Review Double Shot: V-RARE 6 (Pop'n Music 8) and V-RARE 7 (Pop'n Music 9)

Since I forgot Monday was a holiday, I'll hit you up today with a double review of V-RARE 6 and V-RARE 7. Let's dispense with the formalities and get on with the review..

1.　坤剛力 （スタジオバッティング スペシアル） / Des-ROW・組スペシアル
Starting out with a Des-ROW song certainly cannot be a bad thing. This version is a little different than the version on the D. album, with a cool little drum solo at the beginning. Other than that, it's not much different. ****

2.　無限軌道 / D-crew+1
Another Des-ROW song? Most excellent. This is pretty decent, but a bit too long and repetitive. Still, it's D-crew, which really can't go wrong. ***

3. Raspberry♡Heart (VOCAL Version)/ jun
Well, take Rasberry♡Heart, and add some nice vocals by jun, and this is what you end up. Although, I was disappointed that it remained around the same length as the original at 1'46. Still, quite good. ****

4.　White Eve (unplugged version) / Naya~n
Yamahariffic, reminding me of the disappointing I feel... mixed with the acapella version of Graduation. But, wait, where did that string section come from? Ah, so Naya~n. I love this, even if it's only 1'58. ****

5.　100sec.Kitchen Battle!! (tometaro,Kitchen Battle) / とどのすけ とめたろう
How can it be 100sec.Kitchen Battle!! if it's 3'02? They could have at least renamed it 180sec.Kitchen Battle!! a-la The Least 333 Sec., but alas. Anyway, if you liked the original, you'll like this. It's stretched out, adding all the same elements which made the original so much fun to play in Pop'n Music. No objections here. ***

6.　rings on the water ～thunderstorm mix～ / PEACH TREES
This is a quite good remix. It's sped way up from the original, but not so much that you have to end up with chipmunk vocals (think Ayu-ro Mix). It adds some Naokification to it with some Eurobeat and Trance elements, but isn't overdone or overbearing. Quite good, although I felt it ended quite abruptly. ****

7.　The chamomile of night ～velvet mix～ / SUZUKKI
The original was decent, and this holds true while being slightly sped up and doubled in length. I always wondered why this was never in GF/DM. But, hey, it's Konami, what are you going to do. ***

8.　くちうるさいママ / little toppy
Sweet! Return of the 8-bit remixes! This one is just flippin' amazing, and I actually kind of prefer it to the Sana original. If somebody does a mash-up effectively adding the original vocals to this, I'll give them a cookie. *****

9.　No more I love you / I.W.hyper
Another 8-bittastic remix. This version is most certainly prefer to the original. How messed up is that? I swear, Konami needs to do more of these. Why bother re-making 8-bit songs into modern tunes? I want to play Strong Jaegar NES-Mix. *****

A pretty decent V-RARE with a couple of great stand-out tracks, and more 8-bit remakes. Nothing to complain about here. High recommendation for any Pop'n fan.

On we go to V-RARE 7 (Pop'n Music 9)
1.　at Pop'n Cafe ～ポップンミュージック９タイトルより / Seiya Murai
Who would have thought it would have been possible to extend the Pop'n Cafe theme to 3'38? It works so well as a 5 second title jingle. But this works well coming off like something from GF/DM. It starts to wear a little thin near the end, but that's my only real gripe. ****

2.　The PLACE TO BE ver.red / Des-ROW feat.めぐみ
I really don't see much of a difference between this one and the full version on D. except for this being a little longer, and perhaps redder. It has a slightly extended non-musical intro and outro, but that's about all I can figure. Decent song regardless, but not one of Des-ROW's finest. ***

3.　Tangeline ～philosophical mix～ / wacとか
The original was good. This is awesome. wac slows it down, minimalizes it, and infuses it with overall wac awesomeness. Really good. ****

4.　掌の革命 moonlit mix / Kiyommy+Seiya
I absolutely love this remake. The original is slowed down and pianoified. This is how ever remake should be. I freakin' love it. *****

5.　いいひと ～USSY cool MIX / 岡めぐみ
Another really well done remix. This album is just churning them out in spades. I quite prefer this one to the original version in 9CS/11AC. It's got a really nice, laid back feel, and is just overall great. ****

6.　Sunny Sunday's Sky ～新しい牛の街MIX～ / Ariko Shimada
This is an amazingly freakish, and freakishly amazing remix. From the beginning with the wobbling and out of sync piano to bizarrely mixed vocals, it's quite weird. But, quite good. This just goes to show you how something can be completely flipped around and still remain listenable. *****

7.　GHOST / 黒ムル feat / 淀川ジョルカエフ
Now this is an interesting approach to what would appear in CS10/AC12 as お豆の哀歌. Unfortunately, this lacks the hard hitting percussion the game version would come to personify, and just ends up being lots of Japanese shouting over a intresting, but understated backing track. ***

This is one of my absolute favorite Pop'n V-RAREs that doesn't have the words "Best Hits" attached to it. Some really, really excellent tracks here with the only disappointments being the Des-ROW and Kuromeru tracks.