• Touhou 6 New Classic Score Attack Ongoing!

    Read the submission rules, prizes and everything inbetween here:

    Good luck!

    Also check out the community art event here! Everyone is welcome!

Return of the Remix Tournament

13: Blooming Season
Simultaneously flamboyant and powerfully elegant, this remix fits the character perfectly! The application of the trumpets and strings over the more standard pop percussion give it a party feel, but there's also a serious edge to it. It's like a Persona 5 track, almost. The upcoming 17.5 has resurged some interest in this theme, and I'm more than pleased about it. I wish I could find the lyrics, though. 8/10

14: Dancing Doll
The jagged soundfonts ruin this piece for me. I can't tell what mood they're going for; elegant, intense, or some rectification of the two. When they drop the the electric guitar (or whatever it's supposed to be) and commit to the more elegant side, they exhibit some potential for the piece. But the choice of instrument for carrying the main melody derails the thing completely. 5/10

15: A Star of Hope Arises in the Blue Sky
Anybody else notice the lack of chiptune arrangements on the shrine? This isn't the best I could pull out, but I believe it showcases what the style is capable of. The sharper sounds add an intensity to the track without loosing the feeling of heroic committal from the original. There's a uniqueness of sound in this area, and there's at least a few artists out there that are willing to get creative with it. 8/10

 
Garison DeCrick said:
Either this is Ken’s pick, or someone did a big brain maneuver and chose a song from his channel
Well, looks like a job for an amateur detective! ?️‍♂️ Let us review the clues, and deduce the culprit.

Considering the video's upload date is the same day I entered the tournament, and the video has been unlisted since its upload,  . . .

It was definitely buskerdog. Discount-Holmes does it again.

Similarly, Blooming Season was uploaded unlisted on the 15th, just before the tournament began and while there was only one participant left to submit. So I'm pretty sure that was buskerdog, too.

I had way too much fun with this. ?

 
1. Ooh Karento, their music is usually..."tantalizing". dont look at their album covers
the banger really feels, it so powerful yet elegant
gave me disco vibes ᕕ
605563840414875658.png

it's not disco is it? and it's nowhere jazz. what genre this is?
10/10 sure it's buskerdog's 3rd channel
here the lyric, transliterated not translated, use DeepL or sumtin or learn japanes

BLOOMING SEASON

 ​

春は出会いの季節だなんではしゃぐ人の声聞こえてなぜかチクリ
強いはずのわたしがなんでかしらね
新品の季節がやってくるのが嗚呼...さみしいの...

 ​

Haru wa deai no kisetsu da nande hashagu hito no koe kikoete nazeka chikuri
tsuyoi hazu no watashi ga nande ka shirane
shinpin no kisetsu ga yagate kuru no ga aa... samishii no...

 ​

今年もふわりふわり咲き出す桃色のはなびらが
楽しみだとあなたは言うわだけどね
ひらりはらり散ったらあなたは忘れてしまうでしょうわかるのよ

 ​

kotoshimo fuwari fuwari saki dasu momoiro no hanabira ga
tanoshimi da to anata wa iu wa dakedone
hirari harari chittara anata wa wasurete shimau deshou wakaru no yo

 ​

Blooming, Blooming now それでいい
心さらってあげるわ
次の季節が来てこの花の色を忘れてしまう時まで

 ​

ブルーミング、ブルーミンッグ ナウ  sore de ii
kokoro saratte ageru wa
tsugi no kisetsu ga kite kono hana no iro o wasurete shimau toki made

 ​

今年の流行り色を考えて笑うあの子たちの背中見つめている
羨ましいわけじゃない、そういうんじゃない
移りゆく季節に置いてけぼりで嗚呼...さみしいの...

 ​

kotoshi no hayari iro o kanngaete warau ano ko tachi no senaka mitsumete iru
urayamashii wake janai, souiun janai
utsuri yuku kisetsu ni oitekebori de aa... samishi no..

 ​

「草木が生い茂る月」なんて意味を持った名前の
暦なんだとあなたは言うわそれでも
新しい風に乗りサヨナラを告げることもある
知ってるわ

 ​

[Kusagi ga oishigeru tsuki] nande imi o motta namae no
Koyomi nanda to anata iu wa soredemo
atarashii kaze ni nori sayonara o tsugeru koto mo aru
shitteru wa

 ​

Blooming, Blooming now それでいい
弱いわたしを隠して嗚呼...

