Bad Dog! No Buscuit! The Music of Yoko Kanno

Tokaji Kyoden · Post by **Tokaji Kyoden** » 2005-07-31 11:39pm

Yoko Kanno, the composer for a slew of anime and pop culture icon in Japan, has done some of the most moving and awesome anime music I've personally ever heard. She does the music for(just to name a few):

Please Save My Earth
Cowboy Bebop
Card Captor Sakura
Escaflowne
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Macross
Turn A Gundam
Wolfs Rain

She is definitely one of my favorite composers/musicians, what do you think?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-08-01 12:06am

I own the first Wolf's Rain OST, the first two (only?) GitS:SAC OSTs, all of the Escaflowne OSTs, practically all of the Cowboy Bebop OSTs, and the recently released Maaya Sakamoto (her songs are all written by Yoko Kanno) single collection.

So, no, never heard of her.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2005-08-01 12:19am

Own the complete works of both Comboy BeBoy (obviously) as well as Escaflowne... "Cats Delicacy" is by far my favorite Escaflowne song, while "Call Me" from BeBop is so moving, I actually tear up listening to the lyrics.

Tokaji Kyoden · Post by **Tokaji Kyoden** » 2005-08-01 01:01am

I'm not too familiar with all the pieces from Escaflowne, but I very much like the opening theme. As for Cowboy Bebop, "Blue" or "Tank" are my favorites.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2005-08-01 01:25am

Her score for Escaflowne: The Movie blew me away the first time I heard it and still does. She is certaintly on my all-time list of favorite composers.

I have the soundtrack to the film as well as mp3's of bits that were not put onto the CD (most notably, the sequence prior to Escaflowne's descent as Dilandu emerges from the pit

).

Grandmaster Jogurt · Post by **Grandmaster Jogurt** » 2005-08-01 01:31am

Crossroads Inc. wrote:..."Call Me" from BeBop is so moving, I actually tear up listening to the lyrics.

I'm not familiar with the names of the songs; is that the one played near the end of Hard Luck Woman (vague to avoid spoilerage)? I have never been able to watch that part without tearing up, and the music plays a huge part in that.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-08-01 02:25am

Personally I consider Yoko Kanno to be one of the greatest composers who ever lived, and definately perhaps the best currently living.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-08-01 03:02am

What needs to happen is her to get hired by somebody to do a soundtrack for a movie here in the States. Then we'd get domestic releases of all her stuff, and she'd become even more well-known.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2005-08-01 04:08am

Yoko Kanno is indeed amazing. I mean, you can TELL when she's behind a soundtrack and it's phenomenal. I know about the stuff above as her work (esp Macross Plus, some of SAC, Bebop), but was she the one also working on .hack//sign?

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2005-08-01 04:09am

She is what I'd consider one of the most talented modern composers. Period.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-08-01 04:22am

The accoustic version of "Voices" from Macross Plus is actually my most favourite song ever.

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2005-08-01 05:11am

My favorite composer.

Listening to the Turn A Gundam soundtrack right now.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2005-08-01 05:22am

Yoko Kanno just fucking rocks. From Call me Call me, to Christmas in the Silent Forest, to The Real Folk Blues, to Run, Wolf Warrior, Run, to Girl With Power, to Elm, to Didn't it Rain, to Tank, to Cloud 9, to Space Lion . . . I have no words.

It seems that Yoko Kanno's name present in the musical credits is an unofficial sign of approval.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2005-08-01 07:50am

Grandmaster Jogurt wrote:
Crossroads Inc. wrote:..."Call Me" from BeBop is so moving, I actually tear up listening to the lyrics.
I'm not familiar with the names of the songs; is that the one played near the end of Hard Luck Woman (vague to avoid spoilerage)? I have never been able to watch that part without tearing up, and the music plays a huge part in that.

Yea, thats the one... When you listen to the actual lyrics to that song they really get to you.

And I don't want to get TOO Mellow dramatic, but that song actually helped save a relationship between me and my SO about a year ago.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2005-08-01 07:55am

That, is just how good Kanno is.

AniThyng · Post by **AniThyng** » 2005-08-01 08:21am

Nephtys wrote:Yoko Kanno is indeed amazing. I mean, you can TELL when she's behind a soundtrack and it's phenomenal. I know about the stuff above as her work (esp Macross Plus, some of SAC, Bebop), but was she the one also working on .hack//sign?

