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I love your videos Charles! I was wondering if you could review and analyze the song from Super Mario Odyssey - "Jump Up, Super Star". I really think you'll like it a lot!
From the same era, you should check out the opening and soundtrack of Plawres Sanshiro. That obscure anime had absolutely no business having music that slaps so hard!
Check out the songs from Evangelion, like "Everything you ever dreamed" and "If i can't be yours", both of which have some mind blowing avant garde elements.
I’ve been watching your videos for a good while now and the way you explain music is just so amazing! I bought your courses today knowing that I will be in good hands and ready to better my piano skills! Can’t wait to learn from you! 🎶
Fun Fact: according to an interview Takeshi Ike composed Makafushigi Adventure in just 2 days left before the deadline to compose both the opening and ending (and he ended up winning both, therefore Romantic Ageru Yo was also composed by him, which was rare at the time)
@@silvanbarrow86Words both creators involved in Dragon Ball lived by. Toriyama would start his draft on Wednesday or even further in the week, not be able to finish on Friday and work himself to the bone during the weekend. He'd state this as evidence he was "lazy". And there's the iconic Super Saiyan hair and color which only came about cause the whole manga crew working on Dragon Ball got tired of inking his hair all the time.
This song is no small part of the reason why the original Dragon Ball is my absolute favourite in the franchise, it perfectly encapsulates the whimsy and pure hearted adventure that the show radiates. Fans of the newer shows who have never watched the original, I implore you to do so, it's so charming and magical that i don't personally have the words to adequately explain it. It's pure of spirit, pure of heart and pure brilliance and unless you have a rock where your heart is I guarantee that you'll spend most of the show's whole run with a big grin on your face.
Dragon ball is the best part of the whole franchise, a master piece. I loved the chapters where they went to get the dragon balls, it is so awesome. Here (southamerica) we have a dubbed version which was so good, the singers were really good and matched the lyrics as champions. Dragon ball, the dubbed version in southamerica, is amazing. The voice actors made a really really good job.
@@EstamosDe That's wonderful to hear, it's always awesome to have VA's in your own language (as much as I do usually prefer to watch in Japanese because there's so many dubs in English that are so uninspired) who truly appreciate the material and give their all to their performance and character. I have a handful of shows/movies that I absolutely adore the English dub of for that very reason, and I couldn't imagine watching those shows any other way. All the best to you dude.
I hope you'll consider doing an analysis on why both CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA and Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku are so timeless! Two of the best Dragonball themes in my opinion, honestly! Maybe even Yu Yu Hakusho's Smile Bomb, since we're talkin about classic anime songs? 😄
Japanese composers have always been absolute powerhouses. Joe Hisaishi, Nobuo Uematsu, Koji Kondo, composers of Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and other anime... the list goes on and on.
@@RobinsMusic Yoko Shimomura 100%. Also Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger), Michiru Yamane (many Castlevania games), Motoi Sakuraba (Tales of... and Star Ocean games), Kenji Ito (Mana series), Masayoshi Soken (modern Final Fantasies)... the list goes on and on and on. Japan "produced" so many legendary composers, it's absolute nuts.
Glad you're giving this song recognition. I know the original Dragon Ball theme is not nearly as popular as the Z counterparts, but in my view it's by far the most magical, expansive, fun and grand scale song of all the DB OPs. Absolute magic. Not a note out of place.
6:42 I'm 34 now, and Dragon Ball has been in my life pretty much for as long as I can remember. I've listened to this intro a million times, and I never noticed how fun the bass was right there. Thanks for pointing it out.
What I really love about this song is how it uses the Oriental Riff as its basis but plays around with it to make its own original sound. Dragon Ball was created as an homage to the wuxia films of Hong Kong and also pulls a lot from Chinese mythology, so the theme pulling inspiration from music associated with China is just super cool.
This is kind of just a general anime thing. When western TV was saying, "let's write a catchy ditty for the intro," Japan was calling in the full orchestra to compose a 15-minute magnum opus for every kids' show.
@@Ultracity6060 adults do watch anime in japan I am saying it again it's a stereotype that anime is for kids Would u ever recommend ur 9 y/o to watch berserk or aot Thats for adults audience
I find it WILD that here in Latin America, this opening is well known by three or four generations of DB fans. I mention this song to my students (some 20 years younger than me) and they can sing it along, with me, from memory. That's some testament to the talent and hability of people behind this song.
