Persona 3 FES Original Soundtrack
| Persona 3 FES Original Soundtrack | |
| ペルソナ3 フェス オリジナル・サウンドトラック | |
| |
| Publisher(s) | Aniplex |
| Tracks | 17 |
| Length | 57:04 |
| Release | CD  Japan May 2, 2007iTunes Japan May 1, 2013Streaming
WWWorldwide January 5, 2021 |
| Catalog Number | SVWC-7464 |
Persona 3 FES Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2007 game Persona 3 FES, featuring new music composed by Shoji Meguro and arrangements done by Meguro and Kenichi Tsuchiya. The physical album released in Japan on May 2, 2007, and was later released worldwide on digital streaming services in January 2021.
Production
The Persona 3 FES Original Soundtrack was composed primarily by Shoji Meguro, with an additional arrangement by composed by Kenichi Tsuchiya.[1]
The music maintains the musical style of Persona 3, featuring new compositions and arrangements of tracks from Megami Ibunroku Persona and the Persona 2 duology. Meguro was largely given complete creative freedom, with director Katsura Hashino's only requesting that the opening, "P3 Fes," sounds "like a festival."[1] The ending theme, "Brand New Days," is featured across the album as a recurring motif, first appearing in "Brand New Days -Beginning-" as the game's title screen backing track. It then reappears in the melody of "3/31," and again in the chorus of "Darkness" before making its full debut as the last track of the album. Motifs introduced in the main story of Persona 3 appear as well, with the melody of "Burn My Dread" playing in "Seal" during Aigis' monologue, and “P3 Fes” incorporating the chorus of Persona 3’s credits theme "Memories of You." Like in Persona 3, the dungeon's music continually builds up layer by layer as the floors progress, and all seven of the variations of the dungeon theme were collected into a single 10 minute track, "The Abyss of Time."
"Blind Alley," whose opening melody is designed to bring to mind the A-melody from "Burn My Dread," is included as the fifth track on the album despite not being used anywhere in-game. The song was originally composed early in development as the theme for the Iwatodai Dorm when playing the new story. As the game's development progressed, the developers agreed that it didn't quite fit the worldview, and it was scrapped near the end of development and replaced with "Living With Determination -Iwatodai Dorm Arrangement-" from the third semester of the main story; since it was removed so close to the release date Meguro didnt have time to update his comment about the song inside of the album's liner notes, and the track commentary still refers to the song's usage.[2]
Yumi Kawamura and Lotus Juice return as vocalists, sticking to the sound originally established in Persona 3. An arrangement of the original game's battle theme, "Mass Destruction," was produced for FES and features an altered intro and guitar riff and a new verse written and performed by Lotus Juice. The credits theme "Brand New Days" was given Japanese lyrics written by the game's scenario writer Yuichiro Tanaka. The lyrics were written specifically to convey a different tone from the original game's credits theme; While "Memories of You" reflects a bittersweet sense of closure to reflect the ending of the original game, "Brand New Days" was created to evoke the hope and excitement of starting a new chapter.[1] The final chorus section uses the same melody as the opening theme of "P3 Fes," and Meguro specifically requested that Tanaka write the lyrics to match the melody.
Release
The 17 song Original Soundtrack was announced in March 2007[3] and released on a single disc in May 2007, published by Aniplex. Alongside the discs, the soundtrack came with a 30 page booklet containing liner notes, track commentary, and lyrics for the vocal tracks. The first print edition of the album came with a Special Jacket with a clear card featuring artwork of Psyche and a disc with full color artwork; later prints removed the clear card and changed the disc art to be entirely red and clear.[4]
A ringtone version of the album was released on the Japanese service RecoChoku soon after the CD in 2007,[3] and later became available for purchase on iTunes in Japan on May 1, 2013.[5][6] The soundtrack was eventually released on digital streaming services worldwide in January 2021.[7]
Reception
The soundtrack ranked 3rd for Amazon's "Animation and Game" soundtrack category in 2007.[8] It peaked on the Oricon charts at 23rd, and stayed within the top 300 for 7 weeks.[9] Critical reception is difficult to gauge due to the game featuring music from both this and the Persona 3 Original Soundtrack, though audiences generally praise the vocal tracks featured in the soundtrack.
Multiple popularity polls have been held for the game's songs in the years since its release. During the lead up to Persona Music Fes 2013 a general Persona series music poll was held, where "Brand New Days" ranked in 8th place.[10] A later poll was held in 2015, with results announced during the "News Flash! Persona Channel 2015" live stream where Atlus revealed the top 25 Persona series songs voted on by fans; "Heartful Cry" ranked in 6th and "Brand New Days" ranked 13th as the only two FES songs on the list.[11]
Tracklist
Since the album was never released in English, translated track titles are adapted from the Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis Original Soundtrack.
