Happy New Year!

Hello friends! I hope all your holidays went well. Since it's the last day of the year I figured I had better do this now or never. So, I present a bit of a wrap up of my December purchases in VGM. I doubt anyone's family got them game music (and if they did, you're pretty lucky!), so like me you may have had to take it upon yourself. I ended up with 2 orders in December; a careful observer can probably pick them out actually.... So in no particular order here we go.

Rockman 7 and 8 soundtracks - I suppose I should thank Team Entertainment for finally releasing these, even though it would have been better if Suleputer had made another box where they were included... or made the set Rockman 1~8 to begin with. Despite any issues I'm still satisfied and happy to have 7, and while there are some themes from 8 that remain memorable it's not nearly as many or as much as 7. One thing that definitely irked me about 8 was with all the extra space on the CD that they couldn't bother to include the Sega Saturn version of Tenguman's stage nor the Aquaman's arrange (I haven't actually heard this one, so I'm not sure if it's just different synth or a true arrange). While throwing around some blame, why in the world wouldn't they have released the Rockman & Forte soundtrack along with these two? I shouldn't hold my breath but it would be even nicer for Capcom to release the Rockman 1~6 PSX arranges. Despite all gripes they are classic Megaman and any fan will have to own these (unless Capcom takes suggestions and puts out a new box ;P ).

Then we get to Team Entertainment's other Rockman releases: the Rock and Techno arranges. Highly anticipated by every Megaman fan I should think, but were they worth it? Yes and no. Even though some of the initial appeal has dwindled since getting them I still enjoy most of the songs. They really did select a lot of picks I made before tracklists were revealed, which is good, but the latter 3 games are particularly looked over. Diveman, Dustman, Skullman, Napalmman, Darkman for Rock arrange anyone? Flashman, Sparkman, Brightman, Knightman for Techno? Apparently not, and it wouldn't be such a big deal another song I wanted wasn't included except for the fact that there was so much room to include more. That the even padded the run time with the original songs is even more of an affront; as if the fans didn't already have those! At $30 a cd they pretty much exploited our fandom, they could have made it a two disc set for the same price. So my suggestion, try to get it secondhand and save money if you can... you can buy it new if you want it bad but there'll probably be a bad aftertaste from the price and quantity (not the quality, though your opinions could differ from mine).

Next we have Kira★Kira, the single to the game of the same name; the newest Lantis offering. Chudah had turned me onto some songs from Green Green and I enjoyed milktub's music for that (girl's pop rock as opposed to the usual jpop in bishojo and hentai), so when I found they did this I picked it up. Short and sweet I would recommend getting it, especially if you like their previous stuff. Actually, Dai2BungeibuBand have a new album, Love, out today, more bang for your buck I would assume, but if you want these songs then you need to get the single as they aren't listed on the album's tracklist.

Detective Saburo Jinguji DS is the 11th console version of the series and I hesitant going into this purchase. Before ordering I looked all over and couldn't find any indication of why it spanned 4 discs, but I figured there would be an original version disc like Portrait of Ruin. Well I was wrong, 2 discs for the new game and 2 discs for the soundtracks to the first 4 games from Famicom. Gone is the laid back club jazz of the PS2 offerings served up by Katsuhiko Nakamichi and Hasemi Daichi... now whether or not they were involved with any of these I wouldn't know since it's only credited as WorkJam so I'm just assuming they're not. Granted there are jazzy tracks, but right now I'm not getting past the synth. I think it's something you just need to have played and have in your memory, so perhaps I'm not giving it a fair shake... I really haven't digested it yet. I'll just warn not to buy this expecting Innocent Black or Kind of Blue. Oh, and as a note I edited End of Dreams a little when I did the translation for this.

Pop'n music 15 was a purchase I kept putting off for whatever reason but I finally picked it up and again I really haven't sat down and digested it all. Like 13 and 14 I think some tracks that don't stand out now will become staples when I actually play the game but right overall it's seeming a bit weak and lazy. Disc 2 is almost all remixes and returning songs from other games (why do nothing but have Tomoka Hino be the third and worst vocalist for Prince on a Star without arranging the song a bit? Why change the name from "Get the Funk Out Mix" to SKACORE MIX?) Even some new songs sound intentionally or not like old ones, but at least songs like "A Swinging Hawaii One!" and "World Spider Web" have captured my interest. Unless you're a pop'n music freak like me avoid this; a casual pop'n music fan or first time buyer would do much better to start with 8, 9 and/or 10.

Outside of VGM both Genesis of Aquarion soundtracks were in an order. I can't believe I missed out of getting them sooner, but they are definitely worth it!

Closing out the year it seems 2007 was a good year for techno as some of my favorites this past year were all techno: beatmania IIDX 14, Granado Espada, milestone, and Wangan Midnight 3. So, here's wishing you all a happy new year 2008! Look forward to more new translations and fixed old ones, and much more from all the staff here at Chudah's Corner!