Time for another Namco Original week! This is probably one of our most requested songs that doesn't have a Ura mode so, enjoy!
Yuugao No Kimi (ユウガオノキミ)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 12.5, 13, all console | x3 (121) | x6 (175) | x6 (338) | x7 (480) |
| Taiko 0 onwards | x3 (121) | x5 (175) | x6 (338) | x7 (480) |
Taiko 12.5, 13, 0, Taiko Wii 2, 4, CD Full Combo
128
none
vrockOne of the first four Namco Originals that were new to Taiko 12's expanded version. Despite its popularity with fans, Yuugao's history in Taiko is short yet colorful, composed by the talented Keiichi Okabe who made DON'T CUT and the Angel Dream series, featuring the earthy, melodic voice in the song of Tomokazu Sano, a brand new name to the Taiko panorama.
The person who made the lyrics goes by the alias Kikuchi Hana (菊地はな), one of three members of a design website called BUKKORO, which is lead by Taiko no Tatsujin's former lead graphic designer Yukiko Yoko (横尾有希子) who is also behind the similarly wacky and adorable art for Mizuiro Blood and the two Flash videos of Oku no Death Michi (the first episode is Many wow bang!). Kikuchi helps her out with scenario planning, some character design and web design. Yuugao no Kimi is one of Kikuchi's prized works and is displayed in her portfolio on the website.
The main theme of the song is a sunset scene from The Tale of Genji, a classic piece of Japanese literature, and 'Yuugao' ('Evening Faces') is its 4th chapter of a total of fifty-four. The song is touching and warm, unusual for a rock song but fits the theme perfectly and the lyrics contain several difficult kanji with many flowery, abstract and expressive phrases, just like in a good classic story. Namco assists with the pronunciation of some of them in the official lyrics sheet.
It may seem like an unremarkable 7* Oni at first, with note patterns that just screams for mastery of accuracy to get a high score. Midway through the song however, the scroll speed increases permanently to 1.5, then 2x towards the end. Together with this is a very melodic part of the song, which is the reason why it was so favored by players. The same pattern of speed up is used by White Rose Insanity three versions later, although the latter song is harder. All things considered, it ultimately fell short of Namco's expectations and was removed in the transition between Taiko 13 and 14, though it came back on July 2012 when the HD arcade was updated. Currently, the only way to play it at home is if you have a Wii.
Yuugao no Kimi is used in the boss battle with Gelma, the magma mecha in Taiko Wii 2's story mode. Its max combo is identical to that of Many wow bang!, which as mentioned before was also made by the BUKKORO team, and even introduced into Taiko at the exact same time, into 12.5.
