In addition to the excellent voice acting, the sound direction for Shinsekai Yori is also quite superb as well, thanks to Satoshi Motoyama & his staff. Being that since the original source material is chalk full of a variety of settings & scenario's the creative opportunity is immense. As a byproduct the anime is an incredibly sound rich & a detailed experience in part of Minoru Yamada's meticulous work on SFX. Where Yamada & Motoyama go to lengths to even so much as recording the friction between articles of clothing to perhaps create a more intimate shot, where not only is the necessary diegetic sound information fully covered (like different textures & materials), but the acoustics of a scene is distinctly taken into consideration, with even more attention being payed to fleshing out environments with ambience/room tone recordings. As the attention to detail on acoustics in particular is quite impeccable, which is actually quite rare for an anime. However I also found it quite impressive how Motoyama's staff paid very close attention to the orientation of the camera relative to the position of the given subject &/or source of the given sound material.Being that the recordings are binaural, where the orientation & ambience of the sound changes with each given transition in coverage or perhaps on any given cut such as a jump cut or a cutaway, which of course makes for a much more immersive experience than an anime would normally offer.
In that the sequencing & timing of cueing music is also quite timely, where it's common for them to latch onto a cue in the dialogue when something is brought to light, or perhaps when something is being alluded to or established. However it's also very common for music to be cued right with the cut and a new establishing scene, where the music serves to override the particular tone & atmosphere of the given sequence. As these moments are often skimmed over a temporally compressed period of time/edit. However Satoshi Motoyama & his staff still know how to respect the use of silence & diegetic sound information, as Shinsekai Yori is a fair balance between beautiful & sonorous overriding themes, atmospherically empowered dialogue, in addition to the very intimate isolation that silence offers. As he knows when to keep it objective & seamless, but also knowing when it's appropriate to perhaps add a little of his own colour & character to the film.
Original Soundtrack |
This is also where probably the most fantastic aspect of the anime series comes into play, being that Shigeo Komori's work in scoring the series is downright impeccable, and in fact I would go so far as saying it's definitely one of the absolute best soundtracks I've ever heard in an anime. Yes, it's definitely up there with the most legendary of icons such as Yoko Kanno & Joe Hisiashi's masterpiece works for anime, in addition to Satōru Kosaki's excellent work on the long running Monogatari series. Being that it's one of those scores memorable enough that'd you'd to be able to recall many of the score's individual pieces that correspond to a given scene or moment within the story. It's quite impressive considering a large majority of the music is symphonic & without the use of lyrics or vocals, asides from the insert songs & all the parts of the "Traditional Song Of Shadows" tribal anthems.There's quite a shocking amount of music here as the entirety of the music clocks in around 2 hours over 3 CD's (They come with the Blu Rays), as the quality of music & recording is also very impressive. However the staff do reuse the same compositions for similar moments in the story, so each piece doesn't necessarily feel unique to one particular moment in the story, which is sort of off putting but not to much a problem none the less. Though probably the most impressional pieces of music used in the series is actually not on the record playlist, but was taken from Dvorak's New World Symphony (Going Home).
Dvorak's New World Symphony (Going Home) -
It's hasn't really been documented why Yusuke Kishi chose the piece, however you really can see why in how it's such a sombre & wishful piece, with how delicate the string sections are played & how mesmerizing & lullaby like the oboe section can be over top when it plays the centrepiece melody, as everything from the brass &the woodwind sections occasionally support & accompany it in a soft manner. In particular, it's used very early on & throughout the entirety of the story, serving as a hallmark of Saki's childhood, being that it was used an announcement for kids playing outside in the fields to remind them of their afternoon curfew, and when it was time to go home. Which of course as you can imagine, the use of the piece was rather straightforward in what Yusuke Kishi was trying to imply here.
 |
| Antonín Dvorak 1841-1904 [Czech Music Composer] |
The Innocent & Jovial -
However Shigeo Komori's work is equally as romantic & cold, though there's such a large amount of material here it's quite hard to narrow down everything, but of course I'll try my best to cover the best of what his score has to offer. It's a very tragic story overall, so there's plenty of disquiet & sombre pieces, however more on that later as it'd really be best to cover what those composition are actually contrasted to, and that of course is Komori's work in scoring the happier & more innocent moments in the story. The first tracks that really come to mind are songs such as View Of The Riverside #6/2, Down The River #17/1 & Friendship #8/1. These three songs in particular detail Group 1's time in summer camp, & by the titles as you can imagine these songs accompany a lot of canoeing scenes & montage. |
| Shigeo Komori [Music Composer] |
However "Down The River" is a far more subliminal song with a slower chord progression, but also has quite a busier melody & tone of broken acoustic chords, and seem like a darker "daytime" or "afternoon" song as it's a bit more sparring & careful of it's use of synth, where in this case it's used in less of a bubbly manner, but a more sonorous & resonant manner. Though "View of the River Side" is entirely done with synth/keyboard elements, and while as optimistic sounding as the song Friendship, it's quite a bit more serene & perhaps more romantic & a little fragile in how it sounds a bit girly.
