Hi guys! It's been a while, but I'm back to feature the upcoming denpa related music releases for C86!
This entry is only the first in a series to feature what's on the way!
Albatrosicks triumphantly returns after 2 whole years of silence with their 10th album, "DEKKAINO". And don't forget, they're also doing a live performance on 2014/09/15! The crossfade sounds promising.... This is gonna be a big one!
Kurimiya Maron is no stranger to DnS, (At the very least, you should remember her track on HOTO-graffiti, or maybe from her teaming up with らめる for Love Live cover group ラブライバル) but since her CDs are mostly only sold at her lives, they have been pretty hard to get a hold of... But she WILL be attending C86! Check out track 4 "Secret☆Diary!!" Word has it らめる will also be there to help sell the CD! If she brings her other CDs, make sure to check them out, in particular 追憶のフリューゲル is recommended if you already heard 仮想現実のシューティングスター.
Toromi brings us a children's music themed CD of self proclaimed denpa songs. Any Toromi CD is pretty much a must have so be sure to check it out! ベイビー・レモネード once again takes over the arrangement / composition duties on this one, with the other tracks by "the usual" あいかわらずな.
Also, although it's not a CD, any fans of Toromi's awesome music are probably also fans of her awesome artwork. She's also releasing an original manga, 「ササクレ」, so why not pick it up too?
Another Puchirizm release, another set of masterpieces from our favorite composers and vocalists! On the composer line up, we've got さつき が てんこもり, U-ske, かめりあ, 柏木るざりん, まろん, and of course かたほとり.. and more! Joined by the lovely voices of kana, 片霧烈火, 桃箱, なゆ, ココ, ゆきまめ, まめこ, miko, なつき/ねこめ/ほたる（ of おでんぱ☆スタジオ）, and ななひら (of course!)
ちぃむdmp☆ is back with their 7th full album, and usual it's packed with goodness, with lots of great composers backing up this super duo. 山下航生 of double eleven uppercut, まろん, かたほとり, オワタP... and more, of course!!
A deadly denpa duo that's definitely gonna leave a mark on denpa history! Composer かめりあ and vocalist ななひら provide every track on this album, with old favorites, new tracks, and remixes. Loving the album art too! What else is there to say? Get it!
ave;new's Sakura Saori is back with a new manga - and a new bonus CD to go along with it. It's time for the summer time adventures of her mascot, Chiwakura-san, and the manga comes bundled with a lullaby CD. Sakura Saori herself is proving the composition and arrangement too! Plus she'll also be selling a cute keychain of Chiwakura-san!
The M3 of spring 2014 hosted a suite of fantastic circles, both old and new.
The quality of denpa and moe song releases this time around was staggering!
With the recent 例大祭
also having quite a number of strong CDs, 2014 is truly shaping up to be
an incredible year for denpa fans worldwide!
First of all, a short introduction: I’m fruitcake and I’m an Australian
currently on exchange in Japan for about a year. M3春 was my first 同人音楽 event,
and it was honestly one of the most memorable days I've had since coming here!
Because of the sheer quality of the releases, I decided to write up a mass
review of my purchases!
A lot of albums have finally been added to online stores fairly recently, so
the time is ripe to send in a batch order if you haven't already! Foreign fans
can use proxy services like Goody Japan,
FromJapan or dv8cag.
I've used the first multiple times with no hassle and have heard great things
about the latter two!
At any rate, here are the albums I bought at my first ever M3!
Row 1: おでんぱ☆スタジオ「メインヒロイン(仮)」
The first four albums make up what I’d like to call ひろて～'s
gauntlet ... boy, was he busy this M3! Being directly responsible for three of
the albums here and a contributor to the fourth deserves massive props, what a
heroic effort!
First up is the new, ゆなfocused single by おでんぱ☆スタジオ.
Of the two songs included the first is new: a bouncy, fun song bound to make
you pay attention to ゆな
– it seems like she’s (temporarily) conquered her lack of presence that
has caused so many problems, like in the 2012 song 「LOVEってなんだ!?」スペシャル!!
It's thematically similar to the ゆるゆり
character song 「私、主役の赤座あかり」 and
just as good! The second is a remix of one of my personal odenpa favorites, ろり☆ぱんつ.
Great single, and I have a feeling that we're going to be getting more singles
focusing on each おでんぱ☆スタジオ
character. Fun times ahead!
