 |
Title |
Mothra 3 |
International Title |
Rebirth of Mothra III |
Music By: Toshiyuki
Watanabe |
Record Label:
Toshiba EMI |
|  |
Running Time: 49:54 |
Discs: 1 |
Release: November 1998 |
CD Number: TYCY-10002 |
|
Comments |
 |
Anthony
Romero |  |
|
|
Toshiba's
first release of the score for Rebirth of Mothra III,
done under their Futureland brand, is a single disc presentation
that does well to highlight the best aspects of Toshiyuki
Watanabe's work for the film. Watanabe himself has
definitely improved as a composer as well, showing a good
deal of progress since he took on the first entry in the
trilogy, Rebirth
of Mothra (1996).
It's debatable which is the
best offering, musical, in the series, but general consensus
is definitely in favor of either the second or third.
Watanabe's themes aren't just effective in context either
as a number of cues on this release work well as a stand
alone experience, such as "Risk Your Life" and
"The Appearance of the Armored Warrior". "The
Last Battle" is also a wonderful update of Watanabe's
original theme for Mothra Leo; the improvement of which,
both in terms of composition and the size of the orchestra,
are instantly noticeable when directly compared to its
use in the first movie. The stand out track on this disc,
though, is actually a song done by lead actress Megumi
Kobayashi, as her melody to send Mothra back in time ("Haora
Mothra") is a wonderful track that starts out with
a very soothing pace before increasing in its energetic
tempo. From a personal stand point, it's my favorite Mothra
song without contest.
It should be noted that this disc is identical to the
later ADV release in terms of music selection and running
time. As for a recommendation of which to get, casual
consumers would probably be best advised to get the ADV
disc. The reasons for which are simply that it's far cheaper
than Toshiba's offerings, while it has the same musical
selection of this disc which covers the best aspects of
the score while avoiding repetition. It goes without saying
then that more "dedicated" collectors should
stick with the mult-disc set (TYCY-10004/5).
This unfortunately leaves this disc without much to recommend
about it. It does have some exclusive CD-Rom content,
but this is in the form of simply displaying the cover
shot and a trailer for the film, which is presented in
Quicktime in either 240 pixels wide or 320 pixels wide
presentations (and if you forgot how awful web videos
looked in 1998, these heavily pixilated and bulky 12-20MB
tracks give a good demonstration of how far we have come). As a bit of superficial praise, this release does have the best cover of any of the Rebirth of Mothra III soundtrack releases, with a great contrast between Armor Mothra in the front and King Ghidorah's three heads in the background. Its also one of the few times that one can see Mothra Leo correctly identified as a male in the short English blurb on the front of the cover.
Overall, this is a good score but the release is overshadowed by superior offerings found on CD either that are more complete or are offered at a lower price.
Rating:  |
| Tracks |
- Opening - The Legend is Set Free
- The Eerie Swarm of Meteors
- The Strange Meteorite
- The Mothra Song
By: Megumi Kobayashi, Misato Tate
- The Second Coming of the Greatest Foe
- The Appearance of Mothra
- Meeting with Mothra
- The Sound of the Blade of Sadness
- Decision - Journey through Space and Time
- Haora Mothra (Moll vers.)
By: Megumi Kobayashi
- One Last Request
- Soaring High 130 Million Years Ago
- The Strange Dome
- Cretaceous Battle 1
- Risk Your Life
- Cretaceous Battle 2
- Haora Mothra (Lora vers.)
By: Misato Tate
- Requiem
- The Return of King Ghidorah
- The Tragic Battle
- The Appearance of the Armored Warrior
- The Last Battle
- The Last Metamorphosis
- The Power of the Legend
- Ending - Touch My Heart
| |