Board 8 > [VGMC] d17: Machi ni Mukatte vs Desire Blue Sky, RFTM;IS vs Kaze no Ne (EN)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 14, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VNrPnFRI7nJ4PqFiURBW0NWqxvXiuasoq8Sn_O169ss/edit#gid=320804650
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=473292
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78524521
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1REnVI_W6yELaDP6Zac8b0Wq
ToC playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RE-TQMj19D0k5nm-0zeH12J
VGMC compability sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lpX4faqnn_geI0y4i6MrZ2AXpV6SWXoWrIA6_eyx-yM/edit

Rules:
- Listen to both of the songs. Links have conveniently been provided for both songs. Even if Song A is your favorite o

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Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Meme, Immortal Shitpost
in the
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Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Sound of the Wind
Persona 5 - Rivers in the Desert

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Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Persona 5 - Rivers in the Desert

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Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
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Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Rivers in the Desert
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Desire blue sky
Sound of the Wind
Rivers in the Desert
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Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
Rivers in the Desert

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Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Rivers in the Desert

why head to town if you desire the sky
why care about the wind when you can reach for the moon
if I was in a desert I would much rather find a river than a crab

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Heading Back to Town (121st) vs Desire Blue Sky (142nd)
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke (72nd) vs Sound of the Wind (51st)
"1NF3S+@+!0N" - Theme of Crabulon [1st] vs Rivers in the Desert [11th]

Heading Back to Town is a really cool experience; Shiina really is so good at hammering out that style-defining sugar-laced violin sound that just stabs you with how particular of a sound it is. I don't even think what I just said made sense at ALL but god Shiina's violin and piano shine a lot in this song. I just wish it was a tad bit more memorable so I could think more about it, but for now it's still just a cool thing to listen to. Desire Blue Sky takes FOREVER to not be a snoozefest, but once it kicks in at 1:10 with the cool computery beeps it's pretty cool! Unfortunately it stays like that for most of the song and I end up realizing it's not interesting enough to keep my heart in the game. Kinda easy despite it being such a close match in numbers.

Okay so I don't mean to be "that guy" but I realized when tossing values into my ranking that I was... still technically ranking based on the Japanese version (cause I had a rating for Kaze no Ne prior) and I never caught it....... oops. Yeah Donna Burke just doesn't do it for me in the song at all, there's just small subtleties in Yae's inflection that hit certain points with pinpoint accuracy and Donna just... can't match whatso ever. So this is an easy one for Reach for the Moon, which is still just as good as ever honestly. Sorry meme-sayers, it's the year of Mokou!

crab still slaps bangs and fucks yup but also rivers is still super awesome but uhhhhhh yeah crab is a 10 its so good easy. so easy and it HURTS

"1NF3S+@+!0N" - Theme of Crabulon > Rivers in the Desert > Sound of the Wind >?=?< Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke > Heading Back to Town > Desire Blue Sky

Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town (8.0) / Desire Blue Sky (7.5)
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke (6.0) / Sound of the Wind (7.0)

I find it interesting how all the TC tracks are all so gloomy and scary, but Crabulon is totally the opposite!

Tough choice for the first match... too many tough matches as of late! I like the general idea of DBB more than that of HBtT, but the latter has a lot more cool stuff in it, so I think I'm voting for HBtT. Lots of cool piano runs that go a bit atonal. Also, use of real brass instruments. I love brass! Nice harmonic moment at about the 2 minute mark. Cool when it switches to the folky 3/4 feel. The soft section with the low string trio is a surprisingly good contrast!


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Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Rivers in the Desert

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

I like when HBtT sounds like a Go Shiina song. DBS is okay but this'd be an easy win if Find the Blue were here instead.

it's once again time to vote RftMIS every round until it's defeated

two awesome songs in the ToC. I actually think Infestation might be my favorite TCal song...

1NF3S+@+!0N > Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke > Rivers in the Desert > Heading Back to Town > Desire Blue Sky > Sound of the Wind
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Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Wow what a day. I gotta be honest, part of the reason I usually rank all six songs in a day is to keep my honest on days like this where I know as soon as I see the matchups how I'm voting. Heading Back to Town was only in one previous contest and it made a quick exit but it made a huge impression on me. Meanwhile, Desire Blue Sky was a song I thought I remembered from previous contests, and enough with the title that I figure it must've made R4 because I seem to remember it challenging for retirement. Only thing is, I don't remember this at all! I may have spoken too soon about it being a monster day all around; I distinctly remember "Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky" making a deep run, but this is completely foreign and I can only assume I listened to it in R1 and then vowed to just vote for its opponent for as long as it remained in the contest. Which is silly because it's not that bad.

