SIM Anime and Gaming Club

So I have been enjoying my time off in my hometown Jakarta last month and coincidentally, it was the Hari Raya festive season around then (Aidil Fitri for the culturally savvy).

As Indonesia's only metropolis, Jakarta is crowded with kampong villagers from all over the country looking for "high-paying" jobs (read: unstable odd-jobs with an unstable monthly wage equivalent of SGD 300) so they can live better lives.
Hectic is an understatement when it comes to Jakarta's street traffic.
To give you a rough illustration, imagine three buses cramped in a small avenue in Little India, with motorcycles speeding up, blocking the ends of the road.
You need to drive from your house maximum at 7AM to avoid traffic jams, and even without jams, you'll reach the office area at around 8.30AM (8 if you are not working in the prestigious yet bustling central area).
And then there's the evening peak hours. If you leave your office at around 6-7PM, you would be reaching your home around 9 if you're lucky. If you're working overtime, leaving your office at around 10, the highways will be filled up with gigantic 6-8 wheelers and the traffic would not seem to budge, at all. Good luck.

At least half of this traffic is generated from these kampong people, and it's certainly not a good idea to be on the road in peak hours, especially if you're not a native of Jakarta.

Whenever Hari Raya season comes, these people travel back to their kampong to meet and greet their families and relatives (compare CNY).
This phenomenon is what makes Jakarta the ideal city for sightseeing in this short period of time. The usual packed arteries and highways become empty and wide with less vehicles (emphasis on motorcycle) and almost no 6-8 wheelers.
The streets at night were simply wonderful, similar to Singapore's night traffic, with freedom to swerve anywhere you want.

Usually I am more fond of playing jazzy chill tracks while driving in the night, to compensate for the usual hectic traffic and create a more pleasant atmosphere inside the car.

On the second night of Hari Raya however, an epiphany struck me while I was driving through Jakarta's empty highways,

 of course I was driving alone and my parents weren't in the car with me, else I would be disowned faster than you can spell "disown"


So here's a list of anime-game song remixes that are suitable for your speeding pleasure, an assortment of Techno, Trance, and Eurobeat remixes.


1. "God Knows" - Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (Eurobeat)


Vocalwise, this remix offers the beautiful vocal of the prolific utaite nayuta.
Just listen to that swinging, lovely voice that is almost Hirano's equal. Goddamn it makes me ha...... ppy!


2. "Last Impression" - Gundam Wing (Trance)


As you know, "two-mix" is one of the early pillars of electronic music in Japan and was really popular in the mid 90s, especially for their involvement in the Gundam franchise with Gundam Wing.
This trance take on the original techno-disco version is really impressive, cutting down the melancholic piano and amplifies the beats and wow-effects.


3. "LION" - Macross Frontier (Speed Trance)


I have to say that this version is on par or even better than the original.
The original version had a rockish background and the beautiful vocals of May'n and Nakajima.
This version however, has a faster tempo that provides a more intense background and a chorus that simply fills you with adrenaline.


4. "Airman ga Taosenai" (Speed Trance)


Ah, the ever famous "I Can't Defeat Airman". You can feel the frustration and tension from the music.
Perfect song for making sharp turns without braking or speeding up in a cramped small street and all around frustrating your passengers, especially if your homies are in the car.
Isn't it lovely to make them cuss "Goddammit Anthony I fucking saw a flash of my childhood memory!"
and make them realize that their lives is in your hands?


5. "LEVEL 5 Judgelight" - To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (Eurobeat)

Actually, this Euro mix is not as intense as "Only My Railgun" by raptor32, but as you can see, raptor's final mixing is unclean even though the song has so much potential.
As per my policy of featuring only one song from every title, I have to pick this over raptor's Only My Railgun.
Before someone jumps in with, "but Beatcharger-san has also made an awesome eurobeat mix of judgelight!", let me remind you that we are using these tracks for driving, with your right foot glued to the gas pedal, of course we need tracks with crazy fast tempo!


6. "Phantom Minds" - Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Movie (Trance)


This is pretty much the same as the LION trance mix above. This remix is on par or even better than the original Nana Mizuki version (inb4 Nana fans rage).
Although it lacks Nana's amazing voice, the faster tempo gives you the adrenaline rush you need for speeding up on highways.


7. m.o.v.e - "Gravity" (Euro-disco)


This is undoubtedly my favorite song from m.o.v.e and I would be very orgasmic if they are to sing this on AFA next month.
Gravity is a very unique song. The original version was done by a mishmash group "m.o.e.v" for an Initial D parody scene in a certain Lucky Star episode.
m.o.v.e then followed up with their own mix of Gravity, which is this song.
So it's a parody of a parody, get it? Yeah, this is some inception stuff.


8. "Lunatic Paradise" - Izayoi Sakuya theme remix (Eurobeat)

A remix of Sakuya's boss theme "Lunar Clock". This is pure Japanese Eurobeat material, comes in a pack with super hard Engrish.
J-Euro differs a lot from normal Eurobeat in terms of lyrics.
You see, the quick formula to determine the lyrics of a Eurobeat is to look for the words "Night", "Tonight", "Dance", "Baby", "Fire", words that European (mostly Italian) composers love to use in almost every existing Eurobeat tracks.
Japanese composers on the other hand, misinterpret the cheesy and incoherent lyrics of Eurobeat (which was penned down by fluent English speakers) as gibberish, thus writing nonsensical and jumbled Engrish.


9. "I'll Believe" - Shakugan no Shana III (Trance)


The original version was, like usual ALTIMA style, a m.o.v.e inspired mixture of euro-disco.
However, it had a fatal weakness in -a deliberately- improper mixing which leads to a low background volume (focusing on Maon's vocal), making the whole song less intense. Apparently it's not a case of audio quality difference, the background volume is just that damn low, and if you amplify it using audio softwares, you'll simply get the loudness effect and a poor quality song. If you are listening to the original version with an MP3 player that has 3D equalizer presets, by all means, use them.
This trance remix not only has a faster tempo, it also amplifies the background music. Although the final mixing is a bit unclean, you can consider that the weak background problem has been eliminated.


10. "TANK!" - Cowboy Bebop (Eurobeat)


And the final track is TANK! a perfect song for you to speed up without an ounce of care.
Sadly there are no Extended ParaParaMAX versions in youtube. I have the extended music file, but it's locked inside my spoiled hdd D: