A really eventful week for Taiko, isn't it? Let's chill out with a Ura feature for this week.
Haryu (春竜 ～Haryu～)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (168) | x5 (260) | x7 (502) | x8 (698) |
Taiko 0 S, Taiko 3DS 2, Taiko Wii U 1, Taiko PS Vita
218
none
haryuThis year's Spring began yesterday, and this song is a perfect fit to welcome the warmth back. Haryu (lit. 'Spring Dragon') is the second song made on Taiko by Azu♪ (あず♪), and was launched as a DonChare unlockable song for Sorairo. We didn't get to talk much about the composer in our previous Toryu feature due to lack of information at the time, so here is a brief summary about Azu♪ and his musical works now.
Born in Kobe, Japan on April 1983, he is a freelance composer mainly focused on piano music, which he studied for since the age of 7. Aside from personal compositions and track arrangements, his first works between 2009-2011 were mostly related to videogame BGMs, most notably for the XBox 360 scrolling shooter game Otomedius Excellent. Some years later, after Toryu and Haryu's debut on Taiko, Azu♪ began to contribute more often as a guest composer for many albums, both instrumental and vocalized, for emerging Japanese idol groups like Rynryn Midoroppu (Rynryn☆ミどろっぷ). Among his musical preferences are both Japanese and Western musicians and bands, as well as classic composers like Maurice Ravel, who have deeply influenced his composition skills. For more informations about Azu♪, check out both his website, blog, and his Twitter profile.
In his blog and on the Taiko Team's own, Azu♪ briefly described Haryu's concepts. For the lively vibes provided by the spring season, he felt that the sense of speed in Haryu should be more tangible than the one in Toryu. The nods to classical music are also more noticeable with Haryu as well: while the song is more eastern in style, there is a small fragment in the middle on the song (referencing the Taiko patterns, before the second speed up) which directly pays homage to Italian Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi's 4-violin set Le Quattro Stagioni, whose 1st concerto is incidentally called 'La Primavera' (Spring)!
Rather than having a low BPM with a sudden, brutal speed burst at the end like Toryu, Haryu does the opposite; an insanely high base BPM with slowdowns in between. What is here is a simple 8* chart which tries not to use too many 1/16s in the fast parts of the song to make things more manageable. This is also one of the few instances which one Taiko chart is handled by two team members, with current Taiko Team leader Etou dealing with the four standard modes and Kan (カーン) being responsible for a certain extra difficulty layer beyond Oni mode...
Haryu (春竜 ～Haryu～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x9 (833) |
Taiko 0 S, Taiko 3DS 2, Taiko Wii U 1, Taiko PS Vita 218 none ex_haryuMuch like Sword Battlers, which was also on the arcade, Haryu comes with an Ura Oni from the beginning (while Toryu debuted without one; its Ura came into play on Taiko Wii 5). Notecharter Kan wanted to give to this song more exciting patterns. There's no ending killer pattern like in Toryu; Haryu Ura is more balanced, with consistent difficulty throughout the chart and some really tough 1/12 streams which are difficult to survive without a miss.
