Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Sonic Soldier Borgman: Madnight Gigs

Here's another Anime Music Video (AMV) from Erik's seemingly endless Collection of Laserdisc Goodness - Sonic Soldier Borgman: Madnight Gigs (1989). It consists of seven songs from the original Sonic Soldier Borgman. That series has never been fully translated into English, even though it has been reissued on Blu-ray. All seven (plus three others) are collected on the album Sonic Soldier Borgman: The Last Gig of the World. They are:
  1. Don't Look Back - first opening.
  2. Borg, Get On - insert song.
  3. Let's Spend the Night! - second opening (romaji, Yoru no Buttobase).
  4. Don't Stop Happy Rain - insert song (romaji, Yamanaide Happy Rain).
  5. Exhaust of Rage - insert song (romaji, Ikari no Exhaust).
  6. Tender - second ending.
  7. Forever - first ending.

Earthshaker, a popular Japanese heavy metal/hard rock band in the early 80's, did the first OP and ED (Don't Look Back and Forever). Show-Ya was a women's band in the same genre. The two bands collaborated as "HIPS" for the second OP and ED (Let's Spend the Night and Tender). 

The songs are Japanese 80s rock set to scenes from the series and follow the progression of the plot. The first five songs are full of action; the last two reflect the return of peace following the end of the conflict. In particular, the last song (Forever) has a montage about the characters' future lives. It's the true end of the series, and it wasn't included in the Blu-ray release. (Thanks to Jonathan for this information.) Thus, Madnight Gigs makes a unique contribution to the Borgman oeuvre.

Moho Kareshi translated most of the songs; Jonathan translated Let's Spend the Night! Yogicat timed, I edited and typeset, and Nemesis and VigorousJammer did QC. Erik, of course, encoded from his own Japanese laserdisc.

The treatment of English words, and English loan words, requires some explanation. Official lyrics are available, both on the laserdisc jacket and in the CD booklet. Where the lyrics have English words, they have been put in the romaji, with an initial capital letter. When the lyrics have katakana, the phonetic transcription has been used, even when the singer pronounces the English correctly. So the romaji lyrics have "moonraito" for moonlight, although the vocalist pronounces moonlight exactly right. Otherwise, I would have been making judgment calls on whether the English pronunciation is "good enough."

You can get Sonic Soldier Borgman: Madnight Gigs from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.




5 comments:

  1. While I didn't love Borgman as a show, it has a rocking soundtrack!

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    1. What's your favorite song? I lean towards "Tender," because of the harmonies, but one of the QCs liked "Exhaust of Rage" best.

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    2. I rock out to Don't Look Back. I also dig Forever.

      I guess I just like the band Earthshaker.

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  2. Thanks Alot! Would be great to see Orphan redo the Borgman series eventually (sorry couldn't help myself).

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  3. After looking at the designs and premise, I should totally love this series to bits. Sadly, after trying the first couple of episodes, I found it was kinda lacking and not as serious as I had hoped. Since it was never fully translated, maybe that's for the best and I get to check out a video with highlights of the best moments in the series. Thanks!

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