Saint Seiya is successful not just because
of the excellent animation quality but also the back ground music and theme
songs. There are 8 Soundtracks, 9 if you count Hades Concept album, 6 singles,
7 Song albums, and a Piano arrangement album. Over the years CD boxes have
been released containing various tracks of the many CDs.
[For track listings
of most of the CDs, go here]
BGM
Original Soundtracks & Concept Album
Seiji Yokoyama was the music director for the music of the TV series and
the movies but he also wrote music for Hades Chapter which at that time
was not animated yet. Poseidon Chapter for instance had only 15 episodes,
normally a veteran like Seiji would not write music for such a small series
but because he loved working on Saint Seiya, he continued. There were 8
Original Soundtracks[音楽集: Ongaku Shuu: Music Collection] and one concept
album released.
All the music Seiji wrote were performed by Andromeda Harmonic Orchestra.
A lot of the music that was recorded for the movies were re-used during
the TV series.
For the TV series and movies, there were 7 recording sessions total for
all the music. The first session was recorded on Sept. 16-17th, 1986, for
Galaxian Wars, Dark, Struggle for Gold Cloth and Silver Chapters. Most
of the music can be found in Soundtrack I. Some of music can be found in
Soundtrack III.
The second session was recorded on May 25-26th, 1987, for Movie 1 and Gold
Chapter soundtracks. The two scores were recorded one after another. Most
the music can be found in Soundtrack II, III. Some of music can be found
in Soundtrack IV.
The next 4 sessions were all recorded in the same year, 1988. The third
session was recorded on Feb. 24th for Movie 2 soundtrack. The fourth session
was recorded on Mar. 31st for Asgard Series music. July 1st was the fifth
session for Movie 3 soundtrack and the sixth session was on Oct. 13th for
Poseidon soundtrack. Most of the music for Movie 2, Movie 3, Asgard Series
and Poseidon Series can be found in Soundtracks IV, V, VI, and VII, respectively.
Some of the Asgard and Movie 3 music can be found in Soundtrack VIII.
For movie 4, the music was recorded on the last session on Feb 20th, 1989.
Most of the music can be found in Soundtrack VIII.
The Hades Album[冥王ハデース編:Meiou Hadde-su Hen: Underworld King Hades
Chapter] when it was first released was a concept album[イメージ アルバム:
Ime-ji Arubamu: Image Album]. Although at the time they did receive news
that the Hades OVA might happen, on the last song, Masami said good bye
to Seiya. The whole Album was recorded on Oct. 12-13th, 1990. Because the
music was used for Hades OVA, for the Eternal Edition, this is the only
album that gets the title "Image Soundtrack Album." A soundtrack for an
anime you can hear 12 years before its production!!
Hades Chapter OVA
Yasuno Satou was the one who selected the BGMs for the TV Series. He returned
to work on the OVAs and one of the few people who was not replaced, so
he worked on all 5 productions of anime adapted from the original manga!
He chose music from the 7 recording sessions recorded for the TV Series
and Movies, Hades Concept Album, and Heaven Chapter soundtrack for the
OVA BGMs.
Seiji Yokoyama already wrote most of the music in Hades Chapter Concept
Album but for the track "Pandora's Box", it was newly recorded for the
OVA. Previously the harp music for Movie 1, was reused for Mime's music
for Asgard Series. This time for Orphee's harp music new music was written
to match his Lyre playing and the one who actually played the harp was
the Inferno OVA director Tomoharu Katumata's daughter, a pro harpist! In
the Mook, Pia, it is revealed the Harp music played by Pandora in Hades
Sanctuary was also played Katumata's daughter!!
Overture Movie
Released on Mar. 17th, 2004 was the Original Soundtrack of the Overture movie. Seiji Yokoyama wrote the score. In Seiya History TV show, he stated that he actually wrote another score for a foreign release outside of Japan. It is not clear if that score was ever used. The album also includes "Never" by Make-Up returning since the TV Series production.
