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lyricalive · 4 years

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A soul is an electric force, full of potential energy.

——Can we find souls in unlikely places, and set them into motion?

中古技術〜 Electric Spirit Seance

#01 Lullaby of a Deserted Hell

From a bird's-eye view, the figures of two sprightly maidens would appear like dolls amidst the surrounding range of artificial mountains, a stunning silvery wasteland.

The taller of the two small-looking girls, Maribel Hearn (Merry) planted her hands on her hips as she surveyed the junk that encircled them in all directions.

– "I can't believe you managed to convince me to go dumpster-diving. Is this a step up or down from graverobbing?"

– "We didn't rob anything from the graveyard. I definitely want to find something worth taking from here, though."

– "So this is a step down."

– "Nah, it's fine. These are all things that no one wants."

– "Or things that no one wants to be seen. Of course, that means…"

– "It's the perfect place for the Secret Sealing Club!"

The club's current president, Renko Usami, pumped her fist with plenty of good cheer. Merry smiled back, although she had mixed feelings about calling a land of literal garbage home.

– "We can't just have normal dates, can we?"

Fortunately, at least, the garbage was not excessively odorous or grimy. The site was a landfill specifically for electronic waste: frayed wires, boxy television frames, old phone models of all kinds.

The time was just around sunset -- more specifically 7:42 and 33 seconds, according to Renko's discerning eyes. The mild starlight reflected off of broken LCD screens, making them appear ever so slightly less lifeless.

#02 Rigid Paradise

– "What exactly are we looking for... Let me guess. Hoping to find some retro videogames?"

– "I won't lie. That'd be great."

– "But finding both a game and the console to go with it is going to be tough."

– "Did you know, if a company manufactures more games than it can sell, they end up buried underground to get them out of circulation?"

– "How wasteful. At least they were given a proper funeral."

– "The first time this happened was long ago in another country. Thousands of unsold cartridges... Just because they weren't popular at the time, now they'll never be played. I'd love to give them a chance."

– "Hee-hee, so much for a funeral. I suppose we're not in the business of letting the dead rest in peace."

In this unique sort of graveyard, the bodies had been piling up for countless years. Most of the material would never biodegrade, so the mounds kept accumulating, one layer buried under the next. In fact, despite the oceans rising drastically over recent years, this dumping ground remained unusually high above sea level for the sole reason that its foundation was constantly being reinforced by layers of tightly packed waste.

Renko, who had taken the precaution to wear pants and gloves on this excursion, knelt down to examine a mess of circuitry at the bottom of a looser heap. Merry meanwhile nudged the tip of her shoe against the ground, pondering how deep down was the earth.

#03 Poison Body ~ Forsaken Doll

The girl in black and white impatiently murmured the time, for the fourth time that hour, before stretching her back and turning around to check on her partner.

– "Find anything interesting yet, Merry?"

Merry, who had been spacing out for some while, quickly darted her eyes around for an improvised answer. A glint of light led her gaze to a long, flat cell phone teetering unceremoniously atop of a pile.

– "This... Haven't I seen this model in advertisements recently? How did this already become trash?"

– "Oh, you know. Technology becomes out-of-date awfully quickly these days."

– "Mm. I'd like to see it as a sign of progress, but…"

– "Yeah, it's not good at all. We're in an age of quantity over quality."

Manufacturers who design their products to poor standards, so as to improve on them soon after, are akin to the type of trickster youkai that disguises itself in beggars' clothes to take advantage of others' low expectations. In this selfishly self-deprecating society, it had become a disadvantage to show one's best.

– "Everyone knows this, but thinking about it makes me so irritated."

– "Right? Humanity is really holding itself back."

– "On top of that, don't they know that this is how vengeful tsukumogami are born?"

An object that has gone unused for 100 years is believed to develop a consciousness. Some end up harmless -- but if its short life was spent being used as nothing more than throwaway capital, naturally it would make sense for it to become unhappy.

Merry laid one hand gently on the phone, as if in a gesture of sympathy.

– "Hey, be careful not to touch more than you need to. It may look clean, but the chemicals released by e-waste can still be toxic."

– "Ah, right..."

