C78: とろ美 and IOSYS team up for Buddhist temple denpa CD

Title says it all, but when you've picked up your jaw from the floor after watching this fabulous video,  we'll explain how this all came together. Good? Good. Make sure to watch that shit in HD!

For just over a year now, とろ美 has been the mascot of the Ryohoji temple in Akihabara. Long story short, many Buddhist temples are closing their doors due to dwindling attendance and the ensuing lack of funds. But Ryohoji wasn't gonna go out with a whimper! The head monk hired Toromi after he saw her stunning illustrations and cheerful live performance. She's redecorated the park with a ton of cute signs and helps out with daily duties, such as singing Happy Birthday to Buddha and reciting the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra in her own crazy way. Thanks to her fiery reform, otaku fans from around the world come to visit and the temple seems to have become a hot ticket once again (despite getting heat from traditionalists).

とろ美  already sells her books and CDs at the temple, so the next logical step was to bring a Ryohoji temple CD to market. The idea isn't exactly far-fetched considering とろ美 is a singer first and foremost, but it's possible that the successful relationship between TOEI's mascot うじゅ and MOSAIC.WAV had some influence. A CD of her own would have been satisfactory, but she set the roof on fire by bringing in one of the the biggest denpa canons out there: ARM from IOSYS is doing the title track! He's also brought あゆ along for the ride, providing plenty of backup vocals and sexy/censored dialog. The title track is a scorcher, but the other 5 tracks are just as incendiary. In the end, this mini-album is like a molotov cocktail: first it explodes, then it fucking burns. All over our faces! 萌え～～～

C78: おでんぱ☆スタジオ celebrating summer with new single

We here at denpanosekai.com are all about supporting the little guys, especially those can pump out 13 original songs in less than a year. That's right, おでんぱ☆スタジオ doesn't depend on ZUN and his (admittedly catchy) SHMUP anthems. As was discussed earlier this year, standalone compositions and their artists deserve much more than token lip service. Besides, if you mourn the recent passing of melo9, then Odenpa should provide some comfort as they feature at least one of the members from the dearly departed 萌え duo.

One day we'll have to take a deeper look at おでんぱ☆スタジオ and its members, perhaps even an interview, who knows. For now, suffice to say that they have a hell of a good name, as well as a C77 single and M3-2010 album under their belt. In fact, it wouldn't be premature to call their album one of the must-own denpa releases of 2010. The first single is probably out of print, but you can still get the album from Toranoana and Akibaoo.

But back to the news at hand. C78 saw the release of  「おでんぱ☆夏祭り」, a summer-themed single featuring four new tracks. You can use the but crossfade player on their website, but in case Flash crashes your browser routinely like the rest of us, here's a direct link to the MP3. Unfortunately it only seems to feature 2 of the four songs, so you'll just have to get your hands on the single to check out the rest. However this was likely a C78-only release, so you better hope these songs are featured on a second album. Hell... we should all hope for a second album, no matter what!

C78: Sweet*apple なゆ falls on two new albums

なないろぷりずむ 「東方始音曲」

Nayu, nao, ayu, gumi, koko, mi~ko, miko. So many good denpa singers with such short names, but we love them all the same. But nayu's a new one, unless you've been following her niconico cover songs channel ever since she started it in July 2009. Exactly one year later, she is not only singing her first two original songs, but she is also launching her own circle Nanairo Prism, on which she is releasing her first mini-album 「東方始音曲」.

She is bringing a few friends along for the ride. Even though this is her first effort, she managed to round up some considerable guests. We're talking ゆきまめ and ななひら on goddamn vocals, not to mention the "old-timer" 紫月菜乃 for some mature back-ups. The four arrangers are also worth mentioning: the illustrious 未来派 (WTF is up with his website these days??), Rolling Contact aka 天音 (usually known for his hardcore touhou covers), ForestPireo's own ごろう and ぴーえー from Rough Time (one of Satsuki's friends). Put together, this cast makes  「東方始音曲」 yet another must-own C78 item. Here's the PV to 「Swinging Night Fantasy」 as well as the crossfade sampler.

Rhyth 「東方レボリューションＺ」

She also has a song on the new Rhyth CD entitled Touhou Revolution Z, which is their second Touhou vocal album as the name implies. Rhyth have an interesting website, looking like it was plucked straight out of the late nineties, scrolling hit counter and all. They also get nerd points for their P.S.G./PicoPico fetish and extremely cute album covers (except the atrocious first one). As luck would have it, なゆ gets to sing 「こい☆よみ」; the only "electropop" track of the album... which may or may not be the only good song depending on your point of view. Still, this is extremely good exposure for the budding new denpa starlet and we certainly wish her a long and prosperous career!

C78: Break out the shopping list, Doujincore open for business!

