Entries by OverCoat

There was actually lots of news coming out of Anime Remix, but I forgot this blog was here. Some blogger I turned out to be!

Well, the big thing every year at Anime Remix is the halloween competition, and this year was no different. We got 4 entries, all of which are actually themes to villains! Except mine, of course, unless you count Mushi as villains. Xaleph won the contest with Orochimaru's Mansion, a... well, it's Xaleph, you know what it is. Psytrance. Next up Avaris busts out this cool digital cover of "Floating Museum" from Ghost in the Shell. I have the cleverest title of the bunch and was the only one to remix an anime that hasn't been on the site before, "The Shinen" which is both a punny book reference and the name of the original track with a "the" tacked on. There had to be a last place, unfortunately for Aktulua, but his Cell remix was still pretty awesome, and probably should've at least beaten mine. It was also the only non-electronic song of the whole competition, which is pretty refreshing since all we get these days are trance remixes.

Sorry for the long absence, dear one reader. I'll be back with the random youtube videos shortly.

DistantJ - Slayers Next - A Reason

What's that low booming sound, getting ever closer? Why, a DistantJ track of course! And this one is way better than his last Slayers remix, which was a bit... Well, not too good. This new track is totally heavy hitting and well done, and I didn't even mind the cliché'd vocal clip. Unfortunately, it's a short track for the genre, and I wish it were twice as long. Still, Slayers fans must check this out.

Okay, so finally AR gets some new material. Perhaps the most horrible of coincidences is that they are both remixes of the same song.

Electric Concerto - Sadness and Sorrows Trance
Themaister - Sadness and Sorrows

Oh boy! Electric Concerto's tune is surprisingly good trance, and themaister, while his song was initially not good enough, he resubmitted it to AR twice and now it's something passable. Good dedication, man!

I'll leave only minimal explanation: Karaoke versions of anime tunes with the vocals replaced by Delay Lama [one of the best free VSTi ever]. This is for the synth nerds!

Sousei no Aquarion

Lucky Star

megaman

Sumomomo Momomo [which I have just seen and reviewed! Check the AR forums]

AIR

Higurashi

Gloria Gaynor


Okay, I swear I'll have something more than youtube videos next time. SERIOUSLY. But these are all entertaining anyway :D Also, to download Delay Lama, get a VST host and go to http://www.audionerdz.com/. Free Tibet!

I'd love to get a high quality mp3 of this tune :3 hint hint

Ever seen an animation done in a tracker before? Well, now you have.

This is done by Alexstrain, a member of the Renoise forums. This is his joke entry for BeatBattle 5, a competition designed for Renoise users, and there's a lot of cool entries this year, in their own unique ways. Alexstrain's is mostly cool for his animation, but it's been done before! Strobe has a lot of tracker animations of his own uploaded to YouTube, and they're all fun to watch. Trackers are always visually cool to see in action, but not many people think of them as viable animation tools. Well, it's because they aren't, Strobe breaks the hell out of MilkyTracker, and it's hard to do unless you like manual ASCII animation (。_゜) and oh god, the pattern commands. Oh, god...

Anyway, the theme for BeatBattle 5 was "Underwater." Clever, huh? (＾∇＾)

Tony Thai - Motteke Sailor Fuku [NSF format]. This link should work for a while but I'll replace it if it starts failing [and you mention it!]

Lucky Star, for being such a "mediocre show" [according to a few of my friends who have seen it], is getting quite a bit of attention. You can hear the original tune for this cover in the previous news post. Despite the TV show itself it is quite a viral tune, probably because MOE CANNOT BE REASONED WITH.. Maybe the fact that there will always be a new "fad anime" out these days is a good thing. More covers for us anisong fans! Additionally, here is a YouTube video of Rockman/Megaman robots dancing to a different chip version of the Lucky Star OP. This version of the song sucks but hey, DANCING ROBOTS.

I have to post this.

Looks super cute, but the song is REALLY quirky, weird, and the combination of the two me want to post this video now. After some thought, it seems like Black Lagoon's OP music, only with less distortion and the singing is much better [OMG BURN!!!6].

mDuo tells me this anime is about high-school girls doing "nothing," which is the kind of anime I usually enjoy.

...OMG Friday the 13th lulz

Check out the trailer

Cool huh? The site tells me the season premier is on the 16th! Or at least, I think that's what I read.

I saw the first season of Emma way back in 2005, and I really enjoyed it. It's a nice love story coupled with a unique, pleasant art style and... *GASP*! Good music! Looking at the trailer, you'll hear the theme song from the first season redone with a more ethnic feel, which gives off the impression that there should be more attention to Hakim this time around... but where is he in the trailer? See, this is why the music is so important! Anyway, I'm looking forward to the second season, though I don't particularly remember any 3D stuff from the first season so it seems a bit different. The core people working on it are still the same though, so fans of the first season need not worry! It also looks like it starts where the last episode left off, so I'm recommending the IIChan Translation Group's fansubs for any new viewers. I dunno how active those torrents are but you're welcome to try. They might be elsewhere too. No, I won't help you find them. Not here （　´_ゝ`）

Thank you, international dubbing companies.


I'm unsure what makes this German, because 90% of the lyrics are English, but... whatever.

Last night I finished one of the best anime I've seen recently. It's called Mushishi, a very mystical, fantastic anime about these things called Mushi. In a way you can call them spirits, or tiny little angels and demons. Some of them are good and some of them are bad, and sometimes they affect humans. Some humans can even see the Mushi, and a Mushi-shi is one who hunts Mushi. The story revolves around a Mushi-shi called Ginko, a man with white hair and a single green eye who is always smoking a strange cigarrette. The anime itself is not actually a single story, but 26 different stories about Ginko and Mushi, all of which I enjoyed. A pleasant surprise was the music, which sets itself apart from most soundtracks by not sucking.

Here is a small sampling of the music.

The moods it creates are about half of what makes Mushishi so good - the other half would be the art. They did a pretty good job showing all these different unique kinds of Mushi and this nature that surrounds Ginko, and the music completes the feeling of mysticism and intrigue. The wonderfully relaxing OP theme is "The Sore Feet Song" by Ally Kerr, a Scottish singer-songwriter. His website can be found here. However, the rest of the music is by a Masuda Toshio, not to be confused with Masuda Toshio the director. Masuda also composed music for another anime you may have heard of, Naruto. Or Mahoromatic. Or Digi Charat. Or Ai Yori Aoshi. Maybe Excel Saga. Though those anime, maybe not Naruto, but definitely Excel Saga, have an almost entirely different sound. The kind I mostly do not like to hear :(

What I do like to hear, though, is music like this. It's a relaxed and doesn't get too active, just like most anime music I enjoy, but like the series, much of the music is serious rather than playful. I find the music very pretty but it can get pretty ominous!

Speaking of anime with soundtracks I love, check out what I discovered on YouTube:

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou with Ally Kerr's song over it. Works pretty well!

Ally Kerr's song is fantastic, and Masuda's work fits the show like a glove. I fell asleep listening to OST 1 last night! I recommend it for standalone listening as well. Also, everyone should watch Mushishi someday :) it is a neat experience.

I had the fortune to actually be recommended a GOOD anime by mDuo. If you haven't seen ARIA the Animation yet, I would recommend it if you are a generally cool and laid back guy or gal. It's big on the "slice of life" style, which in my experience has become synonymous with "pretty music." Kokoro Library, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou ~Quiet Country Cafe~, Windy Days, etc. all have these wonderfully relaxing soundtracks. Since I enjoyed ARIA's so much, I feel like giving it a nice review.

The music is done mostly by Choro Club, a nice acoustic trio who also did the music for Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou's Second OVA [Look for both OVAs, but read the excellent manga first or they won't make sense!]. That's where I first heard their music and I was amazed at how wonderful they sounded. Of course, on that OST, Taku Iwasaki also worked on it, and orchestrated Choro Club's songs, which was EXCELLENT. Unfortunately, no orchestration here, just Choro Club, but that's fine with me!

The OP and ED, strangely, don't seem to be included on the OST, but there are singles available for each song. The OP is done by Yui Makino, and the ED done by Round Table featuring Nino. Every time I hear a Round Table song, it's always featuring someone called Nino. Why don't they just make Nino part of their band? [mDuo13's note: I was wondering the same thing!] Yui Makino's song is nice, it's slow and smooth, and fits the show well. During her song, they actually show different things about the town in the anime, and sometimes the characters even have conversations above it. So it's not a very traditional OP sequence, but it still works. More time for characters! The ED theme by Round Table [featuring Nino, of course] is the most upbeat and poppy song you'll hear on the show, but it's quite nice. Actually, if you've heard any of the other billion ED themes they've done, this one is pretty downtempo compared to their usual creations. There's one more thing I thought was worth mentioning. During the show, one of the undines is famous for her beautiful singing voice. I'm glad they didn't hire a VA that sucked at it [Hi, BECK!], in fact I really enjoy the song. It's available on the OST and it's called "Barcarolle."

I have a few small beefs, however! For one, throughout the show, there are versions of the OP and ED with different lyrics. I would've liked to have had those versions. Also, while watching the show in the first few episodes, I couldn't help but think Choro Club was reusing old tricks from music they've done in the past. I kept thinking they reused stuff from the YKK OST, but after watching the whole of ARIA and downloading the OST, I realize it's not an overwhelming problem. Their music is similar mostly from their playing style and instrumentation. SORRY I EVER DOUBTED YOU GUYS!

I heartily recommend the OST, and the two singles if you can find them, especially if you're looking for some nice relaxing music, a thing I am constantly searching for.

Hooray! Shariq Ansari AKA DarkeSword writes:

"Just last night I finished my first remix based on music from an anime, specifically, Naruto. The song is called Iron Dance and the White Eyed Maiden, and it was inspired by an episode of some filler arc where Hinata is fighting a ninja who uses magnetism as a means to fight. At the end of the battle, a muted version of the song "Dance" plays. I really liked the low-key feel that the song added to the scene, so I tried to capture that in my piece. I also added in "Hinata vs. Neji" as a reference to Hinata's character."

Iron Dance and the White Eyed Maiden [5.53MB, MP3]

His filename sucks, but that's alright. I'm listening to it right now and it sounds like... well, pretty much anything else he writes. So fans of Shariq will definitely dig this, and I know some people go nuts over his music. Anyway, enjoy the new tune.

If you don't know who DarkeSword is, you probably didn't ever visit OCR or VGMix. He has quite a few mixes on both sites [or, for now, just OCR. VGMix will be back in January OMFG SO EXCITED] and is actually a Judge on OCR. I know Darke digs anime, and it was about time he remixed something! Let's hope he makes some more in the future.

Check it out!


Click either picture to be taken to the remix page.

One is another good one from Xaleph/Carbunk1e, and the other is the first official Anime Remix by Vampire Hunter Dan! He made a great tune for the Halloween Remix Competition as well, though it's not on Anime Remix right now. This is also the first Anime Remix to feature multiple anime for the source material! Dan says: "The themes involved here are: Ai no Theme (3x3 Eyes), Departure (Rurouni Kenshin TV), Main Title (Giant Robo), Spending Time in Preparation (Evangelion), Theme of Battle (Record of Lodoss War OVA), and Yakusoku wa Iranai (Escaflowne). The original composers are Kaoru Wada, Noriyuki Asakura, Masamichi Amano, Shiro Sagisu, Mitsuo Hagita, and Yoko Kanno." The "Various" image should change a bit too, soon...

me: also hold on a sec
medley-su
but what if it's a medley from one anime
>_>
you need to make it "various-su" or something [tongue]
Matthew: -_-'
me: YA I NO, LOL
Matthew: picky~su
me: hahaha
Matthew: hmm
yeah you're right
I just don't want to open the image again at work
and get weird looks from people

Enjoy the new tunes!

Hooray! Matt writes [plus edits from me]:

"Welcome to the official Anime Remix Christmas Remix Competition 2006!

"Basically the rules are the Halloween competition.
1) Remix must be compliant to the rules on the site.
2) Remix must follow 1 of the following
--A) The remix must sound like a cold winter day AND be from an anime of your choice.
--B) The remix must be from a Christmas Anime.
--C) The remix must be a Christmas Song (if this is the case, you can get into the competition, but it will not be put on the site).
3) Remix must be submitted to OverCoat by Christmas Eve!

"We changed the rules a bit from last year - I hope they're more reasonable. Remember, Claymation counts as animation for us =P - gotta love those claymation movies!"

Anyway guys HAEV FUNZ and I hope I get some cool entries!