Though the best track from the this period in time of course is "Night Canoe", as it's a innocent & serene composition depicting romance, used when Group 1 goes night canoeing. In particular, it's used when Saki & Shun are alone together, & Shun goes out of his way to show Saki something quite beautiful, hinting at their mutual feelings of romance for each other. It's another one of those Shinsekai Yori hallmarks, as it's used in particular not only as it's own moment, but as device within the story. It's a very pretty composition that opens up with a descending harp & a pan up view of the stars, where it continue's to have a lullaby like presentation as it soon accompanied by a keyboard melody, where the harp plays the harmony - Really it's one of those songs that makes you stop in the moment, even though it last just under two minutes.The song the closes off the first arc of the story "Settled Life Again" #22/2 however is a serene & hopeful return. In that it depicts how Group One makes it through their tumultuous journey of being lost in the middle of no mans land and run with trouble, they had all the hope in the world that they wouldn't be punished for disobeying the guidelines of the ethics committee & wouldn't be caught, that things would be perfectly fine, & after the initial scare things would go back to normal. As the composition is a beautiful arrangement with a stringed harmony & a low & high voice piano accompaniment, as it intimately ascends & gradually blossoms with a serene & blissful vibe, closing off Group One's summer camp adventure around the cool night and warmth of a bonfire.
The Mystery & Terror -
Though Shinsekai Yori's is definitely not just a rose coloured romance story of tragedy & happiness, as it's also part mystery/adventure & horror as well, where Shigeo Komori was able to whip up some skin crawling atmosphere, in addition to invoking wonder & disquiet. In that while a fair amount of the series most seminal pieces are symphonic, to invoke the darker aspects of the series Komori chose to include more of a traditional Japanese flavour with instruments such as the shamisen, woodwinds & a variety of percussion instruments. Where tracks such as the "Traditional Songs of Shadows" comes to mind, with the monophonic chant from children singing in falsetto, or perhaps eery songs such as Darkside Of the Heart #2/1, Dark Village or Theme of Daikangi-Tei. As these tracks are key in establishing the more mythical aspects and devices used in the series.
Though some of these "horror tracks" are a bit more contemporary, as these don't entirely consist of traditional Japanese flavoured instrumentation. Where plenty of dissonant tracks that fuse a variety of elements such as "Sign Of Jyuryoku" #7/1, Time Lapse #14/1, Hateful Feeling #13/2 & Mysterious #20/2. However they're all similar in they're sense of dynamic progression & flow, as they all start out slow & quiet, and eventually get more unsettling & dissonant as they crescendo into their climaxes. However I think the track used most commonly as a starting point as the initial suspicion kicks in would of course have to be Strange Feeling #13/1. In that it's a synth based song that starts off as somewhat ambiguous, but open & resonant sounding, but it's slowly gets progressively decorated with a dissonant ascending melody, where the track Time Lapse plays a very similar, though more unnerving role that's almost like a counterpart to it.Though I feel that the track "Mysterious" with it's organ like polyphony of synth melodies, along side a string section accompaniment is pretty much the nail in the coffin if you will. As it accompanies a seminal part in the story where Maria digresses about the unsettling truth about the villages, serving as almost a final note surrendering hope for their future of the villages.
The Tragedy, Romance & Bittersweet -
However the most seminal music of Komori's work would have to be of the more tragic & bittersweet variety, as almost all of Shinsekai Yori's most climatic of moments have to do with feelings of loss, romance or sometimes both. "Tenderness" #7/2 is the first track that comes to mind when I think of romance, as it depicts Saki's first real experience with romance & her firsthand jealousy. As the piano composition is so vivid & clear, but slow & warm with deep mid range & low notes, but delicately decorated with treble notes, however there's a tinge of melancholy & sadness, because the moment feels & is timely, being that you know it won't last & that feeling will never be a replacement for what Saki truly desires, in how deferential & submissive, but sad Komori's score is. Where the track "Sad Love" #8/2 feels like a direct counterpart to it, as it depicts Saki's feelings of jealousy & bitter heartbreak, with a sombre & isolated electric guitar that's sharp & resonant.
The most hard powerful music however comes in the form of cold & heartbreaking stringed compositions. As "Sad Song" #21/1 & it's more decorated iteration "History Of Despair" (Which is used more casually) are incredibly bittersweet & disquiet tracks composed mainly with the stringed section being the centrepiece, as it starts off terse & reminiscent in it's low & high voice counterpoint phrasing, though it slowly progresses with more urgency, as the melody is wavering until it hits a resonant climax as if something has been lost, & soon repeats it's opening section. It depicts Saki's first traumatic loss & how she was never able to confess romantic feelings to that someone, and how suddenly that opportunity & hope was taken away from her.
