Wa Euro Best 3
Release Date: 4/1/10
Price: 1886 yen
Wa Euro Best 2 didn’t sell anywhere near as well as the first WEB, but apparently it was enough to warrant a third release. Expect more pachislot, anime, and J-Pop covers. They’re really running out of Misa songs to use, though. The LED remix of “So So” is decent, but I would’ve preferred a new remix of one of her other songs.
Buchiage Parance #11 (CD+DVD)
Release Date: 3/24/10
Price: 2848 yen
Only repeats announced so far for this eleventh release in the Buchiage series.
Sakuma Euro
Artist: Hitomi Sakuma
Release Date: 2/17/10
Price: 2500 yen
Hitomi Sakuma’s first album debuts this upcoming February! It’s been over 9 years since Hitomi released her debut single, “Change My World,” but the current Wa Euro (J-Euro) craze in Japan means the time is finally right for her first album.
Samples can be found at Pony Canyon’s website.
Anime*Max presents Joshikousei Band!
Release Date: 2/10/10
Price: 2500 yen
Previously known as Anime*Max 2. The new title reflects the fact that the album will feature an amateur, high school girl band. Honestly, 2500 yen for 7 songs is kind of a rip. Tracks 8-14 comprise a non-stop mix.
The album is produced by the makers of the first Anime*Max, but judging by the samples they’ve dropped the eurobeat/hyper techno sound in favor of J-Rock.
Gal Mama Paradise Vol. 0
Release Date: 2/10/10
Price: 1900 yen
Yay! New Kei song! Even better, it appears that “Plastic Heart” will be an original song and not an anime cover. Unfortunately, the rest of the album isn’t so new, composed mostly of repeats from Victor’s back catalogue. Some of the songs are listed as “GM Edits,” but it’s unlikely that they’ve been changed in any significant way.
Oh, and it has “Stay” by Wendy Phillips. Sigh.
Gal Mama Paradise Vol. 00
Release Date: 2/10/10
Price: 1900 yen
Victor Japan have delayed Gal Mama Euro Best and changed the title to Gal Mama Paradise. They’ve also released some details on the track list. It appears that the CD will mostly have repeats from Trance Rave and Buchiage Parance.
Sakuma Euro
Artist: Hitomi Sakuma
Release Date: 2/17/10
Price: 2500 yen
Hitomi Sakuma’s first album debuts this upcoming February! It’s been over 9 years since Hitomi released her debut single, “Change My World,” but the current Wa Euro (J-Euro) craze in Japan means the time is finally right for her first album. There’ll be 12 songs included, two of which appear to be karaoke tracks.
Wa Euro Best 2
Release Date: 12/16/09
Price: 1886 yen
Today’s the day! Wa Euro Best 2 is finally out and J-Euro fans will find plenty to love. Although Anime songs once again dominate, there’s also a nice selection of J-Pop covers, including the outstanding “Hana.”
You can listen to samples at HMV: http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/3693848
Natsu Monogatari presents Wa Euro Best 2 -Download Selection-
Release Date: 12/9/09
Price: 1200 yen
In a surprise move, EMI have released Wa Euro Best 2 -Download Selection- a week before the CD is set to come out. It includes full versions of the all the songs from the CD except the two Pachislot tracks.
For those outside of Japan, you can grab the album from the Japanese iTunes store (where it’s listed as “Wa Wuro Best 2″) or Music Ocean. Thankfully, this time you can buy the entire album on iTunes for only 1,200 yen, which is a heck of a deal.
I’ll have track reviews up after I get the CD, but so far I’m very happy with most of the songs, “Para Horrible” aside (I think it may be worse than the Rina cover). There’s a good deal of variety, and the fact that most of these songs are actually new this time really makes it worth the money. “Hana” in particular turned out wonderfully.
In the meantime enjoy the TV commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Mt291pcyA
Ai Love J-Euro ~Japanese Euro Beat Hits~
Release Date: 12/16/09
Price: 1900 yen
FARM will be releasing the cleverly titled Ai Love J-Euro on the same day as Wa Euro Best 2. “Ai” is the Japanese word for “love,” so the title can either be interpreted as “Love Love J-Euro” or “I Love J-Euro.”
