#parasiteteromea

The boundary between Cover and Arrange is a strange one, but now it’s time for me to talk about probably my most hated thing in the fandom: Bad Apple Covers.

Bad Apple is the theme of Lotus Land Story’s third stage, and it’s not a bad theme. However, if you’re reading this and you know Touhou, when I say “Bad Apple”, one very specific arrange, and one specific video should come to mind.

Now, talking about that video, and not the one above, Nomico’s vocals are decent, the video is well made, and Alstroemeria Records is still one of my favorite circles. Yet... That one video has made me hate the song so, so much.

It started a trend, and people copy that video, remix that arrange, or even just do a metal cover of it as seen here. Is this technically a Bad Apple arrange? Yes. However, it takes very little artistic freedom, and much like many other Bad Apple copypastas, takes the lyrics DIRECTLY FROM that one video that millions of people seem to love.

We’ve heard it. It has been done before. Over and over again. The only thing saving this arrange other than the unique take on instrumentals is that Merami is on vocals. 

I hold nothing against Draw the Emotional for this. It’s just... I’m listening to the same thing for the billionth time, just now with Merami vocals. And this is one hell of a complaint coming from someone that has four hours of Desire Drive arranges stashed away! 

Half the point of Touhou arranges is that all takes on a theme share something in common. But at this point, it’s too much. There’s no artistry in it any more, especially not when you copy/paste Haruka’s fucking lyrics, and may I say again HARUKA’S FUCKING LYRICS, over a different take on a specific version of a theme. 

I have more thoughts on this, but you can consider this Part 1 of the Bad Apple Rant. 

I fucking hate this theme now. As I have since like 2012-2013.

Time for another big one. 

“29 :Favourite song: At the moment, Zenmajikake no Kami wa Kaku Katakiri by Automata Girl. If I haven’t posted it yet, I will tomorrow“

Well, a few days have passed, and yes, this is still the song topping my personal list. “Thus Spoke the Clockwork God”, sung from Seiga’s PoV, presumably, by the wonderful Yuna. There is some serious fucking emotion being put into these vocals, and they DEMAND that you stop and pay attention. 

“Come hither,” the first words of the song call, and the heavy, hard to ignore, almost carnal bass contrasted with the lighter tones of the Sitar, and that bit of Digeridoo to tie it all together, laying a nice groundwork for one of the hard-hitting lyrical journey ahead of us.

Carnal was a very... intentional word choice for that bass, as the writing here is just that, and reflected wonderfully in the arrange’s overall sound. The lyrics cast Seiga as someone who pretty much feeds off of reactions and emotion, encouraging the listener, egging them on for whatever she can get from them, and in far from healthy ways. 

This song has some pretty dark tones in it, and I can’t help but dig that. It’s not Masa-level “Oh my god” dark, but more of a shady back alley in a place thousands of miles from home, probably a brothel, with the sexual themes present here.