To-Y: Soundtrack

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Soundtrack

The To-Y anime is best known for its excellent music, with pop and rock songs permeating the action, not merely background music (BGM), but part of the story. The images complement the music just as the music complements the images. In that sense, To-Y functions much like a narrative music video.

If the music in To-Y seems appropriate to match the story and its imagery, perhaps it is because Atsushi Kamijo, while he was researching the underground club scene for To-Y, hung out with the various artists who perform on the soundtrack. Also, much credit must be given to Masaya Matsuura, who was selected to be the anime's music director.

The music director of To-Y was Masaya Matsuura, of Psy-s, a Japanese pop band. Psy-s was most popular in the eighties, is known for its consistency, and has a loyal fan-following. The anime uses several Psy-s songs, and Matsuura also arranged many of the non-Psy-s songs on the soundtrack. Matsuura's recent claim to fame was his role as the music director of Parappa the Rapper, the smash-hit Playstation game.

Most of the songs listed below can be found on the To-Y Original Image Album, which is inaccurately named as it is essentially the anime's soundtrack. Unfortunately, four very excellent songs, Bruce, Teenage, Silent Song, and the Uptown Traffic/Lemon no Yuuki: Special Remix Edit Version, are not on this album. Silent Song can be found on the Psy-s Collection album. Bruce can be found on Hajime Mizoguchi's Oasis-behind the clear water album. The original mix of Teenage can be found on the Psy-s Different View album, but the mix of Teenage used in To-Y has not been released on CD as far as I know, nor has the Uptown Traffic/Lemon no Yuuki remix.

The catalog number for the To-Y Original Image Album is CBS/SONY #32DH 775. More information on this CD can be found at Jerry Hsu's YAACC (Yet another Anime CD Cyclopedia). For fans in Taiwan, or those who like Taiwanese anime products, the To-Y Original Image Album is listed as SM-054, reference number 32DH 775.

Song List (as played in the anime)

1. Lemon no Yuuki/PSY-S[saiz] (Produced by Toru Okada & PSY-S): GASP plays at the Shinjuku Loft. This is the opening song.
2. Mona Park/GONTITI (Produced by GONTITI): The members of GASP hang out at a park after the Loft gig.
3. Uptown Traffic/Kenji Suzuki (Produced by Kenji Suzuki): Yoji records at the studio.
4. Bruce/Hajime Mizoguchi (Produced by Hajime Mizoguchi): Sonoko (Hiderow) records at the studio.
5. Dream Soup/AMOR (Produced by Another PSY-S): Hiderow comes home, finds To-Y and Niya.
6. SANSO/QUJILA (Produced by QUJILA): To-Y and Niya hang out at Hiderow's apartment.
7. Teenage: Edit Version/PSY-S[saiz]: The members of GASP practice music.
8. Lemon no Yuuki theme: To-Y and Niya look at Kato's letter.
9. Bruce/Hajime Mizoguchi (Produced by Hajime Mizoguchi): To-Y, Hiderow, and Niya eat watermelon and see Yoji on television.
10. Radio music and news: Yoji is riding his motorcycle.
11. Silent Song/PSY-S and Barbee Boys (and Nokko!): To-Y and Niya at the Obon festival.
12. Tokei Jikake no Setsuna/ZELDA (Produced by ZELDA & Masahide Sakuma): It is a dark and stormy night.
13. Short Sunzen/Barbee Boys (Produced by Barbee Boys & Akiyoshi Nishioka): Yoji confronts To-Y at a pool hall.
14. Arashi no Ato/ The Street Sliders (Produced by The Street Sliders & Ikuro Meguro): Isami gets mad at To-Y.
15. Kaze no Nakade/Seishiro Kusunose (Produced by Another PSY-S): Niya and To-Y go for a walk in the park.
16. Uptown Traffic/Lemon no Yuuki: Special Remix Edit Version/PSY-S[saiz]: The concerts begin.
17. Cubic Lovers/PSY-S[saiz] (Produced by Toru Okada and PSY-S): To-Y and Niya walk as the closing credits scroll.

*A translation of Lemon no Yuuki can be found here.

To-Y: The (Almost) Perfect Collection

This CD (produced by Fred Leggett) includes To-Y songs not included on the official soundtrack. For more information, see the CD liner notes.

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Last updated on May 10th, 2000
Lawrence Eng
leng@cjas.org