New ULTRA-PRISM anime OP「侵略ノススメ☆」

Big Brother 小池雅也 and his latest pupil 月宮うさぎ have upgraded from small potatoes eroge to prime-time TV in less than a year's time, as their quest for OP domination continues. ULTRA-PRISM (and don't you dare drop the caps!) released their first album 「inspiration」 in August 2009, followed by a single in March 2010 as well as a bunch of gigs throughout the year. Overall, their self-described "2.5Dpop" sound isn't too far removed from Koike's previous (UNDER17) and current (MOSAIC.WAV, でんぱ組 inc.) undertakings, which is great news for fans of the genre.

But for the latest song 「侵略ノススメ☆」, aniki trades in his trademark black suit and capskull for a sailor's outfit (somebody call Ryo Hazuki). The anime series 「侵略!イカ娘」 (Invasion! Squid Daughter) begins October 4th 2010 and looks like a fun time. Somehow I'm getting a Muteki Kanban Musume vibe from the opening sequence... anyone else? Gotta love that little Dragon Quest sequence!

On a completely different topic, denpanosekai.com has been kind of slow with the updates since C78. We will try our best to cover M3-Fall 2010 with a comprehensive round-up post when enough information's out there. Doujincore said they cover the event so we'll make sure you know what denpa must-buys should be on your list. All this to say that we do have some other articles coming up, but until then please subscribe to our twitter feed (@denpanosekai) for your daily denpa dose.

「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?

Lucky Star OP remixed by 柏森進 and 小池雅也

Both of these songs actually came out in mid-2007 as part of the 「もってけ!セーラーふくRe-Mix001〜7 burning Remixers〜」 compilation which came out on Lantis, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway. Neither song particularly showcases both composers as extraordinary remixers, yet they're interesting takes on a soon-to-be anime theme classic. This first one is 【―うんだかだ～教の野望―】 from Kayamori-san or Kayapi as he's lovingly referred to by his Japanese fans.

The second one is by Koike-aniki and is called 【祭みっくす！】 with guest vocals from 白石稔 (Shiraishi Minoru),

As a bonus, listen to another Kayamori remix, available as one of the many 狂乱家族日記 image songs.

If Pikachu was a hot anime chick...

... this would be the show's intro:

Actually this fan video was created as a promo for a webcomic called 『サ ト×ピ カ』 (Sato and Pika). It uses MOSAIC.WAV's 「ガチャガチャきゅ～と・ふぃぎゅ@メイト」 which originally was used as the intro to the game 「ふぃぎゅ@メイト」 but later remixed in 2007's "Future-Fiction: AKIBA-POP!!". The theme, along with Love Cheat!, is definitely one of their most popular creations. In the fan video, you can spot references to many games and anime series, Pokémon of course but also "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni", "Lucky Star" and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure". But ultimately what makes this video so interesting is that the original MOSAIC.MOV creation featured the game's heroines in capsule balls; the concept is all but a shoe-in for a Pokémon caricature. For comparison's sake, here it is.

I'm not a big fan of eroge but I'd be a liar if I said these intros don't make me want to play the games!

MOSAIC.WAV @ 「Animelo Summer Live 2008 -Challenge-」

2008 is clearly shaping up to be MOSAIC.WAV's biggest year so far! Today, they announced their participation at the two-day ANIMELO live event on August 30-31 2008, possibly the biggest Anime music concert out there since it first started in 2005. The event is already sold out: over 10,000 fans are expected to gather at the Saitama Super-Arena and with good reason too! Look at that crazy list of artists and singers which will appear on stage. Among others: 桃井はるこ, GRANRODEO, miko (from IOSYS/Albatrosicks), THE IDOLM@STER girls, 石川智晶 and the motherfucking JAM Project!!! Note the absence of any I've Sound members, which is surprising considering their strong Shakugan no Shana contributions. To be fair though, I don't think they ever participated in the previous festivals. Final observation: previous Animelo concerts had live DVD releases... so this should mark MOSAIC.WAV's first official DVD appearance!

MOSAIC.WAV's 6th single 「超妻賢母宣言」 and more!

Some huge news from the MOSAIC.WAV camp today! First of all, it was officially announced that the sixth single would hit stores... tomorrow! That's April 23rd if you can't be bothered to do the math. It features the opening theme of 「狂乱家族日記」 (roughly Frenzy Family Diary), a new anime series from Enterbrain which started airing this month. To sweeten the deal, the band and the anime studio are holding a conference event on May 2nd 2008 at Akihabara's UDX. Contents of the event include a talk show, radio recording and a live. My guess is that MOSAIC.WAV will perform the OP. Note that the event is free and that anyone in attendance deserve to be called "lucky bastards" by me. Yeah, that's a bonus you get. If the anime is anything like the theme song, then this could be one for the ages. It's probably out there and subbed, but I haven't had time for anime lately (make that the past 4 months). I am also looking forward to hearing the B-side, 「ねるがよい」 because as we all know, MOSAIC.WAV don't F around with B-sides.

