Time for the last soundtrack retrospective, this time it's going to be on the Touhou series. It's the only indie franchise with enough installments for me to do a retrospective like this, and ZUN's iconic soundfont and compositional quirks make pretty much all of his soundtracks consistently fantastic:
Highly Responsive To Prayers: The first Touhou game wasn't the best. It was a shoddy Arkanoid clone with some pretty ugly graphics, but if there's one good thing I can say about it, it's that it has one of the best debut soundtracks I've ever heard from a video game composer. It's thoroughly impressive how ZUN nailed his style from the first game, but I especially love how solemn HRtP's music is. While there are definitely some fast-paced tunes, a large portion of this soundtrack is really dark and sad, perfectly fitting the game about Reimu's solitary trip into hell. It also lays the groundwork for the generally more dramatic soundtracks for the PC-98 games.
Highlights: "Now, Until The Moment You Die" is a godly final boss theme that starts off with a strong organ intro before quickly turning incredibly frantic. In addition, "Eternal Shrine Maiden", "Strange Oriental Discourse", and "The Highly Responsive To Prayers" are all excellent stage themes in their own right. Akyu's Untouched Score also comes with a stellar version of the main theme "Theme Of Eastern Story", though it's not from the original title.
5/5 Stars
Story Of Eastern Wonderland: Overall, I'd say that ZUN's second Touhou soundtrack is a bit of a step down compared to HRtP, though not too much. Story Of Eastern Wonderland still has a really consistently solid soundtrack with a lot of some of the best themes in the series, particularly in regards to Marisa and Mima. I guess my one gripe with it is that it just isn't as tonally consistent as most of the other PC-98 soundtracks. There are flashes of darkness and lightheartedness here and there, but SoEW's soundtrack never really commits to a tone. Still, it is a really solid soundtrack, and even one of the weaker Touhou scores is still pretty great.
Highlights: "Complete Darkness" is my favorite PC-98 song in the series. It's incredibly epic and intense, utilizing the chiptune soundfont to its absolute fullest to depict a big battle with one of the series' most evil characters. In addition, "Love-Colored Magic" is Marisa's iconic and still excellent theme, and "Himorogi, Burn In Violet" is a fast-paced stage theme that sounds suspiciously similar to a Final Fantasy VI theme (not that it's a problem).
4/5 Stars
Phantasmagoria Of Dim Dream: Out of the PC-98 soundtracks, this is easily one of the best of the bunch, and was even my favorite for a while. It's mostly composed of around ten themes for each of the characters, but they're all so good! Each main character theme captures each member of this game's cast perfectly while also fitting the frantic Phantasmagoria gameplay and the dark tone of these early titles. It's a wonder that those character themes are as good as they are because I do have some gripes with this soundtrack too. There are a lot of pre-battle and ending themes that I found a bit more hit and miss, and since the whole game is comprised of boss battles, it means we have a lack of stage themes. Still, this is otherwise a fantastic soundtrack.
My only gripe is that the game has a bunch of pre-battle and ending themes that aren't as great, but the character themes are enough to elevate this soundtrack for me. Although, my only critic
Highlights: There's two for this one. "Reincarnation" is another one of my favorite PC-98 songs (Mima really does have the best themes), and is actually one of the songs that introduced me to Touhou alongside UFO's "At The End Of Spring". But then there's Kana's theme "Vanishing Dream - Lost Dream" which is so somber, complex and beautiful that it stands as one of the best PC-98 tracks, definitely standing up there with "Complete Darkness" and a certain final boss theme in Mystic Square.
4/5 Stars
Lotus Land Story: Lotus Land Story is my personal least favorite PC-98 soundtrack, though not for a lack of great songs. As a matter of fact, the game has some of my favorite tracks in the series. Cute Devil, both of Yuuka's themes, the Stage 4 boss themes, they all slap. It just so happens that a bunch of songs like Break The Sabbath, Illusion Of A Maid, and pretty much all of the ending themes felt a bit lackluster. It also doesn't help that there were some genuinely great songs that ended up being unused and replaced by weaker counterparts (Magic Shop Of Raspberry, Dreamy Pilot, and Crescent Dream). On the other hand, I think this is probably the least dramatic soundtrack out the PC-98 catalog with a generally light-hearted tone, which is a pretty nice change of pace at this point.
Highlights: Obviously "Bad Apple" is a highlight here. Even though the (great) Nomico remix popularized the song, the original is still a fun and fast-paced tune that stands out as one of the PC-98's best themes. I also like both of Yuuka's themes which continue the trend of great final boss themes on the PC-98, along with the themes that play when you fight Reimu/Marisa.
