Hatsune Miku 3D hologram concert comes stateside

[CelestialBlade]

Uh, hi. Been a while.

Anyways, a very recent announcement has confirmed that the popular 3D hologram Vocaloid concert that hit Tokyo in March 2010 is coming to the US this summer! If you're going to Anime Expo in Los Angeles this summer, you can check it out at the Nokia Theater on July 2nd. Hit up the Youtubez for vids of the Japan concert, I'm lazy.

http://mikufes.com

Personally I'm really happy this is coming stateside and I hope it does well. The technology is pretty neat and very well done, would love to see it in person. I think I would die when Just Be Friends starts up :P

[Delete]

I would start posting a dozen videos of the many songs I like by her/it/whatever. I would love to go but I don't see that happening :(

[Akaimizu]

This is Japan following their own anime visions. Having virtual Pop-singers that are contructs, not human. It will be interesting to see how this eventually turns out, in the future.

They need to complete the look by arranging a ship design from Macross to do a fly-over during the concert.

[Mike]

きらっ☆

I really don't care for any of the Vocaloids but if they Miku or another of the female versions singing Ranka or Minmay, I might go and see it.

[Split]

Japan has such a fucked up society...

[Nitro Vordex]

AUTOTUNE.

[Mantiskilla]

What is this again? I'm guessing its probably just an advanced version of those laser light shows from back in the day.

[Weeaboolits]

What is this again? I'm guessing its probably just an advanced version of those laser light shows from back in the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI

[CelestialBlade]

I'd go to LA just to hear this live:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17V1FPCy77c

[Randomness]

I must say, that is an impressive visual effect, even knowing how it's done.

[HUmar Darkedge]

I live near LA...at uh, outside San Diego from the south-east. *sigh* The city of angels... if it was named this, their would be no crime, but people doing good things in society. But that kind of society would be boring. I would want to go...If i knew what Miku is. On that note, i didn't know there were anime expos around here.

[CelestialBlade]

I must say, that is an impressive visual effect, even knowing how it's done.
Yeah, the 3D effect is really well done for the whole thing being projected on a flat screen it seems. Naturally they're crafty with the viewing angles, but the effect and animation is top-notch. Even the mouth movement is spot-on for the most part. There's a slight motion blur when one of the singers moves a lot, but other than that it's indeed impressive. It'd be something to see whether you're into Vocaloid music or not.

[FOkyasuta]

*Sigh* Another thing thing that "she'll" miss. Just great.

[Majarra]

Can I get her autograph after the concert?

[Mantiskilla]

Gotta admit that's pretty technical and creative, but man that's over the top for me on my creepy/weird scale.

[AzureBlaze]

Its stuff like this to convince one that it's living in the future.
Virtual idols ...not...live on stage! Singing in voices that aren't human! (Miku is some computer program anyway) For all they accuse celebrities of being phony, I think someone who actually isn't real tops them all.

But, really its a great idea.
They're pretty & won't age, you can't kill them in a car crash, they won't go on drugs and ruin their carreer or shave off all their hair like Brittany Spears / do stupid stunts and fail. Always fresh and popular, never cranky or rotten, a virtual idol seems better than any real thing.

Good for them bringing her/them over here.
I'm sure people would want to go and see. I wonder why the USA doesn't create its own virtual idol to sing.

[Airalean]

They're pretty & won't age, you can't kill them in a car crash, they won't go on drugs and ruin their carreer or shave off all their hair like Brittany Spears / do stupid stunts and fail. Always fresh and popular, never cranky or rotten, a virtual idol seems better than any real thing.

And not real. What I don't like about this whole virtual pop star stuff is that they're made to be perfect, obviously. Perfection is a ruse and I personally thing that imperfection make people beautiful. You know that little problem most teenagers and adults have? The one where they try to be just like famous people who appear to be perfect? Imagine if all our pop stars and celebrities were perfectly modeled holograms it would be even worse. People would be trying to become someone they physically can not be. So no, I don't think this is better than the real thing.


I wonder why the USA doesn't create its own virtual idol to sing.
The Gorillaz do concerts like this and those are actual people with actual talent. Rather that autotune.


With that all said, its a neat idea and the animations do look pretty great, it would definitely be neat to see, but the music isn't quite my taste. I'd like to see more bands do something like this and a mix of what the Gorillaz do, have amazing holograms but with a nice upbeat band and guest stars. For some songs they have entire groups of dancers come out and do their thing while the projections do theirs. Its amazing looking.

If any of you actually go be sure to tell us how it was ;3

[Retehi]

So creepy.