えんじょぃ「えんじょぃ☆えんじょぃ」 えんじょぃ’s first single 「ごきげんよーじょ」
was one of my most anticipated C85 releases, but I wasn’t able to listen
to it because it wasn’t sold in stores! Luckily, the two tracks from the first
single feature in えんじょぃ’s
fantastic first album. There are a lot of recognizable names in the staff list:
odenpa’s ひろて～and ほたる, 33. turbo’s いのっち,
遥風啓司¸ 木下いちご,
星野あず(You might
recognise her as AZU from the holic service vs. birdtune album).
All the tracks on this album are incredible, from the slower paced childrens’
choir-style 「まほうのおはこ」to the highly energetic title track 「えんじょい☆えんじょい」 and
super catchy 「未来の申し子」. 「おふろ de しゃぼん」is
also a fun entry in this incredible CD, where have I seen that naming scheme
before?!! This loli-style album was definitely worth every yen, and I'm eagerly
looking forward to whatever えんじょぃ pops out next. I fully
expect every coming release to be just as thoroughly enjoyable as this one.
Twinkle 「ぱじゃま deあ・そ・ぼ 」 Wonder duo Twinkle release yet another glorious single! Last time around it
was school uniforms – this time the theme is pyjamas! ちょこ and
みるく
wearing matching pyjamas and handing me this single while exclaiming ありがとう、お兄ちゃん～
was one of the most memorable moments of M3 for me! The first and last
tracks are the fast-paced, highlight addictive tunes that I'm sure everyone has
come to expect and love from Twinkle (and the middle track is extremely cute
too!) Personally, 「ぐどもにもーにんっ☆」is a strong
contender for the 'best denpa song to set as your alarm' award, which I made up
just now. Waking up to Twinkle every day? Sounds good to me!
The first mini-album from the newish duo うさみみりぼん! I say newish because they've actually released a song together two
years ago, from Zero-Shaft's 「なつぴよ」! うさみみりぼんwere actually one of the first groups to release a
crossfade for this M3, so their album was at the top of my mental checklist! All four songs have
sufficient amounts of denpa and are, to be frank, catchy as hell! ひろて～makes an appearance in the first track, it's the
peppy and upbeat song you'd expect from him. The highlight of this mini-album
for me, though, is 「Program
Error」, a song with plenty of interesting, futuristic, ピコピコsounds as well as a great bass line and extremely
cute chanting. It's slightly off-kilter, which means it's the perfect amount of
kilter! I'll have to keep my eye on かそかそfrom now on, hopefully he decides to make some more
similar songs. Incidentally,「Teleportation」is quite similar to 「Program Error」-
this mini-album truly is loaded full of impressive tracks! Buy it quickly while
you can, I can't recommend this enough!
とろ美 「艦これ やりました。」
It's a holy union of the two main とろ美circles, とろみせ屋さんand ぷねうまレコード. ひろて～’s
gauntlet sort of continues
because his good friend ベイビーレモネードsomehow makes an appearance here (which means that
even astromyu- is represented in this album!) Don't let the kancolle theme
dissuade you if you haven't played it, because I sure haven't and I sure as
hell enjoyed it regardless. Mainstay あいかわらずな's tracks are, as usual, fantastic. 高速なブラ's track,「奇跡の駆逐艦雪風ちゃん」is also dangerously incredible – it reminds me a lot
of 「僕の仏陀のプロペラは、素晴らしきかなメイドインニルヴァーナ」from one of とろ美's
了法寺albums. All in all, a great album worth checking out
especially if you're a fan of ぷねうまレコード's style of music as it does tend to lean more to that side more than the とろみせ屋さん side.
STAR CROSSED LOVERS - STAR CROSSED LOVERS 2!!
Second demo of STAR CROSSED LOVERS, a rock band with vocalists by 井上みゆ.
Not much to say, the second track is pretty cute.
If they'd ever meet, あかりんand ゆなwould certainly be the best of friends!
