Tenkuu no Escaflowne’s Lovers Only OST starts with a TV edit of the opening theme Yakusoku wa Iranai. What you will remarkably hear here is the soft intro where Maaya Sakamoto sings the chorus slowly, softly, dramatically with only the soft piano doing the background. Escaflowne OST 1 - Over the Sky has the full version. However, given this more memorable rendition of the opening theme including the TV edit of Mystic Eyes ending theme, the instrumentals and vocals here are much more enjoyable than the first. (That is NOT to say Escaflowne OST 1 is not good because it is!)

There are a lot of Latin choruses here somewhat inspired by the somber renditions of Gregorian chants as in the second track The Vision of Escaflowne which was done by Members of the Theatro Dell ‘Opera Di Roma. Add to that the symphonies done by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra with music composed by musical genius Yoko Kanno herself makes each Escaflowne soundtrack a must-buy. Of course Dance of the Curse, the phenomenal battle music is here also which will make you listen to the heart pounding chorus that defines drama like no other. Another favorite is Arcadia, where hearing it first sounds like a Latin or German rendition of a melancholy song but later I find out it is really in Japanese. The melancholy melody with an opera style soprano is actually a song of reflection and sad wonder. There is a part where she sings, “Naze, chi wo konomi, arasoi wo konomu no darou ” (Why… I wonder is it that they like blood, they like conflict?) The styles of such things is actually reminiscent of Wagner’s operas. Normally, I sleep through hearing those things, but this one being used as background for the scenes in Escaflowne heighten the intensity in them that makes them unforgettable.

The vocals are pretty impressive as well! Maaya Sakamoto sings a feel-good ballad called Tomodachi. The melody is wholesome and the lyrics where she talks of longing and friendship does sound rather mushy but trust me, nothing seems to go wrong where Maaya Sakamoto is concerned. But my favorite is Kaze ga Fuku Hi which is sung by Maaya Sakamoto as well. The melody is like the wind — soft, breezy, soothing, and it feels good. More and more so as you listen Maaya Sakamoto sing, “Doushitara jibun no koto wo daisuki ni nareru n darou nante. Motto motto jibun no koto wo daisuki ni nareru nara” (”How could you fall in love with me? More and more, doing something as falling inlove with me?”) Nah… that didn’t sound mushy at all! You will like this kind of sentimentality because the vocals along with the intrumentals make it totally romantic!

All in all, let me just sum it up: Yoko Kanno + Theatro Dell ‘Opera Di Roma + Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra + Maaya Sakamoto = sugoi! Nothing else but the best to put all of these in just one CD?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2001 at 5:40 pm and is filed under Escaflowne (Vision of) - Lovers Only, Soundtracks Anime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.