Overview

The dreamy voice of Ai Kawashima was selected for Shining Force Neo. She wrote and performed two songs for the game, the opener "Despair and Hope" and closer "Angel Descent". Both are exclusively available through her sixth full album.

Body

"Despair and Hope" is an example of a performer's song. It is a rather simple ballad with mildly phrased melodies, soft backing instrumentation, and a continuous structure. It was therefore left to Ai Kawashima to emphasise the emotion of every note and give meaning to each word. She achieves this extremely well, giving the track an extremely personal feel throughout. Such an emphasis is ideal for preparing gamers for the experience ahead and inspires them to do some soul-searching themselves.

The ending theme "Angel Descent" has enjoyed considerably less attention than the opener, partly because of marketing reasons. It was perhaps the wrong idea to make both theme songs for the game slow and emotional, but then again such songs are Kawashima's strength. Regardless, "Angel Descent" works well for closing the game given its more resolved and nostalgic progression.

As seems to be obligatory in most singles these days, there are also karaoke renditions of both songs. Naturally, most will want to skip these. Strictly dedicated to Shining Force Neo, there are no other exclusives on this release.

Summary

For those that enjoy soft songs and beautiful voices, this single is decent value. Kawashima is certainly a talented songwriter and singer, even if her music tends to be quite typical. Note that these songs aren't available through the game's official soundtrack release.