Vertically and horizontally with fall/winter 2015-2016 anime!　Techno Boys' work this season, a roundup: !!!!!!

The TV anime "Osomatsu-san" ED "SIX SAME FACES ~Tonight is the Best !!!!!! ～was a big hit, and the public's attention to Techno Boys, who wrote the lyrics and music for the song, has been climbing steadily. But Akiba Research Institute readers know that their contribution to this season's anime is not the only one. In this issue, we asked the three members of Techno Boys to talk a lot about their work this fall and winter!

The "Sakurako-san" soundtrack has a lot of intra-member puckering up (laughs)!

─ ─ In the fall 2015 TV anime, we saw the Techno Boys' name in various works. First, there was "Sakurako-san no Ashiwa ni Mareta ni Buried Under the Dead Body" (hereafter, "Sakurako-san"), for which we were in charge of the soundtrack and ending theme.

Matsui: "Sakurako-san" was quite different from anything we had done before. There were no rays of light, no magic. There were no swords or guns.

Ishikawa: We were ordered to use the sound of live instruments, so we didn't use many synth-like synth sounds. Of course, sequences and so on were inputted. Another feature of the "Sakurako-san" soundtrack is that the way the songs were divided was very badass.

What do you mean by "the way the songs are divided"?

Ishikawa: Basically, the soundtrack for an anime is created according to the music menu created by the anime staff, but first I look at the menu and assign the songs to the two of us. I usually assign songs that I think they would be good at, but recently I have been a little bit more aggressive and assign songs that they are not so good at.

Matsui: He (Ishikawa) is in charge of songs with a big world view like an orchestra, he (Fujimura) is in charge of atmospheric songs or songs with dark characters, and I am in charge of bright character songs. But for "Sakurako-san," some of the songs came to me saying, "I don't know how to write a song with such a complicated character," so I had no choice but to take his (Ishikawa's) mood out of it (laughs).

Ishikawa: We are all members' pacifiers (laughs).

Matsui: But not all of them, but the important parts were assigned to each member's area of expertise.

Fujimura: I think I played a lot of suspense songs. Songs about finding a dead body, songs about being almost killed, and so on. I was responsible for 80% of the disturbing songs.

Ishikawa: Actually, I would like to play suspenseful songs, too, but it takes time to arrange string music, so I tend to play mainly that kind of music.

Matsui: He (Ishikawa) has experience in classical music.

Ishikawa Suspense music is interesting because it can be used for news or documentaries (laughs). I think Fujimura's music for "Sakurako-san" will be used often in the future.

Fujimura: In programs like "24 Hours of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Matsui Speaking of that, the song he (Ishikawa) wrote for "Innocent Venus" used to be used a lot when it came to news reports on missiles from certain countries (laughs).

Ishikawa Yes, that's right. It is the same on every TV station when it comes to that news (laughs).

Summon the devil!

─ ─ "Sakurako-san" also had an insert song, didn't it? There was a heavy metal song called "DOKURO: Ecstatic Bone Rei Hymn Chapter 1.

Matsui: That's the song "Sei Oni Mk-II" that Sakurako-san likes. That was a song I knew I had to write from the moment I read the original novel. But when he (Ishikawa) went to the first meeting by himself, he said that he didn't have to write this song.

Fujimura: He asked me not to take away our enjoyment (laughs).

Matsui: When I first read the novel, that song was the first thing I thought about. I immediately knew the right answer for the sound, but when it came time to write the lyrics, I realized something. There are 23 bones in the skull of 15 different types, and the original novel said that the song was to be sung while adding poems about each of the bones, but some of the bones had no particular poems about them. But I researched deeply and I think I am probably the most knowledgeable musician about skulls in Japan now (laughs).

Ishikawa: I did a thorough research, so I recommend this song to medical students.

Matsui: And we were particular about the vocals and performance, and wanted to invite a real person in that field. We decided to ask a vocalist whom he (Ishikawa) originally knew.

Ishikawa: Mr. Tetsuya Crown of the heavy metal band "THE Crown. He is the guy who sang for Krauser II in the movie "Detroit Metal City. And the producer of the first album of his previous band, "SO WHAT?" was Luke Takamura, the guitarist of "Saint Kammers II".

─ ─ We have arrived at the original family!

Matsui: I wasn't sure if I could ask such a big name, but I decided to take the plunge and summon the devil (laughs).

Ishikawa: I decided to sign a contract with the devil (laughs).

Matsui Thanks to both of you, I was able to create heavy metal music that I was satisfied with. The hardest part was him (Fujimura), the bass player (laughs).

Fujimura: As expected, there are no songs in Techno Boys that require fast playing. But I used to play in a copy band of St. Kangaroo II for a little while in the past. So it was kind of nostalgic.