Best Detective Conan OSTs (M1-19)

[k11chi]

Atmosphere is one of the key elements when it comes to fictional stories. It's the collection of great storytelling (usually breather moments are defined as most atmospheric), visual elements, voice acting and, especially for games, TV series / audiofiles and visual novels, most importantly sublime original soundtracks (OST's). Soundtracks can have insert songs in them but unlike openings and endings in TV series and games, soundtracks usually don't have singing inserted into them except for acapella and orchestra singing that kind of try to emulate ambient sounds and instruments to enhance the atmosphere of the track created by the instruments themselves. The reason for that is that the soundtrack is usually in the background of a scene. A sad scene will have a sorrowful background music that won't overtake the scene itself. A tense scene will have a mysterious and creepy track playing. A neutral everyday scene may have a happy or mixed track playing in the background.
One of the best cases of soundtrack use I've seen is in the recent Final Fantasy 7 Remake where the soundtracks are rarely used ever again. Instead, new scenes and fights have their own remixes and versions of these core tracks. It's the type of OST usage that I believe will become the next golden standard for next gen games.

Anyway, back to the main topic. I've been following numerous detective fiction series over the years and there honestly aren't that many that blow my mind. The music artists for some reason usually don't focus on crafting the best soundtracks they can for mystery series, there definitely are often couple of stand-out tracks in a large list of short tunes that are really impossible to remember. But short tunes aren't necessarily a bad thing if directors can fit them to perfect moments. Atmosphere is a stylistic choice and one has to be able to understand cinematographic storytelling and transitioning in order to get a full effect of it. Music is just as important as paneling or framing is in making a story more entertaining and fresh to keep people watching.

There are countless series that manage to pull off atmospheric plots with just dialogue or visual choices when it comes to mystery and detective fiction series, but these are the three series that I can 100% recomment when it comes to peak level atmosphere from soundtracks.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni
The first one that I'll recommend is the visual novel of Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry 3 & 4). Many who have gotten familiar with the series actually don't talk about the story or the case it presents at all (it's an inner circle case), but they focus on the songs that enhance important moments. Umineko absolutely shines with its soundtrack, that can make the otherwise often dragged out scenes feel immersive. The series has eight "episodes" to the visual novels and each episode often contains a slew of different tracks that you can easily grow to love. It's one of the series that made me realize that giving a track a name makes them much better. Especially musicians know how their songs mean more to them once they name important tracks (I've named few that I've tried to create with my digital piano).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd5Vt_qct0s

Last Window: Secret of Cape West
The second one I'll recommend is actually a Nintendo DS game that was presented as a more hard-boiled story - Last Window: Secret of Cape West. Last Window tells the story of an ex-cop living in a rented apartment from which all the residents have to leave soon because of certain circumstances. The game is mostly dealing with seemingly small mysteries and talking with the residents of the apartment, but man does the OST hit all the right marks. It's incredible and gives the boost for the story to come off as great with meaning behind it instead of as boring drama. It's one of my favourite games ever because of the perfect balance of everything put into it to tell the story.
If you need chill songs just to relax to, Last Window is the game you've been waiting to play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyVOfgTlmvs

Detective Conan
And the last recommendation and the point of this post that I've got is the biggest detective fiction anime series many are familiar with but don't actually talk about as much of its soundtracks as people should, and I'm talking about Detective Conan. DC is an interesting case as for the first 271ish episodes it was created using the old cel-shaded animation style which meant that the animators created everything on paper, painted the backgrounds and colors for every frame and then put it all together to create a very distinct product that has certain level of "noise" to it. Nowadays DC is created with digital animation that at its worst can look very flat and poorly put together as they can just slap colors on a frame with a computer and save on character designing, and it took them a while to get used to animating on digital (there are some really good looking episodes especially after 600, of course). Anyway, the animated TV series has episodes like 174, 184, 263 etc. that ooze with atmosphere, but the reason was not just the amazing old school cel-type animation style, but also the soundtrack that is still being remixed to this day.

Detective Conan has a fantastic OST that's been keeping it fresh, and I'm here to list the best most atmospheric tunes the series has presented to us even after the golden age of the first five movies' OSTs. Just to note, Detective Conan gets a new movie every year (in 2021 it's up to movie 24), and the animated TV series's soundtrack uses the movies' original soundtracks in the episodes. In general though the tracks do get worse after the 7th movie album as the amount of tunes goes from 30's to over 70's. Thus the tracks are shorter and shorter and more ambient sounds used for different situations rather than real songs, and thus the quality goes down. There are some good ones in the mix of the later soundtracks tho and I'm going to try and find all of them.
There are 24 movies right now but I'm only talking about all the notable tracks up to the 19th for now as it's harder to find the complete tracks for 20-24:


Best of Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
Track 1) 'Detective Conan Main Theme (Skyscraper Version)' is the bona fide purest remix of the original version of the Detective Conan main theme. It's epic and of course the most iconic soundtrack in the series with dozens of remixes made of it over the years.
Track 2) 'Seal of England' is a very adventurous, semi-calm and anthem-themed tune that you can hear being used a lot when the characters are traveling around and being introduced to the surroundings and the history of the people and places.
Track 3) 'The Time-Bombed Skyscraper' is a tense one. It's a song one would use when the characters go chasing after a mysterious element. The drums keep the track alive until the middle portion brings more heavy instruments to the mix.
Track 4) 'Bomber's Theme' is one of the most famous tracks in the series. It starts with both an epic and ominous feeling to it but it kicks off after a minute and goes in heavy. This track gives me chills how epic it turns into. [EPIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 5) 'Phone Call From the Culprit' is a short 50-second track that's used to set a tense atmosphere with a track that feels that it could also explode, it's ominous but not completely mysterious.
Track 6) 'Bomb Warning' is similar to Track 5 but feels more fresh with the electric piano elements thrown into the mix.
Track 7) 'Bomb Disposal' is a very different song in style from what we usually get from this series. It's a good track for active searching scenes that happen in the city.
Track 8) 'Ran's Theme (Skyscraper Version)' is the chilling outside type of track of this series. It's fun and it's one of the best OSTs in this series and shows us great use of classical instruments. There's a reason why even after 25 years this track never fades away - it's always fresh. I love this theme. It's fantastic. [FUN SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 9) 'The Detective Boys' Theme (Skyscraper Version)' is a pretty classical track that's used with the detective boys investigations, but as it stands itself, it's a really well-crafted piece with great use of instruments from beginning to the end. A very high-quality tune.
Track 10) 'Conspiracy (Skyscraper Version)' is one of THE main investigation tracks in old school DC. A murder happens and it's time to throw down and find the killer, but what could the culprit have used to bypass the locked room...? It's a mysterious track with tensity to it.
Track 11) 'Incoming Crisis' is a basic tense track there's nothing special to it.
Track 12) 'Emergency Orders' is a high-speed song that can be used in investigations that aren't tense. It's a track that leads us to a truth while we are free to investigate as we want. This is a pretty damn good track and is one of those tunes that prove DC has a lot of variety in its presentation.
Track 13) 'Showdown Theme (Skyscraper Version)' is the theme that plays when the culprit is found out or taken down, it's the victory theme of the series.
Track 14) 'The Investigation Begins (Skyscraper Version)' is the more high paced version of Track 12. It's another really good one. It's the Investigate a large area over a longer period of time theme song.
Track 15) 'The Great Detective of the West (Skyscraper Version)' is basically Heiji's theme song. And that's what makes this song so much cooler. It's supposed to be an ominous but at the same time comedic track that can be used as a multitool for many types of situations when it comes to atmospheric storytelling.
Track 16) 'Early Afternoon Angels (Skyscraper Version)' is one of the main relaxing breather songs of the series. It's a great track to transition with and start stories with, just like with Ran's Theme. It's a great track that you can just relax with. This track just jumped in my tier list after listening to the full version. [RELAXING SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 17) 'Memories (Skyscraper Version)' is a story ender type of song that gives me chills. It's romantic with hints of nostalgia and calmness. It signals that our story is over for now but it might continue one day. It gets really good after the one-minute mark.
The use of instruments in the first album is quite something. It's very impressive as I know later on they started putting out more synthesized tracks instead of products like these.


