For the release of the 16th game in the Atelier series, Gust also released two albums containing the game’s instrumental and vocal music; this review focuses on the instrumental songs featured on the original soundtrack. This time the roster is small: familiar composers Kazuki Yanagawa and Daisuke Achiwa, and relative newcomer Hayato Asato, who previously worked on some songs for Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky and Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland. Given the lack of prominent composers, does this soundtrack stack up against its predecessors Ayesha and Escha & Logy, or does it fall flat for lack of a more varied sound?
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The music in Atelier Shallie is stylistically very similar to the one composed for Atelier Ayesha, featuring a strong European-folk sound with some orchestral and rock pieces sprinkled about, as the composers involved were largely the same between both games. The only change is that Yu Shimoda was replaced by Hayato Asato, so while some of the harder-rock and electronica-styled themes disappeared from the selection, Asato also brought in some folk sounds of his own that complement Achiwa’s and Yanagawa’s work, which becomes apparent as we progress through the review.
As the third game in the Dusk subseries, Atelier Shallie also features two familiar compositions from its predecessors. While fewer in number than the remixed tracks on Atelier Escha & Logy’s soundtrack, the arrangements aren’t bad. On one hand we have the latest iteration of Wilbell’s theme, “A Baby Bird part 3.” Originally composed by Yanagawa and arranged this time by Asato, this version makes widespread use of oboe, pizzicato and flute to create a playful melody that suits the character very well; it sounds much less silly than the version from the previous game and more in tone with the Ayesha version, most likely to match Wilbell’s older image. However, the second returning track is a fan favorite: titled “MARIA ORIGIN”, it’s an instrumental version of the vocal theme heard in Atelier Ayesha’s final battle. It serves as returning character Keithgriff’s theme, and while it starts as a sad piano solo, it slowly blooms into a stunning piece featuring mandolin and flute. While Haruka Shimotsuki’s voice worked wonders in the original version, I have to say this arrangement Achiwa made of his own song is quite marvelous on its own.
Now, going to the soundtrack’s original pieces, the album starts with a full version of the game’s opening theme “Rusty Sky.” It’s a slow orchestral ballad composed by Sen and sung by Calu, and it’s quite beautiful. While it has a sad and hopeful sound that gives the sensation of dusk coming and the first stars appearing in the sky, the lyrics create a large contrast because they reflect feelings of despair and helplessness, and the inevitability of fate. And while it’s sung in English, Calu’s pronunciation sometimes needs more work, making the lyrics somewhat hard to understand. Despite this, the song as a whole is certainly beautiful and fits the opening cinematic very well; it’s my personal favorite among the opening themes of the Dusk subseries. Then the soundtrack proper begins with a nostalgic piano piece by Kazuki Yanagawa titled “Disappeared Water.” It’s quite sad and gives the feeling that the world has seen better times, reflecting the game’s story of how the seas have dried and turned into deserts. This sets up the player for the rest of the game, as it’s heard on the title screen and in the character selection screen.
Yanagawa keeps to the style he has been employing: some pieces feature a folk sound not dissimilar to Ken Nakagawa’s work in older Gust games, while others make use of music boxes, and still others use full-blown orchestral sounds. A good example of how the first two styles are mixed is “Let’s Calmly Talk!” which uses a music box prominently at the start, accompanied by pizzicato, piano and guitar, then relegates it to a secondary role to give the spotlight to the guitar around the halfway point. As far as a more folk-flavored piece, we have Yanagawa’s offering for the atelier theme this time around: “At the Atelier Where Humming Resounds”, which is specifically heard in Shallotte’s Atelier. This piece, composed for accordion, bagpipes, piano, flutes, guitar, bells and percussion, is quite cheery. While it has a calm section where the piano becomes central, most of the piece has a jovial sound that really gets the player eager to start synthesizing. Similarly, Cortez’s theme “The Warrior’s Holiday” is a folksy song featuring wood percussion, flute, piano and guitar, and it presents a strong similarity to some of Ken Nakagawa’s pieces. This isn’t the only similarity between the composers, as the game over theme “Defeated Dreams” has a sound almost identical to “Defeated in Battle” from Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica.
