Beatmania / Anime Fever!! anime song remixes

A lot of Beatmania CDs were released over a decade ago, featuring music that was never in any of the games (as far as I am aware). I own some of the CDs - the ANI-SONGS remix CDs. Some of the tracks are pretty bad, barely paying any resemblance to the original song and often featuring ill-fitting rap segments or whatever. Some of the tracks aren't at all bad, though. It varies from track to track, CD to CD. Overall, I'm glad that I own these remix CDs. ^_^

Most of the tracks are covered by artists whose names I don't recognise, but they also got Mizuki Ichirou to cover "Cobra" (as in, the TV theme to Space Adventure Cobra), Lupin III Ai no Theme (Lupin III '78 ending theme), Mazinger Z, Soratobu Mazinger Z, and Getta Robo. (If you're interested in finding them, search for the CDs with the catlaogue #s KMCA-42 and KMCA-30).

Away from that, separately, in 1993 there was an arcade game by Konami called 究極戦隊ダダンダーン - Kyukyoku Sentai Dadandarn (or "Monster Maulers" outside of Japan). The theme song in the Japanese version "Tatakae! Dadandarn" and is one of the last recorded songs that Masato Shimon ever sung, and is fun to listen to. ^_^ The version in the game is different from the version on CD! If you are looking for the Dadadarn CD, look for the catalogue number KICA-7627 and good luck because I can't find a copy - I found the song "Tatakae! Dadandarn" on a Konami game songs compilation album.

I also read that there was a remix version, like the beatmania remixes. I couldn't find which CD it was on! .... until now!

Anime Fever!! Vol. 2 contains the elusive remix of "Tatakae! Dadandarn" (闘え!ダダンダーン/ Ventura & Fastforward feat Masato Shimon), and I'm so happy about it I thought I'd tell the world. ^_^ The CD catalogue number is KOLA-32 and you can buy it by following the link above. A lot of the other tracks are present on the beatmania CDs I own, but I don't mind... much. -_-;

I think I might get a copy of this beatmania ANI-SONGS CD as well. It contains some classic shoujo themes, and I think it's the only one readily available that I don't own... beatmania ANI-SONGS MIX "Meisaku Douga REMIX"

Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun

I also bought a copy of "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun", which is the biggest-selling 7" single of all time, in Japan. Possibly still the biggest-selling single, depending on which reports you read. (Some stories report that Utada Hikaru has overtaken this in sales thanks to downloadable singles being counted in the charts).




Being the biggest-selling record ever, 4.5 million copies sold, there are tons of copies around (even for a record from 1976!) so mine only cost $1.99 ^_^ I already had a copy of the song on a compilation CD, but it's symbolically nice to own a copy of such an important record.

It's a bit like the story of the gingerbread man, it's a short children's song animation. You can watch it here

Every day the baker makes taiyaki and it gets eaten. One day, the taiyaki gets bored of this, gets into a fight with the baker and decides to escape, and it goes off and swims in the ocean. It has a nice time there, lots of fun swimming about, but eventually it gets hungry. So it looks for some food, and sees a worm hanging about in the water.... some old guy fishes him out! What a surprise! So he gets eaten.

There's a live version here too:
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=XPHOOBLL

Hooray for Masato Shimon! Isn't he great? Why is he surrounded by businessmen, clapping? Well, it seems that the reason this was such a big hit was not just because it's a great song, but everyone in Japan could relate to it as a metaphor for working life.

...isn't that somewhat depressing? I guess it depends on your interpretation.

Apparently due to contracts, Masato Shimon didn't make much money out of this at all. :( The record company made enough profit to build a new building just from this one record, though.