Best of Detective Conan "The Fourteenth Target" Original Soundtrack
Track 3) 'Thoughts of Mother' is an evening life type of song.
Track 4) 'Drinking Wine' is a calm song that's just incredible. It gives me the feel as if I was inside an aquarium where we live our lives day by day. I've always loved this one. It gets better and better the longer you listen to it, the instruments are so well in balance. It brings me the feeling of freshness. [CALM SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 10) 'Conan Passes By' is one of the best investigation tracks in the series. It's simple but gets the job down more effectively than most of its peers. I can already picture Heiji and Conan going over the alibis and possible tricks. [INVESTIGATIVE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 11) & 14) 'The Card Gambler's Boss' & 'The Mystery of the Culprit' is also known as the first Black Organization theme. This is one of the by far most chilling tracks in the series and in anime in general. When this hits the episode, oh boy... My hair is standing from this. I want to cry. [TENSE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 13) 'Bonds', also known as Kizuna, is a calm and relaxing tune that fits many situations especially after a case is over and things start to slowly go back to normal. The electric guitar that joins the song after the halfway mark perfectly represents this track and its place in the story.
Track 15) 'The Next Target!' is a dangerous theme with some adventurous vibe to it - find the caller before anyone else dies.
Track 16) 'Something Happened...' is basically a theme for entering a room as they find a body.
Track 17) 'Trick' is one of the most iconic investigation themes in DC. It has tensity and mysterious elements to it but it also fits active investigation scenes [INVESTIGATIVE THEME OF APPROVAL]
Track 18) & 19) 'Aqua Crystal' is smooooooth. Jazzy. This can be used during investigations, bar/club cases and just setting a nighttime atmosphere in a city setting. [SMOOTH SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 28) 'Investigating the Truth' has a chilly but classic atmosphere to it. It can be used during tense investigations and times of uncertainty with mystery in the mix.
Track 30) 'Ace of Spades' is one of the victory songs in this series. It kicks off in a somewat epic manner and the song goes through multiple styles.
Track 31) 'Frustration' is a masterpiece of calm, somewhat down the mood sad atmosphere. Listening to this one can imagine a cigarette smoke floating in a dark and quiet room. [SORROWFUL SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 32) 'Murderous Intent' is another masterpiece of an investigation theme. Perfectly in balance, as all things should be. [INVESTIGATIVE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
The second album also has lyrical tracks; A's Premonition (Sung By: Iori) and Bonds (Vocal Version) (Sung By: Iori).


Best of Detective Conan "The Last Wizard of the Century" Original Soundtrack
Track 2) 'I'll be there(Sung By: Eri Sugai)' fits this magical atmosphere perfectly as it's a movie about Kaito Kid.
Track 3) 'Traveling Limousine 1' is an interesting high-speed chase kind of song.
Track 4) 'Kaitou Kid Appears' is a chilly, mysterious and magical track. This could be the song for an ancient abandoned city.
Track 5) 'Mission Theme 1 ~ Premonition' is one of the better tens tracks in the series.
Track 6) 'Kaitou Kid's Manifesto 1' is the OG Kaito Kid's theme song. It's very 'cool', has electricity to it.
Track 8) 'Ran's Theme(Last Century Version)' still as perfect as always.
Track 15) 'Mystery of the Old Castle' is very interesting mix of everything.
Track 16) 'Interrogation' is one of my by far favourie songs in the series. It's amazing, perfectly uses the instruments. Mysterious. Uncertain. [INVESTIGATIVE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 19) 'Kaitou Kid Takes Flight' is beautiful but short, very atmospheric.
Track 22) 'Exploration of the Old Castle' is slow and calm until around halfway mark it hits us with a tense change.
Track 23) 'The Basement's Secrets' is calm and high speed at the same time. It's very different from the norm and manages to set an atmosphere. I can see this being used during nighttime scenes in the city of Beika.
Track 24) 'The Old Castle's Theme' is probably the most tense soundtrack in the series. Many fans would remember how well this has been used [TENSE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 25) 'The Sniper's Red Light 2' is also one of the best used tense OST's of this series, familiar from some of the best episodes the series has to offer. [TENSE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 27) 'The Castle Burns' might give many fans CHILLS as it's the instrumental version used with the famous Conan masterpiece song "Ai wa Itsumo". [SORROWFUL SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 28) 'Love is Always (Sung By: Iori)' is a masterpiece. It's sad, it's chilly, it's addicting. Every Conan fan remembers this from the finale of Vermouth Arc's Two Mysteries on a Full Moon Night (EP345) [SORROWFUL SEAL OF APPROVAL]
The 3rd album also has If You're There / Kimi ga Ireba sung by Iori. It's a vocal version of the main theme of the series, and it's fantastic.