Lost Canvas OVA
The music for the OVA was written by Kaoru Wada and the BGM selection by Maiko Aida. The Original Soundtrack was released on Sept. 25th, 2009.
Omega
The music for the show was written by Toshihiko Sahashi and the BGM selection by Makiko Mehara. The Original Soundtrack will be released on Aug. 22th, 2012.
Songs
Original TV Series
While the TV series was airing, Nippon Colombia(9) released 5 singles and
3 Song Albums titled, Hits[ヒット曲集: Hitto Kyokushuu: Hit music collection]
. Some of the songs besides the Opening Song and Ending songs were used
in the episodes.
The TV series had 2 OP Songs and 2 ED Songs. For Episodes 1-73, the OP
was Pegasus Fantasy[ペガサス幻想: Pegasasu Gensou] and the ED was Blue
Forever[永遠ブルー: Eien Buru-: Forever Blue]. Both songs were produced
by band, MAKE-UP. The two songs can be found in Hits I.
For Episodes 74-114, the OP was Soldier Dream[聖闘士神話 ソルジャー ドリム:
Seitoushi Shinwa Soruja- Dorimu: Sacred Fighter Mythology Soldier Dream].
The ED was Blue Dream[夢旅人: Yume Tabibito: Dream Traveler]. Both songs
were sung by Hironobu Kageyama. The two songs can be found in Hits III.
The Hades Chapter concept Album also didn't just have the music for the
Hades mangamanga/future anime, but 2 songs which many fans consider possible
Opening and Ending songs for a possible anime.
[For Song Lyrics and Translation go here ]
The Songs used in TV Series, the first 3 Songs can be found in Hits I, and the last 3 in Hits II:
To answer Seiya fans devoted-support to Seiya, on Mar. 20th 1996, a concept album CD 1996 Song Collection was released. Not only does it have new versions of Pegasus Fantasy and Blue Forever but 8 new songs recorded. Make-up was the band that performed and wrote the songs. They were formed in 1983 but after working on Seiya songs and helping on the soundtracks, they broke up in 1986. This CD was their resurrection CD.
The Complete Song Collection
Released on Nov. 21st, 2002, was the 3 CD set of all the songs from previous Albums. Even the coupling song with the Movie 3 Theme Song Single, "Can't see Hurricane" and the Pegasus Fantasy sung by the original voice actor of Seiya are included. There are 48 songs total.
Hades Chapter OVA
For the Hades Sanctuary
OVA, a Grand Opening would open the OVA and an Grand Closing would close
the OVA. The Grand Opening had the Video Size of Globe[地球ぎ: Chikyuugi]
by Yumi Matuzawa and TV Size of Pegasus Fantasy[ペガサス幻想] by Make-Up
with new sound effects! The Grand Closing had the TV Size of Blue Forever[永遠ブルー]
and the Video Size of The Same Blue Sky with You[君と同じ青空:Kimi to Onaji
Aosora](2)
The opening song of Underworld and Elysion OVA used the song, Pegasus Forever[女神の戦士:
Megami no Senshi: Warrior of the Goddess] by Marina Del Ray.(3) For the
closing songs, Underworld OVA used My Dear[託す者へ: Takusu Mono e: To
Entrusted One] by Yumi Matuzawa and Elysion OVA used Del Regno(4)[神の園:
Kami no Zono: Gods' Garden] by Yuuko Ishibashi.
Hades Sanctuary and Underworld OVA each released a theme song single. The
closing song for Elysion OVA, however, can be found in the CD titled, Saint
Seiya The Hades[冥王 ハ?デス編 スペシャル アルバム: Meiou Ha-desu Hen
Supeahru Arubamu: Underworld King Hades Chapter Special Album]. The album
includes new songs recorded at the time.
All the theme songs(except for Del Regno) and theme songs from Hits II+III,
Movie 3+Overture, Hades Concept Album can be found in the CD titled, Thema
Song&Best Album.
Overture Movie
The Overture album also "Never" by Make-Up returning since the TV Series production.
