Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Super Anime Remix Super Best
Release Date: 7/22/09
Price: 2857 yen

First of all, that title is ridiculously redundant. Second, the font looks exactly like the font EMI used to use for their Dancemania “Super Best” releases.

Although it looks like there are a lot of repeats, a few of the songs seem to have new vocalists. It’s unclear of the tracks will be remixed as well, but it’s doubtful. After all, when Akiba Koubou did a Nagisa version of “Sousei no Aquarion” it was just the Haruka version with Nagisa’s vocals instead. 🙁

By the way, it seems that Dreamusic will be hosting a ParaPara competition of their own. Details at the SAR Official Site.

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Men’s Egg Night ~Soukan 10 Shuunen Kinen Best!!~
Release Date: 8/26/09
Price: 1900 yen

A special CD release to commemorate the 10th anniversary of, umm… something. It’s either the 10th anniversary of the men’s egg magazine (the male counterpart of the egg magazine mentioned yesterday), or the 10th anniversary of men’s egg Night, a trance party. Victor has released a few men’s egg compilations in the past, but they usually featured music from Trance Rave Best. This one seems to be more focused on psychedelic trance, however.

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egg ParaPara Compilation
Release Date: 9/30/09
Price: 2800 yen

CD+DVD release from Avex. egg is a Japanese magazine focusing on overly tanned girls and their respective fashions. No preliminary tracklist yet, but expect eurobeat and lots of it.

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Disco 80’s presents Around 40
Release Date: 9/2/09
Price: 2427 yen

Hooray for repackaged hits! This looks suspiciously similar to Disco 80’s ~R30 Euro Special~ or any of Avex’s Disco 80’s releases. How’d we go from Around 30 all the way to Around 40 in the span of two years?

By far the most interesting thing about this release is that Avex will be licensing Almighty in the form of Abbacadabra.

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We’re in the middle of summer here in the States, and it’s about time I do a little summer cleaning. Help me reclaim my lost space! Photos are available upon request. Just send an e-mail to dancemaster(at)dancemania-ex(dot)com if you have any questions.

Important note! I’ll be away for most of August, so orders must come before July 30th at the latest, unless you’re willing to wait!

Update! (August 2, 2009) As mentioned, I’ll be on vacation the next few weeks. Feel free to e-mail me if you want me to put an item on hold for you, but I won’t be able to ship anything until late August.

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Natsu Monogatari presents Wa Euro Best
Release Date: 8/5/09
Price: 1886 yen

The official Dancemania website has been updated with info on Wa Euro Best. The track list they have up has “Samishii Nettaigyo,” which appeared on Natsu Monogatari 2008, in place of “Ginga Tetsudou 999.” However, I think that’s a typo, as HMV lists “Ginga Tetsudou 999.” Other than that, not much new info, except for the announcement that the release will come with a lyrics booklet.

Actually, there is one bit of surprising news: DIGITAL DOWNLOADS! A Wa Euro Best “Download Selection” will be available shortly after the CD release. Judging by the title, not all of the tracks will be available, but this will still be the first time that EMI have digitally offered full versions of Dancemania tracks. No word yet on which tracks will be available for download. It’s just a shame EMI didn’t start doing this with Natsu Monogatari 2009 or Hime Trance Anime Mix.

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Exit Trance presents Kids Trance Land 2
Release Date: 7/15/09
Price: 1905 yen

Most of the songs appear to be from children’s anime shows, with the exception of the theme from “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends,” which looks completely out of place. Oh, and they’re also covering a BeForU song. o_O

I spot at least three repeats, which isn’t too bad, but there was a time when these compilations had no repeats. I fear the day when they end up being like EMI’s themed Speed releases, with 75% repeats.

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Exit Trance presents Dramatic Trance ~Memorial~ Dai 2 Wa
Release Date: 7/15/09
Price: 1905 yen

Another Utada song gets tranceformed. Plus, “Pop Star” gets covered for the second time.

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Exit Tunes presents Speed Anime Trance Bitter
Release Date: 8/19/09
Price: 1905 yen

Yup, another SATB sub-series. SATB Bitter will focus on “bittersweet” anime themes. No early list, unfortunately, so one can only imagine what Quake have in store for us. Somehow I get the feeling they’ll use this as an excuse to repeat “Beautiful World.” Any other guesses?

