As we've already talked about Jun Kuroda's Taiko debut last year, today we're left on a bind if we want to make a song/artist-related feature...
To that end, here's a double feature with a song that is all chart and no trivia talk, while for the latter we can serve you the opposite scenario. How does that sound?
Ai want U (哀 want U) Kaneko Chiharu| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x5 (265) | x6 (343) | x8 (591) | x10 (949) |
Taiko 0 B, Taiko PS4, Taiko +
43.5-174
none
iwantuFor the trivia-less (at least for now...) part of today's double feature we got Ai want U, one of the weekend arcade debutants for the third generation that dates back to the Blue Version days. It made its debut on a Saturday and its title also has a thing for 'u's in the title, so it's fair game for themed juxtaposition means!
While the song flows under the same base BPM value, often times it gets halved or cut to 1/4 its usual threshold but with a scrolling speed enhancement to match the same base BPM, so that the song's many rhythm-changing sections/patterns are also reflected into the speed they're approaching the player's hit marker area. This one among many others in the 10* Oni range, in particular, loves playing around both 1/16 and 1/24 charting in equal measure, peppering the more handswitch-based note formations with consecutive clusters of the former signature while deploying the latter for mimicking the song's double-Kat 'clicks' a-la Alexander no Theme, frequent 4-note clusters and some pesky hybrids with 1/16-starting clusters. Thread lightly!
thousand words Touhou Project Arrange - Yuuno Yoshimi| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x2 (???) | x4 (???) | x4 (???) | x5 (???) |
Taiko 0 M (promo only) ??? none ???When we talk about a 'chart-less' talk, 9 tines out of 10 for us means that said track is coming from an event-limited release with no subsequent public launch, which rings very true for this one Touhou-related pick. From Jun to ZUN is quite a short association leap, isn't it?
We're also faced with quite the rare treat for Japanese music gaming in general, seeing as the Touhou Project series' pre-Windows game representation more than often doesn't venture further than the infamous Bad Apple! The song at hand, in fact, is an arrangement of two tracks coming from the PC-98 game Lotus Land Story and more specifically, its Stage 5 and Stage 6 boss tracks: Nemueru Kyoufu～ Sleeping Terror (眠れる恐怖～Sleeping Terror) and Yuufu (lit. 'Faint Dream')～Inanimate Dream (幽夢 ～ Inanimate Dream). In both stages, the fearsome foe to be faced by the heroines is Yuuka Kazami (風見幽香), a green-haired youkai whose life longevity (of at least 60 years) and flower-manipulation powers warranted her the nickname of "Flower Master of the Four Seasons". In the PC-98 canon, she lives in a fantastical mansion -the Mugenkan- and is usually very keen on picking up bloody fights, a trait that has been carried out ever since her return in the later Windows-era games... even if it's not to the originary extent. Hell, Lotus Land Story's plot kicks up because Yuuka drives all sorts of youkai to destroy the Hakurei Shrine... just because she has some 'spare time' in her hands!
The main artist credit for thousand words in its brief venture into Taiko gaming is Younoumi (ユウノウミ, as in 'You Know Me'), who is the lyricist for the song. Also a member of IOSYS known under the alias of Shachou/Shatyou (しゃちょう), his real name is Yuuno Yoshimi (夕野ヨシミ) and has made both songs as part of IOSYS and solo track releases in collaboration with other artists of the doujin circle scene, including the recurring Tetu as the composer of this and many of Yuuno's separate works. Thousand words also features the singing voice of the nick-named Atsushi (厚志), former vocalist of the rock band Sekkenya (石鹸屋) who found their music gaming niche space for a few years with both their original rock pieces and their Touhou arranges, including for the latter camp bemani's SOUND VOLTEX (Antinomie; Tewi ～Eientewi Ver.～) and Taito's Groove Coaster (Reverse Death; UFO Romance).
The album which first contained thousand words is Hangyaku no Phantasmagoria (叛逆のファンタスマゴリア; lit. 'Phantasmagoria of the Rebellious'), which was released during the very same Reitaisai Spring edition which saw the song thousand words as one of the winners for the 'King of Touhou' music contest that ultimately led to this and other three songs the privilege of becoming playable tracks on the Taiko arcades that were brought for the event. And as you may predict, aside from the star rating, we got no photo/video footage about any of its charts in actions, which is where we're forced to draw the line for the day...