3/5 Stars
Mystic Square: I don't know if ZUN knew this would be the last PC-98 soundtrack, but it definitely seems that way. Mystic Square's music feels like it belongs to a swan song, it's fast-paced, frantic, dramatic, and emotional, really demonstrating how high the stakes are this time around. The stage themes are all phenomenal here, and the boss themes feel especially personal, with my favorite example being Yuki's theme showing just how goddamn furious she is with Reimu for taking out Mai. It all adds up to a phenomenal soundtrack that isn't just the best on the PC-86, but is an easy contender for best in the series. Even the PC-98's usual abundance of ending themes isn't an issue here because they're all fantastic!
Highlights: The triple whammy of "Legendary Illusion", "Alice In Wonderland", and "The Grimoire Of Alice" makes for one of the best final acts in the series in terms of music, rivaling my other favorite soundtrack of the series. I can't go without also bringing up "Maple Wise", though, easily one of my favorite songs in all of Touhou.
5/5 Stars
Embodiment Of Scarlet Devil: While I definitely liked the PC-98 soundtracks, with a more diverse lineup of instruments (and recognizable soundfont), the Windows soundtracks show a huge boost in quality, in my opinion. EoSD's music is incredibly eerie, with a distorted soundfont that can feel a bit grating at times (update: Ignore that, EoSD's soundfont is iconic). Despite this, I think the melodies here are so iconic and memorable that I love this soundtrack anyway, from the well-known themes for Cirno, Flandre, and Sakuya, to the great stage themes for Stage 3, 4, and EX. EoSD feels like a perfect transition between the darker PC-98 scores and the more energetic Windows scores, and perfectly captures the nostalgic early 2000s vibe that I love from the games of this era.
Highlights: "UN Owen Was Her" is one of the most iconic themes of the series, and for good reason, but it's also worth mentioning how un-Touhou it is. Flandre's theme is really intense and creepy helping it stand out from most of the other themes in the series. I also really like the violin-heavy "Shanghai Treehouse", the elegant "Septette For The Dead Princess", and the eerie "Voile, The Magic Library".
5/5 Stars
Perfect Cherry Blossom: I'm a big fan of soundtracks that are ethereal, mystical, and dreamlike (Klonoa and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon), and while a lot of Touhou soundtracks are like that, PCB's music leans heavily on this tone. Given how the game is based on beautiful cherry naturalistic landscapes and the border between dreams and reality, most of the songs in PCB are either orchestral or synthy and distorted, yet it never sounds disjointed. The soundfont quality is leagues above EoSD's, and the use of leitmotifs and recurring melodies for the final and extra bosses is pretty great. There's not much else for me to really say, Perfect Cherry Blossom has one of the best and most iconic soundtracks of the series and perfectly captures the beautiful heights that Touhou music can reach.
Highlights: "Necrofantasia" is another iconic extra boss theme that jumps between melodies and keys insanely fast, from its bombastic intro, to its quiet pre-chorus, to its triumphant chorus. I'm also a big fan of the beautiful "Border Of Life" and the melancholic "Phantom Ensemble".
5/5 Stars
Immaterial And Missing Power: That's right, I'm also doing the spinoffs! IaMP is probably my least favorite of the fighting game soundtracks because the amount of songs it can remix is pretty limited at this point in the series (there have only been two Windows games so far). Still, the remixes themselves are mostly solid. There are a few misfires, but otherwise, these fighting game remixes feel like a perfect translation of the more emotional original themes to fit a fighting game, I even feel they'd be perfect for Super Smash Bros. Overall, I'd say this game has some pretty great remixes for the characters, but it also has a lot of forgettable and painfully simple pre-battle themes that just drag down the soundtrack as a whole.
Highlights: "Mystic Oriental Dream - Ancient Dream" and "Voile The Magic Library" have my favorite remixes that manage to capture the spirit of the original melodies while expanding on them further. As for the original themes, "Night Falls - Evening Star" is a fittingly haunting theme for Yukari that feels like a perfect parallel to Necrofantasia.
3/5 Stars
Imperishable Night: Imperishable Night is one of the most consistently strong soundtracks in the whole series, with hardly any weak points throughout. IN's music is incredibly fast-paced and piano-heavy, resulting in some truly beautiful solos that perfectly capture the desperation of racing to return the moon back to normal. While the fact that most songs utilize the same instruments mean IN's music can blend together a bit easier than most, it allows for a truly consistent tone, and the brisk pace fits the frantic bullet hell gameplay pretty much perfect. This is also one of the games that does the best jobs at syncing the levels and boss fights to the music, making this a soundtrack that actually becomes better when you're playing or watching the game.
