Today begins another month, and another round of Don Challenge trials with it. This March's new song is sung by Kaori Aihara, so what better timing to feature one of her songs here?
Shiro Neko Caramel Mugen no Wata Ame (白猫きゃらめる夢幻のわたあめ)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 0 M | x3 (171) | x5 (283) | x6 (439) | x7 (634) |
| Taiko PSP DX | x4 (171) | x5 (283) | x6 (439) | x7 (634) |
Taiko 0 M, Taiko PSP DX, CD Donderful
144
none
catdogAfter Total Eclipse 2035 and SORA-IV Bunpasong, Shiro Neko Caramel Mugen no Wata Ame (白猫きゃらめる夢幻のわたあめ, lit. 'White Cat Caramel Fantasy Cotton Candy'...quite a long name!) is Kaori Aihara (愛原圭織)'s third song on Taiko no Tatsujin. Kaori is a young female singer whose songs are easily recognizable for her soft and sometimes squeaky voice. Since we're seeing her contributions in Taiko more and more often, it's time we finally dedicated a section here to talk about the "little girl" herself!
Kaori Aihara comes from the Kanto region and is currently associated with the talent office Production GIW, a branch of StudioGIW containing its songwriters, lyricists and singers. This production house also has a few names familiar to Taiko, such as Kyah (Sweet Lay), Giw (Houjou Yayoi, Takara no Oka) and Hisui (SORA-VI Hinotori) to name a few.
Among Production GIW's affiliates, Kaori Aihara has one of the longest curriculum histories behind her shoulders, having contributed to several anime series and videogames (some of which StudioGIW made, like KILLZVALD) both as a singer and as a character dubber, using the Kansai dialect from her homelands. Before her songs on Taiko games, Kaori also provided a different cover of the song 'Virgin Load' from the Idolm@ster game series, for the 'THE IDOLM@STER Vocal Collection 02' album.
Since her first song for this rhythm game franchise, the members of the Taiko Team received Kaori's debut in a very friendly way, giving the young singer the nickname of 'Yojou' (幼女, 'little girl') for her soft voice. Kaori's loves Taiko just as much; she sometimes talks about her progress on both console and arcade games, as well as appreciating some of the franchise's original compositions (her favorite song is mint tears!). At the point of writing, she claims to have cleared Suuhaa 2000 on console (using buttons), while FCing her own songs on the arcade (most notably Famires Wars and the very recent Shoujo no Kami no Ryushi). For more information about Kaori's works, check out Production GIW's website, where there also are some brief introductions of its members!
Now onto today's song! Shiro Neko Caramel Mugen no Wata Ame is a song about a young kid eating two cotton candies at the same time (a white, cat-shaped one and a black, dog-shaped one) and a collection of thoughts and fantasies in between. This is also the first Kaori Aihara song to be composed and arranged by luv-kraft's mirawi (みらゐ), who has also contributed for most of Chata's songs on Taiko.
On Oni difficulty, this cotton candy-related song offers a pretty average 7* challenge, with many easy-to-read clusters. There are some tricky parts especially towards the end which threaten to break a combo, and because the song is relatively long and slow, concentrating on the screen intently until the end is important for FCing it. Recently revived on Taiko 0 Momoiro thanks to its Rewards Shop feature, the difficulty stars returned untouched for all its modes, save for Kantan.
