On Yamamoto...anyone think something was up even before...

[Fionordequester]

...he got exposed for his music fraud? I personally never noticed anything for as long as Kai was still on the Frieza arc, and basically just thought of the music as decent, but not as good as Kikuchi or Team Faulconer (this was before I actually watched more Kikuchi, and started to realize that what I heard was the best stuff. I think Yamamoto was better nowadays). And plus, it was very, VERY repetitive and unimaginative, with the same 4-5 songs often being used episode after episode after episode, and a Goku SSJ transformation that was so badly scored, that they actually felt the need to redo it in the "Last time on Dragon Ball Z Kai!" preview after that episode.

So I wasn't so keen on Yamamoto. And then came the new music, like the Ebb and the Flow and whatever, and that's when I was all "huh...this is good...but kind of weird". Those pieces were so ridiculously better than everything else that came before them, that it was like a different musician had scored them. To me, it was like going from this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK0GL1R3j9w (a fairly decent final boss theme)

...to this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-0_MKaDfSk (One of the best final boss themes I've ever heard in my life)

Needless to say, it was kind of weird hearing them alongside the mostly average stuff, and while I didn't immediately jump to "he plagiarized it", I couldn't help but wonder "what the heck is holding him back if he's apparently capable of this? Why can't he do that for everything else?"

Of course, NOW the answer to that is obvious to me, but at any rate...what did you guys think? Just from what you remembered while watching Dragon Ball Z Kai?

[kei17]

Needless to say, it was kind of weird hearing them alongside the mostly average stuff, and while I didn't immediately jump to "he plagiarized it", I couldn't help but wonder "what the heck is holding him back if he's apparently capable of this? Why can't he do that for everything else?"

I was thinking about exactly the same thing at the time though I was already aware of some of his earlier rip-offs. Before I noticed his rip-offs, I had also wondered why he doesn't compose more pieces in the same awesome style as that of Battle Point Unlimited if he's capable of composing it.

Now I really hope that Destiny is his own creation at least because it sounds a little too good to be so.

[KentalSSJ6]

I'm starting to think I'm one of the few who actually hates the Kikuchi score and would prefer Yamamoto to return.

[Thanos]

I think Yamamoto's inspiration went down drastically after Budokai 3. I'm not convinced all of the tracks from these games or the Super Butouden games were ripped off... and even the ones that were, are arranged beautifully. I was never all that impressed with the Kai soundtrack, and I think if it had been composed during the Budokai era, it would've been way better. He seemed to change his style drastically, into a more Western orchestral/metal sound. The earlier OST's were clearly inspired by j-pop in their composition.

[TheGmGoken]

Ebb and the Flow is what caused me to know he was at least inspired. Didn't know he just outright stole through. Kinda sad as Battle point Unlimited is my 2nd favorite theme ever.

[Ajay]

I never noticed any plagiarism in Kai but it was painfully obvious in Burst Limit. As someone who used to listen to Bullet for my Valentine religiously as a teenager, it was impossible to miss.

I think Yamamoto has some talent in there...somewhere. It's a shame that the tracks I considered his best turned out to be the plagiarised ones.

As for who I'd like to see continue onward as the composer for future DBZ titles, I'd have to say Hiroshi Takaki. Despite how shitassdick Ultimate Tenkaichi was, those reanimated cutscenes had whole new levels of emotional intensity for me and I would love to see that carried on into the future.

[helsinkirocks]

I'm starting to think I'm one of the few who actually hates the Kikuchi score and would prefer Yamamoto to return.

I certainly don't hate or even dislike the Kikuchi score, but I love Yamamoto's score.

[Pantalones]

I'm starting to think I'm one of the few who actually hates the Kikuchi score and would prefer Yamamoto to return.

One of the few on this forum maybe, but you're definitely not alone in preferring Yamamoto's music to Kikuchi's.

(I don't know if I'd say that I hate the Kikuchi soundtrack--it's not like it's so bad that I can't stand to watch Japanese DBZ or English-with-Japanese-music DBZ at all, and several times I've switched to the Japanese soundtrack just to see what it was like and ended up watching a few episodes that way. But it has never seemed to really fit DBZ for me. Works pretty well for Dragonball, but not so much for Z. It's just bizarre to have music that still has a sort of "old kung-fu movie/this is kinda based on Chinese mythology" feel to it in the parts of the series where those influences have faded away or completely disappeared.)

[TheBlackPaladin]

I'm starting to think I'm one of the few who actually hates the Kikuchi score and would prefer Yamamoto to return.

You're not alone!

Well....I suppose I should clarify. I don't hate Kikuchi's music, quite the contrary, I really like it. However, it was handled infinitely better for DBZ than it was for Kai. I do not like a lot of the particular selections of Kikuchi's music that were used for Kai, in that they didn't really fit the emotional context of the scenes. With Yamamoto, we just had a problem with repetitive music, but with the new Kikuchi-Kai mix, we have a problem with repetitive music and music that generally didn't fit the mood.

A real bummer. I remember not being too impressed with Yamamoto's score for a while save a few selections, but in hindsight...it was a case of, "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got 'till it's gone."

[kei17]

With Yamamoto, we just had a problem with repetitive music, but with the new Kikuchi-Kai mix, we have a problem with repetitive music and music that generally didn't fit the mood.

IMO, the Yamamoto version too had both the problems. It's glamorized too much after being gone. The Yamamoto score was placed a little better and had more varieties, but it's just a little.

[KentalSSJ6]

Since the Buu saga is getting a new composer for DBZ Kai, how about Yasuharu Takanashi? I love his work, especially the OST from Fairy Tail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOMgJooysmA

Can you imagine Goku going SSJ3 to that? Gives me chills.

[Gonstead]

Since the Buu saga is getting a new composer for DBZ Kai, how about Yasuharu Takanashi? I love his work, especially the OST from Fairy Tail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOMgJooysmA

Can you imagine Goku going SSJ3 to that? Gives me chills.

We already pretty much know who is composing for the Buu Saga.

[KentalSSJ6]

I dont think I heard who its gonna be. Care to fill me in?

[Fionordequester]

People believe it's going to be the guy who did "Battle of Gods".

[KentalSSJ6]

And that is...?

[TheBlackPaladin]

And that is...?

Norihito Sumitomo, but I *think* I vaguely remember Kei saying it wasn't him.

[kei17]

And that is...?

Norihito Sumitomo, but I *think* I vaguely remember Kei saying it wasn't him.

No, I didn't.

[TheBlackPaladin]

And that is...?

Norihito Sumitomo, but I *think* I vaguely remember Kei saying it wasn't him.

No, I didn't.

Ah, must've been mistaken. My apologies, then.