This is it, the Atelier that changed it all. At least, musically.
Up to this point, Tsuchiya-san (who eventually went on to become a senior producer with Gust) was the lead composer. And he had not one, but two Kobayashis as his musical henchmen. It was with Viorate that both Ken Nakagawa and Daisuke Achiwa led the charge. And these two composers continued to lead the charge for more than half of the entire Atelier series.
That Viorate’s soundtrack was a rare artifact, available only through Gust’s online store (and quickly out of print), was a travesty. Now, with the PSP remake and Team Entertainment’s reprint of the soundtrack (with a total of 5 new tracks), everyone is in luck. Before you even finish reading this review, I advise you go purchase it for yourself. If you thought Iris was good, or Totori was good … you need to go back to the soundtrack that really kicked this series up in the sound department.
Let’s start with those bonus tracks. On disc one, the last three tracks are new. “Teasing Not Allowed” is a silly track; “Girl Who Authors Time” is a redo of a track from Atelier Judie; “Memory of Lapis Lazuli” stands out as a very good provincial/romantic town/event/scene theme. I suspect this one comes from “the new guy,” Yanagawa — it has a very Totori feel to it.
On the second disc, we have two new vocal tracks at the end. “Wind-Up Happy Clock” is a fun, catchy, cutesy sort of song. I found it surprisingly addictive despite its lighthearted nature. The chorus will stick with you. The latter track, “celestial ark,” is simply fantastic. It’s one of Gust’s many great vocals; to me, it ranks right up there with fantastic vocals like “Lorelei” from Iris 3 (Grand Fantasm) or the end credits from Rorona. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
The rest of the album is retained from the original release. The PSP version isn’t newly-arranged with any sort of upgraded synth. But for crying out loud, it’s not like this music needed any upgrading. It was amazing then, and it’s still amazing now. The opening vocal “Looking Out at the Sea,” the moody “Earth, Far-away,” the wildly catchy “Harbor of the Great God King,” … you do not want to miss out on these. And there’s the amazing “Izareya,” which previous reviewer Mike Wilson (see original print’s review) declared as, on its own, “worth the price of admission.” I still think Mike is right.
Also impressive to me are tracks like “The Rainbow Snake” (Celtic pipes and whistles on steroids) and “Water Spirit” on the second disc. Again, just great stuff. If you followed NISA’s Atelier releases, you’ll quickly fall in love with this, the fifth in the Atelier series. Now if only we could get the game itself in English!