She felt a bit sheepish for needing safety lessons from Renko, of all people. But, having thought too hard about it, it became difficult for Merry to view the objects as just physical material. A great majority of one's life was lived by virtual communication, so this material had great amounts of personal information stored in it. Of course, the information's original source was in people's minds, so it's not as if it would be instantly forgotten once the plug was pulled. But there were certainly more petabytes of raw data in a square meter of this dump than a human brain could hold.

#04 Electric Heritage

– "Come to think of it, though, have you ever actually heard a story about an electronic object becoming a tsukumogami?"

– "Well, no..."

– "I have a theory about that. I don't think e-waste is even capable of that transition."

– "How do you figure?"

– "Consider the crossover of electromagnetic fields and the detection of spirits. Electricity is a simulation of life energy, almost too spot-on. Like forces repel... so true life energy can't coexist with it. Because they're flowing with this imitation power, I don't think electronics get a chance to develop real souls."

– "I see. Then, we can't properly call this a graveyard..."

– "...if these bodies were never truly alive."

– "I can't decide whether that makes me feel relieved, or lonely."

Merry let out an audible sigh against their eerily silent backdrop. Then she braced herself to deliver the next news.

– "But, if that's so... then why can I still feel something spiritual around here?"

Renko's eyes lit up instantly.

– "Do you? I was hoping you'd say that!"

– "It just started... which is odd, since we haven't covered all that much ground since getting here. It's as if a border connecting to somewhere else just opened."

– "That supports the second part of the theory. Like forces repel, but opposite forces attract. They may not have souls themselves, but these empty vessels surely attract souls."

It felt fairly certain, now that both of their minds had helped confirm it: Some spirit, human or non-human, seemed to have decided to take up residence in the wasteland. Merry took a moment to feel proud of herself for her invaluable contribution.

– "By the way, where do robots fit into your theory?"

– "Well... I mean, there's no doubt we're getting closer every day to the A.I. revolution."

– "Oh, my. I knew I should have tipped our e-waiter last time we went to that café."

– "But that's a completely different phenomenon than what births a tsukumogami, right? It has to do with the software, not the hardware."

– "Yes. Though, it would seem to imply that there is a border of 'false' and 'true' life that can be crossed..."

#05 Entrusting This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World

– "Now all we have to do is narrow it down, and we'll --"

As if on cue, Renko's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crashing sound from behind... music to her thrill-seeking ears. She whirled around to catch the culprit, her eyes fixating on Merry and the dark-colored object that rested a few paces away at her feet. The blonde girl threw her hands up in a display of innocence.

– "I didn't do it. It moved on its own! I just saw it fall out of nowhere."

Renko's attempt at a professional retort failed to conceal her excited, twitching grin.

– "Merry, Merry... This is the most basic of physics. An object can't move on its own! Unless..."

They approached the rectangular object and peered over it. It seemed to be a tablet PC, roughly twenty centimeters in length. It had landed face up, luckily enough to not have not shattered the screen, though there was a significant surface crack down its center.

– "Hm..."

– "We've ruled out tsukumogami. You think it could be... a poltergeist?"

– "I don't know. Rather than an outside force, the energy seems very contained in here."

– "So then... a spirit living inside?"

– "Something like that."

In response, the light of the screen flashed briefly on and back off.

– "Ahh! Electricity, a simulation of life energy..."

– "It also works the other way around!"

This was a very lucky revelation for the two investigators, as it would have been nearly impossible to find a compatible charging cable. In an age where each and every product was developed with its own unique cord design, this feature was marketed to consumers as a collectible game; the infinite variety, a controlled channel for creativity.

The device seemed to call out to them, understanding what they wanted. The power flashed again, on and off and on, in a quirky rhythmical pattern that almost evoked a personality.

– "We've definitely found something worth taking home!"

– "Wait. Isn't it wrong to remove a spirit from the place it's attached to? We can't just adopt a ghost like an abandoned baby."

– "Like you said, it's attached to the item, not the place. We're just fostering it for a bit before it moves on!"

– "All right... Just don't raise it to be wild like you."

– "And you, Merry, make sure you don't spoil it!"

#06 Nostalgic Blood of the East ~ Old World

The pair reached Renko's dorm with the haunted vessel tucked inconspicuously into their satchel, grateful that the spirit hadn't chosen to bind itself to a full desktop monitor or CPU instead. The question moving forward would be how to unlock its secrets.

– "How old do you think it is?"

– "Because it wasn't buried under anything, it seems like we should assume it to be fairly new. But it just feels so out of place."

