Tell Your World – kz (livetune)

That is a LOT of stuff up there.

And guess what; it’s not everything.

This is what’s in the picture:

• Rocket-punching Chogokin Hatsune Miku – $220
• AFA T-shirt MikuPa ver. – $35
• 2x MikuPa 2011 T-shirt – $50 each
• 2x MikuPa lanyard – $18 each
• MikuPa sling bag – $72
• Vocaloid pin badge kit – $35

There is also another MikuPa T-shirt not in the picture; the design consists of the official illustration by Osamu. You might remember him as the character designer of Rin/Len Append.

That also cost $50. That means everything bought on the night of the concert (that is, everything listed so far except the figure) amounted to nearly $300. Cripes.

We did manage to acquire a set of 3 ZANEEDS posters from their booth in the convention itself, which consisted of Miku, Rin and Luka in sexy outfits, the same characters in a burger, and Miku imitating our national animal, the merlion.

Sadly though, we couldn’t fit everything into one photo, and I’m actually rushing this post too, so you’ll have to use your imagination from our photo of the ZANEEDS booth. ^_^;

While Fariz was more than satisfied with all of this, I wasn’t, so I picked up this little box from the Artists’ Alley.

This box is actually a fanart set from Alice Overture in the theme of Black Rock Shooter. It doesn’t just contain an artbook though.

It comes with a pin badge, a card sticker, a bookmark and a printed microfiber cloth. The pin badge, card sticker and bookmark may have one of 3 designs each, and while they should be random, the booth was kind enough to build an entire set from scratch for me, letting me pick the designs I want. ( *A*)

The artbook contains a series of illustrations from several artists, ranging from pretty to downright gorgeous, or as Feidamu puts it, “fap-able”.

This one is a rendition of BRS by 礫音(Neptune).

Each illustration is accompanied with a piece of prose, be it a poem or a short passage. Now, I will be perfectly honest here: the grammar needs a little work. Other than that though, it’s a good attempt at showing a bit of “story” behind the picture.

One of the main reasons I bought this in the first place is that the circle actually focuses on all known aspects of BRS, including the game, the “Innocent Soul” manga and other “official” creations aside from the usual BRS vs Dead Master anime material. Here’s a rendition of BRS Beast by rosene.

Here’s a closer look at the pin badge, card sticker and bookmark. The design of the pin badge is BRS by 雪桜々, the one on the card sticker is BRS & Dead Master by Linsert.D, and the design of the bookmark is XNFE by 究.

I promise not to dirty you too much, Grey~

Finally, we have the printed microfiber cloth, which has an beautiful illustration of Grey by 雪桜々. I’m liking her art more and more. =3

Here are links to all the artists listed in the book, in order of appearance:

• 木shiyo
• feifei
• 礫音(Neptune)
• 雪桜々
• rosene (also the President of Alice Overture)
• 暴力社長の猫@主婦
• Linsert.D
• 究 (doesn’t seem to have any illustrations posted as of time of writing)
• centimetre

FYI, the set costs $40 in all. It may be a little exorbitant to the casual buyer, but I know true fandom and effort when I see it, and I think the price fits the product.

Not to mention that nearly everything MikuPa-exclusive is even more expensive.

What a rush! Man, my arms are cramped now from all the frantic waving. T_T

If you look closely enough, you might be able to see me and Fariz waving our extra-long leek lightsticks in the front row. If you’re having difficulty, though:

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the concert.

The Fail:

While I was nearly deafened by the music, I can hand-wave it away with my inexperience with concerts and the fact that I was sitting in the front row (and didn’t have earplugs).

I thought the bass was way too deep and the VOCALOIDs’ voices could barely be heard over the accompanying band music. I guess out of all the things they tested, they goofed in the aural portion. Thankfully I was familiar with most of the songs so I could make out the words very easily.

Len sang Migikata no Chou. Alone. In fact, Rin and Len had no duet together. What the hell is this blasphemy.

Also, the concert could’ve used a little more hardcore fanboyism/fangirlism, IMO.

The Great:

I attended the concert expecting really great covers by the band, and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m not too sure who they are (couldn’t hear Miku introducing them), but they sure know how to rock out, especially the lead electric guitarist on the left. Thankfully, I sat near him so his guitar solos were more prominent throughout their performances.

The song selection was quite good, though I believe fans who have followed the past MikuPa concerts will find most of the songs and dance sequences very familiar.  I managed to predict a few after watching the free test stream (like Yellow and ARiA) but Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru as the first encore was a pleasant surprise (though Melt was a given). I totally didn’t see it coming, and man, did I cheer the loudest.

The projection and special effects were impressive, too! I was afraid we couldn’t see the VOCALOIDs clearly since we were sitting at a wide angle relative to the stage, and especially because we were sitting so close to the stage. Thankfully, we got to watch them dance in all of their virtual glory.

Afterword:

Although the concert lasted a full 2 hours, it didn’t feel very long when the time came for Miku to perform her encore songs. I was satisfied otherwise though, and I hope they’ll be able to pull off a concert again next year. And they probably will.

And hopefully even better than before.

P.S. To the stranger who snagged Project DIVA Extend from me: I actually thought you were my brother’s/friend’s friend LOL. Ah well, have fun with the game anyways.

And now for the first day of AFA itself.

I was originally planning to do a little write-up about this in the morning, but there’s no time for that now!

If you haven’t caught the last MikuPa (in Sapporo), here’s your chance to view a live (and free) screening! Head over here to watch it!

EDIT: It’s over now.

Also, I’m back, b*tches. For the time being.

Well, that stream was short-lived. No encore either. It was apparently a broadcasting test for the real concert tonight, and by the looks of it, the servers seem stable enough.

But enough about free-yet-outdated streams, the Promised Day has come.

