Note: This is an unfinished article that I decided to post anyway as I don’t feel like finishing it due to my legendary laziness. Heck I didn’t even check if the links I posted are still good or not. Anyway, enjoy your reading of what I felt at the time when writing what’s below (I can’t even tell how old it is). Also, this was originally posted in April 2021 but a huge database incident recently hit the databases of the hosting server where this website is on so I’m reposting it, as the database backups I had were too old (2019).
Finally decided to write that series of articles I promised about my pick-ups for this 9th edition of the Touhou Nico Dousai. Overall, it looks like there is less and less participation and less and less interest. But that might be just a feeling. Note that diversity and variety of genres covered remained intact on the other hand with lots of disciplines and genres, as always since the beginning. And that’s what counts.
In this article, I will try to cover all music-related videos, arranges and PVs notably. Since I’m less into music than probably most of you reading this, you might find my descriptions and comments a bit evasive and vague. I’ll do my best anyway. I’d like to thank Touhousubs for constantly keeping an eye on the scene and regularly posting valuable efforts on Twitter. Most works presented are were borrowed from his feed.
The sensations
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm31449815
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm31445331
Akatsuki records’ participations. As always, high quality stuff here worth a listen. This appears to be traditional pop here with lot of strings, charming vocals and less emphasis on beats. If you’re not into EDM and prefer softer things, this is for you.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm31434906
Total opposite as this one is pretty heavy on beats. This is more like Drum and bass.
Honourable mentions
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm31373245
winn’s hybrid animation with arrange PV centred on playing “electric wind instrument”. This has been ongoing since at least 10 years and is still there. This is Touhou’s force. When passion is here, it’s here (as opposed to countless short-lived artists who move on too quickly). Still really nice to watch and listen and an experience of its own.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm31440157
This is based on Zekken’ya’s 位相乖離・破裂・虚構霧立 (can’t be arsed to translated it properly, sorry) from the Brillant And Precious album. Leaf_st is also made those notable efforts such as this and this. Looks like it’s underrated.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm31454046
Yutarou’s entry. Could be also fitted in my future Hand-drawn selection. Based on (). It’s good to see Yutarou doing what he’s the bast at again, and not dispersing himself by trying genres he’s not very at ease with. (to do)
I wanted to write a detailed pick-up last year. I failed mainly because of, you guessed it, laziness. What I’m going to do instead is listing all videos that I thought were of interest this year and will sometimes comment them if I have anything to say about one of them.
Before starting, a brief exposure of my impressions. As usual, content produced by fans is still in large quantity and with unexpected gems at times. All that despite the slowly decreasing numbers of participants, and despite the perceived demise of Nico Nico, and despite motivation and dedication less and less present among artists still active. But they are impressions. They might be wrong, as everyone has different tastes and perceives things differently. Unfortunately, view and mylist numbers confirm these impressions I’m having: in 2018, you can’t get popular if you’re new or don’t have an armada of followers supporting you, unless you’re producing totally awesome content. Without further ado, let’s begin with my personal crushes.
My crushes
This is the only category where I’ll embed videos directly as the HTML5 player can cause heavy slowdowns and hangs with older machines when there are many embedded players on screen.
LVgatari
This is probably the most inspired and inspiring MMDer these days. MMDers, or simply fan producing contents which are still cutting edge and ground-breaking are getting rare so let’s not miss this opportunity and let’s enjoy even more, as this might not last.
イルチヤロ
Another ground-breaking and cutting-edge MMDer. Each second sees a new idea. Each second you’re impressed. Skills are well used, in a creative manner, not to show off. I love how him and LVgatari don’t end up distracted by trending gimmicks like recurring gags and themes, overused BGMs, yukkuri-voice and so on.
Ninose Yasunori
Again, another case of simply having fun rather than showing off and trying to look cool. I’m glad Ninose is still active. That’s why I still enjoy what he does despite looking less refined than some more impressive but also more opportunist attempts. Visual and sound quality don’t do everything, it’s your personal imprint that does.
MinusT
The promising teaser of this upcoming dogfight. The worst that would happen is a meltdown from the author at this point. But it’s unlikely to happen considering MinusT’s past.
Lily KULAGE
If I’m posting one of those so-called reproduction MMDs (genre I’m not really into), there must be a reason. Seeing the author’s name might give you an idea. This time, it’s a masterpiece. It’s the first time one of these does that effect to me. You have to see it by yourself, even if you didn’t watch the movie. I think you will thank me afterwards.
