Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 20! Prairie4 / Narrowsky / Stella / N.Y. / POINT OF NO RETURN / Monk

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 15, an annual celebration of the best of the best video game music according to the voters!

Important Links:
Bracket: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=474630
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XAaBMDuUnQ4c5AxQNL9ZhvD7VG5kQyrXWWZxnkrn-o
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79443554
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0xt7lOF1eB-H4NpAaF1yAnU
Compatibility sheet (courtesy of Haste!!): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iGYWo_ifr_p2uYpD_I6TwBQS2tm7zJtPCxYZfRJcG8I
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V

Prarie
NY
Point of No Return caps

more generic celtic vgm that's also much better and less generic than stay gold. for a bunch of it, this one feels pretty mozell... there's no mozell this year dammit

I'm sorry KCF, but no

Very clearly Asano but at least it's pretty tasteful here. Still, the main thought that goes through my head while listening is how much better Ayesha music is. So much distinct character, especially compared to Asano songs which generally mainly have the character "Asano". In regards to Shallie battles, Sweep 3 is definitely the way to go

The beginning is heavy but not fast or exciting to get my blood pumping. The DS Kirby synth part is nice yet also fails to really get me going. It isn't until the obvious Namiki part a minute in that I'm really drawn to the song, and even then, there's something kind of holding it back... On relistens I like it somewhat more. Close match between two songs that should be something I like more

I don't love Eschatos music, for reasons, unlike the last two songs, I can't discern at all. I don't have any issues with it at all! It just doesn't blow me away, even though I like Ginga Force a good deal

ok


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Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN
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Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Not feeling well today, no long writeup (although Match 1 and 3 both are too close for comfort for me)


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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

if the results of other close matches with songs i particularly enjoy are any indication, goodbye way of the monk. It was nice listening to you

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Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
Way of the MonkaS

im voting against prarie4 this sucks

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Prairie4
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

I don't mind atmospheric music entries here generally, and I found Narrowsky Finale enjoyable enough, but that's a lot of aimlessness.

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Narrowsky
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN

Narrowsky is the most "7/10 its comfy" song ever. It was a nice and relaxing listen.

POINT OF NO RETURN [8.5]
Way of the Monk [8]
Stella -Part 2- [8]
Narrowsky [7]
Battle Field "N.Y. Central" [6]
Prarie4 [5.5]

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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100% Orange Juice - Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Stella -Part 2-
Eschatos - POINT OF NO RETURN
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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone) (6.7^ - 53rd place) / Narrowsky - Finale (7.8v - 30rd place)
Stella -Part 2- (9.2 - 10th place) / Battle Field "N.Y. central" (9.1^ - 11th place)
POINT OF NO RETURN (7.5^ - 37th place) / Way of the Monk (6.6 - 56th place)

Evil second match. I'm a traitor for going against my nom x_x. I love the girly-ness of Stella! But the FM synth rock-type stuff with planing fourth-based harmonies,etc. (lol I'm trying to learn from you Toxtricity, though I may be technically wrong, it's more like the fourth intervals within the chord are planing, but not 100% the entire chord) with is too much for me to vote against it....


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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN

Narrow
Stella
Return

I have a hard time saying how I feel about music at times given how long it has been since I was trained in things like musical composition and history and just never kept up with it. I'm sure that there's an actual term/genre for this, but I consider Narrowsky among the best of what I like to call active atmospheric songs, which is probably my favorite kind of VGM. Those are songs that are constantly engaging and shifting/evolving but are pleasant at their core and allow me to just soak it in and let my mind wander. I would rate this a 10/10 right along side other songs I would classify as such and got into VGMC like Nano Bytes and Blue Desert Hotel.
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Oh, and thank you to everyone who supported Narrowsky to get it into the contest in the first place. I didn't think it would be possible.
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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Prairie is p. solid. Narrowsky does not need to be that long. It's over 9 minutes and I've already forgotten it...

Stella is okay. There are better Atelier musics, though honestly I'm not a huge fan of Atelier musics in general (a lot of it falls into the "good" area quality-wise). I like the quieter parts of NY Central, but not the louder parts.

Augh I hate the instruments in PoNR. Way of the Monk is pleasant to listen to.

Stella -Part 2- > Battle Field "N.Y. central" > Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone) > Way of the Monk > Narrowsky - Finale > POINT OF NO RETURN
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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Third match is a really tragic pairing.

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Prairie4
Stella2
Point0

yeah.
the fact that this anime girl sans game isn't a shmup is shocking
yasui. Way of the Monk is actually really good but there is absolutely no way it could take this. Unfortunate placement here.

