Ahh, Tokimeki Memorial – the #1 name in dating sim games. More stat driven than a love adventure, dating sims have more in common with RPGs because, as Pat Benetar says, love is a battlefield. Bad ’80s references aside, what we have here is the soundtrack to Tokimeki Memorial 4. Though the series has produced a kajillion soundtracks over the years, and not all of them good, this main-installment soundtrack is one of the good ones.
The music heard here was truly beautiful and balanced. It captured the slice-of-life feel required for a game like this, but the music was never boring or washed out; in fact, I found much of it delightfully funky. All the arrangements were nicely layered and complex. The melodies may not be immediately catchy for the most part, but this is the kind of music where multiple listens can reveal something new, especially since each piece builds up to a crescendo, making the best parts of the songs the middle parts. After listening to the music for review purposes, I put it on that night as my bedtime music, and I had nice dreams. In Tokimeki fashion, I wonder if there is a version of this soundtrack where a full orchestra did some of this music. If so, I’d give it a listen.
Disc 1 presents a collection of music layered with various instrumentation, such as piano, woodwinds, electric guitar, bass, and delicate synths. As a bassist, I definitely appreciated some of the funky basslines peppered throughout the music. My personal favorite piece on disc 1 was track 3, but every track was great. It was hard for me to choose samples. Disc 2 had over twice as many tracks as disc 1, and many of these were significantly shorter (particularly the last 15, which were for the Tokimemo 4 cell phone game). The pieces generally did not have the kind of build up as the pieces in disc 1 did, but they were nicely layered and many pieces did become fuller as they progressed. Some pieces had more distinct melodies than others, but they were not conventionally catchy melodies and represented many musical genres. These factors made the music appealing to listen to, and the soundtrack never once felt draggy.
There were also some cool vocal themes in the soundtrack. My personal favorite was track 2 of disc 1. That vocal theme nicely captured that slice-of-life feel of the genre without going overboard. It also sounded like it really fit the context of the game and was not written as an afterthought. The others were also nice to listen to and felt “right,” but track 2 of disc 1 was the strongest vocal theme.
Overall, I would say this is a very good soundtrack. The compositions were surprisingly deep and complex with many layers and plenty of hidden surprises for repeat listeners. Given the sheer number of Tokimeki Memorial soundtracks out there, the music can be hit or miss, but this soundtrack is clearly a hit. Two discs worth of music totalling 66 tracks and not a single one I disliked (I honestly liked it all) is definitely worth noting.
