City-pop soundtrack with songs by Akiko Yano and Mariyara Takeuchi! Commemorating the release of the original soundtrack for "MUTEKING THE Dancing HERO" - Interview with Takamitsu Shimazaki and Takeshi Masuda, composers.

As "MUTEKING THE Dancing HERO," a reboot of the 1980 anime "Muteking the Dancing Warrior," produced by Tatsunoko Productions, reaches the climax of its run, a 2-CD original soundtrack containing all 43 tracks of its music accompaniment was released on December 1, 2021.

What was the music design of this work, which opened the first episode with Mariya Takeuchi's song "Plastic Love" and blew the minds of not only anime fans but also fans of "city pop" music, which has become a hot topic recently? We interviewed Takamitsu Shimazaki, composer and producer of the music, and Takeshi Masuda, composer, both of whom were in charge of creating the music for the play.

Takamitsu Shimazaki (left) and Takeshi Masuda

How did you come to be in charge of the music for "MUTEKING THE Dancing HERO"?

─ ─How did you come to be incharge of the music for"MUTEKING THE Dancing HERO"?

Shimazaki It was around the summer of 2019 when we decided to start a new production department within Smile Company, to which we belong, and I was working as the chief of the department when I met the producer of "MUTEKING THE Dancing HERO" (hereafter, "MUTEKING") and the two coincided. The two started to come together at the right time. From the first meeting with director Yuzo Sato, he wanted to place city pop music at the center of the musical image, and also asked if we could use Mariya Takeuchi's song "Plastic Love" (1984) in the film (......). On the way home from that meeting, I called Masuda-san, who had experienced 80's pop music in real time, and asked him if he would like to work with us on this project. I asked him if he would like to work with me on this project.

─ ─Many fans were really surprised when "Plastic Love"suddenlystarted playing atthe beginning of thefirstepisode. ......

Shimazaki: It seems that the director had a clear plan in his mind from the beginning to play "Plastic Love" at the beginning of the story, and I had already heard about it at our first meeting. However, it was difficult to use the original song as is, so it needed to be rearranged. Then I remembered "Serious Only You" (2008), a musical featuring songs by Mariya Takeuchi. In this performance starring Aya Matsuura, Mr. Masuda was in charge of sound production for all the songs. He knows Mariya Takeuchi's songs very well and has already worked as a certified arranger, so to speak. I thought that there was no one else but Mr. Masuda for this job, so I asked him to join us.

─ ─However,I heard that the broadcast of "MUTEKING THE Dancing HERO" was postponed significantly due to the spread of the new coronavirus. ......

Shimazaki: That's right. It was originally scheduled to air in the fall of 2020, so it has been pushed back exactly one full year. However, we had no idea that in the two years since we started production in the summer of 2019, Japanese city pop and "Plastic Love" would be so reevaluated worldwide. In some ways it is a bit frustrating, though, because if it had been aired a year earlier, it would have been more ahead of the curve in terms of buzz. In any case, I think it is amazing that director Satow had the foresight to envision music incorporating city pop from the very beginning.

The process of creating the music for the film

─ ─What exactly was the process of creating the music for"MUTEKING THE Dancing HERO" like?

Shimazaki: Usually in the production of musical accompaniment for an animated film, the sound director gives us a musical menu, and we work on it. I was involved in very detailed discussions with them from the stage of coming up with ideas, such as "how about this kind of music for this character" or "how about this kind of sound for this scene development". In the process, we created preliminary demos of "Dancing Train" and "Plastic Love," the first song on DISC-1, as songs that symbolize the overall musical image of the work. This was to form a consensus among the staff that this was the direction the music would take. It was only after that that the music menu was organized.

─ How were your responsibilities divided between Shimazaki-san and Masuda-san?

Shimazaki: I was in charge of direction as a music producer as well as a composer, so I first assigned what I wanted to ask Masuda-san to do from the menu. Of course, I also listen to 80's music, but I am of a generation that goes back to the 80's, so I wanted to ask Mr. Masuda, who is of the middle of the 80's generation, to do the songs that require a stronger 80's sound. For the rest of the songs, I decided that I would be in charge.

─ You mentioned that you were influenced by the Corona Vortex, but what was the timing and duration of the music production?

