Takagi Masakatsu’s score shines a light on these modest, often overlooked, jewel-like facets of humanity to which we can all relate. The incessant worry of a mother for her children, the ache of a young girl’s first heartbreak, the small, proud victories of a boy’s first steps to adulthood – these are the things we many a time dismiss as commonplace and ordinary, yet they are just as often the treasures we hold most dear. The score to Wolf Children, then, is impressive not because of dazzling illustration of glorious spectacle but rather the depths of the everyday human heart it lays bare. It is much harder to be impressed with something you are familiar with. The former undergoes much more scrutiny we are all tenured professors of the mundane simply because that’s what we are faced with the vast majority of the time. The latter can often pass the human litmus test of authenticity so long as it conforms to certain expected caricatures of swashbuckling adventure. I’ve long maintained that it’s more difficult to craft a compelling soundtrack that paints the realistic subtlety of the everyday than one that depicts boisterous grandeur. The upbeat electric guitar belts out the theme with bold confidence, fading into a slow string harmony that is more subtle, but just as warming. Watanabe also gives us one of the more memorable themes of the season in the soundtrack’s flagship track, “Space Brothers’ Theme”. This is most obvious in “Danny Boy”, an aching trumpet rendition of the Irish folksong by the same name, and “Sharon”, a warm and contemplative jaunt through fields of nostalgia. For one, Watanabe’s music is lightly nuanced with traditional pastoral themes. Nevertheless, Watanabe takes a fresh and unique interpretation on these motifs of striving towards the future and personal growth. The music, with its transitions between lighthearted joy, gentle warmth, and quiet introspection, is reminiscent of other soundtracks for anime with similar themes (see 2011 notable Chihayafuru).
Relatively unheard of in the anime-sphere previously, Toshiyuki Watanabe brings a brilliant soundtrack to the table. Space Brothers is 2012’s go-to score for an inspiring pick-me-up.
Or OK, maybe Faure’s “Sicilienne” does slightly better in achieving just that. While the soundtrack suffers from consistency issues – the protagonist’s lackadaisical tendencies don’t make for stellar music – tracks like “Kokoro ni Seijaku to Heiwa wo” keep the listening experience enjoyable, urging us to plumb the mysteries the anime presents in greater depth. It’s the main theme, found in “Door to the Rose-Colored World,” where Tanaka brings a palpable sense of exuberance that elevates Hyouka’s mysteries from being merely mundane to becoming the giddy, delightful experiences they turn out to be. Although works ranging from Bach’s Cello Suite, Beethoven’s “‘Moonlight’ Sonata,” and Gabriel Faure’s “Sicilienne” take up much of the listener’s attention and give Hyouka its dignified air, the anime’s primary composer, Kouhei Tanaka, is no slouch when it comes to delivering a decent outing. An oddity to say the least given the nature of its protagonist, but there it is. There’s a certain theme in Hyouka which grabs at your attention with its array of energy and enthusiasm. If you want to just enchanted while listening to a playlist, you can do so below: So once more, as per our modus operandi, we at Anime Instrumentality have gone forth into the chaos and from that soup, skimmed the tastiest bits off to present unto you all the most notable anime soundtracks of 2012.Īll pieces are in their entirety. That said, it’s better late than never, especially since it is our raison d’etre to seek out anime which dazzle us with their music and compel us to share what we thought were notable scores from a given year, regardless of how well-known an anime might have been. Sometimes, a joke made in jest in the 2011 Anime Soundtrack Roundup turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy after all.