For this Summer iteration of the indie-composer-welcoming musical competition, the shoes of the Sound Director in the board of judges will be filled by BNSI Yuji Masubuchi once again. He's been particularly sorry for the late reveal/joining for this one venue in his introductory paragraph, as his own parental duties have taken quite a toll on his workload... so much so that it's referenced straight onto his profile picture for this year! Already a father of a 1y9m-aged kid as of this writing, he has had a newborn family member two months ago and had to internally arrange anything work-related from a distance as a result.
Some arrangement was finally found on his Taiko-related working tasks as well, seeing how we're getting two Sound Director judges this year, with fellow coworker/UStream broadcasts aquaintance Kawagen Kollagen sharing the baton with the Taiko Team veteran.
And now, albeit a bit late on the game even for us, let's renew that time-honored tradition of offering you a small selection of this edition's contestant tunes thus far! I mean, we're already past the 100-submissions to be able to enjoy on the official website, so we might as well get more generous on the link-sharing action about it!
- 140 sec Heaven, from Latin-nomenclature-influenced indie unit Regnum Caelorum Et Gehenna. Quite the whiplash to have a neomelodic heavy metal piece as one of the contest's very first entries, wouldn't you say? Although the unit's whole roster is a mystery, the nicknamed Fate In Motion (アルベルト・オブ・ジョイトイ) already made its coming-out as one of its members on Twxtter.
- In Luv by Connexio, one of the artists from the last contest to come back. Last year, he managed to score with the nicknamed KONPEKi a Bronze Honorable Mention from Etou with the four-hands track Diva of Avalon. How will this solo-debut revenge act fare?
- WETOPiA!! from MYUKKE., a composer already close to the hearts of many a Muse Dash player around the world. In contrast to the last creator, his last Taiko contest attempt dates back to the 2020 Faith Creation contest with an original song that eventually ended up in an EP of his later on (BUNA☆SYNERGY!!!, ultimately a Silver Honorable Version), but this time around here's here from the starting public entries!
- Saihate no Mahoutsukai (最果の魔法使い), from the nicknamed Halv. Like MYUKKE., this is a composer not foreign to music gaming cameos (most prominently for Noxy Games's Lanota) and like Connexio, the first Taiko entry of theirs was in last year's contest with an ultimately-Bronze-HM entry in Amaterasu Rhythm (天照らす律動).
- Beyond the Dream, by yuri (Twxtter), one of many artists to prove how not everyone joining these Taiko contests either are already-established otoge artists or "revenge-seeking" returning players from past contests. It's mighty reassuring how the trend lives on with this year's edition, too!
- Steal feather feat. Nashibina (Steal feather feat. 梨雛), from Sena (). Another relatively new entry, this is also an active illustrator over Foriio, with an history of illustrated works for the music of former Taiko contest winner Capchii's Hatsune Miku-powered tunes.
- Oiran (花魁 ~ Oiran ~) from XinG, yet another music gaming darling that started out (and still is!) quite the Muse Dash regular, on top of making Vtuber song as of late. He's been trying since 2021 to break the Taiko conditioning with a couple of vocal songs starring Setsu Minami (薛南) as the vocalist, both in 2021 (Natsuiro Lemontart feat. Setsu Minami, one of Etou's Silver HM winners) and last year (Cremepuff☆Supreme, no rewards). Will the 3rd time be the (solo) charm?
- Reibu Hikari (霊ぶ光) from composer seatrus, another one who's been trying every year ever since the 2020 FaiCre competition. Unlike other artists like XinG going from vocal-supported pieces to a full-instrumental one, seatrus's 5th track (after Youen, Empuxa, DaRk TRiggeR and Spooky Dance Party) goes the other way around from instrumentals-only to a vocal piece, starring the art-named Hanatometo (花徒めと).
- Jumpstyler F.R.O.G., from the nicknamed Invader (). I couldn't find any social feed for this one, so we're left with just the couple of songs being submitted last year by the same individual: Virtual Empire -TAIKO- Battle BGM and Connection Lost ~GABBER Adventure.
I leave you for now with a couple more entries that are here on a more-personal-opinionated nature rather than just the usual "pickings-at-random" approach, two that have to be singled out for different reasons whether it's for good or bad intentions behind thier making...
- Saino! SIREN!! Feat. Hatsune Miku (才能! SIREN!! feat.初音ミク), from Hirohiro Kito (鬼頭 宏大). I wanted to bring this one up more as a 'public service' kind of deal, as the title blurts out 'feat. Hatsune Miku' suggesting the Vocaloid's voice contribution for it... but there's no vocal track down whatsoever!
I mean for my Lokamp coin this already is the best 'feat. Hatsune Miku song ever', but if the author happens to be reading this very page, go revise your submission with the one with the planned Hatsune Miku voice- you only got 3 days from now, after all!
I mean, I'm sure that this was a mistake made in good faith, unlike... - Symmetric Relation, because I sure love USAO's Knight Rider! I mean, this isn't as egregious a partial plagiarism attempt as someone else posting the unaltered Suuhaa 2000 for one of the CreoFUGA contests (no, really, that happened!), but we're inching dangerously close there. Just browse for the song's title on the contest page and hear it for yourself.
