Four-ish months after the last venue, we're back again with Etou and Kimizu's Drum-gus Journey in their latest YT apparel to deliver all current and future Taiko no Tatsujin-related news! As usual, above your eyes is the embedded video in question while after the jump is our brief English recap for it.
The first things being advertised are all the ongoing (Summer Rewards Shop '23) and soon-expiring features Nijiiro Version cabs have on their side. For the latter camp we also got the Rolling-In Rewards Campaign Spring 2023 (ごほうびザクザクキャンペーン2023 春), which has been extented until June's end.
Another feature expiring by June 30th is the Aoharu no Tatsujin mode that was implemented for April Fools, with the two hosts also getting a look at the characters on the spotlight one last time...
Be sure to watch this segment too- you might not want to miss out Etou reading out their introduction lines (even in falsetto for the ladies!)
Right after that, a quick overlook of the just-revamped Ranking Dojo mode is in order. As per recent tradition, not only we got a quick overlook at the already-available latest cycle of maincourses up to 10-Dan, but we also got some teasers for 2023's latter-end courses in form of revealing the artists behind their next Namco Original song, debuting as part of those upcoming trials!
Some of these names are not to be slouching around, either...
From left to right, top to bottom: Seifuumeigetsu (the Drop/Yura Hatsuki unit name), Nobuyoshi Kobayashi (BNSI), Morimori Atsushi and Camellia.
Rounding up the Ranking Dojo talk, we've also got a neat infographic about the Real Ranking Dojo final standings for the 2022 RD courses, between the limited-event forays and the LaLaPort/Namco Akihabara weekends. Congratulations, everyone!
Next up, collaboration talk! It's also quite the unique party to partner with, this time around: Goonya Monster, a 3v1 online multiplayer game from developer MUTAN that is available on both PC and Sony/Nintendo modern systems.
The Taiko stretch of the collab will entail the coming of its theme song -GO ON YA WAY feat.Chogakusei- in a Taiko-playable state by June's end in multiple Taiko games.
The infographic below only mentions the song's coming of June 29 on both Donderful/Rhythm Festival and Plus Shinkyoku Tori Houdai (not specifying whether it's a free timed download or an addition to the games' song subscription services), but later on the stream it was also confirmed for Nijiiro Version!
The reason for the arcade port goes well beyond being another available platform for it, as there's also going to be a raffle for some exclusive Goonya Monster merch! Simply play the newcoming song with your Banapassport signed in and you'll receive a one-use QR code to join the raffle, as shown below.
We also got Kimizu himself to demo the upcoming song from Goonya Monster, while also showing off in advance its KFM ratings. I know there's something more to talk about this one picture below these lines, but more on that later...
The same Goonya Monster game will get a bunch of Taiko-related customization elements to boot, but for those the Taiko hosts invited the video watchers to tune in to Goonya Monster's online news sources of choice instead, just ending with these screens here.
The next half-hour segment is all for the Donders' arcade-related inquiries getting replied to with the returning "What's in the box?" segment, although highlights this time fall on the slim side, just with a reassurance of the fabled !!!Chaos Time!!! sequel's preparations proceeding in a smooth manner.
What came next to all viewers' evey surely does need no introduction at tims point, doesn't it?
That's right- with that one viral sensation of sorts going its way out of its pandemic phase globally, a new Taiko no Tatsujin arcade tournament was announced for the next year, being an in-person foray, too! This is also not the only kind of Taiko event coming back, either...
Once again, music makers all over the world have been invited to take part in a Taiko-themed song contest, for the fourth year in a row! This time around, we already know in advance that the winning song pool will be redistributed into two different debuting ways: a smaller pool to be introduced during the Taiko no Tatsujin World Championship 2024 (2-3 songs) and a larger one to debut on Nijiiro Version by other means (8-10 songs).
The website for the third Columbia Makes-hosted Taiko no Tatsujin music contest is already active at this link, although the only active page as of now is the one addressing the song submission period (July 1st-August 8th, 2023) and the evaluation/winner reveal windows, the latter to happen in September, later on.
Following up is areminder of the latest upcoming Nijiiro Weekend Warrior duo from the long-discontinued Synchronica rhythm game, now unveiling that the latter song is set to release on July 1st.
See you next time, folks! Until then, here's a curious piece of Don-Chan-shaped merch that was shown off at the very end. How often do keychains have a zip lock all over their bellies, after all!?
