For anyone who cares, there are a generous 13 samples up for Nobuo Uematsu's upcoming Anata o Yurusanai Original Soundtrack on Dog Ear's web site:

http://www.dogearrecords.com/anatawo-yurusanai/

It's mostly all jazz, fusion type stuff, which is not something you usually see from Uematsu.  Might just have to pick this one up.  Track four, "Swift Twist" anyone?

P.S. I won't forgive you if you don't check out these samples.

-Mike

The thing is, Uematsu did not compose everything for this game. I quote Dog Ear Records official blog:

"The musical producer of all the tunes which you can listen in the videogame is Nobuo Uematsu. In addition to the tunes composed by Nobuo Uematsu, many other tunes composed by the other great composers from Dog Ear Records will give a story a deep impression and give story more thrill."

Right you are.  I updated the VGMdb page with all the info and scans.  Looks like he composed the two vocal songs and a few instrumental tracks but everything was arranged by other people.  Oh well.  So far it's a good CD though, about half way through listening to it.  Very jazzy!

http://www.vgmdb.net/db/albums.php?id=5343

-Mike

I thought the release date was December 19?  I thought that's when it shipped.

Yup, doesn't ship til tomorrow.

-Mike

Cheater! 

Umm, "Anata o Yurusanai" would mean...?

Interesting samples; the vinyl record effect is definitely a nice touch, and I like the lounge-jazz singer style.

Reminds me of the first Shadow Hearts, along with Persona 3.

Anata wo Yurusanai means "I do not forgive you."

Ahh, thanks.

Irritates me when titles are presented in Romanized Japanese.

It's kind of like, okay, you put it into the Roman alphabet, now why not just go the extra half-step and put it in English?!

It was hard trying to track down "It's a Wonderful World" until I found it retailers listed it under the title Subarashiki...something-or-other.

Sorry, pet peeve of mine.

Thanks again!

AGREED. Romanized Japanese is SUCH a pain in the butt. It assumes you understand Japanese ... but if you DO know Japanese, why not just post it IN Japanese, correct characters and all? It's so stupid.

That, by the way, is why titles in the RPGFan Soundtracks section will almost ALWAYS avoid romanized Japanese. The only exceptions are ones that are well-known (and sometimes ADVERTISED) in their romanized JP form (such as Shin Megami Tensei or Seiken Densetsu).

Also, Subarashiki Kono Sekai is what you were looking for. These are actually fun and easy words to learn. "Subarashi" = wonderful (think "Subaru," the star constellation that means great/big). "Sekai" = world (it's a commonly used Japanese word, particularly for gamers, so it's good to know). Then the "Kono" (This) and the modifying "ki" at the end of Subarashi are what's used to adapt the game's title into "It's a Wonderful World." Fun lesson.

But still a pain in the ass.

Ramza

Probably because "Subarashiki Kono Sekai" IS the official title? And as far as I can tell, "It's a Wonderful World" is simply the English subtitle to the game and apparently isn't even the title that's going to be used for the game's English release due to copyright concerns.

And in the other case, "Anata o Yurusenai" IS the title of the game. There is no official title in English.

"Subarashiki Kono Sekai" is not the official title.

"すばらしきこのせかい" is the official title.

(Bernhardt was complaining about romanized Japanese, ne?)

Romanized Japanese is a pain in the ass is all he was saying, and I agree. Also, you spelled Yurusanai wrong.

Romanized Japanese is useful so you can at least pronounce the title of something without knowing how to read Japanese characters.  You don't need to know what it translates to in order to be able to at least say it.

I guess ... but if you're willing to take the time to romanize, how much harder is it to take the next step and put together a suitable translation?

Yeah, but the way Japanese<-->English works, you'd end up with about 35 different things each title could be, then.  I don't really have a big problem at all with romanized Japanese for titles.  Why not force people to say the English for Das Boot or Y tu mamá también?

Yeah. Unlike soundtrack's tracklists which ever hardly get officially translated, not a few games have a solid chance of being localized. As such, it's no wonder some people prefer to use romanized Japanese titles until the games are localized, rather than fan-translated temporary ones which can vary from translator to translator. It's entirely a matter of preference, though.

I a bit doubt an English title of Anata Wo Yurusanai will literally be "I won't forgive you" if it's ever localized.

Yes, exactly my main point. Ramza, I'm kind of surprised at your stance on this -- I'm sure that in your experience, you've come across various translations for the same VGM title. Granted that there are different systems of romanization, and we're inherently at a disadvantage because, well, we don't use Japanese characters, but still, what's the best way to deal with that? It's not like one person's translations are the end-all to them -- it's simply the one you choose to use.

Eh, well, sue me if you're gonna be picky about romanization vs. translation and then jump on me about one little typo. *shrug*

You missed my point. I PICK OUT the typo because it proves my point: Romanizations are NOT very helpful. It's not natural for an English-speaker to know how to spell out a Romanized name. you mis-spell it, and suddenly you can't use this romanized version of the name to find anything (like searching on google, etc) because you typed "Yurusenai" instead of "Yurusanai."

As far as variants of fan-based translations go, to me it's not a big issue. One, it tells you what the title REALLY is (so you can understand it). Second, the variations are minor, so you can generally tell that you're talking about the same game. Of course, no "one" fan-based translation is more right than the other. But many times, a dominant name will stick, and we'll roll with it.

