"Seinaru Itami wo Daite" (translated "Holding the Holy Pain") by Yoko Takahashi is the opening song for the DS visual novel Lux-Pain. The song features a lush instrumental with a variety of sounds including strings, piano, and occasional spurts of electric guitar. Takahashi's voice sounds great and fits the vibe of the song, which itself fits the vibe of the game. This lush song is not immediately catchy, but is one I want to keep listening to. It also has an air of dark sadness in it. In other words, it's the perfect song to represent Lux-Pain since that same description could apply to the game.

"On, Off" is a ballad with a sparse synthesized instrumental that showcases Takahashi's impressive vocal range. In this song, Takahashi's voice is clearly the star. I was not too fond of the instrumental, though. The synth felt very "Casio" and I think actual piano would have really made the song more powerful.

The third and fourth tracks are the karaoke versions of the songs. As you may have gathered, I really enjoyed listening to the former's instrumental but found the latter's boring. It was empty without Takahashi's voice to carry it. All in all, though, this was an enjoyable single.

Reviewed by: Neal Chandran