Category: Reviews

First Look: Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Mega39’s

Last February 13, 2020, the game has been officially released in the Japanese and Asian regions! The game is expected to be localized and released later this year in the West but Iโ€™ve gone ahead and got myself the Japanese digital version since the first announcement. I couldn’t wait to play this game and here are my first impressions!

When the Nintendo Switch initially came out about three years ago, some fans of Project DIVA speculated whether weโ€™ll be seeing the game coming out on Nintendoโ€™s latest console. I had speculated back then that it was very unlikely since the game has only appeared on the Sony PlayStation devices where it featured its โ–ณโ–กโ—‹ร— buttons and most likely it will stay as an exclusive, making Project Mirai-like spin off a way more plausible option.

Two years later, SEGA, as part of celebrating the rhythm-action game seriesโ€™ 10th anniversary, had announced Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega39s (also known as MegaMix), on the Switch! 

And now, last February 13, 2020, the game has been officially released in the Japanese and Asian regions! The game is expected to be localized and released later this year in the West but Iโ€™ve gone ahead and got myself the Japanese digital version since the first announcement. I couldn’t wait to play this game and here are my first impressions!

I had pre-purchased the game from the eShop so it was a matter of waiting for it to be unlocked after midnight on the release day and sure enough, a quick update was needed for the game to be booted up for the first time.

Youโ€™ll go through the expected intros (although, we donโ€™t hear Miku singing โ€˜SEGAโ€™ this time) and youโ€™re off to the gameโ€™s main menu. There isnโ€™t a new theme for the menus and youโ€™ll get the same ones that were present in the Project DIVA arcades just like in Future Tone on the PS4.

When you want to start playing the rhythm game, youโ€™ll be greeted with the selection of choosing between two game modes: the staple Arcade Mode and the new Mix Mode. More details below!

Arcade Mode

All of the songs are also playable at the start of the game at the Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty. Clearing the song in Hard mode will unlock the Extreme difficulty for an even more challenging play. For some songs, you can even take it up another notch with the  Extra Extreme difficulty!

Since this is a first for the Switch, the default settings will be set to the XYBA button styles which will throw off some veteran players (especially that X is also in blue!) but it can be easily changed back to the Playstation-style โ–ณโ–กโ—‹ร— notes!

Why is X also blue?
Much better!

Just like with the previous installments of Project DIVA, having played both on a PS Vita and PS4, itโ€™s a very similar gameplay on the Switch. I would recommend getting a grip case when youโ€™re playing on Handheld mode. On TV mode or even in Tabletop mode, itโ€™s better to play it with the Joy-Cons separated! (Donโ€™t use the Joy-Con controller grip!) 

One thing to also note is that, since there are also four separate directional buttons on the left Joy-Con, itโ€™s actually a better fit for playing rhythm games but it took some to get used to having the analog stick above the buttons.

Just like with Future Tone, you can also remap some of the controls which I did for the L, R, ZL, and ZR, buttons in this case to better handle the combos.

This way, when you hit a quad-combo, just press ZL+ZR!

Mix Mode

New to Mega39s is another rhythm game mode which banks on motion controls of the Joy-Cons. How this works is that youโ€™ll match up the notes with the corresponding Joy-Con by tilting it and hitting the note by either pressing the ZL/ZR or L/R shoulder buttons. Personally, the latter works better. 

This does mean that for Switch Lite owners, youโ€™ll need to have separate Joy-Cons in order to play this mode.

In playing a few songs under this mode, it may appear easy but it does tend to be more challenging as you progress through higher-rated songs but itโ€™s also very fun to play especially in TV mode! I would actually recommend trying a song in Easy difficulty first which uses the right Joy-Con only to get a feel of the controls before dual-wielding,

Just like with Arcade mode, all songs will be available to play at the start on Easy and Normal difficulty. Clearing a song on Normal will unlock Hard.

Graphics

One of the main concerns early on before release was how the game will perform graphically on the Switch. The gameplay itself always runs at 60 frames per second but there are instances where PVs are being rendered real-time in various frame rates and at a lower resolution especially for more complex ones and where there are multiple performers. This can be seen more when playing in Handheld mode. One example of this happening is in Senbonzakura:

This only happens in the later part of the PV. Captured in TV mode

Honestly, I didnโ€™t even notice it much until looking closely and itโ€™s not much of a deal-breaker for me since it doesnโ€™t actually affect the gameplay itself. Hopefully, SEGA does work on some performance optimizations in future updates.  

Wrap-up

Overall, Mega39s is yet another enjoyable addition to the Project DIVA series and a rhythm-action game on the Nintendo Switch regardless which mode you play and how you play it.

SEGA is expected to introduce more songs into the game this year through DLCs and again, Iโ€™m looking forward to seeing the game released in the West which is to be expected later this year!

MIKUEXPO London Digital Colouring Event

After the excitement of MIKUEXPO London last Saturday (January 11th 2020), a friend and I thought it would be fun to check out the Digital Colouring event being held at the Japan Centre Ichiba store in Westfield!

We were lucky, since because ours was the first city in the MIKUEXPO Europe lineup, also we were the first ones to experience the workshop! But first…

…merch buying time! London had fairly odd situation of having the workshop the Sunday AFTER the actual concert, meaning that pretty much most of the merchandise had already been sold, and more than a few people were left disappointed that we didn’t get quite enough glowsticks to go around. Despite this, there were a reasonable amount of hoodies and T-shirts available, as well as stickers, wristbands and glowstick inserts.