Ah, Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke. Why did this have to end up as the Touhou song we nominate every year? It's not a bad song, but for me, it loses to about half of the Imperishable Night soundtrack and almost all of the Perfect Cherry Blossom soundtrack. Off the top of my head the only song from PCB that I'd take RFTMIS over is Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Til When?, though I'll admit that I don't remember Withered Leaf very well and can't even quite remember the title of the stage theme that precedes it. Something about a village? Yeah, that's right, The Fantastic Village of Tohno. That doesn't quite sound right, but close enough. Well whatever; it's got an utter nothing of an opponent today. Just when I was ready to write it off, the music picked up...and then the vocals continued to be the same shit they already were. Honestly if this was a pure instrumental it'd be a close match, though I'd still vote for RFTMIS. But this is just awful.

Oh, right, I should've already known 1NF3S+@+!0N wasn't the Terraria Calamity song that I'd vote for against just about anything, because we just heard Servants of the Scourge. Whatever, it's still more than good enough to beat anything a Persona game can muster... ugh. I was about to shut this down and put it in dead last, but the lyrics cut in just in time. They technically make things worse, but by doing so, they make it So Bad, It's Good. That's enough to get it ahead of Desire A New Nominating Committee. ...Actually upon further review, this is not bad. The more I listen to it, the more I like it... okay, looks like it was as good a day as I thought.

Heading Back to Town > 1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon) > Rivers in the Desert > Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke > Sound of the Wind > Desire Blue Sky

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Mr. Driller: Drill Land - Heading Back to Town
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Terraria Calamity Mod - 1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Match 1: The Ys violin in Heading Back to Town is a weird flex, but this ends up sounding great. DBS is good too, not the best Kanako Itou song by any means though.

Match 2: I love RftM, I have it as my Bracket B winner this will never happen. FFCC has a cool sound aesthetic, but maybe not something I'd listen to on its own instead of just neat background music. The vocals are actually a nice touch though.

ToC: I had Rivers in the Desert winning two matches in my faves bracket, but ehhh I'm feeling Crabby today.

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Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

I think I started a write up here and then lost it so now I have to start over oops. First match is maybe closer than you might expect for me. Both songs have long atmosphericish intros that I kinda just want to skip and then have traits appealing to me while also incorporating traits I pretty strongly despise. for instance in DBS the fast rising digital bass is really cool to me and the occasional screeching noise is, pretty weird but intriguing in a sort of good way? But I really don't like the vocals of course. Meanwhile HBtT has some fun rhythm stuff in the drums & bass and like what that piano starts doing at 1:11, and when the bass plays in reverse it's neat. But I loathe those high strings, potentially at an even higher amount than I do with the DBS vocals in my current mood, especially when I find the melody they play in the first half so boring. Things get kind of better with the drums with it at like 2:08 but still... I also prefer the overall instrumentation of DBS over the instrumentation of HBtT. Only the waterdrop type stuff in the back at 2:30 is appealing to me in HBtT in that regard. But ultimately what I think makes the difference for me in the match is -- in HBtT my dislikes are sometimes the focus, and sometimes they're gone and what I like is the focus instead. In DBS my dislikes are pretty consistently the focus what I like is just the backing. Also even DBS occasionally has I think a saxophone that sounds like the accursed high strings so I dislike that too. Anyway my decision's made now enough of listening to those songs.

Other two matches are still more of the same old "cool song vs. less appealing song that also has vocals" so I don't feel like doing write ups because I'm still in a messed up mindstate. Though maybe Personasong could have stood a chance without the vocals.
Maybe this will be the year for Rtfm, I think there's only one other song still in this division that I'd vote over it possibly.
Hm, all 3 matches today included one song from last VGMC...

