Silent Möbius 2, The Motion Picture Original Soundtrack

SILENT MöBIUS 2, THE MOTION PICTURE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

Licensed from Victor Entertainment, Inc.
JNA Animation JNA-1519-2
46:10 (21 tracks)
U.S.$17.98
Available Now

— by Charles McCarter

1. Sorrow - Katsumi - (1:36) 1:36

Monologue: Matsui Naoko

2. Crying 3:34

3. Evil City 3:27

4. Twilight 1:29

5. Fear 1:25

6. Yuki 2:26

7. Demon Battle 1:07

8. Hope - Yuki - 1:20

Monologue: Okamoto Maya

9. If It's a Dream, If It's Love 4:47

Vocals: Matsui Naoko, Okamoto Maya

10. Affection 1:23

11. Rest 1:47

12. Chaos 1:23

13. Wandering 1:41

14. Western Castle 1:27

15. Dark Shadow 1:20

16. Gale 1:58

17. Battle 2:57

18. Offense & Defense 1:13

19. Magic 1:50

20. Tomorrow - Katsumi - 1:39

Monologue: Matsui Nako

21. To Journey in the Morning 5:46

Vocal: Suzuki Ayako

The second SILENT MöBIUS movie begins where the first leaves off. So much so in fact that it seems to be a retelling of the same story with a slightly different perspective.

The music, too, is a continuation of the first movie. Wada Kaoru returns as the composer and brings with him the eerie musical atmosphere he introduced in the first movie. The third track, "Evil City," marks the return of the male chorus chanting strange words over a mix of synthesizer, brass, and percussion. One of the more richly orchestrated tracks on the album, "Evil City" conveys an aura of imminent danger and evil energy. Astute listeners will hear similarities between this rich, vibrant track and the BGM tracks for KISHIN HEIDAN, where he also served as composer.

The strength of this album, however, lies in its ability to create a mood with a minimal amount of orchestration and in Wada's ability to utilize instruments to their fullest potential. Woodwinds can appear at one minute to be the sound of hope and the next to be the lament of danger and dread. The clarinet in "Twilight" is bright and full of hope, but the clarinet passage in "Dark Shadow" exudes an air of mystery and fear. Flutes are also used to convey both happiness and tension in varying tracks. Clearly, this is the mark of a composer who knows how to use instruments to their best advantage.

However, sometimes BGM that creates an atmosphere or a mood is not always capable of standing alone as good listening music; this holds true with some of the tracks on this CD. "Wandering," track 13, is a mixture of synthesized sounds and percussion, and while it may add mood to the actual scene in the movie, its repeat listening value is low. The other problem with this CD is that, with few exceptions, the BGM tracks are very short: most are under two minutes. Although this works in the setting of the film, outside of that context it sometimes feels like the piece is just getting started when in actuality it is ending.

Three tracks on this disk contain spoken dialogue. Tracks 1 and 20 are monologues by Katsumi (Matsui Naoko) and Track 8 is Yuki's (Okamoto Maya) monologue. Lasting under two minutes each, these are not large drama tracks and should not impede the enjoyment of the listener who does not speak Japanese.

The first vocal, "If It's a Dream, If It's Love..." is performed by Matsui Naoko and Okamoto Maya. The song is difficult to categorize, but is essentially a slow ballad with some rather unusual synthesizer and heavy percussion in the background. The voice actresses do an acceptable job with this song, but it is nothing spectacular. The ending vocal, "To Journey Into Tomorrow," is a little disappointing. The biggest problem is that the vocalist seems to be singing in a range that is too low for her. It seems that each SILENT MöBIUS ending song is marked by something that seems out of place (In "Sailing" it was the bizarre piano solo in the middle of the song).

Fans of SILENT MöBIUS or Wada Kaoru will definitely want to add this disk to their collection. Others may not be so impressed, especially considering that SILENT MöBIUS 2 sounds very similar to its predecessor. The musicianship is solid, however, and the music is capable of standing on its own for the most part. But more would have of course been better.