Not only was there the European tour merch available – there were plenty of regular Vocaloid goods there too, including framed prints, mugs and posters. We managed to nab the last one of the posters with art by kuroshishi, which I’ve wanted for a while, as well as a wristband each (one for Rin and one for Len). I was really happy to get the T-Shirt with the design from artist Tim Lรถchner, since not only was it my favourite piece of artwork out of all of the MIKUEXPO Europe 2020 goods, but unlike the other shirt and hoodie which had the rough, brittle texture of paint on them, this one is gorgeously smooth and comfortable.

After buying our wares, we went and had a look at the colouring event. Similar to with the concert, in order to guarantee an opportunity to join in with the fun, you had to queue up reasonably early. Because I decided to cosplay to the event, we ended up getting there by around 12PM (whoops…). By the time we got there, the line was already pretty long, and we decided that there was no chance that we were waiting in that queue for who-knows-how-long. Just as we were about to leave the store though, I spotted one of my friends that I met at the concert the day before! They were already participating in the event, but I was able to talk to them about what they were doing.

Each person received two white sheets of paper, one of which had an outline of the “My Miku” doll. The second sheet had instructions explaining how to do the digital colouring side of everything: all the magic happened courtesy of a QR code in the top left corner of the page! The organisers of the event were lovely, and after overhearing how sad we were about not getting to join in with the event properly, they gave us one of the tutorial sheets to use. So as soon as we left the store, we found some seats in the shopping centre and got to work!

After scanning the QR code, a 3D model base of Miku showed up, ready to be coloured. It’s actually very similar to the O-Miku figures we saw at Mikuexpo last year! (if the QR doesn’t work for you, just type the link: http://paint.mikuexpo.com)

My friend got off to a quick start, finding the controls in the teensy tiny web app easy enough. I, on the other hand, found the colour picker particularly awkward, since trying to get something as simple as a reasonable skin tone was… pretty darn tricky. The controls definitely need a little development, but for a small, time-limited app, it was pretty fun!

By clicking on the coloured square in the top left corner, you brought up the colour palette. From there, you could choose a colour, and with the vertical slider on the side, you could determine the saturation. By pressing “okay”, you get a horizontal slider in the top left, which dictates the size of your brush. If you want, you can start drawing on your Miku!

The eyedropper tool below it allows you to pick a colour that’s already on miku that you’d like to use, and the bucket tool will fill an entire area of her in block colour. Below that is the button to turn Miku around, so that you can draw on the back of her too! And if you wanna zoom in or move your perspective of Miku to get to those awkward angles (like around her arms), use the “move” tool at the bottom. One last handy tool is the “Mirror” tool, which meant that if you coloured, say, Miku’s left arm, it would automatically colour her right arm as a mirrored image of the first. This is really useful for creating patterns and whatnot.

Here is the final result of our hard work:

  • My Miku
  • My friend’s Miku!

Can you guess what inspired my Miku? You would think that making any complex details in this app is near impossible, but we tried to show that, with lots of patience and practice, you could make something pretty cool!

The iconic Vocaloid arm warmers!

Once you were finished with your drawing, you had to make sure to save it! Click on the three lines in the top left corner and you’d be able to save and load your design into the app. That definitely helped us when we accidentally pressed the “refresh” button instead of the “back step” button (which reversed one step you’d done for colouring your Miku, found in the bottom right corner).

Once happy with your Miku, you could click on the “Studio Mode” button to view a 3D representation of your very own Miku! In this section, you could play with the exposure, brightness, length and position of the shadow, the intensity of the reflection of Miku on the floor. You can also take a photo or use an existing photo and use is as a background for your Miku. I have to admit, I had wayyy too much fun with this part.

  • Miku was helping me while I wrote this article!
  • A photo from the concert
  • Oh dear….

Similar to the previous section, here you can view your Miku from all angles using the tools in the bottom left. Once you’d created a composition you liked, you could save it as a photo to your device! If you wanted to make any improvements, all you had to do was press the back button (top left).

All in all, the day was pretty successful! Participants in the event managed to get some free gifts, consisting of a “Local Miku” badge and small stylus pen! Unfortunately we didn’t get these, since we didn’t actually enter the designated area, but it was still nice to be able to join in somehow. Overall, it was a tiring but fun day, and I really enjoyed cosplaying to the event.

(Image courtesy of the official english Hatsune Miku Facebook page, since we couldn’t get these)

Did any of you manage to get to the Digital Colouring Event at Ichiba? Make sure to drop any photos you got in the comments section on the original Facebook post – we’d love to see them. And make sure to use the tags #MIKUEXPO2020 , #MYMIKU as well as tagging Ichiba with @Ichibalondon if you upload any photos to your own social media!

That’s all from me! I hope that anyone who went to MIKUEXPO had an awesome time, and now we can finally pass the baton over to France. The “MIKUEXPO Let’s Paint workshop 2.0” will be held today (Wednesday 15th January) and The MIKUEXPO France concert will be happening January 16th. We hope you all enjoy your time at MIKUEXPO Europe!

-Tanudama

(Oh by the way, here’s the Kagamine Rin cosplay I wore to the concert and event!)

Kaleido Album Review

saazanka’s note: Today’s review is hosted by our guest, AzureKnight. Please give him a warm welcome! All of the song translations are unofficial.

Hello! Today I would like to present a review of the latest album from Quadimension’s MEDIUM5, “ๆฃฎ็ฝ—ไธ‡่ฑก(Sฤ“n Luรณ Wร nxiร ng)”, also known as “Kaleido” in English! This album features the vocals of Stardust, HaiYi and ChiYu, and it has been produced by a variety of composers and artists.

