I Love That Song! by Mike Ibarra

I Love That Song: Let It Roll!

I Love That Song: Let It Roll!

Today's track is "The Moon and The Prince" by Akitaka Tohyama and Kenji Nimura


Just be careful not to be rolled by it.



Katamari Damacy: the game that took the gaming industry by surprise. Nobody knew what the heck it was or what it was about until they got their hands on it. Even now, there are still people that probably do not know what a “Katamari” is.

The game is pretty simple though, despite all the weird and random things you might see and hear about it. All of the stars disappear from the sky, and it's the fault of The King of All Cosmos. So, he asks his son, The Prince, to go to Earth with the help of sticky balls called Katamari, and roll everything in your path to make new stars. It is really quite fun and addicting; you can spend hours playing this game and not notice at all, it does not get old. Of course, the music helps a lot.

The whole soundtrack to Katamari Damacy is probably one of the best in video game history. It won many awards and it is quite critically acclaimed - there is not a single track on the soundtracks that people do not like. Even though most of the songs are sung In Japanese, they still are captivating and really fun to listen to. There are a wide variety of tracks to choose from too - some are upbeat, some are smooth, some are jazzy, and some are more pop-ish. There is a song for every taste.

It was really tough to choose only one song for this article though, since there are masterpieces like "Que Sera Sera," which has a slow yet upbeat mood to it. There is also "A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic," which will remind you of Swing-style songs. "LONELY ROLLING STAR" is absolutely adorable and catchy, and "The Wonderful Star's Walk Is Wonderful" is quite simplistic, since it does not have lyrics, but it captures you in its rhythm. However, if there is a song that truly stands out from the rest, it is "The Moon and The Prince."

This song captures everything that makes the Katamari Damacy soundtrack great and rolls it into one. It has the calmed yet catchy rhythm, something that you would really like to dance to. It has a really unique style to it, which is something that characterizes all the songs in the soundtrack. It is also a pretty simple song. While the lyrics are not understandable, they are really good. Here is a translated portion:

I don't wanna hear any negative talk coming from your mouths!
It may be tough, but we can't stop now!
We'll draw a peaceful vibration in an arc across the sky!
We'll create an object that won't fail to compete with this planet!


The message to this song is "Don’t give up!" which is kind of the motif of the whole soundtrack if you think about. Some parts in the game are really difficult and maybe even frustrating, but the music pretty much inspires you to go on, even if you do not understand what they are saying. "The Moon and The Prince" is the song that truly captures the essence of the whole Katamari Damacy soundtrack. If you have not played any of the Katamari games, you owe to yourself to check them out - each game has their own soundtrack and they are all really great.

That is all for now, please be sure to check out the Requests Thread on the VOG Forums for suggestions and comments on future ILTS articles!

Until next time, keep on rollin’!

Mike “deft” Ibarra is a staff writer for the VOG Network. You can follow him over at Twitter at @act_deft

I Love That Song! by - 7/18/2012 9:37 PM431 views

Comments

Bobby Blackwolf
Bobby Blackwolf
7/18/2012 11:45 PM

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I take personal issue with the following: "It won many awards and it is quite critically acclaimed - there is not a single track on the soundtracks that people do not like." I can name SEVERAL songs on each soundtrack that I absolutely despise, although the first soundtrack has really only one ("Angel Flavor's Present") - it wasn't until later soundtracks when there were multiple cringeworthy songs (I'm looking at you, "Kuru Kuru Rock" and "Blue Orb")
Auspher
Auspher
7/19/2012 5:44 AM

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Yeah, assuming everyone is going to like every single song on a soundtrack is a pretty rough statement to make. You'll always have a critic here and there.
act_deft
act_deft
7/19/2012 11:23 AM

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Well, I may have exaggerated on that, I meant it more as a generalization. But 1 song out of all the whole soundtrack is still pretty damn impressive if you ask me.
Auspher
Auspher
7/18/2012 10:10 PM

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I still remember the mission where I got to roll up the entire world, continents and all...

Good memories.
PodCulture
PodCulture
7/20/2012 9:06 AM

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Ya know...Katamari could use a little CCR. "Rollin' On the River"
act_deft
act_deft
7/20/2012 1:34 PM

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Somebody should make a parody album with songs that contain "Rolling" in their title.
FifthDream
FifthDream
7/22/2012 8:53 PM

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I love (most of) the music on the Katamari soundtracks. A bunch of it, especially from the earliest games, has found its way onto my regularly-played playlist and still pops up all the time. It's really good stuff. (Incidentally, i really like all those songs Blackwolf hates. XD I was mostly annoyed by the big band and classical-sounding songs that showed up on some soundtracks.)
act_deft
act_deft
7/23/2012 1:55 AM

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Different strokes for different folks I guess.
But I think we can all agree that the Katamari OSTs are quite enjoyable for the most part.
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