Behind the scenes of every anime, there are hundreds of people at work. Artists, musicians, writers, voice actors, animators… all these people make the magic of anime happen. As talented professionals, these individuals take pride in their craft — everyone likes to be proud of their accomplishments. However, not everyone can say they would brag about everything they ever worked on. Few in the industry have the privilege of choosing what projects they work on, and some of the most recognizable names in the industry have had less glamorous days as a rookie. Today, we will go over a few of these accomplished staffers and the items they might be leaving off their resumes.

Sagisu Shiro Composing for Garzey’s Wing

Sagisu Shiro is one of the most accomplished composers in anime. His musical scores include anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion; Bleach; Kimagure Orange Road; and Nadia, the Secret of Blue Water. He is a timeless and diverse composer whose works span three decades. Listen to how pensive and heavy this track from Nadia is, and how distinctively 80′s this track from Kimagure Orange Road sounds. Here’s something a bit more contemporary from Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance: a riveting and emotional anthem similar in style to something from Iwasaki Taku or Kajiura Yuki.

So what is someone of Sagisu’s caliber doing on the staff of Garzey’s Wing, an anime that I am surprised has a staff at all. Garzey’s Wing is somewhat of a cult classic “bad” anime due to its nonsensical plot, incredibly shallow characters, and hilarious English dub. In fact, I’m not even sure if I remember the music at all, I was too busy laughing at this:

I can only assume the producers spent all their money for the rights to put his name in the credits and just had volunteers from the street do the rest of the work.

Mars of Destruction: Starring Chihaya Minori

Mars of Destruction is notable for being the lowest rated anime on MyAnimeList, with a measly 2.7/10 average score. The pacing is brutally awful, the action scenes look bad, none of the characters make any sense, and they use public domain classical music as the soundtrack because they can’t afford to have one composed. That being said, everyone should watch this anime — it’s only 20 minutes long and it’s absolutely hilarious. A girl’s head gets blown off in the first five minutes in the most absolutely unconvincing battle sequence known to man.

Great moments in anime history

Somewhere in all this, they had the money to hire Chihara Minori, one of the most well-known seiyuu today. I think she’s the main girl (with the red ribbons) because she talked the most and it would seem like a waste otherwise. Less than a year later, Chihara would go and star in some anime called The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. You’ve probably never heard of it. (more…)