The CD & packaging

The box which was delivered to me doesn’t look anything out of the ordinary, besides the huge Quadimension logo on top of it andโ€ฆ the scrawl of writing from the Taobao seller spoiling the appearance a bit.

If you are worried about the safety of the contents Quadimension has you covered! Inside the box there were layers and layers of foamed plastic with an indentation for the CD letting it sit comfortably in place.

The front cover is drawn by ATdan and Hanasa, depticting the three vocalists wearing elegant, mystical dresses inside a room reminiscent of the inside of a kaleidoscope, something which represents the overall concept of the album. The contrast between the deep purple and the plethora of pastel colours seems to be promising a magical experience to the listeners.

Once again, the back side of the cover depicts similar geometric shapes and pastel colours. The tracklist inside contains the pen-names for all composers and artists who created all of the songs and illustrations.

The booklet includes the lyrics and illustrations to all nine songs. What’s interesting to note is that some of the lyrics are colour-coded according to the singer, making it easier to follow who is singing and when. (Blue – HaiYi, Red – ChiYu, Purple – Stardust, Yellow – duet and/or all)

The Tracklist

1) ๅ™ฉๆขฆ้“บ (รˆmรจng Pรน) / Nightmare Store

This is the opening song of the album created by Evalia and ็‘žๅฎ‰Ryan. The song seems to reflect the mysterious atmosphere of the front cover illustration, especially with its unique style of tuning and editing.

2) Requiem of Excalibur

The second song invites you to the world of the British legend of King Arthur. The track benefits from the fairly unusual combo of HaiYi and ChiYu, accompanied by a choir and instruments. All in all, it delivers an extraordinary experience of listening to the timeless epic poem. Even the lyricist Uniparity said that it has been an enjoyable experience to compose the lyrics in this kind of style.

It’s worth mentioning that “Requiem of Excalibur” is the only song from the album which got its own PV, where you can see a representation of the narrative of the heroic poem.

3) ๅ››ๅญฃ (Sรฌjรฌ) / Four Seasons

The third song makes very good usage of HaiYi’s voice, including times when her voice is significantly deeper. This, alongside the echoing sound effect and the piano, is what evokes the mystical atmosphere of the entire album. The corresponding illustration by ่จ€ๅฏบ้ฉฌๅท makes use of calm, blue tones, fitting the emotions in the track.

4) ๆ’ๆ˜Ÿๅ ่ฝไน‹ๆ—ถ (Hรฉngxฤซng Zhuรฌluรฒ zhฤซ Shรญ) / When the Star Falls

Once again we can see the brilliant result of a collaboration between KIDE and Creuzer, which reminded me of their previous work entitled “ArroganT” (part of Quadimension’s album “Fairytale”). The singing duo of Stardust and ChiYu successfully manages to enchant the listener with their voices, which feels like they’re leading you into an eerie realm. That unusual experience ended up goving me a pleasant feeling of fulfillment, and made me more eager to continue listening. To top this off, illustrator “kieed” has showed his mastery in the form of a spectacular illustration, to match the song.

5) ้™ๆญขๆ—ถ้—ด (Jรฌngzhว Shรญjiฤn) / Time Standing Still

This collaboration between ็‘žๅฎ‰Ryan and ่ƒง้ŸณLong is always going to feel special to Quadimension, as it was actually the debut of ่ƒง้ŸณLong! The song utilizes ChiYu’s powerfully deep voice to an impressive extent, since she is even able to growl. It’s the absolute best way to showcase her abilities in a song, as her voice develops from soft all the way to far lower tones.

6) ๅธฆๆˆ‘้€ƒ่ท‘ (Dร i Wว’ TรกopวŽo) / Take Me Away

This song in particular is very light and calm, just like HaiYi’s voice itself. So of course not only the choice of HaiYi as a vocalist is perfect, but the tuning work couldn’t be better.

I would also like to note that the duet between erazedfx and ็‘žๅฎ‰Ryan (who created this song) have released their own album “ๆญข่ฐŽๅ‰‚”, featuring three MEDIUM5 sisters at the recent Shanghai Comicup 25! I’d definitely recommend checking this out too.

7) Talking to the Rain

The composition of this song is interesting, since both Stardust and Haiyi have their own individual parts that they sing separately, all the way until they begin to work together in perfect harmony. The bell-like ringing in the background appears to gently support the vocals, making it seem like a match made in heaven.

It is worth noting that this song is the first one which has been illustrated by ๆžซๅถ / Maple, who had previously only created art for merchandise in Quadimension’s albums!

8) ๅฐ˜ๅŸƒ (Chรฉn’ฤi) / Dust

Just by looking at the remarkable illustration by -ๅŒ™- / Shi for this song, you’re able to grasp the overall atmosphere of the song. It is serene, calm and unhurried, and just by listening to it, you can almost picture Stardust swaying and singing happily with the soulful, pleasant melody.

9) ๆ–‘้ฉณ (Bฤnbรณ) Mottled

In contrast to most of the other songs I’ve covered here, “Mottled” begins as a very powerful song with a furiously rapid tempo! It is Zeno at his best; the combination of all three characters’ vocals ends up creating a fascinatingly feisty aura – a brilliant way of showcasing the infinite opportunities provided by their voicebanks, as well as the SynthesiserV engine.

I have to say, one of the nicest aspects of the album is the fact that it both opens AND closes with songs where all three of the vocalists sing.

