Soundtrack of the Month 05/2009: Macross Frontier Original Soundtrack 2 – Nyan Tora

Once again we’re featuring work by renowned Japanese composer Yoko Kanno. This time, it’s the second soundtrack from the latest installment of the anime classic, Macross. You may recognize the original Macross saga as the first season of Robotech–an anime which aired on American television during the 80’s–which featured multiple anime series, edited together to form a single show for syndication. Unfortunately, this caused several licensing issues, which ultimately prevented localization of some of the most recent Macross series. Despite that, it still maintains a cult following, no doubt for its cool mecha, love triangles, and strong emphasis on the music–of which, Macross Frontier is in no short supply.

Macross Frontier provided us with two official soundtracks, a vocal album, six CD singles, and drama CDs. Of those, the second soundtrack went on to sell more than 100,000 copies within the first week it was released– a feat which hadn’t been accomplished since 1997’s The End of Evangelion. If those numbers haven’t already sold you on it, maybe I can.

Hit the jump to find out why Macross Frontier Original Soundtrack 2 – Nyan Tora is our pick for soundtrack of the month.

Yoko Kanno is often hit or miss for me. I’ve never been a fan of Record of Lodoss War, or even half the stuff she’s written for Mayaa Sakamoto over the years. After hearing what she did with the sequel to Ragnarok Online, I almost wrote her off. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t terrible stuff, but it certainly wasn’t soundTeMP. If you had asked me, I would have told you that the Koreans seemed to know what they were doing with the first one, and really didn’t need her to give the series the not-so-needed musical face lift. On the other hand, it’s her work on series such as Macross and Cowboy Bebop that make me want to take back all the mean things I may have said. I enjoy it when she really shows that she’s not just a one-trick pony, and this soundtrack is a great example of her running the musical gambit.

It starts off with the orchestral piece “Prologue F.” I’ve never had an issue with the way Kanno orchestrates–in fact I’d take listening to that over Joe Hisashi any day–but my only complaint is how short it is. I get that it’s supposed to be for a prologue, but it wouldn’t have killed her to expand it for the soundtrack. In an almost stark contrast, it’s followed by the pop song “Northern Cross” which is the second ending theme used during the course of the series. It’s probably the best track featuring May Nakabayashi on the album. Of the two singers used, her voice definitely has more character, which in my opinion makes it easier to listen to. I wish I could say the same for Megumi Nakajima, who voices the character of Ranka Lee, as well as lends her vocals to several of the pieces found on this soundtrack.

In Nakajima’s defense though, her voice does tend to work well when kept in an octave which is better suited to her softer voice. Comparing her singing in the tracks “Triangler” and “Anata no Oto” really proves this point. I wasn’t too pleased having to hear her attempt to sing along to Nakabayashi’s commanding vocals in “Triangler,” but “Anata no Oto” does a great job of keeping her voice in the mid-range and should also silence any complaints of her singing being too high pitched or “J-poppy.” Mixed in between these are some background tracks that may remind some of us of her work on the Macross Plus OST. I’m not sure why, but it’s a bit of nostalgia–for me at least–being one of my first anime soundtrack purchases. We’re also treated to another one of Kanno’s brief orchestrations with “Test Flight Delight,” which has some really nice string work, but unfortunately also suffers from the same lack of length we heard with “Prologue F.” I guess what I should really be hoping for is a 4th soundtrack album full of just arrangements, still that shouldn’t stop anyone from buying this album.

Now I do have to warn that if you haven’t already seen the series and plan to watch it at some point, you might want to do that before buying this album. Actually, you should stop reading this now and just go watch it. I say that, of course, because the track names themselves contain a few spoilers. For those of you who don’t care, already know, or agree that it’s been plenty of time since the show aired in Japan will be pleased to know that they included the tracks from the end of the series which weren’t present on the first soundtrack. This includes references to one of the characters being killed off, and the zomg-awesome arrangements of Macross classic “Ai Oboete Imasuka,” pop ballad “Diamond Crevasse” and the insane Macross Frontier vocal medley “Nyan Nyan Service Medley~Lion~Infinity~Watashi no Kare wa Pirate~Diamond Cravesse~Seikan Hikou~What ’bout my star?~Lion~Ai Oboete Imasuka~.”

The vocal tracks really make the album, and if it wasn’t for the fact that the background music was so good, I could probably have just recommended everyone buy the vocal album instead. It’s a solid album though and it shouldn’t be a surprise that it sold so well. I would recommend it for anyone who is a fan of Macross, Robotech, or even J-Pop in general. You can pick up a copy at CD Japan or Play Asia.