Weekly Roundup
Hi, I just screwed up my foot royally like an idiot by stumbling around blindly thanks to pins and needles, then falling over myself. Never let it be said I am not a suave gentleman.
* Project Diva Dreamy Theatre 2nd is now out! You can pick it up from the Japanese PSN for a cool 3900 Yen, and the download size... is 3939Mb, the difference made up by a text file entirely contained of character no. 39 in the ascii set. Well played. I'm actively astounded that closeups of Luka's backside haven't topped the Games ranking yet like they did when the first Dreamy Theatre came out. Personally I'm ready to buy it, but Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity is right there...
* Project i-Style - remember that, the super moe Studio DEEN vocaloid design unveiled in the major announcement slew earlier this year? - now has a website. The character herself is going to be named Aoki Lapis, but there's very little information on what the project's actually going to do. The best I can get from the site is that they're looking to target and make vocaloid accessible to casual and starting users, probably via their Nico channel. They're also putting out merchandise at Comiket 80... several months before Vocaloid 3's release... huh.
* Chibi Miku (the comic) is putting out a mini-collection, to be released September. Awww.
* MMD Cup videos go up next weekend, the one of the 19th! Between those and Ayacon it's going to be a busy weekend here, but I'll have my favorites up as soon as I can. I'm wondering what would be better - one standard linkdump post after the fact, or a sort of livestreamy post that I and anyone else can comment to repeatedly throughout the Cup with their favorites. Any preferences?
A slightly small week for releases, but that suits me just fine. Next post will be Tuesday to give me enough breathing room for MMD Cup, otherwise I'm going to die rapidly from trying to keep up.
Videos:
【初音ミク】さよならぼくたちのてれびきょく【オリジナル】
Goodbye to our Television Station (ほぼ日, Miku, Pop)
From the maker of My Wife Always Pretends To Be Dead Etc. comes a slow and soft song, primarily vocals with some gentle bass backing it up. I think the song could be better - it's nice and all, and Luka on backing vocals puts in a solid performance, but a few bits of Miku's held notes make me wince. The substantial view count is mostly due to the rather obvious referencing of Fuji TV and their recent controversy over the amount of Korean ownership of the channel and the amount of Korean programming it shows.
【GUMI】EAT ME【オリジナル曲】
EAT ME (OSTER Project, Gumi, Jazzy Pop)
So my pet theory here is that Oster still had Musicland on the brain when writing this, but underwent some deep and serious crisis about how adorable that video was and needed to reverse it with some distinctly innuendo-laden jazz. Which is nothing to complain over at all - it's great to hear Oster throw out a distinctly uncommon sound, but the acoustic guitars and electric piano make it all worth it.
【鏡音リン】 JOYRIDE 【至高のPV】
JOYRIDE (rerulili, Rin, Funky)
A-ahahaha. Okay, so cast your mind back to Knife, the hip-hop tale of feudal ninjas with a pretty shiny damn video; this bills itself as the prequel to Knife, and reveals how prior to becoming ninjas with tragic pasts, Len was actually a gangster driver and Rin was a nun. True facts. Boggling continuity aside, this track is upbeat and brilliant in execution, a true joy to listen to and full of fun.
【初音ミク】BRIGHT RAiN -Another mix.-【3DPV】
BRIGHT RAiN (Another mix.) (lovely, PV: nyohoho, Miku, Pop)
From the maker of a famous VOiCE PV comes a new work to accompany a new remix of a traditional Miku song. Words can't do this justice; the animation's production looks like it came straight out of a full-on professional studio and the remix is catchy as hell. Some might find it uncanny valley, but I really liked it and the end totally got me.
【GUMI（40㍍）】 シリョクケンサ 【オリジナルPV】
Eye Test (40m, Gumi, Pop)
40m takes on a mad xylophonist to come up with the backing music for his latest Gumi track, and comes out on top if the chorus is any indication. What starts as a very unconventional track for this producer becomes familiar and uplifting whenever the chorus comes in, and the rest of the time is a great showcase for some very unconventional instrumentation. It all breathes some life into his music and makes for a fun listen.
【弱音ハク】はたらけ！ ニート【亞北ネル】
Work! NEET! (owata, Haku + Neru, Rock)
【巡音ルカ】ロシアンルーレット【オリジナル】
Russian Roulette (owata, Luka, Jazz Rock)
Owata's been in the top ten this week not once, but twice, and in neither case was a Miku to be seen anywhere. NEET is a stonking screaming rock track from the two forgottenloids, with a gleeful video full of a certain someone wasting all his time; Russian Roulette is much more sedate in comparison and possibly even slower than I expected it to be but with some, uh, seriously twisted moments in the video and lyrics.
