Ken Hisuag

The whole shrine is so much more active now, it's hard to keep up! Can't say I mind though; some of these conversations have been really thought provoking, and I'm always excited for music shares. So even if I'm less active, I still appreciate seeing the activity. Anyway, continuing my plans for now.

Posting to this thread to bump it up to the front page for the benefit of new denizens, for the possibility that discussion had at the time would be useful for review thereof.

I can't speak to the community at large, and indeed I'm not sure anyone can; a fandom, by its nature, has many sides and parts of which it is highly unlikely any single person may be a part of. But as for Moriya Shrine, the above statement sums up my observations. A new name appears in the forums, sticks around for a couple months without doing or saying anything specific to interests, and then goes idle. Those that do display specific interests tend to stick around, interacting with others in context of those interests. With that in mind, I'm not sure it matters too much whether we consider the community of Touhou to be "ready" for newcomers or not; if they come, they come. To be fair, however, I'm not really familiar with the process of gatekeeping. My tendency is to be a passive participant, and I suspect gatekeepers are more concerned with interactive types. That being said, I refer to my earlier estimation of the "fandom" as a multi-faceted phenomena; if the door is closed in one part, there is likely a window open elsewhere. Potentially, the closing of windows may encourage the creation of new ones (a site like this has to start somewhere, right?). Granted this is heavily speculative, but it hopefully conveys an encouraging perspective. FTR, I appreciate it when people do stick around, whatever the reason.

Having featured each of the official Cave Story soundtracks, I will finish with some brief features for the major unofficial versions. There are three I am especially impressed with, potentially more so than with most of the official comparisons, for various reasons. I earlier alluded to SoloMael's "Wii-Balanced" soundtrack. Despite claiming to be a mere "equalization," the by-hand process used resulted in a slightly altered collection. While the arrangements themselves are still technically Cruyssen's, the revamped balance of instrumentation and adjusted effects give many tracks a unique sound from their counterparts. Some have argued that this is the definitive version of New, but I personally prefer to consider it on its own merits; for example, I prefer Mimiga Town (New) to Mimiga Town (Balanced), but consider Mischievous Robot (Balanced) the better version of the track. As the Balanced soundtrack may be compared to the New, I estimate DynamiteMan.EXE's "VRC-6" against RushJet1's Famitracks collection. Without an intimate knowledge of chiptune arrangement, I can't speak to which of these adheres closer to an authentic emulation, but I can say that DM.E's arrangements sound more like I would expect them to. More importantly, the arrangements work with their sound, as though they constructed to compliment and be complimented by the style. As one of the more obscure unofficial soundtrack, it deserves more attention. Finally, no coverage of the music of Cave Story would be complete without the arrangements of "DM Dokuro." Aside from its creative arrangement and unique style, this album stands out for possibly having the highest production value of all versions of the soundtrack. It does suffer somewhat from overly high energy (similar to Remastered), but focuses on being a musical experience more than an actual soundtrack. This is highlighted by Dokuro going the extra mile with additional tracks, such as unique versions of Last Cave for its regular and hidden variants. While it may not fit the game too well, it is arguably the definitive tribute to the game's music and legacy. I hope these features have helped others appreciate the variety of music this game has generated and inspired, and encouraged further exploration into them.

Running late tonight, but I'm here.

I consider this question applied more broadly to other concepts. The Lord of the Rings has a sizable fandom, but some have read all the books, some have only read the original four, and some haven't read any books at all; all are "fans" of the franchise, because their interest is in the concept rather than the material. I'm a bit of a Sonic the Hedgehog fan. I'm especially fond of the Archie comics continuity, although I've never read any of the comics' material; my experience is limited to second-hand depiction and summary. My first experience with the franchise was Sonic X, and to date I've only played one of the games (that being Sonic Mania, and I never got beyond the third zone). As I've mentioned before, I have not played any actual Touhou games. I tried out the Fantastic Danmaku Festival games, and decided curtain fire wasn't something I wanted to invest much time in. I dabbled a bit in Antinomy of Common Flowers, but I couldn't figure out the controls. My interest in Touhou began in the music, and over time expanded into the world-building and character designs. That was the compatibility of my previous interests of music appreciation and story theory. I believe that's what it means to be a fan of something: to find aspects of the thing that relate to your interests. Your interests will likely align with others who are "fans," but others will be "fans" for completely different reasons. You may gain new interests from your interactions with other "fans" (or perhaps at least new appreciation for their interests), and you may lose interest as you change over time. Regardless, I don't think anyone should be worried about whether or not they are a proper fan; so long as you have a related interest, that will be the determining factor in your interactions anyway.

