Although I do not listen to mainstream music, I can still tell a good song from a bad one. Just that the things in the music we're looking out for is different.
Previously I already knew that lots of good songs are found in *mature* games, so I searched through the library and indeed found quite a few good ones.
But quite a few still went by undetected.
It was pure chance that I came across the opening video of Full Ani when I was searching for Bale Out (you know, the song with a lot of f***) on YouTube.
I watched it, first I was pretty impressed with the music, then the quality of the video (*not the image quality of YouTube).
I didn't know any company made such an RPG (hent** or non-h**tai) in the recent 3 years.
And sure they didn't.
It was a Mahjong game by Leaf.
If most RPGs both online and not have this quality of an opening instead of slideshows I bet more people would be playing RPGs. Even few Animes can match the action at the chorus part for their openings. Not even Ragnarok Online's opening, even though I heard it was done by some of the field's best artists in history (People who stick to old practices in an ever-evolving field should be relegated to the depths of history, yea color pencils are still the best medium, well then color-pencil the effects of that lighting from the fireworks) I'm not talking about budget here, because this thing doesn't look as high-budget like some of the Anime series are, but it's the directorship that counts. With enough things happening, even Stick Death can become artistic. I'm sure you've seen some high-budget series with nice detail high frame rate and few errors in artwork only to be screwed by a lack of action and shitty plot. (Hint: Think mainstream) It's not as if Toshiro's special ability is running and Orihime's ability is just to cast a shield while other idiotic enemies just slash at her once and then jump sideways. (Fortunately I only watched till season 3 so am unable to comment on future openings)
So I went off-topic again. I realize I'm good at this.
Back to topic, I had that song in my library. But I never even listened to it because it was from a mahjong game. And which mahjong game in history have a good opening song (plus video)? Maybe just one - this one.
Then again, this is a game by Leaf. Who knows how much they are making from To Heart 2.
So this song is "just now" by clap for Full Ani
Two other notable mentions are Thank you for your love - CANDY - My Fair Angel opening/ending theme,
And Kanata - Shimotsuki Haruka - Maiden Breeder 2 opening - Shimotsuki Haruka fans should love this one.
This three songs I really got by pure chance, because there wasn't any way I would have had come across them. It's not like Innocent Starter or White Album, which I came across while searching for Mizuki Nana and playing QOH '99 respectively. And those are easy to find. Who the hell would play the three games I mentioned up there? (Actually, I did for My Fair Angel. Going to play Full Ani also, just to get the full version of the song, yes)
While Shimotsuki Haruka would be a good pointer, the song Kanata usually doesn't show up in her discography, because it is one of her early songs (2002, but she already sings very well by then), written by NadiR and copyright belonged to TEATIME, and THE SONG WAS NEVER RELEASED. It's a tragedy that such a nice song does not have a full version.
There are also other famous mentions of songs that are good yet found in the most obscure places. Shimotsuki Haruka fans should know fairly well 初恋小箱, found in the single of Princess Maker 4 opening 硝子鏡の夢. (I still prefer 硝子鏡の夢 a bit more though). Or heck, when it comes to Shimotsuki-nee-sama there are countless other examples out there. And how about all the songs from Da Capo II. Then there's Lapis Lazuli, from the visual novel 夜明け前より瑠璃色な which only good point was said to be the song.
If remove the "famous" restriction (meaning known and said to be good by many people) and lower the rarity requirement a bit, there are loads of excellent songs waiting to be uncovered out there. Which makes up my collection.
It's sad that although these songs are good, they will never make money because people are paying for songs that are wildly advertised and pushed out of a production pipeline. Whatever happened to making music for the sake of making music?
All the more reason not to listen to mainstream.
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