Rise of Mana – OST Previews
Posted on April 20th, 2014 by Kassidy KeareyFiled under Rise of Mana
In a few days the OST for Rise of Mana, the latest mobile installment of the Seiken Densetsu series, will be released. It includes one track from Yoko Shimomura (Legend of Mana, Heroes of Mana), one track from Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3), and a couple from Kenji Ito (Final Fantasy Adventure, Sword of Mana, and more). Most tracks are courtesy of Tsuyoshi Sekito, who contributed to the soundtrack of Dawn of Mana for the PS2.
You can hear some previews of a number of the tracks here.
I have to mention though that one of Itoken’s tracks is a piano arrangement of Rising Sun. Again. Really? Seriously, how many more times?
April 20th, 2014 at 11:33 pm
I’d be scandalized if they released a SD game without Rising Sun, tbh. It’s a staple, and a beautiful one, so I hope the answer to your “how many more times?” is “forever and ever until the Mana series withers and dies” 😀
April 21st, 2014 at 4:29 am
Well for as long as my favorite series continues on with it’s awesome elements, I don’t mind at all~
April 21st, 2014 at 5:27 pm
I’m so glad they got Kikuta to write and record a brand new track for this! But I wish they could have gotten even more tracks out of him. 😀 This new one sounds amazing!
The Shimomura one, though… yikes. Terrible strings sample. It doesn’t match the quality of the rest of the soundtrack at all.
April 21st, 2014 at 5:30 pm
@Sai
I don’t think Kassidy is complaining about “Rising Sun” itself being included (it is, basically, the “main theme” for the Mana series (much as I wish “Angel’s Fear” was) but about the fact that it is represented in exactly the same way once again: a simple piano arrangement. We got an almost identical version in Dawn of Mana. There are SO many different ways to arrange this song, but they keep putting out piano arrangements.
April 22nd, 2014 at 4:09 pm
Well Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Legend of Mana and Heroes of Mana all went out without Rising Sun. 😉
Be that as it may, I agree that Rising Sun is a beautiful piece. My issues is that they don’t go anywhere with it. The height of this theme was the orchestral version in Omoi wa Shirabe ni Nosete by Takayuki Hattori (https://www.seikens.com/soundtracks/seiken-densetsu-let-thoughts-ride-on-knowledge-omoi-wa-shirabe-ni-nosete/). I just don’t feel any innovation in the theme. Even between SD2 and 3, the title theme went through changes while still maintaining the core essence.
I think the original piano arrangement of Rising Sun on the Sword of Mana special edition soundtrack was enough as far as piano versions go. The version on Rise of Mana is rather poor in comparison.