When I decided to pick up some of the Twelve Kingdoms soundtrack albums, I was confused by the different albums available. There was the "standard" soundtrack, there was the "image" soundtrack, as well as two "memory" albums, not to mention the closing theme single and the drama albums. Not knowing exactly what to get, I got four different albums in the hopes that somewhere within would be the great orchestral tracks that I liked when I watched the show.

I realize that most anime fans won't go to the effort of buying everything just to see which are worth it. That is where your friendly neighborhood soundtracks editor comes in. In the words of Jerry Pournelle, "I do these things so you don't have to." Below, you will find reviews of the soundtrack album, the image album, and the memories albums, as well as a comparison among them to determine which albums are a better purchase for the anime fan who can't afford all four.

Of the albums featured here, the Original Animation Soundtrack album is indispensable, and makes an obvious purchase. It includes many excellent pieces of music and is a solid addition to anyone's collection. The Image Soundtrack is not an obvious purchase, especially considering that you can probably pick up both of the Memories albums for the same price.

Speaking of the Memories albums, both of them are optional purchases, but if you happen to like the featured instruments, then either of them makes good sense. They are both good values for the money, even though they are shorter than the other albums. The Piano Memories album shows more variety in the arrangements, but a decision between the two will come down to personal tastes.

The only album that doesn't fare well is the Image Soundtrack, which is the easiest album to avoid due to its lack of coherent theme. However, it does contain the full version of Shihouka, which makes it necessary for me. Still, the album falls into a third tier below the Original Animation Soundtrack and the Memories albums.

Editor's note (04/06/08):

This write up was originally part of a large "Twelve Kingdoms Soundtrack Survey" page, which included reviews for the four soundtracks mentioned above. We have since moved to a new format for music reviews, which ties each review to a specific album. You can view the reviews and album information for all albums that were originally a part of the soundtrack survey at this page.