Saturday, January 7, 2023

Song of the Week! 7 January 2023


Years change, but some old habits are just too hard to be left for dead...
 
Sacrifice Mafumafu/To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts
サクリファイス/まふまふ/TVアニメ「かつて神だった獣たちへ」より
Game Genre
AC Green (General Asia only)
★3
(53)
★4
(88)
★4
(194)
★8
(461)
-
AC Nijiiro (Y3 Deleted)
/ ★3
(53)
★4
(88)
★4
(194)
★8
(461)
-
192
ka2kam (Katsute Kamidatta Kemono-tachi e, with 'tsu'=2)


Yup, we're starting 2023 just like we ended (and started, too!) the previous one: by talking about a licensed tune that has about 2 weeks left to its permanent Taiko no Tatsujin expiration date. Maybe it's also source for some corny puns on my part, maybe not!

Going by the Japanese title of Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e (かつて神だった獣たちへ, lit. 'To the Beasts that were Once Gods'), this is an ongoing shōnen manga series from the nick-named Maybe, in serialization for Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine since June 2014. Being enticed by the discovery of a really precious ore, the continent of Patria split inself in two and waged an intestine war in order to claim full ownership of the newfound richness, with the Norther Patria novering the military advantage given by special soliders -the Incarnates- who could transform into mythical beasts of yore to cause havoc. At the end of the war, the resulting peace treaty imposed both sides to kill the surviving Incarnates, but defecting vice-captain Cain Madhouse ran away with those to wage his own power-mongering schemes and two years later, one Incarnate by the name of Hank Henriette is set on his quest to kill his superpowered breachen, with the begrudging help of the young Nancy Schaal Bancroft who deems Hank as her father's murderer.

Just like a tourist going in Italy and looking for a city's guide map, it was summoned the help of MAPPA -an animation studio- to put the world of the series in animated form with a 12-episodes run that was aired in 2019. Its opening theme Sacrifice was made by former Vocaloid producer Mafumafu (まふまふ), one who unfortunately had to retire from the music-performing scene from June of the last year due to pressuring health conditions, while still supplying his skills as a songwriter. Shortly after the end of the anime's run, it was revealed that the series would be localized for a worldwide audience, with the anime itself receiving a new Crunchyroll dub and the original manga being published by Vertical.
(because putting it diagonal would waste too much space on a shelf)


Now that I've summoned thrice the inner Beetlejuce of puns, all I have left is to remark how what is going to leave us for good is a rather technical and fast 8-star Oni trial for your average Anisong player! This is easily a step up from the note-richer Guren no Yomiya for the handswitch speed requirements alone, no doubt about it!