[CelestialBlade]

And not real. What I don't like about this whole virtual pop star stuff is that they're made to be perfect, obviously. Perfection is a ruse and I personally thing that imperfection make people beautiful. You know that little problem most teenagers and adults have? The one where they try to be just like famous people who appear to be perfect? Imagine if all our pop stars and celebrities were perfectly modeled holograms it would be even worse. People would be trying to become someone they physically can not be. So no, I don't think this is better than the real thing.
Fair argument, though at the same time you won't see a virtual idol turn to drugs and stuff to destroy their bodies and their reputations. You're not gonna see a sex scandal from a virtual idol. And no, creepy Gelbooru fanart doesn't count :P

I'm personally a lot more disturbed by a celebrity that looks like a zombie she's so anorexic compared to a perfect virtual idol. I think the cartoonish nature of Vocaloid takes away from that too; though I'm sure your point would come up if we were taking more realistic models and turning them into virtual idols. Interesting to think about.


So creepy.
At least there's a pretty large number of moe-fangirls among the Vocaloid fanbase :wacko:

[Airalean]

though I'm sure your point would come up if we were taking more realistic models and turning them into virtual idols. Interesting to think about.

See, I would hope the fact that they're more cartoony would make that less of an issue. But I've seriously met people who hold anime girls as their standards for real women.

[CelestialBlade]

See, I would hope the fact that they're more cartoony would make that less of an issue. But I've seriously met people who hold anime girls as their standards for real women.
Yeah, that's true too. I can't seem to get my hair to do animu styles though. I've tried. ._.

[Corey Blue]

To be honest,that was fucking creepy,but kinda cool at the same time.

[V.A.P]

I wonder why the USA doesn't create its own virtual idol to sing.

Because coming up with weird ideas is Japan's job?

[FOkyasuta]

Because coming up with weird ideas is Japan's job?

Unlike us and like what some other thread has said, "They'd rather be nasty in the brain then physically."

[sovalou]

just wow... o_o

[Angelic Fae]

THIS IS WHY I LOVE JAPAN!
sadly I cant really get to LA...that sux

[Zarode]

At least there's a pretty large number of moe-fangirls among the Vocaloid fanbase :wacko:

http://i.imgur.com/IJ0Q2.jpg

[HUmar Darkedge]

See, I would hope the fact that they're more cartoony would make that less of an issue. But I've seriously met people who hold anime girls as their standards for real women.

How disturbing.

[Alucard V]

Its stuff like this to convince one that it's living in the future.
Virtual idols ...not...live on stage! Singing in voices that aren't human! (Miku is some computer program anyway) For all they accuse celebrities of being phony, I think someone who actually isn't real tops them all.

But, really its a great idea.
They're pretty & won't age, you can't kill them in a car crash, they won't go on drugs and ruin their carreer or shave off all their hair like Brittany Spears / do stupid stunts and fail. Always fresh and popular, never cranky or rotten, a virtual idol seems better than any real thing.

Good for them bringing her/them over here.
I'm sure people would want to go and see. I wonder why the USA doesn't create its own virtual idol to sing.


See, I would hope the fact that they're more cartoony would make that less of an issue. But I've seriously met people who hold anime girls as their standards for real women.

You all may be putting to much thought into this.

[Robert_Garcia]

Seeing as how I live in the general area, I'll be able to see it. However, I'm probably not, since I'm not much of a vocaloid fan and any spot I could've had would be better used for an actual fan.

[Fayorei]

I'd totally go to that if it ever came to Otakon, or another anime con close to me. Haven't been to one in years.

Also, does this mean we have the technology to do JEM concerts now?:O

Though, I've heard similar tech has been used for Gorillaz and Dethklok shows. I'm sad to say I'd probably go to a Dethklok show over Vocaloid though.:P

[Syl]

I wonder why the USA doesn't create its own virtual idol to sing.

Oh, but we already do. They're called Engloids. Leon, Lola, Sweet Ann, Big Al, Miriam, Prima, Sonika, and Tonio. They are nowhere near as popular as their Japanese counterparts, even in the States.

As for the concert itself, I'm going to be working in the Nokia Theater when it shows at AX. I guess that's a free concert ticket for me bwahahaha.