– "Actually, I meant the spirit."

– "Oh."

Hand in hand with the phenomenon of planned obsolescence, the fashionable aesthetics of electronics changed as often as water under a bridge. Sleek designs were popular, then retro designs, then designs that mimicked the mimicry of two eras past, a vaguely deteriorating cycle. As a result, it was difficult to tell which era this piece of technology belonged to.

– "Remember that I saw a border open? Maybe not just the spirit, but the whole item came from somewhere else..."

They had been scrutinizing the home screen for quite some time, attempting to navigate the ancient interface, and hadn't made much headway. As far as they could tell, the data was heavily corrupted, and most of its history had been erased. They were able to access only the most basic types of apps, like the calculator and the keyboard.

– "Hey, Merry. I think we should use that other thing we picked up."

– "That? I don't even understand how we would use it..."

As evidenced by her smug grin, the more scientifically-minded of the pair had full confidence in the strange idea she was about to suggest.

#07 A Tiny, Tiny Clever Commander

– "I mean, really? A mouse?"

Renko had insisted that they bring home a wired peripheral mouse, which she had spent an extra half hour scavenging for. However, of course, the end of the cable did not match the outlet on the tablet.

Currently, she was back in the scavenging position, digging through the pile of unorganized junk that cluttered her closet (mostly books and occult items). Or rather, it looked unorganized, but she seemed to know exactly where everything was. ...Or rather, Merry concluded, it truly was unorganized, but her eyes were sharp at scanning through even a complete mess. She wondered if this small pile would ever become as large as the one at the dump.

– "A-ha, found it!"

Renko had managed to track down the very particular treasure she was seeking, the final piece of their forgathered puzzle. A small cube with many variously patterned notches rested in her open palm. The material's finishing was uncolored and plain, likely to have been produced independently with a 3D printer rather than as a commercial product.

– "W-Where did you get a thing like that?"

– "I have connections you don't know, Merry."

Merry thought she had heard this line before, and felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck just like the first time. The source was certainly shady. Universal adapters were not at all legal. Treating it like a Rubik's cube, and glancing back and forth for reference, Renko cleverly manipulated the block in her hand in ways that Merry was unable to understand.

Renko's partner, who had long embraced being an accomplice, appreciated her resourcefulness; she only wished to be kept more up to date when the other girl's mental plans ran ten steps ahead. But she supposed that this was how Renko felt in return when it came to supernatural sights that she couldn't see, so perhaps they were even.

– "Just like that? Like magic..."

– "Tell me, Merry. Can you see the border of magic and science?"

With all the pieces aligned, Renko ceremoniously linked the mouse to the tablet through the intermediary box. As a pop-up window indicated the drivers being registered, it was, they determined, a truly magical feat. The light on the screen dimmed a bit, as if the spirit were expressing slight disappointment that it was no longer their only option for a power supply.

– "Still... Better technology has been around for decades. These are so unwieldly. Does anyone use an optical mouse anymore?"

– "No, but no one's done this ritual in a long time either."

#08 No More Going Through Doors

Renko took Merry's hands in her own and conveyed them in a stack atop of the mouse. Holding this pose, Merry squinted at the screen in front of her, which displayed a neatly spaced virtual keyboard with a complete set of lettering. A mild shiver ran through her, either nervousness or excitement.

– "Hang on. This setup looks familiar somehow."

– "That's right. We're having a séance!"

Although Renko was very skilled with computers, hacking was not her expertise. She did, however, have the kind of mind that was able to think around the box, discovering back doors. The opportunity here was simple: If they couldn't reach the secrets, they would consult the only one who knew -- the spirit itself.

– "Huh!?"

– "This mouse is a perfect planchette to use as an interface. Sure, we have voice and touch technology. But you don't want the spirit to possess your actual body in order to touch the screen or activate your voice, do you?"

– "Definitely not. ...Wait, did I ever say I wanted to be the medium at all?"

Merry pulled her hands back from the mouse and saw the screen's light flicker weakly.

– "Oh, er... You're right. We didn't really decide that, did we?"

– "Mm..."

– "I think you'd be better suited, but I'll gladly go first. I've always wanted to try something like this."

Merry's eyes glazed over as she thought about the prospect of communicating with the spirit. They had assumed the sealed entity was harmless enough to bring home, but could there be some risk in directly channeling it?