The merchandise

One interesting feature of Quadimension’s albums is the fact that there are different editions of the album that you can buy, depending on how much additional merchandise you want and how much you’re willing to pay for it.

The full tier list is as follows:

ยฅ60 – Basic set – Album and 5 postcards

ยฅ110 – Peripheral set – Album, 5 postcards, an artbook, and 3 pin badges (75mm x 75mm)

ยฅ135 – Singer set – Album, 5 postcards, artbook, 3 pin badges and 1 button badge (you can choose to have one with either Stardust, HaiYi and ChiYu)

ยฅ190 – Deluxe set – Album, 5 postcards, artbook, 3 pin badges, all 3 button badges and an A4 clear file.

ยฅ220 – Steelbook collectors edition – Album, 5 postcards, artbook, 3 pin badges, all 3 button badges, an A4 clear file and steelbook cover.

Here are the super cute enamel pins:

Even though I was supposed to get all three can badges with my set, I only ended up getting one, which had ChiYu on it. This is most probably because mine came from Taobao, though I’m not really sure. I’m sure you’ll admit that the badge is super pretty though:

In their previous album (“Fairytale”), the badges were different, in that they were decorated with golden stars and had a smooth texture (as opposed to the slightly textured one I got this time). Having this kind of subtle variety when it comes to the merchandise is actually quite nice!

Next we have the postcards! Each one has an official illustration from one of the songs in the album:

And here is the artbook!

The artbook not only contains illustrations though – there is also information about the song producers and lyrics! As you can see, the book has a lovely luxurious look, especially because of the use of deep blue and gold.

At the end of artbook, it was nice to read the comics created by Maple (ๆžซๅถ). You can also see the illustrations which were used for the enamel pins inside!

Surprisingly, I got an additional A4 clear file (as well as the one with the main illustration), which actually made me really happy. I feel like this made up for the missing badges in my set, to be honest. Plus, I love kieed’s artwork, so that’s definitely a bonus!

As another bonus, this all came with a paper shopping bag, which has the main album illustration on it. The quality of the bag is actually really good too!

Conclusion

All in all, I can’t really complain about this album. There is a wide variety of songs, all having their own unique story and sound, so there is definitely something for everyone here. This album is a perfect representation of how Quadimension has worked on improving the quality of their products, and also how more and more people – including producers and artists – have grown to love Stardust, Haiyi and Chiyu over time. “Kaleido” is definitely a worthy addition to MEDIUM5’s repertoire of albums, and I’d strongly recommend it to anyone interested in voice synthesisers, even if you’re new to the world of Chinese voicebanks.

Links

Quadimension’s official weibo

Quadimension’s official Taobao store

Love Nikki x Hatsune Miku Collab Review

Usually when I write articles on collaborations, it’s all about how to best spend your time in the collab and how to maximize your benefits. However, the Love Nikki x Hatsune Miku collaboration is incredibly different from the collabs that many Miku fans have come to love. So this time, I’ll be doing a bit of a break down and a bit of a review.

The Basics

The collaboration itself is based on the plot of trying to find Miku Magical Mirai 2018. In this collaboration, each Miku is a different Miku and there are three of them to find: Magical Mirai 2016, Magical Mirai 2017, and Magical Mirai 2018 with 2018 being the “finale” so to speak. However, if you’re lucky, you may manage to find her before the other Mikus!

You can also obtain Rin and Len suits (full themed outfits are called “suits” in the game) although they seem more like small bonuses than anything else compared to the complexity of the Miku suits you obtain in game.

Obtaining the Suits

Unlike in many of the Miku collabs we’ve grown to love and hate at the same time because of the endless grinding and all of the level caps that give older players more of a chance at getting the exclusive items/units, the Love Nikki collaboration takes a different approach. Some would argue it’s a much fairer approach. Free to Play players would definitely agree that the time sink of grinding would be far more fair.

This is because the entire event is based around in-game currency called “Diamonds” which are essentially the Love Nikki version of “Pay to Win” currency. While you can obtain Diamonds through quests, completing suits, and other ways as you go throughout the game, the quickest way by far is to just exchange your real life money for the Diamonds.

The main area for the collaboration

The entire event is just exploring the Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai pavilion using your Diamonds. You get one free chance per day which won’t get you anywhere since the event is going on for less than a week (December 25th until December 31st at 23:59 [UTC-8]). Each exploration nets you a single Magic Cube. Collecting certain amounts of cubes will allow you to hit milestones and get special suits.

The milestones and their most common rewards are as follows:

20 Magical Cubes: Kagamine Rin or Len
50 Magical Cubes: Kagamine Rin or Len
120 Magical Cubes: Magical Mirai 2016 Miku
170 Magical Cubes: Magical Mirai 2017 Miku
265 Magical Cubes: Magical Mirai 2018 Miku + Magical Mirai Stage

There have been people pulling the rewards out of this order but most players will pull in the order listed.

Each exploration after the initial free one will cost you 30 Diamonds and you can choose to do bulk explorations of 10 for 300 Diamonds. If you’re interested in a full cost breakdown, you can check out the Reddit post here for more information. Thankfully, I had a lot of Diamonds left over from when I was addicted to Love Nikki several years ago so I was able to collect the Magical Cubes with no problem.

Other available suits

Each suit contains 6 or more pieces and completing the suits nets you gems, coins, and even special pose packs. The item descriptions are actually really cute especially for Magical Mirai 2017 which refer to lyrics of Sand Planet / Dune.

