My Hero Academia Soundtrack Selection 2021-2023 (~S6) — Yuki Hayashi's OST comments

2023年3月21日 13:25

The comments were taken from the CD jacket of the appropriate release. I also went to the live that served to commemorate the OST release and made some extra notes there, they will also be included.

Translated by TrianaNero. Please note that I am not a professional translator, but I found the comments really interesting and really wanted to share it with you the best I can!

* * *

DISC 1

01 Weeee Are Fuxkin Super Hero!!

There’s a track called “Weeee Are Fuxkin Super Star!!”, and this track is pretty much an updated model of that one. The latter half has the motif of “Going after it!!” incorporated into in, so this track can boost the heroes’ efforts.

02 Revengers

There was a track called “Revenge”, and I used the melody from it. That earlier track represents something more “retrospective” in my mind, while this newer one I composed with the image of starting the counterattack.

03 We'll be everyone's heroes

“I will become your hero” — only this time it’s not just for one person. This track represents the dignity of a hero fighting for their friends, for everyone.

04 All for my sake

An arrangement of “Symbol of Fear”. It conveys a more profound, quiet accumulation of power, and it includes the motif of All for One, who’s trying to manipulate Shigaraki.

05 The Next Me

An arrangement of “All for One”. I wanted this track to represent his ambitions, the revival of some large power.

06 Dabi Dance

It includes the motifs of both his father and younger brother. How did he dance, how did others make him dance in the world he grew up in? Please look forward to the dance that burned him raw.

Initially Hayashi-san wanted to make the track more rhythmic, but then he wondered, what if Dabi wouldn't "dance" rhythmically? He also used the sound of a burning piano for this track: "Normally you'd think, where would you even use that? But here it hit me: this is it!!". (Later he added that he got it from Omnisphere, even though the staff told them no one needs to know all those details x)

07 Can't face the grief

I used Ochako’s motif to convey the overwhelming feeling of her powerlessness that hit her. It’s a track of plain misery.

08 I AM NOT HERE

This track is about the world without heroes: dystopian, oppressive, off-putting. The meaning of heroes’ existence is clouded by doubts and unease. There’s something like a sound effect that you can hear around the middle — I’ve used it on and off in some other hero tracks samples, it represents the people’s feelings.

09 I have to be the one

This track conveys Shoto’s emotions up until he realizes, “I have to do it”. The music is about facing the unexpected past, the unthinkable truth.

10 Look at me

I came up with Touya’s motif while looping Shoto’s and slowly changing it. They’re alike but different. I wanted it to convey the image of failing to become what you wished to be, so it is similar to the original melody, but still slightly distorted.

11 Let's dance with me, here in hell

The track of Touya’s broken heart, his grim resolve, and his thoroughly broken soul spilling out of him.

12 About Your Resolve

This one is for Deku when he was asked about his “resolve”. The responsibility weighs heavily over him, but not as fear — as a hero’s duty.

13 Assassins from Demon Lord

I tried to make an “evil” remix of “All for One”. I hope you can hear villains ready to wreck havoc in this track.

14 The Lovely Assassin

Based on the villain track that everyone likes. It gave me Lady Nagant vibes, so I added a generous amount of gun-related sound effects.

15 A power meant for saving

A track for the new Deku who’s not the same person he was back when he was aiming to be a hero.

16 I want to save that little boy

This music describes Deku’s simple and pure hope of “wanting to save that boy”.

17 The Last Wielder

This song gave me the most grief in this album. It’s about Deku’s new power, different from “You Say Run”. I put a bit of an “easter egg” in the later part, but I’ll reveal it some other time.