We have seen Singapore’s 15-minute version of Miku’s part in Animelo on a video screen, with extra lagging-goodness!

We have seen gameplay videos representing Miku’s very presence at I LOVE ANISONG (and nothing else)!

But finally…5pb has answered our prayers! Now we’re getting a full-fledged, hologram-equipped concert, worthy of being referred to as a real Hatsune Miku Party concert. Hell, it’s actually a sequel to the last MikuPa in Sapporo.

Those overseas need not despair, Nico Nico Douga will also be streaming the concert itself! On two different sites, one for the Japanese and the other for the rest of the world!

With an event as big as this (and not to mention AFA itself), the Kyouran Kyōdai have come prepared!

I’ve applied for leave! (gasp!)

We’ve got VIP tickets! (shock!)

We’ve got front row seats! (awe!)

If you’ve managed to do the same (more or less) and are attending the concert too, yay-fications to you too! If you aren’t though…wait right there!

There’s still the exclusive MikuPa merchandise.

The KKnM-run booth will be located outside the concert hall, and will sell that delicious bag (and all those other things). In fact, there’s a rumour that they might start selling even before the concert starts. Hint hint.

We’re not sure which of the official MikuPa merch will be sold, though COSPA’s definitely confirmed at this point, being a KKnM0-run booth.

Now let’s just hope the concert will be worth the sudden gaping hole in my bank account. –_–

The blog may be a little dead (cough), but there’s no way I’m letting this go.

In the midst of Hari Raya and conscription (I actually have to book in right now), here’s wishing another year of great music and fun from Miku and all you awesome composers.

Also, American Miku. What do you chaps think of it?

Yeah, I thought this was a MAD too, until the twintails flowed out of the sunroof and the narrator went on about music and singing. Oh, nice. I didn’t see Toyota anywhere near MikuPa and last year’s concert, though.

(And you gotta admit, World is Mine doesn’t exactly fit the advert well)

Then I decided to visit the mentioned page, and realised “their” Miku looked a little familiar. Where have I seen-

Artists’ homepage: T2 Art Works

Kudos to jrharbort for pointing out the source!

…And it happened to be Hatsune Mix!

If you follow the manga as well (as in read it online), you’d realize that it wasn’t getting updated since the Graduation Mix chapter.

I happened to hear that volumes of Hatsune Mix were being sold at Kinokuniya a couple of months ago, and I played with the idea of scanning the newer chapters (whilst acquiring them for Onii-chan).

Woxxy (who happened to know me since he happens to be a Rin fan as well) happened to hear about my idea, and proposed that I contributed scans of the newest volume to his team.

And through a great deal of coincidences, FoOlRulez presents to you the scan-lated result! It’s just the first chapter, though; I haven’t gotten around to scanning the rest just yet.

There’s also the “prologue” chapter with all of ‘dem pretty pictures by KEI. Sorry SaLaNoS, you won’t be the only one with them anymore. =D

Also, goddamn is de-binding hard. ( *A*)

Good Smile Company recently announced this new iteration of the Hatsune Miku Nendoroid, which will retail for 3,000 JPY.

1,000 JPY of every purchase will go towards the Japanese Red Cross to support Japan in their time of need.

The Nendoroid Hatsune Miku Support Ver. is actually a re-release of the original, plus a few extras:

Pom-poms (and a new cheerful expression to go with them)

Support flag with detachable note head

GSC also collaborated with Re:NG to give you this 30-second advert with a song titled “SING & SMILE”.

Pre-orders are open now on the GSC Online Shop, and it will be released locally on the 7th of April. A worldwide release is planned on the 8th as well.

Sources: Mikatan’s blog, Wcloudxkumo

Crypton has announced that all earnings made from purchasing songs from the 16th of March to the 15th of April will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross.

The online stores participating in this venture are:

• KarenT
• ROUTER.FM
• Hatsune Miku Mobile
• Hatsune Miku – Vocalosound

Now would be a good time to grab some music from iTunes. AvTechNO!, anyone?

Sources: Hatsune Miku Facebook page, Crypton press release

Also, thanks to jrharbort for the heads up! =D

I was going to catch up on the upcoming figures here, but first, THIS.

Nico Nico Douga

This PV is 「どういうことなの!?」, or “Do You Koto Nano!?” by くちばしP (tetsuo). It’s a pretty good listen, and I’ve always liked this composer’s style. But this isn’t what I’m here to talk about. Not exactly.

Nico Nico Douga

This video is the same PV, albeit with some differences. It’s actually an advertisement in (not-so-subtle) disguise for the new Hatsune Miku Lat-Type Ver. 1/8-scaled figure from Good Smile Company (which I’ll cover in an upcoming post *wink*).

While it’s sort of cool to see GSC try to merge their product into the same PV using the MMD model its based off, the figure flashing momentarily during the PV only comes across as subliminal.

I’m sure some of you might argue, “Hey, GSC’s featuring tetsuo and letting him get some spotlight on himself, right?” While I can’t deny this as truth, I’m seeing this as a terrible premonition: that eventually PVs will go hand-in-hand with merchandise (read: sellout).

Yeah, I know, I may be overreacting. The advert does credit tetsuo as the composer, and it has (so far) only aired during the recent Vocaloid concert. I doubt this’ll air on Japan’s airwaves though; can you imagine a 4-minute-long advert?

That aside, if you look closer, GSC’s attempt to inject the Lat-Type figure is atrocious. I’d even say all they did was super-impose the figure into the PV. At times, you can see the “ghost” effect on the figure, the kind that outlines badly cut-out photos.

Also, at 3.25, the figure actually overlaps the word “JOY”. What’s this, GSC? You equate to happiness? Your figure actually contributes towards the meaning in this song?

Bastardized, I say. What say you, then?