I'm going to be more cynical here and argue that the sandoku concept was either around from 2015 or was just tacked on after the singles started coming out and they had to be tied together somehow to be on an album.
The religious/folklore motives on the Nagaku Mijikai Matsuri single cover, the Kamisama, Hotokesama video, the Hyakkiyagyo concert... also, all of the singles were tie-ins, which makes the concept seem more like an afterthought to me.
I'm curious how it will pan out in the final tracklist. Will the songs be divided across the three themes? Does "Menukidoori" stand for greed?

At this stage, I'm kind of most curious about the eventual cover artwork, because this knight armor image is tacky and not in a good way. I've seen people point out here that it reminds them of mobile games or hostess bars and I pray that something like that was the intention, because damn if this is not ironic.
The "Marilyn" picture that was the teaser for Sunny ended up being the booklet cover, so this one probably isn't really going anywhere either.

Agreed, it seems like a strong concept but the connection to the singles seems more tenuous. Remember when SUNNY was announced Shiina mentioned she noticed she'd written a lot about sunlight between 2009-2014 so she just threw in a vague enough concept to loosely tie the album together. So, Sandokushi seems at lesat stronger conceptually, and if the concept really was born in 2015 then at least she's been somewhat intentional about the long-term project.

Lol I literally was wondering that too. Is she both cashing in and selling out Ginza Six for the sake of social commentary? Talk about multitasking. :lol:

It turned me off too at first, but damn if it isn't a bold visual statement. I mean the reactions I've been seeing are all "This is tacky af" or "I love it!!". Knowing Ringo and her love for camp (and angel wings apparently) I'm sure it's intentional on her part.

I agree! I really hope I warm up to it. At least others get it, which is nice to see. I'm really curious about the final artwork.
Now, if she really repurposed "Menukidoori" and the Coke song that would be badass, but let's be realistic :D I do wonder about the tracklist and I'm excited to hear new songs. I really have no expectations beyond that, so I can only be pleasantly suprised, I guess!

I was wondering a couple of things since the announcement too, like how much Tokyo Jihen is going to be involved - remember, their logo was slapped on to the Jiyû-dom artwork and either they were around for a lot of the songs or stuff like Shijô no Jinsei and Donzoko Made reminded me of Jihen too. And wasn't Jihen just popping up randomly here and there over the past few years? I may be wrong but they may pop up here too beyond the cameos they made on previous albums.

And also, if there were sonic parallels to be drawn between the first Reimport and Sunny (terrible mastering aside) - that's probably really subjective - then is the second Reimport any indicator of this new album? I wonder how the singles are going to hold together in the end, it worked out well enough on Sunny for me - and this time, we're only reaching four years back :D

Also, I haven't seen the new Expo yet but apparently there was a new remix of Marunouchi Sadistic included? We may get a bonus track ala SG and get a new version of MaruSadi every ten years from now on too. Lol

And here I was thinking Sunny was about Japan taking its place as a modern nation in the international community.

I think it's likely that she came up with the sandoku theme after the singles (or some of them, at least) had already come out. But that's not necessarily a disqualifier - if the new songs were written with that theme in mind, and with an eye toward actually tying in the singles. IIRC Yattsuke Shigoto was written years before the rest of KZK, for example.

Honestly Ringos been campy for so long now that the promo shot was not even something that registered as cheesy, I just thought of Mariah Carey and Ayumi Hamasaki lol.

At least it's not her in another Gucci-made Kimono (it still makes me scoff), that shit was getting super stale

That is a good point, but that was one single (technically, an EP track) and completely reimagined. I don't think any of us is expecting a new arrangement on any of these songs, plus that's an entire backlog of singles right there.
Also keep in mind she sacked Mayonaka and the b-side, nowadays she would probably throw in the Sid remake in too just for completion's sake lol
As for Sunny, I remember she said something about writing about both the sunny and the dark sides of Japan or something to that effect? She may mention it in the Sunny interview in that "Ongakka no Karute" book that I never got around to.

And sure deadgrandma, the camp is nothing new - it's probably also my dislike of knights and medieval/fantasy aesthetics that's putting me off, it just does nothing to me. I never watched Game of Thrones either, I'm that person...

I also listened to Menukidoori for about the fourth time in my life last night and I will say the song is better than I remember it, so maybe it will end up just being one of the less remarkable tracks on the album. Certainly nothing on here is on NIPPON level, am I right?

Coke Song is pretty damn bad lol

I agree. wouldn't consider myself a cynical fans, but we already have four songs that do not inspire confidence that she'll be exploring this concept in a particularly 'new' or 'exciting' way, at least where the album as a cohesive entity is concerned. Like I'm sure I'll enjoy the 5/6/7th entry in the Mayonaka Cinematic Universe, but I don't expect my world to be rocked.

Oops, I forgot to out myself as the Coke song fan. In fact I'd like to know what makes it so hateable - is it the autotune, is it Ukigumo or just the mediocrity? It's a long shot from her best singles but I always enjoyed it.
So if the Coke song is the NIPPON of this album, I'm not too mad. I hope the rest will find it easier to stomach "in the context of the album" :D

I agree with Scribble! And hopefully the album will inspire stronger reactions than indifference (in either direction), I'm interested in other folks' takes on it.

Actually, did anyone pre-order? I wonder why she even bothers with the PV disc anymore, aren't the videos all on YouTube in HD?

It's the autotune, on top of being a mediocre song in general. That shit is for people who can't sing, not Ringo.

I pre-ordered both the Expo '18 Blu-ray and the limited edition of the album. I don't think there's a PV disc though.