View Single Post
Old 2006-03-29, 11:31   Link #85
Eclipze
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Singapore
How about the music?

Well, just earlier on, I was having a discussion with a friend regarding the music aspect of anime.

My friend's point of view was that, most of the music/songs in anime is composed and sung by A-list j-pop idols/composers. He presented the following as his supporting "evidence":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime

While I understand that wiki isn't the best source for accurate information, I do believe that it *should* hold fair amounts of truth.

Particularly:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikipedia, English
Music

Much like western live-action cinema, anime uses music as an important artistic tool. Anime soundtracks are big business in Japan, and are often times met with similar demand as chart topping pop albums. It is for this reason that anime music is often composed and performed by 'A-list' musicians, stars, and composers. Skilled BGM composers are highly respected in the anime fan community. Anime series with opening credits use the opening theme song as a quick introduction to the show. The most frequent use of music in Anime is background music or BGM. BGM is used to set the tone of a given scene, for example Neon Genesis Evangelion 's "Decisive Battle" is played when the characters are making battle preparations and it features heavy drum beats and a militaristic style which highlights the tension of the scene and hints at the action to follow.

The theme song (also referred to as the Opening song or abbreviated as OP) usually matches the overall tone of the show, and serves to get the viewer excited about the upcoming program. Insert songs and ending songs (abbr. ED) often make commentary about the plot or the program as a whole, and are often times used to highlight a particularly important scene. Opening and ending themes, as well as insert songs, are frequently performed by popular musicians or Japanese idols, so in this way, songs become a very important component of an anime program. In addition to the themes, the seiyū for a specific anime also frequently releases CD for their character, called Image Albums. Despite the word "image" in the CD's name, it only contains music and/or "voice messages" (where the seiyū talks with the audience or about herself), making the listener think that the character him/herself is singing. Another type of Anime CDs release are Drama CD, featuring songs and tracks which makes use of the seiyū to tell a story, often not included in the main anime.
Note the bolded parts.

In addition, my friend says that composers, in general (at least), are paid very well (his estimation was like, 1-5k per song composed).

Because I find it difficult to believe that a song like those in, for example, Kage Kara Mamoru would be done by a famous composer (Banana song, the rather lovey dovey OP, etc). And I definately find it hard to believe the singers of the 2 mentioned songs would be a famous one, especially for an Otaku hour anime...

Questions:
1) Are the song/music composers paid well?
2) How true is it that j-pop stars sing/compose for anime at a often rate? (My friend used Inuyasha as an example, as both BoA and Ayumi Hamazaki did about 2-3 songs for that anime).
3) How well are CG animators paid? (My friend claims it to be high...)

Thanks in advance.
Eclipze is offline   Reply With Quote