Slayers TRY Music Guide

I purchased the domestically released "Slayers TRY Treasury BGM" and "Slayers TRY Treasury BGM 2" soundtracks from AnimeTrax. Inside the CD inserts is quite a bit of information. Here you will find the contents of the booklets, which are a direct translation from the original Japanese text. I believe the "narrator" is Takashi Watanabe (director of Slayers), and these menus are his instructions to the music producers as to what the BGMs should sound like.

The Musical World of Slayers TRY - Music Menu

This Music Menu was used to communicate which scenes were to be used and their respective musical impressions, and is based on the discussions between the director, sound director, and composers. This time, we think our audience will notice that the used sections of the BGM (background music) menu of the TV series' first recording are quite specific (C- refers to the cut-number of illustration content, P- is the page number of the script and TM- refers to the recording session). Just like in the climax of NEXT, in this third installment we can anticipate a cinematic approach. We also recommend listening to the CD in conjunction with reading the Menu, and see how Mr. Tezuka and V i n k ³ were allocated their respective work. Also, at the time of the recording of the CD, the Tezuka compositions were written in Japanese, while the V i n k ³ compositions were written in English (Note: Scenes to be used and time-counts in each of the titles were tenative specificatons, so the actual completed work may not necessarily reflect them).

Webmaster's note: At the end of the description, the #__ before the C-__ part means which episode the song was originally produced for. Anywhere there is " next to a number, that means the number of seconds into the song. The symbol ' is for minutes.

Lina, Gourry, Zelgadiss, Ameria

TM-1: Smile Your Trouble Away!/ Lina's theme. "Let's do it!" It should sound like a gutsy girl's feisty battle-action.
(#1 C-241~261) [1'30'']

TM-2: Destructive Power as Always/ Lina's attacking spell. The "Dragu Slave" is conjured from the melody's spell.
(#1 C-263~C-272) [1'30'']

TM-3: Smile Your Trouble Away!/ Lina's theme. Smooth conversations and actions with a little bit of pretentiousness thrown in. Give it a cutsey feeling.
[1'20'']

TM-4: Into Confusion/ Lina or Filia. "What's causing this fear?" Their faces tense up. It should sound like chaotic confusion.
(#2 C-263~C-279) [1'05'']

TM-5: A Smiling Face Brings Happiness/ To be used to smooth conversations and actions with Ameria and Gourry (like a theme).
[1'20'']

TM-6: And Then the Usual Four/ Battle action theme for Ameria and Gourry. The first part of the tune should reflect Ameria. She's being haughty; showing off with cool talk. And then from a 60'' level, it moves into awesome battle action.
(#2 C-88~C-119) [2'20'']

TM-7: A Smiling Face Brings Happiness/ Comic relief. Gourry and Ameria's slapstick gag-action. Make it zany!
[1'10'']

TM-8: A Smiling Face Brings Happiness/ Gourry and Ameria's characteristically goofy antics. Keep the tempo rather slow.
(#1 C-97~C-107 / #2 C-2~C-19) [1'20'']

TM-9: Tender Passion/ Ameria's girlish thoughts. Blushing cheeks... I want it to get you right in the heart!
(#1 C-241~261) [1'10'']

Filia, Clan of Flarelord

TM-10: Reflected in the Elegant Eyes of Filia/ Filia's theme. The shrine maiden of Flarelord: she's elegant and mysteriously alluring.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

TM-11: Tail of a Modern Woman/ Used to smooth Filia's characteristic conversations and actions. She speaks her mind confidently, but with a cute demeanor.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

TM-12: Tail of a Modern Woman/ Filia is making a huge chaotic ruckus. The motion here has tempo.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

TM-13: Fearful Profile/ Filia's painful reflections.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

TM-14: Metamorphosis/ Filia is transforming. She shapeshifts from a human to a golden dragon, and back again to a human.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

TM-15: Golden Wings/ Flight and attack of the golden dragon. Repetitive, valorous flying and swift attacks.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

TM-16: The Shadow of Death/ Filia speaks of the "divine oracle that announces destruction." She talks about inauspicious shadows approaching the land of the outer realms. From the level of 33'', the source of the woes projects its uncanny image; it's the ruler of the dark star, who's called Dark Star Dugradigdo. The music is a narrative of fear brought upon the world and the contents of the divine oracle.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