Row 2:
Confetto - 「らぶちゅ！」
Put together ココ, ななひら, 11 songs and a suite of
fantastic composers: what do you get? A must-buy album, らぶちゅ！We've
gotten two 桃箱/ななひらreleases, but this is the first
time for this particular combo. かめりあleads the
lineup with an energetic, high-tempo song,「アメリカ語Supar
Lectyaa」which
features some cute English. What I really want to know is how かめりあmanages to keep churning out absolutely amazing songs (and he's
showing no signs of slowing down!). Speaking of continuously churning out
amazing songs, かたほとり's 「そんなんじゃダメダメ」is incredible: it seems
like a かたほとりsong with ダメダメin the title
is a recipe for success! Recently I've been listening to Task's contribution
quite a bit: 「ななひらさんだいすきのうた」. It's a glorious composition which features
ココsinging a love song for ななひら, with energetic 合いの手by ななひらherself. The ending is guaranteed
to melt your heart! It's nice to see veteran SAM/samfree with a track. It's also nice to see はるばなcompose more 同人音楽songs, I've
been following him since his song on minamototrance's Sparkle of Voices – and
the song he composed this time around,「狙えイチコロ☆アサルトくっきんぐ!」is one
of the craziest on the album! Truly, everything about this CD is amazing, from
all the songs to the familiar BGM used the drama tracks. Definitely worth a
buy.
桃箱 「ふあふあガールフレンド(仮)」
Not one to be outdone by her partners from Shaking Pink, 桃箱releases yet
another solo album! This time it's a collection of image songs from a smart
phone game「ガールフレンド(仮)」.
Spearheaded by 華飯, this album is fairly similar
to 桃箱's last album 「ぴぃちぼっくす」.
Check out the insanely amazing song 「フレンチ★KiSS desuyo.」by
ざにおwhich has been uploaded to youtube (embedding doesn't seem to work for this video, but please click it - you won't regret it!) Familiar names muhmue and ニゴロウround out
the roster. 桃箱also sings a song in a mature voice
– although we've heard her mature voice several times before it's still as
surprising as ever! All the songs here are fun and a blast to listen to, this
CD is a welcome addition to my 桃箱collection!
Buy online: toranoana, melonbooks ポヤッチオ「HOTO-grafitti」
Bask in the slap-bass, catchy choruses and cute vocals! It's a かたほとりsolo album! Included are new かたほとりsongs, songs
from previous releases and other circles as well as remixes of older songs with
new vocals! The vocaloid remix selection is great – みかん汁sings「ヒミツのキモチ」, which was actually a submission by かたほとり for the oreimo ２ ED songcontest. ななひらcovers the classic 「ぎゅ～っ☆とね」...
for the second time (the first was in a 2009 ポヤッチオalbum, the
Five Sisters Story). This time around is a bit more peppy, great song! Shaking
Pink also play backup for 松下in another vocaloid
cover, the extremely cute「隠れオタクでごめんなさい」.
Speaking of groups playing backup, three of the おでんぱ☆スタジオ
girls show up to support 桃箱 in the incredibly catchy 「ふぉ～りん↓だ～りん☆だるまおとし」...
I'm honestly shocked that I hadn't heard that song before listening to the CD!
Anyway, the highlights of HOTO-grafitti for me are probably the original songs:
「SUUDON盛ル☆テンカス」sung
by ななひら
is an energetic tune that maintains a high tension from beginning to
end, just my type of song! The final track, 「シグナル:ラブパワー」is
probably my favourite... the vocalist list is truly ポヤッチオ top
quality: 愛原圭織, kana, 内緒妹, ななひら,
ひなうさ,
桃箱.
There's no way you can go wrong with singers of that calibre, and the song
delivers: it's an enthrallingly cute track with adorable singers, all wrapped
in the nice ribbon that is a かたほとりcomposition. Bravo!
(Also, anyone who hasn't heard the ちぃむｄｍｐ, Honey Came Lab and プチリズムsongs
included in this CD should probably do so as soon as possible).
Buy online: toranoana, melonbooks 末広アンテナ 「ラブギガヘルツ」
I don't think this was originally an M3 release, but it's really good so I'm
including it. This was actually sold out by the time we made it around to さつきがてんこもり's
booth, so we went to Tower Records after M3 to buy it. It was cool to see
someone picking up the CD before us, hopefully more denpa singers can get their
albums sold in mainstream CD shops! Anyway, as I'm sure everyone already knows
this single is by the new idol unit 末広アンテナ-
ななひら and
有野いく. The
single itself is amazing, and both songs were uploaded quite a while ago on
youtube!
「ラブギガヘルツ」is
unfathomably addicting, and has great lyrics to boot. It has the perfect amount
balance between the vocalist's voices and the instrumentals, and there are
numerous subtle shifts in tone that make me keep coming back to the song! 「うるせえ黙れ」is
just as amazing - I have a soft spot for repetitive choruses, and while I'm
usually not a fan of 'wubby' instrumentals it just works in this song
(actually, it seems to natural work with a lot of denpa songs). It's worth
buying the single for high quality and y0c1e's sweet remix.
