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Interview: Made in Abyss Composer Kevin Penkin


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GlassesMan



Joined: 19 Jun 2015
Posts: 217
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:15 am Reply with quote
Awesome interview. Some of Kevin's answers did go a little over my head though Smile. But he and the team really brought the series to life.
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donhumberto



Joined: 19 Jan 2017
Posts: 807
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:46 am Reply with quote
Thanks a lot! That was a really cool interview. Kevin did an amazing job with MIA and it's really cool that he mentioned some of my favorite soundtracks of the recent years (such as Ghost in the shell arise and Terror in resonance). Definitely looking forward to hearing more of his wonderful music in future anime projects.
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ultimatehaki



Joined: 27 Oct 2012
Posts: 1090
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:55 am Reply with quote
Either I don't know what the term sleeper hit means or it wasn't used correctly here cause made in abyss was wildly popular this season.
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Joshua Zarate



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 2061
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:01 pm Reply with quote
Great interview. I know that it's already been established at this point, but his music was absolutely brilliant to hear in Made in Abyss. Specifically, his song, "Tomorrow," has become one of my all time favorite compositions in anime I've ever heard. I sincerely hope that he can get many more anime to compose for in the future.
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BethanyP



Joined: 25 Nov 2016
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:31 pm Reply with quote
The music does a lot to sell the mood of Made in Abyss, really enjoyed it
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:37 pm Reply with quote
I've always been curious to learn how much input composers have over the specific scenes where their music eventually plays during a film/anime/show. I imagine it depends quite a lot, but it's interesting how little information they have sometimes when creating a piece of music. Especially since specific location of the music often plays as much a role in its effectiveness as the track itself.


ultimatehaki wrote:
Either I don't know what the term sleeper hit means or it wasn't used correctly here cause made in abyss was wildly popular this season.


It was entirely absent or very low on most "most anticipated" lists. And only those intimately familiar with animation production or the original manga, were talking about it at all. A sleeper hit is generally something that was unexpectedly popular, which would describe Made in Abyss for a very large segment of the fandom.
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kamisu66



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 1:03 pm Reply with quote
Lovely, informative interview!
Penkin’s immersive and evocative scoring of this anime was brilliant and easily in my top 20 best OSTs of all time. To think he’s only 25 and producing work of this caliber! Best wishes for a long, productive career!
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+ 光



Joined: 22 Mar 2016
Posts: 226
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 1:45 pm Reply with quote
Kevin Penkin really did put a lot of thought and effort into this, and it was a job well done. I especially found the more technical parts of the interview very interesting, e.g. where he explains about the sound chamber and the instruments he used.

I actually feel a bid bad for him though, because he said he worked on Norn9 and Norn9 flew completely under the radar, and as a result the soundtrack is also underappreciated. Kind of feels like that show doesn't justify such a great composer? Anyway I'm listening to the Norn9 soundtrack now and it's very good. Can hear it's the same composer.

I'm really happy that now MiA's soundtrack is getting Kevin Penkin the attention and praise he deserves (and he deserves a lot more).
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nechronius



Joined: 23 Nov 2005
Posts: 275
Location: So Cal, USA
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 2:58 pm Reply with quote
Is Kevin Penkin fluent in Japanese?

If he was given the first four volumes to use as source material, were they given to him untranslated or translated? Or did he just look at the pictures to get a feeling for the material?

It doesn't seem likely that he would just look at the pictures. So he is either Japanese literate or there's already a fully translated copy of the work floating around. Or is fansubs the answer...
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Navigatoria



Joined: 02 Mar 2014
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 4:22 pm Reply with quote
+ 光 wrote:
Kevin Penkin really did put a lot of thought and effort into this, and it was a job well done. I especially found the more technical parts of the interview very interesting, e.g. where he explains about the sound chamber and the instruments he used.

I actually feel a bid bad for him though, because he said he worked on Norn9 and Norn9 flew completely under the radar, and as a result the soundtrack is also underappreciated. Kind of feels like that show doesn't justify such a great composer? Anyway I'm listening to the Norn9 soundtrack now and it's very good. Can hear it's the same composer.

I'm really happy that now MiA's soundtrack is getting Kevin Penkin the attention and praise he deserves (and he deserves a lot more).

He worked on the Norn9 game soundtrack first and the game was popular enough to have 2 fan discs and an anime adaption so I wouldn't say the series as a whole did too badly. It's true the anime wasn't very popular, though, which is unfortunate since the soundtrack was indeed great. ;v;

I haven't watched MIA so now I'd like to, or at least check out the soundtrack because I really enjoy his music.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:53 pm Reply with quote
nechronius wrote:
It doesn't seem likely that he would just look at the pictures. So he is either Japanese literate or there's already a fully translated copy of the work floating around. Or is fansubs the answer...

Who knows. May be he was given the Japanese original volumes as it specifically mentions '4 volumes', however fact stands all chapters published so far are scanlated and only a few clicks away...

It all comes down to when he worked with the soundtrack, scanlation may have caught up now, but the translated chapters covering up to the end of the anime only popped up late June this year...

The official English publication of Made in Abyss by Seven Seas will not start until January next year...
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Ergzay



Joined: 04 Apr 2005
Posts: 56
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:03 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:

The official English publication of Made in Abyss by Seven Seas will not start until January next year...


It's an open question whether it will actually happen, in my opinion. Western releases have shied away anything that has lolicon scenes in it. Several volumes have lots of scenes where Riko's nipples are just shown for like several pages straight as she goes around without a shirt on from time to time and just acts normal. Those scenes are going to be absolutely illegal in several countries, like the UK for example.
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:13 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:

The official English publication of Made in Abyss by Seven Seas will not start until January next year...


I wonder what kind of release schedule those will be on. I'm going to be buying every one, but don't know if I should bother waiting, or dig in online now(I don't really like reading manga online, but I'll do anything for MiA lol).
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Vanadise



Joined: 06 Apr 2015
Posts: 487
PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:28 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The Made in Abyss soundtrack is now available on Amazon and iTunes.

Note that the Amazon link is an import that is also out of stock, and the iTunes link is for iTunes Japan, so neither of those are really great options for those of us living outside of Japan. Hopefully it'll get released on the Amazon digital music store.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 1:34 am Reply with quote
Ergzay wrote:
Blanchimont wrote:

The official English publication of Made in Abyss by Seven Seas will not start until January next year...


It's an open question whether it will actually happen, in my opinion. Western releases have shied away anything that has lolicon scenes in it. Several volumes have lots of scenes where Riko's nipples are just shown for like several pages straight as she goes around without a shirt on from time to time and just acts normal. Those scenes are going to be absolutely illegal in several countries, like the UK for example.

True. That's why I'm not going to jump immediately on it until I'm sure Seven Seas doesn't censor it. If they do, I'll pass...
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