VOCALOID

[nocturnal YL]

I've been recently addicted to VOCALOID. Recent as in starting from less than two weeks ago. To be more precise, I'm interested in the characters from Crypton Future Media and the songs from said characters, although I also like quite a few IA songs.

I suppose VOCALOID or Crypton's characters don't need any introduction. The technology has been around for 12 years and Hatsune Miku debuted 9 years ago. Which also means I'm very, very late to this.

I blame Daigasso! Band Brothers P for getting me addicted. It has nothing to do with this game's use of the VOCALOID engine; rather, it's mostly because it features the very famous Senbonzakura, which prompted me to search further. Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE also has a hand in it; obvious references aside, the characters are said to be partially influenced by VOCALOID characters. And both are games I bought because of the Fire Emblem series (I bought Band Brothers P Debut after the game started accepting Fire Emblem game music submissions), and… well, I didn't expect this to happen.

I'd have listed a few songs that I like, but it's hard to pick anything specific. I'll just put one here: Ageage Again, aka the Project mirai 2 opening theme, aka the Mikudayo theme (because she's in the SEGA show mentioned below).

SPOILER: Click to show

{Animated GIF from Project mirai 2}

And all that has led me further to the Project DIVA and Project mirai series*, rhythm game series featuring 3DCG music videos where you can replace the characters, costumes, or even edit the dance sequences in some games.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Project DIVA F / Project DIVA F 2nd opening}

And that has in turn got me to… Mikudayo, a Nendoroid-styled Miku costume that first appeared in 2011 and later used to promote the Project mirai series.

I saw this image in a Nintendo Direct broadcast a long time ago. The late Nintendo president Iwata showed it in the context of the Year of Luigi, but all this time I had no idea that this Miku costume is a running joke on SEGA's side. Once SEGA learns what fans think about the costume, they jumped into the action themselves and even produced a show that makes fun of her to promote Project mirai 2. I really like this sense of humour of theirs.

Replacing the characters in Project DIVA F 2nd with Mikudayo will make the music videos very hilarious. Mikudayo has the ability to destroy any seriousness in those videos.
Here's Magnet, a song about forbidden love…
Here's Knife…
And here's Two-faced Lovers, a song about confusing love.
There are other examples, too.

SEGA also has a second Miku costume called Mikunano, although this one does not appear in the games.

Thanks for all these humourous stuff, SEGA AM-2.


* To recap, I went from Fire Emblem → Daigasso! Band Brothers P and Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE → VOCALOID → Project DIVA. So Nintendo made me want a PS4. Good job.

[nocturnal YL]

About a month ago, Hachi, one of the best producers, released a new song that has broken the record of reaching 1 milion views in just 6 days. This counts only Niconico views with the original uploads, and has broke the previous record (Mitchie M's FREELY TOMORROW, which reached 1 million views in 20 days) by a far margin. Less than one month after release, Hachi's new song has reached 2 million views.

Here's the song. Viewing on Niconico is recommended if you have an account.

Niconico link
YouTube link

Ironically, the song is about the declining popularity of the VOCALOID scene (among fans, but especially among producers) and the difficulty of being a good producer. And this song itself has become the fastest-spreading song in VOCALOID history.

Symbolism aside, this version of Miku looks soooo cool. I really dig this design.

[nocturnal YL]

(Cross-post from this post in another forum)

It's 31 August in Japan, which means that is the 10th anniversary of Hatsune Miku. For anyone who don't know what the fuzz is about, see the official page.

Remember this?
VOCALOID2 初音ミクに「Ievan Polkka」を歌わせてみた / Otomania
(View without Niconico account)

This year is a pretty meaningful milestone for its fans. Although new producers like LamazeP and Nayutalien have been making excellent songs in the last few years, most of the earlier, more influential composers have moved on to work for commercial labels or make other types of music. Gone are the days of extended stories told in a series of songs like Kagerou Project and the Seven Deadly Sins series, or multimillion hits like Melt.

Until now.

For Magical Mirai 2017, Legendary producer Hachi was asked to write the theme song of the concert. Taking inspiration of how Niconico felt drastcally different compared to a few years ago, Hachi imagined the scene as a desert, and composed a slow song (because he thought a fast song would invoke a "Huh? That again?" feel) to go with the theme.

Sand Planet / Hachi


The response was immense. It became the VOCALOID-based song with the fastest-growing view count. In Niconico alone, it hit 1 million views in just 6 days, 2 million in less than a month, and at the time of writing, it's at 2.3 million. And that's not even counting YouTube views, reuploads and remixes.


Other producers have also returned or continue making songs. For the 10th anniversary album Re:Start, we've got these gems:

Unknown Mother Goose / wowaka


Hibana / DECO*27



And, while this has nothing to do with recent history, here's one of my favourite songs:

Akatsuki Arrival / Last Note.


I wish there are more Luka songs. Actually, I wish there are more songs featuring Miku and Luka. I really like this pair.


And finally, you can't talk about Hatsune Miku without mentioning SEGA. Project DIVA Future Tone DX is coming out this November (not featuring many new songs, sadly), and Mikudayo and Mikunano are still very active as SEGA's promoters! They'll appear in meet-and-greet events in SEGA's game centers today.

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EDIT — I noticed that some of the YouTube videos are not available in western countries, so here are the re-uploaded versions:

Unknown Mother Goose / wowaka


Hibana / DECO*27


Akatsuki Arrival / Last Note.