【初音ミク】過呼吸ダンス【オリジナル曲】
Hyperventilation Dance (梨本うい, Miku, Rock)
Ugggh, this is where I'm going to have to disagree with Nicovideo this week; I'm fully aware this type of angsty, creepy rock isn't exactly my forte thanks to mayuko's influence, but this doesn't even have mayuko's eccentricity to back it up. The Miku coding kind of makes me cringe and I just don't really like it at all. That said, a hundred thousand people are kind of going against me here, so I don't suggest you take my word for it.
【GUMI】次咲く花の色は【オリジナル曲PV付き】
The Color of the Flower That Blooms Next Is... (takanon, Gumi, Pop)
Super-duper traditional summer pop from Gumi here, as she sings her way full-swing through a festival and a declaration of love set to some extremely well-rendered fireworks, whereupon Nicovideo goes absolutely batshit with the comments. I can't help but laugh when I see the plaid cut-out of the video's hero, to be quite honest, but in all other respects this is top-notch and the video's pretty delightful.
【初音ミク】「blue blue blue」【オリジナル】
blue blue blue (koyori, Miku, Pop Rock)
Koyori's always a great producer name to see against a video, and blue blue blue is no exception; carefree rock with some heartwarming guitar switches off with bass-heavy synth sections. The Miku coding is pretty strange; without having looked at the title, I almost mistook it for Gumi at first, as it has the same sort of throaty noise to it, but it's marred a little by some problems.
【巡音ルカ】アモーレ【オリジナル】
Amore (yuzuhiko, Luka, Orchestral Rock)
God damn it, this only got 4k views? That's completely ridiculous and a massive great shame, because I absolutely loved this breakneck bit of orchestral rock full of suave piano and fantastic brass sections and a faintly threatening danger to it. Luka sounds fantastic and the solos are absolutely to die for; the energy in this track is palpable and the finale is hilarious in how suddenly it hits.
【鏡音リン・レン】君へ【オリジナルPV曲】
To You (retasu, Len + Rin, Pop Rock)
It's worth noting, before I talk about this song, that I've seen kagome's name crop up a dozen times or more this week as being credited for arranges or mastering. Dude is prolific as hell. Anyways, this is substantial and strong rock from the twins here, Len sounding particularly good as they blast their way through a traditional but well produced soft rock track.
初音ミクDark 『 プラネタリウム 』 オリジナル曲
Planetarium (Heavenz, Miku, Pop)
Some deeply anthemic pop here from Heavenz, full of crescendos and soaring piano and the whole dramatic works, with some great hanging moments and a top-notch video. The Dark voice still doesn't agree with me, but I can put that aside for a track this good.
【GUMI・鏡音リン】ケミカルエモーション【オリジナル曲】
Chemical Emotion (muhmue, Rin + Gumi, Electopop)
Good lord, this is really kind of a guilty delight here. I'm a sucker for big thumpy synth-filled dance tracks like this - it's almost enough for me to label it Eurobeat, the sheer number of Initial D synth scales we've got going on - and Gumi and Rin work together to pull off a solid vocal accompaniment to a dedicated track. Then the suave-as-hell electric piano kicks in and I'm totally sold.
レムダイヴ【ミクAppendオリジナル】
REM Dive (36g, Miku, Ambient Pop)
Ignoring the part where dosetsu will kill me if I don't link this, I liked this track a lot more than I expected to. It's not entirely my thing; a slow and very gentle start that is rather empty and lacking nearly put me off, but then the song started in earnest and the multitude of effects and the harmony between the multiple Miku voices really set off the track nicely.
【英語すげぇ】黒猫のサスペンス【猫村いろは】
Black Cat's Suspense (English Version) (akiba ota, Iroha, Rock)
This is a valiant attempt from the producer who is surely by now Iroha's flagship user, but I think she's got a ways to go before she can really handle the pronounciation. That said, this features Iroha's traditional strong vibrato and akiba's solid ability to code her, so all is not lost, and the track is exactly the sort of jumpy, crazy rock you'd expect from him.
【初音ミク】怪しいお米セシウムさん【オリジナル】
Suspicious Rice Caesium-san (無気力, Miku, ... erm)
I guess this is just Nicovideo's week for trenchant current affairs references, but I can't help but think this is a little... blatant? Quite obviously referring to fears about Fukushima's radioactive releases and the possibility of contamination, though the description helpfully notes that all rice on sale at present will have been harvested prior to the disaster.
