Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Utattemita Anison/J-Pop Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

As promised, I cooked up a little spreadsheet comparing BPMs, which you can find after the jump. BPMs were calculated using MixMeister BPM Analyzer, though I had to manually check some. The Anison album ranges from 160-180 BPM, while the J-Pop album starts at 150 and ends at 180 BPM.

DJ Hirocky did a great job mixing both albums, but in terms of energy Anison has a better selection of tracks. After all, half of the tracks on Anison were produced by DJ Command and many of the others were by Rayto/Tks. The J-Pop album suffers from starting off far too slow and, of course, having way too many repeats from the original album. If you’re new to Akiba Koubou, then these are certainly better options than the original Utattemita albums, but for long-time fans it’s yet another slap in the face.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Okay, EMI and AKBK are just straight up trolling now. This has 12 repeats from the original Utattemita J-Pop, and 6 of those are the same BPM as before. What the hell were they thinking when they made this? It’s a shame that all of AKBK’s “Speed” release have been so lazy and disappointing, because I LOVED the Geki Atsu! Drama Euro releases and thought this was going to be a banner year for AKBK. Instead, they’ve been running their repeats into the ground.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Somehow I got my copy a day early. I <3 CDJapan so much.

I’ll get the extremely bad, yet entirely unsurprising news out of the way first: there are no new arrangements. The slightly good news is that at least this time AKBK showed some effort by increasing the tempo of some of the songs. The minimum BPM on this album is 160, and a lot of these songs were previously in the 150-155 range, so it’s not a huge difference. However, many songs that were already over 160 BPM, including some that were already featured on the regular Utattemita Anison, are the same tempo as before. Sigh. The return of Dancemania Speed this is not. I’m working on a quick spreadsheet that compares the BPMs, which I’ll hopefully have up in a bit.

I will say that I enjoyed the mixing a lot, and it has my two most-loved AKBK productions ever, one right after the other. Oh, actually, I was lying about there being no new tracks. “Discotheque” is technically a new resing by Shihori. I don’t get why they didn’t just use the existing Prico version since she’s an utaite and would’ve fit perfectly. Also “We Are” is a resing of a track that originally appeared on Akiba Koubou presents Utatte Mita Collection Tsukareta Otoko.

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Utattemita Anison/J-Pop Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

I knew it! EMI finally came to their senses and retroactively added all of the Utattemita Anison/J-Pop CDs to the Dancemania brand. They’re now part of the “Utattemita” series and are listed just above the Natsu Monogatari/Wa Euro Best releases. The two latest releases are also currently featured on the front page of the Dancemania website.

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Tomoshibi Abura
Artist: Touyu
Release Date: 5/16/12 ? 6/20/12
Price: 1905 yen

First major album from male utaite, Touyu, who previously appeared on Exit Tunes presents Kamikyoku o Utatte Mita 5. Bonus items include a cell phone strap, mouse pad, poster, and clear file. Retailer-exclusive bonuses include special CDs, badges, and pens. Visit the official website for samples and more info.

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Exit Tunes presents Kamikyoku o Utatte Mita 6
Release Date: 7/14/12
Price: 1905 yen

I’m a bit surprised to see a new release in this series. They used to have 2 releases a year, but it looks like this will be the only release in the series this year. Participating utaite include Glutamine, Sekihan, Shamuon, and Soraru. Pretty heavy with the male utaite, actually.

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Utattemita J-Pop Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

This has 11 songs in common with the original Utattemita J-Pop, so I’m thinking it’s less likely that they’ll be straight repeats. In fact, “Return to Myself” was originally done by Sumijun, but here’s it’s listed as a Beat Charger production.

Edit: Apparently it was just a typo, as AKBK’s official site still lists “Return to Myself” as a Sumijun production.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Final list has been released, and it’s still not clear if we’ll be getting new arrangements. “Discotheque,” one of my favorite AKBK productions, does get a resing by Shihori, but the listed artists and arrangers are same as before for everything else. There are even 3 repeats from the regular Utattemita Anison. I’m even more worried that this will be nothing but repeats yet again.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Okay, now I’m convinced that Akiba Koubou have to rearrange these tracks. “Tiger & Dragon,” for example, was originally 136 BPM on Geki Atsu! Drama Euro Kizuna Hen, so there’s no way they can just transplant it as is. Pleeaaaasseee don’t disappoint me again, AKBK.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Early list is out, and so far it’s all songs that have previously been covered by Akiba Koubou. If this ends up the same as J-Mach!! I’ll be extremely disappointed. I’m convinced that they’ll have to actually rearrange these, though, because many of the songs already appeared on the original Utattemita Anison, and there’s no way they’d just reuse the same arrangements again, right? Right?!

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

The other new Utattemita release will feature high-speed versions of J-Pop classics. Unfortunately, AKBK’s similarly themed J-Mach!! -Hi-Speed Dance Mix- is almost certain to become a source of tracks for this release. Please prove me wrong, EMI.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Dancemania Speed…lives? This July will see the continuation of the Utattemita series with two new Akiba Koubou-produced CDs. This one will feature high-speed versions of Anison themes. You may remember that AKBK have their own Speed release coming up, J-Mach!! -Hi-Speed Dance Mix-, but that release has very few anime songs so I’m hopeful that EMI will commission lots of new remixes for this.

The first two Utattamita releases from EMI weren’t branded as Dancemania releases, but I’m hoping they retroactively add them and these two new releases to the series. It’d just be nice to say there’s a new Dancemania Speed release after 5 years.

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Exit Tunes presents Futsubamu -Futsudamu ni Utatte Mita-
Artist: ?? (Underbar)
Release Date: 7/18/12
Price: 1905 yen

First album from utaite, ??. Yes, that’s his name. No track list yet, but you can view some of his videos on Nico Nico Douga.

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Exit Tunes presents Ikemen Voice Paradise 4
Release Date: 12/7/11 ? 2/1/12 ? 4/18/12 ? 5/2/12
Price: 1905 yen

Wow, this was originally supposed to be released late last years but was delayed repeatedly. It finally came out this May, though, and features more of your favorite ikemen vocalists including Glutamine, Rib, Nodoame, Shamuon and Sekihan. Also features collaborations between the vocalists.

Bonus items include a cell phone strap, clear file, B2 size poster and a special talk CD featuring Glutamine and Shamuon. Maybe they whisper sweet nothings to each other? Samples and more info can be found on the official website.

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Akiba Koubou presents Utatte Mita Collection Tadanon, Okame, Takuma
Artist: Tadanon, Okame, Takuma
Release Date: 4/28/12
Price: 952 yen

Sixth wave of Utatte Mita singles from Akiba Koubou. This one features the popular odottemita trio composed of Tadanon, Okame, and Takuma. Surprisingly, it’s mostly new material, with “Tamashii no Refrain” being the only repeat/resing. The last 2 tracks are from AKBK newcomer, Beat Charger.

The single was available at Akiba Koubou’s booth at Nico Nico Cho Kaigi, a convention that was held April 28-29. Presumably it’ll also be available on tour stops during the Spring Akiba Koubou Festa.

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