A Look Back

Subject: A Look Back Sun Feb 22, 2015 3:16 pm

Sound Horizon has been a part of a lot of our lives for a long time, now. The earliest examples of Sound Horizon discussion (that I could find) in English take place way back in 2003, and are more talking about the broad sense of music distributed at Comiket.

There was no real discussion of the stories, rather just the quality and expectations set by doujin artists. It was all about the music and diversity of Comiket as a whole, not dedicated discussion to any one thing. There were links too, which I assume were for pirated downloads, but as they were all dead so I couldn't confirm that.

I found this some time ago, and it still sticks with me. The Comiket discussions continue to this day, albeit in a much more cohesive and well-organized fashion. As the Internet evolves, so does discussion and understanding. None of those people that I saw were interested in the stories, rather the Sound in Sound Horizon.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much can change in time. I remember joining a little Japanese community for Sound Horizon shortly after going to the Roman Live concerts. That was a very unique time, since both my Japanese needed a lot of work to keep up with the native speakers, but also because this was the first time I noticed a hurdle in the community. Little did I know, the lead singer of the past, Aramary, had moved on.

This had split what was already a small community apart into several factions, so to say. I noticed that some people hated Revo's guts, and made horrible accusations, with the other side doing the same. In the end, I like to think that the people who loved what Sound Horizon was can still do so; they will always have their doujin-era works. It feels like an ending that was a happy resolution.

This was all in Japanese, though. Back then, I mostly needed help from one of my friends to fully understand what was going on. And even then, it was confusing for both of us. But the story of English-speaking Sound Horizon discussions related to their post-debut come in 2009.

A little site called "A Reyvateil's Melody". This site never fully dedicated itself to discussion of Sound Horizon, but it had a fairly decent following for a time. And it exists still to this day. This was all earlier in the year, though.

It wouldn't be until December of the same year that a new bastion was available, the Sound Horizon International Forums. There were probably other resources, too. I know that the "A Reyvateil's Melody" site had some translations posted, as well as a discography, but I've seen people mention other resources that no longer exist. But we have to look at the White Crow site again.

This was one of the first spaces I've ever seen dedicated to Sound Horizon alone, at least in English. I can speak very little of other communities, I've never even entered the Russian one myself, despite being a native speaker. The point of this post is to focus on the English history of Sound Horizon.

A lot of us wouldn't be here without the efforts of the White Crow site, and I even admit I've learnt a lot from the areas outside of their forums. I used to use their wiki as a resource for others, and would link to their news updates regularly to friends interested in Sound Horizon.

I was off-and-on with Sound Horizon from the start. There was so much information that I never cared to know. Ironically, besides the one community that has long since died out, I'd never been a part of a larger Sound Horizon community.

I remember thinking that Linked Horizon would change everything. I admit it had been the first real example, minus all of Moira's pre-release hype, that fully caught my attention. Revo was to be working with Square Enix, a massive pioneer of the RPG genre. News came of Revo doing a Horizon-style set of story music for them, in the form of a single, as well as a full story album. On top of that, Revo also made them an entire soundtrack. What's not to love?

This would become the second hurdle I noticed; within division comes tribalism. Soon enough Linked Horizon was getting more work, and some were weary that Sound Horizon was forgotten.

While everyone can admit that Linked Horizon is different from Sound Horizon by work, sound, and even general feeling, this is what got Revo's name out there to a community at large. I remember the conversations where people would call Revo the Bravely Default guy, the Attack on Titan man, or many variants of the two.

Like everyone else, I just wanted more Sound Horizon, and well. Now here we are. We are getting so much Sound Horizon that it hurts ~~our wallets especially~~.

In the end, I feel like the gap between Sound Horizon and Linked Horizon was never closed. I don't want to change how anyone views or sees things, but I want to have a place where people who only like Linked Horizon can feel safe, too. Even some sites I've seen in languages I have just a basic grasp over don't have dedicated Linked Horizon sections, and it still allows misconceptions to flourish.

It makes me really happy to see the "A Reyvateil's Melody" site still alive after all of these years, and the same case with the White Crow site. I wish these places many more years of community and happiness, but I know several people who didn't want to join an of these sites. And even in the end, I departed from the White Crow site myself. With that said, I will only say good things about what they've done, as my reason for leaving was personal. I should hope to affiliate both of these communities at some point in the future.

Strophe Horizon exists first and foremost for discussion, not to be a hub. There is so much to say about Revo's works, even outside of both Sound Horizon and Linked Horizon. There are many theories to be made, and many new faces to welcome with open arms. There will be an active effort to reach out to new people. Work is already being made to affiliate with large-scale communities to introduce new people to Revo's works.

From now, we will look to the future. I just think that there was a lot to be said about the past, and what made it even possible for us to be here at all. It took many years of hard work for the community at large to get where it is. Let's see where we can take things, into the future.