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Three close matches.
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Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

well i've disrespected prairie a bit before now. for what it's worth, it's fairly even with stella to me, which i also like, and definitely way better than stay gold... but, it's still probably only like a top 25 song in oj to me, so there's still that. Also narrowsky is a fun journey. an odd one that never manages to immerse me, but still the kind of thing I definitely enjoy from start to finish. tight match. i hope Alicianrone (the game) comes out eventually! (coming up on 10 years in development hell soon...)

stella sure is an asano. nyc sure is a namiki (despite not even being in a (black rock) shmup)

it's difficult to really get into ponr off the back of namiki but... well, it's still pretty good and i don't really want to be unfair towards it. way of the monk is right on the cusp of being something i'm fairly into but some minor things just hold it back

17.Battle Field "N.Y. central"
45.Stella -Part 2-
49.POINT OF NO RETURN
54.Prairie4
61.Narrowsky - Finale
89.Way of the Monk

might move these around a bit down the line, not totally satisfied with these positions. having said that, yes the contradiction in the first match is deliberate. while i'd give prairie a small edge in general, it being so much shorter than narrowsky works against it here

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

I sure regret skimming through the WoW song when it came up so late into noms! I usually can't get into the triple-A cinematic/orchestral game soundtracks (I don't even like most LoL songs), but distinctive melodic lines and solo instruments like in Way of the Monk are exactly what they need to reel me in! I picked Undying Shores as my daily song two days ago, which takes a distinctly different style but has the same appeal where I feel completely immersed in a world of ADVENTURE and INTRIGUE

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InnerSpace - Narrowsky - Finale
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Stella -Part 2-
Eschatos - POINT OF NO RETURN

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Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
Way of the Monk

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

N.Y. central is getting stuck in my head, send help

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

Round 1 was pretty straightforward. Celtic banger vs a long, meandering track that doesn't really go anywhere. I want to like Narrowsky since it does some cool things, but it just doesn't generate much interest for me. Sorry.

Round 2 was also fairly simple. I like Asano's electronic music since he's a pretty good producer, but this particular track just sounds generic. His cheesy melodies are fine but they need to be carried by more interesting arrangement choices, and while there was an attempt at that (looking at you, accordion) the track was pretty safe overall. NY feels like 90s arcade music in the best way possible, fun song.

Yousuke Yasui gang vs okay song

POINT OF NO RETURN
a

Narrowsky - Finale
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

I do not think Narrowsky justified its length
Stella might actually be a bit too happy for me, also its opponent is cool
"yasui" - unknown VGMC voter (Way of the Monk wasn't bad though)

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN
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InnerSpace - Narrowsky - Finale
BlackRock Shooter: The Game - Battle Field "N.Y. central"
Eschatos - POINT OF NO RETURN
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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Finale
Rock Shooter: The Game - Battle Field "N.Y. central"
OF NO RETURN Composer: Yousuke Yasui

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Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
Way of the Monk

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

Oh hi Prairie4. Y'know, I'm still a bit iffy on having these be VGMC-eligible, but hey it's a song I love. This isn't the specific Prairie song I would've chosen for VGMC (that would be Prairie3, which is also legal now), but this whole set comprises my favorite stuff from PeriTune! Very Atelier-esque set of songs!

Narrowsky has this weird sound that, I dunno, it just irks me somehow. It's that very specific type of indie music that I don't like, which maybe wouldn't be so bad, if this wasn't 9 minutes long. I forgot which I said was my easiest R1 match a while back, but this one takes it now.

at this point just bring back the suite

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Wow, this is the most Hayato Asano thing I have ever heard. This sounds very "Blue Reflection", but as I have said before, his style works a lot better for the Atelier soundtracks (I am not too big of a fan of the Blue Reflection OST, but this is good). Neato acoustic guitar.

Whoah cool electronic music, really digging the way the FM synths are mixed into this. Starts out all chill, then just goes HAM with the groovy cybersynths.

I LOVE MANABU NAMIKI

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I LOVE YOUSUKE YASUI

POINT OF NO RETURN (caps) is actually my favorite Yasui piece, found this one originally through Rainwave and decided to check out some of his other stuff. I love that there are still composers out there working in this specific type of FM synth!!

