Has anyone spotted 海神記 ('sea god chronicles') [NSLCD-0003], at all? Last I heard it was supposed to be released at C71.

Its nice to hear Kikuta's name. I was a big fan of Secret of Mana and miss his musical contributions to the video game industry. I will be interested to see how Kikuta has progressed musically. I hear he has been working on hentai soundtracks since then...

Interesting, Seanne. Thanks for the tidbit we can keep our eyes open for....

●海神記 ※コミケ71で販売。通販未定。 2006/12/31 NSLCD-0003
Sea God Chronicle, Sold at Comike 71. Mail Order Undecided.

Better Late than Never...
here's a link to Kaijinki (NSLCD-0003)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/a2lnme

Thanks a million, Carl. New Kikuta material is ALWAYS welcomed, especially since it's been so few and far between the last several years. I'll check it out as soon as I get home.

Alphabet planet

So is this a solo work, or a soundtrack?

Will be sold at C72, and from the little I read about it it seems like it's an original solo work, though taken the VGM way.

Awesome news! Hopefully the Amazon.co.jp orders get fulfilled, as I just placed the preorder for it through that URL link from GMR.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/ALPHABET-PLA...6041869&sr=1-1

Those previous Kikuta cd-bok albums on amazon sold out FAST with no additional stock available, so I hope I can at least get this one....
(2-cds, yummm....)

Wow, great news, and only a month away as well!

Carl: just noticed the link to Kaijinki. If I can assume it is in any way Kikuta-related, would you mind re-upping it somewhere?

Just ordered my Alphabet Planet! Can't wait! :D

Argh, I'm in the same boat... I wandered over here from the STC thread and kicked myself when I saw the upload had expired. *big puppy eyes at Carl*

Here's an updated link, and Shylph deserves the credit for finding this one, I only reposted the URL.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/4dutvu

Much appreciated, thanks! :D The song is gorgeous.

Carl, Shylph, Thanks a lot :D

Downloaded this two days ago but totally forgot my manners: thanks! :)

VGMWorld will stock Alphabet Planet after the release date. So no need to worry if you can't order it from amazon.

Well, that's good news. Although now I kinda wish I'd ordered through VGMWorld instead of Amazon.co.jp, since I'd rather support Kahori. Oh well, she can be the backup plan.

My copy looks like it's about to ship from AmazonJP. I'm looking forward to hearing what Kikuta has cooked up for us this time. I enjoyed Lost Files, personally.

Well, I received my copy earlier today and I'm just starting to check it out. So far, I have to say that I'm really enjoying it. I wasn't a huge fan of Lost Files, but Alphabet Planet is impressive. If I get a chance, I'll share my overall impressions once I've finished the whole thing.

Any chance that this will be released somewhere (#gamemp3s, #gamemusic, etc.)?

I've ordered this soundtrack from VGMusic/CocoeBiz. For two discs of Hiroki Kikuta the price seems reasonable. Here is the link to the item:

http://www.vgmworld.com/catalog/inde...&item_num=1259

Alphabet Planet was just released by gamemp3s, guys!: http://www.gamemp3s.net/

objection, lol

Anyway, I received my copy of Alphabet Planet today and... I'm not exactly impressed. :/

I honestly barely made it through the first disc (and actually had to skip most of the earsplitting "Uriah Heep", track 9); it's almost entirely made up of sugary sweet "town"-ish themes, which I don't mind in small doses or when they're done well, but this just felt like getting hammered with 17 tracks of brainless gee-whiz happiness. Clearly Mr. Kikuta is at a place in his life where he's feeling really good about things, and that's great, but I wish he'd dial it down a notch when he steps over to the keyboard. Coaster.

The second disc thankfully does steer away from Happy Happy Land a little, but I'm still not hearing anything particularly memorable or impressive here. This frustrates me, because I felt like Kikuta's style had really evolved and matured by the time Soukaigi and Koudelka came around, but this just feels like a huge step backwards for him.

I was willing to excuse some of Lost Files' unevenness, because it was made clear to us that that was just Kikuta sweeping up whatever was left on the cutting room floor. But Alphabet Planet is supposed to be new, fresh work? Nope. Doesn't cut it. I'll listen to Lost Files ten times (and Soukaigi fifty) before I come back to Alphabet Planet again.

hehe, yeah Vaeran, I did a pretty bad job there on trying to say that I enjoyed it for what it was but it didn't blow me away or anything. I do, however, like Alphabet Planet more. As far as the "Happy Happy Land" style, while I don't mind it, but I do wish he would utilize some of his other strengths as well. It seems like the happy-go-lucky music is all he's doing lately.

Overall, I thought Alphabet Planet was pretty decent. There are some snoozers but also a few winners as well.

Agreed. I did overwait for Alphabet Planet to be released, and i'm really disappointed, really =/.

Listening to the 1st track, i was expecting something memorable, thinking the Guitar sampling wasn't synthetic. However, Kikuta's Works are tending to be a bit "synthetic". I don't bother with Happy Land style, because SoM I/II 's townish pieces were, and still are quite awesome. Honestly, a 2nd HQ-sampling release of SoM tracks would have been way more enjoyable.

EDIT: In contrast, the Ragnarok Online II OST (supplied in the same release pack) is heavenly refreshing. Since the thread is focused on Kikuta works, I won't discuss the album here, lol.

Agreed, the best thing I can think of saying about Alphabet Planet is that the #gamemp3s-release of it was bundled with the RO2 OST. The file names in the torrent made me realize it was composed by Yoko Kanno, which in turn made me get that as well.

Turns out that the RO2 OST is great, whereas Alphabet Planet sounds like... overly happycute synth forgetableness. I guess it sholdn't come as a big suprprise as most of the music he's composed lately seem to fall in that category, but for some reason I had Soukaigi-high hopes for this solorelease. Maybe what Kikuta needs is to get away from the synthsound for a while and compose some music for a live orchestra.