Highlights: Where do I even start with this one? "Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke" is my personal favorite song, another great and intense extra boss theme. But I'm also a big fan of the beautiful piano-heavy "Voyage 1969", "Lunatic Eyes" which juggles two melodies pretty much perfectly, and the beautiful remixes of Theme Of Eastern Story and Reimu's and Marisa's themes during Stage 4.
5/5 Stars
Phantasmagoria Of Flower View: Another Phantasmagoria game! Flower View's soundtrack is often given the short end of the stick since it uses a lot of remixes which is a real shame because I think it's criminally underrated. For starters, there are like five remixes, all of which are of some of the best songs in the last three games. The rest is all original, and it's all phenomenal too. Between Sakuya, Aya, Komachi, and Shikieki, Flower View has some of my favorite themes in the entire franchise, but even the "weaker" character themes are absolutely amazing. I also think Flower View has some of the best percussion in the series, with each song having a driving drum beat that makes it them feel more exciting. My only gripe is that, similarly to Dim Dream, the non-battle themes are a bit on the weaker side, but the high points surpass even some of my favorite Touhou soundtracks.
Highlights: Everyone knows "Flowering Night" for its amazing remix Night Of Nights, but it's still an excellent song on its own. I also love Aya's theme "Wind God Girl", Komachi's theme "Higan Retour", and especially Shikieiki's downright epic theme "Fate Of Sixty Years", all of which helped get me into the series.
5/5 Stars
Shoot The Bullet: Don't let the short length of the spinoff games fool you, they can have some of ZUN's absolute best scores in the series, especially the Aya duology. I'm a big fan of Aya's music, they're all incredibly upbeat and fast-paced, so Shoot The Bullet's score just feels like a bunch of songs that really capture that magic. Despite the short length, the quality level in Shoot The Bullet is amazing, each song feeling like a perfect blend between IN's piano and PoFV's driving percussion. It's an underrated and short soundtrack that Touhou fans should definitely give another check.
Highlights: "Wind God Girl" is still one of my favorite themes in the series, but I'm also a big fan of the beautiful "Retrospective Kyoto" and the exciting "Sleepless Night Of The Eastern Country". Aside from the slightly weaker title theme, there's not a bad song in the entire score!
5/5 Stars
Mountain Of Faith: It's interesting to divide the Touhou soundtracks into eras, whatever style ZUN is leaning towards at the time. TH1-5 are obviously the PC-98 era, Touhou 6 and the Seihou games go for a dark fantasy vibe, PCB and IN are ethereal, PoFV and StB are super percussive, and TH10-12 are naturalistic, focused on capturing whichever environment Reimu is traversing at the moment. Mountain Of Faith focuses around Reimu climbing a mountain in the fall, with many stages showing off some truly beautiful vistas. As a result, its music ends up being easily the most optimistic and soaring soundtrack in the series, encouraging you to really take in the view. It's really a perfect fall soundtrack, though there's still an emotional element to it, as the music only gets more and more grand as you get higher up on Youkai Mountain.
Highlight: "Fall Of Fall" and "The Gensokyo The Gods Loved" are two of my favorite stage themes in the entire series, both containing beautiful melodies and instrumentation. In addition, Aya gets another amazing theme in "Mysterious Mountain", and both of Sanae's themes are some of the most epic and emotional in the franchise.
5/5 Stars
Scarlet Weather Rhapsody: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody comes right between my two favorite Touhou soundtracks in the series, yet it somehow manages to hold its own. Nearly every remix in this game is masterful, perfectly balancing between taking the songs into new territory while capturing their spirit. The original themes from ZUN are also amazing, especially Tenshi's themes, as are the catchy stage themes by U2. And for one of the few times in the whole series, I actually really like the pre-battle themes! SWR's leitmotif is my personal favorite out of all of the fighting games, it's both epic and lighthearted, fitting perfectly for a bunch of different genres. This is easily the best of the fighting game soundtracks (alongside one other I'll get to soon), and stands among some of the best in the series.
Highlights: As I mentioned before, Tenshi's themes are amazing, easily some of my favorite final boss themes in the series, as is her pre-battle theme "Flawless Clothing Of The Celestials". I'm also a big fan of the elegant violin remix of "Flowering Night", the Castlevania-esque "Septette Of The Dead Princess" remix, and the melancholic "Broken Moon" remix that feels like a perfect summation of the series as a whole.
