Music is vital to anime, but re-mixed, re-processed and re-packaged versions of anime music aimed at the mass market weaken the initial appeal of anime scores. Granted, the audience for Cartoon Network's "Deep Space Bass" CD release, which includes hip-hoppified renditions of music from shows in the network's Toonami block, is children. And, granted, re-mixes aren't inherently unappealing. The "Cowboy Bebop" remixes are among the most inventive musical departures from original anime scores. But the tepid electronica momentum of "Deep Space Bass" alienates adult fans of Toonami shows - a potential market for such a release - that are looking for more than deep bass in their space.
Laudably, Cartoon Network was one of the first to recognize and respond to the demand for Japanese animation. Their movement to integrate a gradually increasing number of anime titles into their programming has benefited the fans as well as the medium itself by expanding awareness of the true possibilities of animation and confirming that the audience for it exists. Needless to say, the station enjoyed increased overall ratings and tapped into an immense source of new revenue.
One of the ways in which they choose to broaden the economic scope of this endeavor is to create a CD which borrows excerpts from the various anime series now housed in their personal animation library and infuses them with trendy, low-grade techno rhythms. The network originally used these mixes as lead-ins to and commercial breakaways from the shows. The result was not unappealing. But what succeeds as a concentrated and layered production confined to a sharply limited time slot of no more than a few seconds, proves disastrous when drawn out.
"Deep Space Bass," therefore, does not reflect the essence of the original scores. The soundtrack to a Japanese animated feature is as stylistic and unique as its characters, composed to embody the underlying feel of the story to which it is married. The CD's sole intent is to make money. By playing off of the popularity of the action block, the company is free to make a low-budget production with mundane orchestration.
The nearly unintelligible opening narration, overwhelmed in an echo effect lathered onto the words like an excessive condiment, is an accurate foreshadowing of the tracks to follow. While a decent beat or intriguing effect periodically surfaces through the clutter of noise, any evidence of clever ingenuity is sparing and inconsistent.
A worthwhile beginning quickly falls into a loop that waxes tiresome if not tortuously repetitive. The mood, meanwhile, is equally immutable. Each track maintains the same steady, ominousness throughout. And ranging from a mild, leisurely pace to the low, weary notes akin to a mechanical toy winding down, these techno riffs lack the energy to render them truly danceable.
Despite the company's admirable history of good intent, it is recommended that Cartoon Network's Toonami CD not be considered an adequate sampler of music from the network's popular titles in anime. Realistically, it is no more than an over-inflated cash-in on youth culture.
