Forum - View topicSomething funny I noticed about Yuki Kaijura...
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John Casey
 Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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So, reading Zac's KnK review, on how he finds Kaijura's music all haunting and neat and stuff... I kinda noticed something: She doesn't evolve.
Like, you could literally plaster Xenosaga III's soundtrack on KnK, and vice versa, and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. .hack, Xenosaga, Noir, KnK, Madlax, etc etc... Each one of those has, I guess I'll coin a new term, an "interchangeable score", cause I swear to god, they all sound the same. I mean, it's one thing if an artist has a style... Yoko Shimomura has a style, what with the piano and violin bits. Daisuke Ishiwatari has a style - the crazy ass guitar riffs and melodies. But with Kaijura, it's literally like...like she's making scrapbooks, only the binders she uses all look exactly the same, and the little bits and pieces are from the same brand company. Not saying it sounds bad, but it all sounds so similar it's fast becoming...unremarkable. Am I the only one who really noticed this...? |
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~~EpiC~~
 Posts: 243 |
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Lol. I totally agree, actually. I mentioned it at the very beginning of the Madoka thread.
She does very little to no experimentation. She doesn't seem to try and improve with each new score at all. Actually, I don't think she cares. I'll admit that her work on Noir is a bit different than everything else she has done, at least comparatively, but most of her work could easily be cut and pasted. At this point in her career she NEEDS to try something new and different. I understand she loves her chant style stuff, but she really needs some new influences. Celtic, Egyptian whatever. Actually, maybe go outside of the box and try some Gamelan or Beleganjur (which I think she could integrate in some creative ways). She should stick to the folky and more ancient forms, and I think mostly stay out of anything more new age. Older styles of music really fit her style the best. I feel like she really has potential, but she just stifles herself and her own creativity by sticking to a mold she has already formed. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6580 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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I'm a Yuki Kajiura fan I have to agree. But she's not the only talented anime composer with that problem. Kenji Kawai has been in a rut for years and even Yoko Kanno's moment of genius was for a few years in the late 90s.
We also need to consider that these composers are writing to the dictates of the director and the producers. Who knows, perhaps everyone tells Yuki Kajiura that they want another Noir. |
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eroszamp
Posts: 1 |
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Well maybe she just earns the money. She may even do not like anime.
Last edited by eroszamp on Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:03 am; edited 1 time in total |
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John Casey
Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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I don't think so... If that was the case, all the shows and games she scored would blend like a super cheaply filmed porno. No soul. See, when you forget Kaijura, forget her other music, and just watch a series or play a game she score, it fits. It works, it sounds good. Each piece usually fits whatever scene perfectly. And to do that, you need to have an appreciation and connection to the material you're working with. But then, like I said, when you look at her other works... It's practically like she built some sort of mold for herself using Fruity Loops or something. Like she recorded a thousand-and-one songs, say, 15 years ago, and whenever someone approaches for a commission, she just sort of picks and chooses, instead of trying anything new. |
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bahamut623
 Posts: 1463 |
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I agree that a lot of her work shows very little range, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It almost always works really really well with whatever anime/game she's working on. It's possible that part of the reason she doesn't change much could be the people she works with. Maybe when anime producers approach her to work on a project, they're going to her because they want the Kajiura sound. So maybe she just keeps doing the same thing because that's what they want from her.
However, she does do other styles of music, it's just that since they don't sound like typical Kajiura, people don't really notice it's her. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X1_umbDuvI |
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~~EpiC~~
Posts: 243 |
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Wait what?? Most of her best scores came out in the 00s. Maybe you mean the last few years instead? [quote]We also need to consider that these composers are writing to the dictates of the director and the producers. Who knows, perhaps everyone tells Yuki Kajiura that they want another Noir./quote] Now this is probably the case. But at the same time, she NEVER attempts to experiment at all. She needs to, she seems to have been in a rut for years.
Her pop compositions are pretty lame if you ask me. No one recognizes her pop stuff because its often really basic and rarely worth noting. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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I love Kajiura's style and composition too, but I have to agree with the cookie cutter BGM stigma that has developed with that. I have to also blame the music directors as well because they must also have noticed this, but yet still ask for more of it! She can compose some very different music like she did for Petite Cossette, which I think is her best work since Noir, especially the song title "Ballad", and the end of Chrono Crusade in full was just as brilliant as well, so she can do different styles just like Kanno, it's just that she's not asked to apparently.
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boredandlazy
Posts: 189 |
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Yeah, you can pick a Yuki Kajiura track from a mile away. Doesn't mean they aren't brilliant pieces of music. I'm just listening to "Snow is Falling" from the Kara no Kyokai soundtrack as we speak and it's utterly fantastic.
Regardless of how she doesn't alter her style it's all about how the music fits with the anime it's composed for, and for KnK Yuki Kajiura was an absolutely perfect fit. |
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JaffaOrange
 Posts: 254 |
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Perhaps she's been type cast and is chained to forever compose dark, haunting pieces for anime.
Though, in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, there are some more cheerful tunes though I'm not sure if she was the one who composed those. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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The OP for this thread is just another feeble attempt to grab at straws to defend Yoko Kanno's failing music career by poking jabs at Kajiura-sensei.
Here's a better OP that shed's light on Yoko's dark little secret: animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=154599 Last edited by P€|\||§_|\/|ast@ on Fri Sep 02, 2011 12:48 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Kowz
Posts: 1 |
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Those were indeed composed by Kajiura. People act like all she writes is dark and depressing music, but most of her OSTs include a few cheerful, light, and happy tracks. Just listen to her Velveteen Rabbit , Achilles to Kame, Rekishi Hiwa Historia, and Sekai Satoyama OSTs. |
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