62757


The anime Akai Kiba: Blue Sonnet debuted in 1989. The soundtrack Rock Symphony
BLUE SONNET was published in 1982 [1]. I understand that the manga was
published starting in 1981, but Manga usually do not get soundtracks.

Why does the soundtrack predate the anime by so many years? Is it even related
to the anime?

[1] <https://vgmdb.net/album/48805>


CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-25T19:43:30.853
62603
2021-05-14T05:31:57.250
22562
question
music
Why does the Blue Sonnet soundtrack predate the anime by seven years?


**Because _Rock Symphony BLUE SONNET_ is actually an _image album_ , not a
soundtrack album.** They are not related to the OVA.

The [Japanese
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%85%E3%81%84%E7%89%99#%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%83%90%E3%83%A0)
categorized it as an image album.

> ### Image Album
>
> * * *
>
>   * Rock Symphony BLUE SONNET (1982)
>   * Rock Symphony BLUE SONNET II
>   * BLUE SONNET III Ballade
>   * BLUE SONNET IV DESERT CITY
>

According to [a Japanese blog article by
joelover](https://joelover.hateblo.jp/entry/isd), for image albums, quoting a
book by Joe Hisashi,

> > The image album precedes the soundtrack. The clues are the illustrations
> and words that convey the image of the work. The image album is created
> based on these images.
>>

>> (Quoted from _I am - Faraway Music Road -_ by Joe Hisaishi, 1992, p. 37)

Compared to the soundtrack,

> A soundtrack often refers to the actual music used in a play. Recently, the
> term OST (Original Sound Track) is also used to indicate that it is the
> music accompanying a play.

So, _Rock Symphony BLUE SONNET_ and its subsequent image albums are original
audio works made specifically to capture the image of the world of _Blue
Sonnet_ series.

In conclusion, the OVA was made to adapt the manga series, but the image
albums were made to expand the story instead. They are not related to each
other, both production-wise and purpose-wise.

* * *

For direct comparison, taken from Joe Hisashi's own works for Ghibli
production, _Princess Mononoke_ has both image album and soundtrack album:

  * [_Princess Mononoke_ Image Album](https://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002RN9BI)
  * [_Princess Mononoke_ Soundtrack](https://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000058A7J)

* * *

See also:

  * [Wikipedia - Image song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_song)

* * *


CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-13T08:12:32.243
62757
2021-05-14T05:31:57.250
2021-05-14T05:31:57.250
2516
2516
62603
answer