Music videos and arranges
Either in MMD or hand-drawn form, my brief selection of them (with a short commentary if I have anything to say).
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33518947 (doku — Sequel to Envy It, Parsee-san, it looks a little lazier than previous attempts but should remain entertaining for those who enjoyed the series. I wish Touhousubs was still active though, too bad a carrier or whatever opportunity he had this year took away all his free time) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33522671 (えすべがす — Sequel to that series, finally. The last incarnation of a skilful and ambitious MMDer with apparent care in writing, visual, animation and sound where all others bit the dust more or less. He might be one of the most skilful MMD drama makers to date, right behind qrimusic. If you miss Kani, Daba or Clearbitch and don’t mind the yukkuri voice, you can try. Personal note: this is finally becoming entertaining from that episode, I’m under the impression that the author is finally finding his feet) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33370763 (hissno — Tweaked yukkuri voice, if you missed him, there you go) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33518627 (ぜる — Reproduction MMD based on an anime called Carnival Phantasm) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33524923 (aftgreentea — Sequel to that reproduction MMD series based on Terminator II, quite entertaining) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33523588 (hanpen — Author still active, welcome effort) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33517551 (ぽんす — Picture-card show with animated bits, very peculiar style with no equivalent in the genre, making his works even more interesting than the usual soup)
The special mention
ビリジアン
Author comes from nowhere and lands with this apparent high quality animation. Although this is only a part of an upcoming future video, this is someone you have to watch carefully as what he showed here looks really promising. Potential is clearly there. We might get a new “Tsukimido” here considering the sample he’s shown here. Now the bad part of it is that “wannabe cool” and opportunistic tone added with the yukkuri voice all over the place which emphasis a common bad habit that’s been there for years among the rare existing or subsisting Touhou 2D/3D animators. They all seem to have pretty bad taste and seem to be able to produce the same kind of yukkuri voiced content all the time, and despite their rarity (or simply put “yukkuri voice” upwards no matter if they have a valid reason to use it or not, despite it’s cringy nature*). This is the main reason why I still prefer people like Ninose and Usahori. They’re completely outside any stupid trend and have their own imprint and creative input, not just skill to show off with trying to be popular and cool.
* yukkuri voice takes a part of its roots to yukkuri let’s players. It’s also a huge aspect in Touhou fanworks’ culture since 2008. Although it has many other origins (the yukkuri meme in itself, the Game Center Touhou hand-drawn series, 3.3mm’s Aya MMD interview series and the Freckled Marisa Person’s hand-drawns among others), many content producers falsely assume everybody is okay with it and is accustomed to hear it because of said yukkuri let’s plays. Also, most of the MMD scene nowadays is made of former yukkuri let’s players or Minecraft players which is even worse. The problem is that people with slightly different tastes or not caring one bit about yukkuri let’s plays might get irritated to hear it all over the place, to the point of possibly hating it. In my personal case, I find it a bit irritating especially on genres where it’s not really suited or when it’s used abusively with no valuable reason. Even if I prefer myself a more moderate and creative use of it, I find yukkuri-voiced works, even the best ones, to be a bit hard to follow and cause fatigue when they exceed 5 minutes, especially when they get very chatty.
The underrated
Efforts failing to gain attention because authors are newcomers, don’t have enough followers and therefore are unable to earn success despite their improvements.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33017330 (ジャンど — Underrated, dogfight attempt) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33525076 (あまふりこ — Sequel to that clumsy SF series, author is slowly finding its feet and even includes some danmaku segments now) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33533711 (Mido — Athmopheric MMD drama attempt from a newcomer. I like the end result but I fear this kind of works is no longer fashionable or the kind of things that viewers want) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33532687 (勝っちゃん — Another atmospheric attempt. This kind of MMDs is a bit of this MMDer’s speciality. While not Deco‘s or Vocahico‘s level, there’s still some charm to them. A bit bland and short but you might like if you’re tired of the other overrepresented trends I’m often referring to in this post. They’re also produced at a decent pace) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33537077 (オレやで — What a clumsy and awkward MMD action attempt this is. Really cheap looking with no shading efforts, stiff motion and subpar sound design. But to his credit, this is most likely a beginner and he will most likely improve. Good points for not succumbing to using yukkuri voice, unfortunately very common with newcomers)
Mayonnaise Pasta Sauce
This bizarre phrase is a reference to a single effort MMD drama that an MMDer named “memory” posted some time in late 2016. It had the particularity of being one of the worst use of yukkuri voice I ever witnessed, with gibberish being heard instead of an understandable language. Also it looked like a 10min story at first glance, but it was only a series of random scenes put together to mimic the look of a traditional MMD drama. The whole video was in fact a joke disguised with apparent quality motion, shading and sound design. To me, this looked as the most beautiful skill waste ever. This weird phrase is pronounced by Remilia at some point in the video and means absolutely nothing (who in the world eat pasta with a mayonnaise sauce?).
