C77: Witness the best of the rest (IOSYS is everywhere)

Comiket 77 ends today and so will our coverage with this final entry (unless we've missed anything glaring). Interestingly, most of the remaining entries are linked together in ways other than they feature denpa music to some degree... all of them can be traced back to IOSYS.



When you think of IOSYS, does the ARM/miko duo come to mind first? That may change soon, since they have another denpa unit in the works (and let's not forget the underrated Dear Chocolat series). Enter VOID/ayu and their first "solo" album 「*antipasto*」, which features 4 new tracks and remixed versions of the two Princess Party opening themes. Check out the crossfade sampler to get a good idea of what the pair is capable of.



「東方ラブストリーム」 （MP3） is C77's flagship touhou release for IOSYS, but it is also Countess Younomi's second entry in her own series (follow-up to 「東方ヘクトパスカル」 (MP3)). The four-track mini-album offers an interesting mix of gothic metal, flower-pop and hyper-moe-denpa, for serious. Calling all Albatrosicks fans: quim sings on the third track. If you're aching for more material from IOSYS's lyrical powerhouse, you can also check out 「定概テクトニクス」, (MP3) which offers straight up JPop tinged with just enough moe goodness to make it worth your time.



Date Course is linked to IOSYS too, because Countess Younomi wrote a few of their lyrics. The hypersexual trio (blame it on MILK) is currently the star of the most recent Dance Mixer DLC, but what we're mostly interested in today is their C77 mini-album-slash-eroge-single 「いちゃいちゃプリンセス！」, which compiles all FOUR of the songs they've done so far. Yeah I know, not a lot, but still good stuff. Let's just hope they'll focus on new material in 2010, now that the whole handshaking business is out of the way. The trio is also proud to announce that they've won the 2009 Moe-GameAward for best... topic (話題??) thanks to the game Marginal Skip, out of which the sound unit came from in the first place. No MP3 samplers here but you can always refer to our Under The Scope feature for all the info you need.



2-dimension is a circle from circa 2006 with quite a few earlier releases, but based on their slick new website, their C77 release 「parade」 (MP3) seems to be their "reboot" effort... and what an album this will be. The composer behind all songs is this guy "task", who seems to be the 2-dimension head honcho as well. A quick look at the album cover and the assembled talent will show you just how much flair this dude has. The miko/ARM duo leaves its mark here, although on two separate songs. More interestingly, you have cosMo＠暴走P on arrangement duties, better known 'round this blog as one half of cosMoDRIVER. Then yet another veteran shows up on vocal duties... talking about 茶太 (chata) who's been out and about since 1998 and is still kicking with tons of stuff for C77. Most will agree that she is mostly famous for her Growlanser VI OP, but the couple of denpa songs she did with her own circle ウサギキノコ sure turned me on to her music. Anyway, this looks like yet another winner even though it will probably fall into obscurity as soon as C77 is over.



Now for something even more under the radar, yet still totally IOSYS-related: a new moe-denpa duo 天然ジェミニ (shortened to tenjemi) featuring the lovely 愛原佑季 & 愛原千尋 are releasing their first CD 「東方香辛甘味」 (Touhou Spice and Sugar) (MP3) at C77. This is more or less completely denpa (or at least totally cute stuff) so it comes highly recommended from your friendly neighborhood 電波の世界 overlord. No seriously, check that shit out. The first sign of quality is that the two ladies have been featured on a number of IOSYS albums in the past, mostly on the really good ones too. Their about page has all the stalker info you need. The second sign is that さつき が てんこもり (Satuki Studio) composed the very first track of that album, with his signature deep bass groove prominently featured. 未来派 (iDOLM@STER lover) and 24 bit lolitas (likely another IOSYS byproduct) have a couple of marked contributions as well. Yes, this is another Touhou remix album, but one totally worth going out of your way to obtain (wonder how I'll be able to get my hands on this one...)



Aaaaand we're gonna end today's fun-tastic update with our good buddies at Studio Satuki. Yes I know, this isn't quite IOSYS-related, but bear in mind the previous paragraph and BEHOLD, a vague connection appears! Their C77 release 「ファミマ秋葉原店に入ったらテンションがあがった」 (When you enter the Family-Mart in Akihabara, tension goes up!!!) has a really long title, but is a little short on contents. All it basically does is collect their two most recent NicoNico hits (minus their splendid Hatsune Miku song) as well as the instrumental versions, a glitch remix of "ファミマ" and a bonus track from LOLI.COM. Hardcore Satuki fans will snap this up, but let's hope a real full-length album is on the way! A cross-fade sampler MP3 is available, but full-length versions of both songs can be checked out on our Under The Scope feature.

Under the Scope: Everyone, let's DATE COURSE get!

It's a small interwebz, and an even smaller erogeworld after all. Earlier this year I was talking with I've Sound blog owner 愛撫 about a new fishtone (former I've member) OP tune. We both concluded that the song sucked balls and that this would be the end of that. Enter デートコース (Date Course) who actually had a decent song on the game's CD (抱きしめて欲しいよ, featured below), which I didn't bother checking out because of the totally lame fishtone OP. Shame on me, but no time like the present to catch up on past mistakes.

Although Date Course only officially started sometime in January 2009, the girls have at least a decade of experience combined. It's worth taking a look at the unique lineup behind this new band, namely: 民安ともえ the veteran, みるく the hypersexual strumpet and finally 加瀬愛奈, the regular girl who wants you to fly her "to the over the rainbow". No shit, hop in my Nissan and I'll take you there. OR WILL I?!?! They don't have a particularly explosive discography to this day, in fact this page will do a much better job at summarizing everything than I ever could. Some of their songs are pretty sappy, but the good ones are upbeat and borderline denpa. They seem to be closely related to (sponsored by?) game studio MoonStone and promotional agency Dwango (home to Akihabalove Records).

Together they make for a good balanced trio capable of producing fantastic (see above), average (see below) and mediocre stuff (see キラキラッ☆-twinkle star light- on the Princess Party album). The fact that 民安ともえ/Tami/Tammy/Tomoe/whatever you wanna call her is at the helm bodes well for Date Course's future. Here's a girl who's been working in the eroge industry for the past 5 years and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. Certainly one of her most well-know album is 「TECHNORIDER TAMMY」 but right now I'm "looking" for 「アイドルKiss! 無敵ッス☆」, her latest split single with 織姫よぞら, whose deep booming voice always impressed me, considering how tiny she seems! (eyes excluded)

Here's a rather unique objective Date Course have set for themselves this year: they want to shake 10,000 hands. It's a bit ill-advised with the A(H1N1) scare we're going through recently, but it's still an clever promotional ploy. As it stands, they have accomplished a little over 80% of their goal. But with only two months to go before 2009 runs out, methinks they'll have to offer a little more than a handshake. Might I suggest みるく upping the ante with a more enticing incentive? Or... chances are they'll have something new for C77 and that will seal the deal. So let's keep an eye out for our new favourite maid trio!

Mandi noticed an interesting fact: the lyrics to both songs featured on this entry were penned by none other than Countess YOUNO, who usually writes for IOSYS and Albatrosicks. It's a nice coincidence, but I wouldn't come to the conclusion that IOSYS and Date Course are in cahoots just yet, as the dog-loving author actually does this for a living.