Kojika Monogatari (THE YEARLING) Music Collection - Liner Notes from Koichi Sugiyama

 

So, as far as I know, Pony Canyon's vinyl releases of anime soundtracks never typically contained liner notes of any sort. Usually just a tracklist, lyrics, and a text description of the anime's story...

This is where Kojika Monogatari breaks the mold, though! Shockingly enough, the first page of the album's gatefold contents contain some notes left behind by show composer Koichi Sugiyama. Below is an English translation of said notes—it's a bit of a long read but I promise you it's worth it :)

Translated by sotoo.

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The Music of Kojika Monogatari
by Koichi Sugiyama

Kojika Monogatari is not only a story that has touched many boys and girls, but also a story that stirs us adults to thought. It has a certain depth to it. It cannot be said that it is only a sweet story of the friendship between Jody, a boy, and Flag, a deer, since it also tackles the issue of the boy's psychological maturation, the conflict that emerges between rationalism and human emotions while trying to survive in the unforgiving great outdoors, and many other issues that will make today's parents think.

What I mean to say is, children who watch this animation will be able to enjoy it for what it is within their own understanding, while at the same time, young people and adults who see it will, through their own point of view, experience many different ways of appreciation and feeling.

My wish in my composition was to somehow follow the animation and its depths musically. Even though it was difficult, it was truly a job worth doing.

This album contains three songs, including the theme song, and a number of other music tracks used in Kojika Monogatari. In my composing of this music, rather than what might be called typical anime-esque music that precisely follows the action on-screen, I intended to emphasize the main character's thoughts and emotions and the depictions of nature and the environment.

Even though I like the electronic sound produced by the synthesizers so common in today's pop music, which has a unique appeal of its own, I intended to use the expressiveness of raw instruments as much as I could in my composition for this story. For example, to me the sound of a violin somehow evokes the sound of the wood itself. Violin melodies and harmonies include a human touch in the form of the player's breaths, as well.
The outstanding electronic technology of today can identically reproduce the sound of a violin through a synthesizer, but I can feel that that sound is not the sound of the wood, the one with the breath of a living human being in it.

In a way, I could say that representing Kojika Monogatari primarily via orchestral music played on raw instruments was an inevitable outcome for me.

As a composer, I feel fortunate that I was able to complete this challenging task, and I wish to, from the heart, thank everybody who will listen to this record.

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Some random thoughts:

-Koichi Sugiyama mentions that he specifically wanted to avoid synthesizers for this anime—I find this to be a particularly interesting comment, considering he never used synthesizers in, well...practically every other anime he's done at the time LOL. Perhaps he meant that he was just reluctant to use synthesizers as replacements for real instruments? 

-Sugiyama mentions that the show would definitely make parents think...I recall checking some JP reviews for the show that said it was a REALLY good anime. And yet it still has no proper JP home media release 💀
Lame!!