Kenji Kaneko level-up!
I’ve been following Kaneko’s work with Idea Factory for some time now. And it seems he’s slowly but surely getting better. I said as much in my review of the “Record of Agarest War” OST review. Between that, Cross Edge, and now Trinity Universe, it seems Kaneko is looking to increase his versatility as a composer, and nail his guitar parts down as well. Regarding those guitar parts, see “Abandoned” (disc2 track03) as an example.
I think Kaneko’s hanging around the Gust Sound Team (Daisuke Achiwa) is helping him expand his range of capabilities. “Triumphant Return,” for example, sounds like something straight out of an Atelier series soundtrack. I’d never heard anything of this caliber from the Generation of Chaos or Spectral Force soundtracks released in the past decade. That’s definitely a good sign.
Achiwa’s own contribution to the soundtrack is only the theme song, COSMOLAGOON. Which, in my opinion, is one of the weaker links of this soundtrack. Vocalist Haruka Shimotsuki, known for a very unique brand of ethnic, nasal, choral chant vocal tracks, instead gives a sugar-pop performance for this game. What can I say? It makes me cringe. Give me the Atelier Iris opening theme over this any day of the week.
Trinity Universe features characters from Gust and Idea Factory IPs. But the score itself is entirely original. This, I appreciate a great deal. If you’re interested in the soundtrack, it was made available via Team Entertainment, and should be an easy find for most online shoppers. If you’re willing to give Kaneko a chance, you might like what you find.
