Japan loves Christmas. They celebrate it every year, December 25th. It’s a huge holiday. And like much cultural borrowing, they just don’t get it. The Japanese understanding of Christmas is Santa and KFC (I shit you not, this is their Christmas dinner tradition!). So, you can probably expect that Square Enix’s take on Christmas music is a bit… non-traditional. And by non-traditional, I mean techno and bells.
X’mas Collections music from Square Enix is exactly what you’d expect from the masters of cultural maiming. Songs such as “Gold Saucer” from Final Fantasy VII, “Mystic City Geo” from Legend of Mana, and “Wind Scene” from Chrono Trigger get a peppy, synthy, echo-ey, and bell-laden makeover. While it’s nice to see some representation from some oft-overlooked classics such as Live A Live and SaGa Frontier 2, there’s just not much substance to this album. Even the tracklist is pretty short: seven songs, one of which is borrowed almost directly from another album (“Chocobo’s Happy Christmas” from Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon). It’s not a bad album, it just doesn’t have any oomph. It’s like in Bloodsport when the scrubs are up against Chong Li and they hit him and he’s like, “is that it?” and then kills them with a punch or something.
Inane movie references aside, X’mas Collections is not really worth the $18 plus shipping you’d have to plunk down to order this off of Play-Asia or CD Japan. It’ll get you in a Christmas mood the same way a nice plate of okonomiyaki would, as you listen to a shamisen player while watching the cherry blossoms fall. Or, y’know, eleven herbs and spices.