For a more relaxed mood, we have the piece for the oasis city of Stellard, the game’s main settlement, titled “The City of Abundant Water.” It’s a piano and plucked-strings piece with bongos marking the rhythm, and it really fits the scenery of a city filled with water in the middle of the desert called the Dusk Sea, helping to establish its laid-back atmosphere. In orchestral work, Yanagawa also did interesting things with pieces like “Song of the Sand Sea Hunters”, which is an orchestral march with a grave sound and is heard in the area that serves as the main gameplay hub for requests. On a more sentimental note, we have “Orgel of Youth”, which, as the title suggests, is a simple and emotional music-box song. This piece is usually reserved for when the protagonists are reminiscing or thinking about their loved ones.
Yanagawa was also in charge of the “Sweep!” series of songs, which are the normal battle themes for Shallotte’s side of the story. While all versions use the same melody, they are markedly different: Part 1 is a fast-paced and cheery woodwind theme that showcases Shallotte’s bubbly personality and uses orchestration near the middle; Part 2 is completely orchestral and features a more grandiose and urgent sound; Part 3 is more similar to Part 1 but replaces the woodwind with guitars and adopts a faster tempo. More interesting is the theme for the Octopus boss, appropriately titled “Strike the Octopus!” While it starts as a typical nonsense-situation piece with accordion, it quickly reveals itself to be a fast-paced Spanish-styled song composed of guitar, beats, piano, electric guitar and organ. Yanagawa has progressed quite a bit in making battle themes with this song, as there are moments when it sounds similar in style to Daisuke Achiwa’s themes, which in my opinion are generally the best in Gust’s soundtracks.
A little more elaborate is the dungeon theme “Gate of Mirages”, which starts as a piano arrangement of “Rusty Sky”; its instrumentation changes to mandolin, flute and music box after a while. It still conveys the same feelings as the original song, though it also has stronger feelings of loneliness and sadness. A choral arrangement of the final part of “Rusty Sky” is heard as “Automata Song”, which begins with dissonant synthesized voices and then coalesces into the beautiful melody from the opening. Yanagawa also reused the main melody from the song in the action theme “The Ones Challenging the Dusk”, which starts orchestral, then gives space to flute and strings before building up through a short bagpipe and piano section to crescendo and loop back. While it’s a bit surprising to find such a tranquil melody in a more intense piece, it blends well with the rest of the song.
Other dungeon themes include the tribal and fast-paced “Stop the Sand Dragon!”, the uplifting and somewhat mysterious flute-based “Sleeping Vines”, the whimsical and fun “Crystal Dance”, and the majestic organ-based “Illusions Shown by the Corals.” My personal favorite among them is “Sanctuary of Water”, a piano and flute piece accompanied by soft choral singing, harp and droplet sounds that gives the impression of being inside an enormous palace with waterfalls and channels flowing all around, though the place it plays in the game is actually completely dry and deserted. While I really like it, I have to admit that, sonically, it’s like a more mysterious and less emotional version of “The Warmth Conveyed by the Water” from Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star.
Finally, Yanagawa also contributed snippets for the special skills of Shallotte, Wilbell, Cortez and Homura. They are respectively “FJ: Burning Flam”, which has a flamenco sound; “FJ: Secret Arts”, a techno piece that wouldn’t be out of place in a magic show; “FJ: Divine Hammer”, orchestral and adventurous; and “FJ: Hom-Style Peerless Greatsword”, a rock piece that also features accordion. Suffice to say, they all match their respective characters well.
Now going on to Daisuke Achiwa’s contributions: he composed all the world-map themes, the “Sand Sea” series. The main one changes depending on the character the player picked at the beginning, which is why the first two are “Sand Sea – Shallistera –” and “Sand Sea – Shallie –”; though they are nearly identical, the first uses a guitar for harmonics and some light singing, while the second uses an accordion and different flutes. The other arrangements, used for the roads interconnecting areas on the world map, make more effort to differentiate: “Sand Sea – Desert –” features piano and sitar; “Sand Sea – Plants –” has a slower tempo with orchestra and piano; “Sand Sea – Ruins –” is sadder and is played by guitars until mandolin and strings kick in; “Sand Sea – Trade Area –” has a more irregular rhythm and is played by guitar and synthesizer; and “Sand Sea – Cave –” has a majestic sound made up of strings, oboe and crystalline textures. It’s also interesting how the game transitions seamlessly between two songs of this series when the player moves from the world map to an area.