TM-17: Keep Faith with You/ Filia's concern for Lina and Gourry. She considers them dependable friends. Though she's fragile, she nonetheless speaks with passion and power.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

TM-18: Clan of Flarelord/ Machinations of the elders of Flarelord. Here the messengers of the shinzoku are enduring the calamaties befalling the lands of the outer realms. There should be some strong religious elements in the music.
(#1 C-68~C-84) [1'30'']

Valgarv, Armace, Grabos, Jiras

TM-19: Armace/ A creepy crawling kind of sound, thematic of Armace. Should indicate the eerie, strange place of darkness where Armace and Valgarv reside, and the sinister plot by Armace.
(#2 C-280~C-288B) [1'20'']

TM-20: Armace/ Here we have an extremely ancient, primordial ruin, where Armace is submerged. For the first time, everything about the structure of Armace's abode is revealed. TM-19 might be played after this tune. Example: use the contents of #7 C-85~C-100 or the script of #7 P-5, and evoke an eerie feeling...
[1'20'']

TM-21: Rebel Against Destiny/ Valgarv's overwhelming presence. It should evoke the eerie feeling of ongoing tension-filled confrontations. Sort of like the theme for Valgarv.
(#3 C-229~C-246) [1'10'']

TM-22: Bloody Battle/ Valgarv's swift overpowering magical attacks, which are a match to those of Lina.
(#4 C-10~C-42) [1'30'']

TM-23: Rebel Against Destiny/ Reveal Valgarv's woeful and hidden past. They were persued as demonic pariahs; the ancient dragons. They lived sorrowfully, but with determination.
(#8 P-9~P-10) [1'20'']

TM-24: Assault of the Metamorph Army/ Here the armies of Grabos and Jiras attack the villages and wreak havoc. Though they are evil, they appear stylish, something like Kossack soldiers, or maybe like "sword dancers."
(#2 C-45~C-72) [1'20'']

TM-25: If the Enemies Are Goofballs, Then Our Allies Are Bigger Goofballs/ Jiras' foolish conversations result in a messed-up infiltration. Evoke a feeling of comical suspense...
[1'10'']

Action, Scenes, Etc.

TM-26: Between Sky and Earth/ Convey the awesome power of nature. There is a great tsunami, and a sandstorm razes everything in its path.
(#4 C-215~C-225) [1'20'']

TM-27: Extreme Tension/ Suspense and danger mount as they are doggedly purused-- the painful battles continue. The tempo shouldn't be too fast.
[1'20'']

TM-28: Emotional Disturbances/ Discord. Awkwardness persists between comrades. Quarrels break out.
[1'20'']

TM-29: Extreme Tension/ A stealthy infiltration scene. Evoke tension as they slowly go deep into the dungeon.
[1'10'']

TM-30: Battle Until Down to the Wire/ Showdown. A tense confrontation. They stare at each other, neither making a move.
[1'10'']

TM-31: Between Sky and Earth/ Make the music evocative of an enormous building, or a giant statue of a deity that's slowly starting to transform. We want to be riveted to its awesomeness.
[50'']

TM-32: Let's Dump the Weapons and Help Each Other/ Peaceful resolution. A beautiful environment is revived, and peace returns... Make it very moving.
(#10 P-19) [1'20'']

TM-33: Love in Any Aeon.../ Love between Sara and Marco (Romeo and Juliet). Give me a love story between a boy and a girl.
(#9) [1'20'']

TM-34: What in the World Happened?/ The mysterious pillar of light is uncanny (is it divine?). It rains on the nations of Saillune.
(#1 C-18~C-26) [1'20'']

TM-35: Premonition of a Journey/ Here the dissolution of the barrier is explained to Lina and Gourry. From a 60'' level, go into their meeting up with Zelgadiss again. They hear about Zelgadiss' secret fate and thoughts.
(#1 C-43~C-61) [2'20'']

TM-36: Toward a New History/ Give me a religious musical parade (percussion is dominant, such as drums, bells, triangles. The melody is something like with a pan flute...).
(#1 C-30~C-38) [60"]

TM-37: Toward a New History/ Saillune's great fleet sets sail upon the vast ocean.
(#1 C-144~C-151) [60'']