Back when he was working on S6 OST, Hayashi-san tweeted his frustrations about a particular track quite a few times, and this was the track in question. "If you're wondering why I complain [about this track] so much, get this: when I got the full order for the season, I was asked to create a track that would surpass 'You Say Run'". So while it did give Hayashi-san a lot of grief, he said he's fairly satisfied with it. The "easter egg" he mentioned is likely something he also talked about during the live: in the end there's reversed motif of Shigaraki incorporated into the music. It represents Deku realizing how vague the lines really are, and how just one mistake, one misstep can be the one between a hero and a villain.

18 I’m sorry for everything I've done

The track for that scene.

This track came to Hayashi-san pretty quickly; there is some "You Say Run" motif in there, too. Since there was no script or animation yet, Hayashi-san actually used the manga frames to create a video for himself to imagine how the scene would play out to adjust the music to it. He only meant to show that video it to the sound director, but somehow all of the production team ended up seeing it x)

19 Revengers -Plus Ultra ver.-

The track that “went beyond”, exhibit no. 1

20 We’ll be everyone’s heroes -Plus Ultra ver.-

The track that “went beyond”, exhibit no. 2

DISC 2

01 Successors -Remastering 2023-

I wrote this one for the introduction scene of One for All’s successors. It has the image of their expanding history, their feelings and resolve solidifying. The request from the production team was to make it sound like an opening for a long-running historical fiction dorama lol.

02 Meta Liberation Army -Remastering 2023-

This music is tenser than that for the League. It’s more solemn, creeping around. That atmosphere is oppressing and cold, heavy, like ice. Sometimes you can hear something like ringing, too.

03 Re-Destro -Remastering 2023-

Re-Destro’s theme. I mixed in a lot of Sax-ish sounds to represent his superpower “Stress” and make it seem powerful.

04 Landmine Girl -Remastering 2023-

It’s the track for Kizuki Chitose, her captivating and cool personality. The later part picks up speed as it’s intended to accompany an attack scene.

05 Toga’s Saga -Remastering 2023-

Her true self that she had to hide. Her sad, twisted soul. You can hear a cute lil bird chirping in the background.

06 I Don’t Kill My Friends -Remastering 2023-

The track of Twice’s conviction. His resolve to protect his friends. The obsessive, self-torturing rage at himself for failing to do that in the past.

07 That Which is Inherited -Remastering 2023-

This music represents the mystery of One for All. Another “inheritance”, different from the one All Might spoke of. Is it good or bad… I made the track feel more pressing towards the end.

08 Hawks’ Secret Mission -Remastering 2023-

The true mission of infiltrating Hawks. It’s about him taking careful, measured steps, sneaking into people’s minds.

09 Sound of the Holidays inst Ver -Remastering 2023-

A very festive song, please listen to it when there’s an occasion!

10 Humarise - Remastering 2023-

We recorded of chorus with a few dozen people from different countries, so we ended up with a perfect track for a mysterious international organization.

11 Terrorism -Remastering 2023-

This one is also for Humarise. This track is for their terrorist attacks, so it’s solemn and speaks of destruction. There’s some reversed harp sounds for the effect of Flect’s quirk.

12 Nerves before dispatch -Remastering 2023-

The track for the heroes’ attack. The first half is for the strategy explanation, while the second is for the actual dispatch. The intro was cut in the movie to make it feel more intense, and it goes along really well with the animation.

13 Mysterious villains -Remastering 2023-

This one is for Beros chasing Deku and Rhody. She’s blindly devoted to Humarise, and there’s always Flect's reversed harp motif playing in the background.

14 Tactics -Remastering 2023-

This track is for the scene where Deku and Rhody cautiously get to know each other. The last part is for their scramble after the bag, so the tempo hurriedly picks up.

15 Impatience -Remastering 2023-

It’s about Rhody’s emotions, particularly when he loses something important and gets all flurried. While the city in the story is fictional, some visual inspiration was taken from Portugal, so I use some mandolin, which sounds a little like Portuguese guitar, for Rhody’s music.

16 Wanted criminal -Remastering 2023-

This track is for Deku being put on the wanted list, yes. You can catch a bit of “You Say Run”’s motif there.

