Loosely translated, Suigetsu means “water month.” The game’s logo, the character designs, the short clip on the game’s official site, and the songs on this soundtrack evoke images of shimmering water on a clear moonlit night. I never had the chance to play this game, but from what I understand, it is about a young man who loses his memory, save for a recurring nightmare, and the various heroines who help him reclaim his lost memories and regain some normalcy. In any case, if the story, dialogue, and voice acting are even half as good as the in-game music, we have a winner.
This soundtrack consists of two discs: the first is the in-game music and the second is a bunch of arranged themes. The song titles are pretty much dead give-aways as to what the track may sound like and the theme it represents. Although there is beauty in all of disc 1’s songs, there’s also a melancholy quality in them as well; yes, even in tracks with titles like “Brightness.” Some tracks like “Dream” and “Heterogeneity” are quite haunting. That shimmery quality and tasteful feel are evident in all the tracks, and even though glassy highs are a dominant sonic texture you hear, there are tracks with smooth pillowy bass to take some of the edge off the highs. The synth-based compositions are mixed and layered nicely and utilize tasteful instrumentation. The tracks on disv 1 are all under 3 minutes long and I found their lengths absolutely perfect. Even after I finished listening to disc 1, I still wanted more. Disc 1 gets an A all the way from me.
The arranged tracks on disc 2 are much longer (typically around four and a half minutes). I wasn’t a fan of this disc. I don’t feel these versions really added anything fresh to the songs as they stood on disc 1, and even when new stuff was added, it felt overdone and pretentious. The Indian chanting in Dream -Arrangement- comes to mind when I think of overdone and pretentious. Yuck. The addition of it made a great track horrible, almost like dousing a gallon of ketchup over a 5-star filet mignon. Another example is the upbeat, dancey arranged version of Bonds, which I thought was a horrible interpretation of the song. In addition, all the arranged tracks felt rather long. I could honestly have done without these arranged versions of tracks; however the inclusion of the full length opening theme as well as the instrumental versions of it made disc 2 worthwhile. The ending theme was too saccharine, generic, and upbeat for this soundtrack. In short, I didn’t like it.
Coincidentally, I listened to this soundtrack on a rainy Sunday afternoon and somehow it felt “right.” I’m not sure I’d have enjoyed the soundtrack as much as I did were it a bright, sunny day. The slow, relaxed tempo of all the songs and their shimmering water quality (remember, Suigetsu is “water month”) made for perfect for rainy day listening…well disc 1, anyway. Disc 2 was completely overdone and not an enjoyable listen at all, save for the full length title theme. Still, disc 1 is proof positive that Kenichi Okuma and company delivered a fine soundtrack to a reportedly fine game.