5/5 Stars
Subterranean Animism: I go back and forth on whether or not I like this or MS's soundtrack better, but either way, SA's score is easily the best Windows soundtrack and a contender for series best. Where MoF is far more light and uplifting, SA's music is more intense and dark, perfectly evoking the game's subterranean setting. I love how cave-like songs like "The Dark Blowhole" and "Bridge People No Longer Cross" are, I love how elegant songs like "Green-Eyed Jealousy" and "Heartfelt Fancy" are, I love the Halloween-esque "Satori Maiden", the beautiful "Lullaby Of Demonic Hell", and the triple-whammy of "Nuclear Fusion", "Last Remote", and "Hartman's Youkai Girl" to end off the soundtrack. This is ZUN at his absolute best, nearly every song is complex, layered, and dramatic. The composition is amazing throughout, and the quality slowly improves as the soundtrack goes on. Easily one of the best video game soundtracks ever.
Highlight: This soundtrack sticks the landing pretty much perfectly with three of the series' best tunes. Utsuho's theme, "Solar Sect Of Mystic Wisdom - Nuclear Fusion", is my favorite song in the whole series, it's bombastic, epic, and exciting. Last Remote and Hartman's Youkai Girl are almost as good, with the former being one of the most dynamic and complex themes in the series, and the latter's rapid key and tempo shifts being a thing of legend.
5/5 Stars
Undefined Fantastic Object: Undefined Fantastic Object's soundtrack boasts a pretty stellar lineup of tracks, especially the stage themes which range from the light-hearted "At The End Of Spring", to the goofy "Interdimensional Voyage", to the elegant "Provincial Makai City Esoteria". Meanwhile, the boss themes are unusually intense right from the start. Nazirn is the first boss and her theme could especially be that of a fourth or fifth, and it just keeps getting more and more dramatic from there. UFO's central tone isn't quite as obvious as some of the other soundtracks, but as a whole, there's just something so soulful and emotional about it. ZUN has always done a pretty good job at capturing the boss's characters through music, but some of the choruses in UFO are just on another level.
Highlight: Byakuren's theme, "Emotional Skyscraper - Cosmic Mind", is one of the best final boss themes in the series. It's so grand, massive, and... well... emotional! I love the bombastic intro, the light-hearted version, and that insanely dramatic chorus. It has a bit of a build up, but wow, that payoff is absolutely worth it. As mentioned before, "At The End Of Spring" is one of the first Touhou songs I've ever heard and I still have a lot of love for it today.
5/5 Stars
Touhou Hisoutensoku: Hisoutensoku is an add-on to SWR that makes the already great fighting game even better, so it only makes sense that its amazing soundtrack adds on SWR's as well. While I don't love Soku's leitmotif as much and think its original themes are just alright (except for that masterful title theme), the remixes more than make up for it. Cirno, Sanae, and Utsuho are some of my favorite characters in the series with some of my favorite themes, and their remixes are excellent here, as are the ones made for some of SWR's characters like Marisa, Patchouli, and Alice. These are some of the best remixes U2 has ever made and I can't imagine the duo of SWR and Soku without them.
Highlights: "Did You See That Shadow?" might be my favorite title theme in any game ever made, it's an epic, sweeping, and melancholic reprise of SWR's leitmotif that gives me all the feels, and the ending theme "The Eternal Steam Engine" ain't half bad either as long as you're okay with bagpipes. In addition, the remixes of "Beloved Tomboyish Girl" and "Grimoire Of Alice" actually manage to surpass the originals, becoming my personal favorite versions of both those themes.
5/5 Stars
Double Spoiler: In case, Shoot The Bullet wasn't fantastic enough, its direct followup Double Spoiler's soundtrack is just as good. It goes for a bit of a moodier approach than StB did, resulting in probably the most solemn and atmospheric ZUN score since the Seihou series. This meant it took a while to warm up to a lot of the music in this game, but when it won me over, it won me over hard. It helps that I adore its soundfont, which introduces the awesome synth that ZUN would proceed to use up until the fifteenth entry in the series, thus kicking off what I like to call the "Techno era" of Touhou music.
Highlights: The remix of "Mysterious Mountain" adds the Ten Desires beat to an already great song making it automatically better by default. I also think "Nemesis Stronghold" has a really strong chorus and "Bell Of Avici" has a really intense and dark vibe to it.
5/5 Stars
Great Fairy Wars: Great Fairy Wars isn't amazing as far as Touhou standards go, but it's definitely really solid and has some fantastic songs. It goes for a more lighthearted tone, which gives a lot of the music a sense of energy to it, helped by ZUN experimenting like he tends to do with most of the spinoff games. The final boss theme is so brilliantly un-final, the title theme introduces an entirely new leitmotif, the Stage 1 theme sounds like it's straight out of Seihou, GFW's music at its best plays around with what you'd expect a Touhou soundtrack to sound without deviating too far. There are a few weak points here or there but when the experiments work, they really work.
