かっちゃん「今年もアノ日が近づいてきたのカッ！」
— 【公式】太鼓の達人 ゲームセンター版 (@taiko_team) March 31, 2021
どんちゃん「今年はいつもと様子がちがうみたいだドン」
かっちゃん「なにカッ？」
どんちゃん「なぞのコードがどうのこうのって・・・」
あしたの午前10時につづく
※情勢に鑑みて例年とは違った内容を用意いたしました#taiko765
Many people probably hoped that the figurative excrement making physical contact with the electric oscillating air circulation device in the world is just an April Fools joke. Sadly it's not, and alternatively it has already affected the distribution of actual jokes for two consecutive April Fools already.
While that last year's (2020) April Fools only featured the normal release of Waraeru 2000, this year (2021) we are able to expect a bit more complexity in the shenanigans.
We begin with a mildly cryptic tweet (embedded above) from the arcade Taiko handle @taiko_team of Don-chan and Kat-chan discussing the occasion on March 31, mentioning that things will be different than normal and the existence of a mysterious code. The tweet ends with a "to be continued" marking the time for a sequel at 10:00 a.m. on the next day.
かっちゃん「これがなぞのコードなのカッ！」
— 【公式】太鼓の達人 ゲームセンター版 (@taiko_team) April 1, 2021
どんちゃん「今日以降、全世界でずっと使えるみたいだドン。」
かっちゃん「ゲーム機の【コードリーダー】にかざせばいいのカッ！」
どんちゃん「早速つかってみるドン！」
どん＆かつ「「こ、これは・・・！」」
その後、２人縺ｮ姿を見た者は縺?↑縺 pic.twitter.com/ipJNvssSeN
Fast forward to the main event, in which the same handle posts the second tweet showing the said (QR) code. Our drum brothers deduce that the code may work with the QR Code Reader newly equipped onto 4th-generation Taiko no Tatsujin arcade cabinets and proceed to try it out, only to end in an ambiguous yet ominous ending featuring mojibake text. (Mopemope vibes anyone?)
は！？！？！？wwwwwwwwwww https://t.co/DjRFKoJRyu pic.twitter.com/d4N7Rg64ea
— 丁金 (@TBLN_2000) April 1, 2021
So what happens if YOU used the QR code with Nijiiro ver.? Intrepid Japanese Donders have braved that path have found that it unlocks a folder named "Hidden Data" (ぼつでーた), with an ominous description that "this data is suspicious" (このデータはおかしいよ) and "looks no good" (だめだよう) before you open the folder. If you disregard all of that, this is what you will find:
March 2020/Nijiiro ver. New Track: April 1 2021
Key: red = series debut; blue = arcade debut
| Title |
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|
|
|
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Ka 彁／LeaF |
★5 | ★7 | ★8 | ★10 (692) |
Yeah, we are not going to try giving that title a translation/romanization as of this writing. It is what is known as a "ghost character" (幽霊文字 yuurei moji): a non-existent kanji character with no meaning, reading or etymology, but is somehow encoded into kanji character sets like JIS (say, as a corruption of another real character).
Banapassport holders can unlock the track for themselves after playing the track once, together with the title "Told You It's No Good" (だめだっていったのに) (reference tweet). The track also has the Full Combo Title of "He Who Manifests To The Outside World" (外ノ世界に顕れシ者) (reference tweet).
Note that this QR code does NOT have a definite expiration date (until further notice), so there is no need to flock to arcades to snatch the track within a single day, especially in times of the worldwide healthcare crisis. The QR code is also said to work all across the world where Nijiiro ver. cabinets stand, so greater-Asian Donders (rumored to get the latest firmware from April 6, but that's for another time) are not left out of the party.
【告知】
— LeaF🍀 (@7eaF) March 30, 2021
4月1日（木）18:00に新曲とMVを公開します。
「もぺもぺ」とか「MARENOL」とかの作風での新曲です。例に漏れずそういうことなので、よろしくお願いします。
音楽：LeaF
映像：Fiz @fiz03_zip
YouTube チャンネル「Optie Animation」にて公開予定です。 pic.twitter.com/fpvQhKmDCv
In 20/20 hindsight, LeaF actually teased way in advance (on March 30) that a new track will be released on April 1, mentioning a similar air to his previous works of Mopemope and MARENOL (so... nightmarish?). The icon in the "Hidden Data" unlock screen in Taiko no Tatsujin (LeaF also tweeted a higher-definition version on the day) turns out to be pretty similar in color scheme and style with the new track's teaser image.
The music video is scheduled to be released on Optie's YouTube channel at 18:00 JST (even though Optie has no hand in the animation work this time; only Fiz is at the helm this time). Perhaps we will have more to work with in terms of this peculiar composition.
★ ★ ★
Addendum (18:06): The music video teased by LeaF is indeed for the very same track we are talking about, as embedded below. The description has provided additional tidbits to the "lore", including the reading of the title just "Ka" (か), and the inspiration being "a person born from hidden/corrupted data". The amount of visual information in the MV (including other-language text, mojibake text and partial QR codes) may hint at additional layers of this mystery...
(CONTENT WARNING: contains imagery that might be disturbing and/or induces epilepsy)
(CONTENT WARNING: contains imagery that might be disturbing and/or induces epilepsy)
