Phantasmagoria Of Flower View's soundtrack is often overlooked by fans due to it employing remixes and lacking stage themes, and that's a real shame because I think it's one of the better ones. There aren't that many remixes and the original character themes it does use are pretty fantastic, especially with its distinct drum kit that I'd argue is the best in the series. Not to mention that being the soundtrack that got me into the series to begin with, I also have a lot of nostalgia for it.
Kaedizuka - Higan Retour
As far as title themes go, Kaedizuka is good but unremarkable. I like how atmospheric it is, but it doesn't quite hit as hard as the last few, lacking any really powerful individual melodies outside of the usual Theme Of Eastern Story reusal.
3/5 Stars
Spring Lane - Colorful Path
One of my favorite Reimu themes for how serene and nostalgic it sounds. The melody is both catchy and calming, and the way it uses the percussion is stellar. The drums are used to push the song alone, only to dip out every once in a while for some more chill piano segments.
5/5 Stars
Oriental Dark Flight
Similarly with Spring Lane, I really like this Marisa theme. It's got a nice menacing vibe to it, and once again, the phenomenal percussion really elevate the track. There's a bit of a build-up, but the chorus is fantastic and a great pay-off.
5/5 Stars
Flowering Night
Iconic for a reason, Flowering Night is the definitive Sakuya theme and an easy Top 10 theme in the franchise. It's both elegant and fierce in a manner perfectly fitting Sakuya, the main melody is insanely catchy and memorable, and those piano solos. Amazing piece of music.
5/5 Stars
Mystic Oriental Dream - Ancient Temple
And here we start the remixes. This is mostly just Ancient Temple again. The pitch is slightly lower but it hardly makes an impact, the ethereal vibes are still on-point.
5/5 Stars
Lunatic Eyes - Invisible Full Moon
Hardly any changes here outside of some minor soundfont modifications. Lunatic Eyes still slaps.
5/5 Stars
Adventure Of The Lovestruck Tomboy
This is the only one of the five remixes to actually sound vastly different from the original. While it lacks the icey feel that the original had, the goofier vibe fits Cirno's character a bit more, and I love the catchy new bridge they added at the end.
5/5 Stars
Phantom Ensemble
Similarly to the other Perfect Cherry Blossom track, Phantom Ensemble is in a slightly lower pitch, but that's really it. Otherwise, it's the same fantastic track it's always been.
5/5 Stars
Deaf To All But The Song - Flower Mix
Out of all the remixes, this is the only one where I'd argue the improvements are noticeable enough that I outright prefer this version over the original. The techno and guitar flange instruments are pushed more to the forefront to give the song more of a punk feel (this isn't even a joke, ZUN said this, he knew), and the track gets a head-banging new outro to it. This was already one of my favorite low-level boss themes, but now it's just one of my favorites in general!
5/5 Stars
White Flag Of Usa Shrine
See? That wasn't too bad, now we're back to the original stuff. I wasn't huge on it at first, but Tewi's song is definitely one that keeps growing on me over time. The main melody and verse is catchy, and is only bolstered by the bouncy piano and typically energetic percussion. But the real highlight is the godly woodwind chorus that perfectly captures the playful and historical sound that the song is going for.
5/5 Stars
Wind God Girl
As far as characters with consistently stellar themes go, I don't think anyone can top Aya. She's the character I associate PoFV's musical style with the most, and pretty much all of her tracks are fast-paced, energetic, and insanely good. And yet, nothing really tops Wind God Girl. It's the quintessential Aya song, with hard-hitting percussion, flamboyent ZUNpets, and one of my favorite choruses in the series. And that final key change as the ZUNpets swell is just perfection. Obviously, the PoFV version did have to cut a bit from the full song, but even without the admittedly amazing piano solo, Wind God Girl is still a jam.
5/5 Stars
Poison Body - Forsaken Doll
There's a lot of tracks in this game I could easily call underrated, but Poison Body is especially underrated. It has the same dark and menacing vibe that Oriental Dark Night had but with a bit more energy, less of a build-up, and one hell of a ZUNpet melody. It can be a tad repetitive, but otherwise, it does an impeccable job at creating a very specific mood.