Highlights: "Magus Night" is amazing, it's an epic and intense theme for Marisa that stands out as one of her best, and really brings up the soundtrack as a whole. "A Midnight Fairy Dance" is a serious bop though.
4/5 Stars
Ten Desires: Ten Desires's music isn't for everyone. It's experimental, synth-heavy, and I honestly didn't love it that much at first. The more I listened to it, however, the more I absolutely fell in love with this soundtrack because of these factors. Ten Desires's soundtrack is the perfect "head-banging" Touhou score, with tunes that wouldn't sound out of place at a rave or a club. There's a really great trance/techno vibe to the music here that I just absolutely love, especially in the trance themes, yet there are also a lot of more calm PCB-esque tunes that perfectly capture the spirit-centric tone of the game. I also really like a lot of the instruments used in Ten Desires and am always so excited whenever they resurface in the later games and music CDs. Easily one of my favorites in the series, and the start of what I like to call the "Techno era" (TH13-15) of Touhou.
Highlights: "Desire Drive' is easily the highlight here with its fast-paced and jumpy melody, but I also love the beautiful "Let's Live In A Lovely Cemetery", the playful "Futatsuiwa From Sado", and the unabashedly techno "A Small Desire's Starry Sky".
5/5 Stars
Hopeless Masquerade: As far as the fighting game soundtracks, HM is firmly mid-tier for me. It's not super long and doesn't have some of my favorite remixes in the series, but it also doesn't quite have any low points either. The leitmotif is my second favorite behind SWR's leading to some pretty great pre-battle themes, and all of the remixes are generally pretty great, some even surpassing the originals like "Candid Friend" and "The Traditional Old Man And The Stylish Girl". And once again, ZUN's original themes are great, between the hope-crushing yet beautiful "The Lost Emotion" and intense remix of Mamizou's theme in "Futatsuiwa From Gensokyo".
Highlights: I pretty much mentioned most of the highlights alright, "The Lost Emotion" and "Futatsuiwa From Gensokyo" are easily the best songs in the game. But I also quite like the remixes of "Candid Friend", "Hartman's Youkai Girl", and "Magus Night".
4/5 Stars
Double Dealing Character: While I always enjoyed Double-Dealing Character's soundtrack, it took me quite a bit of time for it to truly and fully click for me. DDC is a game all about aggression, from the corrupted weapons, to the bosses based on monsters like werewolves, to the very personal struggle of its final boss. Thus, DDC's soundtrack heightens up the drama to ridiculous levels, with loud guitars, fast tempos, lots of leitmotifs, and melodramatic choirs in the background... and I love it. Aside from one or two weak boss themes, the music in DDC just gets better and more intense as the game goes on, especially once the Tsukumos show up. From the chill-inducing Stage 5 theme, to the super dramatic final boss theme, to the amazing homage to Imperishable Night in Stage 3, to the banging extra stage theme, DDC's heights are so freaking good.
Highlights: "Little Princess" is one of my favorite final boss themes in the series, it's intense, dramatic, and tragic-sounding, as if the boss Sukuna is fighting you rather than the other way around. "The Shining Needle Castle" is also a beautifully elegant and haunting main theme, and the title theme "Mysterious Purification Rod" is one of my favorites in the series.
5/5 Stars
Impossible Spell Card: Compared to most of the spinoff bullet hells, ISC is pretty much half remixes and half original themes. Thankfully, neither of these two halves are much worse than the other. The remixes are all pretty great songs from DDC and DS including "Mysterious Mountain" and "Reverse Ideology", and the original tunes range from good to the amazing "Eternal Transient Reign". Once again, there's a fantastic usage of synth that leads to some absolute banger songs.
Highlights: "Eternal Transient Reign" is one of my favorite original themes from the spinoff games, it's both beautiful and epic, fitting the super hard final levels.
5/5 Stars
Urban Legend In Limbo: ULiL definitely has some great remixes and original tunes, for sure, but it's definitely one of my least favorites of the fighting games, and feels even worse coming after Hopeless Masquerade. Since both games share a lot of the same characters, I found some of the remixes in ULiL to be inferior to those in its predecessor just as much as there were genuine improvements. In addition, the pre-battle leitmotif is one of my least favorites out of the fighting games. However, ULiL does have some really memorable remixes along with some great stage themes, and the decision to split the soundtrack up among a bunch of fan composers was a super cool idea!