The song "History of Sorrow" is a direct counterpart, as it's also a stringed composition that's less terse in the beginning & more regretful with how the notes are far more connected & resonant, and how they slowly come to the cold hard fact that the person became exactly what they grew up & were taught in the villages to fear, how there was nothing else that could be done. As there's an eery & grim feminine gregorian chant sang overtop as the arrangement progresses, spelling out the finality of it all. Surprisingly however, the more isolated piano arrangement "Last Letter" #16/3 comes into play after, as there's a shocking moment that takes the last straw when you thought it couldn't get any worse, where time stops & the decision is finally made as a result.
It starts off with a sudden roll of a broken chords & descending notes on the piano, though transitions into a low and high voice piano accompaniment that's careful & measured, in how disquiet & mournful it sounds. However the melody has terse & wavering spurts as it hits it's climax notes in conjunction with the more solemn low voice harmony. It's an absolutely perfectly timed moment, where the multiple floating "wasp balls" (Think of Baoding balls) all come to a halting stop, and dropping mid air as the person's composure completely drops when trying to control their cantus through levitating the dozens of wasp balls. However the final piece used in this scene "Sad Separation" #19/3 to close it off makes for an explosive finish, when the person looses control of their cantus, the situation grows dire as Saki hardly can make the best of their final moments together.It's starts off as a bitter & serene stringed arrangement, though is latter accompanied with the charge of a martial playing style of a snare drum and occasionally cymbals hits as the song hits it's chorus. Though as the bridge starts, the mix deepens with a mid piano voice stab, as it's later on decorated with a string of high notes as the song enters into it's climax, strongly pronouncing Saki's bittersweet feelings of having to say goodbye & though being able to express each others long overdue feelings.
The Final Climactic Act | Traditional Song Of Shadows Part 3
One of the final pieces however that depicts the final most seminal act in the stories final climatic scene, is the third part of the "Traditional Song Of Shadows" #25/3 - which is the version with the chanting lyrics, as opposed to the fully instrumental version. It's an explosive moment that starts off with an isolated female gregorian chant , but then explodes into a climatic stringed composition with a metallic glare of the electric guitar. However It's also an absolutely beautifully timed moment, as the lyrics also correlate to each given moment, so much so that I though it'd be interesting to go over each line below & talk about how they run counterpoint to the visual. As all three parts of the "Traditional Song Of Shadows" have such inferences that can be drawn between their usage & correlation between the visual & lyrical component, the best of which being the final part:Episode 23 - A Shot By Shot | Cave Breakout Scene
Moon, we wait for cloud's to hide thee
The chant starts off in isolation from other instruments, as Saki is alone in the darkness
We wait & wait, & none may know
We set sail into vast seas, seeking a world not this one.
But as she breaks out of the cave, the crack of dawn glares at her across the blinding horizon, in sea of bats fluttering in the blue sky, framed with a zoom out establishing shot. A riveting sequence as right when the line is chanted the strings, guitar & percussion immediately come in an explosive fashion, as if forewarning a revelation of some sort & it's blinding.Though as the second line "seeking a world" starts Saki begins to run towards the horizon, almost as if she's stumbled upon something and desperately clinging on to that sensation - In the novels it's explained she runs out because the seeing eye birds won't be able to spot her under the cover of the flock of bats.
We shed our weakness and walk an ancient path to the future
During these two lines, fragments of her memory begin flooding back again as Saki knows she's on to something important, as she starts running again towards the sunlight when the second line "walk an ancient path" is sung - Being quite semiotic of her physically running towards the light, panting louder & louder as she pushes herself, and her mind retreading old memories to finally come to terms with the face of the friend she forgotten.We pass the line, that separateth one life from another
In a flash of light she come's to the realization & completely staggers in her tracks completely dumbstruck, beginning to cry as the chant very briefly ends, though starts again full force being cued right on the first line as the camera sweeps around, when she's finally able to pass that mental threshold & remember. That person stands before her in the flesh, & she calls out the name she forgotten.
The darkness that swalloweth Mount Tsukuba
Though the person quickly runs away, and the brief moment that they we're together again seemingly vanishes as Saki chases the illusion. Cruelly alluding to Saki's brief glimpse of bittersweet happiness as the both the song arrangement & the brief reunion are coming to a close.
