RAELLY?! Well, I've yet to listen to it on headphones, but as far as I'm concerned, that's a live sax (or oboe) on "Sunset Afternoons." The synth sounds just as good as say, Samurai Legend Musashi (I'm comparing it to that alot, aren't I?) and the themes, if only those related to Twilight Town, I found emotionally gripping, especially "Kairi," Missing You," and "Roxas" (Disc 01, Tracks 10, 11, and 13, respectively). Other than that, "Passion" is one damn ethereal, enchanting vocal piece!

P.S. Shimomura had awexome battle pieces in Legend of Mana, agreed. It's great that some of them were remixed for Dawn of Mana.

I haven't heard KH2, but I always liked "The Deep End" from KH1.  Parasite Eve still has her best battle themes though.  The standard battle theme gets a bit repetitive on its own, but it works well in the game.  Then again, I think much of Shimomura's music has a certain repetitive quality to it.  It's something I've come to accept as a tradeoff for the fact that much of her music is also instantly accessible and enjoyable.

As far as the Kikuta versus Shimomura debate...I tend to side with Shimomura myself.  I like Kikuta but he hasn't really put out a wholly compelling score for me, except for perhaps SD2.  I wish they could assign him to something epic like a Final Fantasy game.  Then maybe we'd hear some good stuff again.  SD3 was a bit too bouncy even though I mostly enjoy it. (yeah, SMRPG is lighthearted, but it also has a boatload of memorable melodies; SD3 is fewer and far in-between with that by comparison)  As for Soukaigi, the sound quality is nice, but it kind of feels like a collection of unrelated tracks.  It could be because I haven't played the game, but I think it's probably more than that, as I've been hooked by other scores without having played the games.

I'm finding it hard to believe that some people just can't get into Soukaigi.  If it wasn't for this forum, I would have never found it in the first place!  If I had to place my ballot for Kikuta vs. Shimomua, it'd have to be Kikuta, but only slightly.  If the Kingdom Hearts music wasn't such of a let down, then Shimomura might have taken it.