Highlights: So this game had the genius idea of bringing in beatMARIO of Night Of Nights fame to remix "Lunatic Eyes", and it's a match made in heaven. I also love the synth-heavy remix of "Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly", the unnerving remix of "Hartman's Youkai Girl", and the more melodic remix of "The Lost Emotion", all of which either surpass or reach the heights of the original themes.
3/5 Stars
Legacy Of Lunatic Kingdom: I adore LoLK's music, I think it's the best soundtrack ZUN made since Subterranean due to its sheer intensity, which fits perfectly given how stupid hard this game is. Once again, there's a lot of synth being used here, but while it was used a bit more rhythmically in Ten Desires, LoLK focused on providing intense and memorable melodies for both the stages and the boss fights. It perfectly conveys the darker and more epic tone of this game, which has you traveling into space to stop the greatest threat yet. The level of quality here is also pretty fantastic, with even the weakest themes being incredibly complex and memorable, and the soundtrack helps to bolster LoLK's already fantastic presentation (if only the game was a bit easier).
Highlights: "Frozen Capital Of Eternity" is my personal favorite song, it's calm but incredibly catchy, but I also really like the emotional "The Sea That Reflects One's Home Planet", the triumphant "Faraway Voyage Of 380,000km", and the chaotic themes for Clownpiece and Hecatia.
5/5 Stars
Antimony Of Common Flowers: Similarly to Soku, AoCF adds on to its predecessor's soundtrack rather than replaces it, but while there are still some weak ULiL themes left over, I find Antimony's music to be a massive improvement. Not only does it have a better leitmotif, but it has an entire lineup of amazing stage themes, phenomenal new remixes for characters like Yukari and Tenshi, strong original themes by ZUN, and even remixes of some of the SWR/Soku themes like "Flawless Clothing Of The Celestials", "The Ground's Color Is Yellow", and "The Eternal Steam Engine", all of which surpass the originals. As a whole, Antimony's music fixes nearly every problem I had with ULiL's soundtrack and stands up as one of the best fighting game soundtracks in the series.
Highlights: "Night Falls" gets a banging hardbass remix that deserves the recognition it got when the game originally released, "Catastrophe In Bhavaagra" got a catchy jazz remix that might be better than the original, "Last Occultism" got a dubstep remix that's definitely better than the original, "The Eternal Steam Engine" got an absolutely beautiful and nostalgic remix for those who don't like the original's bagpipes, and then there"s the phenomenal final boss theme 'Tonight Stars An Easygoing Egoist" which purposefully emulates a live audience just to make it that much more hype.
4.5/5 Stars
Hidden Star In Four Seasons: As much as I love Hidden Star In Four Seasons the game, the soundtrack is the point where ZUN's nearly flawless streak of Touhou soundtracks starts to wind down a bit in quality. It took me a while to figure it out, but eventually I realized, it's entirely because of the drums. ZUN starts using a new drum kit in this game called Elementic that sounds really grating to the ears, and it's dragged down pretty much every soundtrack he's made since. It's a shame too because otherwise I really like the attempt at making a fairly atmospheric soundtrack in HSIFS. The stage melodies are absolutely beautiful and the boss themes build up to some pretty fantastic climaxes, and while there aren't too many standout tracks, there aren't any truly bad ones either. I really like the music in HSIFS, it's just that the drums drag it down from being truly top tier.
Highlights: "No More Going Through Doors" is easily my favorite song in the game, and probably my favorite extra theme. It's intense and perfectly captures the feeling of wanting to get revenge for losing the final boss. I also think the Stage 3 theme is beautiful, and that Okina's extra theme is super badass.
4/5 Stars
Violet Detector: While I definitely enjoy Violet Detector's soundtrack, I think it just has a bunch of little niggling issues that lead me to call it the weakest spinoff score so far. The original themes are mostly pretty great, with some nice synth usage, though it suffers a bit from the dreaded snare drums. Similarly, I'm left a bit mixed on the remixes. On the bright side, this is the first game to remix songs from the music CDs, which is awesome! The CDs have some of the best tracks in the series! Unfortunately, Violet Detector shortens the CD tracks, removing some really good parts. The Darkness Brought In The Swallowstone Naturalis Historia was hit especially hard, that song needed that ending.
Highlights: "Old Adam's Bar" is still an amazing theme from the music CD, even if it shouldn't have been shortened, but the real highlights are the beautiful "Nightmare Diary" and the calm "Lucid Dreamer".
