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Comments
symbolism tends to look silly when you think too hard about it anyway
Lagrin's soundtrack order:
1. Kamogawa in A major - introduces the theme of Kamogawa (mi, so, ^re ^do so mi re, etc.). A major.
2. OP - a brilliant and flowing song. F minor.
3. Ohayo! - a happy, welcoming track. introduces another theme -- let's call it the ohayo theme (so, mi, mi, re do, etc.). A major.
4. Kamojo - another happy track, though a little quieter and more cutesy. B major.
5. 3 Wonders - a playful track. introduces another theme (mi, so do, etc.), which we'll call the trio's theme. plays with the head-motif (the first three notes specifically) in the middle of the track. C major.
6. Memoria - a mysterious track for a mystical subject. A minor and other tonalities.
7. Kamogawa energy - introduces another theme, which I'll call Madoka's theme. it's got two motivic parts -- the first part goes "re do re do; mi re mi re;" etc. and the second goes "mi, mi re la so, mi, do, _so," etc. an energetic, happy track. C major.
8. Sunnyside - another happy track, a little celebratory. C major.
9. Life in peace - represents the "normal" life of the calm town with the ohayo track. A major.
10. Day dreamer - a bit of a strange but playful track. kinda reminiscent of the Magicant theme from Earthbound. C major and D major.
11. BWH - a calmer restatement of Madoka's leitmotif, both parts. C major, E-flat major.
12. Tom-boy - a louder, rockin' restatement of Madoka's leitmotif. Features the first part of Madoka's theme. E major.
13. Sweet star - this dreamy track doesn't seem to share much of anything, except maybe starting its second phrase on a IV chord like the second half of Madoka's theme. C major, E-flat major.
14. Dousi - a comforting theme in A major. features string and brass together. also features head-motif of the trio's theme.
15. Eyecatch A - a fanfare using the beginning of the Kamogawa theme. this is like the half-way point of the soundtrack.
16. Jersey-bu no Uta - the triumphant, confident anthem of the Jersey Club. a little out-of-place, but then again so is the Jersey Club. A-flat major. no apparent thematic relations.
17. Apocalypse - a slower, but discomforting, track in A minor.
18. Kamogawa in A minor - bits and pieces of the Kamogawa theme, but now in A minor, with touches of F# minor. like a contemplative variant of the first track, with an undercurrent of mystery and drama.
19. Floro - a slow, comforting track in G major.
20. De Metrio - a slow, dissonant track in E-flat dorian. unsettling, but ambient. the choice of resonating piano and choir lead to a distinctive feeling.
21. Axion - another slow and dissonant track; again unsettling but ambient, using resonant instrumentation. no well-defined tonal center, though possibly in D minor if you really want to count. see, we're really getting into the more mysterious, dramatic tracks now.
22. Double-sided - a track with electronic instruments, in C minor/major. unsettling, but giving a sense of starting to put that drama into perspective. still, a these tracks are establishing a very different feel compared to the first half. also note how none of them contain those recurring themes.
23. Lagrange - a D dorian track, with strings and choir and harp, and making use of some rich harmonies. uses the opening motif of the Kamogawa theme -- suggesting how Kamogawa is inextricably linked to the mysterious events that are the subject of the story, perhaps. ends distinctively, similar to (but different from) track #14 Dousi.
24. Hollow - a contemplative theme featuring mainly a solo guitar, with poorly-defined tonality (though something like E minor or A minor, if one had to force an answer).
25. -Aku- field - an orchestral/metal action track, dissonant and tonally shifting. gives off the impression of posing a threat. makes the previous track feel like the calm before the storm.
26. Lock on air - an electronic action track in G minor. melodically weak, and again, doesn't share themes with the earlier part of the soundtrack -- giving it a feeling of emotional distance, in strong contrast to the earlier part of the
27. Massive attack - an orchestral/metal/electronic action track, on the slow, imposing side, with no well-defined tonality beyond using E and then A as tonal centers.
28. Midori - another electronic action track, A-centered (A phrygian?). tonality wanders at the end.
29. ? ("Maru") - suddenly, C major. suddenly a calm theme with a prominent melody. wait, that's the second half of Madoka's theme! she's fighting back, and this is represented emotionally by the music! an orchestral action track intervenes, in C minor, then triumphantly becomes C major, then shifts further to D major, quoting the opening three notes of the trio's theme repeatedly. one of my favorite tracks in the entire soundtrack -- certainly a very memorable one.
30. 4 411 - another rhythmically-intense action track, with poorly defined tonality at first, which then gradually shifts into A minor and then finally A major, featuring a return of the Kamogawa theme, in the style of its appearance in #23 "Lagrange", but instead featuring the full melodic theme of Kamogawa. it has been made whole again. the track later shifts to and ends in D mixolydian.
