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Yuki Kajiura vs. Yoko Kanno: Your Take


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SuperOnizuka



Joined: 24 Oct 2003
Posts: 421
Location: When I look At the World- New Jersey
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:31 am Reply with quote
Exactly. Don't berate someone else for having opposing views than you, regardless if you are in the pro Kanno or pro Kaijura camp. Not only is it immature to see that here or other places, but it totally takes away from the one thing both create- music. And from what I hear, neither one has a grudge against each other.

Ironically, my brother in law is a rabid fan of Kaijura's and berates, and chides sarcastically, about the preferences that other people have. Which is really a sad display of fanboyism. The irony is that he tries to portray himself as an open minded individual, who just happens to be very self-centered and very gloomy.
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mike_s_6



Joined: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 64
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:28 pm Reply with quote
I have to agree that some of the most immature arguments against Kanno, I've seen on this thread. Conte sounds gay? Kanno's talent a gimmick? Sounds like some fans are desperate to put down someone and will say anything to achieve it.

As the polls are over now, I suppose this topic will dwindle very very fast, because I want both camps in peace.
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james_the_composer



Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:30 am Reply with quote
You can't compare one song to another because you can't play two songs at 1 time, just as you can't feel 2 feelings at the same time.

They do what their meant to do for the scene's, I love to listen to all of them regardless of what the feeling happens to be.


The feeling of the music has nothing to do with memory or intellegence, memory and intellegence will try their best to convince you, but moment judgement steps in the experience is gone.

Let's take an example. You could write out paragraphs and paragraphs of descriptions trying to describe just 1 song, but there's emptyness in words and intellegence. It wouldn't do anything.
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SuperOnizuka



Joined: 24 Oct 2003
Posts: 421
Location: When I look At the World- New Jersey
PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:38 pm Reply with quote
james_the_composer wrote:
You can't compare one song to another because you can't play two songs at 1 time, just as you can't feel 2 feelings at the same time.

They do what their meant to do for the scene's, I love to listen to all of them regardless of what the feeling happens to be.


The feeling of the music has nothing to do with memory or intellegence, memory and intellegence will try their best to convince you, but moment judgement steps in the experience is gone.

Let's take an example. You could write out paragraphs and paragraphs of descriptions trying to describe just 1 song, but there's emptyness in words and intellegence. It wouldn't do anything.


You are really missing my point. It is called interpretation. If you want to just listen and write music with just feeling, hey that's great. Good for you. But those feelings can just lead you to writing music within the same framework of genre, styles, ideas, and elicitation of emotions. Feelings in a song can become stale if you hear the same thing over and over again, with generally the same schemes.

As I stated earlier, exploration of other ideas, genres, styles, and methodology, not just feelings, identifies a highly creative musician or artist. That's why an artist, who cultivates his or her ability to explore outside of the box, are deemed more with critical acclaim.

Leonardo Da Vinci, as an example of an artist who looks outside his box, is held with critical acclaim for his exploratory attempts within his artwork and self.

However, you are also right in that the composers need to get be able to get the vibe of the scene and presentation to be able to really captivate the viewer. If a composer couldn't do that, they wouldn't have been requested to compose for the presentation, show, etc.


People will write highly descriptive paragraphs of songs to describe their intrepation of songs to pique the interest of potential readers and fans. Whether or not those readers get the feelings, well that is up to them, all the writer can do is write why his or her interpretations and feelings about the songs are so vivid and captivating.

However in this thread, we are trying to discuss which composer we believe to be better. Which is rather pointless, because it is mainly based on one's own perspectives and quircks towards the work.
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Raven Shinobi





PostPosted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:43 am Reply with quote
SuperOnizuka wrote:
However in this thread, we are trying to discuss which composer we believe to be better. Which is rather pointless, because it is mainly based on one's own perspectives and quircks towards the work.


I'm more into composer that exhibit a lot of creativity and variety in their works like Mitsuda and Yoshitaka Hirota than the ones that stick to one style, no matter how much they excel in it, that's why I have problems with Kajiura's works and other composers that are like her. Yeah, it's in the end a matter of taste and personal preferences that has nothing to do with who's technically better.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8503
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:24 pm Reply with quote
I wonder if this adds anything to the debate of which is better: http://www.hellgateguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3128 or if it needs a new topic. Interesting.

Although, I've compared several of those tracks, and the similarities are small and "influencing" at best, rather than being "ripped off".
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mike_s_6



Joined: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 64
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 2:03 am Reply with quote
http://www.monkey-pirate.com/ykdb/index.php?topic=8.0

^ Coming from this site?