 ​

ブルーミング、ブルーミンッグ ナウ  sore de ii
Yowai watashi o kakushite aa...

 ​

ひらりひらり散りゆく花びらとわたしは似ている
わかるわよ

 ​

Hirari harari chiriyuku hanabira to watashi wa niteiru
wakaru wa yo

 ​

Blooming, Blooming now それでいい
弱いわたしを隠して
盃に浮かんだ花びらの記憶ごと飲み干した時まで
(Someday I can forget the newly blooming flowers.)

 ​

ブルーミング、ブルーミンッグ ナウ sore de ii
Yowai watashi o kakushite
sakazuki ni ukannda hanabira no kioku goto nomihoshita toki made
「サームデイ アイ カン フォーゲット ザ ニウーリ ブルーミング フローワー」



//comment: why the heck they use this complicated kanji [嗚呼] for "aa"
2. the guitar really ruin it eh?
but then again what's this mood meant to be? i confus.
also the arrangement seems the same as original with different instrument and some additional melody.
probably will sound better with context while playing the game, i know some music play better with supporting material ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
???3.33/10

3. first thing i noticed is the fast paced background melody feels really chaotic.
the other part indeed has retro vibes to it, not chiptune enough for me though.
i prefer thoroughly 8-bit type music.
this one reminds me of bouhou youyoumu, the arrangement really the same
7/10

also y'all keep mentioning P5
if ya want P5 music vibes, Pizuya's Cell released a whole album of it

P.S. Holyshit i accidentally opened pizuya's cell youtube channel and read the url name, i dunno they changed name from barrage am ring, i was about to put one of barrage am ring song here (though the song not from pizuya).

 
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Blooming Season

A very jovial sounding remix. I'm not really sure what genre I would call this, but the trumpet is definitely the standout; and the singing compliments it very well. I'd very much like to hear more Touhou music in this style, if anyone knows where I could find it. I wish I had more to say about this remix since I like it so much, but I just can't think of much else to describe it. 9/10.

Dancing Doll

I find the violins at the beginning to sound quite grating, and the electric guitar feels a bit... echo-y? But quality of the instruments aside, my biggest problem with this remix is that it's basically just the same as Doll Judgement, it sounds like they just took a MIDI of the original song, changed the instruments and added one extra part at times. I guess maybe that was the point if it's game OST, but even then this doesn't feel like a satisfactory improvement or different perspective of the original. I can only give it a 3/10.

A Star of Hope Arises in the Sky 

Hat detected.

A very retro-sounding arrangement, although again it feels less of a remix and more of a remaster, but at least this one successfully manages to capture a different style. That being said... I'm not actually sure what exactly that style is meant to be. Still, this actually sounds quite good, has a certain bounciness to it, so I'll give it a 5/10.

By the way, the Japanese characters spelling out English words at the bottom is cursed, and there appears to be something seriously wrong with Reimu's arm.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay so after reading other people's reviews I just want to say a few things:

1. Ken does a very good job of describing Blooming Season so thanks for helping clean up some of my thoughts about the track.

2. Ken says that the third track is meant to be chiptune. However, I agree when he says it isn't the best, because in my opinion this doesn't sound like chiptune. If you don't mind, I'd like to point to the bonus arrangement of Candid Friend on the Hopeless Masquerade OST as a better example.

3. Garison, there are so many things I want to say, but I've decided it's probably better to say nothing.

 
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Okay . . . we're on the last set.  We really burned through this didn't we?

Starting the end is . . . another Alice song:




 
Alright, let's finish this up!

Beyond that Door

I think this is Grimoire of Alice, although throughout the majority of the piece I can't tell that it's based on something. Not that it has to sound recognisably Touhou for it to be good, it's just something I couldn't help but notice while listening. It definitely sounds of "upbeat anime song", which isn't something I particularly love, but I like the simplistic beat the music has, it works really well with the rest of the parts. Overall even though I don't love it I do think it's good. It gets a solid 6/10 from me.