31. your choice of ending theme. by default, the soundtrack has the happy, rather celebratory "Hello!", in D major. I usually listen to it with the TRY UNITE (OP) Rasmeg Duo version, a contemplative piano/voice version of the OP in E-flat minor, which I think bookends the series well. sometimes I also swap places of this with the next track.
32. a calming, comforting, choral version of parts of the trio's theme. it's kinda like an epilogue in the sunset, as the crew take down the props from the stage. E major.
So in general you have a first half that strongly features happy tracks in major key tonalities that have prominent melodic themes and relatively simple harmonies, played by relatively simple ensembles. These themes show up several times in the first half. Then you have a second half that has a lot of more dramatic tracks, with uncertain tonalities, thicker instrumentation, fewer melodic themes, and tonal/harmonic complexity. There is a pretty strong contrast here. And at the end, familiar themes from the first half return in dramatic fashion. This is bookended with one final statement of a familiar theme.
This follows the storyline of the series quite well -- you start off with with a sleepy town to which events and new characters are introduced. Things are taken lightly and positively until the drama really hits full force. The characters -- especially Madoka -- go into a slump of indecision. But then she comes back and brings the action and the positivity back. Then this is bookended by the town "returning to normal".
I love this soundtrack.
I've always enjoyed Mayoiga's ability to really hit the dialogue on the head, it's always managed scenes where like 15 characters were talking at once insanely well and it almost feels like a symphony at times. Episode five begins with that sort of sequence, and it really tried my patience. At first, I wondered why; this was the element that brought me back to the show week-after-week, so what happened now?
First of all; episode four's ending promised things were coming to a head and that (the majority of, at least) the characters would begin to accept they'd walked right onto a vaguely demonic set from every cliche horror movie set outside a haunted house. Instead, the characters ignore the fact that Maimai has seen a giant version of the main character to be led on a "Let's Blame Each Other Some More" tour by Glasses One (thirty characters, okay).
Secondly; I like some characters more than others now, and it's obvious who is being promoted to the actual cast instead of being background noise. I wanted more focus on those characters, but we got yet another groupthink scene so the brilliant dialogue roulette could be shown off again.
All of this was mostly put aside as we moved into the second half, which focused more on the main character's gullibility and the Glasses Guy's slowly forming group (to oppose Valkana, Koharun and Tour Guide one). As this built up, we finally got our supernatural payoff, unlike the scene involving the Bus Driver's dead daughter, seen through the lens of the main character. It can't be avoided anymore.
At least I hope.
this one guy who has a propensity for shouting spoilers while an episode
is being shown.
that gives me an excuse to never go there again.
Come to think of it, the OPs of both shows have OPs that start vaguely similarly.
That feel when you realize that the character you found irritating at the beginning became someone you felt you understood and cared about at the end, even despite retaining their (arguably human) flaws.
I would stick with it because I feel bad for dropping things that aren't outright offensive, but I have to admit that whilst it did a lot of things I'm glad to see in shounen I never felt myself get invested.
I admit to being hesitant to get into Beast Player Erin because of its length...
It's
just the TV Size (I need to wait for the full translation to come out
to bother with the rest). I'm aware that you need to accent like mad
to pull some of that off and I basically changed the whole meaning of
the third line in the third verse (and turned that one line into two, well, that and the first )
PLUS I added the bulk of stuff (ie made up) to the fourth verse but man
Japanese can fill a lot more space with a lot less words ("Chotto dake" became "Oh come on now" which sounds like it could be a bit meaner than intended).
Also I should've translated the Gratuitous English (lines that start with nocaps) but laaaazy.
v.0: Replaced "Shining brighter than Cassiopeia" with "Shining brighter than a supernova" because that's less weird
v.1.1: Replaced "Oh come on now" with "Give it a sec", because that is an actual translation and doesn't sound mean at all.
v.1.2: Changed "the same dream" to "in her strength", probably works either way, but I'm being nitpicky about the translation to make it more literal.
Neither; it's just me being lazy and hesitant to commit.
When someone tried to do that for TRY UNITE, it actually turned out badly, so I don't blame you.
That's the series with the crappy costume designs, right?
Just because it worked for Hikki doesn't mean you can turn it into a publicity stunt.
Plus wasn't his last work before WUG Fractale anyways? That's quite some time apart.
I didn't exactly pick the *best* crop of shows this Spring. Barring PSO2 last cour, I was pretty pleased with what I followed through on, but then again I felt strongly about dropping shows at some points this cour and basically every show I felt that way about ended up being a favorite. The only real thing is I don't think I had a NORN9 level "Oh goodness must import" type show.
Aikatsu Stars! : There's not much I can say about this that isn't biased, but I'm pleased to say that it didn't just bring a new take on the concept, because that would probably not be a favour to those who'd accepted that we'd never get 26 episodes of Ichigo and Akari teaming up to form a unit. Stars! has a much more grounded setting (for Aikatsu! anyways), an interesting take on a boarding school and a pretty stellar cast to go along with it.