.Hack Sign's composer would be Yuki Kaijura, who's a good composer in her own right, though i wouldn't put her on the same level as Yoko Kanno (OSTs for Noir, Tsubasa Chronicle to name 2 off the top of my head)

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-08-01 11:23am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:I own the first Wolf's Rain OST, the first two (only?) GitS:SAC OSTs, all of the Escaflowne OSTs, practically all of the Cowboy Bebop OSTs, and the recently released Maaya Sakamoto (her songs are all written by Yoko Kanno) single collection.

So, no, never heard of her.

There's now three OSTs available for GitS:SAC, just as an fyi.

She's also done a number of other soundtracks, including Brain Powered, Earth Girl Arjuna, Jin-Roh, Legend of Crystania, Macross Dynamite, Record of the Lodoss War, Please Save My Earth, Turn A Gundam, X, The Vision of Escaflowne and Katsuhiro Otomo presents Memories. She's also got a number of her own albums out as well, notably one called Songs to Fly.

Tokaji Kyoden · Post by **Tokaji Kyoden** » 2005-08-01 01:09pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:

What needs to happen is her to get hired by somebody to do a soundtrack for a movie here in the States. Then we'd get domestic releases of all her stuff, and she'd become even more well-known.

This is quite true, or even if she did the score for a Japanese movie that was then released in the states, or something of the sort.

AniThyng wrote:

.Hack Sign's composer would be Yuki Kaijura, who's a good composer in her own right, though i wouldn't put her on the same level as Yoko Kanno (OSTs for Noir, Tsubasa Chronicle to name 2 off the top of my head)

Definitely not on the same level as Kanno, but .Hack sign has some very inspired music, such as Mai(game) and the opening and ending themes from the show. Kanno just has a much larger repitoire(sp), and just has such a unique style that, really, no one can really match that. Just like John Williams, who is, in his own right, just as good as Kanno.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-08-01 03:32pm

Tokaji Kyoden wrote:DPDarkPrimus wrote:

What needs to happen is her to get hired by somebody to do a soundtrack for a movie here in the States. Then we'd get domestic releases of all her stuff, and she'd become even more well-known.
This is quite true, or even if she did the score for a Japanese movie that was then released in the states, or something of the sort.

Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door, and Escaflowne: The Movie?

Tokaji Kyoden · Post by **Tokaji Kyoden** » 2005-08-01 03:44pm

Well, I was actually talking about more of a live action flick. Something like The Ring or Crouching Tiger(yes I know it's not japanese). Both of those movies are quite excellent however.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2005-08-01 04:04pm

She and Otani Ko are my favorites. Otani Ko did the sound track to Haibane Renmai and Gundam Wing Endless Waltz.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2005-08-02 03:45am

SyntaxVorlon wrote:She and Otani Ko are my favorites. Otani Ko did the sound track to Haibane Renmai and Gundam Wing Endless Waltz.

There are some damn fine Renmei tracks, Free Bird, for example.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-08-02 07:16am

I very much enjoy Yoko Kanno music, to the point at which should I see one of said composers CD's in the story, I would acutaly make an impusle buy.

Tokaji Kyoden · Post by **Tokaji Kyoden** » 2005-08-02 12:18pm

I haven't had the chance to watch or listen to any of Haibane yet. I've been meaning to look into it, because the concept and the music intruiges me. As for Endless Waltz, I very much enjoy the soundtrack, especially the end theme.

I very much enjoy Yoko Kanno music, to the point at which should I see one of said composers CD's in the story, I would acutaly make an impusle buy.

Now this poses an interesting question. We all know that Kanno really isn't capable of creating a bad soundtrack or composing a bad peice, but out of all of her music, what is your personal least favorite?

Mine would probably have to be the opening theme from Wolfs Rain.

AniThyng · Post by **AniThyng** » 2005-08-02 12:30pm

Tokaji Kyoden wrote:I haven't had the chance to watch or listen to any of Haibane yet. I've been meaning to look into it, because the concept and the music intruiges me. As for Endless Waltz, I very much enjoy the soundtrack, especially the end theme.

Now this poses an interesting question. We all know that Kanno really isn't capable of creating a bad soundtrack or composing a bad peice, but out of all of her music, what is your personal least favorite?

Mine would probably have to be the opening theme from Wolfs Rain.

Haibane Renmei is well worth watching, and ranks as one of my favourite stories out there, anime or non-anime..

I actually quite liked wolf's rain 's opening, english language songs in anime are rarely any good