Feature: 2021 - The Year in Hindsight

 

Here we are- another year, another yearly final day's worth of Taiko memories! The soon-ending second Year of the Cow of the 21st Century has left behind quite the hefty trail of drumming memories to pick up once more, grouped up in a trimester-based recap format to gawk at. Have some impressions of mine of what has transpired as well, while we're at it!

It all started about 364 days ago from now...

Twitter Snippets (December 28th, 2022) - The Water Tiger's Earliest Trap Set

【お知らせ】
2022/1/1（土）から、太鼓の達人でナムコオリジナル「ex寅 Trap!!　/　かねこちはる」が遊べるドーン♪おたのしみに！https://t.co/FTwEVoAVJq#taiko765

— 【公式】太鼓の達人 ゲームセンター版 (@taiko_team) December 28, 2021

It's almost been 12 years since the last Year of the Tiger for the Chinese Zodiac rotation, so have a tiger-powered song for 2022's first day of the year!

March 2020/Nijiiro ver. New Track: January 1st, 2022

	Title
	exTORA Trap!! Kaneko Chiharu ex寅 Trap!!／かねこちはる	★?	★?	★?	★?	★?

Taiko no Tatsujin Track of the Year 2021 Open for Voting

We need your help deciding Taiko no Tatsujin's TRACK OF THE YEAR among the 126 series-debut tracks added in 2021, from ＜Seigaitten＞ to ＜Agent Hustle & Dr. Hassle＞! Vote now at: https://t.co/u3YuL5F97d (hosted on Google Forms)

— Taiko Time (@taikotimeblog) December 25, 2021

After the very merry 12 Days of Taikomas feature, it's time to close out the year 2021, at least in terms of Taiko no Tatsujin.

Except for the very few that actually keep count across the year, you might be surprised that Taiko no Tatsujin has introduced 126 new tracks to the series, from Seigaitten on the second day of the year to Agent Hustle & Dr. Hassle/Spectral Rider from last week. We here at Taiko Time are feeling a need to decide which of the 126 is the creme of the crop, which is why this Google Forms poll is here. Voting is expected to end on 2022/01/31.

A longer explanation on how we are going to tally the votes:

Respondents can vote for up to three tracks. The choices will be granted points according to the order of the vote, and we will tally the total points from all votes to determine the ranking.

Example:

First choice: 燃えよサファイア Moeyo Sapphire → +3 points

Second choice: punk bastards → +2 points

Third choice: Agent Hustle & Dr. Hassle → +1 point

However, if you pick duplicates your second or third choice, the points will be forfeited for the lower choice(s).

Example:

First choice: 憎悪と醜悪の花束 Zou'o to Shuu'aku no Hanataba → +3 points

Second choice: 憎悪と醜悪の花束 Zou'o to Shuu'aku no Hanataba → duplicate, no points

Third choice: 赤と白薔薇の魔女 Aka to Shiro Bara no Majo → +2 points

Day 12 - 12 Days of Taikomas

Song of the Week! 25 December 2021

   

 

After last week's break from the usual Saturday schedule, we're sure to end the year on a blast with this one!

Day 11 - 12 Days of Taikomas

Day 10 - 12 Days of Taikomas

 

First Video: Nijiiro Version (Year 2)'s Winter Rewards Shop Debuts

From debuting talents to seasoned veterans, Bandai Namco-affiliated artists sure have the lion's share among the latest Rewards Shop rotation cycle! In the former camp, we find Cory Tarrow's jazz-tastic debut, while for the latter here's Rio Hamamoto with the third of his 'Rider' original songs.

It doesn't happen every day to find an Oni duo where the regular Oni is rated higher than its Ura counterpart, does it? After all, it's kind of expected for a background-percussion-based charting to be no match for a trial where different spacing and killer streams a-la Tank! Ura are to be accounted. Not that much of a difference on the notecount department either with Spectral Rider, but the aggressive drumming pace to hold in order to keep up is more than enough to elevate it higher than what came before it!