Adding all of the items obtained would make this article painfully long for mobile users. However, you can follow our Facebook where we’ll post breakdowns of each suit and then update this article with links to those breakdowns.

Bonus Events

Share your love of Miku on the official Love Nikki Facebook for a chance to win free suits and more! All you have to do is like the page and the post shown above and then comment with your favorite Miku related thing!

– 3 people will win the Magical Mirai 2018 suit
– 1 person will win all five of the collaboration suits
– And if the post gets get 40K (likes+comments+shares), 10 other people will win 7*Daily Diamond Cards (valued 420 Diamonds) each!

There’s also a special AR Event going on with even more prizes! Prizes for this competition are as follows:

– 5 people will win 7*Daily Diamond Cards(valued 420 Diamonds) each!
– 10 people will win 120 Stamina each!
– 50 people will win 25 Starcoins each!

If you’re unsure of how to get the AR function to work, you can use his lovely tutorial on Youtube here.

More Information

For more information, be sure to keep an eye on our Facebook page as well as the official Love Nikki Facebook page. There are only a few days left in the event so if you’re interested in it, be sure to join the game soon!

Anniversary โ˜† Hearty Songs Album Review

Hello! Hereโ€™s saazanka, one of the VocaSphere writers: Usually, Iโ€™m in charge of writing news, but today I had the pleasure of reviewing a brand-new album of EHAMIC: โ€œAnniversary โ˜† Hearty Songsโ€!

Hello!

saazanka here, one of the VocaSphere writers: Usually, Iโ€™m in charge of writing news, but today I had the pleasure of reviewing a brand-new album of EHAMIC: โ€œAnniversary โ˜† Hearty Songsโ€!

In short, โ€œAnniversary โ˜† Hearty Songsโ€ is a special fan-album celebrating AHS VOCALOID & VOICEROIDโ€™s 10th Anniversary, released back then at The Voc@loid M@ster 43 event and created with love from Japanese and overseas fans. Despite this album being an unofficial work, it even has special talk sessions with voice providers and many more! It’s a total must-have for any AHS fan’s collection!

The Album

The artwork cover depicts adorable cakes topped with AHS character portraits surrounded by flower pots and a guitar presented at the cosy, most probably quiet cafรฉ. That scene gives off welcoming vibes for anyone who wasn’t able to attend the โ€œAnniversary โ˜† Hearty Session ๏ฝžAHS VOCALOID 10th Annivesary Fan Gathering๏ฝžโ€ event, granting you the opportunity to celebrate altogether!

The logo uses a fairly simple and straight-to-the-point font. The name of the album has been chosen by the fans via a Twitter poll. The winning entry has been my favourite and it makes me glad to see it as the final one and as one of the people who voted specifically for this one, Iโ€™m glad to see it in the final product. When it comes to the booklet it has a huge variety of beautiful illustrations connected to each vocalist. Giving an impression of mini-artbook rather than usual booklet. Moreover it contains a truly heart-warming โ€œCreatorโ€™s messageโ€ section: It gives you a sense of harmony, and shows the true love towards the AHS.

All of this results in amazing piece of high-quality work!

The Music

โ€œAnniversary โ˜† Hearty Songsโ€ contains 21 songs in total, with almost all of them having a happy, festive theme.

The albums starts with โ€œใƒ‘ใƒผใƒ†ใ‚ฃใƒผใŒใฏใ˜ใพใ‚‹ใ‚ˆ/ Party ga hajimaru yoโ€ and โ€œใŠใ„ใ‚ใ„๏ผใ›ใฃใ—ใ‚‡ใ‚“โ˜…ใฑใƒผใฆใƒใƒผ๏ผ๏ผ/ Oiwai! Sessionโ˜…Party!!“. I wasย positively surprised to hear Nana at the first track which serves as a great opening. It has a delicate, yet elegant vibe, as if the audience is introduced to the event, and then Yuuki takes over the gentle mood with her upbeat song. One cannot simply ignore these and listen to them without a smile!

Next tracks include Kizuna Akari, with ใกใ‚‡ใ‚€P / ChomP โ€˜s โ€œใ‚ขใƒ‹ใƒใƒผใ‚ตใƒชใƒผ/ Anniversaryโ€ catching my interest. It follows the albumโ€™s happy theme, and Akariโ€™s vocals, who sound way more cheerful than Yuzuki Yukari, fits it perfectly.

By the way, Kyaraaiโ€™s art absolutely takes the cake. It was my favourite artwork from the lyrics booklet, and seeing it in the official PV for this song makes it even better.

โ€œstarting a new lifeโ€ is a happy song using both VOCALOID and VOICEROID packages of Akari, creating a unique result. It was a really positive surprise to see the talking part, and I think that there should be more well-known songs that feature such unusual software duets.

The whole album has segments build with different singers, and itโ€™s time to move to songs with SF-A2 miki. The next track is called โ€œใƒคใƒฉใ‚บใƒŽใƒฌใ‚คใƒณ / Yarazunoreinโ€, created by OzaShin (a.k.a. ่™น่‰ฒใบใบใ‚ใ‚“ / PeperonP). I remember being really pleased when hearing it for the first time: This song made me like miki more than I used to, and the instrumental is simple, yet catchy and enjoyable. The tuning is pretty cute, and even if I usually donโ€™t fancy such voices, I think that it perfectly suits the 10th Anniversary occasion, and I really liked it in the end: It felt really refreshing, like a warm, spring breeze. As it comes to miki, thereโ€™s also another song of hers, โ€œ่Šฑๅ’ฒใ / Hana Saku” (Flower Bloom) by Happy (Rocketlam). It welcomes you to miki’s world and I believe that it could be a wonderful introduction to her songs. This song is a perfect music for studying and when you need to focus. Itโ€™s a relatively short track, but itโ€™s certainly one of the best parts of the whole album.

