Ulysses 31 - Liner Notes from the Japanese BGM Collection OST (Part 2)

A continuation of the liner notes included in the insert booklet of the vinyl release for the Japanese Ulysses 31 BGM Collection OST. This post will focus on the comments of Tatsuo Ikeuchi, a producer on Ulysses 31.

Thanks to Windii for translating.

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Memories of Ulysses 31
(Producer: Tatsuo Ikeuchi)

I remember that my first encounter with the Ulysses 31 project was in the early summer of 1979, in Paris, where the white flowers of the horse chestnuts were in bloom. When I heard about this project from the staff in France, I honestly remember that I could not help but feel a certain excitement. It is a science fiction version of Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, the story of the wandering adventures of the hero Ulysses set in the Aegean Sea after the Trojan War, transposed to the 31st century. The story of Ulysses' return to Earth from planet Troy, where he is caught up in the Olympian sphere of influence controlled by Zeus, and is forced to fight against the gods, but overcomes them and returns home—the plan to create an animated TV series as a French-Japanese co-production seemed to me to be a groundbreaking and fresh idea among the Japanese TV animation projects at that time.

About a year later, after many twists and turns along the way, the 26-episode series was completed and became a big hit on the French national broadcaster Antenne 2. I believe that the fact that the story was relatively faithful to Greek mythology and the space adventure drama was based on the love between father and son, Ulysses and his son Telemachus, made it a hit in Europe. But unfortunately, Greek mythology itself is not so common in Japan. The passion for Ulysses that the French and Japanese staff have had for the past six or seven years has been the driving force behind the creation of the Japanese language version. We hope that as many people as possible will be able to see it.

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Random thought: I wonder if the lack of popularity of Greek mythology in Japan is the reason why it took so long for the anime to hit Japan...

Ulysses 31 - Liner Notes from the Japanese BGM Collection OST (Part 1)

 

Per the usual...a while back on Twitter I posted scans of the insert booklet that came included with the vinyl record release of the Japanese Ulysses 31 BGM Collection OST. What makes this release special is the inclusion of several comments from various staff members that were completely omitted in the album's CD release.

The comments in question are from Tatsuo Ohba of King Records and Tatsuo Ikeuchi, a producer on Ulysses 31—included alongside the comments is a summary of the anime's story, which I think is the only thing on here that was salvaged and brought on over to the CD release's liner notes.

This post will focus on the comments of Tatsuo Ohba, translated by Windii. Translation can be found below the line.

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To Ulysses 31
(King Records Co., Ltd.: Tatsuo Ohba)

Looking back, my relationship with Ulysses 31 began on November 6, 1980, when I attended the funeral of the late director Tadao Nagahama, who passed away just before the completion of Ulysses 31, and was told that the first film print was placed in his coffin. After that, there were many twists and turns, and in the end the series was not broadcasted in Japan, but I heard rumors of its great success in France and wondered if something could be done.

However, the situation surrounding animation has changed, and I am delighted to be able to present the series in the form of an original video animation and a vinyl record. I was also able to create all new background music and theme songs for the Japanese version.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Tatsuo Ikeuchi, producer of Tokyo Movie Shinsha, Mr. Mitsuo Koshikizawa, music publisher of Tokyo Movie Shinsha, Mr. Tokuya Shimada of Production Eureka, Mr. Seiji Suzuki, sound director of Tokyo Movie Shinsha, and many others for their efforts in making this project a reality.

The background music is original and specifically written by Kei Wakakusa, a composer and arranger whom I respect, and was completed with the extraordinary cooperation of Yuuji Saitou of Imagine Inc. and the tireless efforts of Jun Araki of Appo Sound Project, who literally forgot to eat or sleep. Incidentally, all of the background music, except for the electric & folk guitars played by Masayuki Chiyo, was created using computers & synthesizers researched and developed by Mr. Araki and the rest of the Appo staff. Due to time constraints, we were not able to collect all of the 50 or so BGM tracks.

Finally, we hope that those who listen to this LP will also enjoy the original video series.

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Just some thoughts about the info above that I felt like writing out...I'm really glad to have gotten this translated! Nowhere on the net (at least, from what I could find) was it ever mentioned that Nagahama had a film print of the show placed inside his coffin. Bit sad, yeah, won't lie...but still fascinating nevertheless.

The music mention was also of huge interest to me too. Before I had managed to get this OST on vinyl, Appo Sound Project was only ever credited on the actual credits in the JP episodes themselves. It's relieving to confirm even further (thanks to the liner notes) that Appo Sound Project had a hand in making the BGM for the JP dub!

That is all for these notes. I'll post Part 2's notes in a bit.