MOSAIC.WAV 「2015年に起こること」
Yet another mindblowing single by MOSAIC.WAV, it's sort of amazing how they
can still pump out incredible songs one after he other. In all their years of
activity, has there even been a period when they seemed weak? I guess not, and
the new song in this single is just as amazing as any other MOSAIC.WAV song!
It's one of the type of songs with a rolling, endless amount of energy that
doesn't slow down one bit, and it features super enthusiastic chanting.
It feels sort of like a mixture between 「洗脳・搾取・虎の巻」and 「SPACE！WAVE！AKIBA-POP！！」but I guess comparing it to previous songs doesn't do it
justice. Grab it when you can!
Buy online: Mosaic.WAV eStore
Wisteria Magic - 「マリナVS メカマリナ」
As a foreign denpa fan, Wisteria Magic is one of the circles that I haven't
been able to listen to much (read: at all) because they don't sell their songs
at online shops! It's a mixture of drama tracks and songs sung by 藤原鞠菜about the defence of
earth against mecha enemies. I haven’t had time to properly listen to the album
in full yet, but I love conceptual CDs so I'm definitely going to sit down with
the booklet sometime and listen to it properly! The actual songs are great, 「メカマリナのテーマ」is
a fun song with a lot of interesting electronic sounds and a cool chorus. 「so
much, too much, but I want it!」is a fast-paced song rock song, I
really enjoy the guitar in it! I fear for my wallet, I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up buying a lot of
Wistera Magic's older releases next event.
Row 3: denpa*garden 「早く二次元になりたい!」
It's been a while since denpa*garden's first mini-album,「HEROINES」. Since
then, both ほのかand らいねhave contributed to last years' awesome album, 「Parallel Honey」. In 「早く二次元になりたい!」they
finally sing together, and it... is... amazing! The omnipresent 塚越雄一朗 busts out the tile track, yet another highly
addicting song that features compliments ほのかand らいね's vocals
with a wicked electric guitar and lyrics I'm sure everyone can identify with. I
love how it captures the alternative feel of 「Parallel Honey」while the
second track, titled 「アンチヒロイズム宣言」,captures the jumpy, catchy mood of the two faster
songs of 「HEROINES」. It's no surprise that the composer of 「アンチヒロイズム宣言」and the two aforementioned songs from 「HEROINES」is the same:
frequent denpa contributor ニゴロウ. All in all, this is a stellar single and one of my
favourites from this M3. Full album when?
Zero-Shaft 「ちびキュート！」
Zero-Shaft didn't release any full-length original albums in 2013 so I was
pleased when they announced「ちびキュート！」. Notable tracks include
long-time Zero-Shaft composer ねぎとろ's bright, peppy contribution with
なゆ「Let`s☆Botti」,
as well as the extremely cute duet by りこ。and ゆきまめ, titled 「幼妻教育ダブルLOVE!」.
しのalso pops out a sugary
tune sung by ななひら「春爛漫私色キャンバス」, which is a perfect start to the album and
sets up the sweet, happy mood that Zero-Shaft always goes for! Another
important mention is 小宮真央's cover of the memorable「ダイエット☆ガール」which
originally featured in Zero-Shaft's 2012 album, 「あどれっすんす」.
Buy online: toranoana
ぉこランチ! 「ぉこランチ!」
The amount of amazing duos that showed up to this M3 is actually pretty
mind-blowing, now that I think of it. Every duo I've mentioned so far (Five,
count them!) have had incredible releases, and 「ぉこランチ！」is definitely no
exception! This cute pairing features がきコ, who you might now from her work
on Zero-Shaft as well as her solo mini-album released last year. The other half
of the pair is すずしろ, who I wasn't aware of beforehand... or so I thought!
According to a good friend, she's sung as ののな, who you might also
recognise from Zero-Shaft!
Anyway, all five tracks on this mini-album are very good! The three tracks
with both girls singing are all upbeat and fun songs. Two of these, 「WEEKLY→WEEKLY」by
むちゃand 「働いて勇者おにいちゃん」by
かたほとり,
serve as a strong one-two punch to lead the album, which had me hooked from
the get-go! Task's song this time around is his catchy style of arrangement
that always reminds me of colorpop, good song ! The final track is by U-ske and
it's everything you'd expect from him – a feel good, unfathomably cute song
that is easy to relax to. すずしろ's solo vocals are perfect for his
style of composition! All in all, a great mini-album and hopefully the start of
much much more.
