RED_ZONE

About

RED ZONE is a popular soundtrack from a Japanese arcade music video game beatmania IIDX, which is produced by KONAMI as a part of BEMANI line.^[1]

This Speed Rave/Euro Beat song had been used in many YTPMVs and MAD videos on YouTube and the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND) since 2009 to 2010.

Origin

RED ZONE is written by the collaboration of two Japanese composers : Tatsuya Shimizu, better known as his alias tatsh, and Naoki Maeda. This song was first included in beatmania IIDX 11 : IIDXRED released for Japanese arcade in October 28th, 2004. This song entitled with “Red”, this game’s concept color, is the lead track of it.

In addition, the edited version of this song has been included in DanceDanceRevolution series, an other music video game in same BEMANI line, since its 10th version : Super Nova 2 which was released in August 2007.^[2]

Spread

Before it caused a big sensation, a few instances using this song had already been posted to the web. This song can be found in “SPEED RAVE”, a page on YTMND posted in 2005^[3], and in the Initial D parody featuring the Japanese anime/manga series Lucky Star that was posted to NND in 2007.^[4] However, those creations weren’t able to reach a large audience.

The video gave the outclassing popularity in online parodies to this song was one of the derivatives of Hissu Amoto San phenomenon. That is “HON ZONE” posted to NND in January 3rd, 2009.^[5]

This video got much attention among NND users partly due to its incorporation of Hissu Amoto San phenomenon. And many MAD editors followed its style and began creating their own RED ZONE videos around the beginning of February in that year.

Since then, More than 2400 videos related to this song have been posted to NND.^[6]

YouTube

RED ZONE also got a much favor with YouTube Poopers by many videos reuploaded from NND to YouTube. As well as other popular soundtracks in MADs, they have introduced this song to their YTPMVs. The icon of these videos on YouTube is “【レッドゾーン】” in their title written in Katakana characters.^[7]

However, similar to Gourmet Race, RED ZONE had been overused by many people who don’t have creative mind nor skill. Their poor MADs/YTPMVs made with the help of tutorials are lacking of “soul” was gradually dampening the enthusiasm.

Today, RED ZONE remixes can’t get much attention as previous on both YouTube and NND.

Notable Examples

For more videos, check out the videos section in this entry.

YTPMVs

【レッドゾーン】PATRICK ZONE (See also : No, This Is Patrick)

【レッドゾーン】PITCHMEN ZONE (See also : Vince Shlomi and Billy Mays)

MADs

【インタレ解除版】ＵＮ　ＴＡＮＥ【けいおん！×ＲＥＤ　ＺＯＮＥ】^[8] (See also : Untan)

HAMMER ZONE^[9] (See also : Hammer)

シフトチェンジでRED ZONE^[10]

This RED ZONE remix of a human car sound video caused a small, but impressive, fad “Shift Change Red Zone”. Hand drawn animations picturing this man’s intense face expression has been posted to NND.

For more information about that particular phenomenon, please check the KYM entry for Shift Change RED ZONE.

Search Interest

Measuring the popularity of “Red Zone” on the English-speaking web becomes problematic because of the general ambiguity of the name.

Likewise, searches for “Red Zone” often result in pages pertaining to University of Nebraska Huskers^[11], University of Georgia Bulldogs^[12], NFL news^[13], and Old Spice Red Zone Deodorant.^[14]

The underscore between RED and ZONE is a common trait among RED ZONE videos on NND. This is because tags in NND are separated by space.

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos listed in this section.