The SmileVideo Meteor Shower

Say you want to go to DENPA 電刃, that crazy ヲタク (otaku) dance party in Tokyo (as seen on TOKYOMANGO), but you are way behind on your NicoNico culture? Well, this is your chance to study up!

Basically, there is a compilation of popular NicoNico Music called ニコニコ動画流星群 (niko niko douga ryuuseigun, NicoNicoDouga Meteor Shower), as it is a blast of popular songs on ニコ動 in quick succession:



There are a few versions:

1. The original:


2. With VOCALOID lyrics:


3. Orchestrated:


4. With the original songs remixed:


5. Like above but more chaotic:


6. Ronald McDonald style:


And below I have compiled a list of (almost) every one of these songs in order! Title linked to ニコニコ動画 and YouTube embeds. Enjoy!

00. 時報 - This would be a whole 'nother blog post trying to explain these. Basically, sometimes you get the time when watching ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga).


01. Star Rise - The ending theme to バンブーブレード　(Bamboo Blade).


02. 寝・逃・げでリセット！ - a song from the anime らき☆すた (Lucky Star).


03.　ハナマル☆センセイション - The ending theme to こどものじかん (kodomo no jikan)


04. caramelldansen - Best explained over at Tokyo Mango...


05. カービィのグルメレース - Did you know there are lyrics to that Kirby song (besides "drop it like it's hot")?


06. nowhere - a song from the anime Madlax.


07. チーターマン - Apparently a rap someone came up for the Cheetah Men II game theme.


08. Ievan Polkka - I've already posted this one, but hell, I love it so much, here it is again.


09. バラライカ - I won't pretend to say I understand what this is all about...


10. 男女 - A single by an artist called 太郎 (Tarou) released in late 2006. In early 2008, this nicovideo revived the song from obscurity!


11. モンタギュー家とキャピュレット家 - A movement from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" that was in a SoftBank commercial.


12. "I'm lovin' it!" Do I really need to explain this one?

13. The Last Wolf Suite - a BGM song from るろうに剣心 (Rurouni Kenshin)


14. クリアまでは眠らない - "Can't Sleep 'til I beat it!" One of the two awesome Team猫かん (Team nekokan) rock songs about MegaMan.


15. 未来への咆哮 - "Scream to the Future", an opening from the anime マブラヴ (MuvLuv)


16. エアーマンが倒せない - "Can't Beat Airman" The other awesome MegaMan song. So brilliant.


17.　メルト - An original 初音ミク song.


18. だんご大家族 - "Big Family Dango" An ending theme from the anime Clannad.


19. 風の憧憬 - Known as "Wind Scene" in English, this is a song from Chrono Trigger.


20. 雪、無音、窓辺にて。　- A song from the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.


21. you - a song from the game ひぐらしのなく頃に解 (higurashi no naku koro ni kai)


22. 魔理沙は大変なものを盗んでいきました - a popular flash video made by IOSYS (featured previously).


23. U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？ - Originally from the game 東方紅魔郷, this one has been remixed so much! My favorite is the Ronald McDonald one.


24. お嫁にしなさいっ！ - Another IOSYS production. "Make me your wife!" @_@ Very cute though.


25. ロックマン2 ワイリーステージ1/おっくせんまん/思い出は億千万 - Another hard one to explain in complete. The short version is that this the Dr. Wily Stage 1 song from MegaMan 2. The long version is that X Japan did a cover, and then someone did the linked video, and... I dunno. When culture gets remixed so much like this, it is awesome and really hard to follow! XD


26. After Dark - (Åh) När Ni Tar Saken I Egna Händer - Another one where I'm fairly confused about, but everyone calls it オナニー. Oh, nani?


27. ハレ晴レユカイ - That dance song from Haruhi, probably popular enough for you to have already heard of it. There's even a MegaMan version.


