Original post (free)
Part of a series of posts where Ane talks about the albums featured in the Ura Best.
This is our 2nd Touhou arrange CD.
[Gensou Homo Ludens]
Ranko no Ane here.
The obi tagline says “Touch me gently. Then, hold me.”
What’s “then”? It’s mysterious.
Comp came up with it.
Title/Concept
At the time there were a lot of people who had their brains eaten by Nico Nico, so they thought Homo Ludens was “homo related”, but it’s not, it’s the homo from homo sapiens… Homo Ludens’ definition is that the core of human beings is play, which is supposed to be outside the bounds of human life…
Quoting “Homo Ludens: An Attempt to Define the Elements of Play in Culture”
(Author: Johan Huizinga)
- Play is free, is in fact freedom.
- Play is not “ordinary” or “real” life.
- Play is distinct from “ordinary” life both as to locality and duration.
- Play creates order, is order. Play demands order absolute and supreme.
- Play is connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained from it.
These are the five formal characteristics of play. In addition, functional features include “fighting” and “acting”.
Doesn’t this remind you of danmaku fights?
This is why we decided to draw the “playing gals” in the fantasy world, or well, that was the premise.
Cover art/Illustrations
I drew and designed it myself, so I have a lot to say about it, but I wanted to create a quiet atmosphere similar to a portrait. For this CD, I drew all the characters in profile.
Here is the poster.
They look so good when put together. I did the “think about the design first” part that I couldn’t do for the first album. Well, it’s a normal practice to think about the design first in advance, isn’t it?
I made an effort to make each expression different, I hope I managed to do so.
Nitori has positive eyes looking toward tomorrow, Alice’s introversion turns into aggression, Sakuya stopped to think where things are supposed to be, Keine is melancholic and long determined, Aya is lost in her personal world, Yukari “exists”, Renko has a bit of omnipotence, and Merry is asleep.
Design
I created a logo for each song.
I had to think about each piece properly… Yeah, I can feel the reminder that I need to do design properly.
- Gensou no Satellite: dirty backpack tag
- Toki Tomare: open birdcage
- Kyoushuu: impression of a nostalgic and retro packaging
- Haruka Tooi Sora no Koe: writings on a film. Boundless thoughts towards the sky.
- Unmei no Wa: movements of water being sucked into the center
- Ashita mo Haremasu you ni: movement of sparkling feelings that make every day fun
- Nani mo nai Mori: hard font fight! With stubbornness into luxury
- Higashi no Kuni no Waltz: music coming from the eastern country, spilling out
Yep.
Is this article too long?
I’ll continue.
MV
One of them was later made by other people, so this album has three videos.
It’s amazing.
As I write this article, I’m thinking that I stopped making videos because I let my interest in them fade away. It would be better to make something instead of being sullen.
This is the music video “Gensou no Satellite” that I asked some people to produce.
Original: Tenkuu no Greenwich
Video production: smlifcatic
Support: Yoohee, Yu Sasaki, Kitsune, kuma, Yusuke Fujishiro
The logo was made by Kitsune, who drew the illustrations for the “Ningen ga Daisuki na Kowareta Youkai no Uta” music video.
This song, including its video, has been used multiple times in rhythm games and… It’s like… I’m really glad that it was made.
I wrote the lyrics, but… The first thing I did was to listen to the melody of the song by ear, without any temporary song, and it was so difficult that I couldn’t even sing it out loud… When I wrote the song, I was completely focused on meeting the word count, and it became a very overwhelming song, but now I’m used to listening to it, and Ranko has sung to death, so it’s not overwhelming, it just feels normal…
I’ve been thinking lately that this is one of the interesting things that can come from a derivative work. I wouldn’t be writing the lyrics to an original song, as it probably wouldn’t have the same melody.
Also, I think it’s interesting to see people who are pushing themselves.
“Haruka Tooi Sora no Koe”
Original: Muken no Kane ~ Infinite Nightmare
I made this video. Since this was a CD published for the M3 event in May, I wanted to give it a fresh feel for that time of year… That’s what I recall. I don’t know if it’s refreshing now.
And there is also an MV for “Higashi no Kuni no Waltz“. But it’s not on YouTube…
It’s stop-motion with clay. This is a scene from filming.
We needed a chorus, but didn’t know what to do… The members sang it, so the poor quality is real.
Ura Best songs
Nani mo nai Mori
Original: Ningyou Saiban ~ Hito no Katachi Moteasobishi Shoujo
Unmei no Wa
Original: Unmei no Dark Side
Both of them have an austere elegance… I’ve already written the commentary on the Ura Best booklet, so I’ll skip this part…
Conclusion
It’s been… It’s really been a long time. I’m rather attached to it.
I was able to reconfirm that I like this kind of antique austerity. At the time, I was really worried that all the colors were not bright enough, but… Well, I’m still having trouble with that…
Usually, I’m not very emphatic, but this CD has… something…? Close to empathy, and I was able to confirm that I can still feel it. I’m not sure what that something is… It’s unclear.
An observer’s… Perspective? Not a dream woman, but a dream house plant or something like that…
I’ll continue these reminiscent talks for a while.
Please continue to follow along.
Ranko no Ane