Buy online: toranoana 夏冬TOHKA
「ACT」｜「Trial」｜「denpa la mode」
The first is actually a collaboration between three different circles, but I
haven't really listened to it much! Same deal with the second CD here, a 夏冬TOHKA
only mini-album. None of the tracks really jumped out at me after the first
listen, sorry! 「denp
a la mode」isn't an M3春release, but I decided to lump it together with
the other 夏冬TOHKA albums here. I've actually listened to the
crossfade of this one quite a bit (ever since C85)! It warmed my heart to
finally be able to listen to the CD in full, and what a CD it is! All 3 tracks
grow on my every time I listen to them, and they all have their strong points.
I love the small build-up to the final chorus in the third, 「Heart
burst」.
Definitely a feel-good song. 木下いちご's 「クライアントの問題」is
very catchy, and the great duet「〆〆ダイナマイト」has a really nice
atmosphere, complimented by a great percussion line. I hope夏冬TOHKA
decide to release more similar CDs!
When I went to Tokyo I brought with me a small suitcase filled with clothes
and food – When I returned back to Osaka it was full of music, manga and other
related goods! Trip successful!
Row 4:
33.turbo 「電波deわっしょい♪」「ガチムチかるた」
You can always rely on 33.turbo to make some great denpa, and this
festival-themed CD is definitely no exception! As usual, いのっちand なおひらhave composed a host
of high quality songs, like the energetic「カーニバルフェスティバル祭」and 「キャベツまつり」.
The second half of the latter song is crazy, I love it! (Also both songs get a
cover by the usual 33.turbo male vocalist. Glorious as always!) The excessively
cute and catchy cat composition「ごはんは猫の最大のイベントです。」also deserves a
mention, it's absolutely addicting! This may be a bold statement, but I'm
starting to think it's one of the cutest songs that 幼女A has
sung! It's the type of fun song that I'd gladly play over and over again.
Actually, I'd gladly play the whole album over and over again – every song is
up-tempo and a blast to listen to, beginning to end! 「ガチムチかるた」was
an extra CD with a lot of 5-8 second tracks, all random sentences. They're
pretty funny, and I think they're meant to be for a karuta variation or
something? Not too sure.
Apparently there were only 15 copies of these brought to M3! 第二生徒会室is pretty hard to buy
without going to events, so I was happy to be able to pick these up as well as
an older album. The first is a mix of various 第二生徒会室songs, the flow from track to
track is nice! The second are three cool instrumental songs. I really like the
home-made feel of these CDs – they were pretty much hot off the plate when we
got them, and we watched the titles be written onto the discs with a marker
before receiving them!
香花すうとピンキーロケッツ「おにいちゃんだして」
This band has a really, really nice alternative-rock feel with a little
splice of denpa/anime-style song thrown in. I actually went to their booth
because I sampled one of their older albums and liked it. The M3春release was alright,
but to be honest I think I prefer their older releases! I feel like this is one
of those CDs that might take a while to grow on you. Anyway, good news is that
you can get their older works on bandcamp.
Hell, you can sample all of the songs in full for free. Take a listen and buy
the HQ if you enjoy it.
ゆりあ*「YURIAPOT type EURO*」
To be honest, this CD didn't really do anything for me when I listened to
it... until I reached the third track! It was actually the reason I wanted to
buy it (because of the cross-fade), I just had forgotten!The single is worth
buying for「LOVEってぺったん肉球」alone, it's an enjoyable
denpa composition with plenty of cute sounds and an infectious chorus! The
other two tracks are by no means bad compositions, so you might like those too!
Buy online: Amazon
Row 5: Lilith Lolita 「MirrorDoll」|はにーみるみる 「HONEYGIRL」 浅倉小春is half of Lillith
Lolita and is the solo vocalist for はにーみるみる, which is why I picked these
up. Of all the songs here, I really like 「からふるはーと」from 「HONEY
GIRL」.
It's the fastest of the lot and a sweet song. The spoken word sections are
incredibly cute, and the chorus is fairly catchy! An enjoyable listen.