Following this video, I’m now using this phrase for any kind of work showing poor taste, poor artistic decisions and questionable choices resulting in a cringy mess. It was mostly yukkuri voice misuse at first but can cover broader aspects of screwing up what would have been a decent piece of work instead. Definite proof that skills aren’t everything.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33517020 (R社長 — Sequel to his usual series, suddenly made in a different fashion by removing yukkuri voice and trying full motion this time. Chemistry doesn’t work for me no matter what he does) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33518873 (てんすけ — If someone manages to tell me what the hell is this video supposed to be, he or she will have my gratitude. Too bad this MMDer started very promising but later got lazy and opportunist, notably killing off an interesting atmospheric project) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33487528 (赤トンボ — Looks like one of those countless MMD drama wannabee attempts with yukkuri voice and focussing again on EoSD characters in prime at first glance but then turns into a… DJ contest? Not exactly what I’m looking for to say the least. Part 2 here)
Indeed this list is far from being complete and only reflects a tiny portion of what I judged of interest. Also, this list only reflects my own tastes. You’ll find much more by searching this tag on Nico Nico.
I’ll have to try that myself eventually and report back later.
Another work-in-progress post. I will add the necessary photos later and integrate the existing ones directly on this post rather than linking them to my Twitter account. Also, what you’re about to read is the process of a very delicate and risky operation that MAY DAMAGE YOUR MONITOR OR HARM YOU. Please perform the following at your own risk and ensuring you already know what you’re doing. If you’re not familiar with CRT monitors, ask someone more qualified or trained instead to do the following
This is something I was hesitant to do for years. I saw some people do it on their CRT monitors and noticed it eliminated all those superficial surface scratches the monitor may have endured in its lifespan after multiple moves or simply carelessness from its previous owner (if it was bought second hand). Depending on how the monitor is located in the room, those scratches can go from unnoticeable to painfully annoying.
The Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 91. Was my companion during 4.5 years approximatively. What a delight that monitor is. Probably one of the best of its time, exceptional sharpness for a CRT monitor, very low eye strain even at 75Hz and great colour once it’s calibrated. Mine was manufactured in March 2000. This thing is 17 years old!
Its problem nowadays is not its performance but the fact that it’s completely outdated and unfitting for today’s use. In 2012, I eventually replaced it by a 23′ IPS monitor (Asus PA238Q). That monitor was great. I really enjoyed the razor sharp image and the fact that I could spend more hours on it without perceptible eye fatigue. Then, I finally gave that LCD monitor away as a birthday gift to a friend, as I couldn’t repair his NEC EA231WMi LCD monitor (backlight problem, fault is probably within the video board). That is why I’m now using that Diamond Plus 91 again. I plan to repair that NEC monitor one day, so I can use it as my main monitor if I happen to successfully fix it.
Time to remove that anti-glare!
Because I accustomed being in front of LCD monitors for many years now, I find that using the CRT as a main monitor rather unfitting for my current usage. I especially miss the razor-like sharpness which is critical if you are to upscale or sharpen a video and be sure you’re not overdoing things! CRTs, even the best ones, have a tendency to smooth out everything because of their nature. While it can be a strength, it’s often perceived as a weakness. But for the moment, I have to use that CRT as my main monitor again so I have to remove this anti-glare, as the scratches are beginning to bother me.
Let me first apologize for the lack of pictures. I didn’t plan to make an article about that so I didn’t feel the need to take detailed photos. So you’ll have to trust my words.