Now, letโ€™s begin with Tohoku Zunko’s part. โ€œAnniversary โ˜† Hearty Songsโ€ has granted her with two solo songs in total, starting with โ€œใƒŸใƒฉใ‚คใƒ„ใƒ…ใƒช / Mirai Tsuzuri” (Writing the Future) by ใใ‚…ใŠใ‚“ใƒžใƒž / sound9th, and โ€œๅพกๅพ’็”บ้Ÿณ้ ญ / Okachimachi Ondoโ€ by EHAMIC himself. The first one is a soothing melody that will help you relax after the exhausting day, and may will make you feel a bit nostalgic. Tohoku Zunkoโ€™s vocal was the best choice here, as our green-haired vocalist gives the song a nice feeling. The next song is adopting the style of traditional Japanese folk music. I would love to see this song get an original PV! No matter if it’s in the style of the usual 2D one or 3D one, Iโ€™m pretty sure that Zunko would look really cheerful. Whilst listening to the song, you can feel the happiness she is conveying which makes easy to imagine her smiling face.

As for the special features here come the “ใŠใ—ใ‚ƒในใ‚Šใ‚ขใƒ‹ใƒใƒผใ‚ตใƒชใƒผ๏ฝžๆกœไนƒใใ‚‰็ทจ๏ฝž / Oshaberi Anniversary ~Haruno Sora Hen~” (Anniversary Talk ~Haruno Sora Session~) and “ใŠใ—ใ‚ƒในใ‚Šใ‚ขใƒ‹ใƒใƒผใ‚ตใƒชใƒผ๏ฝž็ตๆœˆใ‚†ใ‹ใ‚Š็ทจ๏ฝž / Oshaberi Anniversary ~Yuzuki Yukari Hen~” (Anniversary Talk ~Yuzuki Yukari Session~), which are my favourite parts of the CD. Personally, I have a soft spot for voice actors and their VOCALOIDs interacting together in any way, and this CD shares two portions of talks between Haruno Sora and Kikuko Inoue, Yuzuki Yukari and Chihiro Ishiguro. These chats were born thanks to the VOICEROID technology, which I find really impressive. You can witness voice providers wishing all the best to their โ€œchildrenโ€ directly, and it serves as a nice form of break between songs. I loved both parts, with Haruno Soraโ€™s one being simply lovely, and Yuzuki Yukariโ€™s one being positively silly. I smiled while listening, and wish for more future projects like this.

Now, letโ€™s talk about the solo songs of these VOCALOID girls.

The first track of Haruno Sora is โ€œใ‚ใ–ใ‚„ใ‹ใชใฏใ‚‹ใฎใใ‚‰ / Azayakana Haruno Soraโ€ (The Radiant Haruno Sora) by ใƒขใƒขใ˜ใ‚ใ† / momojiro with lyrics by ๆกƒ็™ฝ / momo_shiro. Since I’ve seen the artwork for the song I simply loved it! I feel as this song is perfect for me: I like expressive colours, and the mature, yet cheerful tuning fully showcases the strengths of Sora’s voice. Itโ€™s yet another song I wish to get a proper PV in the future, because itโ€™s totally worth it. Our colorful vocalist may still be a newbie in the VOCALOID scene, but letโ€™s wish all the best for her!

The second one is called โ€œAs Hope Starsโ€ by KAI. I know this producer for few years already, and seeing his name featured in the album was a pleasant surprise. I usually listen to his works featuring Yuzuki Yukari, and I was so happy to see him using Sora’s voicebank. I look forward to the future works of his using various vocalists. This track made me realise how refreshing it is to hear your producer changing the usual singer from time to time. In fact this motivated me to look for covers of his works featuring our VOCALOID five.

Speaking of Yukari, here comes her part which is my favourite song from the whole album: Itโ€™s โ€œA Holy Storyโ€ by xiโ€™an. I find that this song has a calm, magical atmosphere, and it made the biggest impression on me. It gives a completely different vibe from the other songs, and even Tohoku Zunkoโ€™s soothing vocals cannot match it. โ€œA Holy Storyโ€ takes you to a different world, where you can reflect on everything with ease, and witness an elegant performance of the songstress. Compared to her sister vocal, Kizuna Akari, it creates an impressive contrast embracing the difference in the atmosphere as well as the tuning of the song.

Following the usual formula, Yukari has two solo songs. Itโ€™s time for โ€œConnection Perillaโ€ by ใ‹ใญใ‚คใƒซใ‚ซ / Kaneiruka with lyrics by ่ฌŒๅๆณข / Kanami, and arrangement by Project irukanami. Similar to Akariโ€™s โ€œstarting a new lifeโ€, it features usage of both VOCALOID and VOICEROID packages at the same time.

It’s slightly different for Nekomura Iroha who only gets one original song. Iโ€™m sure that the fans of her will forgive the creators for this sudden modification: Not only is the song itself (entitled โ€œใ‚นใ‚ฟใƒผใƒใ‚น / Staticeโ€) by Roa of a really high quality, but Iroha has hidden a special surprise in her track. It’s a sweet-sounding piece easily making you forgive the lack of the second song. You can easily imagine as always clumsy Iroha overly excited about the preparations for the celebrating event completely forgetting about her singing duty which fits her image. Sounds cute, isn’t it?

