Are you ready to get your obscure-album-hunt on? If so, then you’re ready for RE:Danganronpa ~Super Danganronpa bitbitbit TKD Remix~!!
To clarify, this is an arranged album for Danganronpa 2, originally titled “Super Danganronpa” in Japan. It was originally released at Comiket 83, and has since become a hard-to-find item. This is a shame, because it is the only true arranged album for any Danganronpa title to date — most of the others are drama only, and there was one for the first Danganronpa that was a mix of drama, OST tracks, and a few arrangements. Here, however, are 45 minutes of pure arrangement.
And what style is the arrangement, you ask? Here’s a hint: “bitbitbit.” Some of these songs are fully 8-bit, others integrate 8-bit audio with more sophisticated synths, and a few are more 16-bit software emulation as opposed to 8-bit hardware emulation. In any case, what we’re looking at here is Masafumi Takada self-arranging by way of demake-remake, which we may as well call deconstruction-reconstruction.
The opening track is a wildly fun arrangement of the instant classic opening/main theme of the Danganronpa series. You know those haunting ethereal female vocal parts? Yeah, those just got turned into reverberated square waves. But all is not 8-bit here: give it a chance to repeat, and those haunting voices make their appearance. It is as though the song is evolving in its very soundscape over time. In fact, many songs (not all, but many) on this disc use this formula. And it works every time.
I was especially impressed with the track “IGYOU.” It would have fit right in on the Danganronpa 2 OST, given the smart layering of “old school” and “modern” instrumentation. In any case, it’s a great dance track, right up there with some of Shoji Meguro’s best tracks for the Persona franchise. Yes, I mean that.
You will not find this CD in the usual outlets. CD Japan, Play-Asia, and others do not carry this album. Should you want to add it to your collection, you may need to seek out a middleman service, find an individual that can place bids on Yahoo! Japan, or even search for this album at the latest Comiket event. If you like Takada’s work, and you really like Danganronpa, this is a CD you’ll likely treasure. That said, given the nature of the cover art and the recent resurgence of the format, perhaps this album needs a vinyl reprint…