Speaking of the F-word, another thing at which they excel proficiently is eroge theme songs. The most recent hit in their young career comes in the form of an OP for 「リリカルDS」 (Lyrical Dramatic Stories, nothing to do with the Nintendo money-printing device) This is a visual novel/erotic game that will hit Japanese PCs on June 27 2008 (May 30th for the Premium edition) While I just linked to the youtube video, the OP is also available in lo and hi-fi flavours. Obviously the Marmalade site is very NSFW (pr0n or not, that pink background would be suspicious either way) but otherwise, head to the download section and pick up the demo file (theater does not feature the OP) Now while the song won't make my top 5, the animation is extremely well made, and tha'ts just from watching the lo-fi version. The video itself doesn't contain b00bs or anything like that, so go ahead, grab it and show it to your mom.

Third big news, as you could guess from the previous picture, is that full information concerning the 2nd live has been revealed. The process of obtaining a ticket looks particularly energy-draining, but their management has gone to great lengths to detail the whole procedure. I quickly googled "Club Citta" and it does indeed sound like the rather large hall they promised their fans, with a standing capacity of 1300. This can only mean one thing in my mind: MOSAIC.WAV RAIBU DVD. You read it here first!

And get ready for some real exclusive content... not just hopeful wishing...

「ドルアーガの塔 〜the Aegis of URUK〜」 online and FREE

Despite a few nods to die hard oversea fans, the Japanese anime industry has never been in support of fansubs, not to mention its worldwide distribution counterparts. Some studios have even gone as far as serving cease and desists to bittorrent trackers, a clear case of swatting a fly with a machine gun.

Enter Gonzo Studios and their most recent work, "The Tower of Druaga - the Aegis of URUK". I have been anxiously awaiting this new series since it was first announced in 2007. Not only did the initial trailers feature high quality animation, but it just happens that I am a huge fan of the video game series of the same name as well. I have spent countless hours on the most recent iteration, 2004's "Nightmare of Druaga", which was Arika/Chunsoft's way of reviving a classic game with their proven "不思議のダンジョン" formula. The older arcade and PC-Engine versions were absolutely brutal and I actually don't recommend anyone try these, if only to get your butt handed back to you on an 8-bit platter.

Gonzo dropped an absolute bombshell when it was announced that the first episode would hit the internet at the same time as the broadcast - for FREE. Not only for FREE, but with FULL ENGLISH SUBS. I am absolutely, positively flabbergasted. Is there a precedent for such thing? I believe not but hopefully one of my better-informed readers will pop in with some related information. Anyway, I'm still under shock. First, the Montreal Canadiens made it to the playoffs, now this?

Now of course this doesn't entail that the whole series will be posted in such fashion, but given the structure of their youtube channel, all signs point to more episodes to be posted online. Could this be the start of a new era, where anime studios assimilate fansub groups by beating them at their own game? According to AnimeNewsNetwork, Gonzo are giving another new series of theirs, Blassreiter (sounds evil/German) the same treatment.

About the show itself, I haven't even watched half of it as I am not currently home and I prefer watching anime on something larger than a 15.4" laptop monitor. What little I did see greatly pleased me however, as the show seems to poke fun at many stereotypes and clichés that surround adventure and RPG games in general. I didn't expect this sort of approach, I figured this would be a lot more straight-forward fantasy anime, i.e. no green roper alarm clocks and ska-themed OP. Kind of like how the Ar Tonelico, Tales of Phantasia and Ys animes were true to their respective games. Regarding the opening theme, Murasama's "Swinging", at first I was completely all like OMG WTF, but given the satirical nature of the show, I guess it's a good fit. Not unlike Yousei Teikoku's MagiPoka OP, which at first was a studio mistake (they ordered a denpa song and got goth metal), but worked out just fine in the end.

アニメ検討 - げんしけん2 (Genshiken 2 Review)

I love anime, as you can probably imagine, and one of the many things I love to do is to pull an all nighter and watch episode after episode until I ascend to anime heaven and just crash when the multiple Red Bulls have no more effect on me. Of course with Real Life^TM and old(er) age taking their toll on me, that rarely ever happens anymore. But with the recent holiday break we've just had, I couldn't miss the opportunity.

