Lunar Legend Tsukihime Original Soundtrack 2: Moonlit Memoirs (Mania.com)

By:Lauren Goodnight
Date: Friday, May 13, 2005
Release Date: Tuesday, February 08, 2005



What They Say
The mesmerizing draw of full-moon nights combined with suspenseful tales of vampires in the human world form the centralized theme to an aesthetically pleasing, yet deeply haunting soundtrack to the anime horror series "Lunar Legend Tsukihime." Composer Toshiyuki O'mori (Nadesico, Evangelion, Dirty Pair) assembles perfect, harmonized pieces using strings, violins, harps, guitar, bass, percussion instruments and more, in order to craft 19 expressive instrumental tracks that penetrate deeply into the aural senses. Beautiful, yet tragic and foreboding, this CD is the follow-up to the first Tsukihime original soundtrack, further highlighting the rich background music appeal of this new anime series.

The Review!
Let me state for the record how biased I am about this release. I LOVE THE TSUKIHIME ANIME AND SOUNDTRACK 1. Soundtrack 2 is basically an image album that the composer, Toshiyuki O'mori, wrote after seeing the series in its entirety. It restates many of the main themes within the first disc but does it in a way that does not sound stale or redundant. Rather, the listener finds himself patting himself on the back when he recognizes a thread from this track or that. Most refreshing, I will be the first to admit, are the subtle remixes embedded within this mix. As it is an after-the-fact product, there are no tracks which feel unfinished or cut-off. This is a whole package and if you enjoyed going on Arcueid's journey, this disc cannot be recommended highly enough. Soaring violins and somber pianos paint watercolors in dusky rooms for you when you listen, so please experience it soon.

Where I took it, and where it took me: That long plane ride became a playground for my brain when I was jacked into this.
Standout track: Eclipse -- I was surprised at how subtle some of the mixes were, but this was the most inventive and delicate
Skip-it track: None. This was a seamless album that I did not expect.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Features
Dark Moon,Yoi-Zuki ,Crescent Moon ,Pale Moon ,Frosty Moon ,Silver Moon ,Moon Fire ,Yumi-hari-Zuki ,Moon Gray ,Quarter Moon ,Gibbous Moon ,Iza-Yoi ,Tsuki-Kage ,Oboro-Zuki ,Moon Yellow ,Tsuki-Yomi ,Eclipse ,Akatsuki-Zuku-Yo ,Balsamic Moon

Review Equipment
STAFF

Sound Producer&Director : Toshiyuki O'mori (ph sound)

Executive Producer : Akihiro Kawamura (GENEON ENTERTAINMENT)

Producer : Yuichi Sekido (GENEON ENTERTAINMENT)

Assistant Producer : Hiroyuki Omori (GENEON ENTERTAINMENT)

Recording & Mix Engineer : Michio Nakakoshi (office thank) / Takashi Iwato (OVER WORK STUDIO) / Ueda Kenichirou / Keiji Kondo (WARNER MUSIC RECORDING STUDIO) / Shigeo Sakurai (ONKIO HAUS)

Assistant Engineer : Shigeharu Nakauchi / Takabumi Ito (ONKIO HAUS)/ Takehiko Naito (SOUND CITY) / Masumi Iwata (COLUMBIA)/ Sinpei Yamada (ON-AIR AZABU)

Mastering Engineer : Hiromichi Takiguchi (JVC Mastering Center)

Recording Studio : ONKIO HAUS • ESOUND CITY

COLUMBIA • EON-AIR AZABU

Mixing Studio : ph sound

Mastering Studio : JVC MasteringCenter

Recording Coordinator : Shiho Aiyoshi (ph sound)

Promoter : Takashi Iida / Nozomi Takahashi

Sales Promoter : Minoru Tokushima

Desk : Miwa Sasaki / Yuki Maeda



BGM STAFF

All BGM Composer : Toshiyuki O'mori



Dr : Yuichi Togashiki

Bass : Chiharu Mikuzuki

Gtr : Jun Kajiwara

Gtr / Bozouki / Mandolin : Koichiro Tashiro

Apf : Shinko Ogata / Nobuo Kurata / Haruki Mino

Ep / Key : Haruki Mino / Toshiyuki O'mori

Perc : Ikuo Kakehashi

Strings : Gen Ittetsu group

Vln Solo : Masatsugu Shinozaki / Yukiko Teraoka

Vla : Daisuke Inobe

Vc : Yuki Murai

Tp : Hitoshi Yokoyama

Tb : Taro Kiyooka

Fr Horn : Hiroyuki Minami / Tsutomu Maruyama

Cla Perc : Marie Oishi

Harp : Tomoyuki Asakawa

Sax : Bob Zung



VISUAL STAFF

Creative Director : Mitsutoshi Ogura (GENEON ENTERTAINMENT)

Art Director & Photographer : Norihiko Netsu (G-SQUARE)

Coordinator : Minako Arai (GENEON ENTERTAINMENT)

Jacket Illustrator : Kaoru Ozawa



Thanks

Katsushi Sakurabi / Tetsuo Gensho (TBS) / Takashi Jinguji (TBS) / Yuji Matsukura (J.C.STAFF) / Masaki Sawanobori (MOVIC) / Kozue Kananiwa (MOVIC) / Fumio Takano (TOSHITSU) / Takashi Takeuchi / Kinoko Nasu / TYPE-MOON



US STAFF

Executive Producer: Henry Goto

[GENEON ENTERTAINMENT (USA) INC.]

Producer: Nobu Yamamoto [GENEON ENTERTAINMENT (USA) INC.]

Associate Producer: Michiko Powers

[GENEON ENTERTAINMENT (USA) INC.]

Mastering: mediaHYPERIUM studios



Age Rating: All
Released By: Geneon Anime Music
MSRP: 14.98
Aspect Ratio: 5267-2
Disc Resolution: 480i/p (mixed/unknown)
Disc Encoding: MPEG-2
Series: Tsukihime, Lunar Legend