Before Iโ€™ll move on to the next part, let me tell you a secret: I haven’t listened to Hiyama Kiyoteru before, because I donโ€™t listen much to male vocals. My favourite voices from are usually female ones, so I didnโ€™t know what to expect when I started the CD for the first time, and now the vocalist in mention has arrived. It turned out that โ€œLetโ€™s ใŠ่Šฑใƒ‘ใƒผใƒ†ใ‚ฃใƒผ / Letโ€™s Ohana Partyโ€ (Letโ€™s Have a Flower Party) has dispeled my doubts completely! Itโ€™s a short track, but before I noticed it, I started to replay it over and over. EHAMIC and PSGOZ did amazing work here, and itโ€™s quite an eye-opener to me! The pitch is impressive, and makes you want to stand up and if you haven’t met Kiyoteru before, just like me, then this track is a perfect example of his abilities. Still being hesitant? Then may I introduce you to the next track, โ€œๅค‰ใ‚ใ‚‹ๆœชๆฅใจๅค‰ใ‚ใ‚‰ใฌๆ„›ใ‚’ / Kawaru Mirai to Kawaranu Ai woโ€ (The Changing Future and Our Unchanging Love) by ่ถŠ้ป’ใƒชใ‚ฟ Koshikuro Rita. I guarantee that your impression of Kiyoteru will change in a positive way.

The solo songs section is almost over, and itโ€™s high time for group chorus. โ€œ่‡ช็”ฑๅฅ”ๆ”พใช็ฅๆญŒ๏ผˆๆžถ็ฉบๆˆฏๆ›ฒใ€Œๆ™‚ๆบใ‚Œใฎๅ›ฝใ€ใ‚ˆใ‚Š๏ผ‰ / Jiyuu Honpou Iwautaโ€ (Kakuu Gikyoku โ€œToki Yure no Kuniโ€) (Freewheeling Celebration Song, from the fictional drama โ€œToki Yue no Kuniโ€) consists of Kaai Yuki, Hiyama Kiyoteru, Yuzuki Yukari and Kizuna Akari. I think that this combination isnโ€™t a common sight, so listening to them was quite intriguing. Itโ€™s a short track, but combined with the music and all vocalists, itโ€™s definitely worth listening! Litsar did an amazing job!

If you wanted more of Macne Nana in your life, then this song is perfect for you. โ€œใ‚ใชใŸใจใปใปใˆใฟใ•ใ•ใ‚„ใ‹ใซ / Anata to Hohoemi Sasayaka niโ€ by ใƒขใƒขใ˜ใ‚ใ† / momojiro makes me go back to the Tohoku Zunko part, because it feels as soothing as it was in Zunkoโ€™s case, but this time, it features more of lively parts. I wish this song could be placed earlier, because Iโ€™m worried that the fans may skip it while listening to the album: Itโ€™s almost at the end, so itโ€™s easy to overlook. AHS fans, make sure to give a warm welcome once this track will be officially uploaded to the streaming sites in the future!

โ€œAmnionโ€ by ๅฐ้‡‘ไบ•ใ•ใ•ใ‚‰ / Koganei Sasara is the second song of Kaai Yuuki. I was surprised when hearing it for the first time, because unlike โ€œใŠใ„ใ‚ใ„๏ผใ›ใฃใ—ใ‚‡ใ‚“โ˜…ใฑใƒผใฆใƒใƒผ๏ผ๏ผ/(Oiwai! Sessionโ˜…Party!!)โ€, this song is really calm, accompanied by a quiet, barely audible voice of Kaai Yuuki. I can see it as a worthy addition to the soundtrack of some RPG video game.

So finally I present you with the last song called โ€œใŠใ‚ใงใจใ† / Omedetouโ€ (Congratulations) composed by tamachang with lyrics by isshy. There are a lot of singers here! To be exact, they are: Nekomura Iroha, Yuzuki Yukari, SF-A2 miki, Tohoku Zunko, Hiyama Kiyoteru. Itโ€™s a simple but lovely song. Furthermore, seeing Iroha once again was a pleasant wonder. I think that itโ€™s a perfect ending song, which follows the similar atmosphere of a previous one. With its sophistication it feels like an ideal conclusion for the album. I like this change, because with this, itโ€™s like we started the party with a kick, but we ended up on a graceful note. It gives a sense of unity between the fans and AHS VOCALOIDs.

Conclusion

โ€œAnniversary โ˜† Hearty Songsโ€ is an excellent AHS 10th VOCALOID & VOICEROIDโ€™s Anniversary compilation, which features all kinds of music: relaxing ballads and catchy, birthday tracks. Every fan of AHS will surely find something theyโ€™ll like here. Personally, Iโ€™m really happy with the final result. As a person who followed the project since the initial announcement, I feel utter happiness holding the physical album in my hands. I look forward to the future projects of EHAMIC, and Iโ€™m sure that theyโ€™ll be even more enjoyable. I would love to see 20th Anniversary project, and the vision of it makes me wonder about the future of the VOCALOID and VOICEROIDs.

Letโ€™s end the review with proper cheers: To the next 10 years of AHS!

Where to purchase

The easiest way to purchase the album is via online BOOTH page of EHAMIC. You can check it out under this link.

Japanese Man Reacts to Hatsune Miku Videos and It’s Amazing

This Japanese man just found Miku and is reacting to music videos suggested by fans. His reations are perfect!