Comiket 78 is exactly one weekend away, have you decided which artists will get your hard-earned money? If not, better get on it quick since Doujincore are running their usual doujin group import operation as we speak. The order form was made public today and you have until June 13th to send in your list/money. This DIY business is run by some good Canadian kids, so they get Don Cherry's stamp of approval as well as mine. By the way, the "denpa watchlist" on your right was recently updated with the denpa-related C78 offerings, but it is by no means complete (let us know what we're forgetting!!!).

While their shipping/commission fees may seem a little high at first sight, don't forget this may be your only chance to score some C78-exclusive items... not to mention you won't have to stand in line for hours on end. For the record, I am considering the following items: MOSAIC.WAV 「全世界的タッチパネル」, t+pazolite feat. リズナ 「Honey I Scream!」, おでんぱ☆スタジオ 「おでんぱ☆夏祭り」, ななひら 「ゴキゲン77ﾟ↑」, ALBATROSICKS 「PARAMOUNT FEVER !!!!!!!!!!11111」 and possibly their new manga book.

Oh right, you're supposed to stick to CDs with doujincore, but if you really want something else and are ready to pay extra for over-sized shipping, then try and get in touch with them. That said, there is an other option which I've just recently uncovered: Japan Shopping Assistance Service are also going to C78. Their prices are about the same as doujincore's but they don't have an item limit or type restriction. However, I have NOT USED THEM in the past, so in no way is this website endorsing JSAS. You're on your own, but feel free to share your experience if you do end up using them.

UPDATE: doujincore will only buy from the "east"/doujin wing, so forget about that MOSAIC.WAV single or the new とろ美/あゆ/ARM mini-album (OMFG). However I have contacted with JSAS and may end up giving them a try just for these two items.

C78: t+pazolite feat. リズナ full vocal album 「Honey I Scream!」

Did you enjoy our humongous t+pzolite feat. Rizuna feature two months ago, but thought to yourself "man, it's gonna be a pain in the ass to get all these CDs one by one"? Your buttocks no longer have to suffer, since the duo from heaven & hell has heard your pleas for MOAR. Introducing 「Honey I Scream!」, their latest collaboration effort set to be released in exactly one week from now (08/14/10, Comiket 78).

There is one not-so-subtle difference here... this is a full vocal album! Up to now, リズナ has never had more than two songs on each of t+pazolite's exquisite C.H.S albums. This time we're looking at a whopping 16 tracks! Granted, at least four of them are remixes (including a REDALiCE contribution) and there's "only" five actual new songs (seven if you include the intro and the interlude). Still, this saves you the trouble of hunting down all previous releases and you get snazzy new jacket artwork to boot. Here is their animated PV for the title song.

Pretty wild stuff, right? Download the whole crossfade or stream it directly from the album's webpage. 「おやすみなさい] in particular gets two thumbs up for its creative use of cellphone ringtones. Along with the new ななひら album, this is clearly one of the highlights of this coming Comiket!

C78: Get ready for nanahira's 77ﾟ heat wave

Unless you live on the south pole (and then again), summer has been a real scorcher this far. Well, ななひら apparently doesn't give a shit about global warming as she's about crank the heat up all the way to 77 degrees... Celsius! That's a whopping 170.6 freedomheit. But don't worry, it's a "cheerful" temperature increase, so we'll all burn in hell with a smile on our face.

『ゴキゲン77ﾟ↑』 ("Cheerful 77 degree rise") is nanahira's debut album, set to be released on August 14th 2010 during Comiket 78. This is the first full-length denpa album to be announced and it is likely to be the hottest. Much like ゆきまめ and other Nicovideo starlets, ななひら mostly appears here and there on various compilation albums but never got the spotlight treatment until now. Check out the following sampler and if that doesn't work, download the MP3.

The album contains 10 brand new original songs, including a composition by さつき が てんこもり who just seems to be everywhere these days! What's good for him is good for us. There's a couple more "big name" composers such as ラマーズP (who got his own Miku album on EXIT), samfree (contributed a track to Momoi's recent remix album) and U-SKE (who started out with a song on Pico Moe 2). Nothing to scoff at here, you want these guys on your side. On the other hand, save perhaps for Satsuki, none of these dudes have a deep 電波ソング background so perhaps this album is unintentionally denpa after all, or maybe it's all due to nanahira's wild voice.

Wait, what's that?? You've never heard of ななひら before? We have actually covered her before, just very briefly. She is also known (or is that her real name? naaaah) as 奥村りお and recorded a (fantastic) song for Holic Service in the not-so-distant past. But that's about it, she's as fresh as they come. She has mostly performed on Touhou cover albums, such as the totally denpa 「starry presto」 from Halozy. She's always used a really tiny voice and mostly sung ultra-moe songs, so it's worth tracking these previous albums even if the only good tracks are hers. At any rate, crank up the AC when this baby comes out!