i'm really not sure why but i'm just not feeling portugal here that much. maybe it's how it doesn't really evoke strictly a picture of what i'd associate with portugal of the time which feels like a bit of a sin considering that's exactly what it's supposed to be doing, maybe it's how it just doesn't do that much for its 4 minute runtime, or maybe it's just because of the level of competition in this field and honestly the level of competition in the part of the bracket it's in. i dunno, just feels like it should be better than it is, even if there's nothing to properly criticise. myeah, could be worse could be better is my real takeaway i guess
until is an anime ending (probably?) theme that is... honestly kind of just unremarkable too by general standards. it's not bad either, there's just definitely no shortage of stronger examples out there from that generation. i can confidently even say i prefer the ending theme from the other tears to tiara game i randomly included in my srpglist earlier this year, and I don't have very strong feelings about that one either, it was definitely one of those picks i tossed in just for the sake of having series representation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uuS19JIcZ4). again not that until is overall bad here, just it doesn't evoke as stong a reaction as i'd like
arlosa is a very lush song with a depth to it. like it a lot and would probably have taken it over quite a hefty amount of the field, just got in a very awkward scenario where every song in its fourpack, one probably r3 matchup and several possible r4 matchups really don't work in its favour to me
and yeah unfortunately battlerock galaxy is a song i have considerably more attachment to. really never expected to get to vote for my favourite smg song in a contest since i really thought i was the only one that liked this galaxy and its theme compared to others
okay i'm just going to get the inevitable back in time remark out of the way first. it really does, doesn't it. I didn't get the opportunity to play sonic r until i ended up renting sonic gems collection... i honestly don't even remember when now, but it was well after i ended up getting mega collection plus, which was also definitely not new at the time either. it's hard to not get blasted by peak 90s nostalgia listening to this and the rest of the soundtrack though. i have no idea what my favourite sonic r song is, i think it's fair to say a lot of people probably can't decide since they're equally exceptional at this, and this song especially just serves as a direct reminder
it's difficult to really convey in words why advance wars songs work so well for me, especially one like this. the different emotions it evokes, the different kinds of songs it makes me nostalgic for, the unique nature of the theme that is both accurate yet surprising, there's probably about 10 reasons i ultimately like it. i wish i could write too tbh