Random music opinion time strikes again.
As a song, it kind of sucks. As Koishi's "theme" - even more. Arguably. As background music for Koishi's fight, though, it is incredible.
I feel the same about one of ZUN's most popular songs: "Love-colored Master Spark." I first heard the song while fighting Marisa, and the song sounded like two rainbows having sex with each other. Alright, maybe my description is too far from the truth. Indeed, when playing in-game, Marisa's theme sounds like a
frenzied rainbow orgy. Then, I heard the song on headphones... most of the excitement disappeared. But then again, I was trying to dodge an overflowing sea of homing stars before, so I was paying little attention to the music. I can only ascertain the "true" worth of a song when I'm lying in bed with the lights turned off, ready to judge how good the rhythms and melodies sound.
I love the trumpets, too - I'm talking about the levels he sets them at. They're often entirely too loud. Like, I love batter fried chicken, but I wouldn't love someone forcing giant chunks of chicken meat down my throat.
I prefer to think of ZUN's trumpets as crack. No matter how much you sniff, you always crave more. The problems arise when your body begins to adapt to the drug, causing each subsequent intake to be less pleasurable. In other words, the first time I heard "Necro Fantasy ~ A Maiden's Illusionary Funeral", I felt like I was listening to the voice of God. I had trouble restraining myself from replaying Ran's theme at least 10 times, or even just the one section with the epic brass blasts. Now, the song sounds like trumpets and pianos to me. Good ones, of course, but the initial ecstasy and excitement degraded into a more mature, nostalgic feeling.
On the other hand, songs like "Wind God Girl" lose their appeal faster because they rely only on the trumpets for energy. Indeed, ZUN's trumpets may be crack, but his pianos are LSD. Intoxicating oneself with multiple stimulants at the same time produces a more powerful and longer lasting effect, I suppose. From personal experience, my favorite songs from ZUN contain some mixture of instrumentation. I've made a list of my favorites at the bottom of the post for those who are interested.
Mixing up genres would increase my already high appreciation for ZUN's music. He tends to do either bombastic epic triumphant victorious dramatic for the games, or makes them a little more ambient in his music collections. As stated before, I think ZUN's old synthesizer has limitations (like 8-bit music) which almost leaves him locked into producing the same type of song. For example, "Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial" and "Faith is for the Transient People" almost sound like rock rhythms to me, but the lack of electric guitar leaves me second-guessing. Then U2 Akiyama and about 100 other arrangers came in with an electric guitar, and now everyone remembers these themes as hardcore rock.
Same here. For many post-IN themes, I didn't actually start liking them until I heard them in-game first, with Koishi's theme being no exception.
I am glad someone else also believes ZUN changed up his musical style, although I would argue he changed the most after Mountain of Faith's soundtrack. Before and during then, all of his songs had instant and direct appeal to my ears. Like rainbows having sex, listening to God's voice, etc. But when I heard the tracks for Subterranean Animism, I was wondering who ZUN hired as his replacement composer. Turns out the songs were just far less catchy, although they may have gained longer shelf lives (they sound better for longer) in exchange. The lone exception is Hartmann's Youkai Girl - although Koishi's theme may not compare to ZUN's previous epics, the song is still
fappable enjoyable to a lesser degree.
As promised, here are my absolute favorites: "Gensokyo Millenium ~ History of the Moon", "Border of Life" (unarranged version), "The Gensokyo the Gods Loved", "Flight of the Bamboo Cutter ~ Lunatic Princess", "Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's 'Kappa' ~ Candid Friend", "Higan Retour ~ Riverside View"
