With the original Taiko no Tatsujin official blog walking the way of the dinosaurs, it's about time we have a double feature starring some of the songs that have been charted by Takahashi (タカハシ), the original Taiko Team leader as well as the main curator of the now-deceased development blog branch for the series.
Tenohira o Taiyou ni (手のひらを太陽に)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All arcade, Taiko PS2 5 | x2 (110) | x1 (129) | x2 (203) | x8 (431) |
| Taiko 3DS 2 | x2 (110) | x2 (129) | x3 (203) | x7 (431) |
Taiko 7, Taiko PS2 5, Taiko 3DS 2
130
Children's Song -> Variety
taiyoTrue to the roots of the Variety and Children/Folk genres, Tenohira o Taiyou Ni (lit. "The Palm [of the hand] to the Sun") is one of the many Japanese nursery rhytmes that became popular due to the public television broadcasting of the early 60ies.
The song was lyricized in 1961 by Takashi Yanase (やなせたかし) -author of the popular children-friendly Anpanman series- and was originally planned to be performed at the Norio Kijima Morning Show, as part of its music section. Composed by the also-related-to-Anpanman-media Izumi Taku (いずみたく), Tenohira o Taiyou ni was originally performed by Japanese tarento Mariko Miyagi (宮城まり子) for the show, under a strong recommandation of Izumi himself. The year later, Tenohira o Taiyou ni was picked up to be broadcast in NHK's Minna no Uta daily radio broadcast, with a re-recording of the song starring the singer Mariko Miyaki with the voice talents from the Victor Juvenile Choir. Despite not picking up any pace in regards of the musical popularity fields, the later rendition of the song made by the 4-male choir band BONNIE JACKS in 1965 has helped into cementing the song into popular culture for many years to come.
Sporting exactly one foray for either the arcade, Sony and Nintendo gaming fronts respectively, Tenohira o Taiyou ni became a niche Taiko staple in form of a cover version made by Bon Bon Blanco, the same unit behind the cover of the One Piece song BON VOYAGE!. Incidentally, both songs in Taiko fields happen to share the very same notecharter, a trait that is quite distinguishable in both songs' Oni notechart. Back-beat small clusters that require some hadswitching critical skills are required to master both tracks, but this elusive Variety pick's lower average BPM speed might just distinguish the difficulty degree between the two old-school charts, even under the latest Taiko generation.
I Want THE iDOLM@STER| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All arcade; Taiko Wii 2 | x4 (128) | x5 (174) | x7 (380) | x8 (666/598/544) |
| im@s MS Red | x4 (175) | x5 (250) | x6 (476) | x8 (667/599/545) |
Taiko 12 Asia, Taiko 13, Taiko Wii 2, im@s MS Red 175.37-181.94 /178 (im@s MS ver.) none iwant / imsiwt (im@s MS only)im@s MS Red version
Even a brief look at our Behind the Drums feature about Kosuke Takahashi (高橋弘介) is enough to understand the kind of legacy he has left on the series as a whole, being the charter not only for selected entries in the license-heavy genres but also in the more game-y reputation side of the Taiko franchise as well, being the charter behind the roaring start of the '2000' and Butou song series. He also had some Game Music credited roles to be given tribute to, two of these for Ridge Racer-related songs (Rare Hero and Kamikaze Remix) and the other one being... well, the one you're about to read on right after these lines!
Composed and lyricized by none other than the Linda AI-CUE himself, I Want is the 2nd image song of one of the original idols from the series-starter Idolm@ster arcade: Haruka Amami (天海春香), voiced by Eriko Nakamura (中村繪里子). Its playable debut title is one of the PlayStation Portable's THE iDOLM@STER SP sister games (Perfect Sun), while the song itself got released 2 years prior (on July 18th, 2007) as part of the first album in Columbia's MASTER ARTIST series, falling under the title of THE IDOLM@STER MASTER ARTIST 01 Amami Haruka.
As years went by, this song has made its way into most of the later-released home console games' respective DLC catalogues in some way or another and roughly 2 years after its debut album release it was also granted a Taiko no Tatsujin port, as one of the elusive "General-Asia-First" moments of the Taiko 12 arcade's non-Japanese counterpart. It was subsequently released for the Japanese audience in a couple of semi-contemporary-lifespan games (Taiko 13 and the 2nd Wii title), up to come in one of the PS vita's twin Master Songs games with a general notechart overhaul... kinda.
I Want, in fact, has been one of the many im@s tracks from former Taiko history to have its master audio updated for its latest console foray; as such, a SongID change was deemed necessary to match the music changes as well as several subtle notechart variations from the original set by Takahashi. In a nutshell, while the original Futsuu and branched-paths Oni charts have managed to be semi-integrally ported with the addition of a set of new perks: extra Go-Go Time zones, an unified BPM for the whole playable portion and an extra starting note for each returning mode, with the old Futsuu chart becoming the new set's Kantan mode. On top of these changes, the Futsuu and Muzukashii modes have been built from scratch once again for the latest game, (presumably) by the hands of Taiko Team notecharter and Must Songs games director Kuboken (くぼけん).
As old-school Idoolm@ster Oni song charting goes, no matter the song and/or the branching path chosen, it's going to be a stamina-focused trial starring only 1/16 charting and tons of 3-note and 5-note clusters along the way. Getting an high accuracy on console versions can be very taxing towards the end, due to the heavy reliance of big notes in succession!
