re:Cut #2 - Full Song Follies and Flops

Intro:

"When the tv-size theme slaps
But the full version song ain't all that-"

Hi all, Jeff here again with the 2nd re:Cut story time where we take a deep dive into the old re:TYE/TYER archives and revisit cut content that didn't quite make it to the end. Today's story time will be discussing a surprisingly common trend where songs shortened to fit the 1:30 runtime of most anime theme songs sometimes sound a lot better than their full length counterparts. re:TYE often begins production on a new song cover days after the anime and song in question airs. And a few times these projects were prematurely cancelled due to disappointing full song...

Background:

One of the biggest changes (and hopefully seen as an improvement) re:TYE implemented compared to TYER was the focus on full-length English song covers instead of only shortened tv-size length song covers. TYER used to get flooded by comments and messages from our followers requesting X song be covered again with the full song instead of just the tv-size cut. In the later years, TYER would slowly transition into doing more full-length song covers but the frequency and decision was often left up to the main organizer for that particular project. You can actually thank Mero for kick-starting the trend as most of the earliest full length TYER tracks were thanks to her including Dramatic from Honey and Clvoer, Boku ni Invitation from Shirukuma Cafe, and Fukai Mori from Inuyasha. Eventually in late 2014 myself and some other organizers would also join the full-length bandwagon.

With a new start for re:TYE's channel, it was decided early on that all uploads would not only feature custom produced music tracks either produced for re:TYE but also be full-length covers. During the middle of TYER's run, the group also suffered from quality-control issues due to the breakneck speed of projects and the mass-produced nature of the channel. re:TYE would prioritize more consistent quality over quantity (besides the fact that we did not have the budget to be uploading 3+ covers a week like TYER, we were really built differently back then before everyone got old-)

While it hasn't happened as often on re:TYE vs TYER, there were two notable occurrences where a tv-size length song aired, was planned, production began, and then the project was cut once the full song came out. And these were:

re:Cut #2): Multiple Songs

ODD FUTURE - My Hero Academia S3 OP1 (Planned 04/2018)

Paper Sky - Tokyo 24th Ward OP (Planned (Planned 01/2022)

Since there's two songs for this re:Cut edition, I'll be breaking down both in each subsequent section.

The Plan:

ODD FUTURE - My Hero Academia S3
Lyrics: Jefferz
Arrange: TBD (would've likely been immanuelbear)
Mixing: Jefferz
Graphics: 愛梨。
Vocalist: TBD

Paper Sky - Tokyo 24th Ward
Lyrics: Jefferz
Arrange: immanuelbear
Mixing: Jefferz
Graphics: 愛梨。
Vocalist: Trickle 

Looking back, it's a funny coincidence that both songs that were cancelled due to an underwhelming or unexpected full length song were songs that I the organizer and lyricist form. Also ironic is that bear was the music producer planned for both tracks following Flyer's earlier cancellation two years prior to ODD Future.

A vocalist had not been contacted yet for ODD FUTURE due to the difficulty of the song's tenor range and high-performance energy. Trickle was confirmed to record Paper Sky due to the tenor range of the song and the similar hyped tone. Back in late 2021 Trickle had reached out to us interested in collabing on a cover and Paper Sky was the first new song that had aired that felt like a perfect fit vocally.

What Was Finished:

Compared to other projects in this cut content series, very little work had been done. Both songs would've been high-budged productions due to the complex J-Rock and electronic crossover genre. An initial translation for the lyric adapting was sourced and some assets for the graphics were being searched for. ODD FUTURE didn't ever make it off the drawing board,. Paper Sky had both confirmation from Trickle on vocals as well as bear on the music track. I'm not aware of how much preparation he had started at the time, but I believe bear had started reviewing the tv-size cut of Paper Sky and looking at potential synths and VSTi's for the project prior to its cancellation.

Why It Was Cancelled:

Despite both songs being cancelled relatively early on during production and both full songs being deemed disappointments from the staff, the two songs were cancelled for slightly different reasons.

ODD FUTURE:

ODD FUTURE was planned during My Hero Academia's 3rd season release which was two years into re:TYE's new YT channel. When re:TYE began, I (Jeff) basically fronted the full production costs re:TYE's projects for at least a year and a half since we were starting with nothing. Two years into re:TYE's run, re:TYE was starting to develop more resources and could at least front the payment for new projects but was technically overall still in the red. While the tv-size cut of ODD FUTURE had electronic elements to the song, it was still mostly a mid-tempo J-Rock song. The full version of ODD FUTURE however had much a much more electronic arrangement that felt so different from the tv-size cut, many fans felt like it was more of a remix than the same song (the general reactions to this OP at the time it aired was definitely polarizing). With the shift in genre from J-Rock to Electronic, the production cost would have skyrocketed for ODD FUTURE.