There are some songs there that sound exactly the same, changed for a few notes or instruments. But some also bear only minute similarities. For some songs, you might think, "Hey, you could chop up ANY song and find another song that sounds like that portion", but on some, the similarities are just scary.

As for the songs that are almost copied, I think it's completely unnecessary for her to do that. Her most original works are themselves worthy of note.

What also bugs me is how some of the Bebop songs sound EXACTLY like DJ Food's music... and still he agreed to remix Kanno's songs from the same anime. Weird? I've been thinking of contacting the group but I don't know how...

Read the 2 links posted first, then gather your own. There are a lot of insights for and against the issue in the one I posted though Wink
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Full_Metal1923



Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 312
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:54 pm Reply with quote
I think both composers are incredible and very talented.

However I very much prefer the music of Yoko Kanno over Yuki Kajiura. As mentioned numerous times already, Yoko Kanno work consists of a variety of different genres of music. Despite what some may say, creating music in multiple genres is rather difficult especially when the music is consistantly good and blends well with the anime it's featured in. You can't expect every piece from a composer to be the greatest thing you'll hear in that genre because there are many talented musicians out there to dismiss.

I admire Yoko Kanno for this because she doesn't just dip into multiple genres but she does it well and there are many pieces that I absolutely love from Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: SAC and other anime where her music is present. She's among my favourite music composers of all time.

(in no particular order)

Composer - Notable Works

Joe Hisaishi - Spirirted Away & Howl's Moving Castle
Koji Kondo - Super Mario Bros. & Legend of Zelda
Michiru Oshima - Fullmetal Alchemist & ICO
Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy series
Yoko Kanno - Cowboy Bebop & Ghost in the Shell: SAC

BTW, I'm not taking anything away from Yuki Kajiura, I just enjoy the music of Yoko Kanno moreso (and that's partially due to the varying of genre - it's more accessible in a sense).
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W0LF
SPAMMER


Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:02 pm Reply with quote
There really isn't any words to defend Kajiura san's supremacy, sometimes it's nice to be diverse, in Kanno's case, however this is one of those times I believe its not. For starters i dont like jazz, i do like cowboy beboop and its music however i only like the music in collaboration with the show and the scenes that play along with the music. Another thing that is striking is that in comparison to Wolf's Rain and Escaflowne theres not much difference, sure it sounds different but not substantially. Also I read earlier that kanno does jazz, orchestral, techno, etc. In the case of techno, unless you are comparing it to the ghost in the shell ps2 game, she didn't do a whole lot in Ghost: SAC. I've got nothing against kanno as she "was" my favorite and i used to love her music music as much as a flower loves the sun( i know, it's corny) but kajiura is now my sunshine, her music is predictable but so is Nobou Uematsu from final fantasy. That doesnt mean its bad and doesnt give the means to put her off the top just because of it. Both women are extremely talented, if we where to confirm who is more adventures then kanno would be #1 however we are not, and like i said i dont like jazz but i like the ghost:SAC which i feel, besides beboop, is her most adventures project yet, too date of course. Kajiura creates a musical melancholy of love, sadness, happiness, and to put simply she creates a world of ethereal dreams in my mind when i listen to her music. So yeah so what if her music is pretty much the same, its good music and you can never have too much of a good thing is what i say, thats like if i loved ghost:SAC music style and i wanted more, that's all kajiura san is doing, supplying us with a good thing all the time.
I read earlier that someone can identify kajiura's music easily while watching anime but not kanno's unless they see the credits. I find that a little hard to believe but hey you never know i guess, some people have a good ear for melodies and i can easily


Last edited by W0LF on Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:36 am; edited 3 times in total
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W0LF
SPAMMER


Joined: 29 Aug 2005
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:05 pm Reply with quote
The only time i really have to listen closely is mainly during the intro songs and sometimes the ending songs.
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Xenofan 29A



Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 378
PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:30 pm Reply with quote
Kajiura, but I like Kanno too.

On the other hand, I prefer old-school orchestral stuff like Sagisu's work on Nadia, Kare Kano, and Eva, or Kohei Tanaka's music for Gunbuster to both of the aforementioned composers' work. Joe Hisaishi, of course, stands apart in my mind as being the single greatest anime composer.

In terms of music composers in general, I like

JS Bach, Yasunori Mitsuda, Igor Stravinsky, John Williams, Nobuo Uematsu, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masashi Hamauzu, Ludwig Beethoven, Howard Shore, with a little bit of Anton Bruckner on the side.
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JingX



Joined: 06 Jul 2007
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:35 pm Reply with quote
Oh by far Yoko Kanno.

