Artist: 井筒昭雄 (Akio Izutsu)
Album: 「ラスト・フレンズ」オリジナル・サウンドトラック (Last Friends Original Soundtrack)
Release Date: June 11, 2008

I’m sure the people who are better at Japanese than I am will lol at my attempt to translate the Katakana. I FAILS. Stuff I couldn’t figure out is still romanized. XD I had fun with it. Yes, this is all instrumental. Thanks Mogchang for the lovely corrections <3

1. イーチ・リビング (Each Living)
The opening track of this soundtrack starts off with a soft piano solo and some long tones in the background of the bright melody. The long tones sometimes add a bit of dissonance to the sound, which I find rather interesting. However, the opening is short, and the song quickly turns to a more upbeat with the bass and percussion added in. The combination is a soft, but flowing sound from the orchestra. The strings add a bit of a floating feeling to the overall sound and the guitars add a bit of bounciness to the legato strings. The combination is absolutely gorgeous. The song calms again and focuses on the strings, then turns to a solo section for the piano, which is so beautifully and delicate played, then the song changes again to feature a rhythmic guitar solo with percussion to bring back the upbeat side of the song before ending with the guitars fading off slightly.

2. グッド・フェローズ (Good Fellows)
The second track begins with a focus on guitars and light synths in the background. This upbeat song slowly adds the bass, then piano to write a nice effect between the repeated sequences between the different instruments, all playing their own rhythm and melody. The piano soon takes over the main melody as everything drives on lightly underneath it. The strings soon add a dramatic section where they play louder, stacatto notes over everything else, but quickly goes back into the sweeping long tones.

3. エターナル・コース (Eternal Course)
This next song goes into a darker sound with the lower strings playing a dramatic staccato note while there’s strange scratching notes over it. The song quickly turns a bit brighter as the strings and something else plays a more hopeful tune. This song has a tumping bass and percussion line, but somehow I don’t like it as much as the previous two when the percussion and clapping gets it’s own section. It’s rhythmnic, but it somehow feels somewhat monotone. Somewhere near the end, it turns somewhat into dance sound with the heavy synths, then turns into a celtic song with the bagpipe-sounding instruments. I’m not quite sure

4. マインド・ベンダー (Mind Bender)
This song is known as the “SOUSUKE-IS-STALKING-YOU SONG”. Nevertheless, it is a brilliant composition. It starts off with haunting xylophone with light synths. The percussion comes in and out of the song and the keyboard has a haunting echo. Small vocals are added in the background to simply sing “Ah”s in the background, and she sounds quite creepy in this song. My favourite part is about halfway through when really dissonant sounds come in over the percussion in the “SOUSUKE-IS-HITTING-SOMEONE” part of the song as the synths play a frantic melody over the beat of the song (Which has also changed to sound more frantic). Then the song quickly calms as the light keyboard plays detached notes, then disapears for a short xylophone solo which ends the song. Creepy.

5. スパイラル・ハート (Spiral Heart)
It’s it know as the minor “LA LA LA LA LA” song of the series, also known as “SOMETHING SINISTER IS GOING ON” as the female vocals hauntingly taunts us with her creepy solo. Amusingly, the song quickly turns into a bright string piece as the song turns into a major key and the vocals turn a bit flat in the song. Then the strings go back into the same key the soloish started off with (But without said vocalist) before going back into the major. The major parts are gorgeous and very pretty, while the minor key is absolutely creepy. I personally find the female vocalist is really lacking in the major parts as she sounds really uninterested. It works in the minor key, but not in the major. This song is also a bit too long for my liking as it mostly repeats the same formula for most of the track.

6. オン・オフ (On Off)
Akio brings in a rockish track for the next two minutes, and it’s absolutely catchy. The electric guitar solo is played with energy, an small little gasps are added in random parts of the track.

7. ディア・フレンズ (Dear Friends)
Gorgeous right from the beginning with the acoustic guitar. It is probably the most pleasant song so far. It has a bit of a jazz keyboard accompanying the song. The gorgeous mix of keyboard, strings, bass and acoustic guitar and quite lovely in this track. This is probably one of those songs you could easily turn into a vocal track if you wanted to. I love the keyboard and flute duet.