Posting a day early this week. Artifex is a good ZUNish musician, with both covers and original works. Among his discography are complete cover albums for High Responsive to Prayers and Story of Eastern Wonderland.

FTR, I have no current intentions of going anywhere. While I may have arrived looking for soundtrack downloads, it has never been my primary interest in this site. So long as there are people willing to continue activities, Lord willing I will be available to participate and encourage.

I was doing some cleanup to the RT playlist, and I couldn't find a replacement for TatshMusicCircle's paraguas. I did, however, find a video for Paraguas ~ The Great Eastern Cleaning Edition. For all intents and purposes, it seems identical, so for now I'll use that.

. . . Don't mind me, just business as usual. The second soundtrack unique to the Switch port of Cave Story was a chiprock arrangement collections by the band "Ridiculon." This version is often incorrectly labeled as rock or heavy metal, but is in fact equal parts rock and chiptune elements. Due to the restrictive nature of Switch software, a properly mastered and edited version of this soundtrack is difficult to locate, but I've done what I could. This is possibly the most unusual of the official soundtracks, utilizing an unintuitive style in a nonetheless skillful way. Conceptually, this compares with the other soundtracks reasonably well; if the Remastered soundtrack excelled in production value, and the New in creativity, then Ridiculon balances out these two aspects. While I would rather they have committed more heavily to one or the other, the result is still appreciable for its successes on both sides. Though not featured here, I would additionally recommend Labyrinth Fight and Balrog.

I had an idea. I foresee complications, but I'm committing to it for the time being.

