And here we are, at the end of another year… and with the usual round up post! I don’t have too much to say about myself, so this will be purely a Buta post. Let’s start with the music stats.
Touhou songs: 8 (including rearranges)
Originals: 0
Instrumentals: 1
Total: 9
Ranko songs with other arrangers: 1 (AKA the IRON ATTACK! collab)
Comp songs with other vocalists: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Risky Melody’s single will be released next year, we don’t know if Nanase Aikawa’s song for the Kokugakuin University will even get a proper release yeah, I wrote this part before the 30th lol, and there is also that mysterious BLUE STARS song… Oh, and the new year in Japan started with a Lost Word song)
I gotta say, this has easily been one of the least exciting years of their whole career. “The most tragic,” as I have put in private chats. And when I noticed that we got ZERO original songs (not even something for some z-tier rhythm game!), I simply thought “Wow, no wonder it has been so bad.” I guess getting yet another Lost Word MV song was the most fitting way to end such a year.
The two storybooks Oshira Asobi and Obake no Sakurazome were really, really good, and the best releases of the year. I mean, there is absolutely no competition Always love Ranko’s prose and things that expand upon the worldview of a song. Plus the accompanying songs are amazing!
Itoyuyushi was the only album we got this year, and thanks to a cool someone who was at Comiket today, I’ve already listened to it. I will save my talks for the full review, but for now, I’ll just say that I’m in love with Tamashii Asobi. Translations are coming next year (tee-hee)!
And the less we talk about Best 5, the better.
The remaining songs (Makai no Yume and Miracle Object) are Lost Word-related, so my opinion will be “lost word ass” until EoSD, but I do admit I quite like Miracle Object. Then again, I do enjoy tracks with a similar vibe such as Fushi no Ikari (from Touhou Cannonball) and Rambling Magic (from Touhou Dungeon Dive), plus being not related to the MV project and also an Izanagi Object arrangement certainly helps.
Oh, and even though we got zero originals, the release of the good old original albums on streaming services was a great thing and one of the highlights of the year!
Speaking of the other stuff, Tasuki wo Tsunage, the song Comp made with Nanase Aikawa for the Kokugakuin University was a very nice surprise. You can listen to it here, and here are the lyrics + translation!
I also feel like there has been way too much focus on live activities. I get that the Pig wanted to make up for COVID ruining most of their 2020-2022 plans, but… In these last months, I have been feeling apathetic toward live stuff, and so I have become not much interested in seeing BUTAOTOME live. But my dream will always be to meet them, and that could also be fulfilled at Comiket/Reitaisai/Culosai!
As a last thing… I know I’m super super biased, but the award of best Buta thing of 2023 goes to the art I requested to Ane. Seeing Muse, my favorite character ever, drawn by the artist of my favorite circle, in an art for me… feels so unreal. But also all the details… And Ranni (my boyfriend’s favorite character ever) looks super good… This drawing still makes me happy to this day, and it’s something I will cherish forever.
I probably have sounded a bit ranty in this post. Well, I hope 2024 will be a better year. See you… then!
Violet/tiramiseさん