LogFAQs > #937918201

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg - Chant This Charm
Yakuza 0 - Two Dragons
Popn Music 18 - Kurokami Midareshi Shura to Narite

MATCH 1

EXEC_PAJA/.#Orica extracting might be growing on me a bit, but overall, I'd still say I have an unfavorable reaction to how this song sounds. I'm just not really a fan of the odd, dissonant melody in this song. If I listen enough, I start to think "okay, maybe this is a little cool" but I don't think I could shake the feeling that it's not my thing. I definitely prefer the other EXA_PICO songs in the contest over this one.

Chant This Charm is so bright and cheery, it's so good! I especially love 0:24-0:47 because the guitar backing's prominent there and it's a very nice chord progression. In particular, I really like those first two chords (Db major-Bb minor I think?). It's a little amusing since that's just I-vi, which I'm sure is ridiculously common, but has a nice sound to it here! Nice fluid movement between the two chords with the vi chord adding this hint of "sadness" for lack of a better word to it. Simple but good! I also like when the guitar just goes off and does its own thing like at 0:34. This song all throughout is just a great example of multiple different instruments playing different stuff coming together very well. Like some of the comments suggest, it sounds like an older anime OP or a Saturday morning cartoon theme song from your childhood and I like that vibe a lot!

MATCH 2

I usually enjoy the harsh, edgy sound that comes from Yakuza songs like Two Dragons. Not much to say about this. It's cool and appealing to me :)

I feel kinda bad that I consistently have negative things to say about all these Kirby songs. Anyway, the sitar melody's nice, though I prefer when the flute's playing it like at 0:31. The really negative things about this song are parts like 0:22-0:31 and 0:49-0:58. Dissonant melodies and chords and they also sound all detuned to me, further adding to that kind of sound that in this case is just pretty much at odds with my tastes. Parts like the flute melody I mentioned is more what I want to hear from Kirby music with its fun, playful sound.

MATCH 3

Kurokami's a super cool song! I really like the choir, strings, and all that coming together in the intro. Then you have the vocals, which are very nice. Really good melody there. The change from strings and vocals in the background to guitar riffs is pretty cool as well. I also like the softer vocal harmonizing from 0:56-1:09.

I feel like I didn't give Yesterday's Opponents enough credit last year. The intro's still kinda meh, but the rest of the song's a strong example of playful Atelier melodies. The main part exemplifying this being 0:24-0:48 and wherever that melody shows up again. I love those parts of the song!

Very strong match that's pretty close, but sadly, I gotta give it to Kurokami here.

Kurokami Midareshi Shura to Narite > Yesterday's Opponents are Today's Ingredients > Chant this Charm > Two Dragons > EXEC_PAJA/.#Orica extracting. > Mysterious Trap