Last week, nigelliusnitrox has left some hints to what's coming to our blog in the near future, but being already in mid-August we might as well reveal what the motif is: our humble Taiko Time blog is up and active for over 6 years! It surely is a rocky coaster ride for us, but each of our passengers's loyality -present and past- makes it a totally worth one :D
So, what are we going to see today, then? Given how last week we had a Taiko 12 song (which by thin trivia stretching we could claim as planned due to Taiko 6's 12th birthday in 2016), let's cut to the chase with something big coming from the 6th arcade itself!
Katsushika Rhapsody ~Yamu Yamu Version~ (葛飾ラプソディー ～ヤムヤムVersion～) Kochikame| Version |  |  |  |  / |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x2 (80) | x2 (114) | x4 (210) | x6 (296) |
Taiko 6, Taiko PS2 4
191
none
kame2While for Taiko means this song in particular doesn't hold that big of a legacy for the franchise for being one of the 1st Taiko generation's last new Anime licenses alone, it surely is a worthy representative of one of Japan's biggest behemoths in Manga lore! This song is one of the opening themes of the 1996-started Anime series of Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen Mae Hashutsujo (こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所), Shonen Jump's long-running Manga series by Osamu Akimoto (秋本治) which is often shortened to Kochikame (こち亀).
The full title's literal translation is "This is the police station in front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward", which on itself already sets the location of this Japanese longtime-popular comedy series; set in the present day, Kochikame is about the many misadventures in the everyday life of the police officers in the aforementioned fictional Tokyo police station, with the main focus being on the middle-aged cop Kankichi "Ryo-san" Ryotsu and his many schemes for easy money gains by exploiting new gadget creations and/or ongoing trends and fads. For the author himself, the series is his ongoing homage to Japan's working class and old Tokyo districts.
Kochikame's manga series was started on September 1976 on Weekly Shonen Jump, where it's being serialized with new chapters being released non-stop since its inception, even to this day! Up to this page's original posting date, the manga counts over 1800 chapters being featured in nearly 200 tanbokons published by Shueisha, making it the manga series with the highest number of volumes, as well as one of Japan's best-selling manga series with nearly 158 million copies sold overall. With such a long-lasting appeal to the series, Kochikame has been the subject of different kinds of media, including stage plays and animated productions by Studio Gallop, which consist of the aforementioned Anime series (lasting from 1996 to 2004), two animated movies and several TV specials, the latest of which is coming up on September this year in occasion of the series' 40th anniversary. Ryo-san himself also managed to cross the comic boundaries multiple times with other popular Jump series, be it for either special anniversary chapters or Shonen Jump's fighting videogames, with the Nintendo DS's Jump Super Stars/Jump Ultimate Stars couple and the more recent J-Stars Victory VS!
Cannonball-ing back into the song talk, Katsushika Rhapsody is the 2nd opening theme for Kochikame's Anime transposition, composed and performed by Osaka ska composer Kohei Dojima (堂島孝平). The one we can find in Taiko gaming, however, is actually a remake version which is used as the series' 7th and final OP, performed by the 1999 Japanese ska band known as Yum!Yum!ORANGE.
Back in the day, high BPM value for a song wasn't necessarily translated into a balls-to-the-wall hard or tiring Oni challenge; YYO's Katsushika Rhapsody is another valid exhibit on Taiko to the point with its nearly cluster-less notechart and sparse drumrolls, mostly aimed to let less experienced players practice handswitching at higher speeds.
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Thanks again for sticking with us! If you want to see where our 6-number shenanigans will land next, try checking back our blog in a few hours...
