While originally there was no intention to make of this September a themed month to begin with, we might as well carry on with the console-exclusivity theme for the next features, seeing how that was also the motif of this month's (non-hidden) features as well!
Today's pick comes from the early PlayStation 2 times...
Paradise Ginga (パラダイス銀河)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (144) | x4 (205) | x5 (310) | x7 (441) |
Taiko PS2 3
155
none
genjiWith the very first Taiko home console title -Tatacon de Dodon ga Don- being mostly an opportunity to port a good chunk of the pre-existing songs from the arcades as the sole song list focus, its two main sequels for the most ancient Taiko software engine already tried to put in a mix of never-heard-before tracks to balance out the pre-existing console porting process.
For Appare! Sandaime, one of its tracks that is still exclusive to said game alone is one of the smash hits from the Japanese male idol group Hikaru Genji (often worded as '光GENJI'), whose patronage is also hinted to in the song's own ID. In activity from 1987 to 1994 for the Johnny & Associates talent agency, this is a 7-men act made up by Kohji Uchiumi (内海光司), center dancer Kazumi Morohoshi (諸星和己) and five different vocalists, with Junichi Yamamoto (山本淳一) being the main singer. With 20 albums under its tally and 26 singles releases (including the Taiko-recurrent Yuuki 100% from the Anime genre), Hikaru Genji was remolded into the Hikaru Genji Super 5 act after the resignation of two of its singers, only to be disbanded for good in 1995.
Hikaru Genji's musical debut is one of the most awarded in Japan for the male idol scene, as it has been the youngest idol act (up until the debut of Hey! Say! 7 in 2007) to top the Oricon singles charts, in 1988. Not only that, said Oricon chart has seen four of their songs receiving high ranks, with three of them constituting the whole Top 3 for the year! The track that has risen to the very top happens to be Paradise Ginga, Hikaru Genji's third single. Released on March 9th, the single was composed by songwriter Ryo 'ASKA' Asuka (飛鳥涼) and made its commercial debut on EPs, single CDs and single cassette media for an overall first shipment of about 1 million copies, which was depleted so fast that it made the idol unit issue a public apology on newspapers for the stocking shortage. Paradise Ginga's popularity didn't stop from sales charts alone, as it was awarded the 30th Japan Record Award in 1988 and the Gran Prix Singles Award of the year later.
With an almost-evened-out Don/Katsu note range, Paradise Ginga's Oni mode has been very fond of exploiting note cluster triplets that include two Kat notes in a row, making it for several cluster section pattern structuring that can also be found in lots of harder charts from future Taiko Oni trials.