8. インナー・サークル (Inner Circle)
The next track starts off with minor piano notes that create a slight haunting feeling. I’m pretty sure most of you would recognize this song if you listened to it because it was so widely used in epic scenes. The higher chords are soon accompanied by lower ones. The piano composition following it is just really awesome. It a repeated sequence, but it really does sound rather irregular in time signature and are played in an interesting stacatto rhythm, while the strings over it sweep through the song over it, sometimes playing short notes themselves. The higher notes come back, then some in the middle octave with a rather catchy synth line goes through. Soon the strings section deliver a really epic performance in a dramatic section of this song before ending on several notes.

9. レイジー・デイズ (Lazy Days)
Harmonica starts off this next song is a bit of a country-flavoured, but it has a bit of a gospel sound afterwards when an organ-sound comes in with short sequences, then stops, then starts again. Eventually, the organ accompaniment becomes continuous and the harmonica comes in with some jazzy notes.

10. リトル・シャイン (Little Shine)
Beautiful acoustic guitar and flute start off this song. The flute starts off with high notes, then goes into lower, mellow notes as the guitar plucks away. This particular song is more of a “feel good” track with the very pleasant sounds. And of course, how can a flutist resist the sound of the flute? XDDD (Yes, I’m lame XD). This song is simplistic, yet very gorgeous. The flute is played lightly but with a bit of flare, and gorgeous tone and vibrato.

11. ブラインド・リマインダー (Blind Reminder)
Long notes start off this song and it has rather chilling feeling as they mostly start assonant, but quickly turn dissonant. Lower strings start an epic moving line under everything, while the higher strings start playing a haunting melody over it. It’s a rather gorgeous melody, while rather chilling. The executing of the fast moving notes are crisp and together. I really love the section where the high strings are playing the repeated notes in the background, but are doing an amazing job at the accents in the background. That is pretty awesome, especially if you were a band student, and your conductor drilled these kind of concepts of pulse into your head <3. Short, but effective.

12. スナップ・ショット (Snapshot)
A piano solo starts off this next song, and it sounds gorgeous, and does the rallentendos gorgeously at the end of the phrases. Acoustic guitar soon accompanies it with… MORE FLUTE. Mmmm yum. In any case, this song is GORGEOUS and probably one of my favourite songs when I was watching Last Friends. It’s very melodic, gentle, and played with such musicality and emotion. The blend between the parts is gorgeous and the harmonies are gorgeous. I love the clarinet solo, and just about everything in this track. Absolutely gorgeous composition and execution of the song.

13. アイコール・ユアネーム (I Call Your Name)
The next song has a lounge electronica sound at the beginning with the very laid-back feel of the song and the light synths and keyboard with a light bass sound. The jazzy feel of the whole this is really quite nice. I love the flute playing long notes, while the guitar and the keyboard each take their turn on a solo. The percussion and bass really drive this light song along into a light, but enjoyable experience.

14. メモリー・レイク (Memory Lake)
Minor sounds start off this next song as the clarinet plays with the piano with rather dissonant and minor sounds in the next piece. It sound really creepy as it suddenly ends with a few seconds of silence, then the instruments come back into the song in a major key, and really blow me away with a gorgeous sound. The instruments mostly play longer tones here, but the harmonies between the instruments are absolutely gorgeous.

15. コールド・ブレイン (Cold Brain)
Haunting piano notes start off this song, while the strings play a dramatic but quiet note-repeated sequence under it before going into a slightly louder and higher long tone section. Small dissonances come into the song as it goes into the next section where the percussion and bass comes in to add a rather haunting and dramatic section of the song. The combination of the strings and piano are absolutely chiling as the strings are ever so dramatic, but the piano remains slightly monotone and emotionless under it. The combination is absolutely awesome.

16. フレンド・シップ (Friendship)
Another beautiful piece comes in with gorgeous string section and a light piano playing the main melody. The mix of flute, string, clarinet and piano is absolutely gorgeous. They play a very melodic, flowing song that I absolutely adore and of which I remember liking quite a bit on the show. It has a sort of hopeful, light air to it.

17. ドロップ・モーション (Drop Motion)
Nearing the end of the soundtrack lies this gem. It features a gorgeous acoustic guitar solo that is upbeat and slightly edgy with light percussion in the background. I absolutely adore acoustic guitar melodies as they’re usually in the background being plucked in some repeated rhythm or being strummed in most of the songs I listen to (UNLESS YOU’RE DEPAPEPE, THEN YOU’RE DOING ALL OF THE ABOVE). This song is upbeat, but immensely calming.