Then again, what was the other option? To leave their investigation at a dead end?

You don't belong on this side of the unknown.

A faint voice bubbled up inside of Merry, almost like an intrusive thought. This had been happening to her increasingly often lately, though she always forgot about it after the fact. Because, at the same time, they certainly felt like her own feelings...

Maribel Hearn was sparked with a surge of curiosity that made her want to take the lead. These were precisely the club activities she had signed up for. How much more dangerous could it be than anything else, so long as one made sure to follow the protocols and say goodbye at the end?

– "No... I'd like to do it."

Renko blinked in surprise.

– "Really? ...Well, gee, make up your mind. You made me get all excited for myself. Go ahead, but I call next!"

#09 Shoutoku Legend ~ True Administrator

Having cleared the area and turned off all the lights, Merry sat with her back straight against a chair and took a deep breath. No candle was necessary, as the warm glow of the screen cast a ring of illumination around the table. They had thoroughly discussed the questions they desired to ask, though the words felt awkward to speak out loud. Nevertheless, the young medium opened her mouth.

– "What is... your name?"

...

The atmosphere of room was deathly still. Merry let all the muscles in her arm relax, preparing.

...

I...

– "It's working...!"

The spirit was conscious and listening. The planchette began to glide beneath Merry's loose grip, landing on the letter I. When it paused on the letter for several seconds, she clicked the mouse button to confirm before the involuntary movement slowly began again.

...FO RG OT.

– "Ah. So it's going to be up to us to give it a name."

– "Did you own this tablet?"

While Merry was lost in thought about a potential name, Renko chimed in with a question of her own from the opposite side of the table. However, the spirit seemed to hesitate in answering.

Suddenly, the other girl's focus returned. On an instinct, she broke the silence with an unexpected change of the question.

– "Does this tablet own you?"

...

YE S.

– "Huh... The tablet owns the spirit? How did that happen?"

Although Renko's words were more thinking out loud than a direct question, the spirit was responsive. Merry's hand immediately began to move.

...

SN AP.

– "Snap...? That sounds kind of scary."

– "What does that mean?"

The cursor then swerved dramatically past all the letters on the keypad and down to the app menu along the bottom edge of the screen. It hovered over an icon barely recognizable as an antique camera.

– "Ah..."

The app launched, reproducing a dark, blurry image of the table on which the device's lens was turned. Upon clicking the screen, a photograph was taken, and the damaged speaker emitted a distorted snapping sound.

– "Spirit photography!"

The two girls burst out in unison, solving the riddle simultaneously.

– "Right. We've all heard the old belief that getting a photograph taken of you might steal a piece of your soul."

– "It has some basis. If captured in a photograph by accident, a minor spirit's energy might become trapped."

Somewhere in the hidden files, such a photograph must exist, binding some foreign essence to this device. The spirit was likely eager to get free.

Merry minimized the camera app and returned to the keyboard.

– "Who took the picture?"

...

Unlike its own, this name seemed to be one the spirit knew. The pair observed with bated breath as the cursor navigated itself around the maze of letters. Ultimately, it came to a halt, and Merry clicked on the final letter.

– "...Eh? Merry, stop kidding around!"

Merry turned to her partner with a genuine, solemn expression.

– "I'm... not. I swear."

Renko's face went pale. In ink-black font, three familiar syllables stood on display beside a blinking cursor.

#10 Dream World Folklore

To disprove the influence of the ideomotor effect, they had asked the question several more times, using both girls as mediums, until the spirit ultimately stopped responding altogether.

– "Oh, no. We scared it away..."

– "Well, it did spook us first."

– "Renko... You weren't kidding about your connections, were you?"

Renko scratched her head with lingering bewilderment.

– "Is the spirit messing with us? Or could it be..."

Her gaze wandered over to the stream of occult paraphernalia still spilling out of the crack of her closet door, and she experienced a strange sense of longing. The adventurous scientist was heavily accustomed to investigating mysteries from an observational and objective point of view. Finding herself personally a step closer to the subject was a bizarre and almost gut-twisting feeling. She supposed that this was how Merry felt in return when the focus of investigations was on her own powers, so perhaps they were even. Almost.

After a few more sessions of séance, they managed to navigate to an encrypted folder. A full-screen photograph had flashed open... but, before they were able to make out any details, the tablet's power instantly cut off. Following this, it no longer responded to any input.

