8 April 2012:

"The follow-up to the first album features 15 tracks with a wider variety of music styles than its predecessor.

The introduction track gives an immediate preview to the tone of the entire album, to establish that it is not like the main story. Rather than the nuanced journey through St. Michael’s that the first album evokes, the Side Story is a high-energy album throughout. The second track, the first proper song is an amalgamation of the two “Sweet Garden” remixes that demarcated the two sides of the first album. Multiple upbeat remixes follow until the first interlude, where the mood changes to a more melodic and relaxed pace. This second section ends with a remix of the normally higher-tempo ending theme from A Kiss For The Petals - Sweet Melting Kisses. On the other side of the second interlude, the energetic tone resumes with a simpler, yet more distinct electronic sound, topped off with a playful chiptune. Light-hearted as this section is, it is colored by anticipation of the trial ahead.

The Final Exam offers one last look back to the rest of the album as the Professor directly confronts the subject with a condescending tone. This challenge prefaces the climax: the most frenetic track yet, a grand combination of Marking's previous styles (with a hint of their previous album, tranquilo) interspersed with fragments of the lighter melody from the original ending song. The Graduation track that concludes the piece reflects the feeling of triumph over all conflicts, academic and romantic, that the student of the school for girls inevitably experiences. This is in direct contrast to the closing bells of the original album, which suggests an eventual return; the Graduation is truly a finale in every sense of the word."

- Craig Donson