Review of Music from the Miramax Motion Picture "Princess Mononoke"

I'm saying this first so I can get it over with:

I saw Mononoke Hime for the first time at MiniCon 32 in the Anime Iowa room. Disney just acquired the North American rights to the film weeks before, if I recall correctly, and the film wasn't named on the schedule. ("TBA" was all the sheet said.)

When I saw the Totoro logo, I turned to the guy running the projector (who sat next to me) and said "You didn't! You bastards!" He smiled, and as soon as I heard the first bars and saw the first scene I knew that they scored a copy of one of the best films of the 20th century. I watched with an awe I hadn't felt since I saw the first Star Wars film back in the '70s. I smiled, I cried, and I wanted to kill Lady Eboshi. To this day, I remember those two hours of my life with total crystal.

When Miramax released their English dubbed version last fall, the Twin Cities was a test market. I dragged as many of my friends as I could, and it was just as good the second time as the first. Hell, even the dubbing rocked my world. (As a rule, I hate dubs with a passion.) When it was over, I couldn't wait for it to come out on home video.

So, naturally, when I found the soundtrack I immediately bought it.

What's On The Disc

If you heard it in the film, you hear it on the disc. There are 32 tracks, and most of them last three minutes or less. The tracks are in the order that they appeared on the film, so the disk is a virtual recreation of the film in an audio-only instrumental version. While this is great if you're one to play through a disc from start to finish, it's a real pain in the ass if you like to set your player to shuffle.

The other thing to consider is that many of the tracks reprise themselves, which is made plain on the track listing. "The Demon God", for example, comes back twice during the course of the disk: "The Demon God II" and "The Demon God III". This sounds bad, but remember that the disc follows the film- and the film reuses the music when the theme associated with it resurfaces. So, when you hear "The Demon God", you know that something to do with tatarigami is about to happen. This helps if you want to string the tracks together to form as easy-to-repeat loop in your player without using one track over and over again. (There about six such groups on the disc.)

Gaming Value

If you've seen the film, you know that this is not purely Japanese. While there is some value here for the Sengoku and L5R fans, don't discount its use for other games. There is a definite epic feel here, one that you can sense as if it were a stone in your hand, as well as a deep melancholly. Tribe 8, D&D, Werewolf, Mage, Elric, and Pendragon mix very well for the music on this soundtrack. For Prequel-era Star Wars games, this also applies; the same goes for any other game that has any of these elements.

What I don't recommend this soundtrack for is any game that centers itself on unbridled optimism, high-energy action, or unrelenting horror. (Respective examples: Robotech, Feng Shui, and Call of Cthulhu.) They don't mix at all.

Conclusion

If you love beautiful music, the film for which it was made, or anime in general you'll want this disc. After that, I strongly recommend that you find someone who has it--or watch the film--before buying it. The fusion of Western classical music with Japanese elements isn't to everyone's liking, and you may find that you've already got something in your library that does the job for which this is made. Besides, we're talking about buying a CD here; while I seem to be blessed with the lowest CD prices in the nation (average of $14 for a new single disc), I know that some of you pay up to $20 (US) for a new album.

That said, I love it--as I love the film and its maker--and I urge all who feel as I do to get a copy today. If you don't want this version, Amazon will import the Japanese one.

This disc is marked as an HDCD. I admit my ignorance of just what that means, save that it seems to be louder than most of my discs.