Mayday (メーデー) Bump of Chicken| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (144) | x4 (166) | x5 (350) | x7 (462) |
Taiko 11
140
none
maydayFor those who thought that Bump of Chicken's discography in Taiko games consists only of Tentai Kansoku and the Tales of the Abyss theme song, think again! Among Taiko 11's exclusive licensed songs, this was included and was actually a pretty recent song at the time; only a year old. For those who don't remember the band, this SotW feature should freshen your memory.
Mayday is Bump of Chicken's fourteenth single, released on October 27th 2007 along with another single album called Hana no Na (花の名). Both the songs overwhelmed the release week's Oricon Weekly chart (with Hana no Na in 1st place and Mayday in 2nd), as well as being ranked among Japan's best songs of the year, according to Oricon's Top 100 charts (with Mayday at 25th and Hana no Na at 16th). Pretty impressive for two songs being released on the same day, isn't it? Both tracks were in their December 2007 album Orbital Period.
Of Bump of Chicken's 2007 'twin brothers' tunes, only Mayday was used in rhythm games, in both Taiko and some Bemani franchises. On Taiko, the song is your standard, averagely-difficult J-Pop Oni with a normal pacing and simple pattern formation, also packed with 4-note clusters to catch less experienced players off-guard.
Love Zukkyun (LOVEずっきゅん) Sotaisei Riron| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (140) | x4 (152) | x6 (358) | x8 (620) |
Taiko 14, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko + 150 none lovezuAnother of kathy's song requests lost in a backlog. I'll try to finish it up this month by completing all your song requests. My apologies!
Anyway, Love Zukkyun is one of the first songs by the Japanese pop rock band Sotaisei Riron (相対性理論; literally, Theory of Relativity). Formed in Tokyo in September '06, Sotaisei Riron is a 4-member band which is still active to this date, featuring lead singer Etsuko Yakushimaru (やくしまるえつこ, also known as Tica·α ), guitarist Seiichi Nagai (永井聖一), bassist Shūichi Manabe (真部脩一) and Kensuke Nishiura (西浦謙助) at the drums. Little is known about the band members' private lives, as interviews and media coverage during their live performances are strictly forbidden for the most part.
Love Zukkyun was featured in Sotaisei Riron's first mini-album in May 2008, called Chiffon Shugi (シフォン主義). It's another song about how love can suddenly change someone's life, and its title reflects the message pretty well; 'Zukkyun' is a Japanese phrase used to illustrate great shock.
The song first appeared in Taiko 14, and almost got a chance to be in another rhythm game in the same year! Specifically, the 2010 release of pop'n music (pop'n music 18 Sengoku Retsuden) still includes incomplete data for the song, meaning it was meant to be playable at some point, along with other non-specified removed tunes. Among the rejected songs, LOVE Zukkyun is the most complete of the unconfirmed models, including partial audio/notechart data, a place-holder banner for the song and a prototype character assigned to the song, but it was ultimately scrapped from the definitive game, presumably right before its location test period.
In Taiko no Tatsujin, LOVE Zukkyun is an unsuspecting, high-tier 8* Oni stamina drainer, with tons of clusters. It repeats the pattern d-k-d k-d-k fairly often towards the end, adding to some visual confusion.
