#sneko

From Champions Vol. 4 #009, “Killer App - Part Four”

Art by Luciano Vecchio and Federico Blee

Give it a play if you want:

https://devusteam.itch.io/finding-home

(your Anti-virus program might scream at the .exe, but I can assure you it's nothing malicious 😅)

You can also check out the other games that where made in the jam:

https://itch.io/jam/game-jam-macromedia-2021

From Champions Vol. 4 #006,“Killer App - Part One”

Art by Luciano Vecchio and Federico Blee

2une debut single and interview

NYC based j-pop duet 2une has been performing at conventions and events both local and in Japan. They just released their first song and music video, and Music Otaku had the opportunity to interview co-founder Sneko about their experiences!

How was 2une formed? How did you meet each other?

We met through a mutual friend who lives in Japan. Uno was going to be moving to New York soon so he wanted to introduce us. We met over dinner and spoke about idol activities in New York and about the success rate of a potential group like that in the US. At first it was just a talk, but that made us both become interested.That same week we talked more and more on LINE and decided we shared a lot of interests (namely in BL, idol music, and fashion), and we decided to go to the BL cafe in Ikebukuro where we became more acquainted! When I came back to New York, we stayed in contact in Facebook and decided very simply to go for it and create 2UNE! Most of our plan was done on Facebook in Messenger since we were still in New York and Japan, and we talked about name ideas and I contacted my composer friends from an old group who agreed to help us out! And the rest is history!

What's it like performing around NYC? Tell us about the New York area j-pop scene and any favorite places to perform.

Compared to Japan, there's a lot more professionalism involved! In New York City, we also have tons of small groups ranging from anime song coverists, to Vocaloid dance choreographers, to idols like us! It's not as much as in Japan, but we have met a lot of different people since we've formed 2UNE! The only downside to being in New York is that J-pop and Idol music and culture has yet to really hit the mainstream so there's a limit to where we can perform. Compared to Japan, it's fairly easy to get a gig at a small live-house or venue with little hassle on any day of the week.

How have 2une convention performances been received so far? Any favorite gigs or memorable stories?

Our first show, Liberty City Anime Convention was probably the most surprising. As you know, 2UNE was officially founded on July 31st (the day that Uno came to New York to begin living here and the day we were reunited), and Liberty City was only a little over two weeks after that day. We didn't have much time to practice our songs (including our own original songs), but we had a lot of things prepared for the show ranging from original costumes, music, and a fun setlist catered to any J-music fan that would stop by. We absolutely did not expect the HUGE turnout of people right before our show. As we came from our hotel room to the main floor where our concert would be held, we had fans lined up outside of the entrance, all the way down the halls to the point where the line curved and wrapped around back to the beginning. We were confused when we saw that many people so we asked someone who they were waiting for and we were shocked when they said "The group 2UNE's concert"! It was our first show and we were a new group so we didn't expect it! Within seconds of officially opening the doors, the room was filled with people! You can actually see a video from that event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDB-uP-XIVw

You've also performed in Japan. What were those experiences like?

The biggest difference we've noticed is the crowd interaction, participation, and cheering. In America, fans are just as lively, but they tend to wait until after a song is over to clap and cheer, and generally show off how good they felt it was. In Japan, fans of idols have routines called "wotagei" prepared for songs. When a lively song starts playing, idol fans (or wota) will basically all come together in unison to chant. Wotagei is kind of hard to explain, so here's a video to a wotagei routine that has been broken down for the audience! https://youtu.be/oK96IeXv-ko?t=3m17s The song they are chanting to is called "Romantic Ukare Mode" and is  known as the song to sing if you ever wanted to see wotagei in action in Japan for yourself. Uno herself told me this, so when we got the opportunity, we sang it, and it was done almost exactly like the video above. It was such an exciting experience and it was my first time being in the spotlight as fans did wotagei for us.

What inspired your single “Sunny Day?” What was the creative process like for making the song and the video?

The music and melody was handled by Techniken. He sent me a lot of samples of the progress and I would tell him to change some things here and there, but it was basically all him! I came up with only the melody in the bridge before the final chorus section of the song, haha! Before I even began to work on lyrics, the song was basically done and I had an idea of what I wanted it to be like. I worked on English lyrics myself during the time Uno was still in Japan. I wanted to write good lyrics that could move someone's heart and inspire someone during a dark time. The song was lively and catchy, but I wanted to make sure to also leave an impression with my words. I was going through a bit of a rough time myself and for me, writing these lyrics was a huge release and a good way to properly let my emotions out. When I was done, it became a song about hope and inspiration, so I hope that it will speak to and help anyone who decides to listen to our song. A big theme of the song is to look forward to a "Sunny Day", even when your days feel dark and to remind you that you are not alone. After all, I felt this way too. I hope this song will help those battling with some inner turmoil feel like they have a friend. When Uno came to New York, we immediately started working on the translation process. The hardest part of the translation was trying to get the syllables to match and as a result, a lot of words ended up needing to get omitted, but Uno did a great job at retaining the meaning of the lyrics despite the challenges in transliterating. My friend KOHEI also helped us when we couldn't figure out how to translate certain lines, so a big shoutout to him! As for the video, all of it was homemade. I have experience with the camera and video footage so I took charge of Uno's shots (and some of my own), while Uno helped out by filming all of my solo scenes. Our friend Jeena edited the video for us (a huge thanks to her, as well), and our other friend Miho Tazoe created the beautiful costumes you see in the video! The entire video was made possible thanks to our friends who were willing to help out! The entire project is basically one big collaborative effort and we hope to do some more singles like this in the future!

What are your goals about what to do next with 2une? What are some of your dreams?

Our goals are to be signed by a label and make a major debut, be on Music Station in Japan, perform at Anime Expo in California, and be on MTV! Oh, and hold a concert in Tokyo Dome! "If we do that, we can meet Kinki Kids!" - Uno In all honesty, though, I want to meet AKB48 myself! In general, we just hope that we can gain more popularity to appear on various programs, both in Japan and the US, and be able to sing more frequently and tour the world!