Kyoufu Densetsu: Kaiki! Frankenstein OST - Insert Booklet Liner Notes (from Kentaro Haneda)


Similar situation as the Dracula liner notes I posted on here recently. Much like Toei's Dracula anime OST, the OST for Toei's Frankenstein TV special has some commentary written by Kentaro Haneda—these were translated last year by Windii.
Translation can be found below.

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While I Compose...
-Kentaro Haneda

This spring, just as I was taking a break from working on the memorable animation "The Door Into Summer," I heard a very delightful offer to write music for another wonderful animation, "Frankenstein," and I remember that at the meeting I had already developed my own image of the project & was quite excited.

Composing a piece of music for a movie or animation is not comparable to a real birth, but in a way, it is similar to giving birth to a baby in pain. For example, let's say you have a theme in music (a motif in film or animation). It can be very small or very big, depending on your perspective. You will share your blood and flesh with this theme (the first "life" brought into this world) and bring it into being as a full-fledged baby, and raise it with your undivided love. That's why my previous works such as "Treasure Island" and "The Door Into Summer" are cute children that don't pain me even if I happen to see them, and now with the addition of a brother named "Frankenstein," my doting side is spurred on.

This time, the main character is an unfamiliar monster(?) named "Franken..." but I focused on his kindness, unseen sadness, and unspoken loneliness rather than fear surrounding him, and expressed them in the music. Dr. Victor, who was devoted to his research to an extraordinary degree, Emily, who was misunderstood but kind, the old man who was a friend of his, and many other people surround Frankenstein, and the final scene makes my eyes burn even though I try to hold back. Couldn't Dr. Victor even implant a heart in the artifical man (Franken...) he created? In fact, he (Franken) had a warm, human heart, ironically even more so than the doctor. I think this story has a lot to teach us modern people.

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