"If you want to avoid dying like this, you have to live a different way."
Text / Hao Xili
Some time ago, "Embroidered Spring Knife 2: Shuluo Battlefield" was officially released, and the praise was overwhelming. With the first complement in front, the performance of the second part is also extraordinary. Various details such as lens, composition, action, color, dialogue and so on are well represented. One reason for this is that the production team has money and the energy to toss more details. Take the soundtrack, for example. After the film, while waiting for the Easter egg, I found a familiar name in the cast list: Kenji Kawai.
Anyone who pays a little attention to Japanese composers is generally aware of Kenji Kawai and his brilliant resume. He is the composer of the Ghost in the Shell series and the man who is tied to director Oshii Mori. He is one of the most popular composers in various evening openings and talk shows, "Seven Swords Battle Song", "The Glory of the Knight King" (Knight King の夸り), and "Lonely なな He is one of the Japanese composers who are closer to the Chinese market, starting from the "Seven Swords Under the Heavenly Mountain" cooperated with director Xu Ke in 2005, there have been "Dragon tiger gate", "ink attack", "Di Renjie Shendu Dragon King" and "Ip Man" series of music, all of which are from his handwriting.
For domestic two-dimensional enthusiasts, the most familiar works of Kenji Kawai, "The Glory of the Knight King" should be counted as one.
The song is the first animated character song in 2006's Fate/Stay Night, and the Knight King in the title refers to the heroine Saber, that is, King Arthur. The title of the song "The Glory of the Knight King" looks majestic, but in fact it is more mournful. The main theme of the viola runs through the whole process, as if a warrior walks through a long-deserted battlefield, silently recalling the story of the past - bumps, betrayals, honors and a combination. The background is the sound of the piano, and the slow superposition of drums and strings pushes this memory to a climax, and finally returns to silence - King Arthur's final ending is tragic, almost rebellious, ending in The Hill of Kamran.
In the second episode of "Fate/Stay Night", just as the protagonist Shiro is forced to a dead end, the magic array behind him gradually forms, saber is about to come out, and he is about to recite the most classic sentence of the entire Fate series, "Please, are you my master?" At this time, the music that sets the atmosphere to the climax is this song "The Glory of the Knight King".
During his lifetime, Saber was too demanding of the so-called "right king's way." In order to be the "right king", she lost her sanity and emotions as a human being and became a part of the kingdom. For her, the so-called merits of the king are only regrets, not consummation. This melody can be said to be a tribute to the great cause of the Knight King from a spectator point of view, and it is the best footnote: although she did not die well, she also made great efforts before her death, which is worthy of praise.
Interestingly, some of the "Fate/Stay Night" games circulating in China also have this pure music. It can be basically concluded that the Chinese group entered it when it was re-suppressed, because it was too suitable for the character image, few players recognized that this was the BGM added later.
Whether it is Jinyiwei or Saber, they are all small people in the torrent of history. Through their choices and efforts, through poetic, refined forms of beauty, certain metaphysical themes are expressed, about living, redemption, or freedom—this is where the so-called epic sense comes from. And Kenji Kawai's most epic work is still "Ghost in the Shell".
Even if you haven't seen Ghost in the Shell, the films that pay tribute to it will always be seen: the Matrix trilogy, Inception. It can be said that 1995's "Ghost in the Shell" ushered in an era of science fiction movies. The concept was borrowed by later generations, and the music became a classic of a generation.
In an interview, Kenji Kawai explained his composition concept: when receiving an order, the first thing to do is to clarify the concept of the work itself, communicate with the supervisor, producer or the person in charge of sound, and understand all aspects of the information obtained, the first decision is the configuration of the instrument.
This concept was vividly embodied in Kawai's composition for Ghost in the Shell. "The Ballad of the Golem" is the theme song of the Ghost in the Shell series, and it is not the name of a song, but the name of a series. It is rumored that the "Puppet Ballad" series is based on a song by Shinto witch sacrifices. But according to the interview, Kenji Kawai and Mori Oshii were because the Bulgarian Voice was very popular in Japan at that time, and Kenji Kawai wanted this chorus to match the rhythm of the taiko drum, which should be great. But he had never written a folk song before, so he wrote a song in the form of a tone head (a song of collective dance), and found a local folk singer to sing it, which gave rise to the current "puppet ballad".
In fact, it turns out that the chorus with taiko drum performs very well in the soundtrack, and the 95 version of the movie has a plot of assembling the suzi prosthetic body, which is the music of this series and form. The witch bell rings, reminding all things in heaven and earth to pay attention to this body. The long female voice is like crying, and the rhythm of the taiko drum is masculine, forming a strong infectious force.
In 2017, the live-action version of "Ghost in the Shell" was released, and there was no Kenji Kawai in the production list released at the beginning, people were worried that without his music, "Shell Attack" would lose its original charm, fortunately, his song came back with Steve Aoki's reverberation, the female voice was still the same, and the taiko drum sounded with more modern instrumental music, directly hitting the listener's heart.
In addition to scoring anime and film scores for Kenji Kawai, he also scored games, but he didn't do much of this type of work, only a few games from the early 90s and Nobunaga Nobunaga Online and Romance of the Three Kingdoms Online. Although the quantity is not large, the quality of the soundtrack is still excellent. Released in 1990 on the Red and White Machine, サンサーラ・ナーガ was produced by Mori Oshii and participated as one of the music producers. Some players praised it as a "game of a lifetime", and there were small grievances such as "Why is there no one amway with such a good game".
The music is the highest
At that time, the gameplay was more decent, the traditional turn-based RPG, but the music music was praised by many players, which can be said to be one of the highlights of the game, and now the original sound set can still be found on the Internet. Later, the game was also remade on the GBA, which explained the popularity of the work.
Kenji Kawai is a native of Shinagawa, Tokyo. He first went to the Department of Atomic Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering at Tokai University in Japan, and then dropped out of school because his academic ability was really not rooted, and later went to the Heshangmei Conservatory Of Music College, because he liked to play in bands too much, and also dropped out of school. He started out writing soundtracks for horror films, hoping to use music to stir up love and hatred in people's hearts. But now, he chooses to tell the epic story with music.
Although he has been famous for a long time, Kenji Kawai did not expect his music to be popular worldwide when he made music in Shinagawa, Japan. I was even surprised to hear the praise of the French audience at an event in France in the early years. Of course, now that Kawai is listening to the praise of fans from all over the world, he should already get used to it. Especially for many netizens in China, even if they don't know the name of "Kenji Kawai", when they hear the masterpiece ringing, they should always have a suddenly enlightened expression.
Mr. Kawai plays music in his studio
Now, NetEase's self-developed two-dimensional game "Forever 7 Days Capital" has invited Mr. Kenji Kawai to create a complete set of game soundtracks. Such a luxurious music production background is the first time for a domestic game. In the past, game companies mostly made mobile games to make "fast money", and rarely did they make such efforts on music during research and development. From the perspective of the development of the domestic market, on the basis of meeting the primary needs of mobile game players - passing the scattered time - there are already production teams in China trying to gradually improve the detailed performance of the product, which is obviously a good sign.
Click "Learn More" below to enter kenji Kawai's collection of game soundtracks from 7 Days Forever.