Flight of the Bamboo Cutter ~ Lunatic Princess (folk)

A very jolly arrangement. Honestly how they adapted Lunatic Princess into this is actually quite clever. I do think it could it could stand to have a bit more going on throughout the piece, but what's there is very upbeat and energetic, and it certainly succeeds at what it's trying to be. 5/10 overall, it is a bit simplistic.

Lost Technology

I guess this is a Theme of Eastern Story remix? It also sounds kinda like Beloved Tomboyish girl later on lol. I'm not really a fan of remixes that go hard techno like this. It sounds good at points, but overall it feels pretty uninteresting. The overuse of voice samples really doesn't help that. I don't think it's completely lacking but it's only a 4/10 for me.

 
1. more alice huh, first thing that popped on my mind was audio quality on video i'm not sure if it's that old or something messed up during render or maybe mp3 quality was just low, but well it's acceptable.
Now about song, another calm piece that i'm not really fond with (it also kinda reminds me FELT songs) however vocal is pretty decent, it got animation and i also quite like story that lies behind this song so i'll give it a

7/10 for animation, story and vocal


2. ok this folk arrangement feels pretty nice until something like ~1:30 but the more i'm listening to it the more i feel it's just pretty much looped, i like how instruments mix together in it but as someone also said it's a bit simple,
and while song doesn't need to be complex to be good there are some borders with it as well can't give it too high score because it first raised my expectations a little and then crushed them when it started to get repetitve

6/10


PS: Third song is arrange of Tomorrow Will Be Special, Yesterday Was Not from MoF


Also you guys probably noticed but all of my picks in this tournament were more or less electronic stuff, i noticed not everyone likes it too much and while it's true i should be a bit more unique with picks i just simply realised it too late and also electronic music is a water i like to swim in more or less over other genres like Rock/Metal/Pop etc. I also really like harder electronic songs (3rd song is simple example but i like ones that hits even harder too), some niche genres, most stuff that includes "Psy" (Psytrance, Psydub, Psystyle and list goes on.) but i'm trying to just don't pick stuff like that here since it prob would get score below average.

 
1. ah yes diao ye zong
i managed to remove some of my burnout, now i can listen to RD again
though merami voice is still a bit too sharp for me
idk if it's the video rendering quality or it is the original, i often heard clipping in merami voice. like this song for example, the opening is deafening. imma blame the uploader.
and other thing, that's a long song. the bg music is just RD-ish, you notice it easily.
the story is nice, though im not really fond telling it in 3rd person perspective
6/10

2. eyy Floating Cloud, i definitely got em uploaded here
they great for irish folk, one of few actually
the song itself got the festive feeling. or that's just how irish folk is hmm ?
really great to listen in autumn, the harvest season. probably spring too? but ehh..
8/10

talk about the season stuff, i was about submitting a summer song, it was great, but then the season change and then i don't feel like it.

3. ohno Rolling contact
it says [Tomorrow will be Special, Yesterday was not], i heard it in 4:22. not really surprising, they often put their own original at the climax and the touhou either last or calm parts.
i can see what's this song used for, either rhythm game music or action mmd.
i quite like this one actually, 7/10

their music can be described as "generic", that can both meant good and bad
good if you like what's hip, but not so great if you like "exclusive". surprisingly great for listening while workout.
their usage of Western samples usually ruins the who want to taste Japanese stuff from the first place.
they are great for baiting new people, make them listen to 2hu without knowing!! and when they realized it, they already deep in the rabbit hole mwahahahaha.

i do recommend checking Electrocute 3 album and only that from me for the time being in regards of electro stuff.
havent listened the 4th, maybe worth it??? idk.
i also also recommend check Yabba Ragga album if you like, especially the 2nd, you can guess the genre
or Toho Disco Night Fever, it quite decent

also fun fact : Amamiya uploaded 49 electro, 29 trance, 10 DnB, 7 hardcore, 6 dubstep, 4 rock, 3 funk, 1 chillstep, 1 eurobeat and 16 non touhou

 
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16: Beyond that Door
Alright . . . I irrationally dislike this one. The music arrangement isn't strong enough to stand without the lyrics, so I have to judge the piece in its completeness. The English subtitles depict the piece as a song that's trying much too hard to be more inspiring and profound than it is. After watching the video first, I realized I wasn't going to be objective about how the piece sounded without listening to it without the visuals. Having done that, I can admit potential in the piece. But I'm still not comfortable with my estimation, because the chorus is in English and keeps throwing me off! I'm listening to it right now for the 5th time, and I still believe I'm not giving it the credit it deserves. Hopefully I can come back to it later, but for now I can't get over my initial impressions. 5/10

