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Amidst hundreds of JRPG opening themes, there are perhaps half a dozen that could be considered something other than generic gutter material. Surprisingly, Tales of Vesperia‘s opening vocal track sung by Bonnie Pink is among the better, despite a game that is little more than mediocre. The music is not entirely inspired, but the vocals… Read More »

The first in a three-part series of vocal collections for True Love Story ~Remember My Heart~ (the first game in the prolific series) features the seiyuu for two key characters: Ayane Katsuragi and Midori Amano (played by Shiho Kikuchi and Haruna Ikezawa). There are ten vocal tracks on this album, each one separated by a… Read More »

The first volume of this trilogy of vocal albums featured two characters: Ayane and Midori. Volume 3 is just Midori. But Volume 2 has representation from almost the entire cast of female characters in the original True Love Story. So if you want diversity, this is the album from the trilogy you’d want. But, then… Read More »

I haven’t listened to a soundtrack this ambient since Robyn Miller’s Myst and Riven soundtracks were first printed. The soundtrack to the MMORPG EVE Online comes from Icelandic composer Jón Hallur Haraldsson (note that the MMORPG was also developed in Iceland). When it comes to ambient music, it’s easy to write it off as “simple.”… Read More »

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… Read More »

Yuuka Nanri provides the opening theme “Odyssey” for Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus, a new crossover RPG (featuring manga characters) for the Nintendo DS. “Odyssey” is a catchy, synth-pop song, and Nanri’s smooth and soft voice, typical as it may sound, fits the instrumentation well. That said, I’m actually more intrigued by the single’s… Read More »

Discovering the Deus Ex soundtrack, I tried to recall the game’s music. I couldn’t, but I swore it fit perfectly with the cyberpunk dystopia of the game. Upon first listening to the soundtrack, I was not impressed, and I thought perhaps that my memory had created a falsely perfect conception of one of my favorite… Read More »

An all-cello quartet: I didn’t even know such things existed. The group Cellythm is comprised of four female cellists from Japan, and they’re no amateurs. This album, published by Nobuo Uematsu’s Dog Ear Records, features music that the group apparently thinks were really good at rockin’ out, complete with the power of DISTORTION!!! And, by… Read More »

NCSoft’s latest MMORPG, Aion: The Tower of Eternity, contains one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard for an MMORPG. The soundtrack comes from a Korean/Japanese composer (Yang Bang Ean / Ryo Kunihiko); he goes by both names, as he was born in Japan and now resides in South Korea. Having this all-star musical power… Read More »

There was an explosion, and subsequent saturation, of the RPG market for Japanese gamers around the close of the 8-bit decade (1989-1990). NEC’s PC-Engine was privy to a swarm of RPGs from all manner of developers. It’s difficult for an American to fathom the size and scope of the saturation, and it’s also very difficult… Read More »

Graphic adventures, digital novels, dating sims from Japan, huzzah! “Hatsukoi Valentine” jumped aboard just about the time that this genre, popularized by Tokimeki Memorial, really started to take off. Other games, like True Love Story and Sentimental Graffiti, were starting to pick up around this time as well. They had plenty of things in common:… Read More »

Two years after the first game, “Hatsukoi Valentine Special” hit the Japanese dating-sim market, and with it came the release of this soundtrack, from Absord Music Japan. Let’s take a quick look at this album release. The tracklist is laid out in a simple, “themed” fashion. The first twenty tracks encompass all of the character… Read More »

Ohji Hiroi, founder of RED and creator of awesome franchises like Sakura Taisen, has traditionally counted on composer Kouhei Tanaka to do his bidding. I’m a huge Tanaka fan, so when I stumbled upon “Mars Story,” I was pumped. But then it turned out that Tanaka only wrote the theme song “Wing,” and the rest… Read More »

Tokyo Majin Gakuen (“Tokyo Demon High School”) got its start as a series in 1998 on the Sony PlayStation. The original game, for which this soundtrack was printed, received one remake, one direct sequel, and a whole onslaught of “cousin” games (including Tenshou Gakuen, Kowloon Youma Gakuen, Kamiyo Gakuen). Developer “Shout! Designworks” has switched up… Read More »

This is the OST to the very first game in the “True Love Story” series. It features some compositions from the man who would become the series mainstay, Noriyuki Iwadare. It also features four beautiful string arrangements at the beginning, middle, and end of the disc. Other than that, the album sounds a fair bit… Read More »

The True Love Story series, which is best known by VGM fans for its contributions from veteran composer Noriyuki Iwadare (Lunar, Grandia), had its start with the un-numbered “True Love Story: Remember My Heart.” This game spawned a sizeable fan following in Japan, and the series has continued to grow and change over the past… Read More »

Lux-Pain, a surreal visual novel for the DS, features music by Yasuyuki Suzuki and Kenji Ito. I am not all that familiar with either composer’s body of work, but I am aware that Kenji Ito has composed for various SaGa games. I enjoyed the music while playing the game, but how it fares outside of… Read More »

“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… Read More »

Lux-Sound is a promotional soundtrack for the Japanese version of Lux-Pain. It features a bunch of “pre-arranged” tracks (hence “ver.0”) and a lengthy drama track starring the game’s Japanese voice actors. The first four tracks are arrangements of Kenji Ito’s pieces and the second four are arrangements of Yasuyuki Suzuki’s pieces. The arrangements of the… Read More »

Wizardry is one of the oldest and most beloved computer RPG series. The impact Wizardry (along with the Might and Magic and Ultima series) had on RPGs both in the US and abroad should not be understated. Games such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and numerous others, were inspired by and emulated many ideas from… Read More »

When fans think of Noriyuki Iwadare, the first games that come to mind are the Lunar and Grandia series. Some of my favorite battle themes come from these series, so I tend to associate Iwadare with killer battle themes. Imagine my surprise when I heard that he scored a series of love adventures such as… Read More »

I cannot be the only one who remembers those old commercials for Polly-O string cheese with the tagline “it’s the best part of the pizza without the pizza.” The same tagline could be applied to the Memories Off: Theme Song Complete Works soundtrack. In this CD are the vocal opening and/or ending theme songs from… Read More »

Is there anything in this world that’s cooler than (Shin) Megami Tensei? I DON’T THINK SO! Okay, so that was the most subjective statement I’ve made in a couple years. But seriously, Atlus has really allowed Shin Megami Tensei to take off in the last five years. The series is rich in historical, religious, and… Read More »

At the time of its release, the MMORPG for Shin Megami Tensei had the “Shin” dropped off of it, but it was later added back on. In 2007, when “Megami Tensei Online IMAGINE” was first released in Japanese stores, the box came with a promotional soundtrack. This is a review for that soundtrack. The two… Read More »

Composer Hidehito Aoki is fortunate to be a part of one of the greatest legacies in gaming history: the Shin Megami Tensei series. The two “Majin Tensei” games are cousins, or “gaiden” titles, in the overall SMT franchise. Most people associate SMT with two composers: Shoji Meguro (for the newer games) and Tsukasa Masuko. But… Read More »