【初音ミク】 Limiter cut 【オリジナル】
Limiter Cut (sasa, Miku, Pop)
Some ridiculously cheesy traditional j-pop to take us out of the body of the post this week. This is upbeat and perky and pretty much everything you could ask for if you're a fan of the genre, going at a breakneck speed and displaying some very strong guitar and piano in the middle.
MMD / Other:
ままま式の皆さんで｢マトリョシカ♪｣inドリームクラブ
Matryoshka (hachi, MMDPV: you, Miku + Gumi + Kaito + Meiko, Rock)
No, wait, come back! Two Matryoshak routines - one of which I hadn't seen before - combine to make one glorious clusterfuck that's well worth watching, backed by most of the Diva family to date. It's also worth noting that mamama will be releasing a new version of the Diva model to the public hopefully on the 31st, so while it'll be a shame for it to miss the cup I'm hoping it'll get picked up to be used a little more.
【黒板PV】ハルニキミト【せさみょーすとりーと】
Harunikimito (Blackboard PV) (nekobolo, PV: RefinedDium, Miku)
Aaa. I'm not sure why I never linked this first time around; I think, at the time, it just didn't grab me enough, as it's a slow and rather ponderous track that can start to feel old near the end. Pair it with a ridiculously delightful bit of chalk-based stopmotion, though, and I'll watch it until the cows come home.
【MMD】パントマイム（ロープ）【モーショントレース】
Pantomime (Rope) (MMDPV: endorphin, Miku)
It's hard to dislike this video. Diva Miku puts on a full mime performance, with some good animation and a nice little style to the whole thing. I'm not convinced you can do some of that stuff without breaking physics, which might threaten to ruin MY IMMERSION a little, but I'll forgive it its sins thanks to the choice of Jamming Bob Marley, to which it's impossible to be mad at anything.
【MMD】ネオン風エフェクト、キラキラ粒子エフェクト配布【MME】
Neon Effect (MMDPV: beamman, Miku + Neru)
Now this is an MME effect I have to admit I think looks really, really cool. You'll probably need premium or try routing through polsy or nicoviewer to avoid artifacting out all of the effects in play here, but you'll get the general gist of it; neon outlines, sparkles floating in the air, the full works make this video look very impressive.
* Project Diva Dreamy Theatre 2nd is now out! You can pick it up from the Japanese PSN for a cool 3900 Yen, and the download size... is 3939Mb, the difference made up by a text file entirely contained of character no. 39 in the ascii set. Well played. I'm actively astounded that closeups of Luka's backside haven't topped the Games ranking yet like they did when the first Dreamy Theatre came out. Personally I'm ready to buy it, but Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity is right there...
* Project i-Style - remember that, the super moe Studio DEEN vocaloid design unveiled in the major announcement slew earlier this year? - now has a website. The character herself is going to be named Aoki Lapis, but there's very little information on what the project's actually going to do. The best I can get from the site is that they're looking to target and make vocaloid accessible to casual and starting users, probably via their Nico channel. They're also putting out merchandise at Comiket 80... several months before Vocaloid 3's release... huh.
* Chibi Miku (the comic) is putting out a mini-collection, to be released September. Awww.
* MMD Cup videos go up next weekend, the one of the 19th! Between those and Ayacon it's going to be a busy weekend here, but I'll have my favorites up as soon as I can. I'm wondering what would be better - one standard linkdump post after the fact, or a sort of livestreamy post that I and anyone else can comment to repeatedly throughout the Cup with their favorites. Any preferences?
A slightly small week for releases, but that suits me just fine. Next post will be Tuesday to give me enough breathing room for MMD Cup, otherwise I'm going to die rapidly from trying to keep up.
Videos:
【初音ミク】さよならぼくたちのてれびきょく【オリジナル】
Goodbye to our Television Station (ほぼ日, Miku, Pop)
From the maker of My Wife Always Pretends To Be Dead Etc. comes a slow and soft song, primarily vocals with some gentle bass backing it up. I think the song could be better - it's nice and all, and Luka on backing vocals puts in a solid performance, but a few bits of Miku's held notes make me wince. The substantial view count is mostly due to the rather obvious referencing of Fuji TV and their recent controversy over the amount of Korean ownership of the channel and the amount of Korean programming it shows.
