Marl Kingdom Puppet Princess -Love Song Played by an Angel- Musical Booklet

	Album Title: Marl Kingdom Puppet Princess -Love Song Played by an Angel- Musical Booklet
	Record Label: Nippon Ichi Software
	Catalog No.: R01VG-DS001
	Release Date: August 7, 2008
	Purchase: Buy Used Copy

Overview

Marl Kingdom: The Adventure of the Puppet Princess, known in the West as Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure was an RPG released by Nippon Ichi in 1998. Ten years later, the game was remade for the DS under the new title Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom: Love Song Played by an Angel. The score remained largely unchanged, but Tenpei Sato still changed some of the instrumental samples and remastered the recordings. Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom – The Musical Booklet was a pre-order bonus that features 13 vocal themes from the revamped score.

Body

The vocal themes present on this soundtrack are largely successful, tuneful, and very accomplished. The vocalist for the game’s main character Cornet, Kaoru Fujino, shows us her more frivolous and bubbly side in the opening track, “One Day, We Will Meet”, with sporadic appearances by Ms. Maria Kawamura as Cornet’s spunky puppet friend Kururu. The accordion introduction places us in the midst of one of the most cheerful songs on the score; the kawaii tone of the vocals nicely complements the catchy, carefree melody and the associated scene, where Cornet sings about how one day, she will find her prince. Paired with some seemingly out-of-place choral vocals, this song proves to be a spectacular opener, which perfectly puts the listener right into the world of Marl and into the shoes of the innocent, cherubic protagonist. The tracks were delightful in their original themes and they sound even better with the new touches for the DS.

Kaoru Fujino donates her vocal talent to four other songs, with and without vocal accompaniment. “Let Us Walk ~ Contest Version”, also featuring Yuri Amano, showcases the more emotional and serious side of her voice. Both women sound just as good in this song as the vocals in the first, and the composition itself is wonderfully emotive and wistful without sounding too saccharine or sappy. The alternate version of this song, “Let Us Walk ~ Cherie’s Love”, sung by Maria Kawamura, uses a music box opening to add a nice innocuous tone; the remastered guitar and strings undercurrent sounds splendorous in conjunction with Kawamura’s light, soft yet very impressive voice. Ms. Fujino and Ms. Kawamura once again perform together in the track “True Courage”, a track which symbolizes two particular characters’ closeness in the story. The gentle, sweeping harmonies of the melody really tug at your heart, whether you’re a schoolgirl or not. The joining of the vocals sounds appropriate, and is fairly emotional in the context of the game.

Kaoru Fujino’s final appearance on the soundtrack is as a soloist in the final song, “Thank You”, naturally the song that’s sung at the culmination of the game. Overall it’s extremely fitting and effective; the thankful and adorable (that’s right I said it) vocals really immerse you in the song. By far the longest piece on the score, it surprisingly doesn’t lose your interest even slightly; the melody can be described as nothing but thoughtful and affectionate, and the impeccability of the vocals really helps tie a bow on a present that any listener would be delighted to receive. The only song which features the voice of Cornet’s charming prince is “A World Made Just for Us”, where Fujino-san and Toshiyuki Morikawa combine their vocals to create a potentially sublime love ballad, with just the right amount of emphasis on bombastic instrumentation and touching melodic developments. Unfortunately the performance ends up sounding comedic in a sense, because Mr. Morikawa isn’t a very talented singer. The song would have been marvelous if he weren’t in it, but as it stands, it’s the only song which failed to impress me.

There are two songs left which don’t contain the voice work of any previously mentioned artist; with the help of a multitude of singers and an immense amount of talent, we’re given two of the most colourful tracks on the entire score. “Petals of Evil” is the song of the game’s antagonist, Marjoly, and her many underlings. This is about as fun as a villain theme can get, with a sublime and vivacious vocal performance from Michie Tomizawa. The vocalists of her lackeys (sadly her cat underlings don’t make an appearance… you heard me) also meld into the song like butter into a cake mix (and this isn’t as bizarre as it sounds… there’s an attack called “Cake” in the game!). It’s awfully short, but this song is so ebullient and has such an attitude, you can’t help but love it. Now we get to the silliest track on the score, “Castle of Frog Kingdom”, the song used when you’re welcomed into the kingdom… of the frogs. This is undoubtedly the catchiest track on the score (you’re going to have it stuck in your head for days) and the tropical, safari-like instrumentation just adds to the track’s appeal. I don’t care what anybody says — this song is awesome!

Summary

Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom – The Musical Booklet provides a limited insight into the musical score for Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom: Love Song Played by an Angel. After all, it focuses on the vocal aspect of the original score and omits many often accomplished instrumental tracks. Nevertheless, the majority of the vocal tracks are great, particularly the opener “One Day We Will Meet” or the guilty pleasure that is “Castle of Frog Kingdom”, thanks to their polished compositions, charismatic performances, and remastered recordings. This album is a great pre-order bonus, but I’d recommend purchasing the full soundtrack from the PlayStation game to hear the full range of Tenpei Sato’s offerings for this game.

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