Crossover games seem to be all the rage in Japan. Whether it’s Smash Bros, Kingdom Hearts, or Marvel vs. Capcom, people can’t seem to get enough of seeing their favorite fantasy character cooperate or compete in a unique setting. ASCII put together their own crossover, using heroines from eight different popular manga series (including my personal favorite, “Kino’s Journey”), and throwing them all together in one Nintendo DS game.
Because the source of inspiration was technically the manga, and not anime, there are no music themes borrowed from the TV anime that some of this manga would later spawn. All of the music is composed by Yuji Toriyama, and he gets to put his own musical touch on the eight different worlds merged in this one game. Some of his musical ideas are stronger than others.
I think the soundtrack’s biggest weakness is the DS sound source. The DS has been notorious for producing a strange amalgam of tinny, GBA-quality synth and smooth, MIDI-quality synth. There is also a lack of dynamic variation. Everything is ultra-normalized; I had to search to find crescendos and decrescendos on this soundtrack.
Toriyama saves the best of his talent for the last track. The “ending theme” is a beautiful piece that uses everyone’s favorite chord progression (IV V vi) and includes some Latin choir vocals. It was a surprising and unexpected end to an otherwise forgettable OST.