Best of Detective Conan "Captured in Her Eyes" Original Soundtrack
Track 1) 'Assassin's Theme - Foreboding Case' is one of those reeeeally tense themes that this series has to offer. [TENSE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 3) 'Tropical Land' is a calm song with electricity to it - the song where you just spend time during the day, learning new things. [CALM SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 5) 'Conan Suite - Captured in Her Eyes' is classical. A very beautifully directed piece. It's almost 10 minutes long as well. Very impressive piece of work that can be used in a dance or something.
Track 6) 'Police Interrogation' this is a sorrowful piece. I can imagine this being used in an Ace Attorney case where Phoenix Wright goes to meet a client that's being framed for their wife's murder.
Track 8) 'Memories of Tropical Land' is calm as heck and very soothing. Atmospheric for sure.
Track 9) 'Assassin's Theme - The Devil's Hand Approaches' is a perfect theme for a dangerous villain. It also sets up a really tense atmosphere.
Track 10) 'Assassin's Theme - Snipin' continuation theme of the assassins themes, very clear sounding and tense.
Track 11) 'Destined Moment' is an epic showdown theme
Track 12) 'Amnesia (Shadow)' is a multipurpose theme that can be used for almost anything - it's a fitting song for Fall season.
Track 13) 'Inspector Megure's Confession' is a great sorrowful track. This classic style that continues with strong higher pitched instruments fits this series perfectly.
Track 14) 'Need not to know.' is familiar from some of the best episodes in the series. It's a build-up track with tension to it but with different style from the usual tracks. Still just as amazing and the way it builds up is great. [TENSION SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 15) 'The Facts (TENMATSU)' is beautiful collection of different styles for an investigation scene. [INVESTIGATION SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 17) 'Amnesia (Light)' is another fantastic multipurpose track for setting up the perfect atmosphere. I could imagine this being used for scenes where the sun starts to come up after a long night.
Track 18) 'Identifying the Suspect' is very odd. It's tense, but the instruments are used very powerfully. I wonder where this could be best used at... It'd probably be very fitting for a situation where the suspect is already known but has to be stopped before he kills everyone.
Track 19) 'Conan, Move Out!' is an adventurous theme for chasing a culprit but still has something more to it. It also has really small hints of the main theme (or maybe it's just me actually).
Track 20) 'Ran's in Danger!' is very tense track, a song made for really close time-limit situations or final stretch moments.
Track 21) 'The Culprit's (Sniper's) Identity' starts amazingly chill and gets tenser and tenser. This is also used in some of the best episodes in the series. It's perfect for setting up atmosphere [MIXMASH SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 22) 'Surprising Truth' is in my TOP 3 OST's in Detective Conan. It's a masterpiece of calm music. Perfectly sets the tone of the scene it's used in without a problem. [CALM SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 23) 'Jet Black Murderous Intent' is ALSO IN MY TOP 3 OST's in DC. It's jazzy and perfect for ominous situations that aren't completely tense. [INVESTIGATIVE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 24) 'Escaping From the Cave' is another track made for close timelimit situations. It's tense but has a bit of heroism to it.
Track 27) 'Their Date' is a track used after the case is over, but it's not completely happy. It has a certain revel of royalty to it as well.


Best of Detective Conan "Countdown to Heaven" Original Soundtrack
Track 6) 'To the Twin Tower Buildings' is a grand adventure type of theme.
Track 11) 'Ran's Elder Sister Style' I LOVE THIS TRACK! It represents the happy days and I kind of think of it as perhaps Kazuha's theme since Ran has her own but it's a very calming everyday music. Fantastic in so many ways. [HAPPY SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 12) 'Investigation Meeting' is a straight banger, I think it sets the modern investigative theme perfectly- it's simple but I could easily see this be used in Ace Attorney trials and stuff like that. This is actually a pretty impressive track for what it is.
Track 13) 'The Suspect Is?' is a very neat ambient noise type of track made to turn situations more tense.
Track 17) 'Ai's Theme A' is a very classical piece of music that is very sorrowful but beautiful. Perfect for Haibara.
Track 28) 'Kogoro's Deduction' is a pretty cool short tense tune. It's not meant to be played for a long time as it's so simple but it can help set the atmosphere.
Track 34) 'Ran's Decision ~ Hose and Fire' is Ran's own sorrowful theme song. This one hits hard, it has that classical aspect to it but with different instruments than Haibara's theme.
Track 36) 'Conan's Intuition' is extremely tense. It can be used in the creepiest situations, worst flashbacks etc, as it has been used. [TENSE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 37) 'A Man's Feelings' is beautiful but only 39 seconds long. Sadface.
Track 39) 'Conan's Decision' is a minute and 11 seconds long track, it's supposed to be sorrowful but my hair are standing. This does what it sets out to do perfectly. [CLASSIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 43) & 48) 'Tactical Action ~ Departing At Last' & 'Tactical Action (Long Version)' is a very heroic track that just hits different. It has high-speed aesthetic to it. Felt like a Spider-Man or some Marvel theme song at parts.
Track 46) 'Heartwarming' is heartwarming. The end of a tough case with a happy end type of song.


Best of Detective Conan "The Phantom of Baker Street" Original Soundtrack
Track 4) 'Game Show' is pretty fantastic. It has epic aspects to it and I can get behind the whole song. This is criminally underused. I didn't know this was this good. [GRAND SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 5) 'The Second and Third Generation Children' has this modern ominosity to it that I could probably find in a Zero Escape soundtrack.
Track 9) 'Thoughts of Father' is calm and short, does what it does well.
Track 10) 'Schindler's Suspense' is a creepy and tense song that's quite long. After around 1 minute 40 seconds mark it starts to kick into gear a bit.
Track 11) 'Crime Scene ~ Conan's Deduction' is tense with some intrigue to it.
Track 12) 'Dying Message' is one of the most classic examples of a simple yet effective tense soundtracks.
Track 14) 'Game Explanation' ominous but intriguing.
Track 19) 'Anxious Expression' works well as an investigation theme in creepy settings. Haven't really heard this being used much.
Track 21) 'Holmes' Room' beautifully classic, calm. [CLASSIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 25) 'Conan's Crisis for All' takes you with it but only for that short minute that it plays. Should've been longer. Much longer.
Track 27) 'The Return of Professor Moriarty' is a calm and cool one.
Track 28) 'Jack the Ripper's Upbringing' has sorrowful elements to it.
Track 29) 'London Night ~The Second Crime Scene' is one of those modern atmosphere setters.
Track 30) 'Moriarty's Announcement' is basically the perfect track for when a creepy letter appears or something. This was also used in Episode 345 perfectly so I have to give it a seal of approval. [TENSE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 31) 'Yusaku's Deduction' is another version of ^ 30 with a new side to it at about halfway mark that sets it apart.
Track 37) 'The Capture of Ran' starts off bland but turns into some cowboy type of track after 20 secs.


