Interview] Yukari Hashimoto, composer of the original soundtrack for the TV anime "Tada-kun wa Koi wo Nai" (Tada Won't Fall in Love)

The TV anime "Tada-kun wa Koi ni nai" has reached an emotional final episode. Just prior to the broadcast of the final episode, an original soundtrack that compiles the music used in the drama was released. The music was composed by Yukari Hashimoto, who has worked on a number of high-profile works, including "Rinru Ping Drum," "March Lion," and "Osomatsu-san. This time, he decided to use a simple piano-based sound to enhance the famous scene between Tada-kun and Teresa. The soundtrack CD is a two-disc set with a total of 47 songs. We asked her to talk a lot about its contents.

Elegant European-style music is the core of the background music.

─ ─ "Tada-kun wa Koi-no-Kunai" is an original work by the main staff of "Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun," including director Mitsue Yamazaki, series director Yoshiko Nakamura, and character designer Junichiro Taniguchi, right?

Hashimoto: Yes. I was asked to be in charge of the music since we were working in the same troupe. I was looking forward to this original work. I had my first meeting with Director Yamazaki when the visual image of the characters and the first part of the scenario were ready. He explained to me that although there would be some comedy in this work, the main focus would be on a love story.

─ Did Director Yamazaki have any musical requests?

Hashimoto: He said that since this is a story about a high school student's love and a drama centered on conversation, he wanted an acoustic feel rather than intense music. Basically, he wanted fresh music, but there are some unusual characters such as Nyanko Big, General Reinbo, Kaoru Ijuin, and Hajime Sugimoto (Senior Ping), so he also wanted music for the comedic aspects of these characters. After that, we had several meetings with Director Yamazaki and Sound Director Tsuchiya (Masaki Tsuchiya), and after receiving a detailed music menu, we began the production work.


─ What was the first piece of music you composed?

Hashimoto: The main theme (DISC1/1st track, "Encounter"). Since this is a coming-of-age drama, I was asked to make the piano the main theme, so I wanted to use the piano and give Teresa a noble European feel since she is a princess. So I was conscious of the chord progression, which is pop, yet has a classical feel to it. I had the director and Mr. Tsuchiya check that song, and we created several songs derived from it.

─ So you started with a royal coming-of-age song based on the main theme?

Hashimoto: That's right. I kept the first half of each song simple so that it could be used in conversational scenes, and then added a little more excitement in the second half.

─ When I listened to the soundtrack, I felt that all the songs had a certain length and that there was some development within the songs.

Hashimoto: I wanted to create a place where the sound switches within a song so that it can be adapted to the scene changes. In particular, the main theme was ordered to be a long song, so I made changes within the song.


─ ─ "Thoughts" (DISC2/21st track) is a different version of the main theme, but it is a very sad song.

Hashimoto: Yes, it is. I used the same motif as "Encounter" but changed the chord progression to minor and changed the instruments.

─ How long does it take you to compose one song?

Hashimoto: It varies depending on the song, but it takes half a day if I compose it quickly, and two or three days if I have a hard time.

─ ─ What type of music do you have trouble with?

Hashimoto: For example, "Takanaru Kodo" (DISC1/7th track) and "Koi wa 8 sekun" (DISC1/16th track) took me a long time to write because I wanted to change the direction from other songs.

─ These two songs are about the excitement of being in love, aren't they?

Hashimoto: Yes. I wanted to write songs with the hook of love. These songs are used at the point where the flow of the story changes. This is especially true of "Love for 8 Seconds," which came about because Director Yamazaki had seen the movie "Dunkirk" and wanted to incorporate the sound of the second hand moving at the beginning of the movie into the background music. I took the time to create this song, using a sampling of the sound of a pillar clock in 6/8 time signature, hoping to convey the feeling of emotions rising as love gradually begins.

Hashimoto: "Men and women stare at each other for 8 seconds.

Hashimoto: "I heard that a man and a woman fall in love if they look at each other for 8 seconds." In episode 3, there is a moment when the boy falls in love with the girl at the Tada Coffee Shop and when Nyan Cat Big falls in love with Cherry at the park. The part that was used in those two scenes was the 8-second intro of this song, where the sound of the pillar clock was used. Based on that, this song was played all the way through the last three episodes.


─ ─ These were the episodes in which Akio Otsuka played the voice of Nyan Cobig's heart.

Hashimoto: It was great. I thought it was a waste to only have that many episodes (laughs).

─ How do you feel about "Tachinoru Kodo"?

Hashimoto: Only the introduction where the piano is played freely was used, and the rest of the song was used from the middle when the rhythm starts to come in. I think I was able to successfully convey the elation and tension of love in this song as well.