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the first OST (Original Soundtrack) for the site was almost certainly going to be something related to Shiro Sagisu, and through him, Bleach. on ⏪︎ rewind i wanted to take the time to revisit the first movie of the first anime that truly hooked me into Japanese music. Bleach was a total mind shot to me back in the day, not to mention the ever-consistent and beautiful and mesmerizing music of the anime’s longtime (and the industry as well) composer, Shiro Sagisu. particularly this film, which centers around melancholic autumn-time themes of ennui, memories, loss, and the deeper pool of associated experiences. it’s a haunting film in some spaces and hits well above its monetarily based duties. while i’m not here to talk on the film, it is important to touch on it; we are talking about its soundtrack after all. Shiro Sagisu is a longtime and well-celebrated composer in this realm, but his work on this movie in particular strikes a unique chord, even among the great varieties of his long library of work. it’s not just the movie alone that lingers long after its brutish shounen fight scenes and credits, but the quiet and contemplative moments in between, and the music that subtly lifts the whole thing far beyond. it may be the story that tells us what to feel, but it’s the music that shows us how. Memories of Nobody OST is one of Sagisu’s best works, and that is saying something.
i’m reminded of all the love Hans Zimmer or Nobuo Uematsu get for their works in their respective fields of film and video games; to me, Sagisu is this for anime. particularly his breadth of styles across the whole runtime of Bleach (366+ episodes and 4 movies). each arc and era find their own signature to write up the series. and anybody could tell you that Bleach has style, yes, but arguably, most of all, for its music. an impressive feat. in this film, Sagisu taps into music that feels earthen, mysterious, ghostly, ancient. there are huge influences from the operatic to simple Spanish guitar. i think the range in instrumentation and representation is impressive enough as it is, especially coming from one man. yet tying all these pieces together into one package that not only feels evocative, but harmonious, is on a whole other level. there is a clear reverence for all styles and forms of music, and it plays well into this one OST.
my favorite songs come from the ones that may feel like the most obtuse to a teen of 14. when i had first heard these songs, i knew something was new, something was different. the album in total has some pretty wild range; some are callback refreshes to already established and loved music from the show, and some are necessary background tracks to the intense battle scenes. what i really want to look at is the other third of the music. it’s the place that i feel Sagisu had the wiggle room to truly express his work. tracks like “Senna” and “Shadows Close in” and “Perishing One” effectively set the album beyond just a job for a movie. they really put a line in the sand about where this music will be going, how it will be framed for the album. they have a desperate, ominous feeling to them, one that far exceeds the capability of the villains in the film. outplayed. even the later tracks like “Ceremony Commences” and “Will Save You” are disparate and desolate pieces that build a deep dread of something wicked. the core of the album exists in this exotic and primal sound structure that not only echoes in the music, but also long after the music has stopped. Sagisu builds an atmosphere truly unlike anything i’ve heard before, and it only builds into something greater. these songs set a necessary atmosphere but never toil too much in their own shadows. if anything, i wish there was more. these songs bring up vivid imagery and emotions of things i don’t quite know.
it’s in the last portion of the album that really seals the magic of Sagisu’s work. delving into the contemplative and the overly romantic and dramatic, the humanity of it all, the themes tie perfectly back into itself and the film. “Always be with me in mind” has Catherine Bott’s soprano over swinging strings and subdued orchestrals. it becomes the moment that one stops taking this as a simple cash-out effort and realizes that there is something special happening. Sagisu did not have to put in this kind of effort. yet here we are. “Always be with me in mind” is the kind of song i’ll put on after an exhausting week, crack a bottle of wine, and enjoy a nice long shower to. sure, that’s my appropriation of the song, but only because there is a harmony and nurturing sort of presence in Bott’s performance. as well, “Into The Fire” continues this streak in a conclusionary tone. Bott once more shows her prowess, owning the piece as the orchestration builds and bellows into eventual nirvana. it could be the movie, it could be my dusty and cobwebbed 14-year-old emotionism, it could be Catherine Bott’s lovely voice; however, the song has an equally chilling and warming sensation to it. even now i find myself as entranced as ever to this beautiful song. coming off this is “Into The Fire (Guitar Version),” a necessary comedown, with simplistic Spanish guitar trickling away, the song caps the whole album into a gentle finality.
somewhere, sometime, is a much younger version of myself, curled up in an armchair at 2am in November, long after the world has gone to sleep, finishing this alluring concept of a film to an anime i loved. sure, the film had all the right action and fan service to excite me from start to end, but something else had stuck. it was the ponderous, deeply sad nature of the story. of feelings i did not know, and would not know for a long time to come. feelings that are charged by Sagisu’s brilliant composition, by his ability to trek into the less visited parts of music. to introduce such music to a wider audience, to make it feel seamless, to make it work. Even after 20 full years, i think about this album often, and i think it worth revisiting again here, on a website i made to bring more of this music to others. it is just one of many, but an important one. and if there was one album to step into Sagisu’s work, for me, it is his work on Memories of Nobody.
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Highlights
Into The Fire
Always be with me in mind
Perishing One
Will Save You
Ceremony Commences
Always Be With Me In Mind (Instrumental)
Into The Fire (Guitar Version)
Tracklist
State of Emergency
Rush to the Scene
Number One (Versione Filmologia)
Always be with me in mind
Eerie Blank
Into the Storm
Senna
Shadows Close in
Perishing One
Blast!
Will Save You
Turn The Tables
Dark One
Nothing Anymore
Ceremony Commences
Number One (Malicious Gravy MC)
Come to Lend a Hand
Frenzied Battle
Fight to the Death
Tables Have Turned
Showdown
Climax And Annihilation of the World
Into The Fire
Always Be With Me In Mind (Instrumental)
Into The Fire (Guitar Version)
