Soundtrack/Commentary/Profane Deity

**Spoiler Warning**This page contains spoilers for the main story of Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. Proceed carefully.

## Profane Deity

The theme of the 34th installment of the "Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin" music commentary is the song for the final boss battle, "Profane Deity". If you've read this far, you probably don't care about spoilers anymore, but I'm going to mention the direction of the final boss battle in particular, so if you're going to play this game, I recommend that you view it after you've played it.

Sakuna has finally reached the deepest part of the Abyssal Remnants. What awaited her there was an evil god who had absorbed the power of the Tree of Creation and become the "Great Evil Dragon". Sakuna releases the power of the Divine Raiment and begins the decisive battle with all her might, using the bonds she has cultivated along the way as her strength. In order to express the excitement of the climax in the music as well, I put a lot of effort into creating the music to convey the overwhelming presence and passion of the characters.

As it was a last boss battle, the specifications were not finalized until late in the development stage, so the song was created relatively late, in January of 2018. In the case of this song in particular, there was a request for the song to be applied not simply to the battle scene, but also to the conversation and direction scene that precedes it, so we began production after receiving the storyboard - so, in effect, I can say that I am making two songs for the event scene plus the battle scene.

Here is a part of the storyboard. The text is too small to see, but it shows the direction and dialogue for each scene, and even specifies the seconds.

The BGM for the final boss battle begins with the scene where Sakuna throws up her robe and is enveloped in a dazzling light. The fast movement of the strings at the beginning creates a sense of divinity and exuberance, and the tempo is slowed down to create a sense of gravity in the next scene where Sakuna makes her speech. The melody of the shakuhachi is the center of the strings, brass, and guitar, and it adds to the excitement so that the decisive lines can be decided in a cool way. At the height of the excitement, the sound disappears, leaving only the guitar, and then the thick bass brass rings out, and the Evil Dragon God enters a battle stance - and then the song moves into the battle scene.

This sequence of events is something that the development team was very particular about, not to mention the music, so I hope you'll take a look at the final boss battle after learning about this sequence.

After the battle, the two-bass drums, bass, and guitars create a fierce rhythm, and the shamisen (three-stringed Japanese banjo) adds to the rhythm to create a Japanese metal-like tune. The strings slowly raise the scale one note at a time, as if to emphasize the importance of the song, and the tension builds up to the point where there is no turning back. The melody is a corruption of the first theme of the Yanato Planting Song.

(See the attached MIDI, 40\_mizuchi1.mid, in the article.)

After repeating the theme with the addition of the brass, the whistle and strings move to the B-melody, where the whistle and strings play a mysterious phrase, with a break characterized by the rhythm of "da-da, da-da-da". The drums and bass reduce the number of hands to slow down the tension, but after the brass is added, the song accelerates again to the chorus. In the chorus, shakuhachi and koto play a Japanese melody, and in the second half, flute and brass come in with the second theme of the Yanato Planting Song. The song reaches its climax with intensity, and then loops back to the intro.

(See the attached MIDI, 40\_mizuchi2.mid, in the article.)

It is as rich and layered a song as "Winding Roots"; as with the last two songs in the long story of "Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin," I put a lot of effort into creating a grand and profound impression. Along with the innovative rice-planting action game system and the touching scenario in which the hedonistic Sakuna grows up to be a great person - I hope that the music that accompanied the story will leave a long-lasting impression.

Next time, I will introduce the cutscene song "Peace Restored", which will put you at ease.