Lost Canvas OVA
The Opening Song for the OVA is The Realm of Athena by Eurox and the Closing
Song is Flower Chain[花の鎖: Hana no Kusari] by Maki Namanai with Marina
Del Ray. A theme song single was released on Jul. 25th, 2009.(5)
A Special Vocal Live and CD will be produced. The songs will be sung by
the Seiyuu who voiced the LC characters. The Live will be held on Aug.
7th, 2011 and the CD will be released on Aug. 10, 2011.
Omega
The opening song is a renewed version for the show, Pegasus Fantasy sung by Make-Up(Nob) featuring Shoko Nakakawa. For 12 Palaces Arc, a New song will be used called, Next Generation[新星Ω神話: Shinsei Shinwa: New Star Mythology] performed by √5[ルート・ファイブ: Root 5].
Musicals
Main Article: Saint Seiya Musicals
Boxes
Memorial
Memorial CD Box was
released on Mar. 21st, 1991 as a memorial album but also featured new material.
Disk 1 and 2 had a selection of music from the Soundtracks. Disk 3 had
a collection of the Hit songs. Disk 4 and 5 had new material: famous scenes[名場面:
Meibamen] of the TV series were recorded and presented as Drama tracks.
Disk 5 also had other
material, a version of Pegasus Fantasy sung by the original voice actor
of Seiya, Touru Furuya. Previously not released music from the recording
sessions were put into one big track called, Bridge Collection[ブリッジ コレクション:
Burijji Korekushon]. A collection of the Sound effects from the show was
put in one track called, SE Collection, and finally, the last tracks were
half karaoke versions of 2 OP and 2 ED songs.
Special cards were
included but when it was sold outside Japan, those cards were taken out
and replaced by a soft fabric.
The Gold Collection
Released on Dec. 20th
1997, was the CD Box set of songs and music chosen by Masami himself. He
listened to the 16 albums and chose which tracks to put in the Box set.
The booklet had great info where it provided all the information of the
albums, singles and other music products up till that time. Postcards was
included in the box.
Disk 1 and 2 contained
best songs. Disk 3 contained Soundtrack I, II, III, IV music. Disk 4 contained
V, VI, VII, VIII music. And, Disk 5 contained Piano Fantasia, Hades Album,
CD 1997 music and drama tracks.
Eternal Edition
Like other classic animes, Saint Seiya music was featured in the Eternal
Edition series. Starting from Mar. 2003, a collection of 10 CDs containing
music from previous albums and previously not released materals(6) were
released. There are 10 Files sold in five 2-CD sets. The booklets themselves
contain music info and also discusses Saint Seiya related topics.
Files 1&2 contains music mainly for Galaxian Wars, Dark, Struggle for
Gold Cloth and Silver Chapters. File 3&4 contains music mainly for
Movie 1 and Gold Chapter. Files 5&6 contain music mainly for Movie
2, 3 and Asgard Series.(7) Files 7&8 contain music mainly for Poseidon
Series and music from Piano Fantasia Album. Files 9&10 contain music
mainly for Movie 4 and Hades Album.
In Jul. 30th, 2008 an Eternal CD-Box set was released with all the material
in the Eternal Edition and the material from Complete Song Collection.
Notes & Trivia
1. The company's other name is Columbia
Music Entertainment.
2. At one point in the production, they
considered using Soldier Dream to create a opening like Asgard/Poseidon
OP with Specters replacing the God Warriors/Marina, however, this idea
was dropped.
3. Marina Del Ray is fan of Masami Kurumada's
manga, of course Saint Seiya, too.
4. Del Regno means 'Of The Realm' in Italian
language.
5. An acoustic version of the ED song
can be found in the single, While There is Light[光あるうちに: Hikari Aru
Uchi ni].
6. The material included music recorded
back in the original recording but never released before, and off vocal
versions, different sizes, and instrumental versions of the songs. The
collection is not a complete collection! Some materials were purposely
withheld for a future release. Some original master tapes are lost.
7. Because some master tapes were lost,
it doesn't have the whole recording of movie 3 score.
Links