Best anime soundtrack

Bertie Wooster · Post by **Bertie Wooster** » 2003-10-15 10:17am

The past couple of years I've noticed more and more of my friends who are very much into music starting to buy/procure soundtracks to anime movies. This is somewhat surprising because some of them are musicians who listen to punk (some of it awful in my opinion) while others are into stuff like radiohead, Mary Timony, portishead, Flaming lips - very few of them are into anime however, which tells me that the anime genre is doing an exceptional job of creating some good music as well as visual art. What are some of the best anime soundtracks out there?

DOn't get me wrong- I've heard some horrible music watching anime movies, but some of it is pretty damn moving.

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2003-10-15 10:42am

The Cowboy Bebop soundtracks are pretty good.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2003-10-15 10:51am

FLCL, Bebop, Lain and some others have exceptional soundtracks. The fact that they are becoming more famous is good, excellent.
*Places hands together under nose*
*Grins like an evil cat*

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-10-15 11:07am

Akira. Geinoh Yamashirogumi kicks total ass.

But I also think that Yoko Kanno is one of the best composers to ever live. Easily in the Top 25...

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-10-15 11:28am

Anything by Yoko Kanno, I think that says it all.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-10-15 11:48am

Stand Alone Complex has a really stellar soundtrack, shows you just how far Yoko Kanno's range stretches.

Bertie Wooster · Post by **Bertie Wooster** » 2003-10-15 02:13pm

Thanks for all the leads. I'll definately be checking out Kanno's stuff.

-Bertie

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-10-15 03:45pm

Oh, Cowboy Bebop, definately. The sheer variety of genres (and the VOLUME of music) the series had was impressive alone, not to mention that they were all supurb. To date, there are 3 series OSTs, Vitaminless (a miniCD from the series), a two-disc OST from the movie, and a four-CD (plus a mini CD) boxset from the series.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-10-15 09:02pm

Inu Yasha has one nice soundtrack. Well, actually two. Change the World is one of my favorite openings. Tribal themes throughout the OSTs. Fukai Mori is an excellent ending.

Uuchu no Stellvia has a soundtrack that should dissapoint no one. The opening/ending themes are the best of any anime from the past 5 years, no joke. If you don't care for the BGM, grab the singles.

I know that it's trendy to hate on DBZ, but you can't hate on the OSTs and other releases. Check out Vegeta-sama no Oryouri Jigoku (Vegeta's Cooking Hell) from the character song album, and hear Ryo Horikawa go insane. DBZ has some of the best BGM of any anime, but the best selections are scattered among the 10+ albums and OSTs.

I think Bebop is overrated as an anime, but the music is no joke. I don't have the OST, however, since everyone else loves it and I enjoyed the music from the series, I'd have to give it a recommendation.

.Hack is one boring anime. The soundtrack is what kept me watching the series. There is not one BGM from the anime that I wouldn't consider awesome. OST is highly recommended.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-10-15 09:20pm

FLCL, Stellvia, many of the pieces from Cowboy Bebop, the list goes on.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-10-15 10:38pm

Cowboy Bebop had good music. I have to say that Hack/Sign had wonderful stuff, although I have no idea as to whether they have a soundtrack for that or not.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-15 10:42pm

Hamel wrote:I think Bebop is overrated as an anime, but the music is no joke. I don't have the OST, however, since everyone else loves it and I enjoyed the music from the series, I'd have to give it a recommendation.

There are actually quite a few OSTs, including one for the movie. Not all of them are currently in print, either.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-10-15 10:50pm

Exonerate wrote:Cowboy Bebop had good music. I have to say that Hack/Sign had wonderful stuff, although I have no idea as to whether they have a soundtrack for that or not.

It exists.

Shenlong_Mizuno · Post by **Shenlong_Mizuno** » 2003-10-16 12:07am

All my friends think I'm nuts but after watching Macross2 I rushed to buy both soundtracks. The songs are so pretty

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2003-10-16 01:22am

The soundtrack to Escaflowne: The Movie - hands down in my case. My reasons are as follows: The music is spectacular, with a combination of a John Williams-esque score with wonderful choral element.

SHODAN · Post by **SHODAN** » 2003-10-16 07:41am

Stellvia and Noir immediately pop in the mind. And everything by Yoko Kanno.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-10-16 03:55pm

JME2 wrote:The soundtrack to Escaflowne: The Movie - hands down in my case. My reasons are as follows: The music is spectacular, with a combination of a John Williams-esque score with wonderful choral element.

Meh, the series' music was much better. Not much can surpass the twin glories of "Blaze" and "Gloria".

Mr. Mister · Post by **Mr. Mister** » 2003-10-17 02:24am

Presumably I'm the only one of us who's going to fess up to watching a shoujo series, else I can think of no other reason why this soundtrack hasn't been mentioned.

Revolutionary Girl Utena! Come on, people! One, you've got sweet just general background instrumentals ("Scarlet of the Campus", "Legend: The God's Name is Abraxus", "Overture"... ah!). But, more importantly... duel choruses. Oh sweet blissful orgasm of the ear! J.A. Seazer's duel choruses for the Utena series are simply excellent. They're surreal. They have menace and energy and mood. Ah. My. Perfection! The overly simplified description is what would have happened if a good 80's metal band (Kill 'em All-era Metallica, or Def Leppard around Hysteria, say) had co-written the Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi section of the Carmina Burana with Orff. But, that description so totally sells short the splendor of songs like "Internal Clock: Municipal Orrery" and "Magic Lantern Butterfly Moth 16th Century" (I'm assuming whoever translated that title used Babelfish).

Seriously. Yeah, it's a show that prominently features swordfighting lesbians, The End of the World, and deviant sexuality, and likes to induce the "What the Hell?" reaction at least twice an episode, but the music... Listen. To. It!

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-10-17 02:31am

Full Metal Panic's opening song's good too. There's a full-version of it available for download on some site somewhere.

Shadowhawk · Post by **Shadowhawk** » 2003-10-18 01:01am

Exonerate wrote:Cowboy Bebop had good music. I have to say that Hack/Sign had wonderful stuff, although I have no idea as to whether they have a soundtrack for that or not.

They've included a .hack series soundtrack with each Special Edition release of .hack//SIGN. The first two volumes had .hack//SIGN OSTs 1 and 2, vol3 had the .hack//Liminality OST, and vol4 had the .hack//EXTRA OST.

They apparently released the first OST separately in the past week (or coming week), too.

Other great tracks:
Anything and everything by Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Earth Girl Arjuna, Turn A Gundam, Macross Plus, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex)
FLCL Soundtracks (or pretty much anything by The Pillows)
Sakura Diaries OP & ED
Full Metal Panic OP & ED
NieA_7 ED
Lain soundtracks (OST and Cyberia; Bootleg is entirely low-key BGM and most songs are barely a minute save one that's about 5 minutes long)
Angelic Layer OP & ED (plus mixes)
Noir OSTs (same woman who does the .hack soundtracks)
His & Her Circumstances OSTs (great mood-setting stuff)