Alternative Ending 「One」
Not really denpa or moesong so I won't write much here, but I liked this
much more than I thought I would! miko's voice never ceases to amaze me and all
three songs are very cool. 溝口ゆうま's compositions compliment the full range of miko's serious
voice!
Buy online: akibaoo
テンカツ！「テンカツ!テンショクカツドウ」
Great first release by this new unit! The CD is very enjoyable, especially
the tracks where all three members sing together. 「Rainbow
in the sky」is a very solid starter to the album, and I really enjoyed
REDALiCE's bright composition「make me HAPPY!」. It's
not exactly often that it happens, but it really is nice to listen to a happy
and fun original composition by him. The bonus track「働きたくないでござる」by
溝口ゆうまis amazing and probably
the highlight of the release for me. So much energy!
Buy online: melonbooks しなもんしゅがー☆「サクラ☆レボリューション」
This is a circle I've always read about but have never had the chance to buy
from because the albums aren't available at online shops! I'm truly glad I've
finally gotten a chance to buy しなもんしゅがー☆'s 'soft denpa'
singles, of which this is the fourth! The first song,「サクラ☆レボリューション」is a
ear-catching track with a great, catchy chorus... and the single only gets
better from there! The next song「SUN!SUN!決闘!イライラを越えて輝く太陽よ」is
an exquisite composition that is a brilliant listen from beginning to end– the
tempo shifts from a high-tension, breakneck speed to a calm dolcissimo (and
then back again!) are amazing! I love the electronic sounds scattered
throughout! The final track 「ちゅっちゅっちゅちゅるるる」is
very alternative, yet another addictive track and great composition. The song's
title is repeated frequently, and it's been thoroughly hammered into my mind! I
love it! All in all, a fantastic single – I wouldn't have minded paying 4 or 5
times the 300 yen it cost me!
仲村芽衣子 「こいなか ～ぎゅっしてハピネス～」
Opening theme single for the Game 「こいなか」.
The OP song is a feel-good, catchy song that is very easy to listen to. There
isn't much else to say, it's just a fun song! A pleasant acoustic was also
included.
MIA:
Birdtune
and Holic Service couldn't make it to this M3, which made me a little bit sad
because I was probably most excited for their releases! The silver lining is
that we have more awesome music to look forward to in the future! In addition,
the space was being used to sell previous releases, so I ended up buying a CD
and got a sweet ナナノ☆マジカル poster as a bonus!
ねこじゃが actually
made it to M3 but their new album wasn't ready in time! A sizable queue formed
at their booth about half an hour before the end of the event, it was quite
intense waiting with everyone wondering if the album would arrive (it didn't!).
Again, at least we have that to look forward to!
Extras:
So on top of all the new releases I was tempted
at every other booth or so with a host of older releases! I actually just ended
up buying most things I felt like, which was a huge blow to my wallet, but it
was worth it! Finally getting my hands on physical copies of
masterpieces like 「アタラセカイ」
and 「ちびロリっ!」made me
feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In addition, I at long last managed to complete
my Zero-Shaft Princess Vocal Collection!
In short, M3 is basically a vortex that sucks in money and spits out happiness.
I'd go every time if I could!
After a long wait since their last album purely dedicated to denpa songs, IOSYS delivers to us 『はいぱぁ電波これくしょん！』. To be released on May 5 at this year’s Reitaisai, the title, a clear reference to their album released in 2009 『 ワァオ！ハイパー電波チャン 』, already foreshadows its quality. All the songs are arranges from Touhou BGMs most of them in very ingenious and original ways, adding a new and crazy flavor to the old songs you’ve listened to a lot if you play the games. There is a slight predominance of Perfect Cherry Blossom arranges but most of the Windows games are represented with the exceptions of Imperishable Night, Unidentified Fantastic Object, Double Spoiler and, surprisingly enough, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. The real treat comes from a triple arrange of Highly Responsive to Prayers BGMs’ on the 11th track, a game that still needs a lot more love in the arranging scene.
The staff is truly amazing: miko, ななひら, とろ美, ちよこ, 大瀬良あい, 柏木るざりん, t+pazolite, beatMario, ココ and DJ SHARPNEL just to name a few! But arguably the thing to look forward to the most is a new collaboration between ARM and 桃井はるこon the first track マスパでシュッ☆メイドウィッチまりさちゃん. This is the second time they work together since the song ハッピー☆マテリアル on the album 『more&more quality RED ～Anime song cover～』. This compilation brings us all kinds and styles of denpa songs: dazzling and glossy, vocally enthralling, aggressively addicting and completely nonsensical. There are even full jokes like having a choir of sin sacks singing to their beloved Yukarin or Hatate talking to gods and toilets. A great catch for whoever wants a good taste of the contemporary denpa scene.
