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 like a Tokimeki score. Though, it comes with a little less cheese, a little less synth-guitar, and a little more sophistication in the compositions. Please note I said “a little,” it’s not like this album is the beginning and end of great neo-classical VGM. But the string arrangements really do help, and they are my favorite thing about the soundtrack.
If you’re looking for the sort of Iwadare music you heard on Grandia or Lunar, you can hear faint remnants of that style on this soundtrack. But Iwadare-san went for a very different style of composition on this particular album. Some of the later “True Love Story” titles would sound slightly more like Iwadare’s mainstream RPG works. But not here, my friends. Not here.
There are a few drama monologues on the disc as well. Any and all of the “Letter from…” tracks are short monologues from that character. They read a letter to the main character (presumably, you, the player). Very cute, I must say.
Like all of the early True Love Story records, this one is hard to find. CD publisher “One-Der” (makes me think of that movie “That Thing You Do,” and the whole joke about One-ders vs. O-neders) is long out of business, and their CDs are long out of print. But hardcore fans of the series, and of Iwadare, should not be disheartened by this news. Like virtually all obscure VGM, a thorough and vigilant search across the Internet (or used CD shops in Japan) will easily net you this album, and probably for a low price.
