black, white and read all over

Continuing in the vein of alternating between reading some manga/some novel-type stories, I picked up LKH's anthology of short stories, Strange Candy. Acutally, it is quite the interesting little collection of urban fantasy, D&D fantasy, and lightness. I enjoyed reading the variety the collection contained. The very last story is set in Anitaverse, but I haven't actually read it yet. I'm not even sure it's from Anita's POV, although I think it is. In any case, this was a good read, and I'm (oddly enough) quite relieved that sex was practically nowhere to be found. ^^

After that I went to B&N and, in a panicked moment of "OMG, I've nothing to read!" bought Sara Douglass's Beyond the Hanging Wall, which I had read an exerpt of on her website, and which takes place in the same world as the Wayfarer Redemption series, but on the other side of the ocean or something. I enjoyed it; it was a pretty simple and very enjoyable read, without the drama and epic-ness of her other stories. It was a change to be able to read about a young boy who, although he had special powers, really wasn't so much different than the rest of the world. No amazing leadership abilities, etc. The one who fits that description (because, of course, the typical "hero" must be around somewhere) is actually the one who was saved by the boy and his accomplices. Very satisfying and yet shorter than I would have expected. THE FOLLOWING IS A SLIGHT SPOILER: As I'm coming to see is somewhat typical of Douglass, the girl ends up with the "beast" in the story (who is not the villain). But I appreciate it, because no one else does it, and dammit, the beast is usually sexier than the hero.

I also picked up volume 20 of Samurai Deeper Kyo. I had picked up vol 19 a month or two ago, but wasn't in the mood to read it. Well, I read vol 19 yesterday and am in the middle of 20 today, and OMG, of course it's as awesome as it always is! I love Kyo soooo much. I am both looking forward to and dreading the end of the series. Oh, also, I wanted to mention how Yuya is definitely one of my favorite female characters. Because she's hanging out with a whole bunch of strong, talented, dangerous guys, it's pretty obvious that she isn't the strongest. But the mangaka makes her a strong (and NOT stupid!) character even so. It makes me so happy. =D She's so cool~.

I'm still left off in the middle of Douglass's Druid's Sword, but I'm not so inclined to finish it just yet. I'm still trying to get over the disappointment I felt about it when I first picked it up.

Last, but not least I also picked up Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller. It's very amusing so far, although it isn't as interesting as I'd hoped (so far). I will continue to read it, but it may be one of those books that I read while reading other things as it isn't enough to hold my complete and utter attention just yet.

Drakengard music. An essay (practically).

I've been watching Maryann play Drakengard over the past few months. I cannot express just how much I love this game. I am so lucky to have friends who will play video games where I can watch and follow the whole story ~ because there are games that I'd absolutely HATE to have missed, but that I could never have gotten through.

So back to Drakengard (also known as Drag-on Dragoon in Japan) -- I would probably make a hash of trying to describe the story, so I will direct you here. This is a pretty solid review of the game (all aspects, including plot, characters, gameplay, etc.), although I completely disagree with the reviewer's assessment on the music... if you couldn't guess.

I do admit that at first the music grated -- it's very repetitive and could really stress you out if you let it get to you. But it really fits the mood of the story so damn well that at the very least you must come to appreciate it for fitting so well. I'm pretty sure that most (if not all) of the compositions are classical pieces that have been altered.

There's an intense, urgent, unnerving quality about them, which is no doubt helped along by the repetitiveness of the music. They can really be driving, especially in the ground battle stages where you have hundreds of targets and you're just one man going to hack and slash at them all. Maryann wanted me to point out that the feeling of the music is very representative of Caim's insatiable battle lust. It can be that focused. I suppose I should also point out that one of the things I love best about the game is how insane the characters are. There is a real pervasive darkness to the game, but none of it is cliche.

It's just exciting and lovely.

Here is a small sampling of the soundtrack. If you're interested enough to download and listen, please listen to at least 60-90 seconds of the song before you make up your mind, as they can change a bit a while into the track.

first chapter, above ground
first chapter, castle interior
fifth chapter, sky part 1
eight chapter, sky
eight chapter, above ground

The last two are my favorites. <3



ETA (3/19/2012): Just came across this great, wonderfully on-target review of the reissued dual-disc release of the Drag-on Dragoon Soundtracks.

The important bits:

The entire score is comprised of sliced-and-diced samples of orchestral classics from Dvorak, Bartok, Debussy, Holst, and many others (you can find a full list on VGMdb). You’d think this would result in a very familiar sound, but the samples are so short and rearranged in such a way that the compositions sound completely original, although they do possess a certain radio-like quality in terms of sound quality. Through the sampling process, most sounds used are very brief, sounding staccato and obviously ‘cut’ at the end to make way for the next note. This gives the score a uniquely chaotic and disturbing ‘pieced together’ quality that’s going to stick with me for a while.

There are big sounds. Orchestral hits, lots of brass, and of course string stabs. This music is meant to be intense, accompanying epic on-screen battles in the sky and on the ground. I used the word maddening before, and what really drives this home is the repetition featured throughout the tracks. Oftentimes repetitive 2-3 second samples are used as a foundation for a given track, sporting thunderous percussion and ominous brass progressions. This repetition grates on the nerves, working wonders in-game, and providing a unique and experimental listening experience outside. I certainly applaud Sano and Aihara for their ambitious efforts here.

That said, there aren’t melodies here you’re going to recall. This is all dark, atmospheric music. There isn’t even a main theme featured on the album, which came as a surprise to me. There are several staff roll themes (there are 5 different endings of the game, one of which surprisingly is linked to NieR, also developed by Cavia), and they take the opportunity to give the listener a break from the intense action cues found throughout the game’s missions. “Route Staff D Roll” sports chromatic bell progressions that are almost soothing, while “Route B Staff Roll ‘Exhaused’” features vocals by Eriko Hatsune. The track sounds like others on the album with its powerful string stabs, but Hatsune’s voice ducks under the noise, singing softly in almost a whisper with an echo, creating a creepy, otherworldly sound. The album closes with two unreleased tracks that were not included in the game.