Their assumption would be that the spirit had been able to cross over, after deleting its digital ties to the physical container and unsealing the information it was attached to.

– "I suppose this is goodbye..."

– "Is the spirit free now?"

– "I think so."

– "That's good for it, at least."

– "Too bad for you. If we kept it, maybe it would have served as your personal shikigami."

– "Isn't that a bit cold-hearted? It was supposed to be our child!"

A shikigami is the perfect phantasmal servant. The owner may input commands, and it carries out orders with extraordinary speed and calculation. Of course, a normal computer already fulfills essentially the same purpose. Outside world humans of the modern era aren't in need of such a spirit under their possession.

Even so, the force of attraction that had drawn them to cross paths with this spirit would be a mystery to chase going forward. The two present members of the Sealing Club had a new story to tell, an urban legend that could be shared only amongst themselves.

Afterwords

Hello, this is someone who absolutely promised themself that they would publish at least one Hifuu fic per calendar year. The idea for this one began with a conversation with my real-life partner (as is usually the case of inspiration) about the excellent aesthetic of using a computer keyboard as a Ouija board. This subject in turn came up because of a "ghost" that haunts her keyboard by making a certain cryptic message appear on the screen at random times because the "." and "0" keys are in an easy position for us to accidentally press. So, this story is dedicated to our precious child, ".0-chan."

Then, while it was already being written, WBaWC came out and confirmed that a technology-themed fic would be totally appropriate, and my favorite song from the soundtrack had the perfect title to be used in it. (Also, its blatant dystopian themes justified playing up the similar themes of the Sealing Club's society even more than usual.) And yet, despite many things lining up, it almost didn't get finished in time. It's been such a busy and stressful year, which I hope gets better next year...

Another source of inspiration was the blog "Yukarisuggestion," whose portrayal I respect a lot. When they drop minor bits of supernatural trivia, it definitely feels like they are coming from the youkai sage herself, very natural to accept. I latched onto these posts in particular, finding the concept fascinating, and I only hope I interpreted it acceptably. ...I was really aiming sharply this time at the Sealing Club's conversational aesthetic of "casual confidence in super obscure things that outside listeners would hear as nonsense," so I'm afraid some parts may have crossed the border of B.S.

Also, I wonder if it's okay that the second half of the song choices are almost entirely bad puns?

ASA (Our ghost child's pen name would be "0.4" / "Rei-ten-shi"!)

Hifuu CD-style stories:

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 自封夢幻〜 Sentimental Reverie

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 陶然夢幻〜 Transcendental Revelry

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 羨望横断〜 Unenviable Crossroads

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 外来土産〜 Adventive Reminiscence

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 中古技術〜 Electric Spirit Seance

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 幻想惑星直列〜 Phantasmal Syzygy

#touhou #maribel hearn #renko usami #renmerry #fanfiction

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thirty-second-notes · 4 years

Note

Hello there. I don't know if you all check this inbox, and this is a long shot...But I want to find some good soundtracks to listen to, and you three have good taste. If you have one, could you share a list of your music collections or some general recs?

Hi, thanks for keeping in touch! We stopped posting right when we went off to college, and since then, we haven’t really had the time to upload anything to Tumblr. That, and tumblr’s file size & FLAC restrictions make it a bit of pain to upload anything efficiently... Anyhoo. Happy to share my album collection! This list is a little bit of a mess, and seems to be organized half alphabetically and half in the order in which I added them to my hard drive, since I just pulled the folder list off my computer. I’ve bolded the albums that I really enjoy in their entirety and I tried my damndest not to highlight half the list. But just send me (EpsilonGenocide) a message if you wanted recs for a specific sound that you’re looking for. Hope this helps! EpsilonGenocide’s Album List:

Square Enix Acoustic Arrange

Square Enix Jazz - FINAL FANTASY-

Square Enix Jazz Final Fantasy VII

SQUARE ENIX JAZZ Vol.2

Steins;Gate ELITE Original Soundtrack

Steins;Gate Symphonic Reunion

Sword of the Stranger Original Soundtrack

Symphonic Fantasies - music from SQUARE ENIX

Symphonic Odysseys Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu

The Epic of Zektbach -Piano Collection-

The Epic of Zektbach -Ristaccia-

The Last of Us (Original Soundtrack)