TM-38: What in the World Happened?/ Evoke the atmosphere of the outer realms as follows: islands scattered here and there over an expansive ocean; to the south, an endless wasteland and desert.
[60'']

TM-39: It Happened Suddenly One Morning/ Give me a gentle and peaceful tune. To be used for the opening of an episode.
(#1 C-1~C-10) [1'10'']

TM-40: Don't Be Discouraged [Instrumental-1]/ This is a review of the previous episode; to be played in the background of the narration. It should be a variation of the opening theme. Lead is 15'' level. It should be somewhat slow in tempo, and have a sorcery feel to the rhythm.
[50'']

TM-41: Don't Be Discouraged [Instrumental-1]/ Subtitles.
[7'']

TM-42: Eyecatcher/ Eyecatcher.
[5'']

TM-43: Don't Be Discouraged [Instrumental-2]/ Another opening theme variation for the preview of upcoming episodes.
[15'']

TM-44: Happy-Go-Lucky/ Lina and the others make an objective observation: "Where is this story going?" in an upbeat ending that's a little goofy.
(#1 C-290~296E) [60'']

TM-45: Battle Until Down to the Wire/ Frustration and fear are raised to an unbearable pitch. A serious and exaggerated ending makes us wonder, "What? Where is this story going?"
(#4 C-331~C-343) [60'']

TM-46: Tender Passion/ Quietly, the tent shops at night are unfolding. The stars are shining beautifully.
[50'']

TM-47: If the Enemies Are Goofballs, Then Our Allies Are Bigger Goofballs/ Suddenly, we're asking: "What? What is it?" Give me a silly bridge.
[30'']

--

The Musical World of Slayers TRY - Music Menu 2

Following the lead of the first in three audio CD series, we're presenting the music menus of the second and third recording sessions. BGM (background music) is produced scene-by-scene, from the beginning, all the way to the climax of the series. The music is deeply connected to the story, so by listening to the songs, the audience can visualize their respective scenes. Therefore the references for each piece are quite specific. C- refers to the cut-number of illustration content, P- is the page number of the script, and the DM- and EX- refer to the recording session. (Note: The scenes to be used and the time-counts listed were tenative specifications, so the actual completed work may not necessarily reflect them).

Webmaster's note: At the end of the description, the #__ before the C-__ part means which episode the song was originally produced for. Anywhere there is " next to a number, that means the number of seconds into the song. The symbol ' is for minutes.

The Second Recording Session

DM-1: Lina of the Mysterious Island/ Lina's lost in a land of mystery. Make it a cutesy tune something like Alice in Wonderland (however, please make it a different song than Lina's theme). At 44" (C-25), make a break, or stop the rhythm. At 4" (C-28), there is a strange parade of navy penguins (please don't make the song a march). At 1'27" (C-39), the music will abruptly end.
(#15 C-17~C-39) [1'27"]

DM-2: Lina of the Mysterious Island/ Lina's chased by penguins, and falls into a netherworld. Give it a touch of "surprise," instead of "shock." There's a slapstick chase from 5" (C-45). At the 12"th (C-48), Lina falls to the bottom. She's in a weird space, as if time goes backwards there.
(#15 C-42~C-53 or C-141~146) [42"]

DM-3: The Maze of Time and Space/ The guide of the Maze of Time is a transvestite pink pig who is dressed as a bunny girl. At 59" (C-68), Lina gets caught by a huge spinning roulette, and get spun right back into the netherworld. From 1'24" (C-74), an eerie feeling is evoked.
(#15 C-56~C-75) [1'32"]

DM-4: Jack-o-Lantern Latin Samba/ A carnival samba. Give it a wigged out sort of feeling because crazy stuff starts to happen at 52" (C-114) and images of Halloween pumpkins and corn-monsters appear. From 1'03" (C-121), give it a Latin and percussion beat only.
(#15 C-98~C-123) [1'14"]

DM-5: Like the Morning Dew/ A requiem, a dirge for a funeral march. It should also have a dreamlike quality.
(#15 C-147~C-158) [1'20" level]

