IOSYS

Famous in Japan's doujin community for their prolific output and inventive music, IOSYS formed in October 1998 and began releasing popular remixes of songs from the Touhou Project video game series nearly 10 years later. Tōhō Kazakuraen, the group's first Touhou Project-inspired album, arrived in May 2006. By avoiding record labels and selling its own albums via doujin conventions like Comiket, IOSYS was able to remain independent even as the band's audience grew. Tōhō Otomebayashi was released in August 2006 and, like Tōhō Kazakuraen, consisted mainly of instrumental music influenced by the Touhou Project series. Tōhō Tsukitōrō followed in December 2006 and marked a more lyric-based, vocally-driven approach for the band, while a string of five follow-up records — Sekaiju no Omochabako, Tōhō Eijanho, Tōhō Suisuisūsū, Gossun to ka no Karaoke, and Tōhō Kasokusōchi — all arrived in 2007. Led by the composer ARM, IOSYS remained prolific throughout the following decade, with the band releasing 89 albums by the end of 2017. The band continued to release new material during the 2020s and even expanded beyond the niche audience that had supported IOSYS for the bulk of its existence, earning a surprise Top 40 hit — "Scarlet Police Getto Patrol 24 Hour," which peaked at Number 29 on Japan's Top 200 chart — in January 2022.

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