Mixerr Album Reviews #1,314

This is Michael Mixerr. Today I will review the Tsukasa EP by Inumoto from Tokyo, Japan.

This EP was digitally released in 2009 on Tsukasa Records. Tsukasa Records is a record company from Tokyo, Japan that is focused mainly on mashup electronic music. The record label is named off of the otaku anime Lucky Star character Tsukasa Hiiragi. Inumoto has an obsession with Tsukasa Hiiragi of Lucky Star as does Tsukasa Records hence the name. Most of the artists do have an obsession based on Tsukasa. Inumoto is the brains behind Tsukasa Records along with 5 other people. Hypo77 being one of them on Tsukasa Records (柊つかさ Records) as well as Inumoto (瓊瓊元).

The album cover is the face of purple haired schoolgirl Tsukasa Hiragii, a character from the Japanese otaku anime Lucky Star which is an international sensation. Her trademark signature is her yellow ribbon bow which is also the logo for Tsukasa Records. Tsukasa is often seen in her serafuku. She is a second year student in high school. The album cover is quite abstract. Surprisingly the record label has not run into any copyright and trademark issues of the name or usage of the Lucky Star character Tsukasa Hiiragi. I don't know why. Gotta love that doujinshi culture!

The Kokode is very dub step and minimal like IDM. Think Dance Dance Revolution. It's about 5 minutes long. Possibly even longer. The Neni Gede Remix by Novotex is superb! So is the dub. Think grindcore and mashup as well as mashcore. Even though most songs by the label are 3 minutes, the remixes and dubs are quite long. Tsukasa Records strays away from J-Pop and from the Top Japan Charts.

*(Serafuku means sailor outfit in Japanese which is often referred to as a school uniform in many of Japan's school whether it be private school or public school. A lot of schools in Japan use serafuku as school uniforms.)
*(Sailor outfit is her school uniform in the anime and manga.)

I rate this EP, Tsukasa EP, 4/5****.