🎧anime scores that work with zero context

no clips, no plot recap, just put these on and see if they hold up. mostly they do

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Spirited Away - Joe Hisaishi

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Yoko Kanno

kanno put together a whole live band, the Seatbelts, for this. plays like the best playlist you own, not a score

mostly piano and near-silence. rewatch tax paid in full on this one, i notice a new cue every time

Ghost in the Shell - Kenji Kawai

the choir chant on the opening theme has no business working outside the film. does anyway

Perfect Blue - Masahiro Ikumi

Your Name - RADWIMPS

written as actual songs, not underscore. the instrumental cues get skipped over and shouldn't

Millennium Actress - Susumu Hirasawa

electronic pop over a kon film about an actress's whole career. second viewing is when the theme aging alongside her finally landed for me

Belladonna of Sadness - Masahiko Sato

1973, psychedelic free jazz, barely anyone i know has heard this. reissued recently. not casual listening, but neither is the film

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