I remember sitting in the audience at Anime Expo last summer, hearing the Gurren-Lagann staff announce their newest project to roaring fans.  Wow, a collaboration between Gainax and Square-Enix!  The promo video lovingly laid out the possibilities: Gurren-Lagann + FullMetal Alchemist + Shikabane Hime? Oh, what could this amazing project be?  It’s going to be big, it’s going to be awesome, it’s… a, a show about kindergarteners?  Seriously?

So, I wasn’t expecting much when I queued up Hanamaru Kindergarten last week.  But now I take back all the disappointment I felt that day, many moons ago.  This is actually a really entertaining show!  As expected of Gainax, there’s also some surprising innovation.

The music of Hanamaru Kindergarten has two major currents running through it… well, three, if you count the more regular acoustic instrumentals.  The first one is Gamewave, which bands like MOSAIC.WAV have popularized as “Akiba-Pop.”  It’s upbeat, often very complex music that takes its tools from first-generation gaming systems and old-Internet-style midi.  You can hear some of it in the scene where the teachers are introducing themselves to the new students.

The second current, though, and the more interesting one to me, is what you hear in the scene pictured above.  Anzu discovers kindergarten to a soundtrack of xylophone melodies over a gentle electronic beat.  It’s built to sound simple and innocent, yet the deliberation with which it builds atmosphere is far from just childish.  This is clearly the influence of Lullatone.

Pictured: The Raindrop Melody Maker, a fun little program from the Lullatone website.

In the late 90s, Shawn Seymour was living with his girlfriend Yoshimi in Japan, studying by day and composing music at night.  But because Yoshimi was asleep and he didn’t want to wake her, Shawn’s compositions were largely lullabies.  Eventually, she would wake up and contribute lyrics to the songs, which was how they became the husband-wife band Lullatone. Today, Shawn does albums and Japanese children’s shows, and together they’re responsible for some very unique music that they call “pajama pop.”

Here’s a perfect example (with a lovely video to match), “Pajama Party Pop.”

Here’s another good one, “The Bathtime Beat.”

Lullatone’s latest work is a collection of bedtime songs that Shawn made for his son, “Songs That Spin In Circles.”  It’s in this same vein and quite good; I recommend it.

In any case, the presence of this sound in Hanamaru Kindergarten forces me to conclude that either 1) Gainax vigilantly keeps its ear on the music scene, or 2) the staff has children who watch daytime television.  Not that they’re mutually exclusive.  I’ll probably be buying the OST when it comes out.