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Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Rivers in the Desert

heading back to town is interesting and cool and neat. likely would've supported it if it wasn't locked. neat stuff
i never marked any xp noms as ones i would move to support, but that doesn't mean i don't love desire blue sky

ulil rftm for VGMC14.5. anyway, imperishable night's soundtrack is very strong and consistent so while this isn't at the top of it for me, especially after much of the impact of it has been lost over the year, i still think it's very good (and this is shown surprisingly often)
i almost did but neglected to mention this yesterday, english vocals are often not my thing, so when i find a song where they aren't dragging a song down, I respect that. Funny thing is, I do think they are here in the sense that is is a little bit weaker than kaze no ne, but all the same it's a very strong take that is pretty much just as immersive.
tough match

crab. tough to come up with words on this, but... it's a song that i enjoy, but also not a song that i think i like overall (especially not when it's so often paired with the other crab song meme people won't shut up about when fight crab is discussed in the slightest. it's really frustrating as a deku and nussoft fan to see it get zero acknowledgement or respect, but that's all irrelevant). it has a lot of elements in it that i can associate with other things that i have varying opinions on. not all the things in it are parts i'm happy to see now, and it overall it doesn't leave me with a positive vibe and that's unfortunate. sorry crab song
i have entirely forgotten what my overall impressions were on all the persona 5 songs in their main year were, but as a general rule... guilty pleasure, but I really enjoy singing along to them. this one's no different.

not a bad day

Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town is my 111th favorite in the contest! man this song is so Go Shiina it's kinda funny, it's like a showcase of all the "go shiina things" you can do in a song. big chanting boys at the beginning in the background, prominent violin melody, random reversed effects, other glitchy bits, random jazz fusion elements, random timesig change to 6/8 that re-contextualizes the melody to fit with it, some pretty cool chord changes. these are all elements that are in other go shiina songs (though not usually all at once), but in other stuff he goes about those traits in a much more adventurous way that's more my thing than here. there was a period where i listed Go Shiina in my top 5 vgm composers which was a weird statement honestly because I knew very little of his stuff. he's not even close now but i am fond of how extremely distinct his style is, even if this isn't the most unique example of it

Desire Blue Sky is my 146th favorite in the contest! I used to say the only thing I actually liked about this was the weird sound at ~1:10. well i had other positive things to say sometimes. idk it's not a terrible piece of music but it doesn't stand out to me much. I like the saxophone that sometimes sounds like it's a violin. I think I've said that before too. yeah this is ok. sure. basically i just like the instrumentation, some cool very cool sounds in it, almost "y2k dance music" at times and i dig that, though i wish it was mixed a bit differently, I want to hear some things that i can barely hear and don't want to hear some things that take up too much of my ears. and there's not much else to it of interest to me. probably would've been a huge fan of this in 2000 but this song didn't exist yet.

Go! Shiiina! Use VIOLIN FUSION

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Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke is my 142nd favorite in the contest! I have talked about this so many times that i absolutely do not need to talk about it again but here is an update of note: I like Metal Gear Solid - The Best Is Yet To Come more than this song now. That did not used to be the case. You will learn more about why when that day comes I guess. I don't dislike this but in the end it's like a really random touhou pick that i only know as well as I do because of participating in every vgmc since 3 and this being in every vgmc ever and often getting very far. i don't think i'd naturally be attracted to it over other touhou options if it weren't for its omnipresence in this stuff drilling its melody into my brain, but i have nothing negative to say about it either.

Sound of the Wind is my 85th favorite in the contest! I guess this is sort of a ranking topic spoiler but who cares this is a much different version (which may rank differently) and i've talked about versions of this in previous contests before. A lot more my thing than it was in the past. ESPECIALLY now. I didn't realize the singer in this version was Donna Burke until today, interesting! She's the vocalist on a number of my fav vgm tunes. changes in vocalist are one of the things that impacts my reaction to something the least- i'm probably one of the least-picky-about-vocals people i know, so i'm not sure i have a preference for jp vs. eng and i find it fascinating that there's such a divide here on that. I'll talk about the sort of instrumental version of this in my ranking topic anyways so i don't need to go super in detail here but yeah FFCC music is cool and i love the really folky foresty instrumentation with really distinct instrument choice set, this track in particular has a bunch of moments that remind me of MANNHEIM STEAMROLLEr and yeah it's cool. it's beautiful song : ) pretty song I like this song. My favorite of the day

final fantasy 26

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1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon) is my 28th favorite ToC entrant! This still doesn't click with me as much as other stuff from calamity so i always kinda felt alienated by the overwhelming enthusiasm toward it over every other thing from this. I don't hate it but it doesn't really have the traits i look for in the ost, chord changes aren't nearly as much the 'only dm dokuro would write this' unexpected impactful chord dramatic stuff, way more trance-y and funky than the other options, etc. I still enjoy it, the parts with piano melody are cool because they remind me of ROBERT MILES - CHILDREN especially with all the other delay echo stuff. it DOES have it's own share of really cool chord changes like the fast rush of insane harmonies right before the loop. it reminds me of the aspects i like about yasui and there's nothing here i dislike, but it's hard for me to get into naturally, I think it is too "fun" or something > : (

