Writer(s): Joe Hisaishi
Year: 1987
Album: Robot Carnival Original Soundtrack
Instrumentals on the 8s: Much like that smooth guitar-jazz on the Weather Channel, which always comes “on the 8s,” all of the non-lyrical songs on this countdown coincidentally fell on rankings ending in an 8.
Possibly because its nine animated shorts are mostly dialogue-less, the 1987 film Robot Carnival pushed its music to the forefront of the sound-mix. Thus, it is sometimes referred to as “Japan’s Fantasia.”Disney’s animation, however, was purposefully matched to history’s most popular classical orchestral pieces. Robot Carnival’s synthesizer-based soundtrack was composed as post-production sustenance.
Thus, most of these tunes sound like efficient, Jean Michel Jarre-type compositions, alternating between catchy and ambient. The closing tune, modestly titled “See You Again,” must have consumed a large portion of film’s the sound budget as it actually features a string ensemble.
The violins begin by spinning out an elegant melody, somewhat resembling “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” I doubt if this was blatant plagiarism, as there are only 12 notes in this world and 13 million popular Christmas tunes, so the odds are you’re going to end up sounding like one of them.
Then there’s a slightly dissonant counter melody, sounding like the plucking of broken musical box – a fitting symbol since, ironically, Robot Carnival features the imagery of the distant past just as much as the future. Many of the robots of in the film seem to be of the antique windup variety. The fanfare automatons featured in the Opening sequence appear to be without microchips. The rocket-launching band is an extension of the mechanical juggernaut that mindlessly keeps plowing forward – coming to demolish a town near you, and the spinning, floating ballerinas are decorative grenades.
The androids of the Franken’s Gears and Presence segments seem more sentient, but their creators are lone tinkers – resembling Edwardian watchmakers. The metallic trickster of Nightmare is accentuated by oversized nuts and bolts. The two battling giants of A Tale of Two Robots are archaically constructed with wood and run on steam. Like Presence’s spritey robot girl, “See You Again” pleasantly sparkles, yet there is something twisted behind the shell. The gears are not clicking inline. As the chorus beautifully swells, a brief waltz macabre – a moment of bliss before the bomb goes off – beauty and tragedy intertwined – Danny Elfman could not have done better.
The track’s latter half is an almost identical rehash. There are some twinkling bells at the bridge, simulating the feeling of falling, but then the entire melody starts up again. As pretty as it may be, it grows more tiresome the second time (Otherwise, it may have been ranked much higher).At the end, the music box winds down – a few sputters before shutting off.
This largely forgotten film (from an era when Japanimation was cool) has still yet to see a domestic DVD release. Though the Streamline Pictures VHS version from the early-‘90s is a superb dub, it’s foolishly missing a few key images from the ending, which depict the carnival’s earlier (and less destructive) tours, entertaining European socialites.
When creating this list, we were under the impression that Isaku Fujita composed the soundtrack to this film. Further research, however, reveals that Fujita only contributed the music to the Cloud segment. The rest, including “See You Again,” was written by, none other than, Joe Hisashi, who scored most of the Studio Ghibli films and is one of the greatest music composers of the 20th Century.
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