Hitoshi Sakimoto, Shinji Hosoe, and Ayako Saso walk into a dating sim and somehow deliver one of the most emotionally textured scores of 2002. Sakimoto's "Opening" has that warm, stately brass he does so well, but it's Saso's contributions that really hold this together.
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"Castle Town" floats with this gentle, lived-in warmth, while "Ecstasy" and "Premonition" swing between tender and uneasy in ways you don't expect from the genre. Hosoe's "Lunar Eclipse" drops a darker electronic edge that cuts right through.
Then "National Funeral" brings all three composers together for something genuinely devastating. The tonal range here is wild. If you like Sakimoto's orchestral work but want something more intimate, this is your next obsession.