The Best Anime CD "going back" #8: Arjuna OST 1 <2001> by KANNO Yoko

From 2001, I have only one CD to recommend. In this review, I'd like to introduce "Arjuna OST 1 -into the another world-" <2001> by KANNO Yoko. Yes, KANNO Yoko is one of the most popular anime composers. There are plenty of fan sites dedicated to  KANNO' Yoko on the Internet. This surely dampens any sharp criticism about her works. I often introduce little-known (but great) OST works. For me, this is maybe the first and the last review on KANNO Yoko's work.

Here's my short review.
(Note: full marks is *****)

[Sound(music composition/arrangement): ****]
Compared to KANNO's previous works (please see below for detail), this OST is very experimental. The music of Arjuna is not very well appreciated. I was also very bewildered when I first listened to the Arjuna OST for the first time. I felt that some of the tracks sounded like nursery songs, which was rather like Hisaishi Joe's signature style. I couldn't understand what was her artistic intent when she composed this OST. Then, it appeared that she tried introducing traditional style of Japanese (and slow life) music. In any case, the music of Arjuna is one of the least accessible album from KANNO's past works. This is why this album was not so widely appreciated.

<Recommended tracks (excl OP/ED songs)>
-->#01-Early Bird
-->#03-Cloe
-->#10-Omega Blue
-->#12-地球共鳴[Chikyu Kyomei, Earth Resonance]
-->#17-Diamond
Oh, most of recommended track are voice tracks. Only #17 is instrumental.

-->#16-Baiku（バイク）(*1)
This is not a theme song, but an inserted song. It's very simple song. But SAKAMOTO's song performance is impressive, too.

[Theme songs [OP/ED]: -----/****]
(Arjuna doesn't have OP movie/song)

The ED song: Mameshiba (composed by KANNO Yoko, and song by SAKAMOTO Maaya)
Undoubtedly, this is the best anisong in 2002. The music composition and arrangement is distinctly KANNO's style. The arrangement(of guitar/bass) reminds me of nostalgic J-music.

LINK ED movie:[Link-1, Link-2, LINK-3(Live) ]

[Visual/Package design: ***]
Not bad, but nothing special. It's quite ordinary, having full lyrics, and some color-captured images. That's all.

[Supplemental info: the composer / Ms. KANNO Yoko]
(Please refer to Wikipedia-EN for KANNO's biography. It's my recommend.)  As I wrote above, KANNO Yoko is very popular outside Japan. KANNO's entity of Wikipedia-EN is exceptionally well written as for Japanese (anime) composer.
So I'd like to write simply about my impressions for KANNO's past works.

KANNO is used to changing her music style in accordance with the trend. I like KANNO's music works of the 90's so much. But I don't seem to agree with KANNO's recent works. KANNO might change her music style after Arjjuna, and also my taste in music too.

Needless to say, KANNO's anime music works had a great positive impact on anime fans, as well as the quality of anime music itself. I must mention another of her achievement, which is her success as a producer. One of her credit as a producer is discovering and developing the talent:SAKAMOTO Maaya. If not for KANNO, it's hard to imagine SAKAMOTO Maaya's achievement as a multi-talent(*2).

[Supplemental info: KANNO's Anime related works]
(Please refer to Wikipedia-EN for detail(*3))
As for me, my 1st encounter is "OVA/Please Save My Earth(1994). But KANNO makes only limited tracks. For many anime viewers(incl me), the oldest notable work is the music work for "Macross Plus(1994)"(*4). Even several professional music critiques call it "The historical turning point for anime music work". I easily agree with this opinion.
Next is "OVA/Vision of Escaflowne(1996, VICL-769)","Brain Powered (1998, VICL-60264)", "Cowboy Bebop(1998, VICL-60201)", and "Turn A Gundam(1999, KICA-473)". All these KANNO's music works in the 90's are definitely excellent.
From time to time I still listen to these OSTs although they were made over 10 years ago(sigh). If you have never tried, it's worth trying once in your lifetime.