As a general note, I and many others felt like the full song was underwhelming and a disappointment.  The tv-size cut of ODD FUTURE is still imo one of the best edited shounen anime theme songs to exist as it's perfect paced, varied in dynamics, and builds on itself perfectly. It feels like the tv-size cut took the very best parts of the song and arranged them in a hyped way. Meanwhile the full version song feels like it drags in places, is overly electronic (UVERworld was always a crossover band but this was heavily processed even for them), and doesn't feel like it really finds its groove until at least half-way through the song. For how costly this project would've been, it needed to be either an extremely solid production or a passion project that the staff fully loved.

In addition to the cost of the music track, we likely would've had to outsource the audio mixing to an outsider mixer. At that time I was mixing every single re:TYE release partly for consistency, but mostly because re:TYE could not afford to hire and outsource the mix. Back in 2018, I was not particularly skilled at using a Vocoder and multi-track midi sequencers which would've made certain vocal effects in ODD FUTURE very difficult to recreate.

Mixing aside, ODD FUTURE also had the same problem as Flyers in that re:TYE did not have many contacts for high-ranged tenor masculine-sounding songs and were at a loss on who to feature on the track. If this song were to be produced today, I likely would've asked Chrissings if he would be interested in the project. Despite being friends with Chris IRL back then, he had not collabed with either TYER or re:TYE back then and his first collab with re:TYE on Inferno from Fire Force wouldn't happen until almost two years later.

Paper Sky

Compared to ODD FUTURE, Paper Sky had better odds because Tokyo 24th Ward aired four years later. By 2022 re:TYE managed to finally breakeven on general production costs and had much more resources and collaborators compared to 2018. Budget was not an issue here and Paper Sky did not have any Vocoder requirements in the audio mixing.

Where Paper Sky went awry was with the screamo yells in the middle of the song's 2nd verse which were certainly... a choice. The tv-size cut of the song is an upbeat, uplifting track that felt like a callback to nostalgic shounen J-Rock songs of the mid 2000's with a really catchy hook and a light electronic vibe that I love. Nowhere in the tv-size cut is there any sign or indication of what random elements get thrown into the 2nd verse. The song drops in levels while speeding up the main melody of the verse, drops into a sudden screamo section, then picks right back up into the same style as the beginning. In hindsight, I should've seen this coming since Survive Said the Prophet's earlier works in Vinland Saga and Banana Fish also featured screamo and intense elements. But again, the tv-size cut felt stylistically cohesive and solid, I'm still baffled by this song and I've had over two years to recover from it.

On the production and mixing side of things, I personally do not enjoy mixing screamo recording and hard rock genres both for TYER/re:TYE as well as for freelance hired audio services. In fact I think the last time I voluntarily mixed a song with screamo elements was TYER's old cover of the Watamote OP (which I also did NOT want to record either) that I did as a personal favor to Devonte/Dizzy who was a music friend I'd known since 2009.

Closing Coffee Cup Thoughts:

As previously mentioned, it was convenient that both projects were cancelled relatively early-on so little work was wasted compared to other cut content (though unfortunately that means there's no demo or clips available to share). In retrospect I do believe the right call was made to cancel both projects. While ODD FUTURE no doubt would've been a popular upload, many other well-known anime cover artists were already covering the song which reduces the appeal for re:TYE (we prefer working on songs that are solid and deserve to be covered but were overlooked by other artist); not to mention we were broke lol. Paper Sky was also tied to the Tokyo 24th Ward which ultimately flew under the radar and likely would not have been a very successful or popular project.

Perhaps the biggest lasting impact these two songs left after being cancelled is the projects they enabled by redirecting their budget.

Back in 2018, we attempted to limit ourselves to no more than newly aired songs per anime release season in an attempt to balance the budget and to prevent burnout (and by that I mean myself burning out as I was mixing every song back then). Ironically three other songs ideas were proposed during that season that also were cut, though none made it as far as ODD FUTURE. Cancelling ODD FUTURE however brought us Ryuusei and To See the Future, both from Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online. Gun Gale Online had a very late airing date and was one the last new shows to air that season. Both Ryuusei and To See the Future would've never existed had ODD FUTURE gone forward, which would've been a crime as both are two of our highest viewed uploads on YT (To See the Future is also one of re:TYE's most successful releases monetarily).

While the cancellation of Paper Sky didn't trigger a specific replacement, it did allow for an increased budget and greater creative options for the bonus track acoustic version of Kirameki on Your Lie In April's Song Collection album. The acoustic version of Kirameki was a last minute add-on to the set which originally only had the two OP's and two ED's. However after Orange was repeatedly delayed causing the digital distribution and release to be pushed back nearly a year, it gave us the opportunity to add the more emotional (and fan-requested) acoustic version of Kirameki, which is one of my personal favorite re:TYE uploads and possibly the most artistic release we've done.

And that's all I have for today's re:Cut post. Both songs had a lot of promise and their tv-size versions slapped, but at the end of the day, we were left thinking "what in the world was that" and have really no reason to look back-

Edit: I am absolutely going to be roasted in reTYE's staff discord for how cringe and painful my attempt at gen z slang is. And I'm certainly not going to try gen Alpha speak, Jeff is NOT him-