Rivers in the Desert (P5) is my 47trh ToC entrant! I don't really hate this or anything but every time I listen to this I find less and less to like, meanwhile every time i listen to Last Surprise (Persona 5) I like it more than the last... I think I just find Rivers in the Desert just too empty for the amount of energy it exudes or something. like the simple dance beat focus with nothing behind it just feels like unwanted noise to me. Has its cool bits but mostly I'm wanting other persona picks. Favorite element is definitely the strings. the cooldown section at 3:43 is nice too

terraria calamity mod more like Terraria CLAM mod
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Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Rivers in the Desert

Man this Reach for the Moon song sure is fresh and enjoyable! Good job to those nominating exciting new tracks to this VGMC.

... Well, it's still decent.

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Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Persona 5 - Rivers in the Desert

i have to stop nominating desire blue sky all i'm doing is hurting myself at this point. First match is good though which is why I'm all HOT that the second match exists here alongside it because here I am voting for RFTM after frowning at another good R1 match in the first one. clearly this bracket design is karma for all the joking ribbing i've made towards azuarc over his tenure as host.

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TsunamiXXVIII posted...

I distinctly remember "Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky" making a deep run

VGMC11 - Lost in Round 2
VGMC12 - Died in noms
VGMC13 - Lost in Round 1

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depending on how you look at it, simply making a contest is a deep run

Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)
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Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon
Rivers in the Desert

No writeups. Yay RftM.

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Sound of the Wind
Rivers in the Desert

Not voting in that first match they both suck

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Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

feeling more creatively charged so i might continue my writeups soon

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Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

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Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

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Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

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Desire Blue Sky
Sound of the Wind
Rivers in the Desert

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Back
Immortal
Desert

I will never forgive the person who nominated Sounds of the Wind nor those who supported it for getting me to vote for Immortal Smoke.
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everything you like is shit KCF

:)

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KCF0107 posted...

I will never forgive the person who nominated Sounds of the Wind nor those who supported it for getting me to vote for Immortal Smoke.

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Heading Back to Town
Sound of the Wind
Rivers in the Desert

The Reach for the Moon piano is so flat and annoying ugh

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Desire Blue Sky
Sound of the Wind
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

The upload of Sound of the Wind is a bit garbled. If you're on the fence and a higher quality upload might help, try this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbSOKVx9fcY

Desire Blue Sky
Sound of the Wind
Rivers in the Desert

Why is this a r1 match aaaaaaaaaaaa.

Kaze no Ne is fantastic. Love the nature sounding instrumentals and light and free sounding vocals. I prefer the Japanese version somewhat, but both are great and this isn't going to be one of the matches where it would end up mattering. Reach for the Moon is better than its current meme status would suggest, but it's no Kaze no Ne.
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Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Terraria Calamity Mod - 1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)
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Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Rivers in the Desert

Mr. Driller can only Desire the Blue Sky as he is stuck on Land (also Desire's URL has 3on3 followed by qna, how can you beat that)
Not tired at all of RftM, it's among the good Touhous from what little I've heard and I like its ZUNpets (rip haste)
I enjoyed Crabulon a lot in VGMC 13, what happened (I probably got too hyped about it back then)

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Desire Blue Sky
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

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Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke


Mr. Driller: Drill Land - Heading Back to Town at 9.5 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! This is peak 2018 NFUN taste. A strong rock feel with nice violins and pianos and all that jazz stacked on top of it with cohesive variety. I wouldn't say it's better at being a Gurumin song than Gurumin songs, but it's close enough to share probably a few aspects I love between the two. I absolutely would've supported this if it had needed it.

Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky at 8.2 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! A game I need to play! I'd say this is a fairly middle-of-the-road Itou song. In other words, fairly good. I remember hating this song back in the day and being able to recognize the thumbnail specifically as something to avoid. how things change

Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke at 7. 8 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! Resign from this Match, Idiot Song.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Sound of the Wind at 7.6 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! Damn you for making me vote for a Touhou.

Terraria Calamity Mod - 1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon) at RANKING SPOILERS is my ???th favorite crab in the contest!