3/5 Stars
Wily Beast And Wicked Creature: This is easily the most hit-or-miss soundtrack in the series for me, and thus rivals IaMP as my least favorite in the series. It does have some of the best themes, but it also has some of what I'd consider to be the absolute worst (Urumi's theme is a rare ZUN miss for me). The whole score has this intense tone with a weird synthy soundfont, that works depending on the track. It also suffers from the problem of stage themes being generally better than boss themes in these newer games. However, I will say that the score does slowly improve over time, with Stages 4-6 being nearly flawless music-wise, even if the extra stage themes are easily the least interesting in the series. See what I mean when I said it was hit-or-miss? There are so many things it does well and so many things it does poorly, it's just so inconsistent in everything but its tone. And while I criticized Elementic in HSIFS, I think it's at its worst here.
Highlights: "Idolatrize World" is a highlight of the series, one of the best songs ZUN has made in a while, and one of the best final boss themes in the series! It's grand and beautiful and even incorporates the Theme Of Eastern Story. I also like the beautiful "Beast Metropolis", the intense "Unlocated Hell", and the unnerving "Tortoise Dragon".
3/5 Stars
Submerged Hell Of Sunken Sorrow: ziki_7 went off, holy shit! Touhou 17.5's soundtrack is easily one of the best in the series, probably my favorite since Ten Desires! Despite almost the entire soundtrack being composed of remixes, the main composer ziki_7 did a lot to make each remix sound fresh and like an entirely new song. And even more, I'd say the majority of these remixes are even better than the originals, like literally everyone but maybe Reimu and Utsuho (whose remixes are still really good!). There's so much variety here, from tropical to experimental techno to full-on celtic, and as much as I love ZUN's iconic midi soundfont, the clear and punchy instruments really help the music stand out here. I also love how you see ziki_7's influences seep into a lot of the songs, like how the stage themes feel like they come straight out an RPG, echoing games like Xenoblade or Skyward Sword, or how plenty of the songs give off serious Kirby vibes (Marisa and Kogasa being the most obvious ones). When ZUN's already fantastic original final boss theme is overshadowed by a decent chunk of the remixes, that's how you know this soundtrack is doing something very right. I really hope we more official Touhou soundtracks from ziki_7, they immediately solidified themselves as someone worth keeping an eye on.
Highlights: Even with the sheer amount of top-notch remixes here, Kogasa's theme stands far above the rest as one of the finest remixes I've heard. Like, her original theme was fine, but the 17.5 remix transforms it into this chill, experimental piece of house that sounds unlike anything the franchise has ever seen. This ranks among the best Touhou themes period, it's that good. There's a few others I can't go without mentioning though, like Flandre's remix which manages to surpass the most iconic theme in the series, and Kutaka's brilliantly frantic remix that similarly takes an otherwise unremarkable Touhou track and elevates to ridiculous new heights.
5/5 Stars
Unconnected Marketeers: I was super excited for this soundtrack since it was the first Touhou game to come out since I joined the fandom, and you know what? It lived up to the hype, especially coming off the heels of Wily Beast. Similarly to HSIFS, the music in Unconnected Marketeers is very consistently solid, lacking any soaring highs like Idolatrize World nor any lackluster lows like Urumi's theme. The stage themes are all phenomenal and varied, with some badass pan flute usage, an awesome synthy final stage theme, a theme entirely in major key, and best of all, a stage theme that uses percussion other than Elementic. The boss themes are also pretty solid, Smoking Dragon is super intense even it's dragged down a bit by Elementic spam, Momoyo's theme is a ton of fun, and the experimental final boss theme once again used entirely new percussion and was all the better for it. While still not one of the best, Unconnected Marketeers has really been holding up surprisingly well, and is probably the best of the Elementic era.
Highlights: "Lunar Rainbow" is probably the strongest tune in the game for me and a genuine surprise. Since the fourth game, Stage 6 themes were just a version of the final boss theme, so an entirely original Stage 6 theme for the first time in a while blew me away! It's an intense tune with one of my favorite uses of ZUN's synth in the whole series.
4/5 Stars
100th Black Market: At this point, I'm just gonna keep updating the retrospective as more Touhou soundtracks come out. It's always pretty interesting to get a new batch of Touhou songs since it usually takes a few listens for a lot of Touhou music to really sink in, and that's especially true for the hella experimental music in 100th Black Market. 100th Black Market felt like an excuse for ZUN to really go wild with the type of songs, so we got stuttering in the first boss theme, DnB in the Stage 2 theme, and bizarre time signatures aplenty. Unfortunately, it doesn't all quite work for me, at least not yet. The sheer weirdness of some of these tracks leave them not feeling super catchy, and I didn't end up latching onto a single song. On the bright side, though, the Elementic drums are completely gone here. ZUN got a whole bunch of new instruments for 100th Black Market and they all sound great, I just wish they were used on slightly better songs.
