Triumphant brass fanfares and synth-pop energy scoring the rise and fall of a man who wants to become the Otaking. Kohei Tanaka composed this 1991 OVA soundtrack for Gainax's semi-autobiographical love letter to otaku culture, and it swings wildly between heroic bombast and genuine melancholy.
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"Fight! Otaking" opens with this over-the-top orchestral charge that treats anime obsession like a military campaign, while "Comike Grounds" captures the frenzy of Comiket with breathless percussion. "The Lost Way of Otaku" closes everything on a surprisingly bittersweet note.
The "Otaku March" is stuck in my head permanently. Thirty tracks covering everything from school festivals to factory scenes to heartbreak, all with early-90s production warmth. If you grew up on Gainax and want to hear what their self-portrait sounds like, this is it.