The original Genshiken was a big hit with me. Not only did I love every bit of the anime, but I also went crazy for the Kujibiki Unbalance theme song and by association, UNDER17. Without wanting to spoil too much, Genshiken has but a simple premise; it follows the "adventures" of a bunch of Japanese teenagers who are part of an anime club. I say "adventures" because it mostly revolves around criticizing anime, playing videogames, cosplaying, going to "Comifes" and so on. But the real meat of the show is the exploration of various issues attached to the otaku lifestyle; issues such as interpersonal relationships and (lack of) confidence in oneself. The first season sort of had a hero in Sasahara Kanji who learned to accept himself as a hardcore otaku in the end, with the help of his newfound friends.

The second season uses the exact same formula, except now we follow the heroine Ogiue Chika who absolutely despises Otakus even though it is obvious she is one. The rest of the cast now take on much more serious endeavors; as many of them are set to graduate, the job hunt is on. And they are not content with simply going to Comifes anymore, instead we follow them as they go through not one but two group publications. Every single detail is as true-to-life as it can be. Again, I don't want to spoil too much, but new relationships are also explored. The Kasukabe X Kousaka couple's limits are also pushed to new extremes; if you thought she had it bad in season 1, you've seen nothing.

The later episodes also introduce two new characters, Sue and Angela, two American Otakus who join Genshiken as guest members for a short time. Both of them were Ohno's friends when she lived in America and they showed up at the last minute for Comifes. Most of their manners are considered rude by the Genshiken crew but they try their best to accomodate them, as most Japanese people are wont to do. Note that every little bit of Engrish was spoken by Japanese VAs, so the end result is simply hilarious (the internet agrees). The writers definitely wanted to leave no stone unturned this season as yaoi manga is also explored in great detail.

That's it for the review, short as it may be. I'm now off to watch the SHORT CIRCUIT II Premium Show IN TOKYO DVD which came out at Comiket 73. Another short review coming up. Until then, watch the glorious Genshiken 2 opening which parodies Gundam Seed with amazing precision.

すもももももも～地上最強のヨメ～ OP1+OP2

Sumomomo Momomo: The Strongest Bride on Earth (すもももももも～地上最強のヨメ～, Sumomo mo Momo mo ~Chijō Saikyō no Yome~) (wikipedia entry) is a fantastic anime that I am in the process of watching, so I won't comment on it for now. What I will do however, is share with you the two wonderful opening sequences, with music from none other than MOSAIC.WAV. What I find interesting here is that we get to hear a more natural and feminine み～こ (miiko, vocalist) especially when compared her other songs. The music was also obviously written with the setting of the series in mind, with instruments such as the Shakuhachi and Biwa being heavily featured; both synthesized of course. Since the two songs are fairly recent and definitely most excellent, I think this bodes very well for the future.

OP1: 「最強○×計画」 Saikyou○×Keikaku



OP2: 「切情！佰花繚乱」 Setsujou - Hyakka Ryouran

タイトル曲PV - AKIBA-POP the Future 低解像度

Yes, this PV (promotional video) is already an oldie for some (it did come out in September 2007) but given the young nature of this blog and the introductory mood I'm trying to set, I still think I should link to it. Besides I will take frequent trips down "memory lane" since denpa releases are so few and far between and no solid English information exists about them. I've already talked about MOSAIC.WAV in my previous post and I will definitely keep talking about them in the future because they are simply on top of the denpa food chain. I will eventually come around to building a complete artist profile, but for now enjoy this virtual trip through anime Akihabara.

You can download the video in all of its high resolution glory at Holyseal.

電波の世界にようこそ! Welcome!

Welcome to Denpa no Sekai! Although I've been using the Internet for the past 10 years, this is my first blog. I've been looking for solid denpa music resources and I've found none so far, so I thought, why not go ahead and create one? Having reviewed over 500 punk, hardcore and metal records/shows in the past, I think it's fair to say I have some musical writing experience. Plus it's going to be fun trying my hand with a new style. With that said, I do intend this to be a bit of a personal blog as well, so expect to see a little of everything. In fact, here's a short list of what I intend to accomplish:

• News, articles and reviews on denpa and JPop music
• Everything Japan: the language itself, comiket, anime
  
• Video games discussion and news
  
• Slice-of-life stuff that makes my world go round such as hockey

But overall I will concentrate on making denpa the focus, seeing as how it was the motivation behind starting this blog in the first place. Speaking of which, what is denpa? We'll just have to save that for an upcoming post, won't we...