18. シークレット・ポエッツ (Secret Poet)
More gorgeous solo piano work, accompanied by a light harp work playing arpeggios in ther background while strings play one dramatic note pizzicato in the background. The single piano playing by itself is absolutely gorgeous, and when the addition accompaniment come in, they really add to the song. The song itself ends with the solo piano once again.

19. ブランニュー・シーズン (Brand New Season)
Another bright song comes in with strummed guitar and some light synth sound in the background. The strummed guitar and the background vocalists really making this sound like it’s an instrumental for some vocal song, and we’re just missing the main vocalist. I’m serious. Either way, this song is pleasant, but the background vocalists really amuse me.

20. レッド・ストリングス (Red Strings)
The final original song by Akio is a gorgeous sweeping string ballad. First thing I think: absolutely gorgeous. The strings are played with so much emotion. It’s quickly accompanied by some percussion and bass to make it a bit more upbeat sounding.

21. Prisoner Of Love (Inst.Ver.)
Anyone who has seen the Last Friends drama knows how bloody amazing this rendition of Prisoner of Love is. It starts with a solo piano, which just breaks your heart from the moment it starts playing. The playing is just so amazing and played with precision and emotion. The slight dynamics are gorgeous. Strings add themselves lightly to the song before they swell in dynamics as the chorus comes near. The piano adds a bit of flavour with lovely phrasing and plays with a bit of bounce, while the strings add elegance with the long, legato notes underneath the piano. I absolutely love this rendition of Prisoner of Love; Akio interprets and arranges the original song so amazingly.

Overall -
Favourite Track: スナップ・ショット (Snap Set)
Akio Izutsu has composed an excellent soundtrack for such an enjoyable drama. The music really sets so many moods and the composer has created a variety of pleasant, haunting and just plain enjoyable instrumental tracks for the drama. I was immensely excited to hear this soundtrack, and to learn that it was a complete instrumental album. There is some gorgeous instrumental compositions and playing in this album. Some of the tracks do fall short of expectations, but overall, I really enjoy this album as it creates so many moods so effectively and shows that Akio is a rather varied composer.

Artist: Various Artists
Album/Single: They Kiss Again OST (惡作劇2吻)
Release Date: December 28, 2007

1. 幸福合作社 (范曉萱/Mavis Fan)
In contrast to the previous series opening theme, this is a more light-hearted and cute. I really like how Mavis Fan is singing. She sings with a lot of character and flare, which isn’t common for many Cpop singers. She doesn’t come across as a typical pop artist either. She makes good use of dynamics in her performance. The arrangement of this song could use more work as it gets messy at times, but Fan’s interpretation and presentation of this song is where all the attention is directed.

2. 你 (林依晨/Ariel Lin)
The opening of this song is a dead giveaway that Lin sang this in character (this is also the ending theme, just to note). Needless to say, the little vocal opening and speaking are more annoying and useless than anything else. When the actual song is underway though, it turns out to be quite a nice ballad. Lin kind of puts a cute spin on the song, shown especially in the verses. I really like the pre-chorus though, and it leads into the choruses very nicely. The choruses are also quite pretty as well. I love the accompaniment of the song during the choruses. Lin doesn’t have the best vocal ability though, and if she sang with more resonance and included more phrasing, then it would have made the musical aspect of the song more beautiful.

3. 忠於原味 (鄭元暢/Joe Cheng)
At this point, it’s turning out to be more of a character image song collection, although this song seems practically out of character for Cheng. If you don’t like cutesy songs (especially sung by males), I would advise you to avoid this song, because it’s probably the cutest song on the whole album. It actually sounds more like a theme song to some children’s TV show (save for the lyrics – which are in character). There really isn’t much else to say about the song itself, as it is fairly one-dimensional. Cheng himself doesn’t particularly have the best vocals, though for a song like this, his singing ability is probably the last thing you would key in on (and he tries, you can tell).

4. Be Your Superman (純表演)
This song is probably the closest you will come to the songs from the first series. It’s a midtempo pop song with an attempt to incorporate very light R&B into the song. The vocalist is not too bad, and he has a sort of raspy, smooth voice that suits the song well. He isn’t another monotone pop star either, and he does try to phrase and add dynamics to his vocal part. The bridge has some pretty high notes, and he struggles during that section a bit, but overall, I thought he wasn’t that bad. The brass section at the end was unexpected, but a nice addition.

