Anime is Japanese animation, a tradition going back almost one hundred years. Tom and Noz grew up with it in the 1980s and you may recall titles like Astro Boy, Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets (that last one Tom remembers seeing as a five-year-old in 1981). Although Tom did not know what to call it back then, we now recognise that Anime is a worldwide phenomenon, and famous for its youth appeal. Decades on, it continues to charm us. This is why Tom was delighted to be asked by AYO to write music about anime. But rather than referencing existing music, or existing anime, we landed on music for a show that doesn’t exist: music for imaginary anime. To make this work we went all Tolkien, and developed our own expanded universe. Drawing on Nozomi’s background we developed a synopsis (translated from Japanese); a theme song (again in Japanese) which serves as the symphonic work’s central melody; we commissioned concept art by anime artist Ginko Kiyotani Eris; and we wrote the first several chapters of a novelisation (again, in English and Japanese). Getting carried away is, in the end, the foundation of plenty of symphonic music.
Here are the lyrics –never published previously– composed for the imaginary anime, Memories of Stars.
Now, from this lyrical beginning, the story itself will gradually begin to take shape.
From here on, we’ll be sharing that world piece by piece on this blog.
この歌詞は、トーマス・グリーンが Memories of Stars を作曲していく過程の中で生まれたものです。
そして今、この歌詞を出発点として、物語が少しずつ姿を現していきます。
これからブログで、その世界を順に掲載していきます。
From a distant past
Light runs on
A shadow cloaked in night
Unknowing, now to the sky
Lightning begins to glow
Moonlit eyes call
Fate draws them near
Raikō, roar
Kokurō, rend
At the instant they collide
Now become a dragon
Thunder, darkness — resound
In a quiet place
My heart still burns
Past and future both
Melt into one
Beyond the darkness
Through the light
Crossing over time
Now I fly
遠い昔より 光は走るよ
夜を纏う影 知らず今 空へ
稲妻が灯る 月の瞳 呼ぶ 運命が引くよ
ライコー(雷虎）よ 吠えろよ コクロウ（黒狼）よ 裂けよ
ぶつかる刹那に 今 竜となれ
雷よ、黒よ、響けよ
静かなところで 心はまだ燃える
過去も未来も 一つに溶ける
暗闇を越え 光の中を
時を越えながら 今 飛ぶよ
Shugorei 