Interview] Original Soundtrack for TV Anime "The Pirate Princess" Released on 2 CD Set. Yuki Kajiura talks about the music for the 18th century maritime adventure drama!

The TV anime "The Pirate Princess," which is reaching its climax, is an adventure anime with a unique worldview of the 18th century, princesses, samurai, and pirates, and has attracted attention for its magnificent worldview and exquisite drawings by Production I.G. The music by Yuki Kajiura is one of the attractions of this work.
The music by Yuki Kajiura is another attraction of this work. A variety of music enlivens the story, including epic songs that travel across the ocean, battle songs spiced with a Japanese taste, and songs with female vocals, such as "vise versa," which is the key to the story.
We asked him to talk a great deal about the soundtrack of 40 songs in all!

The world of "The Pirate Princess," with its mixture of various cultures, is also expressed in the music!

─ I heard that Kazuto Nakazawa, who is the main creator of "The Pirate Princess" as well as the author, director, character designer, and sound director, is a fan of your work, which is why you were able to join forces with him.

Kajiura: I feel very honored. I had seen Mr. Nakazawa's drawings everywhere, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to work with him. Moreover, you created the framework of "The Pirate Princess" almost by yourself. It was refreshing to see how the storyline was told in a conversational style, with gags thrown in as well.

─ ─ It is customary for the sound director to write the menu for ordering music from the composer, so the menu was also written by Mr. Nakazawa, wasn't it?

Kajiura That's right. Mr. Nakazawa's menu was not ambiguous, and he conveyed the image of the music in clear sentences. I was very happy that Mr. Nakazawa was in charge not only of direction and picture creation, but also of all sound-related work, so when I had any questions, I could just ask him and he would answer them at once.

─ I think it is fair to say that "The Pirate Princess" is a maritime adventure set in a fictional 18th century Europe. However, the heroine is surrounded by a large number of Japanese characters, which gives the work an interesting worldview.

Kajiura: I imagined that the age beyond the Age of Discovery, when many people were able to cross the sea to various lands, must have been a time when many different cultures were mixed together all at once like that. It was an exciting time when people didn't really understand each other, but accepted the fact that there were people like them in the world. I wanted to bring out that sense of messiness in the music as well.


─ When I listened to the soundtrack, I felt that there was a mixture of classical music that the upper class in Europe would listen to, common music played in the back streets, and even Japanese melodies.

Kajiura: I discussed this with Director Nakazawa at the meeting, and he said that it would not be appropriate for this film to evoke a specific European country or to strongly emphasize Japanese elements. Rather, we came to the conclusion that music with a vaguely exotic feel that evokes an image of somewhere other than here would be the best fit. As the story progresses, I put on music that evokes images of countries for people who are clearly in the Royal Navy, but that's about the only time I limited myself to nationalities. There was an old song called "Gentiles," wasn't there? Like that, the music was clearly from a foreign country, but we didn't know where it was.

─ I can imagine that Fena and Sesshoumaru are touring in this part of Europe, but I don't know where they are. I can imagine that the places Fena and Sesshoumaru are touring are in this area of Europe, but I didn't draw a map or anything like that. There are also clearly fictitious cities and lands in the film.

Kajiura: Each town seems to be modeled after a real town, but it is a fictional world. That's what makes this work interesting. It reminds me of the longing for travel that I used to have in the past. Each episode takes us to a new place, and the scenery changes rapidly.

─ ─ First of all, "Shangri-La," which was the first stage of the work, was an interesting city.

Kajiura That's right. It was on an isolated island and had the feel of a European town, but there was also an Asian atmosphere when you look at the bazaar scene and so on. In the scenes depicting brothels and bars, I wanted to evoke a somewhat suspicious atmosphere rather than the local character, so I used an accordion. However, the entertainment district is not a bad place to be, so I was careful not to give it a seedy feel.

───I would like to start with DISC1 and give some specific song titles, and then I would like to ask you to explain about the songs. The third song, "the red-light district at night," is the song about the red-light district you just mentioned. It is melancholy, but at the same time, it gives a sense of the hustle and bustle of a bustling nightlife district.

Kajiura: In the sense that it is lively and you can feel the breath of people, the song has more of a bar scene than a brothel.

─ ─ Including "the red-light district at night," I had the impression that many of the songs in the early part of the soundtrack were used in the first episode.

Kajiura: The order of the songs was decided by the director, but I think it's roughly the order in which they were used in the main story. The songs in the front of the album are in that order.

─ The fourth song "happy feeling" and the next song "noisy times" are cheerful songs, and were used in the scene where Fena is telling Angie about her escape plan. The sixth song, "a small pearl," is a sad song that was used in the scene where Fena looks back on her past.

Kajiura: I also wrote the opening theme song "Sea and Pearl" for this project, so I used that melody for the soundtrack as well. I especially use it for Fena's song, and since it is my own song, I arrange it freely.