One of my favorite things about the cast is that it's willing to quickly dispatch of game characters who aren't too relevant (Ako) and also quietly introduce characters without making their introduction episodes all about them (Mahiru). It's something the original series wasn't willing to do.
Mayoiga : I was really excited about this show when it was announced, because I was expecting Okada to go completely bonkers. Going by how famous she's become and how much clout she holds, she was really going to show us what she was made of (it's definitely not skilled, subtle writing). Given how Kiznaiver disappointed, I was glad Mayoiga kept powering on like a madman (literally, at points).
It crammed every type it could into the show, and then every badly planned backstory it could. It took on too much and then quietly pretended it had dealt with everything. It created one type of cast and threw them into the plot of a whole other sort of story (one that really didn't go with them). It refused to kill off even a single character, despite the supposed gravity of their actions. The only villain existed as a bridge between the penultimate and final episodes and wasn't even dispatched of.
I don't regret a single second of it.
Kuma Miko : There aren't many negative things I can say about the first few episodes of Kuma Miko; the show was pretty much perfect in every way. The protagonist was likeable, charming and actually acted her age. Her beary best friend was thoughtful at times, self-serving at others and generally versed in the ways of the *outside world* that our protagonist so often failed to grasp. Yoshio, though, was my favorite. A bit ridiculous, spirited beyond decency and basically the kind of character who does tuck his shirt in that high.
Then Hibiki came along, a brash, violent girl whose only redeeming quality was the slight humanity that occasionally appeared on her face. She made me beyond uncomfortable, attacking the young protagonist under the guise of comedy and basically kind of being a jerk. She was no fun and didn't fit in with the rest of the cast and their calm, thoughtful demeanor.
But Hibiki could go with the flow, and the show continued being great.
Then episode 9 happened. At the time, the complete 180 seemed like something it had done before, with Machi becoming a LocoDol. But with the wonderfully vivid visual cues seemed to indicate we'd be back to normal soon enough.
Then it kept happening.
The protagonist clearly has a serious social anxiety issue, and that not being addressed bothered me to no end, but even more worrisome was the insistence on her becoming an idol so much so that Yoshio basically ruins her life for a good two months in-show.
Yet, even as I watched those two episodes, I wasn't actually angry, because they were the same characters and it wasn't all that forceful. In the end, Machi was even allowed to go back to being a country hick. Even if the lesson was "GIVE UP", I really liked Kuma Miko.
Shounen Maid (Probably my favorite show of the season)
Seisen Cerberus : Ryuukoku no Fatalite (Weirdly enough, another favorite)
Tanaka-kun (I have no idea why I'm finishing this)
So this cour I'm watching:
And maybe watching:
Shounen Maid - Brilliant, loved it, best SoL thing I've watched in forever.
Seisen Cerberus : Ryuukoku no Fatalite - Not brilliant, still loved it. Did a lot of interesting things within the fantasy genre and had a cast I really liked. It could be cheese like the best of them and it had memorable music.
Tanaka-kun - I regret watching all of this, maybe any of this. There were lots of moments I really liked, but there were so many prominent :} moments it's hard to discount them.
Meanwhile, the new season!
SERVAMP - It is so anime, I love it.
Tales of Zestiria (Prologue) - Surprise entry, really surprised me how much I missed ufotable's aesthetic and it was insanely well animated and nicely detailed. FLOW OP is great. Now I have to see where I can slot this in...
Cheer Danshi!! - Very good, will definitely regret picking SERVAMP over it but there's always later on (suuuure).
TsukiANI - Very... confusing? It's apparently mostly 12 OVAs about the guys shown in a row, and Kakeru's wasn't very promising so I think I can live without it.
Is this the same series where your other pictures of Someone Who Isn't Shirabe come from?
Anyways, almost mid-season thoughts:
Bouei-bu LOVE! LOVE! - Might end up being better than the first season.
I'll also just leave a reminder for myself here because I need to make
that inappropriate BALLS lines mosaic.
Regalia - Randomly on break now, I really enjoyed everything after the first episode though.
Zestiria the X - Goodness ufotable need to calm it down with the backgrounds, but I otherwise quite enjoy it.
Ange Vierge - Ridiculous, fun and innovative for it's genre (not that that means much).
Sca-red Rider XechS - I want to like this show, but it has a whole bunch of issues that prevent me from dedicating myself to it wholeheartedly.
Puzzle & Dragons X - Like XechS, but actually much worse. I can forgive a lot, but i don't want to spend 50 weeks of my life forgiving a lot. Might as well finish Tsukiuta. or start B-Project because I'm very much into flavourless bishounen shows again.
Meanwhile I did get bored last night and checked out episode 1 of Planetarian and episode 0 of Tales of Zestiria. Both of which I liked.