Persona 5 - Rivers in the Desert at RANKING SPOILERS is my ???th favorite retiree in the contest!! OH NO TWO RANKING SPOILERS HOW WILL I KNOW WHICH SONG I LIKE MORE (hint: it's the dm dokuro song. this rule applies in general)
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Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
Persona 5 - Rivers in the Desert

MATCH 1

Heading Back to Town starts off pretty weird with the strange vocals in the background, but then it suddenly turns into a Trails song when the violin comes in. Granted, once the drums and everything come in starting at 0:46, it sounds less Falcom, but it still sounds pretty cool! Upon looking up the composer, it seems he's the person who composed for the Tales games, which explains the JRPG vibe to this song haha. But yeah, this is a pretty cool song, I just don't like those vocals. Not much to say beyond that.

Desire Blue Sky is so good! There was a time not too long ago where I was just listening to Desire Blue Sky and Find the Blue back to back repeatedly lol. This song feels very much like the girl in this image, like you're just floating in the air. Especially at the start with those soft pad chords. It definitely has that feeling throughout the whole song though! I like it a lot. It's pretty calming for me. I think this song starts to peak once the drums come in full force starting at 1:37 and especially during the chorus. The chorus is definitely my favorite part with more great melodic stuff as usual but also with the saxophone giving really driving home the solemn emotion of this song. Starting at 4:20, there's also more vocal harmonizing that I love so much! I really wish this didn't lose round 1 last year, but even if it advanced, getting matched up against It Has to Be This Way round 2 was such a rough draw. Fortunately, this year, we have a bracket that allows me to push Desire Blue Sky really far (round 5 in my favorites bracket this year)! Another great Kanako Itou song :)

MATCH 2

Reach for the Moon's still a great Touhou song in my eyes. I think it fares a little better than Id ~ Purpose for "traditional VGMC entry that never retires" so it has a better shot at retiring in my favorites bracket, but I still view this as another song that, despite being good, has too much competition to be able to retire in any given year. I like pianos a lot, so this song is a good example of good piano melodies. Even when the ZUNpets are there, I don't mind, since they've never bothered me when listening to Touhou music. Sometimes they're less fitting than in other songs but here, I think they fit fine.

So with the recent talk about Japanese vs. English version of Kaze no Ne/Sound of the Wind, I have this to say. I think the singer can be a little flat in the notes, especially in the beginning, but I prefer the note sliding in the vocals that the English version has (see 0:33, 1:08, 2:06-2:09). So some combination of the two, say, the Japanese version with those particular vocal inflections, would be the most preferable for me. That said, though, even with the most ideal version of those vocals, I don't think I'd vote this over Reach for the Moon. I think I just wish it had a more full sound. There isn't much going on with instruments until about halfway through the song. I think if there was more regarding instrumentation, I'd like this song a lot more. I should mention, though, that I do like this song quite a bit! I'd still say it's a somewhat close match, but I think Sound of the Wind has potential to be even better for me. Possibly so much better that I'd vote it over Reach for the Moon. Good match, but sadly I can't vote for Sound of the Wind here.

MATCH 3

It's interesting to me that Terraria Calamity made such a strong debut last year with two retired entries in one contest! It didn't surprise me too much, but it was cool to see. Infestation wasn't my favorite entry that appeared, but it's still a cool song! It's a nice example of general EDM-sounding (not the most applicable term here, I know) stuff being good. Simple (at least in how it sounds since I know there's some more complex stuff production-wise), but good!

I feel like if I had to pick my least favorite Persona 5 vocal song, it would be Rivers in the Desert. Good thing I really like all the Persona 5 vocal songs I've heard, though! The general guitar and verse parts feel more lackluster compared to how other songs like Last Surprise, Life Will Change, etc. feel. The chorus is where this song shines the most with the strings and all that doing what they do best in this game's music. The melody in the chorus is also really nice. This match is really close! Definitely much closer than match 2. I think in the end, both songs are generally at the same level, but Rivers in the Desert has higher peaks than Infestation does, so my vote goes to Rivers in the Desert here!

Desire Blue Sky > Rivers in the Desert > Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke > 1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon) > Sound of the Wind > Heading Back to Town

Another good day today! Really close rankings for those middle 4 songs with RftM and Infestation being the closest. Could go either way there. Desire Blue Sky and Heading Back to Town, though, I'm very solid on their positions.