This, of course, means the usual for us: a final looksie at who else is around for this edition! Gather around, as some of these names might ring a bell or two...
- HEARTiF4XZ by CHUBAY, trying to find their "third-time charm" after Itagaki and the contest-winning Vixtory. Will this one have what it takes?
- Massive Samurai Blade, proving once again how there's always room for Japanesque entries among Taiko contests! Composer Shioru (しおーる; Twxtter) strikes back after trying to reaich the peaks in last year's contest with the similarly-titled Massive Taiko Blade. Whether this latest blade is sharped to a tee or not, once again, lays onto the judges' watch...
- Arcobaleno by 7mai, already a winner with last year's turned-Ura-Weekend-Warrior L△chesis. Another submission trend is hit with its title too, as like many of the past editions' entries, rainbows are mentioned. In Italian, no less!
- Invictus::"O"MEGA', a "Taiko Requiem" coming from the nicknamed Gram (Twxtter) of many an indie label and otoge cameo fame, including for the latter songs for beatmania IIDX (Sigmund, GuNGNiR) and the defunct Muse Dash (XODUS). There's more weigth bulling to this art name, as it turns out being one of the aliased of Genki "DJ Genki" Hikota (彦田元気), straight from the HARDCORE TANO'C ensemble!
- Neko no Uta (ねこのうた), from NOMA. Here's another recurring application-filler for the seemingly-yearly Taiko no Tatsujin contest appointments, breaking away from past entries of his with a lyrics-powered piece. With 2023 being the year of his other song's porting into Taiko gaming, will this be the right time?
- Blessed Horizon, by Qutabire. The Aloft in the wind composer is back for Round 2 after skipping the 2022 contest, looking for the top-spot the same!
- Tokyo Neon (トーキョーネオン), a vocal piece from the art-named Aintops (Twxtter), an artist who managed to climb iTunes charts in the past few years with multiple original songs, not to mention CEO and founder of sound company Big Kick.
- WHiTEOUT by SDF, another yearly artist who keeps coming back every year for the Taiko bout, following his past entries of Nijiiro Taiko no Gosho (虹色太鼓ノ御定書), SUPERNOVA (no, don't worry- no USAO plagiarism is to be found this time!) and Ancient Kingdom. And if the vocalist sounds familiar, that's because it's the returning A.Dokuga (UFO Swingin'), someone who's just as constant with Taiko contest entries as the same SDF!
- BurlesKa WonderlanDoon, a whimsical cartoon-y piece from contest-winning EteRnal Ring's maker museo and the nicknamed Ryokucha (りょくちゃ), joining the Taiko competition works twice in 2020 (Good bye October; Guzutsuki Nijiimo Yo) and once more last year, with the song Tenmangetsu Overture.
- FERVOR!!, the latest of "Versus" music entries to band together three different victors of different Taiko contests at different point in time. Will the latest collaborative effort from K.key/Mihile/Yomii result into a shared triumph?!
- FANTASTIC PANIC, by Yonokid. I'd talk some more about this returning guy and his craft, but that choice avatar on display has reminded me about someone else online uploading a compilation of a certain Super Show's cover song segments, all in one convenient video! Now, if you excuse me...