17 A tough decision -Remastering 2023-

Since this track is for Deku and Rhody’s escape, it doesn’t stand out much, only acts as some auditory support for the scene.

18 Deku's whereabouts -Remastering 2023-

This one is for when others realized where Deku and Rhody were headed and set out to intervene.

19 Pursuer -Remastering 2023-

Rhody gets attacked by the villain, who transforms right in the beginning, and that’s why the intro is kind of impactful.

20 Inferiority complex -Remastering 2023-

This track is for Rhody and Deku talking about their past and their lives. Both of their motifs intertwine here.

21 Rody's heart -Remastering 2023-

This track was supposed to be used for the scene in the car, but it didn’t work well with the previous and subsequent tracks. The scene worked better without it, so it was cut.

22 Surprise attack -Remastering 2023-

This one played when Humarise villains were extorting everyone. They attacked a team on the helicopter, so the base that’s playing from the first part kind of corresponds to the image of propellers.

23 Relief for humanity - Remastering 2023-

Humarise starting their terror all over the world. It’s their motif again, this time in an arrangement for the solemn chorus and pipe organ.

24 Opposition -Remastering 2023-

This is a movie edit of “Fight Against the Threat”, but it’s very similar to the original.

25 Message -Remastering 2023-

The track representing Flect’s distorted ideals.

26 Flect's trap -Remastering 2023-

The first half is about Rhody’s panic as he realized that his family got dragged into the whole Humarise mess and became their target, and the second half is about him finding his resolve and breaking into the base with Deku and others. The three of them breaking in becomes the climax, so I chose to rearrange the track “Trinity” for it.

27 Fight against the strong -Remastering 2023-

This is the track for the lengthy battle that ensues. For the break-in into the Humarise’s hideout and for the fights with their other divisions I actually did some film scoring, so I hope you get to enjoy this music along with the animation after listening to it.

28 Flect's thoughts -Remastering 2023-

An arrangement of Flect’s motif. This is before the battle, so it’s still just quiet and solemn.

29 Surrender -Remastering 2023-

Deku being stunned by Rhody’s resignation. I made sure to leave a tipping point for the upcoming turnabout in the end.

30 Resolved action -Remastering 2023-

This track is for those two trying to stop the terrorists and not giving up: as heroes, or just as people when their strength isn’t enough. Never surrendering, always pushing forwards and facing it head-on. That important scene from 1:27 left a big impression on me.

31 The spirit to succeed - Remastering 2023-

An arrangement of “My Hero Academia”. The original is about the unity of U.A.’s students as they face on the challenges together, and this one paints the picture of all heroes joining their strength and fighting towards the common goal. 1:36-3:30 is calm, and there was a faster version, but this one worked better overall. It painted the image of a more still, tight kind of battle.

32 Sacrifice and peace - Friendship -Remastering 2023-

You always wrap up a drinking party with some ramen! And the movies are always wrapped up with this!

Just some extra fun bits from the live:
— pictures were allowed throughout the entire event (except for during Yamashita-san (Deku's seiyuu)'s video message in the beginning); and then during the live Hayashi-san announced that we were given permission to video record 2 tracks, including "You Say Run". That is very generous as usually things like this are far more restricted in Japan, everyone jumped at the opportunity. Hayashi-san laughed at how the whole thing looked like he was suddenly at some kind of a press conference with everyone's phones out x);
— after a couple tracks in the end Hayashi-san mentioned how he really went all out while playing the keyboard, and at some point his watch was like, "Are you exercising right now?";
— he joked about how it's best to not become a composer like him since he's "not a good reference";
— while we were not allowed to record the final track, Hayashi-san jokingly suggested that we take a ton of pictures and make a video out of them :"D
— the live concluded with a bit of a meet-and-greet session where Hayashi-san gave autographs and took pictures with the fans. It was absolutely lovely!