Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Geki Atsu! Drama Euro Deka Hen
Release Date: 3/7/12
Price: 2000 yen

DJ Command and 2bad…will not be on this compilation. Instead, you’ll just have to settle for Sugano(!), Dizzi Mystica(!!), and Y&Co.(!!!). Yup, Akiba Koubou went all out for this series, as evidenced by the latest group of guest arrangers that they’ve assembled. Sugano had mentioned on his website that he’d be doing some work with AKBK, and Dizzi Mystica collaborated with them a few times in the past, but the inclusion of Y&Co. is quite a surprise.

Elementas, Ovrar, Asahi, Sumijun, Tks, Beat Charger, and valle blanco round out the rest of the list, so you can expect plenty of variety. Vocalists include Satsy, Kei, Mi->Na, DJ Kazma, and Hiromi. There are also a number of instrumental tracks, including 3 tracks that were also covered on EMI’s Speed Deka. Kinda disappointed there’s no Rhythm & Police, though 🙁

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Vocalo Dance -Best Age! Tracks-
Release Date: 2/15/12 ? 2/29/12
Price: 2190 yen

Vocalo Dance Mania! It looks like EMI are marketing this as part of the Dancemania series, as they’ve put a special site up for it: Vocalo Dance Official Website.

The first Vocaloid compilation from EMI comes with a bevy of bonuses. In addition to a special cardboard sleeve and picture label CD for all editions, first-press copies will also come with a special calendar and fake credit card. Retailers will also be distributing B2-sized posters on a first-come, first-served basis. If you go to the URL listed on the obi strip and answer a quick survey, you can also download some special wallpapers for your PC or smartphone, though this offer only lasts until August. CD Japan says there’ll be a sticker, but there’s no longer any mention of that on Amazon or EMI’s website.

As for retailer-exclusive bonuses, Animate will be offering a special “can badge,” which is just a fancy Japanese term for a pin. Tora no Ana will also have special can badge with a different design.

I can’t help but be disappointed by the track list, though. I was hoping for new arrangements, but most of these appear to be the original versions.

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Jenny Rom Bubble Eurobeat EP selected by Jenny Rom
Release Date: 2/13/12
Price: $2.99

It’s been almost 3 years since the last new Jenny Rom song (not including remixes), but “she” returns in 2012 with a cover of the Dusty Springfield hit, “I Only Want to Be with You.” Technically, this is just a reworking of the A.Kay-BJ version from a few years back. 🙁 I enjoyed the original and like this eurobeat remix too, but can’t help but feel that Saifam attached the Jenny Rom name just to play with our hearts. The song is also available at Juno Downloads.

Anyway, there are 5 other tracks in the EP, including the United Forced remix of “www.Blonde Girl.” Come on Saifam, give us a second Jenny Rom album with new material 🙁

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Koi Euro Best
Release Date: 3/21/12
Price: 1900 yen

Final list and cover art are out. It honestly isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, especially compared to the lackluster Kiwami Euro Best. 7 repeats (or 12 if you include resings) isn’t too bad, and the fact that they stayed away from the usual Anime covers was a good choice. I really wish they had went with new Nagisa tracks instead of using songs from 3 years ago, though. Now that I think about it, lately Nagisa has been shut out of the latest Akiba Koubou releases. Hopefully she’s just busy working on a second album.

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Geki Atsu! Anime Euro Robot Hen
Release Date: 2/8/12
Price: 2000 yen

Unlike the Drama Euro releases, so far the Anime Euro songs are limited to the core Akiba Koubou producers. The scant new tracks here are from DJ Command, Sumijun, valle blanco, and Tks (Rayto).

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Geki Atsu! Anime Euro Gakuen Hen
Release Date: 2/8/12
Price: 2000 yen

Looks like Rayto (Tsukasa Baba) is being credited as “Tks” now. What’s odd is that some of the tracks credited to Sumijun were previously done by 2bad. Perhaps Sumijun = 2bad? Anyway, the new tracks are by DJ Command, Tks, and valle blanco. I was holding out hope that some of the repeats might be new arrangements, but the samples sound like the originals 🙁

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Growth
Artist: Vic:cess
Release Date: 11/23/11 ? 1/25/12 ? 2/1/12
Price: 1905 yen

Mini-album from the dance pop idol group. Sumijun of Akiba Koubou produced at least one of the songs on their first mini-album, but it’s unknown if AKBK are involved with this release. And really, 2000 yen for only 6 songs?