Achiwa also composed several of the silly themes, such as “I Don’t Get It” and “Umm, Err… I Think”, both formed by tuba, brass ensemble, strings and xylophone; they make me want to place my hand on my forehead and laugh, though I feel the latter could have used more development. Of more interest are “Bursting March”, which seems to use ideas from the Spanish-styled pieces, and “Seeker’s Tango”, which, as the name suggests, is a tango so serious it becomes funny (I guess that’s because it’s the theme of returning character Harry this time around). “Great Derailment March” harkens back to Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana due to its similarity with “Operation Popcorn”, though it has a grander, more serious sound. We also have “Attractive Beach Queen”, which, thanks to its instrumentation, sets the mood for the Water Festival—the point in the game where the CG of all the female characters playing in the water and wearing swimsuits is shown. There’s also the funny-sounding but enjoyable and cheerful “The Blue Sky and the Broom Girl”, which consists of strings and trumpet and serves as the main theme for the more excitable of the two main girls: Shallotte.
On the folk front, we have the bouzouki-, mandolin- and flute-based “The Girl of the White Sands”, which serves as Shallistera’s theme and is a soft, beautiful piece that showcases her shy, gentle personality. There is also the more playful and cheerful “We’re Both Shallie”, which, while sharing similar instrumentation, adds accordion to show the atmosphere when both protagonists are working together. Also worth mentioning is the serious and heroic “Flame”, Homura’s theme, which uses orchestra and flute to carry a majestic melody. We also have the sentimental and soothing “The Twilight and the Hourglass”, a flute-and-piano duet joined by strings and harp. It’s a beautiful piece that serves well when winding down, especially because it ends as a soft piano solo, even though the strings return briefly. In the same vein, “Open the Door”, while similar in instrumentation, has a slower tempo and a sadder sound. “Droplets of Time” begins as a simplistic sad piano solo and later blooms into a beautiful, moving orchestral song, though melodically it reminds me of “Elegy” from Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia.
And we couldn’t forget the reason Achiwa is so known among Gust’s composers: the battle themes. “Scorpio” is a harder-rock styled track featuring roaring electric guitar riffs, while “Aquarius” is a rock-folk mix where the electric guitar takes a backseat to the flute. Achiwa also made the battle theme heard during the first phase of the final battle: “Tsunami.” Appropriately starting with tidal-wave and droplet sounds, it then has a lone voice singing over an orchestral backdrop until an electric guitar kicks in. While it could be considered a bit subdued for its role due to its slow rhythm, I still think the song is beautiful and a great way to start the game’s final fight, at least until the second phase begins and “Luto – The Ruling One –” from the vocal album replaces it.
Now we go to the newcomer composer Hayato Asato. While I wasn’t very impressed with his work in Ciel nosurge’s unreleased tracks or in Ar nosurge’s Red Genometric Concert, here he showed much better composition and arrangement work. Asato contributed the second atelier theme “The Alchemist Aboard the Ship”, a soft and playful guitar, accordion and flute piece used in Shallistera’s Atelier. In contrast to Shallotte’s bouncy theme, this one brings out Shallistera’s more tranquil personality. He also contributed a rather unusual tutorial theme: a folk-march featuring flute and violin that feels fun to listen to and makes the tutorial more enjoyable to read, though that might be because I’m used to slower, more mechanical tutorial pieces. Too bad the recipe-learning theme “Memorize!” doesn’t follow the same steps and is quite repetitive. However, he did a good job with the second town theme, “Red Light”, heard in Farv Village; in contrast with Yanagawa’s offering, this one starts as a mysterious piano solo but quickly becomes an energetic strings-and-flute song filled with wonder, reflecting the protagonists’ feelings on realizing how large the world is when they first arrive.
