Discussion Secret Of Mana tracks inspired by Akira's soundtrack?

TheouAegis

Member
I love the Akira soundtrack, but I realized I apparently never listened to certain tracks all the way through. I think I listened to one particular track in its entirety for the first time tonight and when the track ended, I was struck with what I'm wondering may be an epiphany.

Were certain tracks in Secret Of Mana inspired by certain tracks from the Akira soundtrack?

Now, it's entirely possible the similarities were purely coincidental because they were both inspired by Indonesian music. That's what I had assumed all along when I first realized the instrumentation of "Ceremony" from SoM was supposed to be gamelan after hearing "Tetsuo" on the Akira OST and noting the similarities. No flags there. And one of the things I loved about SoM's soundtrack is "Ceremony" ties in directly with "The Oracle" (a track anyone that's beaten the game should remember). Not only did "The Oracle" also use gamelan, it had a distinct heavily percussive sound to every instrument, which feels to me like it was inspired by the Akira OST. So for reference, here's "The Oracle":

That opening electro-synth fade into the percussive main theme reminds me of the distorted motorbike intro and lead into the marimba (or whatever it is) in "Kaneda".

One of the distinct instruments in "The Oracle" is what sounds like aspirated vocals. A similar aspiration can be heard prominently in "Battle Against Clowns" at around 0:48 in.

The track "Tetsuo" features extensive use of gamelan and organ. As I said, previously I thought it was just coincidental that "Ceremony" used gamelan, but...

And the part that set me off was near the end of "Illusion" is a particular instrument/sound that reminded me instantly of "The Oracle". (Jump to 13:15)


I think a lot of people that played Secret Of Mana would agree "Ceremony" and "The Oracle" stand out a bit too much from the rest of the soundtrack. Both tracks use so many more percussion instruments than any of the other tracks in the game. Similarly, the Akira OST is a heavily percussive soundtrack (not all tracks, but many).
 
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