5. 藏在微笑裡的秘密 (趙詠華/Cyndi Chaw)
The guitar accompaniment to this song is kind of cool and very upbeat. Chaw has a nice voice, and I think he if she focused on her singing a little more (and took a few lessons on projection), she would be a pretty good vocalist. She has a nice vibrato in her lower range, and those are some very nice moments of the song (her higher range could use some work though). The instrumental interlude includes a string section, and brings more character to the song.

6. 你曾經讓我心動 (a Chord)
This is what I call a classic vocal + guitar pop song. I love the very acoustic nature of this song, since the only accompaniment present here is an acoustic guitar. The vocalist is alright. He has his nice moments, but for the most part he sings in a very breathy, light tone and lacks substance. More resonance from his singing would really make this song more impactful and give it a fuller sound. It would also help him control those shaky higher notes. Overall, it’s a very nice song.

7. Heaven (寒 & 五熊)
Well, this is certainly a surprise. Where “It Started With A Kiss” aimed for a full out laidback mid-tempo pop sound, “They Kiss Again” is trying a lot of new things, as seen with this typica pop-rock tune. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that caught my attention as the vocalists are very weak, and they sound like they’re at some random idol audition. The song itself isn’t all that great either, and the the vocalists don’t have enough power to even make the chorus sound like a chorus.

8. 幸福合作社 (Instrumental)
I was kind of upset to see no guitar versions on this album, but the instrumentals are practically that. This one features a manipulated guitar sound playing the melody (I wanted to say distortion, but I’m not sure if that’s the correct term, and I’m pretty sure it isn’t – though there is some distortion later on). I’m not sure I like this instrumental version though. It actually sounds a little more country than I had anticipated, but the guitar soloing sort of took the character out of the song, so I don’t like it as much.

9. 你 (Instrumental)
I really like the different instruments featured on the melody of this song. It starts off with the piano, then the guitar and the strings take on the chorus. What I don’t like about this is that it doesn’t flourish as much as I expected it, and it stays relative mellow throughout. Normally I’d like something like this over the original version, but with the string version come up later, this is almost uninteresting next to it.

10. 藏在微笑裡的秘密 (Instrumental)
Once again, this is basically a guitar version of the original song, and for once, I think I like this version more than the original. It’s mostly because I like the guitar work done on this version, and it’s a little more stylistically pleasing. If you’re ever on a beach on vacation, this is probably the song you want to be tanning to. XD

11. 你 (Strings Version) (林依晨/Ariel Lin)
As mentioned earlier, this strings version of the ending theme is much better. It’s more dramatic and sweeping, which than the original, but it’s done in such a lovely way. I wish it had more of a true sound to the strings though (and that the strings played a bigger role throughout, not just the intro and choruses). The piano does well to support Lin though. When Lin is trying to sing with a fuller voice, it makes all the difference in the world. It’s much more nicer to listen to. Lin’s vocals are still relatively weak and she needs to work on her control, but this is still a huge improvement over the original.

Overall -
Favourite Track: 幸福合作社, 你 (Strings Version)
Early on I said this OST was more like a character image song collection, and I still stand by that. This OST has the cast of the drama more involved, solidifying its status as an idol drama. Naturally, there are pros and cons to approaching an album this way. What I really enjoyed was the increase variety of songs on this album. It offered more styles than the first OST, and kept my interest a bit longer. Unfortunately, not all of the songs were of good quality, leaving me with the impression that it probably could have been left out. Like its predecessor, the vocals weren’t much to praise about, but it was a decent album with nice songs (for the most part).

Artist: Various Artists
Album/Single: It Started With A Kiss OST (惡作劇之吻)
Release Date: October 21, 2005

Note: Once again, I think Chinese is too hard to translate, so I’m leaving it untranslated (unless it was written in English).

1. Dream Waltz
The album begins, not with the theme song, but a cute little waltz tune that was played throughout the show. It’s mostly a piano solo with the support of a string section. It’s played in a very detached manner, giving it a cute atmosphere. It does repeat a few times, but there are variations underlying the main theme.

2. Say U Love Me (Jason & Lara)
Now getting into the vocal work, this is the opening of the series. There’s a certain charm to this song that makes it very enjoyable to listen to. Lara sounds like a kid in her passages which can be kind of annoying, but she does a decent job with her parts. Jason mostly raps, but he does have some singing roles (and man, does he have a low voice), but he does a good job switching between the two to bring together the song. It provides a very laidback style, but it gives serves well as the series themesong.