DM-6: Invitation to a Ball/ A suave waltz of the ball. Entrance of an elegant noblewoman of the palace court. Her entrance is at 15" level, and it should have a ballroom-dance feel to it.
(#15 P-16~17) [1'30" level]

DM-7: Symphony of Light/ A fantastic tune of the attraction island of the amusement park.
(#15 P-20~21) [1'30" level]

DM-8: Shadows in the Fog/ Evoke eerie feelings of the mysterious ghost ship. Give it a dizzying kind of touch.
(#16 P-15~21 and C-25~C-44) [1'10" level]

DM-9: Wanderer/ Zelgadiss' guitar solo.
(#16 C-129~etc) [1'50" level]

DM-10: Meteorite Warrior Peaceman/ Entrance of the heroic warriors (elders). They speak forth their names. This is followed by a cool attack scene.
(#18 P-3~4) [1'30" level]

DM-10B: Meteorite Warrior Peaceman/ In the lead part of the entrance there should be a trumpet fanfare in unison, but at 10" level, give it a clam.
(#18) [15" level]

DM-11: Those of Other Realms/ Altar of the divine clans of the different realms. A mysterious incantation by Almeice, Erulogos, and Sirius. Eventually, four beams of light are emitted from the magical diagram, and they turn into a single sphere of light.
(#19 P-5~6) [1'20" level]

DM-12: Somewhere (Instrumental)/ Make it a song that evokes sadness; it should be a variation of Filia's song, "Somewhere."
[1'50" level]

The Third Recording Session

EX-1: Prayer and Wrath/ Gold dragon's corpse; a painful and sad sight. Lina, Filia, and others quietly pray in front of it. They feel much grief and anger for everyone involved. They make their decision. From 1'30" level onward, they take their wrathful stance.
(#23 P-1~P-3 last) [2'30" level]

EX-2: At the Battleground/ Xelloss, Erulogos, and Sirius battle by the eerie gate. From 50" level, there is a confrontation of Sirius and Xelloss. Questions and answers ensue. From 2'00" level, there is an attack of Erulogos' magical ammunition. The gate begins to slowly open. An uncanny darkness is past the gate.
(#23 P-15~P-18) [3'00" level]

EX-3: Five Hopes/ Five weapons of Dark Star are set in motion.
A) From each weapon a light-sword is produced, and each of them begins to resonate with each other. Gourry, Zel, Xelloss, and Sirius raise their weapons to defend themselves against the invisible attacks from Dark Star, but Erulogos is hesitant about fighting along with Lina and the others, and doesn't raise the weapon. As the gate's about to open, Lina and Sirius try to make a convincing argument. Convinced that there's no choice, Erulogos reluctantly takes up the "claw" weapon. From level 2'00".
B) As the weapons are raised, they start to emit light, and they resonate together, strongly. When Sirius casts the spell, a circle of light is created from the five weapons with the altar at the center; the circle radiates toward Dark Star, and renders him spellbound. 60" level.
(#24 P-7 middle~P-11 middle) [3'00" level]

EX-4: Dark Star/ A different shaped Dark Star manifests (not the actual one). 20" level. An intense attack from Dark Star. Evoke the feeling of chaotic battle.
(#24 P-11 middle~P-13 middle) [2'00" level]

EX-5: Bloody Fate/ Valgarv's revival (Valgarv in the figure of a dragon). The outer scales of Dark Star overhead are peeling off and falling. From within it, Valgarv's voice is heard. Valgarv manifests in the form of a dragon with fierce light, as if to repel the scales. He spreads his wings and roars. There's a strong entrance for this character, coupled with attacks, at the 45" level. Pleace make it a variation of TM-23's theme of Valgarv, and make it express his suffering and sadness as he had to become Dark Star.
(#24 P-17~P-18 and #25 P-2~P-3) [1'50" level]

EX-6: Every Pain Has Some Purpose/ Valgarv speaks of his purification, rebirth, and transmigration. He expresses his desire to destroy the defilied world of evil cravings and war, and start over. He says that this is the will of God and Devil. There's a flashback of ugly wars between the realms. Eventually from Valgarv's foot a blade of grass grows. It sprouts into a bud, and grows some more as it blossoms into a flower. This one flower spreads out and transforms the area into a field of green. Valgarv then begins to regret the way he lived his life. Lina and others (Zelgadiss and Ameria) ruminate about their own pasts; in this part we should hear a theme for Lina --> Jiras, and Valgarv --> Filia. But Lina strongly speaks with unwavering conviction that "people make mistakes and yet, live on and forge forward notwithstanding their broken hearts." Ugly battle at 20" level. The spreading greenery is at 30" level. The past events scene is at 1'10" level, and the speech to Valgarv is at 60" level.
(#25 P-12 middle~P-16 last) [2'00" level]

