Soundtrack Saturday: Danganronpa

In this weekly feature, I recommend game soundtracks. I share a few of my favorite tracks, talk about why everyone should listen to the soundtrack, and a little bit about the composer. This week's choice is Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc by Spike Chunsoft.

THE STATS

Name: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Developer: Spike
Publisher: Spike Chunsoft
Release Date: November 25, 2010
Genres: Adventure, visual novel
Composer(s): Masafumi Takada

MY FAVORITE TRACKS

(The titles link to YouTube videos... and I highly recommend some good headphones to best enjoy all of the subtle elements of the music!)


M.T.B.
(Length: 1:48) Something about this track makes me think of some of the tracks made for the PS4 Amplitude game. It's got a laidback beat to it, but a never-resolving repetition of melodic track.

Welcome to Despair Academy
(Length: 2:58) I'm always a sucker for sad or mysterious sounding tracks. Sets a good mood. Well, not good, but you know what I mean.

Discussion -Heat Up-
(Length: 4:13) This one has the party/rave beat. I can exercise to this. Something about the part at 0:49 reminds me of breaks in the music of the anime series Soul Eater when the fights got super intense. (That's a compliment. I love Soul Eater.)

Beautiful Dead
(Length: 5:36) This reminds me so much of something, and I can't put my finger on it. If I remember before this entry goes live, I'll be sure to update this. AUGH. It's on the tip of my tongue. In any case, I enjoy anything with this kind of chillhop groove and piano.

Saisei
(Length: 5:03) Defnitely nails the "end of the game" sound. Easily an anime ending piece, too. No idea what the words are. If I liked it more, I'd look it up. But I don't think I will.

You can listen to the full soundtrack on YouTube: 

DANGANRONPA: Official OST

WHY I RECOMMEND IT

This game soundtrack was recommended to me. I think, taking it out of context (listening and having never played the game), it is terrible. I say this mostly because of all the fan comments on the track uploads. People are intense about this game (and usually are when it comes to visual novels, I've found). Sadly, not having the game experience to reference, a lot of the "important" tracks just fell flat for me. I did my best to choose tracks in which I genuinely enjoyed the composition and sound. Overall, the music is too hyper and erratic, or just out there with stylistic sounds that work as a backdrop for something emotive (the plot of the game). Still want to try playing the game(s), despite not feeling drawn in by this soundtrack.

THE COMPOSER: MASAFUMI TAKADA

Sooo... I really don't have much on this composer, folks. He's a Japenese video game music composer who's been active since the mid-90's and has a lengthy roster of works... none of which I know. Best I can say is there's quality composition work in the Danganronpa soundtrack, so the other works are probably quality as well.

Gomen'nasai!