I’ve always liked the SRT series music, but I grew tired of hearing the same songs in many games. I suppose that is to be expected since they are anime theme songs, but listening through many SRT soundtracks in one go would probably make anyone grow weary of them. I sometimes thought it would be nice for these anime songs to change around occasionally, and that’s where this arrangement comes in. The composer(s) took a few anime songs featured in the game, and added unique elements to them.
The arrangements primarily come in two styles. Some of them use a rock and roll style and some songs have a mixture of blues and jazz: the kind of songs that fit perfectly in a casual club. There are also mixtures of the two styles in some songs. It was interesting how the composers arranged these upbeat songs from super robot anime to something slower and suave.
I was most surprised by the songs from the Go Nagai anime, especially “Mazinkaiser” and “Getter Robo!” As much as I like Go Nagai’s work and super robots in general, their music has always been on the weak side, and they all sound alike. I thought it was cool how the main melody “Mazinkaiser” was played by a harmonica with electric guitars complementing it. I felt the execited mixture of old-school and new-school. “Getter Robo!” is the only Getter Robo song used in virtually EVERY SRT game, remaining unchanged for over fifteen years. The song is a classic, but it felt refreshing to finally hear something different from it. The arrangement is very suave, using a soothing jazz melody. It’s definitely on the classic side. Other Go Nagai themes, “Mazinger Z,” “I am Great Mazinger” and “Theme of Combattler V” are all fun listens, each with a good degree of funk to them.
Of course, it’s not all about Go Nagai themes. There are a lot of good anime arrangements in this album. I am with the arrangement of the classic theme, “Fly, Dunbine.” It uses pipe organs to replace the vocals, which worked great, and the electric guitars in the background work well. Evangelion’s “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” went with a Jazz arrangement, but I thought the arrangement was nothing special, compared to a lot of other songs. I have no idea where “FLYING IN THE SKY,” “With All my Love to the Star of Water” and “Burning Love” are from, but I did like those three a lot. I especially liked “FLYING IN THE SKY” with its easygoing, funky beat.
We also get a nice treat to some arrangements of original songs. “L-Gaim~ Time for L-GAIM” is a cool song that is an easy listen: again, something that belongs in an easygoing club atmosphere. I’ve always liked Masaki’s theme “Scirocco! Gale! Cybuster!” and this is a cool arrangement. The pace is slower than usual, and it uses a similar style to “Fly, Dunbine,” but the instrumentations on the main and background melodies are reversed.
I wholeheartedly recommend this arranged album; too bad it became a difficult find. Given how obscure the series is in this side of the world, it makes the find even harder. Try your luck with online auctions or if you stumbled upon it like I have, pick it up. It’s unfortunate that there aren’t many other decent arrangements for robot anime tunes.
