Entry: Dark Blue / Jack Mannequin

Presentation - 13 / 20

The graphics were quite simple, but they worked reasonably well, emphasizing the title and theme of the song (they're kinda depressing, now that you think about it). The samplestart also added to that feel, with a well-selected portion making for a fairly inviting presentation.

I see that you included a singles Beginner chart (quite good, fairly tricky for a Beginner chart, but it didn't cross the border, so its okay) and a couple Doubles charts (they flowed decently enough, but they didn't really feel like Doubles charts at all-- they still felt too much like Singles charts-- you didn't exactly make use of the 2 pads very well, and that can be an issue here).

Steps (no Oni)

Light Chart - 3.6 / 5

Not bad. Although the step density was still rather tight, its nice to see how you balanced the patterns throughout the chart, with some of the step patterns building up and breaking down depending on the instruments that are currently working throughout the song. There were some nice moments here, such as that excellent freeze break-out at bars 33-38-- they gave me the impression of a surprise guitar solo, which worked out quite well. The rest of the steps (in general) matched the fairly constant energy of the song, although they were quite well-suppressed, given the apparent flatness of the vocals. Just lighten up on the jumps-- despite the quick fluxes in energy during cymbal portions and the like, they weren't really that much warranted. In addition, try to be more consistent in using your patterns-- if needed, "mirror" (but not an exact mirror!!!) some of your patterns... they can make it feel more consistent (at times, the patterns can get really erratic).

Standard Chart - 7 / 10

Pretty good, actually. You chose a good set of patterns here, which to some extent, matched the flow of the song (calming, but energetic, in the sense that there are bursts of emotion here). The patterns were pretty much well-balanced, and flowed pretty well throughout the song. The only thing I am worried about here is the consistency of patterns-- although you selected a good set of patterns to use, you should try to balance them out in such a way that they wouldn't feel like they were going here and there. Also, I miss the freeze patterns in bars 33-38-- all the other core charts had it, so I find it strange that its absent here-- that part had a lot of character there that worked out with the part of the song it was in. All that said, needs some tweaking.

Heavy Chart - 10 / 15

Hmmm.. not exactly the most mind-blowing of charts, but I guess it was quite good as it is. You had a good set of patterns going here, with some of the medium-length runs emphasizing the emotional spikes in the chart, as well as the constant energy (though thankfully, you controlled them quite well-- any longer and they would be a bit too much for the song). Anyway, the only thing I'm worried about here are the 16th-note patterns-- although they represent an "emotional" side of the song, at times they feel highly extraneous and don't fit in very well with the theme of the song too well (though the jumps work, just use them a bit less-- they seem to be fairly common here-- that'll better represent the emotions of the song). The steps flowed quite smoothly and were oriently quite well, so the problem I noted earlier is the only thing that's keeping this chart (but when you think about it-- its a fairly big problem).

Oh, and bars 33-38, while cluttered looking, was ace. Really represented the emotions of the song very well.