Third anime week! The first song is a request by tetsutaro done via the chatbox to the left of this page, and the second song, another random anime of my choosing. I bet a lot of you will know this song.
Katte Nakou Ze! (勝って泣こうゼッ！) Inazuma Eleven| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (85) | x4 (132) | x5 (268) | x7 (367) |
Taiko 14
136
none
inaireIt's no surprise that Japanese have a special affinity for a few types of sports: tennis, bowling, baseball, and soccer (which I will refer to as football for the rest of this post). Their football team has consistently performed well in the World Cup every time and they have their own theme songs for the team performed by prominent J-Pop groups. It comes as no surprise then, that Inazuma Eleven, a football-based anime series, is one of Japan's current favorites.
Throughout our years of writing this section, we've seen anime series being invented on their own or derived from existing manga series. This is the first time an anime is covered here that originates from a video game, in this case, Inazuma Eleven for the Nintendo DS, developed by Level 5 (makers of Professor Layton), released on August 2008. Inazuma Eleven's manga series began on CoroCoro three months earlier after the reveal of the game, and the anime series followed shortly after on October the same year.
The original game (and the manga/anime henceforth) revolves around a very talented goalkeeper named Mark Evans, who tries to build a football team after a rival forward striker Axel Blaze moves into his town. For a football game, Inazuma Eleven thrives on fresh, innovative RPG elements, and has been praised for that. The game went on to sell very well in native Japan and many sequels and spinoffs were made for it on Nintendo DS, Wii and 3DS. The anime was also dubbed and localized to many countries all over the world. It lasted three years and ended its run on April 2011. "Katte Nakou Ze!" was a single released by T-Pistonz+KMC on March 10, 2010, and is the band's third single. It was used as the opening theme of the Inazuma Eleven anime from episodes 68 to 87.
The anime's end was probably the reason for its premature takedown from the Taiko songlist; as of now Katte Nakou Ze! is exclusive to Taiko no Tatsujin 14 and was removed on the way to Taiko 0. Outside of Taiko, the song is included in the songlists of jubeat knit and copious, from Konami. The chart on Taiko is pretty short and features standard 7* Oni clusters. There is not much rest in the song though; and lots of 5 note clusters and a single 7 note stream towards the end are the highlights of this chart.
Kero! to March (ケロッ！とマーチ) Keroro Gunso| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x2 (84) | x3 (111) | x7 (255) | x6 (351) |
Taiko 13, 14, Taiko Wii 2 140 none kerottWhether you've watched this anime or not, whether you find it obnoxious or funny, this show is well known by almost everyone familiar with anime in general, and has run for longer than most people know; the original Keroro Gunsou started as a manga way back in April 1999! The anime series came about five years later in 2004, and then transformed into the pop culture icon it is today, localized internationally as Sergeant Frog and with a very strong merchandising campaign behind it.
Keroro Gunso tells the tale of five frog-like aliens grouped together called the Keroro Platoon (led by Keroro himself), who come to Earth with the aim of conquering it.....or not. They find themselves trapped in the Hinata family house, where Keroro is taken care of by the members of the household while being prevented from getting up to too much mischief and are basically treated as servants of the house, making for many comedic situations. In fact, the entire manga and anime series thrives on such slapstick humor and references to other pop culture media, even some nods to American shows like Ghostbusters.
The anime has been very successful both in native Japan and internationally, with the production of five feature-length films and the translation of both manga and anime into English for audiences outside Japan. However, the anime is currently stalled overseas for unknown reasons, and all Funimation (the company that holds the American rights to the show) had to say was that "Sgt. Frog is on hiatus" on February 2013. The English version of the manga is also at a stop at 20 tankobon after the closing down of Tokyopop. Regardless, Keroro continues to enjoy a substantial amount of popularity everywhere around the world.
Kero! to March is the first opening of the anime and the most iconic of them all, though its introduction to Taiko no Tatsujin (via Wii 2) was rather late, five years since the song came to be, which is stranger still because newer Keroro Gunso OPs were released on Taiko much earlier (Kimi ni Juice o Katte Ageru on Taiko 8, Hareru Michi on Taiko Portable 2, and Fundari Kettari on Taiko 11). The song is sung by duo Kakuda Nobuaki and Ihata Juri (いはたじゅり&角田信朗).
The Taiko notechart is based on a march rhythm, full of 1/12 and 1/24 clusters and patterns. Despite being a 6* Oni, it gets pretty challenging at the back with quite a mix of rhythm patterns, though FCing Kero! to March is still easier than a song with an even lower rating than this (the combobreaker at the end of Yume o Kanaete Doraemon, believe it or not, is one of the most troll 1/24 mixed stream in the lower tiers).
