Lofi Girl vs Kousei Arima. SIR Rap Battles Season 2 (ft. Azia & RaccoonBroVA) 

Such an honor to be apart of this. The calming audio, the beautiful visuals, the fact that you could write an entire rap with the freaking LOFI Girl, all of this and more makes this one of the best raps I've voiced on!

"you're the brains to her brawn cuz a brain's what she lacks" quite possibly the first line to make me audibly gasp. well done.

Lofi Girl literally felt like such a villain here. She literally only went after his biggest traumas and Kousei rebounded with heart and soul. I would genuinely feel bad if I said Lofi Girl won

Ahh I love how this battle turned out - the visuals, writing, everything! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to voice Lofi Girl in this!

I really like how calm the energy of the battle is but damn "your the brains to her brawn, cause a brain's what she lack" made my jaw drop. Gotta give Lofi Girl the W. Amazing job, Rayyan

Very impressive! Easily your best work yet

So fucking solid dude, I think this is genuinely one of the most beautiful battles I've heard, the beat is low key but it works very well, and the performances of Azia and Carrick compliment it perfectly, especially Carrick, I love seeing him get emotional and it's amazing. Also the video is insanely gorgeous, good shit Rayyan

This just feels so smooth and so comforting to listen to. Between the instrumentals and the VAs. It’s just so clean. So nice.

No family in sight to shred any sign of remorse God damn that hits so hard after the new music video

Actual top 10 battles of the year Absolutely outstanding job

This is an unpopular opinion but damn, Arima won this for me. Lofi Girl just kept bringing up his trauma and felt like a total villain. And the line, "Forced to listen to the same song on repeat 24/7!" felt so true because she does use the same music sometimes. Props to the voice actors though.

This is really fitting from the beat itself to the casting to everything I'm proud rayyan.

I think Lofi Girl won but damn was Arima’s lines spot on, especially his last one. Also he reminds me of Light Yagami for some reason.

This is definitely one of the battles where I don't really wanna decide a winner, it's just vibes

Absolutely stellar. Massive props to the whole team.

I first watched this rap battle indirectly/unofficial in January of this year (2023). The moment I saw that this existed, I was intrigued because the matchup was interesting and unique and I was familiar with both characters (I believe I first learned of Lofi Girl in mid-2021 and have watched a few episodes of Your Lie in April during my freshman year of high school (2020-2021) within one of my school’s clubs). And I was stunned and how well-written and balanced that rap battle was (and still is). It was much closer than I initially thought it would be. Then, I would watch/listen to the battle officially under my account on February 25, 2023. And either by/around that time, I introduced my best friend to it. He would then go and watch Your Lie in April and sometime after he was finished, I presented him some information surrounding the Lo-Fi Girl label/channel (and surrounding information regarding the actual Lofi Girl) so that he could catch as many lines/disses as possible. We then analyzed each line and broke down as much as we could decipher. Fast forward to today, September 16, 2023 (at least in my time zone), an exact year after this battle came out, and here you have me typing in my thoughts and commentary. Onto my overall opinion and analysis: The announcer’s usual intro begins and immediately as the battle officially starts, Lofi Girl acknowledges the announcer and tells him to be quiet, as she needs silence to concentrate on her assignment in this situation: to diss her opponent, Kousei, as good as possible. She then would go and immediately spill the beans on Kousei’s traumatic past (and a more recent event of trauma), which she then goes into detail on. This leads to a faster-flowing part, but thankfully, this part is still audible and understandable overall (it appears this was made at a time when you understood the elements of a rap battle better; this is honestly one of your best-flowing creations) and it helps that the VA here, Azia, is used to fast-paced/fast-flowing parts in rap battles. “With living in the past like a haunted spirit” and the four lines about the event wherein Kaori was nearing death and by this point in the series, the “Lie” was reveal (which I’ll go into later) are the standout moments here. The final part of the first verse does more dissing, with its first line offering a good balance of a flex for LG and a diss to Kousei. A couple more powerful disses then are uttered before the final line of this verse: “And gave your fans a sour taste in one of their mouths like you just played them one of your notes.” This line either is a jab at the in-universe individuals that praise Kousei up until the incident where his skill got messed up, or a jab at (the negative-ish part of) the reception of the anime/manga (or both, let me know the thought process behind this line if you can at all). Either way, it would be a diverse line for sure, and diversity definitely helps one’s performance in a rap battle as long as it’s relevant to their opponent. This verse, overall is a good start and a well-made starter with a beginning that makes it unique and memorable. Next is Kousei’s response, and he opened his verse the RIGHT way. He took a diss from his opponent and provided a rebuttal to it, nullifying its effect. “Forced to listen to the same songs on repeat 24/7” is not just a rebuttal, but such a true line in regards to the character of Lofi Girl. Kousei then compares the two’s suffering before going to the part two of his second verse, which is, one again, a fast-paced part that is still audible. Kousei Arima may have less overall to work with in dissing his opponent, but he had good points in this faster-paced part. From LG’s supposed counterproductive behavior (which I can relate to sometimes), to comparing the tests she studies to his inner struggles/“demons”, to her being supposedly sleep deprived (which I can also relate to sometimes) to how she just sits in one place and effectively overworks herself on studying for tests and exams, the writing was done justice! Then there’s part three of this verse, and the flow and delivery of some of the words here is rather good. Kousei goes into detail about things pertaining to LG’s and the Lo-Fi Girl label’s official creations, both of which are good lines on their own. The line “Quit selling me your vinyls with recycled compositions” is also well thought out. One thing I do wonder, though, is why Lofi Girl is referred to as “Jade”. If you have an explanation for that, then let me know. Round One was awesome for both, and in total, the score by the end of this round to me is as follows: Lofi Girl: 11 Don DeMarco’s (with one of them completely nullified) Kousei Arima: 9 Don DeMarco’s (one of them being a rebuttal to one of LG’s disses) Overall, this round was even and I’d say it was roughly a tie. Lofi Girl in Round Two immediately started off with a double-diss: “I’m taking notes, you can’t hear ‘em, to Ryoma, you’re an interference”. This line disses Kousei being unable to hear his music since the tragic incident that caused this to happen AND the whole situation surrounding his friend Ryoma and the truth about Kaori. This automatically puts LG in the lead. The aforementioned truth is then mentioned in the next line: the “lie” in question was Kaori liking Kousei; in reality, she liked Ryoma. The rest of her verse was haymaker after haymaker, and there was no line I disliked. “Couldn’t find time with Tsubaki to play / ‘Cuz you were too busy getting slapped in the face” and “You’re the brains to her brawn ‘cause a brain’s what she lacks” are the standout lines. And the ending lines are also GOATed. Using musical terminology and ending it off with how Kousei constantly faced pain without much of joyous times in between was fantastic. In Kousei’s last verse, let’s take a moment to appreciate the manga-styled art and whoever did it. That aside, this part had some good lines, such as the talk about how LG is lacking in emotion from what we’ve seen and the copyright strikes that ChilledCow faced (with the first leading to the creation of the character of the Lofi Girl). The last four lines add more disses that really do hit for me. The juxtaposition in lines 9-10 of that verse if well-crafted. The talk about the lack of a family on LG’s end was also nice. And the last line really does hit. But that wasn’t enough to recover from LG’s killer second verse. But I like the diversity. Round Two was also well made, and the scoreboard for it is as follows: Lofi Girl: 10 Don DeMarco’s Kousei Arima: 6 Don DeMarco’s Overall score: Lofi Girl: 21 Don DeMarco’s (with one nullified) Kousei Arima: 15 Don DeMarco’s (with one of them being a rebuttal) In the end, the winner is Lofi Girl, who had more (undisputed) material and things to diss about her opponent. But honestly, this was close, and Kousei did great, too. The beat used was fitting (it was relaxed with piano melodies prominent in a good amount of Kousei’s verses combined) and I like the calm and relaxed tone of LG as well of Kousei being emotional. All in all, this was such a masterpiece and along with Mario vs. Link, my favorite rap battle of yours. This will always be remembered by me and I hope you keep doing what you do best (as well as taking breaks when needed to not overwork yourself). An entire year has passed since this was uploaded and it still is a GOATed work of art.

