Anime X-Plode Vol. 1 2004   ADV Films   Buy It Now

Anime is influencing just about everything in the United States these days. Just months ago there were cell phone commercials with anime inspired artwork that aired just about every time a commercial break came on. Quentin Tarantino of course hired on the anime company Production IG to do some animation for Kill Bill Vol. 1 and the alternative metal band Linkin Park, anime fans themselves, brought GONZO to the table to do one of their most recent videos. If you thought that anime was just a trend or a passing fancy, it's high time that you got over that delusion and simply accepted the fact that anime isn't going to be fading from the public eye any time soon. It may experience lulls in popularity, but it's always going to be present.

So, if it can influence music videos and commercials, music itself has to have been somewhat taken with anime, and that being the case, ADV has a new compilation, Anime X-Plode!, an eclectic collection of bands with songs that were allegedly inspired by different anime series and films. The styles are fairly well represented here with every genre from alternative rock (do people still write that?) to metal, house, and even folk all being represented here.

Having listened through the disc, there are a couple of things that come to mind here. In terms of the music, there are some tracks that are very good, and even a few that normally I probably wouldn't listen to based on the style alone but found to be very enjoyable. However, there are also quite a few tracks that I have some difficultly finding the connection between the song and the anime that it allegedly was inspired by. Granted, there are some anime series listed here that I've never seen or vaguely recall, but for the most part, I'm still failing to find exactly why "X" track has something in common with "Y" anime.

Now, there are a few where it's very obvious. Jambalaya who provides the track "Gunparade March" which was inspired by, what else, Gunparade March. It's not a horrible track, but it's from that genre of metal meets hip-hop, much like Limp Bisquick (no, I don't like them) or some of Rage Against the Machines tracks.

Tracks like "Oceanic" by the hip-hop act Kaleo had me a bit confused. If I wouldn't have had the track listing, I would have sworn it was Weird Al. This cut is supposed to be influenced by Blue Submarine No. 6, and I suppose that could be accurate, but over, I found this to be perhaps one of the most annoying tracks on the disc, but strangely enough, it's also catchy, and I did find that there were occasions where it was actually stuck in my head.

There are some cuts on the disc that I enjoyed quite a bit. Atom & Eve for instance, while not apparently influenced by anything, isn't bad at all, though it's a bit short for a dance track. Staaarchild is one of those rarities. I'm not into house music, and while I can't see the anime influence, it's another good cut. Snapt reminds me of old school metal, 80's era to be exact; Accept was one of the first things that I though of when I heard the band, but it does have a bit of that new breed of metal mixed in. 8th Day Fall on the other hand, with their cut "Pass the Bones" that is allegedly influenced by Vampire Hunter D, falls into the Alternative Rock category and is a bit like The Presidents of the United States of America, a band that probably quite a few people have forgotten about. At first, I wasn't too into the song, but after listening to it a few times; it's really not that bad of a song at all.

I think what would have been a nice addition to the disc would have been the inclusion of some liner notes from the artists talking about how their song can be associated with the anime that it's supposed influenced by. Lyrics wouldn't have been a bad touch either, though most of them are fairly easy to understand, but there are times where just reading through them can cause that light to pop on and see where the connection lies.

More or less I see this as not so much a collection of anime inspired songs as it's just ten tracks of bands that for the most part, are relatively unknown as by those that have been dedicated to the artists (I do have to mention though, from all these tracks, I do know who Staaarchild is and have a few other comps they appear on as well as some singles, assuming of course it's the same band I'm thinking of.) Depending on what sort of music you're into, this could either be a fantastic purchase or one that will sit on the shelf collecting dust.  It's not bad, but it's not great either, but I do like seeing ADV try and branch out into some new ventures. My suggestion however for the next one (since this is Anime X-Plode! 1) is to perhaps look in the world of unsigned musicians. There are quite a few out there, and I'm certain that a number of them have songs they've written that were inspired from anime, and who knows, ADV could be responsible for discovering the next big thing.

-mike-
 

Track Listing: 01 - Who Do You Choose To Be - Atom & Eve 02 - Breathing Under Water - Jenessy 03 - High Life - Staaarchild 04 - Gunparade March - Jambalaya 05 - Oceanic - Kaleo 06 - Dying Day - Snapt 07 - Happy Day - Rick Robles 08 - Change - Elisa Fiorillo 09 - Pass the Bones - 8th Day Fall 10 - Down - Shawn Alexis Running Time: 37 Minutes