Dear friends, readers, and saboteurs alike, I must tell you that as I type out this article, tears of pure joy flow down, seeping into my circuit-boards via this old beat-up keyboard. Katsuhiro Otomo’s Roujin Z, a work of animation that should be a must-watch not just for anime fans but anyone who cares about the animation arts, has been relegated to the ‘only old heads remember this’ pile of dusty VHS tapes.
Those old heads are today’s winners, however. Maybe now that the Roujin Z Soundtrack is coming to vinyl, like the record-wax its music will be pressed onto, it will come back in vogue.
One nice thing about being an old-head who would get excited about purchasing a Roujin Z soundtrack on vinyl is that you probably can afford to buy a Roujin Z soundtrack on vinyl.
Made in tandem with Toyo Kasei’s ‘ANIME SONGS on Vinyl 2021’ initiative, the red-splashed red wax disc will set you back 4,400 yen and runs with 17 track. In Japanese fashion, the CD edition isn’t all too much cheaper coming in at 2,750, which is more than I want to pay for a music disc in 2021. Both prices are ultimately worth it for Fumi Itakura’s classic soundtrack.
Discotek we’re begging you, once Memories hits those digital store-fronts, do something about Roujin Z, would you? UK had a Blu-ray released almost a decade ago!
We kid, as matters of license rescuing are complicated, but this film’s a real meeting of the minds that needs to be easily and legally watchable. Springing from a conversation between Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo and aesthetic master Hisashi Eguchi, with Satoshi Kon getting swept up in the production for good measure, this film about a mechanical bed gone extremely astray needs to come back.
Ultimately, we would take Roujin Z over the Roujin Z soundtrack.
The Roujin Z Vinyl comes out in Japan on 24 April.