Absolutely beautiful in all regards, one of my favourite battles of the entire year with such gorgeous well paced visuals with amazing lighting and composition and incredible performances from two of the communitys best va's all accompanied with with great writing creates one of the most peaceful yet impactful battles ive ever seen which is a feat in an of itself absolutely everyone involved in this did amazing and should be so proud

Soooo worth the wait this battle is really cool, love how soothing both the beat and the vocals are

This is your best sounding battle, like wow. The rhymes, the vibes, the beat, the performances, are all perfect

till this day one of the best battles this sh!t slaps

GOATed. Your best work yet.

another banger of a song and another song that will be stuck in my head for the next few days

This was awesome! Wow, I am in awe by some of the rhyme schemes here Rayyan. This may be my favorite battle of yours.

This was beautiful to watch, I can’t wait for your future content! Keep up the amazing work!!!

Everything in this is legit amazing, awesome job to everyone all around

Good job with the editing as usual That's my favorite part about your battles

RaccoonBroVA and Azia were both too good for me to pick one, epic job guys

It's a masterpiece, all the team done such a fucking good job My favorite released battle of you !!

this is just impressive, def one of ur best works

This such a vibe. I love it

GODDAMN LOFI GIRL WENT CRAZY

Banger here

I loved it!!

Phenomenal battle, gives me incentive to read Your Lie in April again

This was a sick rap battle so my vote goes to the Lofi Girl

Kousei mentioning how he put scales her in song is clever, considering the effort. It takes to be a good pianist. Also the “hoping you don’t fail” verse took it for me.

The anime only your friends will recommend vs. The livestream RU-vid will never stop recommending to you

I have to come back to this one every once in a while. I love it even though I don’t know who Kousei is.

The flow in this battle is so unreal holy

what beat is this? it's so good and only makes this battle better than it already is. Good work Rayyan, it's easily your new best and solid BOTM contender

This was really good. Unexpected but excellent matchup. Edge the W to lofi girl on first watch. She had more material to reference and rayyan used it well

Fucking bars

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W brother keep doing these vids

Drapion vs Scorpion (Marvel) Magmortar vs Ruin (Fortnite) Magnezone vs Gogo Tomago (Big Hero 6) Celesteela vs Starscream (Transformers) Xurkitree vs Kineticlops (War of the Monsters) Blacephalon vs Beppi the Clown (Cuphead) or Fizzarolli (Helluva Boss)

jesus christ this is amazing

low-fidelity girl

damn

0:41

I'm so disappointed when she said "Id turn up a headphones a little" she should've made a Mama Coco vs Big Al reference 😢😢😢/j

!

Mid

Looks like Lofi Girl really "killed" the beat! ...Wait