A Shingeki no Kyojin Music Appreciation Post
There’s so much I want to write about Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) I don’t even know where to start. But since I’m poking around YouTube for music from the original soundtrack, let’s start there.
I normally start liking an anime series less when it gets too hyped up. For example, I gave up on Bleach after 8 episodes just because I was seeing it everywhere. It was the same with Death Note, which I loved even before they even announced there was going to be an anime series. Seeing Shingeki no Kyojin stuff everywhere still irritates me, but it doesn’t make me love the series any less.
Aside from having being amazing in terms of concept, story, and characters, the music is really something else.
Most of Shingeki no Kyojin‘s music is a solid combination of powerful rock music, epic orchestral music, and chilling choral vocals, and I absolutely love it. A story with such amazing elements should have equally amazing music. Hiroyuki Sawano, Sound Horizon, Revo, Mika Kobayashi, and everyone else who worked on this series’ soundtrack delivered that, and then some.
One thing I’m a bit iffy about is having Japanese singers singing all the German lines. I know they’re trying their darndest to pronounce everything properly, but sometimes you can barely even make out the words. Maybe they should have taken a cue from Yoko Kanno, who actually gets singers who are native speakers to sing most of her foreign language compositions (Steven Conte for English, ORIGA for Russian, and Ilaria Graziano for Italian).
Another thing that really made me cringe is the horrible Engrish in some of the tracks. Reluctant Heroes was one heck of an earworm for me when I first heard it in episode 9, but upon closer inspection…
It was like a nightmare
It’s painful for me
Because nobody wants to die too fast
Remember the day of grief
Now it’s strange for me
I could see your face
I could hear your voice
NOPE.
Some Sawano fans have pointed out the Shingeki no Kyojin OST’s shortcomings, saying that it “just doesn’t quite compare” to his other work. You might want to check out the rest of the full review on Anime Instrumentality for a more detailed review from someone who knows what she’s talking about.
El Santos is a marketing & advertising professional by day and gamer/bookworm/tarot reader by night. She’s prone to sudden fits of fangirling over her varied interests: video games, fiction, art, folkore, anime, and tarot. She currently lives with her husband and 2 rescue cats.