This concept is intriguing to me, as most of my perception of the franchise as a whole is based upon fandom depiction. My introduction to any given character is always "___'s theme" in ZUN's music comments, later to be contextualized by a brief summary of the source game's story, and going forward adjusted by the fandom's application thereof. I came to admire ZUN's ability to design and depict characters in such a way as to establish them without much time or detail, making them compelling enough to be memorable yet vague enough to inspire fan elaboration. Von Numenor's explanation of Eiki's fandom depiction had me reflecting on how much my perception of my favorite characters was consistent with their origins, as opposed to the artistic interpretations I had engaged with. I have since determined that I care more about the potential in a character's design then the character's depiction. This should be evident in my selection. 8: Kyouko Kasodani A youkai who is endangered even in Gensokyo. Given the understanding that youkai live here to survive in an age where lack of belief threatens their existence, Kyouko's backstory illustrates the delicate balance that Yukari seeks to preserve, and the process by which others assist in maintaining it. Simultaneously, Kyouko is an inside joke on ZUN's part, a reference to an old idiom that has become her defining characteristic within the community. It's not surprising that the significance of her existence is overlooked in favor of the many and more developed characters surrounding her, but at least she gets a slight bit more development within her friendship with Mystia. 7: Sekibanki While technically applicable to any member of the Grassroots, for me Sekibanki stands out as the youkai incognito, trying to survive comfortably without drawing too much attention. Since characters are only designed and introduced as needed for relevance to an "incident," presumably the world of Gensokyo is full of these sort of youkai, all living their own lives outside of the major events and trying not to get pulled into them. I'd love to have a story about some youkai having their own private adventure coinciding with an incident, with its participants actively avoiding the major characters getting involved or even being aware of it. The concept would bring more flavor and depth to the world of Touhou. 6: Renko Usami Contrary to the popular view, I heavily dislike the fandom's emphasis on "shipping" the Renko/Merry duo. In my mind, Merry's purpose as a character is to enable the phenomena that they encounter, while Renko exists to spur them into deeper consideration. Without Merry, Renko would likely still be seeking out the paranormal for purposes of investigation; without Renko, I think it equally likely for Merry to either contentedly live with or attempt to suppress her abilities rather than try to further understand them. The finer depth of these two characters is never explored within the fandom because they are considered interdependent. Actually, the problem of over-shipping is one of constant annoyance to me, but this has less to do with the Touhou fandom and more to do with fandoms in general. 5: Nitori Kawashiro As Gensokyo's resident entrepreneur, Nitori's perspective on any given incident is notably different than most other characters. 13.5 made some use of this, but presumably her business interests would be consistent in any incident she was close enough to be aware of. That about sums it up. 4: Marisa Kirisame Marisa is Renko done right: a character whose purpose is to provide better perspective, but who exists as a fully developed entity in her own right. Actually, Imma quote ZUN from the Who's Who of Humans & Youkai in Gensokyo: 3: Cirno The fairies embody the fun and carefree side of Touhou, adding a levity that even Reimu's occasional "I don't want to be here" moods don't quite accomplish. Cirno's tendency to react hastily without thought gets her into the middle of situation that otherwise have nothing to do with her, the effect of which is fully appreciated and utilized by the fandom at large. It may be hypocritical of me, but my main concern for this character is too much attention to depth; there is strength in the simple, surface-level nature of a foil, provided they have something to play off of. This has yet to be problem in the fandom, as far as I've seen. 2: Byakuren Hijiri Technically my favorite character from a depiction perspective, Hijiri is a perfect example of a well-designed character arc (for all that it's off-screen in Touhou), and she even comes with her own foil. Unfortunately, I get the impression that the fandom doesn't consider her relatable enough, as more attention seems focused on Toyosatomimi (also a well designed character, but with more of a flat-arc as opposed to a positive-arc). There's a lot of potential in this character, especially in her relationship to the hierarchy of Gensokyo, but thus far I haven't seen anyone take advantage of it. 1: Yumemi Okazaki Yumemi has been my favorite concept character since I got into Touhou. I suspect the Usami family members were designed with Yumemi in mind, with Sumireko being the ouside-world intruder and Renko the analytical scientist. The idea of someone completely devoid of true magical ability existing as an outsider to both the various youkai communities and the human society has amazing potential for interesting character dynamics. While I'd be as enthusiastic for Mima's return to the main canon as anyone, I'd be far more excited for this character's placement in Gensokyo's landscape. There's my ranking. It took just as long as I was afraid it would. But I got it done, and I will take satisfaction in that.

The Switch port of Cave Story had two unique arrangement soundtracks added, the first of which was RushJet1's "FamiTracks." This straightforward chiptune version of the game's music is currently the only official soundtrack that can be purchased individual from the game, and almost the only version to have an official release at all (the New soundtrack may have had an official release at some point). This is arguably the simplest version of the soundtrack, even in comparison to the original; RushJet held strictly to the style, adjusting tracks as needed to fit. While this lessens the overall creativity one can expect from it, it has the benefit of also being the most consistent sounding version. Tracks of high and low energy are less likely to clash, making some transitions smoother and a few track comparisons easier. For example, I hadn't noticed the similar basslines in Mischievous Robot and Scorching Back before hearing them in this style.

Nothing in particular this week; just the standard recent (for me) discoveries.

It's been a busy day for me. I intended to post earlier; hopefully these'll still be enjoyable.

