The longer a franchise continues with new entries, the more urgent the warning “evolve or die” comes to be. With the latest Atelier entry, Atelier Yumia ~The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land~, developer Gust must have been feeling that pressure. Without question, Project A26 is a new frontier for the Atelier series as it attempts the open-world concept (see Des Miller’s review for more details). While I’ve not (yet) played through Yumia, I’m already smitten by its soundtrack. From a musical perspective, Gust decided to bring two new composers from High Kick Entertainment to join the two long-standing composers providing the lion’s share of Atelier music for the past decade.
While I miss the composers who established the series’ sound (Akira Tsuchiya, Daisuke Achiwa, and Ken Nakagawa), I think the Atelier series has been in great hands with Kazuki Yanagawa, who did a fantastic job with the Atelier Ryza trilogy, among other projects. And Koei Tecmo in-house composer Shin-ichiro Nakamura, who has dabbled in some recent Atelier projects, did a great job with the environment themes he composed on disc 1 (tracks 12-22 are all Nakamura!). And while I will touch on Yanagawa’s compositions throughout this review, a special spotlight belongs on the High Kick composers Akiyuki Tateyama and Kujira Yumemi. These two composers helped push Atelier Yumia into new musical territory. You might say they “High Kicked” the series into a new stage of evolution.
Kujira Yumemi contributed the fewest number of songs (eight in total), but hers are some of my favorite tunes across the entire OST. She makes her musical debut with “Arcane Ascendance,” a jaunty 6/8 piece with piano and strings trading places (melodic lead, harmonic structure). This piece maintains a lot of the Atelier musical tradition while still carving out a musical identity that is noticeably new; in time, we may say that it is noticeably Yumia.
Near the end of disc two, Yumemi contributes one lengthy track and two shorter tracks: all environment themes. “Caverns of the Forgotten,” “Radiant Wasteland,” and “Dusk Among the Ashes” each serve as poignant musical accompaniment to the game’s world. “Caverns” is used as BGM for two indoors-y areas (Preces Cathedral and Hermea Academy), while “Radiant” and “Dusk” are two tracks used in the larger Sivash Region. My sense is that, more than her colleagues Yanagawa and Tateyama, Yumemi wasn’t afraid to lean into lush strings and layered instrumentation that are reminiscent of the BGM in the Zelda open-world games (Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom).
Yumemi’s most energetic piece is, of course, a battle theme. “Alchemy’s Blessing,” despite appearing near the end of the soundtrack, is a battle theme used in the game’s prologue. Here, more than anywhere else, I detect Yumemi’s work as a TV anime composer bleeding into VGM work. Though, frankly, it loops very well, and I’d enjoy playing along to this particular battle theme in many different contexts. Seriously, if I got to play along to “Alchemy’s Blessing” in a rhythm game, I’d be a happy camper!
Yumemi’s senior at High Kick Entertainment, Akiyuki Tateyama, composed approximately one third of the soundtrack (29 out of 88 tracks). Tateyama’s work, especially in his battle themes, reminds me of some of Falcom’s best music from the 2010s. Plenty of great Trails music, as well as Ys VIII, comes to mind when I listen to tracks like “Dramatic Encounter” and “The Battle’s Right Here!” Using the bandoneon as part of a spirited, guitar-driven battle theme is very Falcom, and it also calls back some of the charm of the Atelier Dusk trilogy (Ayesha, Escha & Logy, Shallie).
Tateyama’s softer pieces stand out less than Yumemi’s, opting instead to serve the game’s scenes. Disc four’s opening, “Light in the Abyss,” is actually music used in the game’s ending. This music is sublime in its dynamism, holding back for the most part, but there are also these brief swells of its loud, intense string ensemble, like light peaking through the clouds — makes for a fitting track title!
Tateyama isn’t afraid to have fun with the music, either. Nina’s character theme “She’s an Agent” is an unforgettable, sophisticated jazz number. The instrumentation and pulsing rhythms in “Rotting Sea” and “Rotting Shore” (more Sivash Region field themes) also showcase Tateyama’s playfulness.
With the High Kick duo pushing for an Atelier soundtrack, this is simultaneously more sparse and more cinematic than past entries (thanks to Yumia‘s open-world approach). Does Kazuki Yanagawa rise to meet the moment in this pivotal turn? Well … yes. Yes, of course he does. After all of the twists and turns he’s taken with the series’ music until now, I suspect he was ready to change things up a bit, even with the Ryza trilogy having been so consistently lovely.
An early sign that I was going to enjoy Yanagawa’s piano-centric, modern, jazz-oriented tunes was in disc 1, track 11, “Wish-Weaving Workshop.” In past Atelier games, the primary alchemy workshop musical themes tended to be too sugary-sweet. Not so here. This music feels less like candy and ice cream and more like a lightly-sweetened blended tea or latte. In its own way, I think it’s a triumph.
Yanagawa’s battle themes also have the polish and impressive piano work that keep them on-point with his colleagues and in line with the fast-paced action of Atelier Yumia‘s combat system. Yanagawa also offers up some strange, esoteric track titles for the game’s boss themes. The titles all involve rain, and frankly, they are hard to translate easily into English. Among them, my favorite is the incredible “Spiritual Rainstorm” (or “Hakuhiame” or “Spirit Flying Rain”?). It’s disc 3, track 19. The track title refers to rain that falls specifically during Obon lantern festivals, suggesting this rain is either helping carry the deceased spirits away or it is rain that, through its downpour, passes through the flying spirits and lands back on us earthbound mortals. Now that’s a deep track title! However, all this context has allowed me to enjoy this catchy battle theme all the more. As a quick aside, “Spiritual Rainstorm” is the official title used in the game’s English sound test menu. But it’s a complicated title, to be sure!
The only place I found myself disappointed with this soundtrack? The vocal tracks. This was surprising to me, as I tend to enjoy the opening, ending, and insert vocal themes throughout the Atelier series. I don’t think any of these songs are bad. Just, in comparison to what we’ve heard before, these seemed a little weak to me. The opening theme “Labyrinth Synapse” by the band flumpool hits with a great instrumental intro, and vocalist Ryuta Yamamura hits the high notes like a champ during the chorus. However, the verse feels a bit flat to me despite good melodic syncopation. SHIKI’s “Memory’s First Cry” also features great instrumental work, but vocalist Mion Yano didn’t win me over. This feels like a particularly emotional piece of music, but the vocals don’t carry the same emotion. I’d argue the vocals are too clean, too well-produced. SHIKI returns with vocalist Kohana Lam for the ending track “remember.” This one brings a strong sense of finality, and Kohana Lam definitely has the emotional punch that I thought was lacking from Yano. She’s not afraid to let her voice break, and her voice reminds me of the incredible Sayuri, may she rest in peace.
The higher-range, breathy vocals of Shachi Tsumugi feel more natural for a game like this, and her two contributions (“Unknown” and “Deep Breath”) are definitely my favorites. I look forward to experiencing them in context with the game! They definitely hold my attention more than “Memory’s First Cry” and flumpool’s opening theme.
At time of review, this soundtrack has yet to hit the digital market, either for purchase or streaming. Until it does, the four-CD set is available from plenty of online retail shops, including Amazon Japan and CDJapan. If you enjoyed the music from the Atelier Ryza trilogy and past Atelier games and are ready for something going in a new direction, this is the OST you want. If you enjoyed playing Atelier Yumia and dug the music, all the more reason to add this to your collection! Having done things in backwards order, I have to say I am more psyched than ever to play the game!
