Tester’s Corner: No Thank You Ed. Vol 4

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First of all, let me say that I’m quite honored to have participated in the beta test for No, Thank You!!! since it’s a landmark title for MangaGamer.

As most people reading know by now it’s MangaGamer’s first BL title, and quite a good one at that. As most of my fellow testers who decided to do a corner will probably want to talk about the game I decided to do something… perhaps unique for mine.

I am a big music fanatic, and the moment I started playing the game I fell in love with the soundtrack composed by Ichinoryuu Uehara, so I really would love to talk about it.

It’s an incredible mix of rock, synthpop, vaporwave (more like 90s japanese easy listening, but same thing really), 60s-style jazz and even a bit of electronic music.

The game opens up with “High Humidity”, which usually plays inside Haru’s apartment. It’s a very laid-back tune, with an electric organ lead, some synth, and fairly standard drums that are incredibly pleasing, eventually the bass takes a lead for a small chorus at the end.

Following up immediately after is my personal favorite track in the game–“Summer Streets”, which plays during the majority of the scenes outside. It’s an incredibly saccharine synth driven track which eventually turns into a much darker and deeper, almost ominous synth near the end. Many composers in the 90s would have killed to have such an effective lead in to a darker synth.

Afterwards the game mostly uses relaxing jazzy tracks to ease the player into the game. They’re mostly slow piano driven tracks that are as comforting as they are impressive, occasionally breaking away to have some more upbeat songs to highlight silly or exciting moments, like “Shall We Dance?”, which is an incredibly fast paced funk inspired song that will blow anyone away the first time they hear it.

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Of course the game can also be imposing when it wants to be with tracks like “Tension” and “Shadow Creeping” which are electronic pieces that may not even be that far off from something you’d find in an AAA game like Metal Gear Solid 2. There’s also a special track that takes the cake for instilling massive tension into the listener. With its incredibly loud guitars and the commanding bass lead, it’s almost like a boss battle theme in a JRPG, really.

There’s also the bgm for the parts a lot of people were waiting for–the porn scenes. The track is called “Feverish Breath”, and it’s a synth driven smooth jazz piece that would probably land on the adult contemporary charts if it wasn’t 80 seconds long.

Of course, let’s not forget the title track, “Affection for…” It’s actually one of the better piano pieces in the soundtrack, and it might even make virtuosos in vgm like Hitoshi Sakimoto jealous with how soothing it is.

And last but not least, there’s the OP “No, Thank You!!!” by milktub, which honestly needs no introduction or any attempt at hyping it up. milktub is great and if you’re a MangaGamer regular you know them already.

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Overall, this is probably bar none, the best VN soundtrack ever released. I don’t think any single track in the game can be considered underwhelming or “bad”. In fact, there’s not even a single track I could say I don’t like.

I hope everyone who reads this loves “No, Thank You!!!” and its soundtrack as much as I did, and please don’t forget to buy it so we can get a Hard Copy! Because as is standard practice for MangaGamer the limited edition Hard Copies mirror the japanese releases. NTY’s Limited Edition was the only way to legally obtain the soundtrack. So if you want to own a copy of this fantastic record as well as this amazing game get to it!

-Farlem

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4 Comments

  1. I really love the NTY!!! soundtrack, I’ve been listening to a lot of it on repeat these past few weeks.

    I think it’s worth mentioning both Passion and the track that plays in Ryu’s route as the songe he plays for his sister (which, as far as I’m aware, does not have an official title in english yet). Neither piano solo plays for more than a few lines of dialogue in-game, but they both do so much to paint a picture of Ryu as the character who plays them.

    It’s an attention to detail that I absolutely think raises the overall quality of the game.

    • That piano song is Clair de Lune… a really famous classical piece and a standard for pianists. So it’s not going to be on the soundtrack

  2. >Overall, this is probably bar none, the best VN soundtrack ever released.
    Uuuh, I love NTY and it’s music, but seriously?
    ZIZZ studio and Umineko’s OST come to my mind when I think of best VN soundtracks.

  3. More BL games please! Not enough out there in english!

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