I do love Kajiura's work....Key of the Twilight was just phenomenal but her stuff kind of gets repetitive after awhile. That is alot of her stuff sounds oddly similar, which isn't a bad thing if you have a good sound going but when you compare it to someone as awesome and multi-angled as Yoko Kanno it ust pales. Kanno has proven experience in different kinds of sounds and genres and almost always makes it sound good. [the jazz of Bebop, the more techno/electronica of GitS, the folk of Wolf's Rain]. There's nothing else that can sway me into an anime as much as seeing "Music by Yoko Kanno" on it.
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W0LF
SPAMMER


Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 1:42 am Reply with quote
I can see why people would chose kanno if the are into various genres. However i believe that if people had not seen any of the animes these 2 women did that they would lean more to kajiura. I believe people get attached to everything about an anime they like, for example we will use cowboy beboop, people see it and fall in love with everything about that series as everything fits nicely even the music, thats were nostalgia comes in, people listen to the beboop soundtrack and remember the feeling/s they got from a paticular or other certain songs, and makes the song that much more gripping.
Other than NOIR i have never heard alot of kajiura work. But after i found out about her i was like, "she's the best". Kanno is fantastic but i dont find her pieces as intricate as kajiura, thats probally because kajiura can layers so many sounds in her songs with keyboard. Kanno likes to use alot of real instruments which gives her songs a warmer sound thanks to the accustics from real instrumentation. Kajiura doesnt have a GRAND sounding type scores as she usually uses a fewer strings and usually alot of profound violin/s accompanied by techno beats from her KÖRG and other software that she uses. Unfortunately kajiura hasn't been apart of big success animes like beboop or S.A.C., so i believe people chose kanno because of this and their nostalgia of how great the show and music is. I just think kajiura has a catchier sound, and like i said earlier just because a person has a distinct sound doesnt make them less better, look at Nobou Uematsu like i said earlier, in the VG industry he is like kanno status as far as notority,there are other artists out there in that biz that have more diverse sounds like kanno but nobody really sees them as being more popular than Nobou. Personally I like yasunori and michiru yamane but they wont be casting a shadow over Nobou anytime soon. My point? Yuki is in a way like Nobou, she is a master of her style, shouldnt be 2nd rate after all Mr.Final Fantasy isn't.
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Xenofan 29A



Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 378
PostPosted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:54 am Reply with quote
W0LF wrote:
Unfortunately kajiura hasn't been apart of big success animes like beboop or S.A.C., so i believe people chose kanno because of this and their nostalgia of how great the show and music is.


It depends on your definition of "successful," as Noir, .Hack//SIGN, and the Xenosaga video games have all had moderate success in Japan, and Kajiura's pop album has sold well, I think. True, none of these compare to something like Bebop, SAC, or even Turn A Gundam in popularity, but Kajiura gets plenty of exposure.

W0LF wrote:
I just think kajiura has a catchier sound, and like i said earlier just because a person has a distinct sound doesnt make them less better, look at Nobou Uematsu like i said earlier, in the VG industry he is like kanno status as far as notority.


I have never said that Uematsu can be pideonholed into a specific "sound". One of his strengths lies in the sheer diversity of his work. I mean, his work for Final Fantasy VIII and his work for Final Fantasy IX have very little overlap. If you're talking about style, every composer has a very unique, specific style. I can easily recognize an Uematsu track or a Kajiura track, but I can just as easily pick out Mitsuda's or Kanno's styles.

Just because someone has a distinctive "sound" doesn't make them top of their class; Motoi Sakuraba does it for video games, and Hans Zimmer does it for movies, but that doesn't make them better in any particular way.
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W0LF
SPAMMER


Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:48 pm Reply with quote
I feel Kajiura is like as you said about Nobou, and i agree that both can be distinguished with their music. It just concerns me how people keep saying that kajiuras songs sound to much alike, and one of the reasons they say this is because of how easly they can distingush her songs. And i was just pointing out that Nobou is like this to, but he is suuuppper popular because of his talent. I don't like the idea of some pushed aside more often next to someone else not because their music sounds bad, as everyone admits she has nice music, but because she doesnt explore many genres. That's all i was saying, im just expressing my opinion and maybe someone would agree with me. In my opinion kajiura is able to keep a consistancy with her primary melodies and because of this most of her songs are listenable, however kanno tends to have fewer but masterful songs like her OP songs for ghost in the shell. Those songs are absolutely fantastic however thats a few. Same for most shows she's done, i think this is because she's always experimenting.
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