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Samurai Girl: Realbout Highschool Official Soundtrack

When I think “music review” I often think about phrases such as “tonal quality” or “temponic syncopation.” Immediately after, I think “boring” and “why am I reading this?” Rest assured that you will never find such phraseology and baffle-gab in one of my music reviews. Instead, I’ll use words like “bitchin’!” and “cool.” I know what I like, and I like what I hear.

Samurai Girl: Realbout Highschool, so recently released in North America has also had an official soundtrack released. Even without seeing an episode of the anime, you’ll be able to appreciate the music. Total playing time is over 75 minutes spaced across 40 tracks, and includes two vocal pieces. The average track length is about 120 seconds, but they range anywhere from 10 to nearly 300 seconds. And to say the tracks are eclectic is almost an understatement. Some music could quite easily fit into a videogame, but then there are others that could be applied to big budget movies – I’m not kidding, they’re that good.

Style is all over the place. The tunes move from samba beat to hoe down to love story to dramatic marching in as many tracks. However, that being said, it still didn’t grate on my nerves. (The move from midi to orchestral didn’t bother me either.) While the transitions are jarring sometimes, more often tracks complement each other. There’s a good balance between tension filled pieces and easy going (or happy) tracks, so it really does make good background music – especially when you’re driving and imaging you’re in some other dimension that has outlawed people that drive too slow. The emphasis on piano tunes makes for some relaxing listening too. I should also note, that the titles for each track make it clear (in most cases) what style you're about to hear. (For example: "Do It Again" = techno, "Western Cactus" = ode to the theme from Gunsmoke but with more banjos, "Butterflies - fragile beauties = soft piano music.)

If you listen carefully, you’ll probably recognize some of the tunes as they seem to be lifted from other artists. Track 15 is all Bond, James Bond, (Goldeneye to be precise) but there’s also a little twist to it, that makes it recognizable and easy to listen to.

The quality of the playback will be somewhat affected by your stereo equipment, but even on a simple two-speaker PC it manages to be clear and without washout or a dip in audio levels. Put this CD into a system that rocks, and you can blow the doors off with a few of the tunes.

As for capturing the action from the show, the soundtrack does just that. It shows the ups, the downs, and the conflicts with other-dimensional beings. If you enjoyed the music from the show, even just a little, you might want to consider buying this soundtrack. For fans, you should buy this without question. It’s got a bit of everything in just the right blend to make it an enjoyable listening experience even over long periods of time.

- Omni

(May 27, 2002)