Just saw Kikuchi in Gamera

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Majin Buu
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Re: Just saw Kikuchi in Gamera

Post by Majin Buu » Tue Oct 23, 2018 10:24 am

JohnnyCashKami wrote:Listen to M13's score and you'll notice how similar they are, there's even a BGM nearly identical that plays on M13.
There are clear similarities there and in the other examples posted. Recycling motifs is something I've noticed veteran composers like Kikuchi do late in their careers. Akira Ifukube (who scored most of the Godzilla films) for example was largely recycling previous motifs for his late career Godzilla scores.
Kikuchi's music from other series could have easily been re-used on the Dragon Ball series, and specifically in Kai if TOEI wanted to because they all sound very familiar as they were done by the master himself. For more modernized tunes, there's a decent chunk they could have picked.
I've been thinking that myself. With all the splicing in of alternate scores you see fans undertaking, I wonder if anyone has ever tried splicing Kikuchi's non-Dragon Ball anime work into modern Dragon Ball.

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JohnnyCashKami
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Re: Just saw Kikuchi in Gamera

Post by JohnnyCashKami » Tue Oct 23, 2018 1:44 pm

Majin Buu wrote:
JohnnyCashKami wrote:Listen to M13's score and you'll notice how similar they are, there's even a BGM nearly identical that plays on M13.
There are clear similarities there and in the other examples posted. Recycling motifs is something I've noticed veteran composers like Kikuchi do late in their careers. Akira Ifukube (who scored most of the Godzilla films) for example was largely recycling previous motifs for his late career Godzilla scores.
Kikuchi's music from other series could have easily been re-used on the Dragon Ball series, and specifically in Kai if TOEI wanted to because they all sound very familiar as they were done by the master himself. For more modernized tunes, there's a decent chunk they could have picked.
I've been thinking that myself. With all the splicing in of alternate scores you see fans undertaking, I wonder if anyone has ever tried splicing Kikuchi's non-Dragon Ball anime work into modern Dragon Ball.
Not that I've heard. Most fans don't even know about Kikuchi's other works and focus solely on what he did for DB.

I have been wanting to get my hands on the Shunsuke Kikuchi 50th Anniversary CD BOX but can't justify paying so much for it (it's going for around $200 last time I checked), even though I'd love the music.

Image

This is pretty much the holy grail of Kikuchi's work.

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Majin Buu
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Re: Just saw Kikuchi in Gamera

Post by Majin Buu » Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:03 pm

JohnnyCashKami wrote:This is pretty much the holy grail of Kikuchi's work.
Along with a truly complete BGM collection of his Dragon Ball work :) .

EDIT: I checked out the track listings for that set and it seems to be mostly theme songs that he composed and arranged and not a whole lot of actual BGM. I'm personally more interested in the actual BGM and the instrumental versions of those theme songs. As such, this isn't a collection I would personally seek out.

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JohnnyCashKami
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Re: Just saw Kikuchi in Gamera

Post by JohnnyCashKami » Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:14 pm

Majin Buu wrote:
JohnnyCashKami wrote:This is pretty much the holy grail of Kikuchi's work.
Along with a truly complete BGM collection of his Dragon Ball work :) .

EDIT: I checked out the track listings for that set and it seems to be mostly theme songs that he composed and arranged and not a whole lot of actual BGM. I'm personally more interested in the actual BGM and the instrumental versions of those theme songs. As such, this isn't a collection I would personally seek out.
This is a collection of over 50 discs so I'd like to someday get my hands on it but not for any time soon until it gets a heavy price drop.

Shunsuke Kikuchi's BGM-based soundtracks were released individually for each series and movies on Cassette/CD (though there were boxsets, certainly) and some are kind of hard to even get, that is, in Japan it might be somewhat easy to purchase his music in old electronic stores and whatnot but wouldn't count on it. I've gotta admit that I've made a digital collection of his BGM music and while it isn't complete, it's far more than I'd ever expected to have it's to the point I would actually get bored of listening to Kikuchi 'cause it starts to sound too samey. :P

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Acetona
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Re: Just saw Kikuchi in Gamera

Post by Acetona » Wed Dec 26, 2018 1:44 pm

ManuGem wrote:Ogon Batto (1966) : the subtitles are in spanish… But looking at the first 20 / 22 minutes we already have an essential idea of the music (Note the « hissing « pattern accompanying Ogon Batto's appearances on bats)
I had some curiosity of watching this, now that I know Kikuchi was the composer, my interest skyrocketed. Thanks.
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Re: Just saw Kikuchi in Gamera

Post by GhostEmperorX » Mon Jan 06, 2020 10:32 pm

JohnnyCashKami wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 10:05 am
Captain-Sora wrote:
JohnnyCashKami wrote:Listen to M13's score and you'll notice how similar they are, there's even a BGM nearly identical that plays on M13.
Yeah, Goku's leitmotif from M8 up to M13 is derived from an earlier theme heard in that series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlKNz_1yEfI
Sakigake's version always sounds so buttery smooth and as if it's from paradise, just love it! Goku's on the other hand doesn't differ too much from the rest of the Z tunes.

I wish Kikuchi had composed a cinematic score for the Z series like he did with Sakigake.

Although, most of Kikuchi's work is akin to the music he composed for Dragon Ball. I adore it but hate to admit he could've been even better than he already was.

I wish I could get a photo with him and an autograph. It would be such an honor.
You've surely got that right, he was already being surpassed by numerous others in the 80's onward, contemporaries as well as younger composers. Not even Sunrise studios (with far better direction than Toei) saw fit to hire him for any of their works and they still came out with excellent OST's dotting most of their catalog.
And yes, his music for DB really isn't all that unique.

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