【GUMI】EAT ME【オリジナル曲】
EAT ME (OSTER Project, Gumi, Jazzy Pop)
So my pet theory here is that Oster still had Musicland on the brain when writing this, but underwent some deep and serious crisis about how adorable that video was and needed to reverse it with some distinctly innuendo-laden jazz. Which is nothing to complain over at all - it's great to hear Oster throw out a distinctly uncommon sound, but the acoustic guitars and electric piano make it all worth it.
【鏡音リン】 JOYRIDE 【至高のPV】
JOYRIDE (rerulili, Rin, Funky)
A-ahahaha. Okay, so cast your mind back to Knife, the hip-hop tale of feudal ninjas with a pretty shiny damn video; this bills itself as the prequel to Knife, and reveals how prior to becoming ninjas with tragic pasts, Len was actually a gangster driver and Rin was a nun. True facts. Boggling continuity aside, this track is upbeat and brilliant in execution, a true joy to listen to and full of fun.
【初音ミク】BRIGHT RAiN -Another mix.-【3DPV】
BRIGHT RAiN (Another mix.) (lovely, PV: nyohoho, Miku, Pop)
From the maker of a famous VOiCE PV comes a new work to accompany a new remix of a traditional Miku song. Words can't do this justice; the animation's production looks like it came straight out of a full-on professional studio and the remix is catchy as hell. Some might find it uncanny valley, but I really liked it and the end totally got me.
【GUMI（40㍍）】 シリョクケンサ 【オリジナルPV】
Eye Test (40m, Gumi, Pop)
40m takes on a mad xylophonist to come up with the backing music for his latest Gumi track, and comes out on top if the chorus is any indication. What starts as a very unconventional track for this producer becomes familiar and uplifting whenever the chorus comes in, and the rest of the time is a great showcase for some very unconventional instrumentation. It all breathes some life into his music and makes for a fun listen.
【弱音ハク】はたらけ！ ニート【亞北ネル】
Work! NEET! (owata, Haku + Neru, Rock)
【巡音ルカ】ロシアンルーレット【オリジナル】
Russian Roulette (owata, Luka, Jazz Rock)
Owata's been in the top ten this week not once, but twice, and in neither case was a Miku to be seen anywhere. NEET is a stonking screaming rock track from the two forgottenloids, with a gleeful video full of a certain someone wasting all his time; Russian Roulette is much more sedate in comparison and possibly even slower than I expected it to be but with some, uh, seriously twisted moments in the video and lyrics.
【初音ミク】過呼吸ダンス【オリジナル曲】
Hyperventilation Dance (梨本うい, Miku, Rock)
Ugggh, this is where I'm going to have to disagree with Nicovideo this week; I'm fully aware this type of angsty, creepy rock isn't exactly my forte thanks to mayuko's influence, but this doesn't even have mayuko's eccentricity to back it up. The Miku coding kind of makes me cringe and I just don't really like it at all. That said, a hundred thousand people are kind of going against me here, so I don't suggest you take my word for it.
【GUMI】次咲く花の色は【オリジナル曲PV付き】
The Color of the Flower That Blooms Next Is... (takanon, Gumi, Pop)
Super-duper traditional summer pop from Gumi here, as she sings her way full-swing through a festival and a declaration of love set to some extremely well-rendered fireworks, whereupon Nicovideo goes absolutely batshit with the comments. I can't help but laugh when I see the plaid cut-out of the video's hero, to be quite honest, but in all other respects this is top-notch and the video's pretty delightful.
【初音ミク】「blue blue blue」【オリジナル】
blue blue blue (koyori, Miku, Pop Rock)
Koyori's always a great producer name to see against a video, and blue blue blue is no exception; carefree rock with some heartwarming guitar switches off with bass-heavy synth sections. The Miku coding is pretty strange; without having looked at the title, I almost mistook it for Gumi at first, as it has the same sort of throaty noise to it, but it's marred a little by some problems.
【巡音ルカ】アモーレ【オリジナル】
Amore (yuzuhiko, Luka, Orchestral Rock)
God damn it, this only got 4k views? That's completely ridiculous and a massive great shame, because I absolutely loved this breakneck bit of orchestral rock full of suave piano and fantastic brass sections and a faintly threatening danger to it. Luka sounds fantastic and the solos are absolutely to die for; the energy in this track is palpable and the finale is hilarious in how suddenly it hits.
【鏡音リン・レン】君へ【オリジナルPV曲】
To You (retasu, Len + Rin, Pop Rock)
It's worth noting, before I talk about this song, that I've seen kagome's name crop up a dozen times or more this week as being credited for arranges or mastering. Dude is prolific as hell. Anyways, this is substantial and strong rock from the twins here, Len sounding particularly good as they blast their way through a traditional but well produced soft rock track.
