The Caligula Effect weaves music and narrative in a spectacular way
In 2018, an anime by the name of Caligula aired, and it wasn’t very good. However, I caught a glimpse of something worthwhile buried under the mountain of trash. So, when I found out the anime was based on a forgotten PlayStation Vita game, The Caligula Effect, and that it’d receive a remastered version subtitled Overdose the following year, I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very good, either.
Well — that is until I made it a few dungeons into this Persona-like social sim and realized not only that I was correct in seeing something worthwhile in the awful anime adaptation, but also that this series has some of the most complex and groundbreaking music of any JRPG in its weight class.
Yes, I’m aware that what I’m about to write might make some think I’ve lost my marbles, but The Caligula Effect: Overdose and its sequel, The Caligula Effect 2, have some of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard. To start, we need to (lightly) discuss The Caligula Effect‘s story and how it ties directly to the soundtrack’s presentation.
In The Caligula Effect: Overdose, the world’s equivalent of Hatsune Miku attains sentience and, in an act of apparent goodwill, decides humanity would be happier if they were trapped in The Matrix. So, with the help of a malignant group of humans calling themselves the Ostinato Musicians, the Virtuadoll, known as μ (mu), pulls a bunch of humans with mental illnesses and hangups into the world of Mobius.
You play as a member of the Go-Home Club, a group composed of people who are aware the world around them is nothing but fiction and want to return to reality. Each major level/dungeon has you facing a member of the Ostinato Musicians, who are also aware of the fiction that is Mobius. Those
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