Shimazaki: Work started in the summer of 2019 and most of the work was finished by the beginning of 2020, but right around that time the coronal vortex became more severe and there was talk that it might be difficult to broadcast as scheduled ......, so the project was put on hold for a while. The work was put on hold for a while. But then the director asked me to work on additional songs and re-arrangements, and I was relieved to see that things were working properly. I was relieved. I was encouraged to see that the animation production team was working hard, even though the atmosphere in the world had soured due to the Corona Vortex. It was a bit difficult to switch back to "MUTEKING" mode for the additional work since we were already working on other productions (laughs).

Masuda: I trusted Shimazaki-san completely, so I was fine. I took it as a positive sign that the quality of the work was improving because of the additional orders (laughs).

Shimazaki The difficulty was not in terms of the amount of work, but in the case of music production, once you have made a break in your mind and finished the work, it is sometimes difficult to make additional music in the same environment and with the same quality. There can be a difference in texture. In this case, we need to flip the switch again to that unique worldview of "MUTEKING". To be more specific, if we were to create music in the usual way with today's high-bit equipment (digital audio equipment with excellent sound quality), it would be too clear for the 80's world of "MUTEKING". We had to devise a way to blend the music into the world of the work without feeling uncomfortable while using current equipment. So it takes a bit of switching and effort to change the mode.

Masuda: I guess it's because I am always asked to create 80's sounds, etc., and even if I create music in a normal way, it will sound 80's as it is, so in a sense, I may have stayed in the normal mode when it came to switching modes (laughs).

─ ─What were some of the difficulties you encountered in the production of the accompaniment for this play?

Shimazaki: While we had the 80's sound and city-pop feel that I mentioned earlier, there were two composers, so in some cases the textures were different. I control the quality of the music so that there are as few differences as possible and a sense of unity is created.

The story revolves around music, so there are many "songs" in the film. The presence of songs is so strong that even if they are only used for 10 seconds, they leave a strong impression. We had to find a way to connect the songs and the accompaniment without any difference in temperature so that the audience would not feel the difference when the accompaniment was played afterwards. ...... We spent a lot of time on this trial-and-error process. Even in those cases, we listened to the demos from the demo stage, exchanged opinions, and worked to create a sense of unity between the songs and the accompaniment. This is one of the most critical points for me as a music producer.

─ ─Is there any difference in the way of making songs and stage accompaniments, or in the way you prepare them?

Masuda: Shimazaki-san has experience in producing many theatrical accompaniments, but this was my first time. When you are making animation songs, you are constantly being asked to adapt to a wide range of musical genres, but with gekisaku accompaniments, it is even more difficult. It was a really interesting experience for me to work on music for a single moment in a scene that could never be a song. It was really interesting and fun to work on such music that I had never worked on before, because I discovered that it was filled with pieces of musical images that I had experienced since my childhood.

Awareness of the old work "Muteking" and the sound of the 80's

─Were there any musical inspirations or references in the creation of the musical accompaniment?

Shimazaki: It was intentional, but I honestly didn't have any. I think it is important for a theatrical accompaniment to express the world of a visual work in its own unique way. It is possible to be dragged down if you refer to something, so I dared not to listen to it here.

Masuda: I was not inspired by any particular piece either. I also feel that "MUTEKING" is more like "MUTEKING" if it is scattered to some extent. Rather than trying to make it sound like this or that, I captured what came out of the image of the work and made it sound like it. I waited for the 80's feeling that I had inside me to ooze out naturally.

Shimazaki: There's also the fact that the world of "MUTEKING" is too unique for me to use ...... as a reference (laughs). Of course there are serious scenes, but if I tried to make it serious like the accompaniment to a typical movie or drama, the sound would win out too much and lose touch with the pop, the touch of the pictures, and the sense of color that this work has. The typical pattern of a dramatic accompaniment is much easier to understand and create, but we could not easily fit it into "MUTEKING". That was the difficult part, but at the same time, it was enjoyable.

─ ─How do you feel about"80'sculture," which isthe atmosphere of your work,and how is it reflected in the music for this project?

Shimazaki The 80's was a very important period in the development of music equipment. Synthesizers, which until then could only produce short notes, finally entered a stage where they could play chords, and it was a transitional period when performance programming, or so-called "hammering in" music production, became commonplace. It was also in the 80s that synthesizers began to blend in with the sound of band performances without any sense of discomfort. I wanted to create a sense of sound at that point in time.

