Ultraman Nexus offers a typical soundscape that Kenji Kawai fans have come to expect: horn and string instruments with emphasis on percussion and synth sounds.
Two of the main themes that I'd like to focus on are the main Nexus theme and the Night Raider theme. Both are pretty simple in composition but are also catchy and apt for the series.
All four of the Night Raider songs contain variations of the Night Raider theme. Scramble is basically the Night Raider theme in its entirely: a energetic piece fitting of its title. Patrol is the quiet version of the theme, while Attack is another action-oriented piece which benefits from the addition of the electric guitar. Battle is more fast-paced that contains more fragments of the Night Raider theme.
Now, the Nexus theme is actually the instrumental version of the song Fight the Future, performed by Project DMM. While similar to the Night Raider theme, the Nexus theme sounds more noble and at times, heroic as well as it should considering that it's Ultraman Nexus' theme.
We're introduced to the theme with the Main Title jingle, and then the next track, Encounter, which provides a more ambient version of the Nexus theme. I enjoyed the atmospheric tone of this track which is similar to another track, Disappear. But don't fear, there's also more pumped up versions of the Nexus theme. Dash is the first track to illustrate the Nexus theme's effectiveness as a battle theme, but it just doesn't have the energy that Heroic has. But that's just my opinion. Final Fight is a tense number that also contains portions of the Nexus theme.
The album also contains many other impressive tracks, such as Awakening and Charge. I wished that the eeiry Violation was longer, but most tracks aren't much longer than one and a half to two minutes. Also, The TIme fot the Decisive Showdown sounded similar to something you would find on his Patlabor movie soundtracks.
With just under seventy minutes of music, this has to be the definitive collection of music for this series. It doesn't contain the opening or ending songs, but I don't think that hurts the album that much. Ultraman Nexus fans will greatly enjoy this as much as Kenji Kawai fans will.
The CD also comes with a Region 2 DVD with (I've heard) a small amount of behind the music content, making the jewel case double in size. The booklet looks like it has a lot of comments on the series and the music, but I can't read Japanese. I was surprised how plain the booklet was designed and that the pictures were in mostly black and white.
But overall, a great CD that I recommend to those who're willing to put in the effort of tracking a copy down. B+
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