17: Road to the Moon
I'll talk more about this one later. For now, I've mentioned previously my Irish folk tastes, but my more forefront appreciation for this piece is its contrast to the other kinds of music I hear in the fandom. It doesn't have the strong progression that I usually look for, nor the complexity of instrumentation. Instead, it does just enough to accomplish its goal as a cheerful and relaxed remix. 7/10

18: Lost Technology
What is this? I honestly can't tell. It sounds like an epic build up type piece, but I can't figure out what it's building up to. There are random sounds playing that don't contribute to the music. I don't understand. At least it has a good beat? 3/10

 
Huh . . . this was strange.  The averages all around (mostly*) were very close together, making this looks rather odd, but let's get to it.

The Highest rated song this time was Buskerdog's N.I.G.H.T.M.A.R.E. pick, with an average of 8.5!

The participant with the highest average across their picks was Garison Decrick at 7.1 (and yes, it was that close)!

The two qualified (not given by the same who picked the piece) 10s given were to Drunken Flower's picks of Blue Diamond and Sky Dust!

Personal favorite of mine were Blue Diamond, Sky Dust, Seal Sword/Alice in Wonderland, and Road to Moon.


So uh, I feel like I should point out that the over all average (each person's average averaged together) is 6.8.  The participants scored differed by less than one point (being 6.5 to 7.1) but it's odd to see it so low, especially since this Touhou we're working with . . . 

Still, I hope this was enjoyable enough to be worth everyone's time.  I still intend to set up a Halloween themed version in the coming week, if any of you would be interested in that.

*My picks were a negative outlier this time, sadly.

 
Well thanks once again to Jssf for hosting and everyone else for participating. This wasn't the best remix tournament I've done, but that's not to say there weren't highlights, as there definitely were. I found both Having a Dark Dream and Blooming Season great, I really liked the orchestral remix with two of Alice's themes, and I also loved 4th Radiance - but I want a version with the full thing! Well, guess there's nothing left to do but show my picks now.

twinkle * twinkle - N.I.G.H.T.M.A.R.E (Nhato Remix)

Cool&Create - Flying Marisa!!

Hatsunetsumiko's - A Voiceless Poem (thank you Ken for translating the title!)

Also yes that's right, all along THE DOOR WAS ME!!!

285px-Th16Okina-Ex.png

 
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I won't reveal my picks just yet, so we can see how others respond.  That said, I'll clear up that I'm not quite a participant.  I share some music (because I love sharing music), but I don't score anybodys' picks nor can I "win".

 
jssf like 2 of mine, so im happy

oh you playing the guess game? maybe i'll hide in the next tourney
or in the Halloween if it hidden submission
it bugs me that you use 2 different shades of green, or the yellowish one is 75%? ?

letsee the patterns:
Amamiya, electro
Ken, look at the viewer count or the obscurity of the circle
Jssf, he listen to game music a lot
Busker ngl is hard, idk what he thinking, would be hard if he aint hide it.
Garrison, i uh... who?
Drunken, it's me.

well yes these are my picks

Sky dust
Reason: it's new

Blue Diamond
Reason: it's fun to look back in time looking for obscure circles, looking for a hidden "gem" ya see what i did there hehuehheho

Blooming Season
Reason:
View attachment 1401
 
also here's my other candidates for this tournament that i didn't submit

IRON ATTACK - India Stage Theme (Old Yuaxian) [Metal]
Why not submit? i dunno lol, i outta space i guess.

Phoenix Project - Charming Domiation ~ two faced (Charming Domination) [Metal]
might be too repetative for ya, but this great. same album as sky dust

S.S.H - 御伽の国の鬼が島 -MIS VER.- (Onigashima in Fairyland) [Power Metal?]
nothing to do with suika i swear, this one is intense. i dunno why aint put this.

PHOENIX Project - 御伽の国の鬼が島 ~ Trance Power (Onigashima in Fairyland) [Instrumental, Trance]
also aint know why aint submit this, probably to long.

