What Are The Best Japanese CDs To Get

[Lord_Mewtwo]

I'm thinking about getting some Japanese Pokemon CDs with what Christmas money I get this year, so I was wondering what the best options are? For sure I want to get the 2 big BGM collections, but would the movie OSTs be good as well? What about the OP/ED themes? I at least want a complete collection, but as far as I know the Best Wishes OPs/EDs aren't on any compilations yet right?

 

[BladeLight52]

I'm thinking about getting some Japanese Pokemon CDs with what Christmas money I get this year, so I was wondering what the best options are? For sure I want to get the 2 big BGM collections, but would the movie OSTs be good as well? What about the OP/ED themes? I at least want a complete collection, but as far as I know the Best Wishes OPs/EDs aren't on any compilations yet right?

The two volume best BGM Collection released in 2010-2011 would be the Best option. For the BGM of the movies, The Birth of Mewtwo BGM Collection is not a bad idea. So you can get that. However, I personally rather not recommend getting the CD's for Movies 2 to 5 because alot of major pieces were unreleased. Movies 2 and 3 only had 4-5 pieces of BGM out of the 30 that were originally in the movies. Movies 4 and 5 added a few more major pieces than the previous ones (Thankfully one of my favorite tracks, "Going to Latios" was released), but there were still alot of pieces that were unreleased. Movies 6 and 7 were a little step up in terms of what was released. I'll admit I was disappointed that a few tracks from those movies weren't released (e.g. The piece in Movie 6 when Virus Groudon Attacks The Group and the piece from Movie 7 when Deoxys refuses to listen to Ash during the climax), but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the rest of the excellent tracks like "Flygon's Appearance", "Last Battle!", "A Small Thing Lullaby" from Movie 6, and "Rayquaza Vs Deoxys! Decisive Battle", "Do your Best, Ash!" from Movie 7. I think that Movie 8 was when Pikachu Records was finally getting the idea of what should be released. Only some filler pieces from Movie 8 were unreleased. At least I was able to enjoy real stand outs like "Aaron 1", "Fighting Back!", and my favorite piece in Movie 8, "Life Sacrifice". Movies 9 to 12 followed the same route by releasing alot of major pieces and leaving only the filler and short variations unreleased. Movie 13 (Zoroark) finally had a 100% complete OST since Movie 1. Unfortunately, the Victini movies went back to having 80% of the OST released (Especially the Reshiram Movie). I wouldn't mind that so much, but it just so happens that two of my ONLY favorite pieces from that movie weren't released ("Zekrom Vs Golurk" and "Reshiram Vs Zekrom") and they were MAJOR and IMPORTANT pieces. It was a complete letdown.

The overall best Japanese CD's to get, I would recommend getting the 2010-2011 BEST Collection, and the BGM for Movies 1, 6-13. You can get the BGM CD for Movies 4 and 5 if you want. (I would only get them if I wanted to hear "Suicune's Theme" from Movie 4 and "Going to Latios!" and "Sortie!" from Movie 5 since they were the only pieces in those CD's that I liked). Then again, it's totally up to you.

 

[Lord_Mewtwo]

Looking around Amazon Marketplace. People are asking $100+ for the Movie 5 OST. The others are priced decently. This is between Amazon US & Japan. The ones on US are sold by Japanese sellers, so I am not too worried about getting a Bootleg. I figured the BGM expert would help me out on this. There is a movie song compilation from 2003 that has the Movie 3 title screen music (which is my favorite). I'm on the fence for that one. I'm browsing around and can't believe the last major Series OP/ED collection goes up to the 1st AG OP/ED, but it's OK as the singles are pretty cheap. I'm not a big fan of really incomplete OSTs, so 2-5 I'm skipping unless I find them under $20.

EDIT: I just bought the Movie 6 OST for around $14 on Amazon Japan's Marketplace which I think is a great deal.

 

[BladeLight52]

Looking around Amazon Marketplace. People are asking $100+ for the Movie 5 OST. The others are priced decently. This is between Amazon US & Japan. The ones on US are sold by Japanese sellers, so I am not too worried about getting a Bootleg. I figured the BGM expert would help me out on this. There is a movie song compilation from 2003 that has the Movie 3 title screen music (which is my favorite). I'm on the fence for that one. I'm browsing around and can't believe the last major Series OP/ED collection goes up to the 1st AG OP/ED, but it's OK as the singles are pretty cheap. I'm not a big fan of really incomplete OSTs, so 2-5 I'm skipping unless I find them under $20.

EDIT: I just bought the Movie 6 OST for around $14 on Amazon Japan's Marketplace which I think is a great deal.

That's great. I'm fine with CD releases if they release a good amount of major pieces. Movie 6 is an example, so you're good to go.

If Pikachu Records decides to release the remaining unreleased movie music, then I would definitely buy the CD's. The Movie 2 BGM CD has some good tracks like "Geraldan's Theme", "Escape!", and "The Heartbeat of the Planet", but that's pretty much it. The remaining 20-something tracks are still missing. I especially liked the music when Ash and the gang escape Geraldan's Ship (This piece was also played in Going For Choke, and Pace-The Final Frontier). I might as well consider getting the BGM CD's as well.

 

[Lord_Mewtwo]

Movie 6 is my favorite Pokemon movie, so that's why I chose it first. Next one I want to get is Movie 8.

 

[Yoshi1001]

As far as the vocal music, there are a half-dozen or so compilations that contain some slice of the vocal music. If you really want every opening and ending, however, you'll need to purchase each of the singles separately.

 

[Lord_Mewtwo]

I think this is the only OP/ED compilation I can think of from 2003 with all Original Series OPs/EDs & Advance Adventure/Sokoni Sora Ga Aru Kara Then in 2006 they released an AG one. featuring most of the songs except for the final OP/ED, so it seems like from Spurt!/Watashi Makenai onward I'd have to get the singles.

 

[Dogasu]

Pikachu The Movie Song Best 1998 - 2008 has all the opening and ending themes to every movie and Pikachu short from Myuutwo to Giratina. I would definitely give that one a chance.

There's also The Best of Pokemon Songs Performed by Matsumoto Rika, a CD containing every TV opening and ending song that Matsumoto Rika's ever done.

 

[Lord_Mewtwo]

I got my Jirachi movie soundtrack today, and it was definitely the best first choice. Last Battle is my favorite piece in the movie as is Flygon Appears. The disc is in flawless condition, and is the original Pikachu Records release and not a bootleg. I figured it would be real as I bought it from a Japanese seller off of the Japanese Amazon Marketplace, but you never know.