Easy example: Agarest Senki. "Record of Agarest War." Basically, we model the translation after "Record of Lodoss War." One could also do "Chronicle of the Agarest War," but generally, people have not done so.

If "Anata o Yurusanai" comes to the US (which I sort of doubt), of course it won't be "I Won't Forgive You." It might be "Unforgiven" or something like that, or they might just throw on some completely different name. But I'd rather know what the heck I'm talking about when I reference "Anata o Yurusanai," wouldn't you?

That's all I'm saying. And I side with Bernhardt because he's a good dude. Sometimes.

Ramza

Ok... I'm not particularly following this logic.  It's a proper name.  Why does it have to mean anything other than what it is?  For example, your name is Ramza.  That has no meaning to me whatsoever, but I know you as Ramza, so I can attach what I know about you to that name even though the name itself means nothing.  Should I translate your name to "Guy Who Likes RPGs?"

^ This.  I don't see how typos of all things justify TRANSLATE IT TO ENGLISH or LEARN TO READ JAPANESE as better than leaving it in a foreign language but in a character set we can read.  If somebody types Remza, that's pretty much just them slipping on the keyboard and not an excuse to write your name always as ラムザ or change it as XLord007 said.

Actually, you're the one with faulty logic (at least for your example). Ramza means *nothing* in *any* language. Correct? Correct. All because "Anata o Yurusanai" is a title, doesn't mean it is LACKING meaning. It clearly HAS a meaning, and I would think people interested in the game would want to refer to it by its meaning. Forgive me! (your reply: "I will not forgive you," or "anata o yurusanai")

Again, going back to my example of "Agarest Senki." No one is trying to *translate* the word "Agarest." It's a part of the title, but it's also a name without any apparent meaning. So no, it makes no sense to call me "Guy Who Likes RPGs." That's not a translation, that's a description.

I understand why Romanized Japanese is considered helpful for titles, but I still say that a TRANSLATED title is better. Of course, it's best to have *both.*

Ramza

I dunno.  I guess for me I just prefer things originally written in foreign languages to be left as intact as possible.  Then again, I also have a tendency to want to get on soap boxes about how Americans in particular think the world should revolve around them and everything ever should be in English.  Maybe, just maybe, someone seeing the title of a game, movie, album, etc. that they like in a foreign language might spur them to investigate a little deeper and possibly become slightly more cultured.  But that's just me.  Oh look, I got on a soap box anyway.  Oops!

Also, Ramza, why not use the official English title for FFTA2 in your last soundtrack update? This is not "The Sealed Grimoire" but "Grimoire of the Rift". Actually, "The Sealed Grimoire" is a wrong translation, since "fuuketsu" (封穴) means something like "the sealed cave" or "the sealed hole". They decided to use the word "rift" instead, though... but this is the official name.

I hadn't seen the officially announced English title. Now that you bring it up, I will change it as such.

EDIT - um... where did you read that it was officially announced as "Grimoire of the Rift" in English? Can you so me such a thing? Wikipedia isn't official, of course.

Ramza

Oh, yes, just take a look at Luso's description in "dramatis personae" on http://na.square-enix.com/fftactics/

Well, that does it for me. Nice find, thank you!

I'm sorry Ramza, but I have another thing to say, concerning your Drakengard 2 review this time: you say "a number of Aihara and Saso's songs were ported to this game". Be careful, it is not (Ayako?) Saso, but (Nobuyoshi) Sano! Also, I don't remember hearing any music ported from the original Drakengard, except the song. What Takayuki Aihara and Masashi Yano wrote for the dialogue scenes is completely new. "Hitori" does not come from the first game, it is a completely new song by Mika Nakamura, which is featured on the Japanese original soundtrack. For the American and European versions of the game, they replaced it with a new arrangement of the song "tsukiru" (renamed "Growing Wings" in English) from the first Drakengard, arranged by Masashi Yano. (Plus, I don't think Ubisoft has anything to do with the decision to record an English version of "Growing Wings", they only published the game Square Enix gave them.) Well, this is a bit complicated, so I hope everything is clear...

I do have multiple email addresses that I check regularly. This is the sort of thing I'd appreciate getting an email about.

Thank you for the corrections, I'll go make them now.

WELL, since we're still talking about Romanized Japanese...I often times notice that the individuals that use Romanized Japanese are Japanophiles...

People who especially attend my local university's anime club are Japanophiles in particular, and rather flaunt their self-taught knowledge of Japanese language and culture to an extent that is both obnoxious and possibly deceptive (in other words, a quick check of any actual encyclopedia will prove them wrong, seeing as how they like to make up random junk).

As has been pointed out, Shin Megami Tensei and Seiken Densetsu are perfectly usable names, but that's because the Romanized names keep the different sequels in succession, as opposed to the multiple different names that're used in English, i.e. Children of Mana, Dawn of Mana, Heroes of Mana, Secret of Mana, Sword of Mana, etc.

Otherwise, I like to know what it means in English. I HAVEN'T met a person yet who DOESN'T ask what the crap a phrase means when it's presented in Romanized Japanese.

I am sorry, next time (if there is one) I'll send you an email.