After a long break (4 months?!) and lots of imitators (I’ve seen that Ronald McDonald thing now more time than I can remember), 奴が来る (Yatsu ga Kuru) is back. This time, our intrepid 幕末志士 head out to Shifting Sand Land and attempt the red coins before the green devil can get them!

Again, super entertaining and awesome, forever. Looks like the next one might be the last one. Rainbow Cruise?! I can’t wait.

If you haven’t seen them all, go see Ep. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Technorati Tags: 1 out mushroom, 1outキノコ, 1up, きのこ, キノコ, Bakumatsu Shishi, bushi, 緑の悪魔, gaming, green devil, green mushroom, mario, mario 64, mario-zamurai, meta, metagame, mushroom, n64, nicovideo, nintendo, series, super mario, super mario bros, video games, video podcast, yatsu, yatsu ga kuru, 奴, 奴が来る, 幕末志士, 武士

He’s back! The green demon has come once again to challenge Mario-zamurai! This is another episode of the amazing 奴が来る (yatsu ga kuru) series. This one can be watched on its own, but if you haven’t see all the episodes, you really should: Ep. 1-3 and 4.

風子ちゃん！！！！

Technorati Tags: 1 out mushroom, 1outキノコ, 1up, きのこ, キノコ, bushi, 緑の悪魔, gaming, green mushroom, mario, mario 64, mario-zamurai, meta, metagame, mushroom, n64, nicovideo, nintendo, series, super mario, super mario bros, video games, video podcast, yatsu, yatsu ga kuru, 奴, 奴が来る, 武士

13.
【ニコニコ動画】【手書き】初音ミクの消失-DEAD END-【PV】

This 初音ミク song was one of my personal favorites. It’s so sad, but just so well done.

12.
【ニコニコ動画】「手書き」　ゆっくりでいいさ

The ゆっくり (Yukkuri) boom seems to have peaked and passed, but 2008 was fairly dominated by ゆっくり videos. Check out how many there are.

11.
【ニコニコ動画】☆ゲッダン☆

ゲッダン came up late in the game, but I have to say, I still can’t believe it. And I love it.

10.
【ニコニコ動画】初音ミク　が　オリジナル曲を歌ってくれたよ「ワールドイズマイン」

ワールドイズマイン was almost the best 初音ミク song of the year, if not for メルト kicking ass and taking names all over the world. Some of the ワールドイズマイン original drawing versions are pretty amazing, but that’s probably just cause the song is so good.

9.
【ニコニコ動画】さんぽ

This version of さんぽ (Sampo) from となりのトトロ (Tonari no Totoro) has so many Ghibli characters and crazy instruments, you can’t help but just feel warm and fuzzy while watching it.

8.
【ニコニコ動画】メルト-Band Edition-女性キーVer-歌ってみました。by歌和サクラ

メルト and ティッシュ姫 really rocked the charts this year. It is only fitting to have the fusion of the two. メルト technically came along in Dec. of 2007… Actually, so did ティッシュ姫. But, since they both had their heyday in 2008, I’ll forgive ‘em.

7.
【ニコニコ動画】[修造]ホットリックス　リローデッド[MAD]

When I saw this scene in the theaters, I remember hyperventilating over how amazing it was. So when they added the 松岡修造 voice overs, I almost died. Good show!

6.
【ニコニコ動画】チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室(高画質・高音質版)H264

チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室 (Chiruno no Paafekuto Sansuu Kyoushitsu) was the star of IOSYS for 2008. The remixes are fantastic and so is the original. Good job guys!

5.
【ニコニコ動画】ソフト・オブ・バンク

Various ナイト・オブ・ナイツ remixes ruled the end of this year. This is my favorite by far.

4.
【ニコニコ動画】特訓するぬこ（滑り込むぬこⅡ）

This cat. Brilliant to teach their cat to do that. When it gets stuck in the box, I died. I am but a ghost now. Heard the previous one of the series was pretty big on YouTube as well. (Series?!)

3.
【ニコニコ動画】M.C.ドナルドはダンスに夢中なのか？最終鬼畜道化師ドナルド・Ｍ
This video is fantastic for a lot of reasons. Now that I’m more into the 東方 Project, this makes way more sense than the first time I saw it on BoingBoing. This is definitely the world’s favorite nicovideo.

