If there’s any certainty in the anime industry, it’s that
any work by Makoto Shinkai will have dazzling visuals accompanied by a solid
soundtrack. Ever since I first listened to Voices of a Distant Star, I enjoyed
Tenmon’s short, sweet music. That appreciation reached a high point with 5
cm/sec, which featured the famous “One More Time, One More Chance” melody and
insert song that captured love over long gaps of time and space really nicely.
His subsequent work for Garden of Words did not feature Tenmon, but KASHIWA
Daisuke did a stellar job on the score as well.
So after Garden of Words, Makoto Shinkai’s next work is
titled Kimi no Na wa (Your Name). Unlike a tale of two long-distance lovers,
this film’s premise revolves around a body swap, where a city boy finds himself
in a country girl’s body, and vice versa. But while this premise isn’t exactly
something to look forward to (not like it’s a premise that hasn’t been done
before), what I did enjoy was RADWIMPS’ work on the soundtrack. You can hear
one of their songs, “Zen Zen Zense” in the trailer below:
Talk about an energetic soft rock track! With the guitars
going off in the background, the whole tone of RADWIMPS’ music reminds me of
something you’d get out of all the soft rock groups they used in Honey and
Clover, which makes me wonder if this anime will also turn into a coming-of-age
anime. RADWIMPS do pretty much all of the music for Kimi no Na wa. Based on the
trailer, I can say that Shinkai’s got a lot of solid collaborators in the music
department and this work will be no exception. The band’s leader, Yojiro Noda,
had met Shinkai two years ago and subsequently became involved with this film
early on.
That said, RADWIMPS has made quite a name for themselves.
Two of their singles, “Order Made” and “Dada” managed to hit number one on
Oricon’s single charts. They are pretty popular in Japan, and even if I’ve not
heard of them, their stuff is pretty eclectic. At least, if this video is of
any indication because the Kimi na wa trailer was much more conservative. It’s
pleasant though!