初音ミクDark 『 プラネタリウム 』 オリジナル曲
Planetarium (Heavenz, Miku, Pop)
Some deeply anthemic pop here from Heavenz, full of crescendos and soaring piano and the whole dramatic works, with some great hanging moments and a top-notch video. The Dark voice still doesn't agree with me, but I can put that aside for a track this good.
【GUMI・鏡音リン】ケミカルエモーション【オリジナル曲】
Chemical Emotion (muhmue, Rin + Gumi, Electopop)
Good lord, this is really kind of a guilty delight here. I'm a sucker for big thumpy synth-filled dance tracks like this - it's almost enough for me to label it Eurobeat, the sheer number of Initial D synth scales we've got going on - and Gumi and Rin work together to pull off a solid vocal accompaniment to a dedicated track. Then the suave-as-hell electric piano kicks in and I'm totally sold.
レムダイヴ【ミクAppendオリジナル】
REM Dive (36g, Miku, Ambient Pop)
Ignoring the part where dosetsu will kill me if I don't link this, I liked this track a lot more than I expected to. It's not entirely my thing; a slow and very gentle start that is rather empty and lacking nearly put me off, but then the song started in earnest and the multitude of effects and the harmony between the multiple Miku voices really set off the track nicely.
【英語すげぇ】黒猫のサスペンス【猫村いろは】
Black Cat's Suspense (English Version) (akiba ota, Iroha, Rock)
This is a valiant attempt from the producer who is surely by now Iroha's flagship user, but I think she's got a ways to go before she can really handle the pronounciation. That said, this features Iroha's traditional strong vibrato and akiba's solid ability to code her, so all is not lost, and the track is exactly the sort of jumpy, crazy rock you'd expect from him.
【初音ミク】怪しいお米セシウムさん【オリジナル】
Suspicious Rice Caesium-san (無気力, Miku, ... erm)
I guess this is just Nicovideo's week for trenchant current affairs references, but I can't help but think this is a little... blatant? Quite obviously referring to fears about Fukushima's radioactive releases and the possibility of contamination, though the description helpfully notes that all rice on sale at present will have been harvested prior to the disaster.
【初音ミク】 Limiter cut 【オリジナル】
Limiter Cut (sasa, Miku, Pop)
Some ridiculously cheesy traditional j-pop to take us out of the body of the post this week. This is upbeat and perky and pretty much everything you could ask for if you're a fan of the genre, going at a breakneck speed and displaying some very strong guitar and piano in the middle.
MMD / Other:
ままま式の皆さんで｢マトリョシカ♪｣inドリームクラブ
Matryoshka (hachi, MMDPV: you, Miku + Gumi + Kaito + Meiko, Rock)
No, wait, come back! Two Matryoshak routines - one of which I hadn't seen before - combine to make one glorious clusterfuck that's well worth watching, backed by most of the Diva family to date. It's also worth noting that mamama will be releasing a new version of the Diva model to the public hopefully on the 31st, so while it'll be a shame for it to miss the cup I'm hoping it'll get picked up to be used a little more.
【黒板PV】ハルニキミト【せさみょーすとりーと】
Harunikimito (Blackboard PV) (nekobolo, PV: RefinedDium, Miku)
Aaa. I'm not sure why I never linked this first time around; I think, at the time, it just didn't grab me enough, as it's a slow and rather ponderous track that can start to feel old near the end. Pair it with a ridiculously delightful bit of chalk-based stopmotion, though, and I'll watch it until the cows come home.
【MMD】パントマイム（ロープ）【モーショントレース】
Pantomime (Rope) (MMDPV: endorphin, Miku)
It's hard to dislike this video. Diva Miku puts on a full mime performance, with some good animation and a nice little style to the whole thing. I'm not convinced you can do some of that stuff without breaking physics, which might threaten to ruin MY IMMERSION a little, but I'll forgive it its sins thanks to the choice of Jamming Bob Marley, to which it's impossible to be mad at anything.
【MMD】ネオン風エフェクト、キラキラ粒子エフェクト配布【MME】
Neon Effect (MMDPV: beamman, Miku + Neru)
Now this is an MME effect I have to admit I think looks really, really cool. You'll probably need premium or try routing through polsy or nicoviewer to avoid artifacting out all of the effects in play here, but you'll get the general gist of it; neon outlines, sparkles floating in the air, the full works make this video look very impressive.