– In order to take the monitor apart, you have to put it with the screen glass faced down on a flat and soft surface. It can be anything from a chair to a table with something like a towel between the surface and the screen glass. Indeed, be sure it’s unpowered and unplugged from the mains before doing so. Don’t hesitate to push the power putton on and off again once it’s unplugged in order to discharge capacitors with remaining charge (/!\ warning: this doesn’t replace discharging the tube! As we’re not going to work on the PCBs directly, I didn’t feel necessary to include the CRT discharging process, BUT IT IS REQUIRED if you are to do a complete disassembly of the monitor and need to service it)
– Then you have to unscrew 2 screws at the bottom left and right of the monitor. Once done, remove the 2 remaining screws that hold the VGA connector and the ones that hold the power supply one.
– Start lifting the back cover from the bottom and carefully wiggle it at the top until it comes off completely. Once it’s off, you can play around with a compressed air can to blow off all the accumulated dust if you want to at this point.
– For the next operation, you have to put the monitor upright on its stand like if you would use it.
– Right behind the front bezel, you have 4 big screws which hold the tube in place. Unscrew all of them with an appropriate screwdriver. Once those 4 screws removed, the front bezel is still held in place to the standing base by 2 smaller screws. Remove them.
– OK, now the delicate operation. Start wiggling and pulling the front bezel until it comes off. it’s recommended to add support the tube by putting your fingers on the glass while trying to remove the front bezel. As there are no screws to hold the tube in place, you wouldn’t want it to slide towards you and destroy your monitor.
– Now it’s time to find out that there is indeed a anti-glare film covering the entire screen with its edges being apparent.
– Insert a flat knife or cutter between one of the edges and the glass screen and start peeling off. Once you did a small corner, do the rest with your hands.
– Peeling off the entire coating will bring a bit of resistance. Again, don’t hesitate to support the tube by putting your knee or something else in front of it while pulling the coating with your hand(s). That may prevent the tube from sliding forward, as I remind you it’s held in place by nothing! It’s just sitting on the standing base and the shielding around it!
– This is what the monitor will look like when you’re halfway through it:
– Once you removed all of it, you can now contemplate your scratch-less tube!
It’s now time to put everything back together.
– Start putting the front bezel back beginning by the lower left corner as it is the most difficult to put back in place. Then try to make sure you have everything aligned perfectly at the bottom (buttons and everything) before you can go to the top.
– Once in place, no space should reside between the bezel and the tube glass and all the screw holes should be perfectly aligned. At this point you can put back all the 6 screws (4 big, 2 small) you removed earlier.
– Put back your monitor face down again on a flat and soft surface. Now you can put the back cover making sure it’s perfectly aligned. Again, no space should remain between the front bezel and the back cover. Pay a special attention to the top of the back cover. This is the most delicate part to put back.
– Put all the remaining screws back (VGA and power connector+those for the cover itself) once you are sure everything is perfectly aligned.
– Enjoy your scratch-free monitor now!
This monitor had scratches on its anti-glare coating so I took the monitor apart and peeled off the coating. Here’s the result: pic.twitter.com/MjTIkbLlQ2
Wait a bit (a few hours) before turning it on as it was previous manipulated in all sorts of positions. You should notice how the screen surface got much brighter which means more reflective to light sources unfortunately. This means black will no longer be pitch black anymore unless it’s pure obscurity. However, when turning it on, you should also notice the 15% increase in brightness from the picture:
Still works! Although I got rid of the scratches, the screen surface is now brighter which makes it more reflective under a light source pic.twitter.com/udfFWtZOM1
The other added bonus is the unchanged colorimetry. The original coating didn’t alter the white point of the screen and the picture remains more or less the same without the coating. At this point, you can enjoy your new brighter and scratch-free monitor or on the other hand miss the benefits the anti-glare coating had originally. Since this is more likely not your main monitor anymore, this shouldn’t be much of a problem. However, if this is, I recommend you to buy one of those anti-glare frames if you can still find one for sale, as they’re getting rarer and rarer (noone still uses CRTs anymore, and even less non factory-coated ones). I ended up buying one as reflections were becoming an annoyance for me. After a few months of use I can certify those frames are the only valid replacement to the original anti-glare coating of the monitor (they have more or less the same properties). One more think you might think of is integrating one directly between the screen glass and the front bezel of the monitor. This might be possible if the tube is the flat type, like it is on this Diamondtron. Here’s what the monitor looks like with its external anti-glare frame on it (a 3M EX10XL in this case):
(I will post the photo later)
Also, be sure to look for an anti-glare only frame, not a privacy one! Privacy filters will alter the viewing angle of the picture and make it invisible from the sides, unless that’s what you want.