Asato also made the “Stella” series of battle themes, heard in normal battles when playing Shallistera’s side. Like Shallotte’s themes, there are three parts: Part 1 is a piano-and-flute-based theme with some accordion and xylophone parts that pumps the player up despite a somewhat relaxed sound. Part 2 features tolling bells and electronic sounds alongside a violin playing the main melody; it has a calm section but a more exciting finish before looping back. Part 3 is more rock-styled, featuring electric guitar on the main melody at a faster tempo, making for an exciting arrangement that signals the player is nearing the end. Even more exciting is the rock-orchestral theme “Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze”, heard during the battle with the Sand Dragon. Starting with a sweeping group of strings led by piano and electric guitar, it calms to let the violin take center stage, then both orchestra and guitars crescendo—an excellent battle theme for the first important boss battle.
Asato’s dungeon themes are also a nice listen. “Seeing off the Daytime Calm”, played on the first dungeon, is a fun piano-and-guitar piece that adds a flute after a bit, heard as players settle into learning the game. “Shining Zoospore” features a mysterious, lonesome piano-and-flute intro before rising into a nice orchestral climax and ending as mysteriously as it began, while “Within the Feelings Left Behind” is a sad guitar, piano, strings and oboe piece that evokes regrets that keep ghosts attached to the living world, heard in a ghost ship. The remainder of the special-skill snippets were his contributions as well: the heroic orchestral “FJ: Initiate Flam” for Shallistera; the pop-rock “FJ: Full-Auto” for Miruca; the funny, chase-like “FJ: Fatal Blow” for Yulie; and the electric-guitar-and-piano “FJ: Hand of Dusk” for Keithgriff. However, I feel this last one clashes a bit with the jazzier, more elegant “FJ: Ancient One” he had in Atelier Ayesha.
Additionally, matryoshka composer Sen brings us “Narcolepsist”, the theme for the Eternal Throne, the final dungeon. It’s somewhat hard to describe due to its length, but the most appropriate word is “upsetting”, in the sense of creeping out or scaring the player. Featuring piano, harp, choir, electric guitar and strings, the piece starts depressing and lonesome but becomes scarier the longer it goes. Despite slower sections with only harp or piano, its final parts feel apocalyptic due to an abrupt key change preceded by a scratching noise, intensifying choir, accelerating rhythm, and the use of warped voices, distortion effects and white noise. This piece is also featured on the vocal album with no changes.
Finally, the ending themes. There are three possible BGMs prior to the vocal ending theme, depending on which ending the player gets: those that end the game with Shallistera hear “The Alchemist Aboard the Ship – epilogue –”, a mellow and nostalgic orchestral reprise arranged by Kazuki Yanagawa. Shallotte players get “At the Atelier Where Humming Resounds – epilogue –”, a guitar, harp and bells arrangement by Daisuke Achiwa; the bells sound similar to a music box and do a great job of reminding players of all they did during the game. Those aiming for the True Ending get a reprise of the opening theme in “Rusty Sky – epilogue –”, a warm piano solo reprise of the song’s main melody which, by the halfway mark, changes to the melody heard in the final sections of the original. All three should bring a smile to players who completed the game.
Closing off the album, with the exception of the FJ themes covered previously, we have the ending theme “Last Wanderlust”, again composed and arranged by Sen and sung by Calu. Starting as a quirky pizzicato piece, it slowly adds sounds of singing birds and a ship moving after Calu starts singing, before adding piano and strings. While at first I was annoyed by how long it takes to develop and how it returns to the start after the first refrain, I was pleasantly surprised by its transition into the end, which shifts in pitch and concentrates all instrumentation and vocals into a calm but fulfilling melody that ends with birds chirping, giving the sensation the journey has finally come to an end.
Summary
For some reason this album felt denser to me than previous Atelier offerings and thus took longer for me to enjoy, but I still enjoyed it greatly. While it doesn’t have as varied a sound as Atelier Escha & Logy’s soundtrack, it provides a more cohesive experience due to its closer focus on fewer musical styles, and Yanagawa and Achiwa have done excellent work once again, even if I’m starting to feel Achiwa needs to vary his melodic patterns a little. Sen also did wonderful work on the few tracks they contributed to, and Asato pleasantly surprised me with the greater sound variety he managed to achieve here compared to his previous work. Very few tracks feel like filler or underthought, which is why I’m happy to recommend this album and to wholeheartedly agree with Asato’s nomination as Most Outstanding Contribution — Newcomer in the AGMAs 2014.
