Another Namco Original this Saturday. Which one is it?
Many wow bang!| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All arcade | x4 (96) | x4 (139) | x7 (326) | x7 (478,455,418) |
| Taiko Wii 2 | x4 (96) | x4 (139) | x7 (326) | x7 (480,457,420) (video) |
Taiko 12.5, 13, Taiko 0.5, Taiko Wii 2, Taiko Wii U 3
134
none
deathmThis song comes from Oku No Death-Michi (奥のデス道), a short-lived Flash animated series made by Namco, aired on its website and a few video streaming sites like Youtube. Oku-no Death Michi is another one of Namco's efforts to popularize traditional Japanese culture, this time by rocking up classic Japanese haiku (3 line poems) in English. The story is sung by a rapper frog named Bashon, and played out by a couple of ninja cats, On (Yin) and Myo (Yang). The haiku used is a basic one describing the imagery of spring, written by Yamaguchi Sodo (山口 素堂).
The song is composed by Yuri Misumi (みすみゆり), who on Twitter stated in 2013 that the track -despite being labeled as a Namco Original- can't be included in any Taiko no Tatsujin original sound track album for the time being, due to its original music source not being the Taiko no Tatsujin series. Oddly enough, other similar cases of 'not-native' Namco Originals like Ra Morena Kumonai made it to dedicated Taiko soundtracks in some kind of form, so anything is possible at this point.
It was one of the most creative Namco Original songs in the 12.5 generation. To understand why, take a look at the lyrics and the original haiku.
目には青葉 (meni wa aoba)
山ホトトギス (yama hototogisu)
初がつを (hatsu gatsu o)
The first stanza of Many wow bang!'s lyrics effectively translate the entire haiku. 'Hey Yo-yo man, as summer approaches, the green leaves in the surrounding blend with the sky. The cuckoo chirps in the mountains, and of course, the first catch of bonito'. Then follows a part which initially makes no sense, but then you realize it's simply pronouncing the haiku's words using English words, even if they don't mesh together at all. 'Many wow bang, Yum mar hot to two guess, soon, hate your guts, tool on!' That's where the song's strange-sounding title comes from too.
In Taiko, Many wow bang! is a 7* song with tricky note clusters typical of most slow rap songs in Taiko, featuring things you would expect to see in a higher difficulty, especially towards the end. The Wii version has two extra big notes replacing two balloon notes in the arcade. Although not a big difference, it alters the maximum score slightly.
On Taiko Wii 2, Many Wow Bang is featured on the battle with Yttrium, Dr.Waruru's bird mecha.
Many wow bang!| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x9 (497) | |||
| All (2P) | x9 (272/272) (video) |
Taiko 13, Taiko 0.5, Taiko Wii U 3 134 none exdethUnlocked with the first secret code in Taiko 13. Many wow bang!, despite its cleverness, quickly lost popularity after Taiko 13 and scored last next to Future Lab when the results were taken before Taiko 14's release. The reason for this sudden drop is unknown, as it was famous enough in 12.5 to deserve its own Ura Oni. It even had different notes for 2 players! It becomes a must-play if you ever find an arcade of this version, or if you can unlock it with the newer generation of Taiko arcades's Banapassport features.
The chart is obviously more difficult than the original, but the note-patterns are not the most frustrating parts; it's the balloon notes. You are given a very strict time limit to break all of them (up to 15.1 hits per second), and there are streams of notes right after every one, making Many wow bang! Ura a partner to DON'T CUT Ura in terms of disorienting players.
