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REVIEW: Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. DVD 1




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ShellBullet



Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
PostPosted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 2:36 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Avoiding the dour monochromaticism of typical cyberpunk settings, Production I.G uses vivid colors to build a world that's not too different from ours.


Good point. That is one thing that I appreciate about GITS:SAC. The movies created a dreary cyberized world that may have had the right mood, but just did not seem like a place where anyone would want to live. With the series we see a place that still has a blue sky, and plants, and families and children and all those other things that are so important to us. I can believe in the future depicted by the series, which is more than I can say for either film. Idea
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biliano*



Joined: 11 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:49 pm Reply with quote
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Quick! What was the best anime series to come out of Japan in 2002? If you answered Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, well... you'd have to fight off a lot of Azumanga Daioh fans, but otherwise, many people would agree.


You won't get any arguments from THIS Azumanga Daioh fan!
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MeggieMay



Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 607
PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 9:26 pm Reply with quote
Ok, something in this review bothers me (underlined the sentence in question):
Quote:
No discussion of Stand Alone Complex is complete without bringing up the wide-ranging music score. With Yoko Kanno in the studio, any style is fair game for the soundtrack, be it pulsating dance beats, crunchy guitar riffs, frantic jazz, or heartrending string melodies. Many times she creates unique effects that would make serious composers jealous--and still the tracks manage to fit the scenes. With the scriptwriters already plumbing emotional depths, Kanno's distinctive score adds the final punch that will give viewers goosebumps and chills at all the right moments. If you can't afford the Stand Alone Complex DVD just yet, do yourself a favor and at least buy the soundtrack.


Since when are those who write for TV and Movies not serious composers? IMO anyone who composes music for a living and gets paid for would be considred a serious composer, as well as many who don't get paid for doing so (however, making a living from writing music does make you more successful than those who don't). Composing music is hard - composing music for TV and Movies is considered harder since you have to sync up stuff and write a lot of material for a limited amount of time.

So as a long time music lover I'm a bit bottered when I read a review that implies someone like Yoko Kanno isn't a serious composer because she writes music for Anime Mad .
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Proman



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 947
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 10:19 pm Reply with quote
MeggieMay wrote:
Ok, something in this review bothers me (underlined the sentence in question):
Quote:
No discussion of Stand Alone Complex is complete without bringing up the wide-ranging music score. With Yoko Kanno in the studio, any style is fair game for the soundtrack, be it pulsating dance beats, crunchy guitar riffs, frantic jazz, or heartrending string melodies. Many times she creates unique effects that would make serious composers jealous--and still the tracks manage to fit the scenes. With the scriptwriters already plumbing emotional depths, Kanno's distinctive score adds the final punch that will give viewers goosebumps and chills at all the right moments. If you can't afford the Stand Alone Complex DVD just yet, do yourself a favor and at least buy the soundtrack.


Since when are those who write for TV and Movies not serious composers? IMO anyone who composes music for a living and gets paid for would be considred a serious composer, as well as many who don't get paid for doing so (however, making a living from writing music does make you more successful than those who don't). Composing music is hard - composing music for TV and Movies is considered harder since you have to sync up stuff and write a lot of material for a limited amount of time.

So as a long time music lover I'm a bit bottered when I read a review that implies someone like Yoko Kanno isn't a serious composer because she writes music for Anime Mad .

I have to say that this sentence bothered me as well. Was it just worded in a bad way?
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 10:23 pm Reply with quote
I doubt that the reviewer meant it in the way it was interprited considering the praise he gives Ms. Kanno. "Fellow composers" may heve been a better choice of wording.
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biliano*



Joined: 11 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 10:25 pm Reply with quote
MeggieMay wrote:
So as a long time music lover I'm a bit bottered when I read a review that implies someone like Yoko Kanno isn't a serious composer because she writes music for Anime Mad .


I agree, MeggieMay. Anime music is so underappreciated. There are so many good musical scores in various anime series, and the composers should deserve as much credit for making a particular anime series great as the animators and writers. Yoko Kanno is a great composer, and I love the music in GITS.

Sad If only the music in Azumanga Daioh was this good Crying or Very sad
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Pop-Art Samurai



Joined: 29 Nov 2004
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 8:32 pm Reply with quote
While I agree that many composers for film and television are quite talented and write good, if not fantastic, music, it should be noted that most music critics continue to ignore such composers contributions to the world of music.

Indeed in their view they probably aren't "serious composers".

I find it hard to understand why they do this, after all Erich Wolfgang Korngold was a recognized classical composer in addition to writing music for the silver screen, most notable perhaps is his score for The Adventures of Robin Hood. Unfortunately though, the viewpoint that film, and other such, music is inferior to concerti for bassoon, strings and washing machine is still quite prevalent.

Why the columnist took the view he(?) did I don't know, perhaps to illustrate the mainstream viewpoint of such music, perhaps not.
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MeggieMay



Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 607
PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:37 am Reply with quote
Pop-Art Samurai wrote:
While I agree that many composers for film and television are quite talented and write good, if not fantastic, music, it should be noted that most music critics continue to ignore such composers contributions to the world of music.

Indeed in their view they probably aren't "serious composers".


Yet one would have hoped that these narrow views, of both critics and casual observers alike, would have changed since the days when George Gershwin was said not to be a serious composer because he didn't write "classical music" (around 80 years ago, for those who don't know who George Gershwin is or when he lived Embarassed ).

So while I do not think the reviewer meant the comment to be a back handed compliment per se, that's actually what it was. I also was left wondering just who they considered "serious composers" to be, seeing many famous composers that are living today started out writing for TV shows, such as John Williams, who aside from writing the music to Star Wars, also wrote the theme to Lost in Space. Also, for all I know the reviewer may feel "serious composers" are artists like Paul McCartney, Bjork, or even Ted Nugent. They didn't give any sort of reference point to what they considered "serious composers" to be composing and everyone has there favorite music. So it really did seem to me to only come in the review to put Ms Kanno "in her place," so to speak Anime smallmouth + sweatdrop

Anyway, IMO if one doesn't challange erroneous beliefs then they are just going to keep continuing on. So I decided to challange it in my own way (I'm not sure we're not actually agreeing a bit here but I thought I'd clarify my reasons for my original post) Cool .
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Steventheeunuch





PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:47 am Reply with quote
biliano wrote:

Sad If only the music in Azumanga Daioh was this good Crying or Very sad


Azumanga Daioh had perfect music for the kind of series it was.
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Pop-Art Samurai



Joined: 29 Nov 2004
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 8:38 pm Reply with quote
MeggieMay, I believe we are actually agreeing. I think it's absurd that film and television music isn't considered "serious" music.

Heheh, it's funny you should mention Gershwin. I recently played his Cuban Overture, which, if you're not familiar with it, changes keys several times throughout it relatively short duration. This was, interestingly, his response to the critics who claimed he could only write music in one key, and could only play piano in one key.

So who knows, maybe we should get Yoko Kanno* to write an opera, for television perhaps, or something to show the music critics that composers like that write serious music.

*Insert composer(s) of your choosing.
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Cloe
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Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 2728
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Pop-Art Samurai wrote:
So who knows, maybe we should get Yoko Kanno* to write an opera, for television perhaps, or something to show the music critics that composers like that write serious music.

*Insert composer(s) of your choosing.


If it sounds anything like the work she did in Memories or Escaflowne, I don't think music critics will have a problem accepting her as a "serious" musician at all. Her work is amazing.

Coincidentally, I was listening to one of my Escaflowne soundtracks at work the other day, and a colleague of mine--a huge classical music buff--asked what era the compositions were from. ^_^
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