Featured on this compilation, A3: Act 2 Scene 26 reflected the story’s sci fi themes with a blazingly futuristic yet warmly funky slice of synth pop that presents a joyful celebration of synthesisers and their seemingly endless possibilities. Written to accompany artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga comic Domu, the composer and arranger took advantage of the world-leading (and wallet-busting) Japanese synthesiser technology available at King Records’ fully equipped studio. With generous budgets available, even two-dimensional static manga comics could be released with an accompanying soundtrack of original music known as an ‘Image Album’.Ĭomposer and arranger Kazuhiko Izu was one such beneficiary of this open budget approach. Music was no mere footnote to the anime and manga boom: the two forms of media often went hand in hand, and not simply through the presence of background melodies. Studio Ghibli was founded 1985 to later became one of the most famous and respected animation studios in the world, and Anime and Manga were established as major forms of entertainment for all generations of the Japanese public. Video games flourished with Nintendo’s 1983 launch of their Family Computer (or FamiCom). The musical genre City Pop reflected the aspirations of the country’s booming leisure class. While the economic bubble it created was unprecedented and impossible to sustain, for a while money was in plentiful supply. A huge influx of cash – artificially created by slashed interest rates after an agreement with the US to weaken the dollar relative to the yen – resulted in the inflation of real estate and stock market at a rapid pace. In the late 1980s Japan experienced a brief but heady period where societal changes combined with new-found wealth to open up a world of possibilities. The brightly futuristic instrumentals on this collection reflect the mindset of composers and musicians who believed in a technological future where everything was possible. Trailblazing instrumental synth pop experiments created to soundtrack Japan’s booming 1980s cartoon and comic industries.

Japanese composers anime