It's Ranking Dojo update day and while we're cooking up the First Fideo Portal with today's fiends, here's what lied at the end of this year's 10-Dan course. Can't talk about one of those without the other, after all!
Donkyo Likelihood cosMo@BouSouP vs Kaneko Chiharu
鈍響ライクリフド／cosMo＠暴走P vs かねこちはる
| Game | Genre |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC Nijiiro (Y7) |  | ★4 184 | ★6 302 | ★7 529 | ★10 1059 | - |
200
donkyo (Donkyo Likelihood)Kassei Likelihood cosMo@BouSouP vs Kaneko Chiharu
活声ライクリフド／かねこちはる vs cosMo＠暴走P
| Game | Genre | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC Nijiiro (Y7) | | ★5 265 | ★7 391 | ★8 680 | ★10 938 | - |
150-240 kassei (Kassei Likelihood)Strong of the experience from the players' reception towards the Nijiiro-era Ranking Dojo trials (and arguably some questionable inclusions of old Ranking Dojo songs with an Ura from yesteryears), the Taiko Team played their hand quite differently when it came to the Taiko franchise's 25th anniversary. Top-tier donders might be realizing that on game centers today, but the stems were already planted with this year's 10-Dan reveal treatment, with a ruse in the making since last Spring's Taiko Team livestream...
In that occasion, the first stretch of 2026's main Ranking Dojo was largely unveiled and the Namco Original Donkyo Likelihood was already paraded as "the new 10-Dan song", complete with their makers' impressions. Already this was a time for overall firsts in the recorded Taiko annals; it was going to be the first "artist vs artist"-subtitled song ever released (never mind among Originals!) and it was also the first time a 10-Dan artist would be featured in another 10-Dan challenge, with cosMo@BouSouP behind 4+1 no Sorezore no Mirai back in 2021's Ranking Dojo. But then the RD '26 release day chimed and the song turned out to be only the second track in 10-Dan! Not only that, but by clearing it while being on range for a course clear, something even more peculiar happens: a visual effect of the screen tearing up from a purple-tinged impact, unveiling ANOTHER brand-new song, starring the same artists but credited on the inverted 'vs' order!
Even if no prior knowledge on the uniquely-emerged Kassei Likelihood was spread prior to the Ranking Dojo update day, we can still make a few educated calls on the whole situation. Based on the artists' impression on Donkyo Likelihood left on the Spring 2026 livestream, cosMo@BouSouP started with a draft based on "serious development" and Kaneko Chiharu arranged the base to his own style in a way that both artists' charm could be expressed. With the artists' listing order inverted for Kassei Likelihood, we can assume the opposite scenario for it to be true: Kaneko Chiharu coming up with a rough base draft and cosMo@BouSouP arranging it to its own liking! Another connection discussed among fans online with an high likelihood (heh) to hit the mark is the RD visual effect transition being a homage to another instance when the 'vs' artists shuffle situation has happened to Kaneko Chiharu in another music game franchise last year alongside HARDCORE TANO*C composer t+pazolite, with the yearly tournament of Sega's music games THE KING OF PERFORMAI (for maimai, to be more specific). In that occasion, the last song for the International and Japanese division of the tournament starred the songs Urosousetsu and Chuten, the former of which -also having Kaneko as the first credited artist- with a similar glass-break visual effect in its Finals' reveal video. The same Kaneko corroborated the theory on X (link) by stating how similar the dual-song-crafting situation was between last year being called to compose with t+pazolite and this year's cosMo tag team action. The former couple of composers in a vs track's making surely sounds something that's not gonna happen ANYTIME soon! ... right?
The two Likelihoods in Taiko share their affinity in title to reference the two main hit markers -DONkyo and KAssei- as well as a connection to vocal sound that is strengthened by the two-parter English Full Combo title from each of the songs: Donkyo's "Don't Fear the Echo," (with 鈍=Don and 響=Echo) and Kassei's "Cut down the Voice." [with 活=Ka(t) and 声=Voice]. Achieving the two title parts by their respective FC performances, however couldn't be any different... On one hand, a 1/16-predominant chart with generous Don servings and note streams that range from a dash-of-Kat to the ending's pure Don rush; on the other, a swing-esque 1/12-based challenge with the rim hits taking the edge on the chart's note distribution, harking back to Ignis Danse and the likes! Both Oni charts are also primate-setters on their own, in regards of the Ranking Dojo ecosystem: Donkyo Likelihoon now bears the highest amount of notes on a single song featured in 10-Dan topping Ao no Senritsu's Ura Oni, whereas Kassei Likelihood is the first song in 3 years to be the final 10-Dan song while still not going over 1000 notes, following the Ura Oni of Re : End of a Dream.