EX-7: Chaotic Darkness/ Manifestation of Dark Star. Please refer to the notes of P-2. The powerful will of the overwhelming and destructive Dark Star begins to grow.
(#26 P-2~P-5 middle) [2'00" level]

EX-8: Beyond the Sad Past/ Filia's anguish and decision. She's of the lineage of gold dragons who vanquished Valgarv's clan, and is now placed int he position of having to take Valgarv's life. From 1'10" level, she descides that she can no longer be a bystander; she braces herself and steps up to the occasion.
(#26 P-10~P-11) [1'40" level]

EX-9: Light that Pierces through Darkness/ Climax. Valgarv-Dark Star accumulates light-energy in his wings. Zelgadiss and the others appear, and surround him. Each of them is gripping a weapon. The five of them raise their weapons in a circle. At the same time, Xelloss and Filia start to utter an incantation, and intermingled energy begins to gather in their hands. Red and black energies of Dark Star become agitated and active. As Lina begins reciting the "Lord of Nightmares" incantation, the four talismans begin radiating with powerful light. A field manifests, which protects Lina and the others from Dark Star's attacks. Light emitted from the field converges and a pentadic pattern emerges. Conjoined energy from Xelloss and Filia erupts from within the pattern and shoots up into the sky, directly towards Valgarv-Dark Star.
(#26 P-12~P-15) [2'30" level]

EX-10: Universe in the Palm of a Hand/ Filia screams in agony, "VALGAAARRVVV...!" and she sinks to her knees. Innumerable wihite things flutter down from the sky and onto her slumped shoulders; they're feathers from Valgarv's wings. They come down like snow, and Filia reaches out to touch a feather. Instantaneously, the feathers emit a beam of light and an egg manifests. This could be Valgarv's reincarnation. There is hope for the future. Filia carefully holds the small, pulsating egg in her hand.
(#26 P-16) [1'10" level]

--

Commentary on the Slayers TRY Vocal Songs

Take Your Courage
We had a professional "Eurobeat" musician arrange this one for us. Although the title was originally "Don't be Discouraged," we bumped it up to the more positive "Take Your Courage." By the way, "L.O.N." is not the initials of one person, but the name of a vocalist group.

Breeze
This one was produced by "V i n k ³," so I couldn't get a word in edgewise. There was an incident where the V i n k ³ producer implusively changed plans for the opening and ending candidates immediately before the production started, and everyone at the studio flew into a big panic. We're sorry, E.G. Films. By the way, you'll hear a lot of instrumental variations of "Don't ~" on this BGM, and these opening theme arrangements are the result of the abovementioned incident.

But But But
So-called "Swedish Pop." At the time, Sound Bible's recording "Secret ~dareka no message~" was popular, so we had Masami Okui compose and arrange for us again. Japan's Tore Johannson and Itaru Watanabe's arrangement is stellar. We heard a lot of request like, "Let's hear some scary songs about Xelloss; something that exudes the demonic feeling of his domain." We could have Ishida-san sing, "Why don't you all just disappear ~" or something like that, but it doesn't seem appropriate, you know?

Stand Up!
From the world of Slayers, a message-song of righteousness to all contemporary youth. The song's selling point is it's length of 3 minutes 24 seconds worth of Ameria's cute and cuddly feistiness, which was really done up and exaggerated in the mix. We did it on purpose, without permission, so our apologies to Free Atom. Now to save the honor of Suzuki-san we'll have to say this- she does musical shows too, and she's a very talented person.

More Than Words
We were told that Midorikawa-san likes the sax (he plays it on his own album, too), so we included a manly sort of artsy saxophone number. When the tune was still in its demo tape stages, it was temporarily called "Gaijin Slow." The finished product has a very metropolitan feel to it. Please listen to Okui-san's version, too.