When Cave Story was ported to the Wii, it came with its own "New" soundtrack arranged by one Yann van der Cruyssen (I've seen him referred to as Morusque, though I've yet to find official origin for the alias). Upon initial release, the music did not play correctly in-game, with issues ranging from distorted sound to missing instrumentation (I like to refer to this version as "Wii-Broken"). While these problems were fixed later ("Wii-Fixed"), the soundtrack remained poorly perceived by the fandom, and continues to be somewhat controversial for some. There has been at least one fanmade overhaul of this soundtrack ("Wii-Balanced" by SoloMael); ironically, this means there are three versions of this particular iteration. Cruyssen's soundtrack stands out from the others for its stylized creativity. With a softer tone overall, it strays farther from the original material to play the strengths of its unusual instrumentation. While this tends to hurt it in previously high-energy pieces, its low-energy pieces are often superior in setting the anticipated mood. Cruyssen also built upon Amaya's countermelodies with layering changes and new countermelodies of his own, and the resulting album is quite the musical accomplishment.

The Fanon Depiction thread had unexpectedly caught my interest, but I can't spare the time right now to engage. I will be back later (I'm saying this to ensure I am obligated). For now, I found this heavy metal artist.

Next up: Cave Story 3D, the 3DS remake of Cave Story, featured a remixed soundtrack from Danny Baranowsky (I am familiar with him through Crypt of the Necrodancer, but I expect most are more familiar with Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac). This "Remastered" soundtrack stayed fairly close to the Organya in format while focusing on expanded instrumentation. The result was a more modern and full sound, which worked especially well for higher energy tracks while retaining the musical integrity overall. From a purely listener's perspective, this version sounds exactly how its moniker implies, as an updated and improved form of the original. I suspect a slight reverb effect was added to enhance the "cave" atmosphere, though it tends to sound more stylistic. I'd like to think this fit perfectly with the aesthetic of 3D, which is very different from the original; against the visuals of Cave Story+, it doesn't always seem cohesive. That being said, it still remains my favorite version overall.

Perhaps I'm taking this a bit more seriously than intended, but nonetheless there is potential for discussion. I assume, more often than not, the fashion choice of any given Touhou character is an immediate reflection of intended portrayal, dependent upon any number of characteristics. This can range from vocational (Sakyua's maid uniform), to cultural (I presume of Futo's garb), to situational (Yuuka's first appearance in her nightgown); but nearly always, the garb is designed to reinforce the role and/or traits of the character. There are some weird ones that are more difficult to interpret (Kurokoma's probably isn't meant to mean too much), but they are often exceptions to the rule. Anything further than that is likely superficial, though granted the mind of ZUN is a mysterious enigma at times.

/\ I appreciated some of their other remixes as well, and would recommend them to others. All that symphonic metal reminded me to follow up on S.H.O.. Do you put another period when ending a sentence with an acronym?

Might as well. I'm a big fan of old BBC detective drama shows, and by extension (whether by familiarity or genuine admiration, you may infer) their opening music themes. These are a few of my favorites, though there are plenty more I'm familiar with.

Cave Story, a part of the bedrock of indie gaming as an industry, is an excellent balance of production across its visuals, gameplay, story, and (of course) music. Over the course of two decades, it has received several soundtrack reworks, to varying levels of success. This month will be dedicated to featuring these different soundtracks, hopefully demonstrating their individual strengths and collective notability. The original (known as the "Organya" soundtrack) consists of unique sounds reminiscent of, but not quite exactly, an advanced chiptune. Layering is limited, but dynamic quality is achieved through extensive use of counter-melodies within harmonies. The simpler music also blends well with the game's standard sound effects.

I decided to go for a laid-back theme this week. Enjoy these low-energy relaxation pieces.

The first video is the official release, but the edited version includes additional parts and removes the unnecessary vocal lines.

I happened upon the recently released soundtrack for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty this week. I had to do a bit of searching to determine if this was a video game soundtrack or not; from what I can tell, it isn't. However, a lot of the contributors are experienced VGM artists, and I believe this is evident in the music (and besides, it is technically still "game music"). The instrumental tracks (approximately half the album) are typically blends or oriental folk with some modern electric genre such as metal or dubstep. Said blends are unusually clean, though perhaps overly reliant upon the blending genre and not enough upon the folk. The notable exception is Neon Riverside, which is the track that caught my attention to begin with. The vocal tracks are mostly English, and none of the ones I listened to impressed me. Some may appreciate them, but they aren't apart of this feature.