Highlights: Youkai Hook On was the most noteworthy one of the bunch, it's frantic, fun, and I love the parts where the song sound like it's glitching out. Didn't expect that from ZUN!
2/5 Stars
Let's do some ranking, starting with the numbered entries in the series:
- Mystic Square (5)
- Subterranean Animism (11)
- Ten Desires (13)
- Mountain Of Faith (10)
- Perfect Cherry Blossom (7)
- Imperishable Night (8)
- Double-Dealing Character (14)
- Highly Responsive To Prayers (1)
- Legacy Of Lunatic Kingdom (15)
- Embodiment Of Scarlet Devil (6)
- Phantasmagoria Of Flower View (9)
- Undefined Fantastic Object (12)
- Phantasmagoria Of Dim Dream (3)
- Unconnected Marketeers (18)
- Hidden Star In Four Seasons (16)
- Story Of Eastern Wonderland (2)
- Lotus Land Story (4)
- Wily Beast And Wicked Creature (17)
- Double Spoiler (12.5)
- Shoot The Bullet (9.5)
- Impossible Spell Card (14.5)
- Great Fairy Wars (12.8)
- Violet Detector (16.5)
- 100th Black Market (18.5)
- Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (9.5)
- Touhou Hisoutensoku (12.3)
- Submerged Hell In Sunken Sorrow (17.5)
- Antimony Of Common Flowers (15.5)
- Hopeless Masquerade (13.5)
- Urban Legend In Limbo (14.5)
- Immaterial And Missing Power (7.5)
- Mystic Square
- Subterranean Animism
- Scarlet Weather Rhapsody/Hisoutensoku
- Ten Desires
- Submerged Hell In Sunken Sorrow
- Mountain Of Faith
- Shoot The Bullet/Double Spoiler
- Perfect Cherry Blossom
- Imperishable Night
- Double-Dealing Character
I'm not done yet, though. ZUN also worked on two soundtracks for the Seihou series, another bullet hell series made by ZUN's classmates. These soundtracks are amazing, so I wanted to review them as well:
Seihou: Shuusou Gyoku: The first Seihou soundtrack is not only an underrated gem but stands among some of the better Touhou soundtracks as well. It's in this awkward area between MS and EoSD, so the Seihou games sound like a blend between the more melodic Windows themes and the darker PC-98 themes. What you get is a soundtrack that sounds simultaneously dreamlike and foreboding at times. ZUN also gets a chance to experiment as well, from the western-ish Illusionary Girl From Canaveral to the shockingly edgy Illusory Science - Doll's Phantom. And I didn't even bring up the extra stage themes, which not only give Reimu and Marisa some great tunes but also contains the first time Theme Of Eastern Story is used in a full melody. In other words, check out the Seihou soundtrack, it's really good.
Highlights: Silk Road Alice had that aforementioned Theme Of Eastern Story appearance so it's automatically my favorite, but I'm also a big fan of the dark and sinister Illusory Science - Doll's Phantom, the beautiful Illusionary Sputnik Night, and the optimistic Magical Girl Crusade.
5/5 Stars
Seihou: Kioh Gyoku: Kioh Gyoku's soundtrack isn't as good as the first Seihou score mostly because it's shorter. Yes, this is another Phantasmagoria game so most of the soundtrack is composed of character themes. Some of these themes are great like Vivit's, Gates', Yuuka's, and especially Muse's. However, most of the songs are really long and complex meaning that while the best ones are transcendent, the weakest songs can feel a bit lacking in melody. Still, this is a good soundtrack and it shows ZUN continuing to learn how instruments work as some mainstays like the violins, UFOsax, and ZUNpets start to really become prevalent here! Another great Seihou score, just not as good as its predecessor.
Highlights: Enigmatic Doll is one of the best and most underrated video game themes of all time and easily one of ZUN's masterpieces. It perfectly balances between elegant, melancholic, and exciting in a way that only a Touhou song can, jumping between beautiful piano and violin solos throughout the song. And the Dolls In Pseudo Paradise version is even better!
4/5 Stars
And that's pretty much it, it's the end of the soundtrack retrospective. I'll probably keep adding onto these as new games come out, but otherwise, it was a lot of fun to write about some of my favorite video game series and what makes their music so great, and I highly recommend you listen to these 5/5 soundtracks if you're a fan of video game music.
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