	Title
	Agent Hustle & Dr. Hassle       Cory Tarrow (BNSI)	★4	★5	★6	★10 (693)	★9 (518)
	Spectral Rider Rio Hamamoto (BNSI)       濱本理央(BNSI)	★5	★6	★7	★10 (748)	-

Day 9 - 12 Days of Taikomas

 

Day 8 - 12 Days of Taikomas

 

Day 7 - 12 Days of Taikomas

[Plus/STH] Gakkyoku Tori Houdai New Songs (2021/12/28)

We can't expect the Taiko Team to sacrifice their days off across the new year and come in to push the update now, can we? That's why January 2022's batch of additions is happening early, and the preview is even earlier.

Addendum (2021/12/20): Adds Byoudouin Houou-don vs Choujuugi-kat. (source)

Gakkyoku Tori Houdai Adds

	Title
2021/12/20
	Byoudouin Houou-don vs Choujuugi-kat 　　Taiko de Time Travel Heian/Yuuya Kobayashi (IOSYS) feat. miko 平等院鳳凰ドン vs 鳥獣戯カッ／太鼓 de タイムトラベル平安 　　コバヤシユウヤ(IOSYS) feat. miko	★3	★5	★6	★7
2021/12/28
	LISTEN TO THE STEREO!!	★3	★5	★5	★7	★7
	KING 　　Kanaria feat.GUMI	★2	★5	★6	★8
	Dreadnought 　　Mastermind(xi+nora2r)	★4	★6	★6	★9	★10
	SORA-II Gliese 581 SORA-II グリーゼ581	★3	★3	★7	★7
	Dajare de Oshare ダジャレdeオシャレ	★5*	★5*	★3*	★2*	★8*
	Trust Game トラストゲーム／feat.SaChi(harineko)	★5	★6	★6	★9
	1-2-San-Shi no de Dondokaka! AI Kiritan feat. Yu-ki Hirose 1・2・さんしのでドンドカッカッ！／AIきりたん feat.ユーキヒロセ	★1	★1	★4	★7	★9

Key: red = series debut; green = GTH debut

Difficulty ratings with * are from past 1st- or 2nd-generation games and may be subject to change

Day 6 - 12 Days of Taikomas

 

First Video: Nijiiro Ver. v21.10's New Songs

The Taiko Team dangling on our faces the coming of a brand new 2000 song for a week made us overlook how we still had to feature the other licensed songs making their Taiko debut earlier in the week. Yes, we're -that- easily distractable...

Two 8-star Oni contenders are in the fore, the first of which also being the sole Pops inclusion of the update. Drum it up like it's Ikenai Taiyou all over again with Akiko Wada's first Taiko song port!

	Title
	YONA YONA DANCE Akiko Wada      和田アキ子	★2	★5	★5	★8 (500)	-
	Boku no Sensou Attack on Titan FinalSeason 僕の戦争／「進撃の巨人 FinalSeason」より	★3	★4	★5	★8 (411)	-
	Akeboshi 明け星	★1	★2	★5	★6 (233)	-
	Fun!Fun!Fun! ~Yume Mugendai~ Bittomo×Heroine Kirameki Powers! Fun!Fun!Fun! ～夢∞～／「ビッ友×戦士 キラメキパワーズ！」より	★2	★3	★5	★6 (296)	-
	liveDevil Kamen Rider Revise    「仮面ライダーリバイス」より	★2	★3	★5	★6 (336)	-

Day 5 - 12 Days of Taikomas

 

First Video: Taiko no 2000

It's a world of hurt from the dawn of times, checking in with a 1000+ notes Oni notechart for the first time in the series after the original Shimedore 2000! It's mostly a 1/16 gauntlet to face in the same spirit of Rotter Tarmination's Ura Oni, checking in with a chart sharing some of the same traits, off-rhythm fragments (during the Morse messaging) and unbreakable hitballoons included!

Expect to see an extended look at the song in our 2000 Song Series Showcase soon enough. For now, though... I have to face demons of a fairly-different shape...

	Title
	Taiko no 2000 Taiko de Time Travel BC / LindaAI-CUE たいこの2000／太鼓 de タイムトラベル紀元前 / LindaAI-CUE	★5	★7	★8	★10 (1008)