Best of Detective Conan "Crossroad in the Ancient Capital" Original Soundtrack
Track 2) 'Yet Another Agasa Quiz' is the first Agasa quiz theme that sounds pretty cool. It has this aesthetic to it that fits the movie.
Track 3) 'Old Man's Mask ~ Showdown 1' starts out atmospherically as hell - it has those classic chinese instruments to it and then the song kicks into high gear but still keeps the core idea of the track. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 4) 'Investigation' is very modern and interesting.
Track 5) 'Heiji's Tour of Kyoto' is a somewhat sorrowful tune but not too much.
Track 6) 'Cherry Blossoms' is short but has that japanese aesthetic to it.
Track 7) 'Shimizu Temple' I really dig these instrumental choices here even though it's very short.
Track 8) 'Kamogawa' is especially done with a completely different instrument from other DC songs so it stands out. It's a somewhat sorrowful theme. Another theme I could see in Ace Attorney.
Track 9) 'The Buddha Statue Was Stolen!!' is good as well. This album goes in because it has that slight variation with the asian instruments. Other than that it's a bit more basic track.
Track 10) 'Bow and Arrow ~ Motorbike Battle' is pretty epic, it's an adventure and a chase. It's also over 3 minute track which helps the case. [ADVENTURE SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 11) 'Picture Deduction 1' is beautiful. Has two different sides to it. We need to hear this more often in the series TMS! [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 12) 'Final Deduction 1' is beautiful and nearly 3 minutes so it stands on its own.
Track 14) 'Kazuha's Feelings' is a sorrowful theme for Kazuha.
Track 17) 'Questions and Answers ~ The Mystery of the Culprit' is calm and long.
Track 18) 'Kogoro's Deduction ~ Chipmunk' is one of the best Conan tracks. The normal version is used in the Ski Slope case (think EP491). Gives me chills. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 23) 'Heiji's Gallant Figure' is an epic song for my boy Heiji. It's a heroic track for him.
Track 24) 'Conan's Kick' is a pretty smooth yet epic theme.
Track 28) 'Recovered Buddha Statue' is nice. It's different from other DC tracks, so I'll rate it higher. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]


Best of Detective Conan "Magician of the Silver Sky" Original Soundtrack
Track 1) 'Midnight Step' sounds like a tense JRPG soundtrack, like from Breath of Fire or so.
Track 2) 'Mystery of the 26 Letters' sets a very calm atmosphere to the situation.
Track 11) 'Kid's Temptation' has some cool aspects to it, it's not that special but it's a Kid song that has ominousity to it.
Track 18) 'Ran's Speculation' has sorrowful classic tune to it.
Track 20) 'Sky Japan 865' starts off slow but gets a lot better. It's a chill tune that's supposed to basically be the theme of the slice of life on an airplane moments.
All the Conan's themes of this album are also great.


Best of Detective Conan "Strategy Above the Depths" Original Soundtrack
Track 5) 'Aphrodite Big Band' is really a song you'd get to listen to in Casino's. Very fitting for a ship case.
Track 7) 'Agasa Quiz '05' is one of my favourite Agasa's quiz themes. It's very calm, you can chill to it.
Track 10) 'Hide-and-Seek' is simple but not bad to set a fun atmosphere.
Track 11) 'Calm Feeling' is as its namesake tells, another tune to chill to. This is a pretty good one.
Track 12) 'Lover Man', yet another decent calm track.
Track 17) 'On Site Investigation '05' is an alright tense tune for investigative periods.
Track 18) 'Investigation Meeting '05 ~ Chase Scene' starts out calm but gets more serious but doesn't overplay it. A pretty good track you'd hear in like Kindaichi vs. Detective Conan on Nintendo DS.
Track 34) 'The Truth of 15 Years Ago' starts off slow but it's one of the better tracks of the album due to how it builds up.
Track 35) 'The Great Detective Mouri Kogoro's Deduction' with its sorrowful tone during the explanation part of the movie really hits even though by itself it's not that great.


Best of Detective Conan "The Private Eyes' Requiem" Original Soundtrack
Track 17) 'Strange Investigation' is decent, pretty normal but I could listen to it.
Track 18) 'Bank Transport Vehicle (Flashback)' does the tense theme close enough.
Track 19) 'Easy Going Parent Kogoro' is a somewhat sorrowful one surprisingly.
Track 20) 'Mystery of the Photograph ~Men Taking Out Guns' is another decent tense tune. Albeit repetitive and monotonous feeling.
Track 32) 'The Mystery Being Unraveled...' is only 32 seconds long but pretty neat.
Track 37) 'The True Evil' is ok.
Track 40) 'Joy' is one of the better ones of this album. It's a fun song.
Pretty much this 10th movie album is the worst one so far easily.


Best of Detective Conan "Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure" Original Soundtrack
Track 3) 'Marina' is a fun song that sets up the atmosphere pretty well.
Track 12) 'Synchronized Words' is different and quite fun to listen to as well.
Track 13) 'What's Happening' is somewhat calm and mysterious soundtrack.
Track 14) 'Break in the Case' is a more tense track.
Track 16) 'Arrested' is a pretty good one but lasts only 45 seconds. It has hints of the original DC soundtrack style to it.
Track 19) 'Captain Megure' because it's a rock song and for Megure..
Track 21) 'Anne & Mary' is a chilly and calm track, one of the best ones from this album.
Track 25) 'Broken' is an okay action theme.
Track 31) 'Like Anne & Mary' is a pretty decent action theme version of Anne&Mary
Track 34) 'The Crisis' is the best soundtrack from this album! This was used during Yusaku's explanation in 491 iirc. Finally some good f'king food! [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 38) 'Follow the Wind' is calm and refreshing.
Track 39) 'At Midtown' is calm and a tune you can chill to.
The last 3 tracks of this album helped elevate it over 10th movie's album.


Best of Detective Conan "Full Score of Fear" Original Soundtrack
- This OST is different from the rest as it uses music from Beethoven, Bach, and orchestra.
Track 1) 'From Sonata for Piano and Cello No. 3 (Beethoven)' is super calming. Perfect for small scenes.
Track 2) 'Ave Maria (Schubert)' has beautiful singing that entrances you.
Track 3) 'From Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor(Bach)' is an interesting tense theme to pick for DC.
Track 4) 'Dolce Sound' has sorrowful elements to it, I really like this one. Too bad it's only 30 seconds long.
Track 5) 'Now Capriccio' has an interesting feel to it, I'm not sure how to explain it. It's kind of a clown song with piano in the BG. Pretty cool.
Track 20) 'From Sonata for Piano and CelloNo. 3 (Beethoven)' is a pretty dance song.
Track 21) 'Dry Elegy' is slow with slight tension to it. It's kind of calming as well.
Track 22) 'Piano and Flute's Amazing Grace' is beautiful. I can imagine it being used in Lord of the Rings almost.
Track 29) 'Ave Maria (Gounod)' is a very powerful song with beautiful singing and instruments.
Track 36) 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (Bach)' also has extremely nice singing and instrument usage but it's also an uplifting song.
Track 38) 'From the Messiah He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd (Handel)' is yet another powerful song with beautiful singing, I absolutely love how many different ones they have.
Track 40) 'My Heart Remains With You' yet again, beautiful singing and instrument usage. I wonder who the singer here is.
Track 41) 'Reiko's Amazing Grace' - I'm sure most know how beautiful Amazing Grace is. I'm surprised they got even that in this album.
Track 46) 'From Chaconne (Vitali)' has beautiful violin usage.
There are quite a few big name artists in this album so I wonder how much it might've costed TMS.