Now then, lets cross it, and none may know
With these being the final lines, as she comes to a cruel lonely realization that nobody else but her is able or allowed to remember the persons name or face. As the chant is solemn & foreboding in it's acceptance of that. As it details Saki's personal struggles of having to cope with secrets & tragedy she can't talk to anybody about, though in the end it displays how she'd know the truth & bear that cross, than remaining ignorant for the rest of her life.In all it makes for one of the most riveting & impactful audio visual sequences I've ever seen in an anime, truly awesome stuff with how particular the whole visual & lyrical sequence was aligned. To close off the final chapter within the story the regretful & solemn track "Original Sin" #12/3 is used. It starts off with a descending flute melody & piano harmony, and quickly blossoms with a harp & flute counterpoint melody. However the rhythm returns to its initially measured and slow cadence, as the main piano harmony is decorated with occasional phrases from the flute & harp, though it slowly ascends into a soft & resonant climax, repeating the same parts with a sense of closure that depicts the sense of damage & the consequences paid for both Saki's group's mistakes & in addition to the crimes of humanity with the predicaments they now face.
The funny thing is that the better version of the song #20/3, which is far more dressed up with a gregorian chant & the inclusion of a stringed arrangement carrying the harmony instead of the piano, was a much more haunting version particularly because of the falsetto chant & how the strings we're far better at carrying a mood with the kind of resonance that a piano couldn't come close to. I digress however, being that I could see why they thought the piano version would fit the scene better, as it's quite a bit more unobtrusive & quiet, though there's a sense of closure & grandness to the strings version that I really think would've been better suited to accompany the end of the conflict/struggle so to speak, which of course brings me to the main problem I have with the soundtrack
The Problem Here | The Cutting Board
It's not that the actual soundtrack is bad, but sometimes the way it's used is quite bothersome. If you had the chance to buy the Bluray volumes with a one of the three disks included with each volume, you're offered with an even more expansive and quite frankly better music experience than the anime. Mainly being because some of the best tracks in Shigeo Komori's score we're cut & never made it into the anime, not only that but for some reason Motoyama's staff repeatedly used some of the same tracks too many times for comfort, when instead they should've just used the tracks they cut to prevent diluting the variety & uniqueness of each composition, relative to their usage.Some of the main culprits would have to be tracks like "Goes To School" #11/3 & "Hope For The Future" # 21/3. The former of which makes feel absolutely mind boggled as to why they didn't use it, being that it's without a doubt one of the absolutely most beautiful & well fitting tracks in Shigeo's score. It almost sounds like a counterpart to Dvorack's "Going Home", being that it evokes the same atmosphere & imagery that "Going Home" has, as it sounds like a song depicting the graceful reminiscence of the past, though it's bittersweet in how it's sounds far more resigned in depicting perhaps how Saki comes to terms with her past & sense of loss, with the knowing understanding of why such evils & tragedy was necessary for the sake of humanity & the villages.
It's beautiful almost lullaby piece that the piano & what I believe to be an acoustic (Guitar) or at least some kind of stringed instrument play the same repeating accompanying melody in harmony, as the centre piece melody is done on the resonant fantasia like keyboard synth, with the phrasing being very simple & light. It feels like a beautiful night time track where it feels like as if the accompaniment between the piano and guitar harmony is wave like in it's repetition, as it's great at creating a sense of atmosphere & wonder. In my mind, although I get why they chose "Going Home" to close off the story & bring the series completely full circle, I still think Motoyama could've still done that whilst also using "Goes To School" for some of the more reminiscent final scenes of the series.
The exact same can be said for "Hope For The Future", being that it perfectly fits the tone & premise of the final moments in the story, where Saki talks about her memorandum, with a sense of anxiety but hope for the future. It's a string & piano composition that sounds dream like & serene, but careful & anxious with it's measured & careful piano high voice, with the resonant notes from the stringed harmony. As it feels like a piece that is the sum of all of Shinsekai Yori's & Shiego's scrore's parts, feeling like a perfect way to end the series being that I could easily picture the track in my head as I read some of the final words in the novel, in that it's that particular careful sense of optimism & hope that so beautifully depicted in Shigeo's score that I really think would work absolutely fantastically with Saki's final scene as a 36 year old within the series.
Though another one of the better tracks that weren't used of course would have to be a night time track such as "Quiet Village" #2/1, as this track is a slow & pleasant blend between a piano & guitar chord progression base harmony, as it's the resonant synth melody is the main center piece, decorated with pretty treble phrases & notes. It's a beautiful track that captures the childlike sense of wonder & adventure with how slow & gentle it is to follow. Sadly however, like the rest of these tracks in the score it was never used in the actual anime, a real pity.Page 5
Article Contents - Comments Section
- Plot & Narrative Aspects [The Novel & The Anime]
- Character Analysis
- Production Aspects [Cinematography | Animation | Art Direction]
- Voice Actor Choreography
- Sound Direction & Original Soundtrack
- Addendum
