Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Wa Euro presents Tokumori Anime
Release Date: 12/8/10
Price: 1500 yen

A special, limited release featuring the best of Wa Euro anime covers. In other words, yet another excuse to reuse the same old repeats. “Tokumori” is used in Japanese restaurants to refer to and “extra large” portion of food, so think of this as an extra helping of Wa Euro. I suppose 1500 yen for a CD release isn’t too bad, but after Premier Euro I don’t see a need for yet another best-of compilation.

As I said, the CD saw extremely limited release, so you won’t be able to find it on most online retailers. It looks like it won’t be available digitally, either. What? If EMI can reuse the same old tracks, I can reuse the same old descriptions. 😛

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Wa Euro presents Tokumori J-Pop
Release Date: 12/8/10
Price: 1500 yen

A special, limited release featuring the best of Wa Euro J-Pop covers. In other words, yet another excuse to reuse the same old repeats. “Tokumori” is used in Japanese restaurants to refer to and “extra large” portion of food, so think of this as an extra helping of Wa Euro. I suppose 1500 yen for a CD release isn’t too bad, but after Premier Euro I don’t see a need for yet another best-of compilation.

As I said, the CD saw extremely limited release, so you won’t be able to find it on most online retailers. It looks like it won’t be available digitally, either.

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Premier Euro ~Download Selectiont
Release Date: 7/21/10
Price: 1500 yen

Downloads for Premier Euro are now up for sale. Pay 1,500 yen for songs you already have! I grabbed “Du-Du Di-Da” for the time being, and it’s a pretty good remix by valle blanco.

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Premier Euro ~ Best of Wa Euro Best
Release Date: 7/21/10
Price: 2171 yen

The official Dancemania website has been updated with information on Premier Euro. The track list has changed slightly since last time, with “Cat’s Eye” being expelled in favor of “Shiny Summer.” Also, “Friends” is now being listed as a “9LoveJ Premier Mix.”

The album comes with a lyrics booklet and a limited edition “premium gold jacket.”

I’m still holding out hope that Premier Euro will become a new series. The title is less limiting, which would hopefully mean Western-produced eurobeat in addition to the J-Euro.

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Wa Euro Premier Best
Release Date: 7/21/10
Price: 2171 yen

Uggh, you’ve got to be kidding me. 7 songs from Wa Euro Best, 6 from WEB 2, 6 from WEB 3, and 4 “new” songs. The first Wa Euro Best was already full of repeats, and now we have to be subjected to them again? Even worse is the fact that this best-of album is more expensive than normal.

The new songs aren’t really too new, either. “Cat’s Eye” and “Hoshizora no Okurimono” could just be the original versions with different vocals. The only song I’m looking forward to is the new remix “Du-Du Di-Da.” It better not be just a re-edit of the Red Monster mix….

I guess Natsu Monogatari is officially dead, then. 🙁

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Natsu Monogatari presents Wa Euro Best 3 -Download Selection-
Release Date: 4/21/10
Price: 1500 yen

No early release for the Download Selection this time around. Still, this one is recommended for one track alone: Summer Story!! The album price is a tad higher this time (1500 yen instead of 1200).

In the meantime enjoy the TV commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P09NfwPYs-Y

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Wa Euro Best 3
Release Date: 4/21/10
Price: 1886 yen

Wa Euro Best 3 offers up a mix of eurobeat J-Pop and Anime song covers.

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Wa Euro Best 3
Release Date: 4/21/10
Price: 1886 yen

The finalized track list is out for WEB 3. As with the previous releases, it’s mostly a mix of anime themes and J-Pop covers, though the balance seems to be in favor of the latter this time around.

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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Wa Euro Best 2
Release Date: 12/16/09
Price: 1886 yen

EMI have updated the official Dancemania website with the final track list for Wa Euro Best 2. Unlike the travesty that was the first Wa Euro Best track list, this one mostly features new songs! There are 14 brand new tracks plus an additional two tracks new to Dancemania.

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Super Euro Freak Vol. 2
Release Date: 10/09
Price: 9.99 USD

Super Euro Freak Vol. 2 is now available for download at iTunes and Hardbeat Digital. You can get it cheaper on iTunes (9.99 USD), but you can download it in a variety of formats, including FLAC, from Hardbeat Digital if you’re willing to shell out 20 USD.

If you click on the iTunes link, it may say it’s “not currently available in the US store.” If it does, then do a search for “super euro freak,” then click the Buy Album button and you should be able to get it anyway (it worked for me at least).

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Wa Euro Best 2
Release Date: 12/16/09
Price: 1886 yen

I’m not sure if it’ll still be promoted as “Natsu Monogatari presents” since it won’t actually be released during the summer. ^^; In any case, the success of Wa Euro Best — over 50,000 copies sold — means we’ll be getting a sequel in less than 5 months. And unlike the first Wa Euro Best, this one will mostly be new tracks; the early list only has 4 repeats!

In addition to the usual anime tracks, there’ll also be a number of classic J-Pop covers. I’m most excited by “Hana.” It’s a lovely song, so I can’t wait to see how it’ll translate to eurobeat. And out of all of Akiba Koubou’s vocalists, I think Shihori is the only one who could pull it off.

And yes, Rumi will be on the cover again.

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