The Last Of Us Volume 2 (Left Behind OST)

The Last Story Original Soundtrack

The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Original Soundtrack (Disc 1-5)

The Wolverine [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

The world! EVAngelion JAZZ night =The Tokyo III Jazz club=

Transistor Original Soundtrack

Uncharted 2 - Among Thieves [Original Video Game Soundtrack]

Undertale

Undertale (Arrangement) (Determination)

Valkyria Chronicles Original Soundtrack

Valkyria Chronicles Piano Pieces

Violin de Hiitemita ep2 ~ Maou no Gyakushuu

WALL-E

Wind - Inuyasha Kokyo Renka - Symphonic Theme Collection

Wind Ensemble ''Dragon Quest'' Part.I

X'mas Collections II music from SQUARE ENIX

5 Centimeters Per Second Original Soundtrack

A New World Intimate Music From FINAL FANTASY

A New World Intimate Music from FINAL FANTASY Volume II

Angel Beats Piano Arrange Holy

Angel Beats!

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Out of the North Original Soundtrack

Baccano!

Brave [Original Score]

Child of Light

Children of the Sea Original Soundtrack

CHRONO Orchestral Arrangement BOX

Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack 1

Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack 2 - No Disc

Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack 3 - BLUE

Deemo Original Soundtrack

Demon's Souls Original Soundtrack

Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3

Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2 (Disk 1 & 2)

Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1

Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 4 ~Isoge! Shōnen Tanteidan~

Don't Starve

Dragon Quest IX Hoshizora no Mamoribito Symphonic Suite

Dragon Quest Solo Guitar Collections

Durarara!! Original Soundtrack Vol.01 Psychedelic Dreams

Durarara!! Original Soundtrack Vol. 02 Psychadelic Dreams

Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven Pocket ga Niji de Ippai MUSIC COLLECTION PSALMS OF PLANETS (Disc 1-3)

Eureka seveN OST 1

Eureka seveN OST 2 (Disc 1 & 2)

Evangelion Piano Burst ~ Kakusei ~

Final Fantasy 4 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 5 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 6 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 7 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 8 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 9 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 10 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 10-2 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 11 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 12 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 13 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 14 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 15 Piano Collections Moonlit Melodies

Distant Worlds I - Music From FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds II - More Music From FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds III more music from FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds IV more music from FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds V more music from FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds & A New World Collection Music from Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy Guitar Solo Collections

Final Fantasy Piano Opera I-II-III

Final Fantasy Piano Opera IV-V-VI

Final Fantasy Piano Opera VII-VIII-IX

Final Fantasy Type-0 Original Soundtrack

Final Fantasy VII Compilation Best Selection (Disc 1 - 4)

Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack

Final Fantasy XIV Band & Piano Arrangement Album (Disc 1 - 2)

Final Fantasy XIV Field Tracks

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (Volumes 1 - 3)

Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki Original Soundtrack

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Central Band - Premium Wind Ensemble Collection of GHIBLI

Ghibli Jazz ALL THAT JAZZ

Ghost of Tsushima

Gladiator [Music from the Motion Picture]

Gravity Daze Original Soundtrack

Henry Mancini - Pink Guitar

Hollow Knight Original Soundtrack

How to Train Your Dragon Soundtrack (2010)

ICO ~Melody in the Mist~ Original Soundtrack

Inuyasha Original Soundtrack Collection (Volumes 1-3)

Journey

Kimi no Na wa

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Original Soundtrack

Kingdom Hearts Music Selection (1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX)

Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections

Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections Field & Battle

Kingdom Hearts World of Tres

Labyrinth no Kanata Original Soundtrack

Last Ranker Limited Soundtrack -Piano Trio Arrange-

Les Misérables

Lost Odyssey Original Soundtrack

Mai Hime Original Soundtracl (Volume 1 & 2)

Mai-HiME Unmei no Keitouju ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - last moment

Mai-HiME Best Collection

Monster Hunter The Jazz

Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch - Original Soundtrack

NieR Automata Piano Collections

NieR Gestalt & Replicant 15 Nightmares & Arrange Tracks

NieR Gestalt & Replicant Original Soundtrack

NieR Gestalt & Replicant Piano Collections

NieR Orchestral Arrangement Album

Nobuo Uematsu Solo Works

Octopath Traveler 16bit Arrangements

Octopath Traveler Arrangements Break & Boost - Extend -

Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack (Disc 1 - 4)