28. God knows... - Another song from Haruhi.


29. JOINT - The opening from the anime 灼眼のシャナII (Shakugan no Shana II)


30. 解読不能 - another anime song from コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ （CODE GEASS Lelouch of the Rebellion).


32. パーフェクトスター・パーフェクトスタイル - A perfume song!!! This is the version with the Idol Master characters.


33. 患部で止まってすぐ溶ける～狂気の優曇華院 - Another IOSYS creation.


34. Help me ERINNNNNN!! - Another IOSYS creation. From the CD Flowering ERINNNNNN!! Seems to have a lot of stuff going on related to it.


35. 千年幻想郷　～ History of the Moon - from the game 東方永夜抄.


36. Little Busters! - opening theme to the game of the same title.


37. 1000％SPARKING! - From an anime called ネギま！？ (negima!?)


38-39. Some songs from the Prince of Tennis musical


40. エージェント夜を往く - From THE IDOLM@STER game.


41. ネイティブフェイス - from the game 東方風神録


42. true my heart - Opening from the game Nursery Rhyme, here is the VOCALOID version.


43. ケロ⑨Destiny - Another IOSYS production.


44. YATTA! - You know this one if you have been alive sometime in the last decade. I'm actually in this video if you know where to look. :)


45. みくみくにしてあげる♪ - An original 初音ミク song by ika.


46. レッツゴー！陰陽師 - a song from the game 「新豪血寺一族 －煩悩解放－」


47. Air on the G String (nice boat)


You can now go to 電刃 without feeling too much like a 外人 (gaijin). I hope you enjoyed going through all these songs as much as I did. XD

IOSYS or Productive Fandom?

IOSYS is a music/art group that makes some awesome videos that are pretty popular on 2-chan and ニコニコ動画 (niconico douga). I think the videos are generally flash, but then they get put on YouTube and such.

Probably the one that I encountered first was 魔理沙は大変なものを盗んでいきました (Marisa wa taihen-na mono wo nusunde ikimashita). Marisa is a character from the 東方Project (Touhou Project). IOSYS generally just uses characters from Team Shanghai Alice games to make their songs/videos.

Strange connection to recently news in 魔理沙は大変なものを盗んでいきました (which has been around for a while)... at around 1:43 she says 「あなたとはちがうから」 which was echoed by 福田's whole あなたとはちがうんです thing. The comments on the ニコニコ動画 version reflect this. XD




Before I knew about this one, someone had already used the song to remix an episode of my old video podcast Yamato Damacy. Originally a 15 minute short film, this is the MAD (remix) version:



I laughed so hard the first time I saw that, I thought I was going to die. So when I found out what the song was in the background, I was already hooked.

Anyway, IOSYS will have been around for 10 years next month. Go visit their website and check out the Movies section or go buy a CD. You won't regret it.

Hatsune Miku: Virtual Idol

The title may read like a bad anime series title, but 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku) is not fictional. Well, she doesn't really exist, except for in ニコニコ動画, but she is the closest thing to a real virtual idol that I can think of.

Let me give you some background. Yamaha came out with a singing virtual vocalization program. It was released in Japan as Vocaloid. People started to make videos of it singing things, associating it with a cute anime girl character, and now all of this is exploding on ニコ動.

Imagine all those people who do karaoke on YouTube, but with a sense of shame. Why not have a virtual proxy sing songs for you. It's so meta.

I'm still amazed that they can even get a computer voice to sing. And the fact that this idol is a community created thing and not some corporation's mind control world domination plan (yet...) is something that makes me feel good about the world. The future really is here!

Here are a few of my favorite 初音ミク songs:

1. ワールドイズマイン / World Is Mine (an original song)

2.　みくみくにしてあげる♪ / MikuMiku ni shite ageru♪ (an original song)

3. Ievan Polkka

4.　ﾄｩﾙﾄｩﾙ☆ﾀﾞﾀﾞﾀﾞを初音ミクが歌って踊る / Hatsune Miku does Tunak


There are lots of covers and original songs, so go seek out your favorites!