The "little moe-denpa series that could" is back on December 31st 2013 with an amazing eighth volume 「プチリズム∞」 that brings in a few surprises! The big news is that miko (yes, that miko!) has a song for all you meat-lovers out there, courtesy of かたほとり who I'm sure is quite proud of this achievement. とろ美 is back for a second プチリズム appearance, this time backed by しの (and lyrics by ひなうさ!). Quite a few interesting songs and singer/composer combinations, hear for yourself!
不思議の国の３姉妹
ひみつの放課後アイドル
ドレミファソLOVEなきもち
素敵なはにぃ・たいむ！
私の料理で世界はきっと幸せになる
ランナーズ・ハイ
twinkle star
カレーおいしいのうた
TOKIMEKIおにく☆カルビレーション
よふかしノエル
Love,,,very important…
SHAKING PINK have the opening song, a mysterious-yet-splendid figment straight from the imagination of 塚越雄一朗 who has yet to disappoint me. ななひら teams up with y0c1e for another アイドル song, another sure-fire winner. ココ working with task is nothing new (I think!) but what's that, lyrics are from 久猫あむ? I love that girl! Another mindblowing combination is ぺこる＆ココ with beatmario's ultra-hyperactive friend 狐夢想. I love that guy! Once again this is a must-buy ポヤッチオ album, get it from Master Katahotori at Comiket for a bonus tote bag.
Hey guys, Mandi here. For a long long time I've been meaning to write reports of concerts and events on here, but every time I simply take too long and never finish writing until the event is so long gone, no one would care anymore. Well, I'm gonna try and change all that now by TRYING to keep things short and sweet. So, sorry if I don't have complete set lists or tons of photos every time. I tend to write a lot so the articles might still be kinda long, but I'm just going to focus on my highlights and forget the small details. I hope you'll like reading my impressions on different events and get a little taste of what it's like to attend them anyway!
Akiba Daisuki Matsuri is becoming an Akiba tradition, taking over Bellesalle for 2 days in the summer with vendor booths, shows, robots, and of course lives and idols. I attended this time mainly to see Toromi, Metropoly V and Momochi Minami on MC. Ryohoji also had their own booth where you could buy Toromi's CDs and Ryohoji's various goods.
When I first arrived, Toromi, Metoko, and a bunch of Akiba maids from various cafes were perfoming uchimizu to much fanfare, with tons of photographers swarming about. (Mini video here.)
First up was some members Backstage Pass, and I noticed back stage Momochi Minami (Who was the MC for the event) was dancing along with them. Officially Momochi is a member of Backstage Pass too, I wish she could have performed with them. Towards the end, two of the members broke out into otagei to show their Akiba pride which was pretty cool. Once their part was done, most of their fans left, leaving the audience much smaller for Toromi up next, unfortunately.
Toromi once again performed along with Metoko instead of Kikouden Misa, but I love Metoko so either way I'm happy. Lately Toromi is super busy not only with her manga, but also with the Ryohoji cell phone game available on android and iOS, so she doesn't perform live much anymore. I was really happy to see her on the stage once again. They started out with 如来16, then なむ×きゅん and finished up with 寺ズッキュン！愛の了法寺！, a pretty typical set list for a Ryohoji themed performance, though a little short. While Toromi was bonking people's heads for 如来16, Metoko decided to bonk some people with her syringe. When she bent over to bonk me, a bunch of ultra orange glowsticks spilled out of her bag and off the stage! She scrambled to collect them and couldn't figure out how to get back on the stage at first. It was pretty funny. Needless to say she gave up on anymore bokusatsu for the rest of the live!
(Yes, this was the best photo I could get of the stage!)
As for the lives themselves, most of them were very cute and great dancers, though not exactly my thing. A strange thing to note was how few of them were based in Akiba. WE LOVE even came all the way from Nagoya! Speaking of WE LOVE, they performed some pretty awesome acrobatics. The fans cleared a big runway through the venue, and one of them got off the stage and did crazy hand flips all the way through the crowd. Gotta admit, that was pretty impressive!