Of Orcs and Men Original Game Soundtrack

Okami Original Soundtrack

Okami Goju no Onchou

Okami Henkyokushuu Vol.1 Retro

Okami Henkyokushuu Vol.2 Jazz

Okami Henkyokushuu Vol.3 Lounge

Okami Henkyokushuu Vol.4 Healing

Okami Piano Arrange

Ori and the Blind Forest (Additional Soundtrack)

Pandora Hearts Original Soundtrack (Volume 1 & 2)

Piano Pieces ''SF2'' Rhapsody on a Theme of SaGa FRONTIER 2

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides

Princess Mononoke - Symphonic Suite

Radiata Stories Arrange Album

ReBirth Seiken Densetsu

Relaxing Piano - Hayao Miyazaki Collection

Rogue Galaxy

Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange

Romeo x Juliet Original Soundtrack

Senjou no Valkyria Original Soundtrack

Senjou no Valkyria Original Soundtrack/Scans

Somali and the Forest Spirit Original Soundtrack (Disc 1 & 2)

Soul Calibur V Original Soundtrack

Assassin's Creed Odyssey Original Game Soundtrack

Dragon Age Origins Original Videogame Score

FIRE EMBLEM PREMIUM ARRANGE II

Ace Attorney Investigations Miles Edgeworth 2 Orchestra Arrangement Collection ~Performed Turnabout~

Legend of Mana Arrangement Album Promise

Legend of Mana Arrangement Album Promise/Scans

Monster Hunter Guitar Arrange ~ BlackLute

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Meets Again ~Orchestra & Jazz~

The Legend of Zelda Concert 2018

Spirited Away Suite

Fire Emblem Three Houses Sound Selection

FIRE EMBLEM PREMIUM ARRANGE

FIRE EMBLEM PREMIUM ARRANGE/Scans

Howl's Moving Castle Soundtrack

Joe Hisaishi in Budokan ~25 Years With Miyazaki Animation~

My Neighbor Totoro Image Song Collection

Princess Mononoke Soundtrack

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya Soundtrack

Spirited Away Soundtrack

GRANBLUE FANTASY Piano Collection

GRANBLUE FANTASY Piano Collections II

GRANBLUE FANTASY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS Chaos

GRANBLUE FANTASY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS Fate

GRANBLUE FANTASY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS Promise

GRANBLUE FANTASY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS Lyria

Grandia Original Soundtrack

The Dragon Knights ~GRANBLUE FANTASY~

Kiki's Delivery Service Original Soundtrack Collection

Laputa Castle in the Sky Soundtrack ~The Mystery of the Levitation Stone~

Porco Rosso Original Soundtrack

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ Original Soundtrack

NausicaÑ of the Valley of the Wind Soundtrack ~Towards the Faraway Land~

#i spend a good 20 min trying to format a readmore into this but it kept deleting text....#sorry folks #ask

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dumbledoom · 5 years

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Love, Death + Robots Opinion

So this show popped up on Netflix not too long ago and I was enticed by the trailers and the fact that they were all animated shorts. I truly love animation and I think it is such an incredible platform for creativity and art and it truly is limitless. I often wish animation was more appreciated and taken more seriously, as I feel like a fair amount of people usually think of children's movies when they hear the word animation. Now, there is nothing wrong with that association, but the platform is not limited to children's movies or shows and I wish more people understood that. It can be utilized for very serious and complex stories, yet people often overlook it because, "oh its animation, must be for kids", like no...fuck off with that attitude. Animation is for everyone and can be used for anything and it's beautiful and painstaking work and it should be appreciated as such. This collection is the perfect example of that! I decided to give it a go and watch the anthology (which is just a fancy word for a collection of short stories).

This collection is so...unique...its not really like anything I've ever watched before. Each story is different, none of them are connected (which is the point of an anthology), they all have different kinds of animation, and they all vary in length.

Let me just start off with the simple statement that this show has several sexual/nude scenes (yes animated nudity and sex, almost to the point of softcore porn maybe? depending on your perception of it), so it is definitely NSFW, depending on the episode. Also shoutout to the creators for including both full-frontal male and female nudity and not keeping it onesided, respect dude, cuz a lot of the time it's just women you see fully nude and its refreshing to see men included now. Also the show has quite a bit (and by this, I mean a lot) of graphic gore and (as the title would suggest) very graphic scenes of death. If you don't respond well to that kind of stuff, maybe this isn't your cup of tea (cuz seriously some of it is brutal, even for me and I'm pretty desensitized to it for the most part).