Way of the Monk reminds me of that song off of the Kung Fu Panda soundtrack that GavsEvans123 nominated for my ranking topic (actually this isn't bad)

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

Narrowsky - Finale
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN

Prairie4
Stella 2
Point of No Return

m3 is close. thats all i gotta say.
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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

-(i've been a big fan of this composer (sei_peridot, PeriTune, many other names) for a pretty long time, probably since like 2012, long before anyone else here knew her (HIPSTER glasses MOtion object). When i first discovered her stuff none of it was used in games that i was aware of, but i always thought "this is extremely 'board 8 vgm' music" and wished it could somehow be eligible for these contests (at the time, this meant hoping she would actually compose for a game, rather than making stock music, but hey! not complaining that this is here now!). Her stuff is regularly very "world", in a way that lines up with many things that are popular here. well-produced, wide range of energy, just cool sounds, mystical. this track isn't quite the most top tier for me among her stuff but i'm still definitely a fan
~~~~~
I love the single choir chord this starts out with hahaha. DORIAN MODE jrpg celtic-esque zone is so good for me. the modulation leading into :38 is so goooood. lots of "powerful chord changes" to my HEART in the whole song really, basically every time there's a key change, and some sections are all totally just changing the tonal center every bar even! That's that thing i like!! I just think it feels really cool and good!! :58 with the really prominent fretless bass is so FU(chrono cross)N. the energy of this is actually very similar to Unknown Pollution to my brain, rhythmically just very similar--jumpy but not in a way that is "funky" nor in a way that's odd time or anything. just like rapid paced erratic 4/4.
~~~~~
my favorite track by sei_peridot still remains this one: https://soundcloud.com/sei_peridot/maclir
(which i highly recommend to anyone here who likes Ar tonelico or anything similar in sound)
~~~~~
another thing of note: i rank Dear Dragon above this song, and feel bad that matches worked out to where i'm voting for this one but had to vote against that one barely. both great songs from VERY DIFFERENT composers that make cool music that i like a lot for very different reasons...)-

-[i want to like narrowsky, but it just feels far too frustratingly amateur to me to get over. both in terms of production (that guitar patch especially is...i really really don't like it) and composition (it's basically like "random notes in a major scale", which somehow feels more 'amateur' to me than something more dissonant like literally "crazy bus"). of course "amateur" is a dumb descriptor that doesn't mean any specific sound, and its not like i automatically dislike things that feel amateur to me. but when i dislike amateur-ness is when an aspect of that involves something i find impairs my enjoyment of the track, and this is a case of that...all over the place. but negativity is boring
~~~~~
WHAT DO I LIKE HERE? well i actually really like a lot of KCF's description about it, and it actually defines what i might say my "favorite kind of vgm" is too, stuff that has like an atmospheric sound at its core, but shifts/evolves. that whole "complexity when focusing on in but able to fade to the background if i choose" zone, i like that. it's not demanding my attention, but i can give it my attention and hear cool things if i want to. There's definitely cases where i focused in a bit and heard "cool things", particularly one part with a sorta polymetric 5/16 against 4/4 rhythm stood out (whether or not it was intentional: this song is designed in such a way where i feel like it's deliberate that there are NON-deliberate patterns that you will hear, like seeing figures in clouds, PAREIDOLIA, which is neat). This is very "minimalist" and i always act like i like things that are like that...there's probably some random John Adams piece that's like "place these 8 chimes that are all notes in a major scale and then some random-feeling semi-mathematical pattern determines the ones that get played" that sounds like this. even though i have complaints about some of the sound choices in this, the more synth-y ones are cool. I guess what i have to say is: this is the type of song i like---so i wish i liked this, but i have to rank this low for too many reasons. honestly hope it wins even though i dislike it and it won't]-