Exit-->Running
This was made because we wanted another opening song. There are words in the lyrics that exceed Hidetoshi Sato-san's original melody, but hey, it was okayed because that's what gives it it's youthful feel! When it came down to the actual recording, it was helped along by Hayashibara-san's vocal technique, and the end result was perfection.

Waru (Bad Blood)
"Yes or no?" Takagi-san's powerful inflections give off the outlaw-ish feel. Before the recording started, he looked at the character sheet and said, "Wow, so that's one of Dark Star's weapons!" Greatly impressed, he took the enthusiastic initiative to crunch crackers and add crackling sounds to the song, but we cried when we read the fan mail later, which said, "Toy machine gun sounds aren't conducive to portraying a gangster image, don't ya think?"

Somewhere
We wanted to give off a "foreign" sort of feeling here, and we were also drawn to Kuwashima-san's English is her Nadesico voice-overs, so there you have it. We were also trying to consciously create a cinematic musical ambience. We requested that the song be "arranged with a 'world' theme, in slow tempo, with piano, guitar, and strings!" We had the song lyrics composed as a motif for Filia's state of mind before she met with Lina and the others. maybe her image int he actual take of the series is a little bit different, though.

So in the World
Gourry fans might disagree with some of the lyrics that say, "All you have to do is seduce ~," but the picture we had in mind was that of Gourry being in a bar somewhere, and being made to sing traditional drinking songs. So Matsumoto-san sings it in an inadvertent sort of way, since Gourry doesn't even know the meaning of the lyrics either. The latter half of the tune evokes the image of barflies getting excited and jumping onto the stage.

Don't be Discouraged
This tune was also produced by "V i n k ³." We thought that it would make a nice single, so we put Hayashibara-san's photo on the front jacket. Because we didn't want the single to be a blatant promotion of our show, we included a Megulina treasure-card in it to please our fans. This was rather a hassle to implement, so we apologize to the folks at Arts Vison.

Fair Wind
You could say that this is an "answer song" to "Breeze." It's about heartfelt messages from Gourry to Lina, and from Zelgadiss to Ameria. We were told that there's "hard-boiled" feeling to it, and that it would make a great jingle for a beer commercial.

Only Lonely Soldier
It communicates painful feelings about how a guy like Valgarv becomes the type of villain that he is. In my opinion, his character is one of the top three best arch villains in anime history.

Never Never Give Up
This song was planned originally to express Try's theme, which tells a story of the lifestyles of Lina and Valgarv. Some songs lend themselves to Eurobeat arrangements and English lyrics, but this one was done by sheer brute force.

Somewhere in the World
Although it wasn't planned, the song "Somewhere" (above) became the ending song of the final episode, so it became a requiem for Valgarv. It's quite an ordeal to turn an English-speaking song into Japanese, but it's a fun song with a western feeling.

--

Album Staff (BGM)
Back Cover Cel Animation: Kazuhiro Oriki (Ending Animation)
Design: Kazuhiro Karibe (Electric Sheep)
Art Coordinator: Naoki Shibuya (King Records)
Cooperation: E.G. Films; SOFTX
Musical Production: RAKU (Tezuka Composition); Softhouse Uno (V i n k ³ Compositon, Vocal Composition)
BGM Engineer: Hiroyuki Tsuji (King Records); Susumu Masuda (King Records);
V i n k ³
Mastering Engineer: Seiji Kaneko (King Records)
Supervisor: Takashi Yoshioka (King Records)

Album Staff (BGM 2)
Jacket Illustration: Atsuo Tobe
Back Cover Animation: Naomi Miyata (From the Opening Original Illustrations)
Design: Kazuhiro Karibe (Electric Sheep)
Art Coordinator: Naoki Shibuya (King Records)
Cooperation: E.G. Films; SOFTX
Musical Production: RAKU (Tezuka Composition); Softhouse Uno (V i n k³ Compositon, T-9); Parome Music (T-21); Nichi-on (T-32)
BGM Engineer: Koichi Suzuki (King Records); Hiroyuki Tsuji (King Records); Susumu Masuda (King Records); V i n k³
Mastering Engineer: Seiji Kaneko (King Records)
Supervisor: Takashi Yoshioka (King Records)

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