| No. | Track title (Japanese) | Track title (English) | Composer | Arranger | Lyricist | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | P3 fes | P3 fes | Shoji Meguro | — | Shigeo Komori, Yoshihiro Komori, Lotus Juice | 1:29 |
| 02 | Brand New days -はじまり- | Brand New days -The Beginning- | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 1:45 |
| 03 | Opening Act | Opening Act | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 1:03 |
| 04 | 3/31 | 3/31 | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 2:35 |
| 05 | Blind Alley | Blind Alley | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 2:43 |
| 06 | 時の狭間 | The Abyss of Time | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 10:35 |
| 07 | Mass Destruction -P3fes version- | Mass Destruction -P3fes version- | Shoji Meguro | — | Lotus Juice | 3:14 |
| 08 | 雪の女王 | Snow Queen's Theme | Kenichi Tsuchiya | Kenichi Tsuchiya | — | 4:00 |
| 09 | 舞耶・テーマ | Maya's Theme | Kenichi Tsuchiya | Shoji Meguro | — | 2:53 |
| 10 | 扉の間 | Desert of Doors | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 2:12 |
| 11 | それぞれの過去 | Glimpse of the Past | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 2:22 |
| 12 | Heartful Cry | Heartful Cry | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 4:01 |
| 13 | ペルソナ | Persona | Shoji Meguro | Shoji Meguro | — | 3:39 |
| 14 | 時間城 | Time Castle | Toshiko Tasaki | Shoji Meguro | — | 3:28 |
| 15 | 封印 | Seal | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 2:00 |
| 16 | 闇 | Darkness | Shoji Meguro | — | — | 3:15 |
| 17 | Brand New Days | Brand New Days | Shoji Meguro | — | Yuichiro Tanaka | 5:50 |
Arrangements
- "Snow Queen's Theme" - arrangement of "Snow Queen" from Megami Ibunroku Persona Original Soundtrack & Arrange Album
- "Persona" - arrangement of "Persona" from Megami Ibunroku Persona Original Soundtrack & Arrange Album
- "Maya's Theme" - arrangement of "Maya's Theme" from Persona 2: Innocent Sin Original Soundtracks
- "Time Castle" - arrangement of "Time Castle" from Persona 2: Innocent Sin Original Soundtracks
Personnel
| Position | Member |
|---|---|
| Sound Director | Shoji Meguro Kenichi Tsuchiya  Track 8
|
| Lyrics | Shigeo Komori Yoshihiro Komori Lotus Juice Yuichiro Tanaka |
| Vocals | Yumi KawamuraTracks 1, 7, 17 Lotus Juice Tracks 1, 7
|
|}
| Position | Member |
|---|---|
| Mastering Engineer | Hidekazu Sakai (SMC) at Sony Music Studios Tokyo |
|}
| Position | Member |
|---|---|
| Production Coordinator | Junichi Mori |
| A&R Producer | Kazuki Adachi (ANIPLEX) |
| Designer | Yasunori Takeda (SMC) |
| Promoter | Yosuke Uda Ryoichi Sugiura (ANIPLEX) Rie Kaneko (ANIPLEX) |
| Package Coordinator | Chiho Sugiyama (SMC) Mina Mitsui (ANIPLEX) Yukiko Matsunaga (ANIPLEX) |
|}
Gallery
-
Back Cover
-
Color disc for the first print -
Monochrome disc for subsequent prints
See Also
- Persona 3 Original Soundtrack - The soundtrack to Persona 3
- Persona 3 Portable Original Soundtrack - The soundtrack to Persona 3 Portable
- Persona 3 Reload Original Soundtrack - The soundtrack to Persona 3 Reload
- Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis Original Soundtrack - The soundtrack to Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis: The Answer
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Album liner notes and track commentary
- ↑ Shoji Meguro, Aniplex Blog. Published May 8, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2025. playlog.jp.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Aniplex, Aniplex Persona 3 News. Archived: [1]. Published 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2025. aniplex.co.jp.
- ↑ 「ペルソナ3フェス」オリジナル・サウンドトラック . Retrieved March 18, 2025. sonymusicshop.jp.
- ↑ iTunes Store
- ↑ "2013/05/01 【ATLUS MUSIC】ペルソナ３フェス オリジナル・サウンドトラック が公開されました。" Translation: "2013/05/01 [ATLUS MUSIC] The Persona 3 FES original soundtrack has been released." Atlus, Atlus Net. Published May 1, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2025. Atlus Net.
- ↑ PersonaCentral, Persona Series and Catherine Soundtracks Releasing on Spotify and Apple Music on January 5, 2021 (Update). Published January 4, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2025. personacentral.
- ↑ Shoji Meguro, Meguro's Hobby Diary Vol. . Published January 9, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2025. AtlusNet.
- ↑ Oricon Listing
- ↑ Famitsu, ペルソナライブ終演直後のアトラス・目黒将司氏を直撃！ 期待膨らむお答えが……!!【PERSONA MUSIC FES 2013～in日本武道館】. Published August 15, 2008. Retrieved March 17, 2025. Famitsu.com.
- ↑ Fans vote for top Persona songs and Persona 4 Golden characters . Published February 4 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2025. gematsu.com.