Hong Kong vs Taiwan · Round of 16

00:03:960 (1,1) - nice yinyang here :eyes: I like the bamboo sliders idea you have over here, but I do think it kinda strips away variety from the rhythm choices of the map at points (00:46:592 - as an example). Those sections generally feel a bit too repetitive because of this 01:11:855 (1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1,1,2,1,1,1,1,1) - cool, but I think a deceleration on the 1st half of the pattern would have made it more epic (might be just me) 01:50:736 (1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1) - cool! 02:07:512 (5,1) - this jump is VERY evil lol 02:27:848 (1) - nice I really like it overall! While I don't fully agree with some of the rhythms or patterning choices I think it's generally executed well and is impactful, it also feels fairly balanced generally

Very cool keysounding, but I think some of it overpowers the song too much. I really like the guitar riffs at 00:51:329 - and similar because I think they complement the song really well, but in other instances you have stuff like 00:16:789 - which is overpowered by the default normal soft hitsounds and the pianos at 00:22:809 - which to my ears don't really match the song well. Conversely, there are various spots which have basically no hitsounds, like 00:38:105 (3,4,1,1,1,1) - which at the moment feels rather detached from the song because of it. Considering how dense this map is it's a bit of a shame that there are these spots with not much feedback. Patterning itself is generally really solid, 02:19:749 (1,1,1,1,1,1) - is particularly fire!! So yeah, very good entry in general. It's just a shame that some of the keysounding hurt the patterning a bit in my opinion

The first slider was all I needed to see to know I would like this map. The theme of this map is awesome, and I especially like the first and last 10%. I do wish the rest of the map implemented the theme to this extent, but I still think it tackles the theme in its own way. The sections at 00:49:750 and 01:45:801 seem less tidy in terms of overlaps and spacing compared to the rest of the map, but I like the sun patterns throughout. I think this entry really excels in all of the transitioning sections where the intensity is lower but the creativity is still high.

This entry is pretty clean with respect to rhythm choice and patterning. I think it does well at representing the song without going over the top. The keysounding is fun, but it seems like it was prioritized too heavily over the general hitsounding; in some places, the keysounding overpowers the general hitsounding, and in other places, the general hitsounding seems missing entirely. I think this entry does better than the opposing team's entry in the sections where the mapping is more standard but is weaker where certain sounds call for more unique representation. 01:58:433 - holy moly

This entry starts off slow as some of the early sections lack finesse with a lot of the start feeling like an average alt bpm map, but wow the chorus at 00:49:750 really pops off, amazing section. 01:11:855 (1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1,1,2,1) - this pattern feels extremely underwhelming for how intense the song is going for, it needs a lot more difficulty, the popoff patterns are also done very well like 01:50:736 (1) - , the sliderarts throughout the map are nice but some of them (especially at the start) feel a bit lacking, Overall though this edges out on the other entry due to the consistent theme throughout and the high level of execution with the more complex sections.

the problem with this keysounding is that you arent really adding that much to the song apart from a worse sounding layer than the song itself, while also as a consequence of the keysounds the hitsounding is very sparse, so with most of the keysounding blending into the song this map feels severely underhitsounded. Regarding the map itself, i think overall the more complex it gets the messier it gets, the calmer sections are very well done (parts such as 00:31:789 (1,2,1,1,1,1,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1) - are very well thought out overall) but sections where it ramps up the complexity just drop the ball a bit imo (parts like 01:53:104 (1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,1) - and 01:56:953 (1,1,1,2,1,2,1) - ) also the part at 01:58:433 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1) - just comes out of nowhere and feels very jarring, overall this entry lacks the cohesiveness that the other entry has througout the map

Somtimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I was hoping you'd try to represent this asian side of the song more often through the map, but you repeated those 00:46:592 (1) - sliders way too many times. I also think the 01:52:117 - section had clear rhythms that could've been followed but the mapping makes it harder to discern what's being followed; 01:52:117 (1,2,1,2,3,4,5,1,2) - this movement was fire though I don't know why you didn't try to keep doing this more intensely throuhgout...

