「ピコ萌え！Future8bitシリーズ3」 coming out soon

How soon? November 27th 2008 to be exact, according to amazon. What we're talking about here is the third album in the "Pico Moe! Future8Bit" series of anime themes covered with the 8bit style we all crave. Obviously, publisher Pi Corporation took a huge clue from momo-i's popular Famison series and roped in a multitude of talented chiptune arrangers and seiyuu actresses in order to beat her to the third punch. Famison Vol. 3 might never happen at this rate, but this new PicoMoe series (vol. 1 & 2 came out in April and August 2008 respectively) is a more than capable contender, given some of the big names they gathered and extremely positive reviews across the board.

Unlike momo-i's two offerings, Future8bit does not exclusively concentrate on anime themes from 20-30 years ago, but rather a sizable mix of old and new, starting from 40-year old 魔法使いサリー (known in Canada as Mini-Fée, please tell me I'm not the only one who watched this growing up) all the way to the recent fan favorite bloody-gone-ecchi Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan. Take a moment to listen to these two songs as well as more on nicovideo to realize that they aren't cheap nostalgia cash-ins but respectful and high-quality 8bit takes on timeless (or soon-to-be) classics. So who exactly is going to work on vol. 3 and what songs will be on it? Here's a handy chart. Let it be known that the Chobits theme song will be nothing short of fucking glorious.

Name / Anime / Arranger
1. 鉄腕アトム / 鉄腕アトムより / vin-PRAD
2. スイミン不足 / キテレツ大百科より / 林ゆうき
3. 未来形アイドル / ＶＳ騎士ラムネ&40炎より / テント
4. Let Me Be With You / ちょびっつより / Voltage Controlled Fascination
5. コンディション・グリーン ~緊急発進~ / 機動警察パトレイバーより / kz
6. 男と女はパピプペポ / ＮＧ騎士ラムネ&40より / デッドボールP
7. 創聖のアクエリオン / 創聖のアクエリオンより / baker
8. Welcome！ / デ・ジ・キャラットより / the music laboratory cube
9. ラムのラブソング / うる星やつらより / ヒゲドライバー
10. ロ・ロ・ロ・ロシアンルーレット / ダーティーペアより / KAY
11. おっとどっこい日本晴れ / 秘密忍者隊ニャンキーより / no reason
12. 銀河で直立歩行 / 天地無用！！より / Ruchi
13. YOU GET TO BURNING / 機動戦艦ナデシコより / KOKO-MIMI
14. メンチ・哀愁のボレロ~食すのね / エクセルサーガより / undisclosed
15. 異次元ストーリー / ウイングマンより / undisclosed
16. FC版Packaged / Re:Packageより / undisclosed

Notice who's doing track #9? That's right, higedriver, same dude who's also co-producing Saori@destiny's upcoming album. Until volume 3 comes out, you can sample all tracks from Vol 1 and Vol 2. No word at this point on whether or not the DENPA group will repeat their generosity in providing the first 100 in-store purchases with a free remix CD as they have with the release of Vol 2...

Hey chibitech... you reading this? Why the heck aren't you on that lineup bro?