One would think that anyone from Japan would be very familiar with the twin tailed virtual singer Hatsune Miku by now. She seems to exist on every level of Japanese pop culture from live concerts, commercials, products, and having her face all over Sapporo every February. While folks in the west can avoid Miku a bit more easily, you’d think most people in Japan would be rather familiar with Miku and already have their opinions on her.

Well meet Young Student Mako on Youtube. Much like many other students, he put Spotify on while studying and let it run free. Until then, he hadn’t really heard anything from Miku. But Spotify decided he needed more of her in his life.

In his first reaction video, he admits to only knowing a limited list of songs.

I basically only know Romeo and Cinderella, World End Dancehall, The world is Mine, Disappearance of Hatsune Miku, Aikotoba, Sinbonzakura [sic] Ray …. and some songs from Mikunopolis 2014.

Since he has some free time and is interested in Miku, Mako figured he’d ask Miku fans for recommendations on what music videos he should watch. And people are definitely all for sharing their favorite Miku songs with Mako!

His newest reaction video is a reaction to Time Machine where the fandom has finally got him on the feels train. (Note there is some strong language)

When the video starts, he states that he hopes the song doesn’t touch too many feelings or else he might cry. Welcome to the VOCALOID fandom, Mako. Where there’s enough feels to make everyone cry. There’s at least one feels punching song for everyone.

Mako has also reacted to other songs that are a lot brighter such as Luckyโ˜†Orb, which he absolutely loves.

He says it should be played in the 2020 Olympics. Someone who’s just entered the fandom thinks Miku should sing in the Olympics. Clearly it must be done.

You can find more of Mako on his Youtube channel where he uploads reaction videos rather frequently. You can also follow him on Twitter. Be sure to suggest your favorite VOCALOID songs to him and check out his other reaction videos!

Review: The Eraser to Your Pencil (Rerulili Ft. MEIKA Hime and Mikoto – Specialgirl)

Official MEIKA Hime & Mikoto art by โ–ณโ—‹โ–กร— (miwasiba)

So far, since their release in late March, MEIKA Hime & Mikoto havenโ€™t received much recognition beyond fansโ€™ passive comments on the twoโ€™s complimentary designs. It seemed that the twin plum flowers would be lost in a sea of unpopular Vocaloids that came before them, like Kanon & Anon and galaco, but just because a Vocaloid isnโ€™t popular doesnโ€™t mean they arenโ€™t a good addition to the growing list of vocal synths; sometimes all it takes is a well-known producer to make an outstanding song using them. Luckily for the young Gynoid Vocaloids, thatโ€™s exactly what happened.


Rerulili, a producer famous for reluctantly naughty tracks Holy Lance Explosion Boy and Brain Fluid Explosion Girl recently released Specialgirl featuring MEIKA Hime & Mikoto- a happy-go-lucky song just perfect for the twins. The blithe melody alongside adorable MMD animation choreographed by motion actor gurico15 made for a radiant experience that wasnโ€™t originally expected from the pair. Though there has been no official English lyrics released quite yet, it can be inferred that this song is easily more innocent than many of Reruliliโ€™s previous releases.

The song opens with MEIKA Himeโ€™s childish tone, elucidating her visuals of someone she sees in the back of a classroom. Despite Himeโ€™s cutesy initial appearance in the song, Mikoto goes on to question the secrets of the universe and the illicit perversion that comes with them. Before the chorus, MEIKA Hime reveals the nature that terrifically reflects her adolescent voice- as long as she dusts of her skirt, she can continue doing her best! This is comparable to saying โ€œwhen you get knocked down, just keep getting up.โ€ MEIKA Hime & Mikoto have an affinity with the aforementioned student in the classroom, and despite their worries and lack of understanding, they know that they have to keep going no matter what, even with a girly heart.

Dokkoisho, dokkoisho!

(Japanese equivalent to heave ho, heave ho!)

Theyโ€™re excited and their hearts are throbbing, but they want to try their best to tell their love how they feel. This is reminiscent of famous song โ€œSuki Daisukiโ€ featuring Kagamine Rin by JevanniP, a piping of a girl in love and through feminine anxieties, attempting to tell him her adoration. Itโ€™s clear that this song isnโ€™t like anything Rerulili would typically produce, but itโ€™s an adorably mellow song- good thing too, as MEIKA Hime & Mikotoโ€™s estimated age is around 12.

Directly after the chorus we are introduced to an adorable expression of love by Mikoto. โ€œIf you are a pencil, I want to be your eraser.โ€ Not only is this sickeningly sweet, it fits perfectly into the classroom environment set by the first verse. Even Hime cannot see through her glasses foggy with the sweet trickery of intimacy, and accepting that she may not be loved back to the same extent, explains cheerfully, โ€œIt is better to love than to be loved.โ€ That is the truth of the universeโ€™s many questions. ย 

Reruliliโ€™s Specialgirl is a very kindhearted and happy-go-lucky tune about the many emotions that come with falling in love- and is just what the plum spirit pair needed to become more than just a mascot with a voice. All we can do is try our best and push through, and it is okay if our crushes donโ€™t like us back- we can keep moving forward through the universe; after all, as MEIKA Hime & Mikoto tell us, in verse before the final chorus, we need to put on a courageous smile! Love is cherishable, the truth to all the questions the universe offers, and we are all special.

Want to listen for yourself?

MEIKA Hime & Mikoto are copyrighted by Gynoid. All rights reserved.