[strohmie]

OST -- Original SoundTrack

Current favorites of mine are Yoko Kanno's Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex soundtracks and Noriyuki Imahori's Gungrave soundtracks, but neither are traditional orchestral soundtracks.

 

[saint.panda]

anime with good soundtrack.....COWBOY BEBOP
awesome soundtrack, extremely high quality of music. heavy inlfuences from especially jazz. composer: yoko kanno, who also made the music for escaflowne and many other animes. she is supposed to be the best among anime composers and this is not just my opinion.
second best would be noir. a lot of european music influences.
third place goes to evangelion
runners up are witch hunter robin, ghost in the shell, escaflowne, initial d (techno influences)

maybe we should make a poll on this

 

[Ptrick]

Quote:

Originally posted by rsaavedr Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke both have excellent soundtracks.

I absolutely agree!! Also check out the soundtrack for Laputa, one of the first Ghibli films that Hisaishi composed for (if I remember correctly, I may be wrong) The title song is a classic.

Quote:

Originally posted by strohmie edit: As another note, Americans are going to hear more Jo Hisaishi scores in general because there are a number of Ghibli films that make it oevr to the U.S. All the same, there are well over a hundred albums Hisaishi has released that never see their way to America.

The majority of Takeshi Kitano's films, including Kids Return, Hana-bi, Brother.. were also scored by Hisaishi. His music contribute so much to each of the films, especially the atmosphere and emotions. I love his work and sometimes can almost be moved to tears by it. Not kidding!

 

[saint.panda]

Team Anime Music

(shinji with his earbuds in Neon Genesis Evangelion)

 

[some1x]

First time I visited this section of head-fi

I love the avatar saint panda!

Ranma 1/2 is still my favorite manga of all time. Too bad only the first three seasons of the anime actually do the manga justice

 

[Rizumu]

Where is Rurouni Kenshin?! The TV series has an absolutely wonderful soundtrack, and the OVA soundtrack is to die for. I finished Escaflowne recently and truly enjoyed it's soundtrack as well....I think that the OST 4 "Lovers Only" is the best out of the soundtracks.

 

[saint.panda]

Quote:

Originally posted by some1x First time I visited this section of head-fi I love the avatar saint panda!

thanks

actually i just put in "panda" and "headphones" in google and this pic just popped up...

 

[sbulack]

Based on the discussion of this thread, I saw "Ghost In The Shell", mainly to hear its soundtrack. I liked the soundtrack so much, I bought the soundtrack CD. It has 10 tracks, each of which is an extended version of the music used in some portion of the movie. There is an 11th bonus track which I consider to be a throw-away. The quality of the CD, and the quality of the music as mood music is simply astounding!!! It does not come cheap ($20 incl shipping at www.ezanimez.com ), but, even at that price, highly recommended. These are sounds beautifully crafted which reach deep into the soul, woven together into an even more beautifully crafted and soul-releasing sonic environment. A prodigious sonic accomplishment!

 

[strohmie]

Quote:

Originally posted by sbulack It does not come cheap ($20 incl shipping at www.ezanimez.com ), but, even at that price, highly recommended.

The authentic version isn't cheap either -- the version you bought looks to be a bootleg, if you did get it from ezanimez.com.

 

[Guyferd]

Full Metal Panic's OP and ED are vey very good..
chrono crusader's OP also fantastic
gundam seed's .. needless to say.. is very good too.. esp the op3 and op4..

I like anime music alot

 

[dhwilkin]

A few more soundtracks that I like are the first Naruto OST and the Haibane Renmei OST. BTW, these are both great series. If Naruto ever gets licensed, I'll buy it. I've already bought Haibane, and it's such a great story, lots of symbolism and worthy of repeat viewings.

 

[Ymer]

Why is anime music so good?

Very simple: brainwashing!

You just get used to those annoying beeps and pseudo-singers, after watching 13, 24, 26,38, 40,52 .... 300 episodes of the same score playing over and over again! Oftentimes, incredibly generic background BEEPS

Not to say that there aren't good anime soundtracks, I just think that anime "enthusiasts" are a little too hardcore about it.

As for my recommendations:

* Haibane Renmei
* Mononoke Hime (the sung theme with Yoshikazu Mera is astounding)
* Spirited Away
* Juuni Kokki
* Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar (don't be afraid, it's great, really!)
* Crest of the Stars
* Azumanga Daioh

My two cents

 

[saint.panda]

Quote:

Originally posted by Guyferd Full Metal Panic's OP and ED are vey very good..

Agreed, especially the OP. I thought the OP of the second season was even better!

 

[terrymx]

a little unrelated, but i love the chrono trigger's sound track and several other snes rpgs.

 

[LobsterSan]

I as well really enjoy a good anime soundtrack. However, I'll have to say that the association with the visuals and story are rather important. I rarely enjoy an anime soundtrack without having seen the actual anime first, and the same goes for video game soundtracks. But when the association is made, the music fills me with a score of emotions and sensations like nothing else. Of course, there are some exceptions, but for the most part this is the case.

As for innovative Hollywood film soundtracks, I think Mark Mothersbaugh (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rugrats) is one of the most innovative and interesting composers out there right now. Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) was interesting at first, but now his signature vibraphone/piano is just too overused. I enjoy the aforementioned Danny Elfman (Batman, Pee-Wee Herman's Big Adventure, The Nightmare Before Christmas) as well.

Lastly, one of my favorite Hollywood film soundtracks of all-time is Michael Nyman's Ravenous sountrack. Very interesting use of banjo and minimalistic melodic lines. It creates an unsettling mood that fits very well with the visuals and atmosphere of a completely screwed up era and frontier-days struggle for survival from cannabalistic tendencies.