Best of Detective Conan "The Raven Chaser" Original Soundtrack
Track 10) 'The Differently Coloured Post' is 23 seconds long track but had potential to be so much more.
Track 12) 'Grey Zone' is one of the Black Organization theme songs. Tense and mysterious with parts that have sorrowful elements to it.
Track 29) 'Foreboding Darkness' is alright tense theme.
Track 30) 'Melody of the Evening Colours' is kind of neutral.
Track 50) 'Coming From the Wrapping Steam' is one of the more beautiful DC tracks that then transforms into more tense tune.
Track 51) 'Diamond Shaped Feeling' is another sad track.
Track 66) 'Unable to Hide in the Clouds' is another sad track with hints of happiness.


Best of Detective Conan "The Lost Ship in the Sky" Original Soundtrack
Track 9) 'Cloudy' is kind of a mix of romantic and comedic.
Track 18) 'Teatime' is a relaxing OST.
Track 10) 'Beige Suspense' is one of the best tracks since the 7th movie's album. Calm, cool, collected. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 51) 'Gentle Sax' is also a great one. Finally real music. Calming music.
Track 62) 'Purple Ran' is sort of sorrowful and classical.


Best of Detective Conan "Quarter of Silence" Original Soundtrack
Track 21) 'Chichitata' is short, simple but would probably be interesting to watch a scene unfold with this track.
Track 22) 'Dancing Sunlight' is classical. Too bad it's short as well but it's a good one.
Track 26) 'Pure Soul' is a sorrowful track.
Track 32) 'Back Lock' has some heavy metal.
Track 47) 'Kogoro Waltz' is short but sweet.
Track 53) 'Slowly Sinking' is nice for what it is, interesting small instrument use.
Track 64) 'Dancing Truth' has old school DC vibe to it. I really like this one.
Track 71) 'At That Time Transfected Into' is calm and decent length track. Best track on the album it seems.


Best of Detective Conan "The Eleventh Striker" Original Soundtrack
Track 20) 'Counter Board' is a very action heavy track that was used in one episode as Amuro Tooru's theme. It's also fairly long. It's a pretty decent track. You can notice how much worse the OST in general gets after the 7th movie's album as this is the 20th track of this 16th movie album and it's the first decent OST, while the first 7 OST's had almost all tracks worth mentioning.
Track 31) 'Middle Cross' is a good tense tune used for investigation scenes. It's not that long though. (only about a minute long).
Track 35) 'Purple Play' is one of my favourite track of the 16th album. It's a soothing song and I remember the football moment where it was used in the movie.
Track 36) 'Catch the Light ~Insert Song~' is the insert song version of Purple Play. It's been ages in these albums since we had a new insert song and this one is amazing. It's beautiful. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 63) 'Meets Memory' is a pretty sad and beautiful track.
Track 66) 'Mind Offside' is alright for setting up a lightly sorrowful atmosphere.


Best of Detective Conan "Private Eye in the Distant Sea" Original Soundtrack
Track 7) 'Spy Ship' is a nice tense track that builds itself up. It has a slow version of the main theme song as well in it. It's a nice track.
Track 13) 'Kogoros Business Card' is actually a nice little tune for setting up a weird type of atmosphere that's neutral.
Track 15) 'Two-shot 1' is a beautiful feel good tune.
Track 18) 'Gentle Wave 1' is a mysterious but not tense track that sets the atmosphere amazingly, it even has hints of sorrowfulness to it. I actually get chills from this one - it's simple but effective. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 41) 'Childish Confusion' is a good track again when it comes to creating atmosphere that's somewhat mysterious. It's almost worthy of getting a seal of approval from me. Hmm. It's simple but one of the better ones in this album.
Track 65) 'The Aegis Cuts Through the Waves' is quite a high-speed tense soundtrack that could be used as some kind of battle theme song. It's basically the 'Counter Board' (M16) of this album.
Track 67) 'Boundary of the Sea' is a 20 second track but pretty powerful.
Track 75) 'Iris' is one of the most criminal tracks in this series: it's 11 seconds long and it sounds like it could have been an amazing tune. It's the final theme of the 17th movie.


Best of Detective Conan "Sniper from Another Dimension" Original Soundtrack
Track 10) 'You're Not Getting Away!' has some nice feel to it, starts off slow and gets to the chase music with some piano in the background enhancing the otherwise basic track.
Track 16) 'Sniper's Theme' is a pretty damn good soundtrack. It's sorrowful but packs a pretty good punch. One of the best tracks since the 7th movie's album. [SORROWFUL SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 17) 'The Hunter's Blues' is another pretty powerful tune. I can chill to this song but it's also a bit melancholic. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 28) 'Haibara's Quiz' is 19 seconds but effective in setting up a fun atmosphere with some neutral aspects to it.
Track 30) 'Firefly's Light -Auld Lang Syne-' is a beautiful classic piece.
Track 31) 'Information Gathering' lasts only 10 seconds but has this nice vibe to it. These tracks should be much longer.
Track 33) 'The Ultimate Target' sounds like really tense track. This is a pretty good one for what it is.
Track 34) 'Rifle Scope' sounds like a Pokemon Colosseum track.
Track 37) 'The Two Detectives' could be used in some Heiji vs Conan case.
Track 39) 'The Hunter's Psychology' is another atmospheric track similar to the Hunter's Blues and Sniper's Theme. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 47) 'The Great Detective Kogoro' is probably the best Kogoro's theme in the series - and it's criminally short! [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 49) 'Conan Gives His Deduction' is a simple and monotonous but effective deduction theme.
Track 52) 'Down-to-Earth Investigation' is another investigation theme but it has hints of the original themes used in DC's investigations.
Track 69) 'Gymnopedies -1ere Gymnopedies-' is a fantastic classical track to use in this series. [ATMOSPHERIC SEAL OF APPROVAL]
Track 72) 'Behind the Crime' is a bit sorrowful but neat tune. Used mostly for explaining sad motives and stuff.


Best of Detective Conan "Sunflowers of Inferno" Original Soundtrack
Track 1) 'Conan vs Dark Kid' is a decent action theme based on the main theme song.
Track 3) 'Interview' is a happy go lucky tune that works pretty well, it's nowhere near Ran's themes from the originals but it sets the atmosphere well enough.
Track 13) 'Safety Now' is a pretty beautiful short track.
Track 14) 'Iron Tanuki Again' is a decent action track.
Track 44) 'Sunflowers Elegy' is a calm tune that's pretty nice.
Track 52) 'Confess' is a pretty neat confession of guilt theme.
Track 53) 'Conan's Justice' is alright but the background instrument does something very much right.


