What happens when you take a game series with a target audience of pubescent males and try to bring gender equality into the equation? You get a game that brings in pubescent females, and probably a couple of gay males as well.
The overwhelming target market, though, is the heterosexual teen male, which is why among six Memories Off “main series” titles and some spin-offs, there is only one game that has you playing as a female looking to snag a male mate. Tokimeki did the same thing with their “Girl’s Side” game. This is “Your Memories Off ~Girl’s Style~,” and despite the plot and concept, anyone of any gender or age can enjoy the music.
The character themes (namely, Rikano and Akari) on the Girl’s Style soundtrack are very powerful: sometimes, overpowering. And that isn’t a statement regarding dynamic range. The volume can be soft or loud, but the power behind the lead instruments, the drums, and everything else one can glean from a careful listen, all of these things can stand out individually just fine. When put together, it’s a powerhouse of music. I am reminded of some of Noriyuki Iwadare’s earlier Langrisser and Growlanser tracks when I listen to the character themes for Girl’s Style.
There’s a strong jazz influence over this entire album. Not every track is a “jazz” piece proper, and most of the tracks are processed via MIDI keyboard synth and tracking software. But the jazz influence cannot be denied. A listen to pretty much any of the audio samples provided with this review will help you confirm this for yourself.
The “event” themes on disc two are out-and-out my favorite tracks on the entire OST. Much of the OST, particularly on the first disc, is slightly lackluster compared to early Memories Off albums. But we’re back on-par with disc two. There are a bunch of tracks with these super-smooth bass lines (see tracks 4 and 7). Tracks like these make the search for the album, and the search within the album for the best music, totally worthwhile.
It’s really a shame that this album wasn’t made available via 5pb.Records’ retail line of albums. I suspect the demand was too low to do a retail printing. But the music is actually quite good. If you’ve been collecting the other MemOff albums, you won’t want to miss out on this ones. Seriously guys, smooth bass in VGM. Doesn’t get cooler than that.
