Music Song: "The Frozen Mountains" from the Switzerland chapter in the RPG Sailor Moon: Another Story or "Village of Glacier, Kainess" excerpt from track Searching for Crystals CD: Sailor Moon: Another Story Music Collection Sailor Moon: Another Story was an RPG, or roleplaying game, that was released for the Super Famicom in 1995. Unfortunately, it was never released in English, but fans have put together an unofficial translation. Though the battle system can get frustrating at times, the story is very charming, and it's a Sailor Moon RPG! If you haven't played it already, you should definitely check it out. Although the song is the theme of the Switzerland area, this recommendation will focus on its usage in Chapter 2. In Chapter 2, the Sailor Soldiers have to recover the Four Kings' "Hi" or "Light" stones. The four Inner Soldiers split up and go to the different countries the Hi stones are located in. Sailor Mercury's mission is to travel to Switzerland to find Zoisite's Hi stone. She's suddenly ambushed by a large number of monsters, and is unable to fight them off, falling to Kainess Village below. She is discovered and rescued by Hans, who seems to love, or at least admire Sailor Mercury, despite being dismissive of her battle capabilities. The song itself, while conveying tranquility and peace, seems to harbor a little bit of sadness as well, which is perfect for someone like Ami. She's often the voice of reason within the Sailor Team, balancing out the other Soldiers' personalities Makoto can also be quite calm and reasonable at times, although she can fall into Usagi and Minako's mischief or her own anger - but she is also very reserved, very unsure of her abilities, easily embarrassed, and quite tentative about matters of love. Her social life also suffers due to her intense studying to stay on top of the class and passing their high school entrance exams.
For being a song from a Super Famicom game, the bass tone is very impressive, its richness providing depth to the melodies. On top of the bass is haunting violin-like synth, and arpeggiated metal chimes/bells - which can get grating at times, although they don't detract from the track too much. The bass and violin persist to eventually create very pleasing intertwining melodies, although it does take a while to get there. Their contrast compliments each other very well, the bass playing happy notes underneath the melancholy violin.
The song itself, while conveying tranquility and peace, seems to harbor a little bit of sadness as well, which is perfect for someone like Ami. Sailor Moon: Another Story has an official soundtrack, and it gives the game version a facelift with a wider variety of instruments than the original format would allow. You can listen to both versions on the Lunacy Tumblr. Honestly, this song is one of the reasons why Sailor Mercury's sub-chapter is my favorite during Chapter 2.
Listen to this song online at the Lunacy Magazine Tumblr; check the #Music Recommendations tag for every song we feature! http://lunacymagazine.tumblr.com/tagged/Music-Recommendations