Special Feature: "Activ Raid - Mobile Assault Room No. 8" Staff Interview No. 3: Music by Kotaro Nakagawa

Kotaro Nakagawa is in charge of music for most of Goro Taniguchi's works. His distinctive brass sound will be etched in the minds of viewers along with many famous scenes from Taniguchi's works. The soundtrack for "Active Raid" is a work that fully demonstrates Nakagawa's strengths. The music, which Nakagawa himself called "a masterpiece," is the result of his soul-stirring imagination. First, we asked Nakagawa to tell us about his background as a musician, which is the starting point of his music.

Confidence and Conflicts Born from Education for Gifted Musicians

Kotaro Nak agawa (hereafter, Nakagawa): When Mr. Taniguchi orders music, he tells me what he wants to use in a particular scene, but he doesn't give me many specifics. For "Scryde," he did not ask us to use jazz, but to use Latin music as the basis for the music. Latin music and jazz are musically adjacent to each other, and I thought that if the film had an earthy or masculine feel, something jazz-like would go well with it, so we agreed to go with that.

─ ─ You grew up in a jazz family, didn't you? (Note: Your father is Yoshihiro Nakagawa, a trumpet player, and your brother is Eijiro Nakagawa, a trombone player.)

Nakagawa: Yes, my father is an old jazz musician. So I had many opportunities to be exposed to such music from a young age. My father wanted his son to be a musician from an early age, so he raised him very strictly about music from when he was a child, and I conversely came to dislike music. Even so, I had an absolute sense of pitch and a musical background. When it came time for me to enter college, I felt a strange sense of defeat that I didn't want to end up like this, so I decided to study hard. I didn't want to practice piano or any other instrument anymore, so I decided to study composition by process of elimination (laughs). (laughs) Even so, I had no intention of becoming a composer in the future. At the time, I was also very interested in anime, manga, and movies, and I thought that I would be able to do those someday.

─ Did you ever feel that you had a different way of looking at anime than your friends, since you had cultivated an ear for music since childhood?

Nakagawa: Yes, I did. In that sense, I didn't have any friends around me with whom I could talk. I wondered if my viewpoint might have been different from theirs. When I saw "Mazinger Z," I thought to myself, "Why are they OK with the bad rhythm of the timpani? I thought to myself (laughs). (Laughs) When I grew up and learned about the recording methods of the time, I realized that I had no choice. I watched "Space Battleship Yamato," "Galaxy Express 999," "Mobile Suit Gundam," and other royal works (laughs).

─ In hindsight, your musical background and anime hobby seem to be a wonderful match for your current occupation.

Nakagawa: At the time, I had no such awareness. I never thought I would become a creator. I just liked it and thought I might be able to do it this way.

───And you were already working in music while you were a student of composition at the Tokyo University of the Arts, weren't you?

Nakagawa: Yes. But as I wrote in the booklet earlier, I was not often asked to work in jazz. It was only for Disney, Takarazuka, and show music. But I kept thinking that one day I would like to try my hand at jazz in animation.

───And with "Scryde," you were able to realize your long-held dream of jazz accompaniment for an animated film. How did you go about creating it without any specific instructions from the director?

Nakagawa: In my case, I would ask myself, "What kind of scene is this? or "What are they talking about? I can hear the music that is appropriate for the scene. On the other hand, if I think, "Now, let's make music! I can't make any progress when I think, "Now I'm going to make music! This is true for any work. In that sense, I think Taniguchi's way of presenting the menu is easy to work with.

─ In the case of "Activraid" this time, what was impressive about the order of the music menu?

Nakagawa: It was interesting how the story flowed. In other words, we proceeded from incident -> launch -> installation -> negotiation ...... and finally made it to the point of having a drinking session (laughs). Also, Mr. Taniguchi said at the event that he wanted people to watch the film without thinking too much, so I felt that he wanted to create something different from what he had done before. Of course, I cannot betray what he asked me to do, but I always want to show a different side of myself, and I was most conscious of the fact that I wanted to present something different to the audience. I thought that if I did what I wanted to do, I would be able to show a new side of myself. This time, I wanted to make songs that had a good hook, so I made a lot of songs with long intros. This song also has a 30-second introduction to the main melody. I think Mr. Taniguchi also said that he wanted the audience to instantly recognize the song when it starts.

─ ─ What was the first part of "Activ Raid" that you focused on?

Nakagawa: I don't think I was aware of the fact that it was a police story. ...... The characters have cheerful expressions, and the first image I had was that of a team of friends working together as a team.

Nakagawa──This time, there is no theme song for each character.

Nakagawa That's right. With this kind of music, there is usually a theme song for each character, but Mr. Taniguchi said that he would not do that this time. So, the music was created in such a way as to amplify the feeling of cheering from the outside.