When Bob Sakuma was asked about the musical influences that shaped his brass-with-funk-backing music for the original 1970s TV iteration of Gatchaman (an early anime the western world knows better from the savagely-edited-down Battle Of The Planets), his answer was simple: the American band Chicago, which was a hugely influential sound circa 1972. This 21st century reboot of Gatchaman, which dispenses with virtually the entire backstory of the original series and retains only some iconography and the “band of super-powered young people protecting the entire world from an alien force” premise, is graced with a soundtrack that pulls from a wider group of influences. It’s still brassy and orchestral in places, but there’s a vast pool of other influences – dubstep, J-pop, trip-hop, house, opera, chiptune…and it’s honestly almost dizzying how incredibly well all of this hangs together. Not one note or beat feels out of place or surplus to requirements.
Where there are vocals, the vast majority of them are sung in English, which I found somewhat surprising. “Gatchaman – In The Name Of Love”, despite not being the theme song for the series, makes a bold opening statement, putting the listener on notice that every possible boundary between musical styles and genres will be breached in short order. And by the way, the orchestral component of all this? It’s live players, not synthesizers or samples. It’s just a luxurious, well-orchestrated sound, no matter how much is going on with the more modern, dance-inspired elements.
Instrumental highlights include the techno pulse of “Milestone”, the breezy-going-on-goofy J-pop interlude “Tutu”, the slowly-intensifying downtempo cool of “Phenex”, the beautiful, contemplative “The Bird Can’t Fly”, the kind of dreamy chiptune-infused “Unbeatable Network”, and the four minutes of unrelenting urgency that is “Are You Gatchaman?” The unmissable vocal highlights are “Gatchaman – In The Name Of Love”, which isn’t shy about what the name of the show is at all, and possibly the highlight of the whole album, “Music Goes On”, with its luxurious all-heands-on-deck, every-style-in-one-song instrumentation and a soaring (if auto-tuned) vocal. It’s like someone said “You know, they have dance parties at sci-fi and anime conventions, and we’re going to come up with an entire album of absolute bangers that are as perfect for those as they are for the show itself.”
I think I’ve actually watched Gatchaman CROWDS all the way through once. I’ve come back to its soundtrack a lot. It fits the show perfectly, and yet it’s an engrossing listen on its own. There’s a school of thought which I’m sure would remind me that the anime itself is not aimed at someone my age. Okay, it probably isn’t. But if I’d taken a hard pass on it, I wouldn’t have been exposed to its frankly magnificent soundtrack. I’m going to make this a prime example of why I do expose myself to new sounds even if they’re not nominally “for me” – the fact is, they’re for anyone who enjoys them. And there’s a lot to enjoy here.
- Gatchaman – In the Name of Love performed by Yutaka Shinya (3:52)
- The Core of Soul (2:52)
- Milestone (2:56)
- Firebird (3:10)
- Tutu (2:18)
- Pandaman (2:06)
- The Music Goes On (3:39)
- Phenex (3:04)
- Un Beau Leopard Violet (2:31)
- Gatchadance (3:21)
- Galax (0:08)
- The bird Can’t Fly (3:03)
- Are You Gatchaman? (4:07)
- Destruction By Rumor (2:54)
- Why I Kissed Him? (3:14)
- Fat guitar (3:29)
- Ziel der Hydra (3:38)
- Sacrifice (4:57)
- Crowds (3:20)
- Unbeatable Network (4:18)
- Love (3:28)
- Innocent Note performed by Yutaka Shinya and Maaya Uchida (3:53)
- Crowds (TV size) performed by White Ash (1:20)
- Innocent Note (TV size) performed by Yutaka Shinya and Maaya Uchida (1:22)
Released by: Indie Japan
Release date: July 1, 2013
Total running time: 1:13:00