Masuda: As I mentioned earlier, my original experience was with 80's sounds, so if I made a normal piece, it would end up sounding like an 80's piece. In the case of my other works, I was sometimes told that they sounded retro, even though I did not intend to make them that way (laughs). (Laughs) That was a dilemma for me, but this time, on the contrary, I didn't have to think about how I had to adjust it to the current style (......), and I felt that I was able to work in a very straightforward manner.

─Did you ever see the old work "The Muteking, The Ridiculous Warrior"?

Shimazaki: I was born soon after, so I didn't see the movie at the time, but I had provided music to Kazuhiko Inoue, the voice actor who played the main role, and I knew the name of the movie. I only saw the work after the project was decided.

When I saw it again, I was surprised at how crazy the content was (laughs). (Laughs.) Even if the content of an old visual work is surprising now, it was the cutting edge at the time, and I can understand that many other works must have been influenced by it (see ......). But "Muteking the Outrageous Warrior" surpasses them, and even now it is fresh and full of surprises. It has the unique Tatsunoko Productions' groove and vigor, or rather, it has a direct pitch like an octopus alien, but it also has a change of pace like the hero suddenly starting to sing in the middle of the movie.

─Were you conscious of themusic of your previous work, "Muteking, the Ridiculous Warrior" (composed by Hiroaki Watanabe andKoba Hayashi)?

Shimazaki As I said before, I dared not to be conscious of it, but I found it seeping into me, or ....... When I was a child, I loved "Taiyo Sentai Sambalukan" (1981), "Space Detective Gabin" (1982), and "Space Detective Shariban" (1983). As a child, I naturally had no idea who was making the music, but the melodies and sounds of Mr. Watanabe's works were burned deep into my mind, and the theme of "MUTEKING" brought them back to me, and they came out naturally through my filter. Masuda: I also felt the same way about "Mazinger.

Masuda: I also watched "Mazinger Z" (1972), "The Great Mazinger" (1974), and "Steel Jeeg" (1975) in real time, and grew up listening to Mr. Watanabe's music. I felt as if I was returning the favor by creating the music for "MUTEKING. I felt as if I was returning the favor by creating the music for "MUTEKING." In particular, the music for the battle scenes may naturally reflect that image.

─ ─Theaccompaniment to the old work "MUTEKING CHANGE!(composed by Hayashi Koba), how did you go about remaking it?

Shimazaki: At the moment of the Mutekin Change, right before "Roller Hero Muteking" started to sound, I knew I had to have that song! I decided to use that song after talking with director Satow and the producers. It is a very short song, but it leaves a strong impression. But when it came to remaking the song, I wondered how much of it should be kept and how much should be made into the song. If you rearrange it too much in the modern style, you won't get that nuance anymore. I made adjustments so that the retro feel would remain and not differ from the other songs in the play, and the finished product is the 8th song on DISC-2, "Mutekin Change! which is the 8th track. Actually, the tempo is a little slower in the old Muteking. We made a version with the same tempo, but this time a faster version was used.

─ ─The theme song "Roller Hero Muteking" from the old movie is used again in the climax scene of each episode.

Shimazaki: The staff really wanted to use "Roller Hero Muteking," so we decided to use a soundtrack from 1980. We had to add a new chorus and vocals over the karaoke soundtrack from that time, but again, there was a problem of "bumps. If the 1980 sound, with its vastly different recording technology, were to be placed side by side with the other accompaniments, there would be a clear difference in texture, and simply adding the chorus and vocals would not work. However, this does not mean that the 1980 sound is inferior.

When we first heard the karaoke source provided by Nippon Columbia, we were surprised at how thick the sound was. It was rough in the good sense of the word, produced from the magnetic blurring of the sound on the master tape, and it was powerful, jumping into your ears with a bang from the brass sound of the intro. This is a rare sound that cannot be recorded with today's technology. My ears were happy even while working on it (laughs).

(Laughs) However, we had a little trouble blending this sound into "MUTEKING" this time. First of all, there was the noise that is unique to magnetic tape, which is not so noticeable when listening to the 1980 sound itself, but it is noticeable when placed alongside the other accompaniments made with today's technology. We tried to remove the noise by digital processing, but if we overdid it, we would lose the rich sound of 1980. It was difficult to find the right balance. Then there is the matching of the chorus and vocals to the karaoke source. I spent a lot of time discussing with the engineer, Hiroki Shimizu, to make sure the voices blended with the current microphones and recording techniques.