Karento - My and Your☆MYOURENJI (Emotional Skyscraper) [Vocal, Disco]
i swear i'm not that fond of Emotional Skyscraper but this nice. not as good as Blooming Season, but a fun one

Sound Cyclone - Like a Mermaid (Mist Lake) [Vocal, JPop?]
i dunno why aint pick this one. i loved this one though.

Shinra Bansho - 御伽ノ詠 (Rural Makai City Esoteria) [Vocal, Folk]
Shinra Bansho is well known, im sure people will find this soon enough. this superb though.

Touhou Jihen - Midnight Escape (Magical Girl Crusade) (Vocal, Rock)
hmmm i wonder why not? touhou jihen is great but they already popular aint they? or just me lol. also y'all probably gonna get bored in first 80 seconds.

Foxtail-Grass Studio - 今日から明日へのグラデーション (Tomorrow is Special, Yesterday was not) [Instrumental, Ambient]
not so great as a single, best to listen the whole album when you in summer vacation at beach.
i have the album uploaded here if you want to check it out, navigation il mare

Riverside - 童葬祭 (Warabe Matsuri ~ Innocent Treasures) [Vocal, Acoustic]
Innocent Treasures best, but this well known already i guess????? i love singing this.
woah i posted too much, aint gonna have reserve for next tournament View attachment 955

 
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Alrighty then! Time for post-tournament comments.

First, my picks:

Idola Deus: I found this one just after it was released, and have been holding onto it for this tournament ever since the previous one finished. Because it was the opener, I didn't have time to warm up my commentary. The main highlight of the piece for me was its powerful build-up and overall progression. Previously I wasn't aware of what genre it fell into, and I look forward to finding similar arrangements in the future.

Star of Hope Arises in the Blue Sky: Big surprise, right? I'm not a big fan of modern chiptune made to sound retro; I see so much potential in the genre, and I believe the nostalgic aspect holds some artists back from taking full advantage of it. That's not to say I don't appreciate any retro sounding tunes, but rather to point out that chiptune doesn't have to be retro (and even some retro chiptunes got pretty creative; note the work of Tim Follin). I've got a stockpile of both retro and more creative chiptune remixes which I'll get onto Musical Discoveries eventually.

Road to the Moon: Technically this was someone else's submission (not in the tournament), because I didn't find it myself. I included it because it contrasted with my other entries, and as it turned out the rest of the tournament as well.
The overarching idea behind my choices was to showcase some of the less explored genres on the shrine. Music is an inherently emotional medium, and my natural tendency is stick with genres that appeal to me on an emotional level. I consider this a dangerous tendency, and try to combat it I've worked to vary my scope of musical appreciation. I believe a side effect of this has been a new tendency to appreciate the artform of musical arrangement. It's not nearly to the level I'd like, and won't be until I invest in some kind of proper training. But it has left me with an appreciation for variety in music.

At the start of this tournament, I was not familiar with the terms "drum and bass" and "nudisco" as musical genres. I remember some months ago when several "funkot" pieces were posting in Musical Discoveries, which was similarly a genre I had not encountered before. Even though I don't always like these new styles, I still appreciate being made aware of them and getting to understand other's appreciation for them (hence why I review my own entries, as a way to expound on what I enjoy about them and give others alternative perspectives).

For fun (and because I glanced over Garison's post on my way down to the comment box), here's my guesses for whose entries where whose:

Amamiya's are easy, since he waits till the end of the tournament to explain his choices.
4th Radience
Darkness Power
Lost Technology
Honestly I think I rated 4th Radience too low (again, wasn't warmed up at the beginning of the tournament). It's not stuff I'd listen to normally, but that's not to say I don't enjoy these genres. My biggest problems with Lost Technology were being too little too late and too chaotic for my tastes. Y'all have probably noticed my focus on a song's progression; I expect it to go somewhere, and for the journey to be something I can follow. That being said, I can appreciate the strong beat that both these pieces had, and by extension I can appreciate your appreciation for them. I'd love to hear more on what it is about this genre that interests you the most.