3. 遇到 (方雅賢 – Fang Ya Xian)
The first of two songs from this vocalist, and I think it’s the better of the two. I find the vocalist lacks tone and she could use more vibrato in a song like this. It’s a very nice ballad however. The accompaniment is very gentle and lovely. The verses flow well into each chorus, and the chorus ends off well. It’s a very sweet song, and establishes helps establish the type of OST this will turn out to be very early on.

4. 愛情海 (葉慶龍)
This guy sings quite well, and carries through nicely for the most part. He has a very warm vibrato and really brings out the character of the song in a very natural way. I don’t really like the song that much though. Although it’s a decent song, it unfortunately sounds like any generic C-pop ballad out there, and the accompaniment has some random sounds from the programming, that sort of ruin the nice mood established by the vocalist.

5. 聼見 (方雅賢 – Fang Ya Xian)
The vocalist from Track 3 makes an earlier reappearance, but doesn’t provide a very good follow up. I find this song highlights her weak vocals even more so this time around. The melody has many more leaps and movement, and she has a hard time nailing them. The song itself isn’t that tasteful either. The accompaniment is a little light playful thing, and doesn’t do well with the overly dramatic mood they tried to establish here. Speaking of dramatic, the whole song gets really annoying because they really did try for something so ridiculously dramatic that it sounds more cheesy than anything else, then put together with her weak vocals, it just didn’t turn out as emotional as it needed to be.

6. Say U Love Me (Guitar Version)
This is the theme song with a cute twist put to it. It surprisingly made for a good guitar solo song.

7. 靠近一點點 (Lara)
Lara is back, and actually, she does sound like a kid. She has a very light voice, but without all the layering this time, she sort of has a pleasant (but cute!) voice. She doesn’t carry through well though, and she sings in a very unsupported way. The song suits her voice well and with better technique, it would have turned out better.

8. 能不能 (Jason & Landy Wen)
Funny, I don’t really remember this song being played in the series. I really love Jason’s voice for some reason. It has a very soothing tone to it. Once again, I like how he incorporates his singing and rapping (though his singing isn’t the strongest). Landy sings her parts decently and gets the job done, but I think Jason once again is the highlight of the song. Jason really feels the rhythms of the song, so in comparison, Landy tends to sound like she’s simply singing her part, and doesn’t seem to be trying very actively to work herself into the song.

9. 全世界的人都知道 (王俞勻)
I really like the keyboard part in the opening of this song. It’s very gentle and nice. The vocalist, like many of the vocalists on this album, has very little support and fairly weak vocals. She sings with a very light, airy voice, which makes her strange in the higher register, and makes her lower range sound breathy and weak. This is a good ballad musically, and keeps the cute sound this album has carried throughout.

10. 和平世界 (guitar version)
I like the Latin-flavour of this song. It has a very laidback feeling to it, and not nearly as short as the previous two instrumental tracks.

11. 後悔 (何書宇)
This song was a little overplayed in the drama itself, so I don’t like it much, plus it has the typical overdramatic C-pop sound to it too. It is better than “聼見” though not by a lot. The vocalist doesn’t have the best voice, but he’s not as unsupported as most of the other vocalists that have already sang. Even though the song is dramatic as well, I can’t help but like the choruses. The verses are pretty dull, but lead well into the emotional chorus, and I think the vocalist does a pretty job of capturing the mood.

12. 惡作劇 (王藍茵)
I really, really like this ending theme. It stays along the lines of the cute mid-tempo ballad stuff that was predominant in album, but it’s much more pleasant I find. The vocalist isn’t amazing, but she sounds like she has the most control over her voice out of all the female vocalists featured here. To make up for her lack of vocal ability, she performs with attention and presents the song. Had she worked on her singing (adding in vibrato here and there), it would have turned out really nicely. The key change seems to come out of nowhere towards the end, but it’s the highlight of the song and the vocalist tries to pour more emotion and power there.

13. Sky (葉慶龍)
I don’t really like this as the closing track of the album, because it’s too much like the rest of the album, so there’s not much to make it stand out. It is sung entirely in English though, and as a treat, it’s by the best vocalist on this album. His English is quite good too. He does a good job with this song as well, but he has too many melismas everywhere, so it kind of takes away from the song quite a bit.

Overall -
Favourite Track: 惡作劇, Sky
For an OST, this turned out to a surprisingly good pop album. A little more variety wouldn’t hurt, but it was a solid album nonetheless, considering it was just a collection of the themes and insert songs from the drama. I was impressed with the vocalists featured on this album, save for one person, but most of them got the job done at the very least, decently.