GeGeGe no Kitaro: Sennen Noroi Uta Original Soundtrack (A J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

July 29, 2008 by Dennis Amith 

“The latest soundtrack for the latest live action “‘GeGeGe no Kitaro’ film features a combination of Japanese rock/electric guitar driven themes, symphonic orchestra and Japanese traditional instrument driven tracks.”

MUSIC BY: Takanashi Yasuharu with Konstantin D. KRIMETS and the Moscow International Symphonic Orchestra

ALBUM TITLE: GeGeGe no Kitaro: Sennen Noroi Uta Original Soundtrack

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-23641

DURATION: 50:59

RELEASE DATE: n/a

1. 千年呪い
2. ゲゲゲの鬼太郎
3. 空へ
4. ねずみ男
5. 妖怪図書館にて
6. 地下に蠢くもの
7. 旅立ち〜古の楽器を求めて
8. Tanu☆Festa
9. さとり〜心の隙間
10. 楓〜愛のテーマ
11. 逆鳴らしの呪方
12. アダージョ／トリオ・ソナタ
13. ぬらりひょんのレクイエム〜真実
14. 秘めた想い
15. 生還〜鬼太郎の決意
16. いざゆかん
17. 地下での戦い
18. 夜叉〜修羅の妖怪
19. 君を信じて
20. 甦るガシャドクロ
21. 海人〜愛しい人へ
22. ガシャドクロ暴走
23. 祈り〜呪いは愛に
24. 風の人

“GeGeGe no Kitarou” is somewhat iconic in Japan. Created back in 1959 by Mizuki Shigeru, the manga series has spawned anime, video game, tv dramas and live-action films.

The series is primarily about a boy named Kitaro, a yokai (supernatural being, ghost, monster, etc.) born from the cemetery. Known for his features of his hair covering an eye socket (he is missing his left eye) and he and other yokai’s fight for peace between the humans and the yokai.

In 2006, the first live-action film to star WaT member Wentz Eiji and actress Tanaka was released. The film did well and warranted a second film. This time the subject was the “1,000 Year Curse” and came out in theaters on July 12, 2008.

The soundtrack was released on July 9th and would feature 24 tracks by Takanashi Yasuharu, known for his musical works for anime such as “Naruto Shipuuden”, “Ikkitousen”, “New Fist of the North Star”, “Hell Girl” “Gantz” and many more anime, video game and drama series.

The soundtrack features a total of 24 songs with 23 of the songs featured are instrumental with the exception of track 2 which is the well-known “GeGeGe no Kitaro” theme song.

The music features a balance of rock/heavy electric guitar themes, symphonic orchestra and traditional Japanese influenced music.

Songs such as “Sora e” (track 3) feels like a BGM from a major Japanese RPG video game series. While tracks such as “Tanu☆Festa” (track feels like a track from the animated film “Akira” but with hard-rock transitions.

But the majority of the tracks are orchestral/traditional Japanese music-based and are quite beautiful

The orchestral music was done by the Moscow International Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Konstantin D. KRIMETS.

The theme song “Kaze Tachinu” sung by Nakamura Ataru is not featured on this album nor is an instrumental version.

As for the CD insert, a standard bi-fold with production credits, small movie stills and a flyer promoting Nakamura Ataru’s CD single.

I understand that chances of many people seeing this live-action film outside of Japan are possibly slim.

But like any film, where beautiful music can set up the atmosphere, may it be beautiful or dark, happy or sad, it depends on the listener, if the soundtrack resonates with the listener and warrants that purchase.

I listen to a lot of soundtracks, review many soundtrack for films, anime, musicals and opera that I have not watched or probably watch many years later but I fall in love with the music first.  Based on the music alone, I can say that the music for “GeGeGe: Sennen Noroi Uta” is beautiful and enchanting.

I was surprised that there is no hint of the theme song by Nakamura Ataru included on this album. Most often you would get an instrumental version or remixed version of the original song but “Kaze Tachinu” is not on this album.

But regardless of the theme song not being included in any way, the fact that the “GeGeGe no Kitaro” theme is included will satisfy fans of the series.

Overall, this soundtrack is quite beautiful and for those who are fans of Takanashi Yasuharu’s work or fans of the live-action film may want to give this soundtrack a listen!

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