Akira Soundtrack

Posting again because I'll be out of town until Saturday.

I watched the 1988 anime Akira for the first time last weekend. This weekend, I listened to the entire soundtrack.

Akira is an anime movie classic that is amazing to see, especially realizing that each frame of cel animation is hand drawn. Painstaking attention to detail is valued in traditional Japanese culture- from the pristine appearance and movements of a geisha, to the sparce, precise notes of traditional music. I think it's that aesthetic that inspires the dedication it takes to create a two hour film, one frame at a time.

Akira was the first successful anime movie in the US and is a movie that inspired many other animes, and sci-fi in general. The kinds of breathtaking cityscapes like the computer generated city in Appleseed were first seen in Akira. A lot of Neo's powers in the Matrix look very similar to what Tetsuo is capable of as his supernatural powers begin to develop. And the music of Akira, heavy with drumming and chanting, has obviously influenced the music of current anime like Naruto.

The soundtrack of the movie is very original sounding. Accoring to one of the Amazon reviewers, this is one of the first soundtracks to be digitized and cut and pasted into the movie for a soundtrack. The music provides an interesting background and at times it comes to the foreground to provide dramatic accents to the action.

The movie's first scene is a dramitic cityscape and a nuclear detonation that begins WWIII. The dramatic beginning of "Requiem" then opens the movie. Shortly after, "Kaneda" provides a background to our introduction to one of the main characters. I don't remember where "Dolls' Polyphony" is in the movie but I had to include it because I like it so much and I drool to think about how it sounds in ernie's Sennheisers. Mmmm, sweet, crisp trebles...

Sorry, more electronic music. Prefuse 73 is definitely easier to listen to, but this soundtrack is interesting in light of the movie and significance to Asian pop culture.

Requiem (Sorry a 20MB upload for a couple of drum beats....but they're really good drum beats) :) (updated link 1/23)
Kaneda
Dolls' Polyphony