Thanks to Zagunsousan for providing this! After reading the liner notes, I suppose it’s good to read now what the creators of the songs themselves thought about the music.
“All for Music”
Chief Director Shoji Kawamori x Composer Yoko Kanno
Additional text by TAC YAMAMOTO
Translated by Zagunsousan
A game of catch with creation gave birth to Macross F
Simultaneously with their releases, the opening theme song “Triangler” and the insert song “Iteza☆gogo kuji Don’t be late / Diamond Crevasse” sung by Sheryl Nome both ranked 3rd on the various charts! In “Macross F”, like its predecessors in the Macross series, “music” is an important element in the work.
Shoji Kawamori, chief director (hereafter Kawamori): Sosei no Aquarion had just finished around the time we began planning on ~F, so there were discussions about only asking Ms. Kanno to do an entire series after at least one project in between.
Yoko Kanno (hereafter Kanno): At first, we talked about doing a few songs, mainly songs with vocals. But around that time, when I heard that there was also going to be enka, I told them, ‘The enka, at least, I will do!!’ (laughs). When I first took it on, because I had just finished Aquarion and because it requires a lot of stamina to pile on another project with a large amount of composing, I was expecting it to be a tough job.
Kawamori: I think there is hardly a work of anime that has prepared as many vocal songs, right?
Kanno: If you start thinking, ‘let’s make some songs,’ you can make as many as you want, but it’s a matter of time in the end, isn’t it? Even if you think about it simply, with the vocal practice, the recording of the chorus, the difficult mixing, there is overwhelmingly more work for songs than there is for background music.
Kawamori: It’s the same for transformable mechas, you see (laughs). Even though you are designing one object, between the transformed appearance and verifying how the transformation works, it will end up taking several times the amount of time.
Kanno: That I was able to work without feeling that kind of stress was due to Ranka and Sheryl’s good vocal senses. Every day after completing something, I could feel, ‘ahh, we did a good job.’
Kawamori: Also, having a double uta-hime was because, in an environment like our present one in which people are receptive to various music scenes, it was impossible to have one girl’s vocals take on every genre. Because we were in that kind of situation, we hit upon creating the characters of Ranka and Sheryl. Out at the very least was using similar voices and similar styles of singing.
Kanno: I think it’s common practice to have an individual composer or individual arranger for each character so that it doesn’t seem unnatural… but more than that, I also wanted to try my hand at Idol-pop music (laughs).
Kawamori: The way ~F was made was really like a musical. I’ve heard that in musicals, the composer is involved in the storyline. Ms. Kanno’s role was just that.
Kanno: No matter what project I am involved in, I believe it is always my job to show through music what the images cannot express. But almost always, once I hand over the score to the director, my job is over. It’s a one-way flow of my ideas. But this time around, I would tell them ‘I handled it in this manner and made it like this,’ and a response from Mr. Kawamori would come immediately. This is my first time doing a job that is not a one-way flow. So, to have been involved in this project, I am happier than anyone can imagine.
Kawamori: Even in myself, there is a realization that I’ve been able to really collaborate closely with Ms. Kanno.
Kanno: This time I also completely did not feel the uneasiness of whether the fans would be receptive. More than anything else, I really want everyone to see Ranka and Sheryl and the two girls who performed them!
Kawamori: I’m already at that age where I wind up saying things like ‘young people these days..,’ but as long as I’m only watching Megumi Nakajima and May’n, girls seem to be doing alright (laughs). (more…)