So, fun fact: back in the 80s this was the OP that was used for the first Italian airing of Dragonball, on a minor TV network. Which might not sound strange, but consider that 95% of Anime that was imported in Italy had new Italian OPs (only a handful had Italian VERSIONS of the Japanese OP, like Mazinger or Jeeg, most had original songs). The Dragonball song was so memorable that Italian kids used to try to sing it by just imitating the sounds (because of course, nobody knew Japanese :-D ). It was probably just a way to save some money: Italy was importing Anime by the boatloads (literally hundreds of titles, from the famous to the very obscure) and many, many Italian OPs were amazing songs from the late Disco era, often with absolutely insane bass lines (search for "Fantaman sigla iniziale" or "Daitarn III Sigla" or... I could go on. "Sigla" is the Italian for OP. And while they were actually made for very little money... there probably just weren't enough musicians free/available! You'd probably like some of those "golden era" Italian OPs (sadly, the style changed sharply right in the late 80s).
Broooo. First time I ever watched dragon all was in Italian. My friend brought back VHS cassettes from Italy and I got introduced to DB (Z>) was so awesome. I used to watch one movie in particular over and over “la minacia del demono malvaggio” I’m pretty sure that’s what it was called, the Bojack movie and just as you mouthed words to the songs, I was mouthing the entire movie in Italian. Still know entirety of Gokus speech and then gohan s speech when he goes SSJ2 in Italian 😂 good times. gotta say. The VA’s sounded awesome
It is so sad Saint Seiya never gonna get a video analysis like this, but the way Seiji Yokoyama took the opening and ending melodies to build a lot of the OST themes would make John Williams blush. Love the enthusiasm here, I think the second ""documentary" camera takes away a lot of the personal feeling of you talking directly to us. Great channel!
music is like an appreciation sandwich. You first appreciate the song and music for what it is, then you understand the theories, and understand the individual parts of the little things here and there spread out, like that "tasteful" little blep or like the base that i never really paid attention to until this video, and then you appreciate the song again, in all it's glory from the greatness of how you witnessed it before, but with a deeper more profound appreciation for the tiny techniques and flare in the crevasses of the shimmering spectacle of the melody
One of my favorite shows EVER. Watched it as a kid and recently rewatched it as an adult and it was like watching it for the first time, fell in love with it all over again. So much charm
I just love how in Greek, the first words for the opening thing is translated to say Prepi kai Mboro, Psaxno kai tha vro" "I must and I can. I seek and will find." Even as a none Greek born when I moved there in the 90s, seeing this show for the first time there and how HUGE it became there, this beat was always so much fun.
Came here for this comment lol, and actually this is my first time hearing it in the original japanese, needless to say the latinamerican version kicks ass
I remember Dragon Ball's Latin American Spanish dub intro was so catchy that there was a cassette with it, the ending song and some additional tracks. I remember owning that cassette and listening to it when I was in preschool on my Casio Walkman
you just keep hitting the most oddly specific songs that i love. great taste from you/the audience. this show *specifically* the original dragon ball has some kick-ass music.
I'm so unbelievably happy to see you do a breakdown on such an iconic and nostalgic opening, I definitely remember Dragon Ball being a huge part of my childhood and this theme was the coolest thing I had heard at that point. It's filled to the brim with unbridled energy, optimism and joyful adventurous spirit. It's the theme of childhood innocence and curiosity, there's so much going on, with inspiration from martial arts movies into the instrumentation, the sick ass slap bass line and busy percussion, it all comes together in such a complete package, and that switch in the middle of the song? ecstacy inducing, it's such bright uplifting moment that makes the song that much more memorable, I love it to death. Other Dragon Ball openings all have legendary status as well, but this one is simply a masterpiece. I'd suggest DBZ and GT openings respectively for the future, both beautiful songs in their own right.
A special shoutout to the legend Kohei Tanaka, who personally arranged both the opening and the ending themes. You might know him for his extensive work on the Sakura Wars game series, Gravity Rush, and not less important, some 1000+ episode anime named One Piece.
The keychange to F dominant is my favourite part. That bridge/chorus is so uplifting and childlike 🎉 the spanish version of the track is great too. Check it out! This is my favourite dragon ball track ever.
The Dragon Ball original theme, I have always thought that it is super inspiring in the Chinese traditional music, maybe also for the traditional Chinese story used in the creation of dragon ball story.
Well, if you haven't notice yet...The name GOKU came from the chinese novel journey to the west. And some silly characters name also came from chinese words, like yumcha (literally mean drinking tea)
@@fantastiCkiLler92 wooow, I was actually thinking on that game from a Chinese studio Wukong, "Sun Wukong" I believe is the name of the principal character of the original story from the Chinese tradition, but yes it is very inspired on that. But, what I found so amazing, is that even the music was super full of this Chinese culture, so cool!!
The short singer version of this song for the commercial breaks was my ringtone for my years. I manually extracted it and cut it from a DVD. Still have it somewhere. It makes a great ringtone.