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Luv Euro 2
Release Date: 2/22/12
Price: 1886 yen

Updated cover art and a likely final list have been revealed. The are 5 new songs out of 18 total. That’s absolutely awful. As much as I want to hear the new DJ Kazma and Kei songs, it’s just not worth treading through the same old repeats.

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Koi Euro Best
Release Date: 3/21/12
Price: 1886 yen

Early list is out and it’s surprisingly not too horrible. There are two new Sunplaza Nakano Kun tracks planned, with one of them being a resing of “Resort Lovers.” It seems like there’ll be a number of new tracks from DJ Fukui’s Harofuku project, so this really will be like a continuation of Buchiage Trance/Parance. Let’s see if this lasts more than one release. 😀

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Geki Atsu! Drama Euro Chanbara Hen
Release Date: 3/7/12
Price: 2000 yen

There go my hopes of Sengoku Basara covers. It looks like AKBK are sticking strictly to the J-Drama theme, as the only songs announced thus far are from live-action, jidaigeki dramas. Whatever, as long as I don’t have to hear “Zankoku” again.

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Geki Atsu! Drama Euro Deka Hen
Release Date: 3/7/12
Price: 2000 yen

Early list is out, and so far it looks like it’ll be mostly new material. “Taiyo no Hoero!” and “Seibu Keisatsu” should be familiar to Speed Deka fans. No “Rhythm & Police” yet, though. 🙁 I was afraid they’d attempt to shoehorn Lupin the 3rd into this, but right now it looks like they’re staying true to the theme and sticking to live-action J-Dramas.

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Koi Euro Best
Release Date: 3/21/12
Price: 1886 yen

Breaking news! We now interrupt this string of Akiba Koubou news to bring you… more Akiba Koubou news! Somehow DJ Yossy has convinced yet another label to release a Wa Euro Best clone. This time the label is Victor Japan, and the release will be titled Koi Euro Best (Love Euro Best). The announced artists so far imply that there’ll be a few Buchiage Trance repeats. They’ll also be inexplicably sourcing a few tracks from Dreamusic’s Nikonikouhaku release from a few years ago, so don’t be surprised if “Zankoku na Tenshi no These” appears. I’m going to guess this will have 60% repeats. Hopefully DJ Yossy proves me wrong.

The Wa Euro and Kiwami Euro series have been dormant for a while now, but I wonder how this will affect the Chou Euro Best series. And how long will it be before Universal comes out with Ai Euro Best? I’m starting to think DJ Yossy has compromising pictures of all the Japanese label executives.

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Geki Atsu! Anime Euro Robot Hen
Release Date: 2/8/12
Price: 2000 yen

In contrast the mostly new School Edition, the Robot Edition is a fiery cesspool of repeats. All of the usual repeat offenders are here, including the worst offenders, Sousei, Zankoku, and Shangri-La. Gekitei gets a pass because it’s full of awesome. Oddly, “Hikari to Kage o Dakishimeta Mama” is being credited to Kohana instead of Hanatan, even though they’re supposedly the same person and it’s been credited to Hanatan in the past.

Anyway, it’s not all gloom and doom. There are 4 new tracks from Usa, Anima and Kei. 4/15 is a pretty lousy ratio of new tracks though. Excessive repeats killed the Anime Euro Best series. Let’s hope Tokuma don’t follow the same path.

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Geki Atsu! Anime Euro Gakuen Hen
Release Date: 2/8/12
Price: 2000 yen

Well, the School Edition of the Geki Atsu! Anime Euro series isn’t quite as horrific as I had imagined. There are 7 new tracks + one resing, so at least we can say it’s over 50% new material. 😀 The new tracks are sung by the likes of Kei, Ayumi, Kou-Hey, Usa, Koko on Boku, and Twin Stars. I’m still not sure who the last two are, but I’m assuming Ayumi is frequent AKBK collaborator, Ayumi Nomiya.

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Geki Atsu! Drama Euro Love Love Hen
Release Date: 1/25/12
Price: 2000 yen

DJ Command, valle blanco and Sumijun each get 2 tracks on this edition. Asahi, Ovrar, and the always under-represented 2bad get 1 track each. Surprisingly, Rayto and relative newcomer, Beat Charger, each get 3. Beat Charger is mostly known as a Vocaloid producer and also works under the pseudonym, Sankakuha P. Pretty much all of his Vocaloid productions are Eurobeat, so it looks like he’ll be a good addition to Akiba Koubou.

Running time for the album is about an hour, with the longest song coming in at 5 minutes.

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