-{i wish this match wasn't as easy for me as it was}-

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-(Hayato Asano!?!??! the JACOB "JUSTIN BEIBER" COLLIER of gust??!! this song is too happy!! oh no!!! i like it!!!!!! One thing atelier music often does (and not specific to any single composer, which i find pretty interesting) is these hard-to-follow rhythm patterns. Yanagawa and Asano and Yano ALL do this, a lot, even when a song is just "4/4" the accents are all super weird to make it sound like it's not, and i'm curious where that trait originated, because it's clearly on purpose and the composers imitating each other, but i'm not sure the first instance is (i first noticed it in YELLOW ZONE from totori, but it has to have been done before that). every chord on the strings is thick and that feels nice : ) this song is so happy!!!!!
~~~~~
I have a pretty strong memory of when i listened through Shallie for the first time and was actually kinda disappointed at the time. I liked it way less consistently than the previous atelier soundtracks i had gone through, but i saved about 5 songs, and this was one of them. (Correction, loooking back at the playlist of "atelier shallie songs i liked": 8 songs, which was still pretty low for me compared to previous atelier games at the time) very happy it was chosen out of all the picks it could've been! I think 2014 me considered nominating this one, showing up 7 years too late!!!)-

-[i'm a pretty big manabu namiki fan~! this sound is pretty in-your-face "manabu namiki archtype" that i love. breathy 90s fake choir patch at :34 that i love so much...he likes to use that a lot. I think that's one thing about him, he's not afraid to take timbres from older synths, and put them in something produced in a much more modern (and very futuristic) way. all the FM synth all over this is a great example of that too. the pitch envelopes at the start of a lot of these chords is really cool, upward pitch bends as part of the start of a sound are GOOD. everything is so reverby and echoy to just the right extent to make it feel like the year 2958. to paraphrase Haste2 "chord planing fourths-based harmonies probably" yeah i like that sound because it sound slike inside a computer like megaman battle network or TRON (1982)]-

-{i wish this match was easier!!!! (actually the choice is really easy i just wish i didn't have to vote against a song i want to succeed)}-

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[continued...]
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[...continued]

-(i have such mixed opinions on this composer. i REALLY like yasui's "sound", he picks instruments i think are cool usually--i also think his individual harmonies are always really cool (which certainly play into the his "sound". 'really big and full feeling FM stuff'. but I can not stand his actual composition 75%+ of the time (mainly a problem with his melodic choices and chord movements coming across as painfully cheesy to me, i literally wince at half of his stuff, i could point out all the endless bits i dislike here but i dont wanna get too negative). Yasui stuff for me is trying to dig for the songs that don't do anything i dislike. unfortunately most of then do something i dislike, Massive X is one of the only songs in this game to not! ironically common criticisms of that track are probably exactly why it's one of the few i don't have an issue with, it's super simple and repetitive so there's less room for him to try these things i find too "cheesy" which are all over his other tracks. anyways this is not massive x : ( sorry! i really wish i liked yasui, and i LOVE him when it's a song i like. this is less frustrating a track to me than some, but certainly not quite a hit with me, so close to being so, but it just happens to do things that instantly drop it down 60 notches for me. really wish i didn't have this problem tbh, i really want to like him more often, he's soooo close to being amazing to me. My favorite parts of this song are the lushness of the chords as they get held out, and how they feel like cool CLOUDS (or stars) ARE UNDER YOU as they're held out, like it feels like "it should be music to a shmup" in the best way. The chords (clouds) are under you, but the energy (space ship and lazer beams) sits above that, you're soaring and fighting and it's ACTION and WONDER OF THE LONELY EXPANSE OF SPACE/SKY at the same time. What i just described actually might be a lot of why i so consistently like the sound of shmup music to the point i consider it my favorite genre for game music, what it's just meant to evoke lends itself really well to a sound i want to be hearing. i would say this stuff applies more to the manabu namiki song but that is not a shmup despite how much it wants to make you think it's a shmup.....)-

-[love the instrumentation on this one. is this going to be a "i like aaa western vgm way more than most of b8" match? yeah of course. ironically most of why i like it is because it reminds me of weird or artsy japanese (or literally traditional japanese-esque) soundtracks i like though hahha, reminds me of my favorite bits of Muramasa and Okami songs!!! maybe that comparison is shallow but it is true!!! (and spoilers for later but muramasa is uhhh. very high ranked in my list of favorite game osts at this point) i can get irritated with certain forms of heavyhanded simplicity, but this case of it feels cool. it feels reminiscent of big PANDAS FIGHTING WITH WEAPONS IN the mountains in fake romanticized ancient oriental zone, these really really forceful on-the-beat melodies are fitting with that, especially once the percussion loudens itself. creates a very specific type of fantasy world i can get immersed in pretty well and strongly enjoy]-

-{i wish this match wasn't as easy for me as it was. though this is the only match today where i'm actually rooting for the song i am voting for lol}-

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Stella -Part 2- (21st/118)
Battle Field "N.Y. central" (49th/118)
Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone) (50th/118)
Way of the Monk (68th/118)
POINT OF NO RETURN (102nd/118)
Narrowsky - Finale (114th/118)
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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone) (64th) vs Narrowsky - Finale (229th)
Stella -Part 2- (26th) vs Battle Field "N.Y. central" (147th)
POINT OF NO RETURN (6th) vs Way of the Monk (249th)

mozell (fake)
asano
yasui

today is my day wtf (sorrRY NAMIKI))

Narrowsky - Finale
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN

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