[Supplemental info: KANNO's NHK drama /documentary works]
(Please refer to Wikipedia-EN for detail(*3))
KANNO makes many sound works for NHK dramas/documentaries. Undoubtedly, the OST of 「中国 12億人の改革開放」(*5) [1995/MRCA-20061] is unforgettable among them.
In those days, KANNO was just nameless. This OST is hard slump of selling, and discontinued soon after the release. Worse to it, the music company:Media Remoras was dissolved in the late 90's(*6).  So this OST is extremely hard to find platinum CD in 2nd hand markets, and long time missing work. But in 2007, some online shops started to sell legally full tracks of this OST via online.

As long as I know, the theme song/track-2:"MUGEN" is the first and the only KANNO's Chinese song work. Although I can't understand the meaning (also emotion) of Chinese lyrics, I like this song so much. The full tracks of this OST are try-to-listen through mora. mora is a commercial music download shop. You can buy any tracks online if you like(*8).

[Supplemental info: Music Magazine features KANNO Yoko in 06/2009 issue]
Eventually, a Japanese music magazine, entitled "Music Magazine"(really(^^;), features KANNO Yoko. It's very exceptional because the name of KANNO Yoko is not so well-known except anime viewers. I've already read up the article(roughly 20 pages). But unfortunately, 90% of the contents are already known to me. The only fruit for me is the fact that KANNO Yoko is extremely popular in South Korea because KANNO makes OST for Ragnarok online(popular MMORPG).

[Supplemental info: the anime / Earth Maiden Arjuna（地球少女アルジュナ）]
(Please refer Wikipedia for the synopsis, and the characters)
The anime:Arjuna is also great work although it has one season (i.e 13 episodes) only. Every story is very dense, and detailed. Arjuna is not so widely appreciated work (referencing ANN's polling). But I prefer to, and highly appreciated Arjuna so much because of its serious theme, and superb visual works.
Undoubtedly, Arjuna is KAWAMORI Shoji's landmark work as director. KAWAMORI came back as a director after a long break. If Arjuna failed, Macross-F might never be made(*7), I think.

[Link: Try to listen](*8)
1: HMV-JP
2: @Tower-JP

[Note]
1) The word "Baiku" pronounces Bike. But Baiku is a Japanese English(Wasei Eigo), and is different from Bike. Baiku means "Motorcycle" in Japanese. It's so Yayakoshii(^^;.

2) The OP song of Escaflowne[LINK-1, LINK-2]("Yakusoku wa iranai", performed by SAKAMOTO Maya) is one of the best anisongs from the 90's. SAKAMOTO's song performance is also impressive although it's not so (Karaoke-centric) easy-going song.
SAKAMOTO and KANNO co-works for many SAKAMOTO's song albums. If you have never listened any SAKAMOTO's solo album. I highly recommend "DIVE(VICL-60320, 1998)". In the official site, you can try to listen the some tracks of DIVE.

3) the Wikipedia-EN entity of KANNO has a near perfect list of KANNO's anime works, and has a good list of KANNO's TV works although there are some missing/not-listed works.

4) The idea of employing nameless KANNO as composer was coming from Victor/JVC music. It's a very famous episode that the director of "Macross Plus" seriously hesitates to employ nameless KANNO at first.

5) 「中国 12億人の改革開放」 literally means "The Chinese economic reforms and liberalisation of 1.2 billion people". But it was said that this program is never aired in China.

6) A brief story of Media Remoras was found in Wikipedia-JP.

7) After the miraculous success of "Macross the movie" (1984), KAWAMORI kept a distance from being a director for many years. In addition to that, his planned original anime movie: Maimu(1989), which is was backed by the Sony Music group(i.e. financially no problem). But Maimu was canned before completion. The failure of Maimu might have been a severe set back for him. This period was apparently KAWAORI's hardest time.

8) I'm not sure whether you can listen to the sample tracks if you're outside of Japan. For the OST of 「中国１２億人の改革開放」, Both iTMS-J and Mora offers (paid) online download.

[CD DATA]

Title : Arjuna OST -into the another world-
Composer : KANNO Yoko（菅野 よう子）
JP-CD-No.: VICL-60703
Price : JPY3,045-
Release : 2001
Company : Victor Entertainment Japan
Status : Available/On-sale
(**STOP buying pirated CDs, it is bleeding/killing the music industry**)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------