Personally speaking, aside from Luka's "Just Be Friends," I'm not really interested in the rest of the concert. They're going to use all the mega kawaii desu songs, and I prefer to listen to the metal/rock subgenres. If it were up to me, I'd make a concert with songs just from those genres instead of the cutesy J-pop. >.>

As far as Vocaloids go, it REALLY depends on who the producer is in terms of the Vocaloid's voice goes. Most of the famous and well known songs have really crappy voicing. Oh and there are better versions of some of the Vocaloids called Append. These Append voices sound SO much better than the regular versions. Megpoid Gumi's voice is probably the most realistic one, completely blowing all of the other ones out of the water. And the crazy part is that they're already working on her Append, which should sound even more awesome.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdHMdCnXtkY

[CelestialBlade]

As for the concert itself, I'm going to be working in the Nokia Theater when it shows at AX. I guess that's a free concert ticket for me bwahahaha.
And you're still a bastard for that ;_;


Personally speaking, aside from Luka's "Just Be Friends," I'm not really interested in the rest of the concert. They're going to use all the mega kawaii desu songs, and I prefer to listen to the metal/rock subgenres. If it were up to me, I'd make a concert with songs just from those genres instead of the cutesy J-pop. >.>
Personally I enjoy both the J-pop and the metal stuff they've done, from different angles. As in, they're both Vocaloid, but that's about where the similarities end, they've both got very unique sounds but obviously the concert is going to gear towards the more mainstream, and the J-pop got them on the map I suppose. I've found that a lot of the songs they did in the last concert that I like the most are from Luka and Rin anyway :P


As far as Vocaloids go, it REALLY depends on who the producer is in terms of the Vocaloid's voice goes. Most of the famous and well known songs have really crappy voicing. Oh and there are better versions of some of the Vocaloids called Append. These Append voices sound SO much better than the regular versions. Megpoid Gumi's voice is probably the most realistic one, completely blowing all of the other ones out of the water. And the crazy part is that they're already working on her Append, which should sound even more awesome.
It's pretty crazy how much better the Append variants are, especially compared to the rather low-end voice simulation used for the concert. It's like they lose the sorta robotic-ish accent and begin to sound very human, and their multi-language ability gets a lot better too. Someone put it best when they said the vocal technology used in the concert is really way behind, Append is leaps and bounds ahead of it. The hologram technology is awesome, just makes me wonder why they didn't use better Vocaloid software for it, since the concert itself is only a little over a year old.


If nothing else I've found that I'm actually really into the live band, The 39's (saying 3-9 in Japanese sounds like MI-KU). Notably the bassist Shingo and the drummer Shin, I love watching a band that genuinely seems to enjoy what they do. They're always smiling and seem like they're having an awesome time.

[Keilyn]

Its amazing,

people won't see a virtual idol commit heinous crime when you have the Tokyo Governor who is a CEO to a development/publishing pornographic company. Not to mention many companies in the Japan Exchange have pornographic frontends and several times has the issue of "marriage" to virtual females have been addressed....

I don't mind the technology from a technical standpoint, but I do mind the aftereffect it will do. Perfect something of that caliber and immediately the sex industry exponentiates. Already there is a rippling effect where the majority of Japanese females within the society have a fear their loved ones will like someone digital or a friend better than them.

Its amazing the stories I am told by Japanese girls who come into this state as exchange students and spend a year first in an institution learning the language. Many of them have similar stories of life back home...

...as far as I hear from them I couldn't imagine any woman with a sane mind and a decent heart wishing upon an ounce of a dream to have been born in Japan.

Also, I know there is a lot of difference, but I look at birth and death rates very closely and when a nation like Japan has a much higher death rate than birth-rate, despite overpopulation, I would still justify the argument that something is wrong with gender and the way people think of each other.

All this virtual icon will do is simply increase the death rate since more males will be thinking about a "perfect" female rather than think of what it actually means to love someone outside of simple lust.

As a musician it annoys me because I don't want to see a virtual icon perform a song. I want to see the actual composer and performer play the song itself.....as you and I can at least agree that if one composes a song and gets up on that stage, that person has every right to be heard.

[Nitro Vordex]

Though, I've heard similar tech has been used for Gorillaz and Dethklok shows. I'm sad to say I'd probably go to a Dethklok show over Vocaloid though.:PTotally not sad. Went to one of Dethklok's shows, and it was fuckin' awesome.

Gorillaz and Dethklok shows differ though, because it usually shows an actual live band playing, but they're silhouetted and have videos playing on the backscreen. Gorillaz is a bit more convoluted though, mainly because they have so many guest appearances, and now a days they just have a live band play, usually accompanied by the actual Gorillaz band videos showing the live band locking them out or something.

[Alucard V]

I have to admit I'm a bit of a fan. I'd like to see what they can do with the technology. But sadly I'm on the east coast and I'm poor.:(

I've made a pretty spot on Miku in Phantasy Star Portable 2 and read the manga Hatsune Mix from time to time. But as a character she's always seem'd like the girl who fell from the sky. Out of place and a little clueless about where she landed and who she landed on.^^;

[CelestialBlade]

Concert is today~

Wish I was there, the whole concept is pretty fascinating, plus the live band really impressed me from the recordings of other concerts. I'd go there for the keyboard solos alone, very well done.

Jealous of anyone there today!