2.
【ニコニコ動画】VOCALOIDでニコニコ動画流星群【完成版】

This video introduced me to the ニコニコ動画流星群, and kept me coming back to ニコ動 for a long time. I listened to it so much, when I hear the original songs, I expect the next song to come up. I had to even stop listening to it, I was so obsessed. So this wins #2 hands down. Too bad it isn’t…

1.　
【ニコニコ動画】吉幾三×Capsule×DaftPunk×BeastieBoys　StarrySky – IKZOLOGIC Remix -

This song singlehandedly changed my life. It made me go to ニコ動 to listen to it. I got the “logic” for the end of Yamatologic from it. I still believe this is the pinnacle of human evolution. So, there is no question that it is the top of my 2008 list.

Happy New Year everyone! I can’t wait to see what 2009 has to bring!

Technorati Tags: 2008, さんぽ, ゆっくり, らんらんる～, ゲッダン, ティッシュ姫, ナイト・オブ・ナイツ, ニコニコ動画, メルト, ワールドイズマイン, BeastieBoys, capsule, cats, Daft Punk, funny animals, gaming, Get down, Ghibli, Hatsune Miku, IKZO, iosys, mario, Matsuoka Shuzo, music, New Year's, New Year's List, NicoNicoDouga, nicovideo, Night of Knights, Night of Nights, Ronald McDonald, Ryuseigun, Sampo, Sanpo, Tissue Hime, Tonari no Totoro, Top 10, Top 12, Totoro, touhou, World is Mine, Year In Review, ystk, yukkuri, 初音ミク, 初音ミクの消失-DEAD END-, 東方, 松岡修造, 流星群

I wonder if there will be more episodes of this?! If there are, you’ll be sure to find ‘em here.

Also, again, can’t seem to find these on YouTube. ごめんなさい！

See also: Watch out for the Green Mushroom!

Technorati Tags: 1outキノコ, きのこ, キノコ, 緑の悪魔, gaming, green mushroom, mario, mario 64, meta, metagame, mushroom, n64, nicovideo, nintendo, series, super mario, super mario bros, video games, video podcast, yatsu, yatsu ga kuru, 奴, 奴が来る

【ニコニコ動画】【マリオ64実況】　奴が来る　弐【幕末志士】

【ニコニコ動画】【マリオ64実況】　奴が来る　参【幕末志士】

In this fun web series, the guys doing this don’t just play a game and make commentary (not that that’s a bad thing). In fact, the guy begins with his 120 star complete save of Mario 64. What makes this series unique is that he plays a fun metagame called 奴が来る (Yatsu ga kuru).

The rules are simple: He spawns a green mushroom, usually from climbing a tree, and then runs from it. If he get’s the 1up, he loses. The only way to win is to complete the star objective before the green mushroom gets him.

Anyway, humor ensues as they freak the fuck out every time the green mushroom shows up on the screen. It is based on another video series without narration where they just avoided the green mushroom, but the narration and build up in this series makes it way more interesting.

Sorry, couldn’t find it on YouTube. You can always get a ニコニコ動画 account though!

Technorati Tags: 1outキノコ, きのこ, キノコ, 緑の悪魔, gaming, green mushroom, mario, mario 64, meta, metagame, mushroom, n64, nicovideo, nintendo, series, super mario, super mario bros, video games, video podcast, yatsu, yatsu ga kuru, 奴, 奴が来る

Probably the one that I encountered first was 魔理沙は大変なものを盗んでいきました (Marisa wa taihen-na mono wo nusunde ikimashita). Marisa is a character from the 東方Project (Touhou Project). IOSYS generally just uses characters from Team Shanghai Alice games to make their songs/videos.

Strange connection to recently news in 魔理沙は大変なものを盗んでいきました (which has been around for a while)… at around 1:43 she says 「あなたとはちがうから」 which was echoed by 福田’s whole あなたとはちがうんです thing. The comments on the ニコニコ動画 version reflect this. XD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GkIzD0n5p0

Before I knew about this one, someone had already used the song to remix an episode of my old video podcast Yamato Damacy. Originally a 15 minute short film, this is the MAD (remix) version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0cyoTMkQyQ

I laughed so hard the first time I saw that, I thought I was going to die. So when I found out what the song was in the background, I was already hooked.

Anyway, IOSYS will have been around for 10 years next month. Go visit their website and check out the Movies section or go buy a CD. You won’t regret it.

Technorati Tags: anime, gaming, iosys, music, video, 東方

Someone aught to draw a Kirby with that look. Then again, what powers would Kirby get from eating Fukuda? Bitter resignation powers?

Check out Pink Tentacle, Tokyo Mango, and Japan Probe‘s coverage for more Fukuda Fun™.

Technorati Tags: 福田康夫, Fukuda Yasuo, gaming, government, Kirby, nicovideo, politics, video