The animation styles are beautiful. They had quite a few episodes that were motion-capture animation over actors and it was super cool to see the style and creativity. (Episodes: Sonnie's Edge, The Witness, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Shape-Shifters, Helping Hand, Lucky 13, and The Secret War) These were by far my favorite episodes out of the collection just because of how well done they were with the animation. Sonnie's Edge is the first episode and you dive right in to the blood and gore and graphicness of it, and it also introduces you to the nudity you'll see throughout the different episodes. Beyond the Aquila Rift is probably one of my favorite episodes because of how intense the motion-capture animation is. It's really good, the story is good too, kinda like a Passengers-vibe to it, but different. Also probably one of the more softcore porn episodes, but it's nothing crazy. I thought it was tasteful for the maturity of it, no full-frontal male nudity like in other episodes, but it does have a sex scene. Shape-Shifters was really good too. I liked it a lot, it is quite graphic with blood and gore, but it works really well. I liked the story idea behind it too, so go check it out. Either way these episodes were truly just incredible, almost like the animation for the cutscenes of new videogames these days, but even better. It was also super hard to tell if it was live action or not and honestly I love that kind of animation because it just invites future creativity.

(I'm getting sidetracked, but like think about it as a filmmaker, if you wanted to create some crazy sci-fi or bring a fantasy book to the screen, you could do this kind of animation and not be limited to the limitations live-action films face and still be taken seriously and not as kids movie just cuz its animated).

The motion-capture animation is beautiful, I love it. They had a few episodes that were like a mix of motion-cap and 3-D computer animation. (Episodes: Three Robots, The Dump, Blindspot, Fish Night) These episodes were fun and reminded me a lot of the new Disney and Pixar animation styles, but some were even more elevated in quality. Each story was super different, but they were kind of like wandering soul-type themes. They had some really good humor, especially Three Robots, those guys were really funny and the end of it has a fun twist.

Then they have some episodes that are kind of like a comic-book style animation and it's really fun to watch. (Episodes: Suits and Zima Blue) Suits reminds me a lot of Into the Spiderverse for its animation, but its story reminds me of A Quiet Place. Zima Blue is kind of 2-D-ish and its retro which is a lot of fun, the color and story of it is really deep.

You have a few episodes that seem kind of like anime, but they're not. (Episodes: Sucker of Souls and Good Hunting) These episodes were really unique because they did have a very strong anime-feel to them, but they were still different. They weren't the over-the-top dramatic fashion that like normal Japanese anime has, but almost kinda like Avatar: The Last Airbender anime, if you know what I'm talking about. I really enjoyed them, they were really artistic. Sucker of Souls was a bit graphic and dark, while Good Hunting was graphic in it's own sense with nudity both male and female. It was definitely steampunk inspired to my eye, which I liked.

Then there is one or two episodes that are straight-up 2-D animation, which was fun for the episode it covered. (Episodes: Alternate Histories and When The Yogurt Took Over) These episodes were really funny and reminded me a lot of like the quickdraw animated style you see in YouTube videos or on Snapchat. They were pretty funny and light-hearted for the most part, but definitely strange and weird in a fun way. Super quirky.

Then they had a single episode that had live action in it. Topher Grace and a fellow actress were responding to an ever changing civilization stuck in this old antique freezer that came with the house they were moving into. I really enjoyed this episode cuz it was just funny and set apart from the others (plus I love Topher Grace cuz of That's 70's Show).

So overall the collection was just really quirky. I wasn't really sure how to feel about it all once I finished it. It was kinda like, "what the hell did I just watch" but at the same time, "they were all really good and I kinda wanna watch it all again." If you're into weird and quirky shows that are different, go for it. Its definitely strange and not something I personally was used to, but I enjoyed it either way. I really appreciate the animation styles the most out of it all and the fact that Netflix was ballsy enough to put something so unique, graphic, and sexual on their platform. Way to go, Netflix.

Soooo...yeah...that's all I got to say about that.

#love death and robots #quirky and weird #but still pretty good #adult animation #animation appreciation #check it out maybe?

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