5/5 Stars
Gensokyo, Past And Present - Flower Land
Flower Land mostly suffers from having to follow up Yuuka's phenomenal themes from the PC-98, but it definitely ain't bad either. The organ intro is iconic for a reason, the piano pre-chorus is super jazzy, percussion at the forefront, and a solid ZUNpet chorus. It's very PoFV, even that means it blends in with the rest of the soundtrack a bit.
4/5 Stars
Higan Retour - Riverside View
Another one of my personal favorite tracks in the series, Higan Retour is absolutely stunning from start to finish. The main melody is so elegant and magical, and the way the piano and ZUNpet come together to play it in the chorus is ZUN at his best. Not to mention the stellar pre-chorus, the amazing percussion as usual (I'm sounding like a broken record here), and that insane high note that caps off the track.
5/5 Stars
Eastern Judgement In The Sixtieth Year - Fate Of Sixty Years
BAD. ASS. That organ intro that kicks off the song is one of the most flat-out epic pieces of music ZUN has ever made, and that sense of gravitas remains for the rest of the song, from the dramatic ZUNpet tunes to that phenomenal organ bridge around the midway point. As far as the Windows games go, this is the best final boss theme yet. Not only does it fit Shikieiki perfectly, but it's just plain fun to listen to.
5/5 Stars
The Mound Where The Flowers Reflect
Oh boy... So while I will rave about PoFV's character themes like mad, my biggest gripe with this soundtrack is that the non-battle themes are hit or miss. The Mound Where The Flowers Reflect is mostly just the already pretty average title theme but with some sort of guitar instrument over it that can sound a bit off-beat during the chorus.
2/5 Stars
Mound Of Life
Mound Of Life does a much better job at generating tension, using a simple but nail-biting main melody and PoFV's percussion to great effect. My only gripe is that it's really short and repetitive. Don't listen to it for too long, I implore you.
3/5 Stars
The Flower Like The Fantasy
This is my favorite of the non-battle themes. It's a good ending theme, calming and cheerful with a bit of melancholy to it. The main melody is super comfy to listen to and just feels distinctly Touhou.
4/5 Stars
Flower Of Soul - Another Dream
I... don't like this song. Is this my first 1/5? Flower Of Soul just annoys me, between the wailing alarm sound in the opening and the off-beat piano in the chorus. The percussion is still great but that doesn't mean much when the song itself is kind of a pain to listen to. Real shame to end on such a dud note considering I adore most of the rest of the soundtrack.
1/5 Stars
Being a Phantasmagoria game, Flower View doesn't add too many new characters. However, its cast as a whole is pretty stellar (they brought back Mystia!), and the new characters they did introduce are great across the board.
Aya Shameimaru
Aya is one of my favorite Touhous and it should be pretty obvious why if you've seen some of my Precure reviews. I love the intrepid reporter trope, doubly so if they exaggerate or stretch the truth just for the sake of the scoop. Aya's a fun character, and her upbeat and charismatic personality not unlike Marisa makes her a fun character to follow whenever she chooses to take the lead.
5/5 Stars
Medicine Melancholy
Medicine is one of the most overlooked characters which is a real shame because I think there's a lot of neat potential that could be mined from her. Medicine is a doll youkai who has the ability to poison people, and because she's scared of humans, she'll actively attempt to poison anyone who comes near her making her insanely dangerous and terrifying. In the material she does appear in, Medicine at the very least tries to socialize which could lead to a pretty neat character arc, it's just not one we really got all of.
3/5 Stars
Komachi Onozuka
As I've repeatedly said, I think scythes are cool, so Komachi was always gonna be a favorite. But on top of that, I find her personality fascinating. Not the slacker side that everyone jokes about, but how chill she is in the face of constant death. Komachi is often shown engaging in super philosophical and thoughtful conversations about life and death with the most laid-back attitude. Seems like a fun person to be around.
5/5 Stars
Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu
Shikieiki is a pretty great character who a lot of people seem to sell pretty short... literally, she's not actually that short. Shikieiki has one of my least favorite fanon portrayals, as she's often depicted as a raging petty jerk with a Napoleon complex when in reality she's far more respected. Shikieiki towers over a large portion of the cast, and while she is harsh, it's made clear that she's only as harsh as she is because she doesn't want people to go to hell. For me, that makes for an infinitely more interesting character.
5/5 Stars but only the canon version
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