Various Artists - Tokyo Friends The Movie: Music Collection

"Tokyo Friends The Movie" was quite popular due to the drama on which the film was partially based. This series was the acting debut of Otsuka Ai, undoubtedly one of Japan's most well-known pop singers, and thus it is to be expected a soundtrack of both the film and the series would prominently feature her work.

This collection, which gets its tracks from the movie (a film that does not star Otsuka Ai), features a couple of original songs, a couple of slightly tweaked songs and a whole lot of instrumentals. Friends has already been featured on Ai's Love Jam album, but on this compilation it's re-edited into a more rock-driven mix. The original is preferable, but the Sabakan version isn't too bad either. The other vocal songs are approached similarly, with a more serious and focused sound that seems very suitable for a cinematic production, and also quite unlike the cute songs and ballads for which Ai is so well known for. The only exception to this is tears-Sakaban ver.-, which features a more traditional ballad melody and song structure.

The lack of trademark Otsuka Ai songs isn't a bad thing, per se. The new opening track to me has great energy, and the first re-mix of Friends is enjoyable enough. Though the other vocal tracks don't bring much to the table, Ai's fans would still be able appreciate them.

The main problem of this album is the enormous quantity of instrumentals. After the first six vocal tracks, the album slowly meanders into an endless stream of reworkings of basically the same songs. For example, there are five different versions of Friends on the album, as well as four different edits of tears. It's not the quantity of mixes that ultimately matters, but the fact that the edits are very similar to each other. Though the instrumentals do lead one to reminiscence the cinematic experience they are based upon, it would be nicer just to hear them once.

The album's twenty-something tracks could be compressed into a small album of about ten songs without all the different versions, which are basically clutter. However, as this is a soundtrack, perhaps the intended audience wouldn't mind all the extra mixes as much.

If you've seen the series or movie and really liked the music, or you're a hardcore Otsuka Ai fan, the CD would be worth buying. But casual listeners of Ai's music would probably this disc not worth the trouble. For those who are more interested in checking out Otsuka Ai's music, her compilation album AI am Best is a better place to start.