Toshiyuki Watanabe - Akanuke Ichiban! Music Collection (Vol. 1 & 2)

Tracklist:
1. Ikinari Want You! (OP) [0:00]
2. Kojiro Appears [3:28]
3. Yuka, You Are Beautiful [7:00]
4. Love・Comic [10:32]
5. Kojiro Runs [12:57]
6. A Pleasant Breakfast [17:28]
7. A Rose-Colored Life [20:53]
8. Love Song・Romance's Premonition [23:17]
9. Tear-Colored Rel [27:49]
10. Suspense [31:19]
11. Refinement at its Finest [33:51]
12. Ikinari Want You! (Instrumental) [38:39]
13. Hikarikin's Theme [42:09]
14. Profound Mystery [45:26]
15. Sadness [47:22]
16. Yuka's Theme [49:41]
17. Yuka vs. Kojiro [53:06]
18. Looming Crisis!? [56:29]
19. Okushiga vs. Kojiro [1:01:21]
20. Rel's Theme ~ Ending [1:05:17]
21. Chotto Kohuhaku (ED) [1:08:15]

(Tracklist translated by TougeWolf)

BGM composed & arranged by Toshiyuki Watanabe

"Ikinari Want You!" (OP):
Composer: G-Jo
Arranger & Performer: Pink Crows (ピンク・クロウズ)
Lyrics: エピ

"Chotto Kohuhaku" (ED):
Composer: Hiro Nagasawa
Arranger: Toshiyuki Watanabe
Performer: Mikako Hashimoto
Lyrics: Kayoko Fuyumori

Scans used in the video are from my own LP copies, cleaned up by anisonfan
Both volumes utilize audio from the CD version—Vol. 1 is ripped by anonymous, Vol. 2 is ripped by another anonymous

The video doesn't exist anymore, but I had previously posted a cleaned-up vinyl rip of Vol. 1 here on YT nearly SEVEN years ago, back in 2018. Time flies, doesn't it?

Anyways, this video compiles both Vol. 1 & 2's music into a single video for easier listening access. Back when I posted the old Vol. 1 rip, I had talked about Watanabe as a composer & admitted that although I thought his composing skills were good, at the same time I ironically thought that his OSTs (what I had heard from him, at least) weren't good enough to warrant constant re-listens. I used his Vifam soundtrack works as an example & confessed that I never finished listening to all of his OSTs for that franchise in their entirety—still haven't to this day, actually...

Currently, the Akanuke Ichiban soundtracks are the only Watanabe OSTs that I've listened from start to finish & have actually enjoyed every single bit of—I'm not kidding when I say I genuinely consider these to be one of Watanabe's best 80s works. My enjoyment of the soundtracks actually increased tenfold after I was given the opportunity to help QC InkaSub's English fansubbing project for this anime; the BGM placement throughout the show was carefully thought out & makes the tracks stand out even more!!

At the time of Vol. 1's LP rip posting, only CD copies were available for Vol. 1—they were, however, not that easy to come by and go for $100+ USD I think. Vol. 2 was (is?) even rare, and not just on CD but even on vinyl too... I did manage to snag a cheap copy of Vol. 2 on vinyl after many years of waiting & searching but someone eventually ripped & posted Vol. 1 on CD about two years ago I think. I was given access to a CD rip of Vol. 2 & also given permission to post it publicly online, so folks will now be able to publicly access these two soundtracks in their entirety for the first time ever.

Last comment:
Do the soundtracks include all of the show's BGM? Damn... I really wish I could say yes, and they were SO close to including everything too—but they didn't. As someone who watched the entire show, the only BGM pieces they left out were the episode title cards, eye-catches, and two bridge collection cues. That's it! These tracks are so short & literally could have been inserted into either Vol. 1 & 2 but Warner Bros. opted not to do that for whatever reason. Instead, they totally thought it was sensible to repeat the OP/ED tracks from Vol. 1 on Vol. 2—not even karaoke versions or anything, literally just the same vocal versions. Why they did that is anybody's guess.

Anyways, enjoy!!