Tag Archives: vocaloid

Mikumo Kitty Blobs

A few weeks ago, a package arrived on the doorstep. Luckily, I knew it was coming, otherwise I’d be very puzzled. My best friend had ordered an adorable little figure for me!

The Mikumo series of figures all feature Hatsune Miku somehow and are a cheaper alternative to some of the other figures available.  This one features a kitty blob design inspired by the video for “Becoming Round,” which I posted a link to a few weeks ago.  Here you see Miku, Rin, and Len chilling in a comfy cloud.

It’s definitely adorable. The paint job is pretty decent. The only real  messiness I could find was around Miku’s face. There’s some visible seam lines, but they’re not distracting, and the clouds are shaded nicely too.

Now for the weird bit.

There’s a naked nekomimi Miku around the back of the figure! This does relate to the video, as at the end, it shows Miku stripping out of her little cat suit. It’s still pretty weird. It’s an odd choice for the sculptors to have made, putting her in the back like that. It almost takes away from the figure as a whole. However, if you simply display the front of the figure, there’s no hint of this strange naked girl.

It’s a cute figure, and pretty decently made. I’m really happy with this figure. It brightens my day, sitting on my desk.

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Vocaloid Music Monday: Dye

I’m going to be lazy this week. It looks like I’ve run through all my own youtube favorites, so after next week’s video, I’m going to have to search out more videos!

The video for this week is pretty boring. It’s just Luka’s face with or without color, and possibly flipped. I do like the song though. Her voice is a nice contrast to the electronic backing music.

I’ve listened to a few vocaloid songs from AvTechNO! and I like most of them actually.

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Vocaloid Music Monday: Invisible Tears

Hello again! It’s Monday!

Today I bring you a duet from Miku Hatsune and Len Kagamine, with possibly an appearance from Kaito? (In the video – pay attention!)

It looks like Miku and Len are having relationship woes! Except….I know Miku is supposed to be 16, but I don’t know what age Len is supposed to be (too lazy to look it up right now), but he looks quite a bit younger. That gets into shota territory, which weirds me out. In this video though, he looks Miku’s age or even older! It’s really pretty fun to see what fans come up with for this stuff.

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Vocaloid Music Monday: Tsugai Kogarashi

Another Monday down! This was a good idea for mondays, it helps the day go by as I spend it deciding which video to post next. I’m thinking of focusing on just one vocaloid next month though. Any requests?

This week it’s a duet by Meiko and Kaito. I’m not sure what it’s about, it looks like a tree is involved. But it’s kind of a period type story, so that’s pretty cool.

Next week, I’ll see about posting a video that has to do with the heart, seeing as it’ll be the day before Valentine’s Day. Any plans?

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Vocaloid Music Monday: Remote Controller

“Remote Controller” リモコン(Rimokon)

I’m so happy for youTubers (or anyone really) who takes the time to comprehensively label what they upload. It’s really difficult to find more information on whatever otherwise.

This video is on a vocaloid video DVD that my best friend gave me last time she came back from China. It’s really catchy, and out of the around 20 videos this one stands out in my mind first.

In this video, we have the Kagamine twins (Rin and Len), seemingly playing video games. The song itself is very catchy, in fact, revisiting the video to post, I just bought it from iTunes.

Side note: there is quite a bit of vocaloid music up on iTunes. A ton, even. I highly recommend Supercell, for anyone who’s just starting out. It’s only Miku Hatsune, but the songs are all really good.

Another side note: I received my cheerful Rin and Len nendos, and my coworkers all still think Len’s a girl. I’ve somewhat given up on explaining that no, he’s actually a boy. After all, it’s not like I can prove it…

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Vocaloid Music Monday: Coward Mont Blanc

I should take this time to point out that I know very little Japanese. So little that what I do know isn’t useful at all really unless I’m watching something and I pick stuff up from dialog. That’s it. I really want to learn and I take little stabs at it occasionally but there’s no expertise whatsoever here.

So if I’m wrong on a song title, feel free to correct me. I also don’t actually know what most of the songs are about. Even when I watch with english subtitles, I don’t pay attention to them at all. I just immerse myself in the song itself and whatever animation might be in the video I’m watching.

So this week, there’s another vocaloid: Gumi! Also known as Megpoid, I think. The really fascinating thing about Vocaloids is that there’s probably many more than you might think there is. Various companies besides Crypton Future Media develop their own Vocaloids, the most fascinating of which I ran across was one that was an opera singer. I don’t think Gumi is Crypton, that’s probably why you don’t see as much of her as Miku, Kaito, Meiko, Luka, and the Kagamine twins.

