What’s Happening? #16
To all my fellow American Axcels out there, Happy belated Thanksgiving!
To all my fellow Axcels around the world, Happy Holidays! Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, or not celebrating anything at all, please enjoy the rest of 2018 as we are nearing to a close.
But, AXCEL STYLE has been quiet. That’s because MADKID has been quiet and also, I have been busy myself seeking for a new job and taking code/dev bootcamp preps and enrolling in coding bootcamp programs. But the primary reason was that MADKID had been quiet most of November.
Still, the silence was very well worth it, because we’ve got PLENTY of things going on that is to come when we kick off 2019. Just like their major debut back in January 2018, something awesome will be happening alongside the current events that we have today.
But first, a little bit of a throwback.
MAD MUSIC Special Edition Episodes1
As part of the One for All, All for One campaign, MAD MUSIC provided four special episodes starring all four members coming in pairs per episode. More info about the campaign here.
Throughout all four special episodes, the format is the same. The only difference is that there were different members and come in four combinations of pairs. At the beginning of the episode, the pair is presented with a letter from the leader on hiatus, YOU-TA, with a few instructions regarding the members’ efforts of continuing MADKID’s activities without him.
At the second half of the episode, the pair will play against each other in a Yamanote Match 2. Based on the points earned from the game, You-ta will reward the members with a lunch treat:
- 1st Place: Yakiniku Lunch
- 2nd Place: Gyudon Bowls & Starbucks
- 3rd & 4th Place (?): Bento Box Lunch 3
At the end of the special edition series, the results came out:
- LIN – Yakiniku Lunch
- SHIN & YUKI (tied for 2nd place) – Gyudon Bowls & Starbucks
- KAZUKI – Bento Box Lunch
Congratulations to all four members!
Here are a few highlights I extracted from the MAD MUSIC archives, but do visit their archives channel to watch the replays:
MAD MUSIC Special Edition 3: KAZUKI reads YOU-TA’s letter in English
Because Google Translate is everybody’s best friend, YOU-TA decides to troll KAZUKI by writing his mission letter in (Google Translated) English and having him read it aloud. All the MADKID members, long-time Axcels, and those who know Kazuki well know that he has the worst English ability of the group. Will Kazuki succeed?
MAD MUSIC Special Edition 4: K-Pop Groups Yamanote Game
The two hardcore K-Pop fanboys of MADKID, SHIN and YUKI, square off with each other by listing out all their favorite K-Pop artists and groups.
Finally, we fast forward till today.
The return of YOU-TA
December 1st is the official date of YOU-TA’s return from his month-long hiatus and resume his activities with MADKID. And as part of the celebration of his return, he will be having another MAD MUSIC special episode on his own to be aired on December 6 (Thursday) at 8:00 p.m JST. For those who haven’t had a chance to meet him, whether in person or in real life, will finally have a chance to hang out with him, send him some comments, welcome him back from his month-long medical rest. We don’t know exactly what You-ta has in store for us, so please, don’t miss this!
KAZUKI Solo Covers Project 2: Mika Nakashima’s “ORION”
KAZUKI continues to grace our ears with his soothing voice and the sweetest songs! Here, he covers Mika Nakashima’s sweet hit, ORION.
3rd Major Single: “RISE”
I’ve only been a fan for about 8 months now, and when I first started, it was only two weeks until MADKID’s fourth one-man live. During their live, they also made a huge announcement: the release of their second major single, Summer Time.
Somehow, when MADKID announced their one-man live concert tour this coming December, I also had a gut feeling that they will be having a new release. The only thing then was whether it would be a new single or a full-length album.
As of yesterday’s AXCEL MEETING (7/25) and YOU-TA’s monthly live, 4 They made their huge announcement prior to the upcoming GIANT KILLING live tour and YOU-TA’s official return:
MADKID’s third major single, RISE, will be released early 2019 on February 6, in CD format with 2 types as always, as well as the digital format that you can purchase and download from major audio streaming platforms such as iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, and now Google Play Music.
The CD releases will come in two types: Type A and Type B. The differences are as follows.
TYPE A (CD + DVD):
- RISE
- Puzzle
- 出ていってよ 5
- RISE (instrumental)
- Puzzle (instrumental)
- 出ていってよ (instrumental)
TYPE A DVD:
- 4th One-Man Live “Never Going Back” (4/28/2018)
- RISE music video
- BTS (behind the screen) of the RISE music video
TYPE B (CD only):
- RISE
- Puzzle
- 出ていってよ
- RISE (instrumental)
- Puzzle (instrumental)
- 出ていってよ (instrumental)
Unlike their previous major singles, RISE is a little bit more special. RISE was also chosen as the opening theme for the upcoming anime version of Aneko Yusagi’s light novel/manga series, The Rising of the Shield Hero. 6 It may be an anime opening theme, but because anime and manga (as well as light novels) are immensely popular around the world, this will finally bring MADKID’s recognition to the world through this opening theme. 7
The light novel series was first published in Japan back in 2013. The English translation of the light novels was published and released in the U.S. back in 2015. Around that time, I was still in otaku storyteller/reader mode and purchased the first four volumes in Kindle format. I haven’t been keeping in touch with the series itself, but as reported, the series is still ongoing.
Shield Hero is the story of a (video games) otaku college student named Naofumi Iwatani, who was magically transported in a fantasy world after stumbling upon a very old fantasy novel during his visit in the library. Stuck with three others, also transported from Japan, Naofumi must train himself to be a full-pledged chosen warrior, the Hero of the Shield, by forming parties, take up quests, and level himself from nothing to a powerful hero. It sounds like your typical fantasy MMORPG 8 at first, but that’s exactly the type of world Naofumi ended up at.
There is also a manga version published after the light novels, but personally, I prefer reading light novels. I like to imagine things in my head as I read, and even though I haven’t kept up for years now, I still recommend this to all avid readers of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and adventure. The light novels and manga (if you prefer) are available online at Amazon and online bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
“RISE” Release Events Campaign
Just like with Never going back and Summer Time, MADKID will be launching a three-month long campaign starting this weekend. More information on this campaign will be posted in an article right after this.
Updates on AXCEL STYLE
We now have a new theme and a new look to commemorate the upcoming release of the 3rd single, RISE. As you can see at the gorgeous visuals above, the boys are sporting a red and black theme. So, I created a whole new theme with the red and black scheme on it.
And that would be it for today’s What’s Happening? post. More to come, I promise!
Till next time, Axcels!
SOURCES: MADKID Twitter, MADKID Official website
Some sidenotes...
- also known as “MAD MUSIC EPISODE #13.1 – #13.4
- It’s rhythm game where there is a topic and you have to come up with as many things that relate to the topic while keeping up a rhythm by clapping
- will watch MAD MUSIC again regarding the lunches
- Just YOU-TA showing up during the AXCEL MEETING and mingling his fans after being away from the spotlight for a month.
- Read as “deteitteyo,” or “(Please) come out” or “Please exit.”
- Japanese title: ｢盾の勇者の成り上がり｣ (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari), but the English translation of the title is more well-known to the Japanese, or its shortened version, Shield Hero.
- That is, if the anime version Shield Hero becomes popular outside Japan, of course…
- Massive multiplayer online role-playing game – I was a video games otaku myself, and still am to this day…