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Exit Tunes presents Stardom 2
Release Date: 8/19/09
Price: 1905 yen

Caramelldansen again? Granted, this version will be a new remix by Team. Nekokan, who are most famous for “Airman ga Taosenai.”

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King of Techno (CD+DVD)
Release Date: 7/8/09
Price: 2500 yen

The CD+DVD set is now available for pre-order on CDJapan, HMV, and Amazon. The list posted earlier was apparently the final list, so don’t expect any surprises.

shawaazu over at SEPH found a promo video for the release on YouTube:

Meanwhile, heatherinjapan posted video of a club performance on Veoh:

Watch King of Techno performance at Masuchan’s Box in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The CD will be a nonstop mix, while the DVD will have TechPara routines. If this does well, future releases in the series may include King of Euro and King of Trance.

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Natsu Monogatari presents Wa Euro Best
Release Date: 8/5/09
Price: 1886 yen

Somehow the final list looks even worse than the preliminary one. We’re only getting six new tracks. In fact, it’s really only 5 since the “Red Monster Hyper Mix” of “Banzai” is essentially the same as the Mocchi edit. Another one of the “new” tracks is an existing eurobeat remix of Nagisa’s “Come On.” There are three new anime covers that haven’t appeared anywhere else, though, plus the new Rumi Itabashi song.

There are only 20 tracks in all, so we should get fairly lengthy edits of each. A shame Misa’s “Natsu Monogatari” didn’t make it onto the final list. It would’ve been nice to hear the full second verse of the Eurobeat version.

The cover is looking pretty good, though they probably should’ve had a cartoon “Hime” version of Rumi on the cover to trick people into thinking it was part of the Hime Trance series. Heck, why not just call it Hime Euro?

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Cinema Kumikyoku compiled by Piano Master
Release Date: 8/12/09
Price: 2362 yen

The title translates to “Cinema Suite,” and you can probably guess what the theme of the album will be. There are lots of old standbys, including “Miss a Thing” and “Neverending Story.” There are also some selections from Japanese movies, however. At first I thought Piano Master would be handling the entire album solo, but the cover clearly states that it’s only “compiled” by him. If so, I’m guessing “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” will be the Standard Club version.

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Host Para Platinum ~Host Paradise~
Release Date: 8/5/09
Price: 2838 yen

Sigh. Why do they keep making these? The early track list doesn’t have anything particularly new or noteworthy. Again, it’ll be a CD+DVD set.

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Natsu Monogatari presents Wa Euro Best
Release Date: 8/5/09
Price: 1886 yen

Interesting discussion going on at ParaParaStage. It seems that DJ Yosshi, the producer of the Natsu Monogatari series, may be forced to retire if Wa Euro Best doesn’t sell well. Seeing as how Natsu Monogatari is basically the only thing keeping the Dancemania brand alive, this is very dire news. If DJ Yosshi goes, then we can say goodbye to Natsu Monogatari 2010 and effectively to Dancemania as well.

According to the thread, Wa Euro Best either has to A) Sell 10,000 copies or B) Place in the Oricon Top 100. The first thing is pretty unlikely, especially if it’s true that he wants it to sell that much in a week. As for placing in the Top 100, let’s take a look at the history of Summer Story’s highest chart placements:

Natsu Monogatari 2007 – 82
Natsu Monogatari 2008 – 162
Natsu Monogatari 2009 – 215

Yeah, not looking all that great. Super Eurobeat hasn’t even broken the top 100 since SEB 190, and the last eurobeat FARM compilation to do well was VIP Hybrid (139th place). The latest Love Para didn’t even break the top 300. 🙁

What sales are necessary to get into the Top 100? Well, it varies. Last week, the 100th album sold a little under 1,500 copies. However, a few weeks ago #100 only sold 1,000 copies. So, somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 copies is the bare minimum for Wa Euro Best to reach the Top 100.

Remember, CDJapan has a coupon for 500 yen off a 3,000 yen order. If you have any interest in seeing Dancemania continue, please consider buying Wa Euro Best.

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