Funny thing with the bass SOUND is that I hear both a synth (Yamaha DX7?) bass and also sometimes a real bass?? Did they put a bit more into this track than meets the eye? (I mean, there's a LOT of things that didn't meet MY eye immediately.) If you think slap bass, it sounds like the thumb hammering is a synth bass and the pulls are an actual bass (or a sample). The brass sounds like an Akai S-series sampler (since it's "crispier" than for instance a Roland S-20). I have no idea about the drum synth. It doesn't sound similar to anything I have at hand. But, apart from the sampler, I'd bet my butt that all the synths are FM synthesizers (which would make sense at the time of the recording). Useless info, yes, but if somebody would want to recreate the track then maybe it's helpful.
Charles, I am so happy you did this video. The original Dragon Ball series (and consequently this opening theme) are so near and dear to my heart, and in so many ways I love and cherish it more than DBZ even. The sense of whimsy, adventure, discovering the good and bad in the world, friendship, loss, competition, etc. are all themes I loved as a child. I rewatched it recently and it still holds up. This show had it all and Makafushigi Adventure encapsulates it all beautifully!
I have no idea about music theory, but I fully FEEL all those chord progressions and note changes, and the DB theme is way up on my list. From that sort of Chinese melody intro (capped off by a giant GONG which is sadly not on the soundtrack version, only in the actual TV show theme) and then alllll the things that come in after that. It’s a go to at Karaoke for sure and just a wonderful song in general. So happy you picked it, it’s great to see a real musician appreciate it. ❤
@10:00 and on, the "try try try" section of the song It's even cooler than just the ii V I progression on Ab Major, it tonicizes Bb minor not just with a secondary dominant in F7, but the Cm7 also functions as a secondary predominant, creating a functional (ii-V-i)/ii V I progression (I (Ab Major) > iii7 in the home key functioning as ii7/ii -- a pivot chord (Cm7) > V7/ii (F7) > ii temporarily functioning as tonic (Bbm) > V (Eb7) > I (Ab Major)) creating a small chain of circle of 5ths movements We hit the Ab major chord. Then once we hit the Cm chord, we see the circle of 5ths play out with these root movements C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab. God, it's actually so good.
And the fact that so many arrangements of this song pop up all the time in the anime score is also awesome. Not sure if it was kept in Eng dubs but I distinctly remember it showing up constantly.
The American re-dub vversion afrom around 2001 also goes hard, but not nearly as hard as the Japanese version. You should review the American version too! Very similar to the OG, but very different.
IT IS SO GOOD! check out yuyu Hakusho opening that one I love because it takes you back to the 80s in a way that only a theme song could, soul eaters opening or closing "I wanna be", and then naruto ending theme, is so good! From the first season "Wind"
Having heard so many times this song, as a kid and then in company of my son I must say that it’s a pleasure to enjoy it once again with you inspecting why and how it haves all those nice details inside. A timeless experience
I absolutely love Dragon Ball and music (I wanna be a composer) and your enthusiasm over this theme is literally my attitude towards Dragon Ball as a whole. Love your videos and this was a surprise to see!
As someone who loves thos franchise and is probably my favorite thing in the world, i love hearing your in depth analysis with this theme. For 40 years this song has always been incredible.
1:13 "I don't know exactly what they're playing" A metric sht tonne of synthesizers! The bulk of this track is very in your face with a Yamaha DX and LinnDrum from note one. The DX range can do excellent brassy tones, and are one of the few synthesizer families ever to have a breath controller built right in on some models, allowing the player to get those trumpet swells (could also buy it as an external plug in MIDI module IIRC). I'm fairly confident that it's layered with real trumpets, but you can hear the distinct overtones the DX makes in those trumpet stabs: you can hear the patch isolated as sustained chords just before the "lets fly" line.
I'd argue that the re-do of this song for the English version is even more insane. The production is so bright and tight it's mind-blowing. Otherwise the 1989 J opening of DBZ "Cha-La Head Cha-La" has an incredible stylistic fingerprint that would be super fun to dive into. Thanks for picking this song!! It rules
It's equally as insane because it's literally just an English cover, unlike future DBZ songs which are completely different sometimes. I have so much nostalgia for it
@@thefreshvince879 if i remember the funi dubbed Z first and when it comes to dub music ost lack of budget for the original ost is usualy the reason. I assume after Z's success Funi had the money to use the og OST for the 86 series. Only exception being the OPs and I think copyright reasons could be why they did a cover / rearrangement than sing over the karaoke of the original Would be nice to hear the dubs with the og japanese composition though
Fun Fact: in brazil we got 2 versions of this same song, with different lyrics and sightly same melody, due to copyright and the tv channels who broadcasted at the time
Now you have to do all Dragonball themes!!! I remember my Boys and me gathering around the tv screen every evening, singing along to the songs and channeling our power to Goku through the fights…good old days…I miss that…😅
I love this song so much! Great analysis :) Would love to see even more on the many incredible pieces composed for anime. Cruel Angel's Thesis or Komm Süsser Tod (its a bit on the simple side composition-wise but it could still be a cool vid) from Evangelion would be AMAZING.