Gumi is pretty cool to me because she has green hair (green’s my favorite color) and sports goggles. Her default outfit is pretty weird though. Her voice stands out nicely from the Vocaloids I’m more used to listening to, and I’m looking forward to checking out more of her songs. This video seems to be about desserts? And maybe a guy? Plus, is it just me, or is there a dessert that looks suspiciously like spaghetti in a cupcake paper?

Bonus! Here’s a cover of Coward Mont Blanc done by Marina, who you might recognize as the singer behind Masami Iwasawa, the first Girls Dead Monster lead singer in Angel Beats.

She has such a lovely voice.

Hope you guys are enjoying your week so far! Hopefully these videos help!

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Vocaloid Music Monday: Imitation Black

Between this week and last week, it’s just vocaloid videos. I’ll have to fix that.

My third installment is a visual kei style video with Kaito, Gakupo, and Len Kagamine. I really like the style of this video, although for quite a while, I thought Len was the female half of the Kagamine twins, since he is wearing a dress in this video. For those of you not really familiar with visual kei, though, a guy in a dress is nothing new. I think it’s actually a trope.

 

If I remember correctly, there may be more songs with Kaito, Len, and Gakupo as a visual kei group. I’ll definitely be checking those out in the future.

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Vocaloid Music Monday: Just Be Friends

If you asked me who my favorite vocaloid was, I’d probably waver between Luka and Kaito.  Of course, I started out liking Miku (and I still do!), but Luka’s voice hits me just right more often.

This video is beautiful. The scenes go right along with the lyrics, which although Luka is singing is from the guy’s perspective. This song first caught my attention watching the dvd of the first live vocaloid concert, and it’s stayed on my favorites playlist pretty constantly since then, which was about a year ago now. Behind Love of War, it is easily my favorite vocaloid song ever.

 

So far this resolution is successful! Two weeks in a row! I know I’ll probably run out of songs pretty quick, or at least I’ll run out of the easy songs, heh. My plan then is just to hit youtube at random and see what I find. It could be a great way to discover new music.

Also vocaloid related, I received my Meiko nendoroid today! So there will probably be a review or just a photoshoot with her sometime, as well as my list of top 5 manga. I figured out which titles are in the list, I just have to write it up.

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New Vocaloid Music Monday: Love is War

I’ve read that a good blogger should never embed youtube videos into their blog, that it’s a very lazy thing to do. However, I feel that to share some vocaloid music properly, videos are a must. Youtube links it is. Hopefully they work for everyone, if they don’t work for you, let me know and I’ll look into other options. Welcome to a new feature: Vocaloid Music Monday! It’s pretty simple: I share a video for a vocaloid song that I particularly like.

Vocaloids are such a complex subject and there’s just so very many songs that it can be really intimidating to even try to get into. Vocaloidism is a good starting point for information, as well as the Vocaloid wiki. I always find that when I’m interested in a new fandom, the way to go is just jump right in! It’s all very confusing at first, but eventually it’ll make sense, and you’ll become confident in your own knowledge.

Love is War isn’t the first vocaloid or Miku Hatsune song I’d heard, but actually the second, although it’s from the same album as the first – Supercell by….Supercell. Apparently it was their debut album, and they used Miku for vocals. Love is War is a very dramatic song, and I really like the visual aesthetic of this video. I hope you guys enjoy it too!

Sometime later this week I should have my top five manga of 2011 posted! There were some surprises this year.

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Well That Figures: Project Diva Hatsune Miku

Last Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend asked me if I wanted him to buy me something from the dealer’s room of the local convention, rather than the traditional gifts.  Being an otaku, of course I said yes.  It was fun walking the dealer’s room looking for the perfect gift, while he nervously accompanied me.  After drooling over a $175 Sephiroth figure, I moved along until I found Project Diva Miku.

How could I resist that face?

What really made me choose this particular figure though, is her pose.  For a standing pose it shows a lot of movement and energy, which is perfect for a performer.

More detailed shots really help emphasize her twisting pose, with wrinkles in her shirt, and the movement of her skirt and tie.

Miku is also wonderfully detailed, right down to her painted fingernails.

As you can see from this close up shot, the paint is a little messy, but I’m personally willing to forgive that since it’s only slightly messy on very small details that are very difficult to paint neatly.

There’s even detail on her headset, and the lace on her collar is all nice and neat.

Miku’s hair is pretty standard anime hair…I don’t think it’s especially dynamic, but it serves its purpose and even doubles as extra stability for the figure as a whole.  If it wasn’t for her hair, I wouldn’t be sure that Miku would stand up without leaning.

All in all, this is an excellent figure with a highly detailed sculpt, and good paint.  She’s well worth what my boyfriend paid for her.

It’s just a shame I saw Miku before I spotted the $200 Zero Kiryuu (Vampire Knight) bedsheet. I could be sleeping on Zero now! (No…not really.  I’m kidding.)

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