After it was all done, Momochi tossed some candy she keeps stowed away in her hair decoration into the crowd, and I got some, woohoo! (A guy caught it right in front of my hand, but then gave it to me anyway! How kind!)
Creative spelling!
By the way, unknown to me at the time, the whole event was live broadcast on Youtube! Plus, the live itself is uploaded in full in glorious (??) 240p along with lots of other stuff from the festival. If you just wanna see Toromi, skip to about 1:37:00 in the video! (By the way, I stood right near the camera man, yet was mysteriously not captured on film at all. Whew...)
Another terribly blurry shot from me, but you get the idea!
7/27/2013 マーベルエール単独公演 Vol.2
As most readers are probably aware of by now, I'm a big fan of idol 森永まみ (Morinaga Mami), and by association, support the company that produces her, Marvel Yell. Recently, Marvel Yell started a new series of independent lives. Usually their lives focus on lots of varied performers and collaborations, but these lives focus solely on their own idols, and are great for their fans as they cover songs of other Marvel Yell idols, past and present. Not only is the event reasonably priced, you get a discount on your first visit, and a point card to gain free photos and other goodies with the more you attend.
This was only the second time they held this event, and my first time attending, so I got a nice discount. As usual, the crowd was super fun, and the idols delivered various kinds of performances with lots of variety. The performances were split up among all the idols so they only sang a couple songs each at a time, allowing them to return again with costume changes. The scheduling of the event can't go unmentioned - on the same day as the huge idol festival TIF, which Marvel Yell was turned down from. It was nice to see their fans chose this event over the larger one.
Of course for me, the highlight was Mamipyon's performances. Her group numbers were great, and her covers were 椎名セイカ's 夏色エール (Natsu Iro Yell) and a slow song by Sakuragawa Himeko (Sadly I forget the name of the song! Forgive me! I warned you these reports aren't gonna be perfect!!) Her solo songs were the hot blooded 「16才」 and her signature number 「トルネード」. However, her best highlight may have been her comedy performance. She performed an absolutely hilarious skit about trying out to be a mahou shoujo. Definitely her best comedy skit yet that I've seen. Check her blog to see her outfit from the skit as well as her other costumes.
As usual for a Marvel Yell live, the stage was decorated nicely.
There were 2 new performers, 西野めあり (Nishino Meari) and 佐藤愛佳 (Sato Manaka). Sadly, they both must have gotten a little too nervous during their debut and forgot the lyrics pretty badly, with Meari even asking for a re-do and starting again from the beginning. As expected, the crowd was still very supportive. Honestly, considering they both had the same problem, I'm more likely to question their management than their skills. I wonder if they were given adequate time to practice? Anyway, I'm sure they'll get better with time.
Next to Mamipyon, my favorite in Marvel Yell is probably ソラ豆琴美 (Soramame Kotomi) aka Kotomyu. Calling herself 「アキバのうたのおねいさん」, she always delivers a cute and fun performance, and I love her song 「いっしょにあそぼ♪」, though she didn't perform it this time. At one point in one of her songs, all of the fans back up to the back of the venue and then dash the stage. One of my friends shocked me by doing a forward flip and rolling to the stage instead of running! What made it even more hilarious was Kotomyu mimicked him and did an awkward half roll maneuver on the stage. I just love that free and fun atmosphere.
Mamipyon photo was free with pre-registering for the live, plus Kyuuri CD.
The main MC for the event was the always hilarious 二階堂彩 (Nikaido Aya.) Her obsession with cucumbers causes the crowd to break out in green colored lights. She had a new CD focusing on her love for cucumbers called 「それがいちばん！～きゅうりはきゅうりで～」. The title just sounded SO denpa, I knew I had to buy it, even though she didn't sing it during the event. After listening to it at home, I have to say, it is pretty denpa, but her deep voice isn't what you usually hear in denpa songs, so it feels kinda different than I expected. Her voice is probably more suited to cool songs, even though her personality is more on the silly denpa side.
After the live was over I got to talk with Mamipyon and get her to sign the pre-reg bonus photo. Sadly the CD I wanted to buy was out of stock, but they said they'd bring it next time. I also got Nikado Aya's autograph and talked to her for a bit, she seemed a little disheartened when I admitted I didn't really care for cucumbers, so I told her I'd try to get used to them. (This is true though, I really am working on it!!) She said she had heard about me from Mamipyon which was nice.
Ok, that about wraps things up! Hope you guys enjoyed it, look forward to more live reports in the future!
