As such, today's picks are selected by newcomers tetsutaro @ nigelliusnitrox and CoroQuetz. Enjoy!
GERMINATION| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko PSP DX | x5 (183) | x6 (291) | x7 (501) | x8 (616) |
| Taiko + | x5 (183) | x6 (291) | x7 (501) | x7 (616) |
Taiko PSP DX, Taiko +
154.92-196.48
none
germinAmong the many Namco Originals introduced on Taiko PSP DX as monthly DLC is this rare addition of a grand orchestral piece to the Namco Original genre similar to many classic songs. The song is inspired by the season of spring; the title refers to the sprouting of a new plant from a seed. Despite some rumors that some of the musicians who made Namco Original song MEKADON being somehow involved in this song's creation, the identity of GERMINATION's artistes are still unknown, as the song has never been featured in an official soundtrack album so far.
Being an orchestral piece, GERMINATION is a very tough song to time with a highly irregular tempo and beat length, making a Taiko chart with a boatload of BPM changes (73!) and different beat divisions, ranging from 2/4 to 5/4 and even 4.5/4, something that is rarely seen in any Taiko song!
While the song's structure is remarkable for its variety, the same can't be said for the Oni mode, featuring generic single notes and cluster combinations with many blank areas where there is silence in the background music. The Oni mode was recently deranked to 7* Oni in Taiko Plus' latest song pack.
Rain (レイン) Sid| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 14 | x3 (88) | x4 (127) | x5 (192) | x8 (299) |
| Taiko 0 | x3 (88) | x4 (127) | x5 (192) | x7 (299) |
Taiko 14, Taiko 0 to 0.5 95 Anime -> J-Pop sidraiToday's second feature is about Japanese rock band Sid's 18th single, which was used as one of the opening themes for the anime adaptation of Square Enix's manga series Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (鋼の錬金術師, lit. 'Alchemist of Steel'), commonly known in the West as Fullmetal Alchemist. Since we already talked about Sid in one of the past SotW entries, we'll focus on the manga instead.
Written by Hiromu Arakawa (荒川弘), Fullmetal Alchemist tells the story of the Elric brothers Edward and Alphonse in a Industrial Revolution-inspired world where alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques. After a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life using alchemy, the two brothers set on a journey in order to find a legendary catalyst known as the philosopher's stone, a powerful item which can be used to restore their bodies as they were before the rebirth experiment.
The success of the manga series; with over 50 million copies sold in Japan and each of the 27 tankobon (annual compilations of monthly strips) selling more that a million each, made Fullmetal Alchemist one of Square Enix's most valuable properties, up there with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. From the manga, the series spawned a light novel and anime, which was a 2 part anime series and 2 movies, which in turn led to both generic merchandise (like audio dramas, music CDs and artbooks) and official videogames. Three RPG games were developed by Square Enix themselves. Among the awards the series won in Japan are the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for shonen in 2004 and the Seiun Award for best science fiction comic in 2011. Even the overseas release saw much success, becoming the top-selling graphic novel in 2005 since the first volume!
Fullmetal Alchemist's popularity is also reflected in the opening/ending themes being used, and Sid's Rain is another example of the positive trend. The song peaked the Oricon Daily charts for 2 days in a row and reached 2nd place on the Weekly charts. It's the third and last song in the animated series from Sid after the previous Uso and 2°C Me no Kanojo (2℃目の彼女), the former of which also appeared on Taiko.
Even if the song is short and slow paced on, Rain uses increased scroll speed.The Go-Go Time stanzas have a scrolling multiplier of x1.5, making for a change of pace if you're not used to scroll changes. However, the unusual mix of slow 1/4 and 1/6 clusters wasn't enough for its Oni to maintain 8* Oni, as it was downed to 7* upon entry to Taiko 0.