I hadn't noticed DF's tell without Garison pointing it out, but I already knew two of his pieces.
Blue Diamond
Blooming Season
You always surprise me with your far-reaching familiarity in a wide variety of genres. I was surprised the jazz wasn't better received, but then I have a rather weird love/hate relationship with the genre myself, so . . .
I hope you'll still occasionally stop in at Musical Discoveries from time to time; you seem to have a better sense of musical balance than I do, and I have greatly appreciated your findings.
I suppose the third pick was Sky Dust? Statements made about Cosmic Mind have led me on a searching spree; I'll try not to overload Musical Discoveries with them, and hopefully y'all can counter me with some True Administrator remixes (since I've never liked that piece very much).

Buskerdog's quite a bit trickier. I find I often relate to his tastes, and his commentary style usually differs ever so slightly on his own submissions, but even so I am not convinced I know his third pick. For the record, I had guessed these two before receiving external confirmation.
Flying Marisa
N.I.G.H.T.M.A.R.E.
Someone will have to tell me if Chipzel's Cadence of Hyrule arrangements count as nudisco; other than that possibility, I've never encountered this genre before. This was definitely the highlight of the tournament for me, and I've already been enjoying new finds from my further research.
Based on commentary style and subsequent process of elimination, it seems the third entry was Voiceless Poem? I'm surprised you weren't responsible for any orchestral arrangements, but then again I didn't contribute much in that way either.
Also somehow responsible for Star of Hope. ?

Garison's pretty open about his picks in an indirect way, and of course he's already clarified his choices above. I was just skimming, though, so we'll see how close I get from my previous knowledge and vague short term memory.
Having a Dark Dream
Sealed Sword/Alice in Wonderland
Blue Desire
That last one surprised me, since your commentary style was more brutally honest compared to your other two picks. Entries aside, I really appreciated your commentary through each round. Your tendency to relate what you're listening to immediately with past musical experiences leads to a branching-out perspective, and even further discoveries (expect Deemo to be featured in Other Game Music for the first week of November). I hope you'll be sticking around the shrine for a while!

That leaves J (I know your name isn't Joseph, but that's what I think of when I read your alias). Typically no one had two entries in a single round, which was an important part of my other deductions. Assuming I correct on the others, there should only be three possibilities left.
Song of the Mad Demon
Dancing Doll
Beyond that Door
I feel I owe you an apology for my inability to properly evaluate Beyond that Door. If I had listened to it for the first time without knowing what the lyrics were, I'm certain I would have enjoyed it more. But it is what it is, and I appreciate that you entered some pieces that the rest of us were unlikely to have heard or given consideration to on a strictly musical basis. For some reason, the idea of using fangame OSTs hadn't occured to me, or I might have held off on posting Luna Nights in Musical Discoveries in favor of including it in a future tournament. Regardless, I thank you abundantly for another rewarding and invigorating experience, and I look forward to future tournaments (Lord willing).
On a more technical level, J has already noted how fast this tournament went. I can't speak for anyone else, but a combination of excitement over the event and fear of being the one guy holding everyone else back contributed to my quick responses. If I might make a proposal, that future tournaments have a preset minimum time between each round (one-and-a-half to two days, perhaps?), so that those of us who like to reflect more on the entries could feel at ease in taking the time they needed for their review. Of course, everyone else may have preferred the faster turnover rate, in which case I'll make due. ?

Thank you all for another fun and informative experience! If I can figure out a way to contact them, there's a few Touhou fans on Bandcamp I'll try to invite next time. At the very least I hope the rest of us can come back and do this again soon.

 
@Garison DeCrick When I'm online, I default my registered birthdate to be both believable to anyone who doesn't interact with me and obviously ridiculous to anyone who does. For the record, I am equally older than you as J is to DF and as you are to Amamiya. Buskerdog is of course a timeless being who exists simultaneously on all our Youtube channels.

 
Congrats Buskerdog!


So yeah it was a lot of fun, pleasure and i'm looking forward to next tournament (more for normal not haloween one tho) also hopefully maybe i'll be more unpredictable next time ?


Since my picks are clear i doubt it will be necessary for me to reveal them


I swear my library got a little bigger meanwhile and i appreciate this just because how often i'm listening music 

 
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For the record, Ken's thoughts on what everyone picked is right on the dot.

Personally, I intentionally set out to use only Alice's themes this time, though in hindsight, I wish I had gone with Mystical Chain instead of Fantasy Maiden Wars . . .

 
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