TSUGIDOKA!
For ages now, I've been referring to the main quartet of this game- Retsu, Fuga, Rinka and Hiumi- as the "Tsugidoka crew" without ever actually explaining what that term meant. Let's change that, shall we? And jump back to the days of Sunny Park to find...
BEMANI Linked Song Battle: TSUGIDOKA!
BEMANI連動選曲バトル「つぎドカ！」
This was a collaborative event that took place during the runs of Sunny Park, Reflec Beat Colette (Winter), GuitarFreaks/DrumMania XG3 and DanceDanceRevolution X3 VS 2nd Mix. Going from December 19th, 2012, to January 8th, 2013, the premise was very simple. Each of the games had a specific song by its sound director (except for GFDM; sound director for that was actually Yoshihiko Koezuka), and whichever song that was played the most in that time across the event would be ported to Jubeat Saucer a month before the rest. Specifics are a bit hard to ascertain after the fact, but ranking calculations seem to have taken place near the start and end of the event, rewarding points to the first and second place songs for each game. The 4 songs were as follows...
| COMPOSER | SONG | FOR WHO? |
|---|---|---|
| PON (Pop'n) | SCARLET - 紅焔 (Kouen) |  |
| TAG (DDR) | COSMO DRIVE - Cosmic Hurricane |  |
| 96 (GFDM) | 華恋ロック (KAREN ROCK) - 恋閃繚乱 (Rensen Ryouran) |  |
| QRISPY JOYBOX (Reflec) | SNOWYCORE - snow prism |  |
(In the cases of Cosmic Hurricane and snow prism, they got rearranged rock versions for GFDM.)
When all was said and done, Kouen (Retsu) ended up being the winner, getting ported into Saucer before the rest followed a month later- though snow prism (Hiumi) put up quite a fight. They were tied up until the very end! I firmly believe that this event is what led to Retsu being the main protagonist of Lapistoria, so feel free to imagine a world in which Hiumi had won instead... Alas, cooler heads did not prevail this time, and I don't have the strength to manage more than one AU at a time.
The meaning of Tsugidoka is derived from this phrase on the site: 次にドカンと来るのは俺だ!!, which approximately translates to "I'll be the next one to make a splash!!". It's not worth it trying to shorten this translation for a snappy group name.
The Propaganda
Each of the 4 artists really wanted their song to win, right? It's only natural! The webpage for the Tsugidoka event (which by some miracle is still up despite Konami changing all the URLs at some point!) provided updates on each artists's shenanigans during the runtime. There were even videos made at the start of the event of each artist explaining their song! I believe. It's all in Japanese and subtitles aren't readily available for me to translate, last I checked... And Qrispy doesn't have a video?! Instead of that, Pastel-kun and some of his friends talk with him on the site?! Guess you can't expect too much from a guy who doesn't show his face. Gotta respect it, though.
The Implications of This Event in Pop'n Lore
Of course, as they all debuted in this event, the 4 characters were always inherently connected. Prior to Lapistoria, and confirmed posthumously in Peace, all 4 of them were rivals. The rivalry between Fuga and Retsu was the most intense, with Retsu having Fuga listed in his dislikes section on his cards and Fuga placing doubt upon Retsu's talk of "fate" in his character comment. Not to say Rinka and Hiumi weren't involved at all- their Sunny Park Miss animations have them deflecting attacks from Retsu's flames- but you know how it is with boys. Confirmation of their rivalry that came in Peace is as follows, from the Time Trip event:
| ENGLISH | JAPANESE | |
|---|---|---|
|
That’s right. Our rivalry was what allowed us to build each other up, and it’s why we remain good friends today. | ええ そうやって高めあってきた仲間だから 今も仲良しなのよ |
Rivalry for the sake of growth... They still butt heads from time to time, but Lapistoria does quite a bit to show how their bonds have grown strong! Love to see it.
I think that's really all I have to say though, so feel free to proceed to their pages! Or elsewhere!