Also from what I see on M21 OST on YouTube I like as far as setting up the atmosphere:
Ogura Anthology of One Hundred Tanka - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_A8NX4KfYI&t=1m25s
Contest Venue - One of the coolest and weirdest main theme big scene remixes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_A8NX4KfYI&t=46m4s
Inspection of the Twin Leaves - different from the norm and there are two songs for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_A8NX4KfYI&t=20m13s
The Duo that Noticed - this is actually really tense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_A8NX4KfYI&t=24m05s
Time of Harmony - sounds like a Persona 4 soundtrack, I like it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_A8NX4KfYI&t=26m54s
Professor Agasa's Segment - It's quick but I really like this one, hopefully the anime has used it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_A8NX4KfYI&t=27m48s
Shizuka's Inspection - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_A8NX4KfYI&t=29m50s

[Angra Shadow]

Just here to say that I second the Umineko recommendation, a masterpiece of a story with a masterpiece of a soundtrack collection.

Also, thanks for compiling those DC tracks, there are quite a few that I love from the series but I'm not an expert on their names, so having a reference like this is great.

[k11chi]

Just here to say that I second the Umineko recommendation, a masterpiece of a story with a masterpiece of a soundtrack collection.

Also, thanks for compiling those DC tracks, there are quite a few that I love from the series but I'm not an expert on their names, so having a reference like this is great.

There are some unreleased ones or some unknown albums but this is a pretty big compilation of all the main tracks the series uses. I know there are quite a few different versions that haven't been released officially and people have tried to rip them from the episodes. Like these ones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_1ZWsv52zo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylabh783vjk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYcKzUbKzrM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGTqblZCIp0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvtbxIiW1Ng
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V81x2uZDPrY

[DCUniverseAficionado]

Recently discovered the "When they Cry" series, myself—I quickly added them to the list of quality visual/sound novels I've experienced.

The DC OST is excellent, as well—while I do have a preference for the Kodama era (Movies 1–7) tracks (particularly 1-5), the subsequent films have gems that I listen to just as frequently... many of which you pointed out, k11chi, in your thorough summation.
(and speaking of When they Cry, was your username inspired by one of the protagonists of the original installment of the series, Higurashi? Certainly, there's no shortage of anime/manga / visual/light novel characters named Keiichi, but I figured I'd ask if it was a reference to him, specifically)

[k11chi]

Recently discovered the "When they Cry" series, myself—I quickly added them to the list of quality visual/sound novels I've experienced.

The DC OST is excellent, as well—while I do have a preference for the Kodama era (Movies 1–7) tracks (particularly 1-5), the subsequent films have gems that I listen to just as frequently... many of which you pointed out, k11chi, in your thorough summation.
(and speaking of When they Cry, was your username inspired by one of the protagonists of the original installment of the series, Higurashi? Certainly, there's no shortage of anime/manga / visual/light novel characters named Keiichi, but I figured I'd ask if it was a reference to him, specifically)

Songs like Hunter's Blues, and Sniper's theme and gymnopedies definitely hold their own even later on. Though I must say the high quality of opening and ending songs that DC keeps pumping out for the anime and the movies is far ahead of any competition out there. I can't wait to hear what Mai Kuraki has been cooking up for the 1000th episode. Nowadays we also have better recording equipment for songs so the crystal clear cut quality comes through for these songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWY1gXV_1CU&t=11m29s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWY1gXV_1CU&t=50m32s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWY1gXV_1CU&t=13m17s


That's right. Over the past like 15 years I've used variations of this name: Keishin, K11chi, whatever. It comes from Keiichi Maebara + Shinichi Kudo. K1 is kei-ichi and then the another ichi comes from Shinichi. I've always used variations of this name.
Though my fav character is ofc Heiji.

One of the most memorable arcs way back when and the most memorable story arc in When They Cry for me personally was Keiichi's question arc, the third story arc. I loved the rural village theme with the spirited away setting, which has been used in other great japanese mystery stories as well of course.

"Destroy, Smash, Shout, Expose for the Unawakened Feast" is such a powerful line from the motion graphics. I think my 2nd favourite is the 5th one from Umineko, it slaps incredibly hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmiivtMgymg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9BJjNNuOSE


Higurashi Hou opening "Ano Hi E" is my favourite song from the When They Cry franchise. It's incredible, and feels very adventurous and powerful both lyrics and tune wise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVfnfY4GscE

Of course the songs by Shikata Akiko are also very high quality and she knows how to make those rural feeling or sad feeling songs. "Ricordando il Passato" is basically When They Cry's "Suteki Da Ne" from Final Fantasy X. And FFX has my favourite OST out of all the games (though I think FFXIV has tons of incredible tracks, and FF7R has the best use of music in a video game due to like having 10 hours of remixes for every new scene in the series instead of repeating anything almost ever).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlwSPMwAqbM

[DCUniverseAficionado]

Songs like Hunter's Blues, and Sniper's theme and gymnopedies definitely hold their own even later on. Though I must say the high quality of opening and ending songs that DC keeps pumping out for the anime and the movies is far ahead of any competition out there. I can't wait to hear what Mai Kuraki has been cooking up for the 1000th episode. Nowadays we also have better recording equipment for songs so the crystal clear cut quality comes through for these songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWY1gXV_1CU&t=11m29s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWY1gXV_1CU&t=50m32s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWY1gXV_1CU&t=13m17s

That's right. Over the past like 15 years I've used variations of this name: Keishin, K11chi, whatever. It comes from Keiichi Maebara + Shinichi Kudo. K1 is kei-ichi and then the another ichi comes from Shinichi. I've always used variations of this name.
Though my fav character is ofc Heiji.

One of the most memorable arcs way back when and the most memorable story arc in When They Cry for me personally was Keiichi's question arc, the third story arc. I loved the rural village theme with the spirited away setting, which has been used in other great japanese mystery stories as well of course.

"Destroy, Smash, Shout, Expose for the Unawakened Feast" is such a powerful line from the motion graphics. I think my 2nd favourite is the 5th one from Umineko, it slaps incredibly hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmiivtMgymg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9BJjNNuOSE

Higurashi Hou opening "Ano Hi E" is my favourite song from the When They Cry franchise. It's incredible, and feels very adventurous and powerful both lyrics and tune wise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVfnfY4GscE

Of course the songs by Shikata Akiko are also very high quality and she knows how to make those rural feeling or sad feeling songs. "Ricordando il Passato" is basically When They Cry's "Suteki Da Ne" from Final Fantasy X. And FFX has my favourite OST out of all the games (though I think FFXIV has tons of incredible tracks, and FF7R has the best use of music in a video game due to like having 10 hours of remixes for every new scene in the series instead of repeating anything almost ever).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlwSPMwAqbM

Yeah, the OPs, EDs and Movie themes have remained pretty consistent, in terms of quality—and after decades, that's quite a testament.
I regularly listen to the past 7 movie themes (18–24), and I regularly listen to roughly the same number of old OPs/EDs (for instance, 1–3, 9–11) as I do the new OPs/EDs (for instance, 35–37, 46–48).

