The PS1 game “Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou” made a lot of waves, and the ripples of those waves affect us even today. The hit game saw several remakes, as well as a sequel, some gaiden titles (such as “Tenshou Gakuen” and “Kamiyo Gakuen”), and even had anime and radio drama made after it.
This album is a “message and vocal” album. Most of the tracks are succinct, one minute monologues from the various characters of the game, each one taking on a different topic or theme (the track title being the topic). Interspersed among these intellectual musings are a couple of wildly catchy pop songs, most of which appear in one form or another on any of the game’s multiple OSTs.
“Beat” and “Tears” are two incredibly enjoyable, upbeat J-pop pieces. The former uses some awesome ambient piano, plucked string, and percussion loops that layer, one on top the other, until the full song is built. The song reminds me of some of my favorite pieces from the Evangelion “Refrain” album (for all you anime music buffs out there!). The latter comes in two versions on the album, but obviously you’ll want the full version, not the game-size opening. Then there’s that duet piece about snow falling gently on people. Yeah…I don’t really like that song. It’s like, the sort of thing you’d hear on an East Asian clone of “American Idol.” And then they tack on three different karaoke versions: a guy can sing with the female artist, a girl can sing with the male artist, or two extremely Otaku individuals can sing to one another. Good times.
All in all, this isn’t a great album to have in your collection, particularly if you don’t speak Japanese. The majority of the musical content can be found elsewhere. But it’s still a rather interesting piece of the Tokyo Majin Gakuen puzzle.