There were cool individual patterns, but I disagree on the approach as it became a problem to keep the map consistent but also find interesting executions. There are sparks of creativity but not consistently.

Great theming, but the difficulty level and density in some less musically intense sections is difficult to justify. I'm also not entirely sure how much I'm on board with sliderart that seems to be themed around that "Place / Place, Japan" meme. That said, props for 01:50:736 - . Killer pattern.

Very nice hitsounding! I think where this map really wins out is the intensity and density. Sections of the map feel like they correspond much better to the song in this than in the opposing entry.

The matchup is mostly a tossup for me. Both entries are close in overall execution and have their small moments, so I had to kind of grasp at straws to find reasons to choose one entry over other in any way. In the end, I think this entry keeps its flow ideas more consistent while preserving the visuals, whereas the opposing entry sometimes as I see it sacrifices the movement in favor of enforcing visuals. This is my pick for the round but it couldn't be any closer. To comment on the map itself, I am not sure about the theming and why bamboo is there, tried to even look at the lyrics and havent deciphered meaning anyway, but it's fine as those sliders don't hurt the map either way. Also found the general visuals for 1:46 onwards quite interesting, typically maps would just stick to one shape style but here the map periodically combines it with red node sliders that, while standing out, don't ruin overall image either.

The map is consistent with its ideas and execution most of the time, but I think sometimes ends up sacrificing movement to force a pattern. 00:31:789 (1,2,1) - other doubles have better transition, but this particular one kinda breaks out of the circular movement due to big spacing outwards of where the pattern was going. Assume it's done for a niftier visual transition into the next pattern, but still probably could've found a better manner to transition between the two. 00:34:750 (1,2,3,1,2,3) - this seems... strange? I am not sure what is attempted to be achieved here, 00:34:750 (1) - the pause here bring attention to this space, subsequent slider 00:34:947 (2) - suggests transition out of it but instead the next circle ends up right next to it instead of moving out. In turn, 00:35:243 (1) - instead of being done in similar way as 00:34:750 (1,2) - ends up just being put elsewhere, overall making sequence a bit directionless. 00:56:066 (1,2,1,2,3) - I struggle to believe 2-1-2 was given enough thought here, it just creates comparatively awkward movement between the sliders to upkeep visuals. 01:52:117 (1,2) - 01:56:953 (1,1) - both of those don't really lead well into one another, and on the 2nd one 01:56:953 (1,1,1,2,1) - the whole sequence seems out of place due to how 01:57:446 (1,2) - was managed. Now, 1:58:433 - 2:01:591 honestly almost made me pick this map as the winner alone had this pattern had more stuff as good around it. Very good transition but not enough to alone carry the map over. Overall crazy close matchup and at this point the very small standouts ended up mattering the most.

very well executed map, pretty japanese sliders, its nice seeing same themed elements repeat throughout it, 01:50:736 (1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1) - this is such a cool pattern, 02:11:065 - i love how clean this whole section is, 01:52:117 - this whole chorus in general imo has very fun slider patterns that do good job at emphasizing the more important parts of the song, its very heavy on 1/8 sliders but they dont ruin the rhythm focus; this map feels very consistent in its level of polish throughout, even tho it changes up visual styles between sections often the repeating themed sliders still bring it back together in the end

a whole new song in the hitsounds is awesome, this entry is also generally very good however has much less strict and uniform style throughout which leads to some parts being much better executed than other in my opinion, like verses and transitional parts have such clean and strict patterning which disappears in later chorus which to me makes the map slightly less cohesive, 01:58:630 - this whole circle patterning is very cool tho; the hitsounding improves the impression of the map by a lot which id say brings it to almost equal level to the rival however i would value more consistent execution of the map itself that the other entry has