And Ooshi is voiced by Megure's VA—maybe it was coincidence, but I do wonder how much, if at all, Ryukishi read/watched DC.

Yeah, that third arc was really tough to watch with how invested I was.

And I really like the Higurashi OPs and EDs, too.
I wish the visual novel OPs had more of a budget, though—pair those songs with studio-quality animation, and they'd be right up there with the anime OPs and EDs.

Ooh, Final Fantasy—yep, that's another series' OST I'm all for. The OSTs of I-V, IX, XI–XV I thought were underrated/under-appreciated, and the OSTs of VI–VIII and X have earned their spot as classics (if Square remakes more than VII, I can't wait to hear the redone OST of other installments with how good I found VII Remake's to be).

[k11chi]

Yeah, the OPs, EDs and Movie themes have remained pretty consistent, in terms of quality—and after decades, that's quite a testament.
I regularly listen to the past 7 movie themes (18–24), and I regularly listen to roughly the same number of old OPs/EDs (for instance, 1–3, 9–11) as I do the new OPs/EDs (for instance, 35–37, 46–48).

And Ooshi is voiced by Megure's VA—maybe it was coincidence, but I do wonder how much, if at all, Ryukishi read/watched DC.

Yeah, that third arc was really tough to watch with how invested I was.

And I really like the Higurashi OPs and EDs, too.
I wish the visual novel OPs had more of a budget, though—pair those songs with studio-quality animation, and they'd be right up there with the anime OPs and EDs.

Ooh, Final Fantasy—yep, that's another series' OST I'm all for. The OSTs of I-V, IX, XI–XV I thought were underrated/under-appreciated, and the OSTs of VI–VIII and X have earned their spot as classics (if Square remakes more than VII, I can't wait to hear the redone OST of other installments with how good I found VII Remake's to be).

The movies shine especially with how many different kinds of songs there are. They haven't shared any similarities in years and yet all are incredibly high quality. M24 just continues the tradition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F3jIIDCfM8

Anyone who lives in Japan, or hell practically anywhere at this point, and focuses on detective fiction will have read or watched DC. It doesn't matter who it is at this point honestly. Its influence on the new orthodox detective fiction is so immense. There's this new mystery manga series called Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective by Katekyo Hitman Reborn artist and it takes quite a few familiar story beats from DC that many others before it also have. I knew it'd also introduce a villain organisation, and it did. Sadly the manga volume 1 seems to be ranked #44 in shoseki sales on first day which is just bad. No one really talks about the series. It has its charms and great artwork.
There's also another mystery series called "i tell c" which is like inverse Ron Kamonohashi, except honestly it seems much worse, but for some reason it has way more people interested just because the detective is a yandere. I don't think that series has any potential atm, but we'll see I guess...

I think FFXV had a really, really high quality OST but it's still not my favourite since the darker tracks aren't really hitting. I'd say some of its soundtracks are actually masterpiece level in how impactful they are in setting the atmosphere just by playing and running around. It's so sad what happened to the game. I enjoyed the first portion, but the scriptwriters clearly only had bullet points for the rest of the story arcs planned out, but we never got to go through the actual fleshed out story arcs. Just go to water city, then suddenly a train arc, then jungle, then ice, whatever, it was disaster. But what can you do.

Valse di Fantastica - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvwIR4Xq0os
Hammerhead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaCRJBS1PQ4
Galdin Quay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAKZUce26ao
Listen Up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-VtJrVnJSE
Wanderlust - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsuqUdfF2QQ
Somnus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJF3JDK7PL0
Safe Haven - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io6yUdkuOOI
Crystalline Chill - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxqI1Q_KX_E
Relax and Reflect - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEvCpPxWctU

[DCUniverseAficionado]

I think FFXV had a really, really high quality OST but it's still not my favourite since the darker tracks aren't really hitting. I'd say some of its soundtracks are actually masterpiece level in how impactful they are in setting the atmosphere just by playing and running around. It's so sad what happened to the game. I enjoyed the first portion, but the scriptwriters clearly only had bullet points for the rest of the story arcs planned out, but we never got to go through the actual fleshed out story arcs. Just go to water city, then suddenly a train arc, then jungle, then ice, whatever, it was disaster. But what can you do.

Valse di Fantastica - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvwIR4Xq0os
Hammerhead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaCRJBS1PQ4
Galdin Quay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAKZUce26ao
Listen Up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-VtJrVnJSE
Wanderlust - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsuqUdfF2QQ
Somnus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJF3JDK7PL0
Safe Haven - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io6yUdkuOOI
Crystalline Chill - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxqI1Q_KX_E
Relax and Reflect - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEvCpPxWctU

I'm actually looking forward to the OST of the upcoming titles in the Kingdom Hearts series, considering how much FF Versus XIII influence looks to be coming in—I want to see if there'll be any similar motifs/style. Could result in an interesting blend between KH, FFXV and FF Versus XIII.

The movies shine especially with how many different kinds of songs there are. They haven't shared any similarities in years and yet all are incredibly high quality. M24 just continues the tradition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F3jIIDCfM8

Anyone who lives in Japan, or hell practically anywhere at this point, and focuses on detective fiction will have read or watched DC. It doesn't matter who it is at this point honestly. Its influence on the new orthodox detective fiction is so immense. There's this new mystery manga series called Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective by Katekyo Hitman Reborn artist and it takes quite a few familiar story beats from DC that many others before it also have. I knew it'd also introduce a villain organisation, and it did. Sadly the manga volume 1 seems to be ranked #44 in shoseki sales on first day which is just bad. No one really talks about the series. It has its charms and great artwork.
There's also another mystery series called "i tell c" which is like inverse Ron Kamonohashi, except honestly it seems much worse, but for some reason it has way more people interested just because the detective is a yandere. I don't think that series has any potential atm, but we'll see I guess...

Well, DC Movie 23 outgrossed Avengers: Endgame in Japan—that pretty much says everything.

Hmm, I'll check those out.

[k11chi]

I'm not completely sold on rest of the titles having anything to do with Versus XIII yet because of the DLC seemingly already dealing with it.

[DCUniverseAficionado]

I'm not completely sold on rest of the titles having anything to do with Versus XIII yet because of the DLC seemingly already dealing with it.

And since it dealt with it there, now it's done?
TBH, I don't see any reason at all to assume it will suddenly end with that.
At the very least, in broad terms (meta or otherwise), what comes next will have very much to do with Versus.

As for DC's OST, is there a style/instrument/genre you'd like to hear more of? We have jazz and traditional Japanese instrumentation/style—do we need more, or is that good enough?

[k11chi]

And since it dealt with it there, now it's done?
TBH, I don't see any reason at all to assume it will suddenly end with that.
At the very least, in broad terms (meta or otherwise), what comes next will have very much to do with Versus.

