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The Innocence Soundtrack |
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This and Reclaiming Neko are just under Faith in my favorite soundtracks list. I think I like the songs on this one better, but I think more of the Reclaiming Neko ones fit the story perfectly. Still this one has "What The Heart Wants" and "Aoi Arashi" as well as other good ones. |
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| Dar Williams - February |
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Opening Theme/ Amnesia - This song is difficult for me to analyze, but I think it shows the end of a relationship during a gloomy winter month. She gets lost in February. The girl mentions having forgotten what flowers are and blames her lover. Innocence starts at the end of February, with Neko having lost all her memories due to a medicine that Tenshi got for her, though Neko does not blame Tenshi (she does find other faults with her later, though). She also is experiencing fallout from the Christmas season (when Amethyst came). They go on a quest to find her memories, and when the spring comes, the girl in the song goes to replace her keys and prepare for the next winter. |
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| Semisonic - FNT |
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A Newborn Twin - This upbeat song corresponds not only with Neko's curiosity in everything around her & that she learns (each "fascinating new thing"), but with her reaction to Tenshi, as well as the fact that Neko does not remember ever being adored by her. |
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| Dionne Warwick & Friends - That's What Friends Are For |
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The Quest - Everyone is going on the quest because they love Neko. (pretty self-explanatory) |
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| Vanessa Carlton - Pretty Baby |
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Stargazing - As Tenshi and Neko share a peaceful, romantic moment together, Tenshi has difficulty keeping her romantic feelings in check (as Senken has warned her to do so). |
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| Seal - Bring It On |
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Jasper's Challenge - This song corresponds quite nicely with Jasper's problems. First he has to get over wanting to die to join Amethyst. Even after an apparition of Amethyst provides him with a perfect escape, he realizes that he actually wants to live - to help Neko. It is Neko who saves him (at least initially), and afterwards, Jasper finds himself falling in love with her. |
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| Christophe Beck - Suite from "Restless" |
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The Cavern/Dragoness/Tenshi's Challenge/Unfreezing Electra - An instrumental, that I think works well for the long chapter with Tenshi's challenge. I can almost imagine the voice in here as being the dragonesses. The song is both beautiful and eerie, as I imagine the prismatic cavern and the dragon would be. Also, to trust another with your loved one is very frightening, as is having someone speak right into your mind without warning. The scene is capped off with Neko having to unfreeze her twin with nothing but her warm feelings of love, which is a very pretty part of the song. |
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| Megumi Ogata - Breath |
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Mi-chan vs. Jasper/ Neko vs. a Kami - This song is full of passion as Mi-chan and Jasper argue over whether he is evil. Meanwhile, Neko is trying to convince the mountain kami that she truly does want her memories, but at the same time she wants her friends to live at all costs. The kami provides Neko with the basis for her future doubts (though she holds her own in this scene), and demands for her to come out & say that she wants her memories no matter what they hold. She tells him she'll take the good ones and the bad. Jasper, on the other hand, cannot convince Mi-chan that his intentions are noble, no matter how passionate the words he throws at her are. |
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| Gloria Estefan - Oye Mi Canto (Listen to My Song) |
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Mi-chan's Challenge - Mi-chan must face some of her greatest fears: Coming to terms with her longtime nightmare and trusting Jasper. She tries to sacrifice herself for Neko (something that comes quite naturally for her), but it is Jasper who discovers a solution that will cause Mi-chan and Neko less pain. Of course, it only can work if she puts aside her anger for him and listens. |
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| Darren Hayes - The Heart Wants What It Wants |
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The Pool of Koi/Tenshi's First Mistake - Tenshi's been fighting her feelings for Neko the entire trip, but a misstep lands them both soaking in a pool of koi (carp, not love). This is a perfect song for this scene (and Tenshi's emotions the whole quest). Neko's eyes and manner would all but suggest that she reciprocates Tenshi's feelings, but when Tenshi kisses her, it becomes all too clear too fast that Neko had not had any romantic intentions at all. |
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| Loreena McKennitt - Samain Night |
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Comfort in the Woods - This song was partially chosen for the calm and pretty sound of it, as well as the illustration of the forest. It also speaks to Neko's and Jasper's hearts as he tries to calm her, and she falls asleep in his arms. |
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| Christophe Beck - Massacre |
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Neko's Challenge - This is another instrumental from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. It is more action oriented and has quite a lot of chords of terror in it. I actually imagine it starting back with Tenshi threatening Jasper, and then Jasper and Neko running off before they even meet up with the bandits. After they do, Jasper is unable to help as the bandits threaten to beat and rape Neko. Up to this point, Neko has depended on the other three to help her out, but now she finds that she can actually fight, and she does. (It could be suggested that since Neko still seems uncertain of her abilities even after the fight, that this is part of the reason the ritual fails - her stone was not quite complete). |
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| Touma Yumi - Aoi Arashi (Blue Storm) |
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The Ritual - This song is beautiful. The forest is mentioned, which is nice. But mostly, it is how the singer feels that when they finish, the world will end. Neko feels that she will actually disappear and become a new person when she finishes the ritual. She also doesn't want to be subject to a love for Tenshi that she doesn't want to have. She'd rather (unconsciously) destroy the old Neko than be forced to feel one way or another by becoming her. Point of interest: Jasper's element is storms, and her feelings for him are part of her "reasoning" for failing. |
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| Seal - People Asking Why |
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Epilogue/Transition to Reclaiming Neko - By the end of the story, nothing is actually solved. In fact, things are actually worse because now Neko "hates" Tenshi, and the group has no hope. The song speaks first to Neko's desire to be home, and everyone else's desire to return her to her normal self (getting to where she came from; painting the destroyed garden green). This song also begins Reclaiming Neko, where Senken is trying to explain where things went wrong. |
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To Innocence |
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