I sometimes wonder about the people who compose anime soundtracks.  If you don’t have someone on production like Yoko Kanno, an anime composer will usually leave very little of themselves in the work.  Especially lately, shows often have such an eclectic mix playing in the background that it’s hard to sense the rhyme or reason.

Take, for example, A Certain Scientific Railgun.  Of course action and techno go hand in hand in this show, which is a holdover from A Certain Magical Index.  But when something kind of wacky is going on, out of nowhere we’ll hear some ska.  And during one of the calmer moments, when Mikoto was drinking curry soup with the scientist, I was surprised to hear background music that sounded ever so slightly like shibuya-kei.

Please don't say you are lazy.

Shibuya-kei is hard to describe.  Fortunately, I don’t really have to, because anime songs have recently become rife with examples.  Listen to the first ending theme of Pani Poni Dash!, for example, or the opening of Chibi Maruko-chan sung by Kahimi Karie.  Of course, the most famous example by far is probably “Neko Mimi Mode” by Dmitri From Paris, the opening of Tsukuyomi Moon Phase. Most people seem to hate it, but mixing fluffy samba music with a seiyuu’s random little girl noises is certainly unforgettable.

Exhibit A: Girluppi

Exhibit B: Humming ga Kikoeru (no anime footage online, sorry)

Exhibit C: Neko Mimi Mode

As you can see, there’s a wide range.

Shibuya-kei is also interesting from a postmodern perspective.  As far as anyone can tell, the blending of jazz, vintage French pop and electronica has no other purpose than to sound classy and cool, and it does so by cutting apart and reassembling previous classy and cool music.  The resulting pastiche is like the musical equivalent of a collage made from photos of famous paintings:  It’s art that relies on the emotional power of other art.

What does that mean in context of the modern mercenary anime soundtrack, which uses any style from anywhere as long as it sounds good and evokes a specific mood? …  Well, I’m not prepared to make any grand conclusions.  But shibuya-kei’s increasing appearance in anime is interesting, don’t you think?  I almost want to say it’s appropriate.

Railgun 09

This is completely unrelated, but I appreciate the fact that this lady wears a proper bralette and not some ugly stretch-fabric discount thing.  Even awkward sciencey types want to feel sexy.