As for DC's OST, is there a style/instrument/genre you'd like to hear more of? We have jazz and traditional Japanese instrumentation/style—do we need more, or is that good enough?

Actually one of my favourites includes Kogoro's Deduction theme and I'd like to hear more songs like it. It's incredibly effective despite not being anything new. Though I'd like to hear Taiko drums being used or guqin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cziem5FgDbQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0AAFhx3RmA

also I love to listen to these two while reading DC.
when the chapter begins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvy9MFJjiRU
investigation theme whenever questions arise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxFFhUvlRiM

[DCUniverseAficionado]

also I love to listen to these two while reading DC.
when the chapter begins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvy9MFJjiRU
investigation theme whenever questions arise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxFFhUvlRiM

Ooh, Ace Attorney? Another series that has one of my favorite OSTs.
Whether it's DS or 3DS, the pursuit themes always hit right with me.
And my general preference (some exceptions aside) for 3DS (AA Vs PL, DD, SoJ and DGS/GAA) themes (like these two Spirit of Justice tracks) over DS (AA1-4, AAI 1-2) themes—outside that pursuit context—is typically resolved by taking a listen to the orchestra versions of the DS themes, and the two eras quickly achieve parity in my mind.

Actually one of my favourites includes Kogoro's Deduction theme and I'd like to hear more songs like it. It's incredibly effective despite not being anything new. Though I'd like to hear Taiko drums being used or guqin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cziem5FgDbQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0AAFhx3RmA

Yep, one of the most underrated things, I've found, is the "not conceptually transformative, but sublime in execution of the not-so-transformative."

Always found this nice quality about Kogorō's non-comedic themes.

Listened to it. A lovely piece. I'd like to hear that in DC, as well.

[k11chi]

also I love to listen to these two while reading DC.
when the chapter begins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvy9MFJjiRU
investigation theme whenever questions arise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxFFhUvlRiM

Ooh, Ace Attorney? Another series that has one of my favorite OSTs.
Whether it's DS or 3DS, the pursuit themes always hit right with me.
And my general preference (some exceptions aside) for 3DS (AA Vs PL, DD, SoJ and DGS/GAA) themes (like these two Spirit of Justice tracks) over DS (AA1-4, AAI 1-2) themes—outside that pursuit context—is typically resolved by taking a listen to the orchestra versions of the DS themes, and the two eras quickly achieve parity in my mind.

Actually one of my favourites includes Kogoro's Deduction theme and I'd like to hear more songs like it. It's incredibly effective despite not being anything new. Though I'd like to hear Taiko drums being used or guqin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cziem5FgDbQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0AAFhx3RmA

Yep, one of the most underrated things, I've found, is the "not conceptually transformative, but sublime in execution of the not-so-transformative."

Always found this nice quality about Kogorō's non-comedic themes.

Listened to it. A lovely piece. I'd like to hear that in DC, as well.

Tbh, the only AA OSTs I listen to are couple from SoJ and GK2. It's just too synthesized for me and I always used to compare them to Professor Layton, which has more impressive use of instruments here and there.

Some of Conan's best cases include a slight pull of the string in a way where instead of revealing a massive twist like an ancient city or mass murders, it somehow manages to leave just as big of an impact in its genius simplicity, in a sense. It's kind of weird since I haven't really seen other authors manage to pull it off. A good example is the Poisonous Coffee Case, chapters 628 - 630. Superficially looking at it, it's just an apartment case with coffee and stuff, but the impact it leaves with how something like that is crafted is notable.

[DCUniverseAficionado]

Tbh, the only AA OSTs I listen to are couple from SoJ and GK2. It's just too synthesized for me and I always used to compare them to Professor Layton, which has more impressive use of instruments here and there.

That must've really been accentuated in AA Vs PL, then.
Sometimes that synthesized style works just right, but other times I share your aversion, and go for the orchestral version instead.

Some of Conan's best cases include a slight pull of the string in a way where instead of revealing a massive twist like an ancient city or mass murders, it somehow manages to leave just as big of an impact in its genius simplicity, in a sense. It's kind of weird since I haven't really seen other authors manage to pull it off. A good example is the Poisonous Coffee Case, chapters 628 - 630. Superficially looking at it, it's just an apartment case with coffee and stuff, but the impact it leaves with how something like that is crafted is notable.

Yeah, that one's pretty unique.

How do you rank, for instance, the 2007 remastered tracks compared to their originals (be it tracks from the anime—such as The Great Detective of the West—or from the movies, such as Need Not to Know)? Is one generally superior to the other, or is it not so cut and dry?

[k11chi]

That must've really been accentuated in AA Vs PL, then.
Sometimes that synthesized style works just right, but other times I share your aversion, and go for the orchestral version instead.

Layton is a pretty good puzzle solving series and has a nice atmosphere when you journey around towns and stuff. The best game in the series is probably The Unwound Future since they went extra mile with making a surprisingly good story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxYM-HkhDO0

Layton's OST is always pretty solid throughout but if I were to pick two tracks per game:

Curious Village
Something Happens - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FuyqT0MsNU
Mysterious Girl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1KmliLXVkE

Diabolical Box
Folsense - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2OmAxetWrc
Lost Forest - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE-QE4_73KU

The Unwound Future
Unwound Future - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K05xxq1-9ZY
The Professor's Deductions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gbWiFxMvNU

Last Specter
Devil's Flute - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_mHx-ZdC9w
Puzzles ~ Reasoning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExtkVn1Aqtk

Miracle Mask
The Scorpion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoJJSNgcVCE
Miracle Mask - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjvRUGybjRk

Azran Legacy
Phong Gi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAbYrtABAC4
London Streets 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MzrE1Vhdu4

Katrielle Layton
Katrielle's theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4hBc2YGhrQ&t=1s
Mysteries - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4hBc2YGhrQ&t=1h34m22s

How do you rank, for instance, the 2007 remastered tracks compared to their originals (be it tracks from the anime—such as The Great Detective of the West—or from the movies, such as Need Not to Know)? Is one generally superior to the other, or is it not so cut and dry?

I like the original Great Detective of the West better but the exaggarated tunes in the -07 version aren't bad and can fit some situations better. Kogoro's Deduction -07 is far better on the other hand to the older chipmunk stuff. I prefer to listen to the original versions mostly because when I look for new memorable tracks I'd rather them stand out from each other.

Honestly mainly how I pick the better version of the OST is just like the animation, even simple tracks can be memorable if they're inserted well and into a memorable moment. Though the OST is somewhat harder to hear in the newer episodes. I can listen to otherwise meh track if it's been inserted into a memorable moment.
There are badly animated and directed scenes and badly paced music, and then there are episodes like the Scarlet School Trip Case that are clearly a stand-out in modern DC production. Same with Episode ONE. I'm excited to see how they pull off EP1000 special, and how the OST compares.