It’s been two years since our last volume of Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe music. In that time, series composer Kenji Ito has composed and produced 11 new pieces of music (plus four instrumental variants of some vocal tracks!). The quantity may be a bit more sparse than usual, but the quality hasn’t dipped at all since what we heard in vol.2 and vol.3.
Before digging into the tracks themselves, it’s worth noting that this is the first set of music to drop since Square Enix shut down the Re;univerSe global servers in December 2024. This live service mobile title continues to run with new updates exclusively in Japan. This music covers the Cloud Realm story arc in its entirety, as well as the beginning of the new Koyomi story arc. I wish I knew more about what actually happens in those story arcs, but having lost access to the game itself, I have to satiate myself with the vol.4 soundtrack!
One bit of silver lining for those of us stuck knowing only English is that, even if Re;univerSe is only available in Japanese now, the liner notes for this very soundtrack are still presented in dual languages (Japanese and English). I remain grateful that Square Enix Music caters to a larger audience in this way. In these liner notes, presented interview style, composer/producer Kenji Ito provides plenty of information and insight about this new album.
First and foremost, he talks about the choice to bring on two vocalists. In some ways, vocalist Kyoko Kishikawa was a given. Ever since her appearance in Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- two decades ago, her powerful voice has gone exceedingly well with Ito’s musical style. Here, Kishikawa is responsible for the vocal performances in tracks five through seven, the “Four Inverses Battle” themes. The first and third battle themes, “Quartet Vibration” and “Quartet Requiem,” are lyrical in nature, which is not typical for Kishikawa performances. Her other vocal track, “Tetra Realm,” is non-lyrical, instead relying on her jazzy scat singing improvisation. In the liner notes, Ito expressed initial hesitation that forcing Kishikawa to lock into lyrics might prevent her from bringing her full power into the vocals, but he found himself relieved by the end result. I have to agree: all of “The Four Inverses Battle” themes are equally powerful, and are an incredible example of what the DESTINY 8 rock band can do alongside a killer vocalist like Kishikawa.
New to the scene is vocalist Junko Iwao. Kenji Ito reported that Iwao’s presence on the album came alongside the recommendation of the arranger for track four, Ryu Kawamura. Kawamura’s name stood out to me, since he is one of the two leads on the Square Enix Jazz series. But he’s quite the versatile arranger, because outside of jazz, it appears he has that Celtic 6/8 Atelier-esque chanting music down perfectly. With Iwao on vocals and some great choral work from several vocalists, including the very talented KOCHO (whom I remembered from NieR Re[in]carnation, among other sources), the vocal theme “Mayu-hime” stands out as the best and most surprising track on the entire album. I never thought I’d hear music like this in a SaGa game, and I am simply delighted by it!
Junko Iwao also handles vocals for a battle theme, which I believe is the final story battle for the Cloud Realm story arc: “Two-Winged Princess.” I guess that’s kind of like a One-Winged Angel, but … less angelic, and with an extra wing. Arranged by Yoshitaka Suzuki, this is an intense orchestral piece with incredible work from the brass section: much more like the SaGa instrumentation I’ve come to love and admire in games like SaGa Scarlet Grace and the first SaGa Frontier. While nothing is going to top “Mayu-hime” for me, this traditional battle theme is remarkably effective at achieving its purpose.
Though the vocal tracks remain the stars of this show, I would be remiss if I didn’t note some of my favorite instrumental tracks. And honestly, it’s fair to say every song on this album is a true winner. Not a single miss on the whole album. Nevertheless, I’ll spotlight and discuss a few specific tracks.
“Moonlight Passion,” arranged by Sorao Mori (one of the DESTINY 8 guitarists), is the kind of high-quality track I would expect specifically on a DESTINY 8 album. Arguably, the reason this band hasn’t released a fourth album is that they’ve been too busy recording new tracks for Emerald Beyond, the Romancing SaGa 2 remake, and this ongoing live service title! Alongside excellent work as a standard rock band, the notable lead here is violin work, I believe from Yu Manabe himself (the leader of the massive Yu Manabe string ensemble). I believe this track serves as a standard battle theme for the Cloud Realm story missions. And it is smoking hot.
“KAGURA (Koyomi’s Theme)” is the character theme for the new Koyomi story arc. Kenji Ito wrote at length about his choice to bring on arranger APAZZI because of his past work on “Idol Girl” style game and anime projects, which Ito thought would fit with the Sakamichi-style key artwork he was given for the Koyomi arc. The musical style here is a sort of elegant, musically-rich pop sound. This is a beautiful piece to listen to, for sure.
“Balordear: Destiny of the Eight” — Okay, I get what’s going on here. Written by Kenji Ito and arranged by Noriyuki Kamikura (the co-leads of DESTINY 8) and performed by the entire DESTINY 8 band, this one might be considered a vanity track. But it’s also an awesome battle theme, with a performance on par with the battle themes from the DESTINY 8 albums (especially from Romancing SaGa 3 and SaGa Frontier). Gentlemen: you nailed it. Bravo!
My envy and frustration at missing out on the latest chapters of Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe didn’t outweigh my sheer joy at hearing this great new album: a mix of familiar soundscapes and some surprising new styles, all with high-level production quality. Keep it up, Itoken! Keep it up, Square Enix Music team!
