Review By: Matti K.Movie: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
Music by: Michiru Oshima
Record label: Toho Music
Running time: 76:49
Discs: 1
Year of release: 2010
Review: ****1/2/*****
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Michiru Oshima returns for her second score in the Godzilla series, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (or GXMG), which is contained on the third disc of the sixth Godzilla Perfect Collection box. The end result is a brilliant piece of work from the composer.
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There’s just no doubt about it. GXMG is Oshima’s best score in the series by far. A lot of the credit for that goes to the fact that the score was actually recorded outside Japan with a bigger orchestra in Moscow. As a result, the music sounds richer and more powerful than any of the other scores in the Godzilla series, with probably one exception being The Return of Godzilla, which also had a symphonic sound. Just about every track on this soundtrack is excellent and very memorable. Oshima’s Godzilla theme from Godzilla vs. Megaguirus is back and sounds better than ever. Of course, there are many new themes here. The biggest highlight of the score is arguably the theme of Kiryu (Mechagodzilla). It sounds really majestic and stands as a good contender for the best theme composed for the character. The Kiryu Squadron has its own excellent march, which is heard in tracks like “Intensive Training” and “Mobilization”. Akane Yashiro, thefilm’s main human character played by Yumiko Shaku, is given a very heroic theme in “Akane’s Great Effort” and “Akane’s Resilience”, as well as a more soothing theme, heard for example in “Sara’s Shorea Plant”, which is one of the best tracks of this score. There’s also a nice battle theme in the two “Intense Fighting” tracks. Another cue worth mentioning is “Leaving School”, which sounds quite reminiscent of John Williams’ work in the Harry Potter series.
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As for the extra content, there’s nothing overly exciting. The first bonus track is an edited version of “Akane’s Great Effort~Kiryu’s Construction” with a slightly different beginning as heard in the movie. The rest of the bonus tracks are outtakes of selected cues that don’t yet have the grand symphonic sound as the finished score. Still, they’re interesting to listen to just to compare them with the versions utilized in the movie. Of course, this disc doesn’t contain the sound effects that were included on the previous CD, but they can be found elsewhere, so it’s not a huge loss.
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The booklet has a really nice picture of Godzilla on the front cover and images of Yumiko Shaku and Kumi Mizuno on the back. Aside from the usual track notes and other stuff, there’s a profile of Michiru Oshima, as well as an interview with the composer.
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All in all, the soundtrack of GXMG is just fantastic from start to finish, and it’s given a great presentation on this CD release. Anyone who doesn’t have this soundtrack yet should definitely consider getting the sixth Godzilla soundtrack box set.
