Genesis of Aquarion. Wow! It sure felt long to get me to this song. Another very nice song I might add. I was quite surprised to find out that it was also from Akino, remember how her voice felt different from “Nike 15sai”. In this song, her voice felt softer. It starts with a low tone acapella and as the song starts reaching midway, things pick up and Akino shows what her high pitch can do. Akino really strut her stuff in this song. Sad to say that again, there was a part I wasn’t too particularly fond of and that was when, at 2:44 of the song, it began to feel like a church choir. It felt a little out of place and didn’t blend well with the initial image I had of the song.


Genesis of Aquarion by Akino feat. Bless4

Unfortunately, it seems that there isn’t really much information about Akino in the web. Googling around, this (http://www.last.fm/music/AKINO) was the only info I could dig up. Apparently she is from a group called bless4 (http://www.last.fm/music/bless4/+wiki). And to answer your doubts, No! I am not an Akino fanboy.

And to have such a good song followed by another. First Love Final Love is, to me, the best instrumental piece of the album. No other instrumental piece in this album has managed to give me goosebumps except for this song. I could feel the start of the song calming me with a peaceful pace. Nice and easy. Then slowly the instruments get stronger. And next cue, a little choir to give you tranquility. Then at 2:44, beau-ti-ful. GOOSEBUMPS all over! Probably even wet eyes if you think of something happy hard enough. Lovely! By the end of the last song, Rena to Tanpopo, listeners could probably get the main repetitive tune of the album, as the tune is most obvious here in the nice softly toned piano. If you did, you would probably end up loving it. And hence, a befitting conclusion to the end of this album.


First Love, Final Love by Yoko Kanno?

The most unique characteristic of this album is that most songs felt like a combination of 2 songs. The start of a song would be totally different from the end of the song. And with this a single song could make you feel both upbeat and tensed. But that is also its biggest flaw. I have difficulty bringing myself to liking the songs as a whole. It is only certain parts about the song which I feel fond of or enjoy.
Things would probably have ended up better should the album have been better sorted to not have all the instrumentals (pure classics) and newer variety (classics and techno) together playing back-to-back.
Recommended Keepers: Baron to Taiyou, Celiane, Nike 15sai, Genesis of Aquarion, First love Final love, Rena to Tanpopo

So by now, it is up to you listeners to decide, if the highlights of this album are worth listening to the dreaded repetitive instrumentals and bad combination of fast paced beats. If they are good for you, I would have accomplished the goal of this post and introduced yet another new music to your collection. ;p

Sousei no Aquarion Original Soundtrack II
Rating: 4-Stars
Torrents: Nipponsei


Hmm.. Anyone has any ideas on how I can post up some music for you guys to sample? I found some players, but all of them includes a pop-up ad. Which is a serious no-no for me. Thanks!

Initially I submitted this review over to Anime Instrumentality. But it kind of got lost halfway through so I pulled it back and thought I post it up here instead. Lol! Want to take the opportunity to thank zzeroparticle for taking his time to read my review and the tips he provided.

I also noticed that recently, my blog has way too many words and too little pictures. So gonna balance it out a little. Lol! I'll try to reduce the number of spam I include in each post. Allow this OST review to be the last word heavy post I put up... for now, before a screw in my head gets loose again. Lol!