The final track list is almost all repeats. Track 8 seems to be a new Akiba Koubou track, however, and track 9 appears to be new as well. Whether or not it’s Quake’s Maki remains to be seen.
Yes, those last 5 tracks aren’t J-Euro. They’ll be part of a bonus “Western Euro” megamix.
Anime*Max 2
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2500 yen
This is certainly a nice surprise! The first Anime*Max came out last April and featured Eurobeat/Hyper Techno covers of anime themes. It was produced by Ventura Music, who used to be a huge contributor to the Dancemania series. Anime*Max wasn’t quite as strong as some of Ventura’s other anime-related works (Anime*Mania, Techno Pop Anime), but it was a solid enough release. Plus, it brought us the epic hyper techno cover of “Gravity,” which would later go on to be included on Natasu Monogatari 2009. The CD didn’t make too much of an impact in terms of sales, so I always assumed it would just be a one-shot affair. Apparently it did well enough for Geneon, however, because they’ll be releasing a sequel in January.
It’s not yet clear if Ventura will be returning to produce, but Geneon will be auditioning for new vocalists.
Nikonikouhaku ~Minna de Tanoshiku Asonjaimashita~
Release Date: 12/9/09
Price: 2405 yen
Previously known as Nico Nico Kouhaku 2009 – Eurobeat Japan Best. The final title is a portmanteau of “Nico Nico” and “Kouhaku.” Nico Nico, of course, is the famous Japanese equivalent of YouTube, where many amateur singers upload their own videos. Kouhaku literally means “red and white,” and I believe in this case refers to a famous singing contest in which singers are separated into red teams and white teams.
The album is produced by Akiba Koubou, currently most famous for their work on Wa Euro Best and the Super Anime Remix series. I’m still unsure if the remixes are actually new since Akiba Koubou have already done a lot of these songs, but there are definitely new vocals. The new vocalists are all amateur singers who have made names for themselves on Nico Nico.
Samples can be heard at Nico Nico: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8813797
magic -Super Model Special-
Release Date: 11/25/09
Price: 1900 yen
Previously known as “Koakuma Magic #2.” I was expecting mostly euro with a bit of trance, but it seems to be evenly split down the middle. Shockingly, they didn’t take the cheap route and license existing covers for some of the songs, so there are a surprising amount of new songs.
Gal Mama Euro Best
Release Date: 12/30/09
Price: 1900 yen
J-Euro fever continues as Victor becomes the latest label to jump on the bandwagon. A “Gal Mama” is apparently a young woman in her 20s who has a baby as a fashion accessory. Examples include Rumi Itabashi (cover model for Natasu Monogatari 2009 and Wa Euro Best 1 and 2), Tsubasa Masuwaka, and Momoeri. The CD is being billed as one that both parent and child can dance to. No track list yet, but I can’t imagine Rumi not being on it. Victor have licensed from Akiba Koubou again, so I’d expect AK tracks plus some repeats from Buchiage Parance and Speed Anime M@ster.
Pre-order at CDJapan.
Wa Euro Best 2
Release Date: 12/16/09
Price: 1886 yen
The release of Wa Euro Best 2 is fast approaching and I’ll be promoting the heck out of it until then. 
Eurobeat fans in Japan will be interested to know that EMI and Avex will be collaborating on an event promoting both Wa Euro Best 2 and Super Eurobeat 200 on January 10, 2010. The last time the two companies worked together was to promote Natsu Monogatari 2008 and 9LoveJ Super Collection.
In more WEB 2 news, the producers for the tracks have been announced. valle blanco will be responsible for the most tracks, with almost half of the album (9 songs) being done by him. DJ Command comes in a distant second with 3 tracks. Rayto only gets 2 tracks. Meanwhile, 2bad, Honmax, and plum(!!!) get one each. With Honmax confirmed, it’s probably safe to say that “Para Holi” is the same song as the one from Natsu Monogatari 2007, except with Sunplaza Nakano Kun doing the vocals. There’s no way he can do worse than Rina Ayukawa.
DanceMaster | 
02 24th, 2010| 
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