Aug 312014
 

Magical Mirai this year is held at two different locations. The first took place in Osaka, Japan at Osaka Intex on August 30th, while another is scheduled in Tokyo, Japan at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on September 20th.  The new life-sized Miku statue was presented in the recent Osaka event. Unlike other previous statues we’ve witnessed, this seems to be the first to ever go public with real fabric clothing. Including this new Miku, we now have the sixth life-sized statue ever created to date (you can view the other 5 here).


 
The mysterious Nendoroid that was teased way back in early May was also showcased in Osaka event, with the title of “ NendoroidHatsune Miku Halloween version”. She will be available for purchase at Miku Expo in Los Angeles and New York. Further details including pricing are expected to be announced later.


 
On another side, here we have a surprise launched from Volks booth, where an additional outfit “Mikuzukin” will be coming soon. Details have not been released yet and are expected to arrive later.  


 
Lastly, it has been confirmed from that figma Racing Miku 2014 sponsorship courses will come with three usual different accessories. These include: umbrellas(folded and unfolded ver.), trophies(amount varies with victories during the season), and the team iconic flag

Aug 312014
 

Illustration “Happy Birthday Miku!” by Tsuzakitsu Nomi from Pixiv.

Hatsune Miku has finally reached the 7th year of her journey since her first release on August 31st, 2007. Seven is quite a lucky number, and we’ve certainly been lucky to be able to enjoy what she’s been able to bring to the lives of fans around the world for all those years.

The past year has brought brought us the release of Hatsune Miku’s VOCALOID3 software, the beginning of an international Miku Expo event, a new Racing Miku and Snow Miku design, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd’s international release, and so much more. And not to forget the endless amounts of video, music and illustrative art works.

And as per tradition, artists have taken to Pixiv to overload the servers with a vast amount of illustrations to celebrate the birthday of our beloved virtual diva. Below are some of our personal favorite picks, but you can view the full selection of images for Hatsune Miku’s 7th anniversary from here: http://www.pixiv.net/search.php?word=ミク誕生祭2014

Happy 7th Birthday, Hatsune Miku!

6 by えこいくしま on pixiv

Happy Birthday by TID on pixiv

おめでとう by うさしろまに on pixiv

8/31 by 萌葱 on pixiv

ハジメテノオト by Rella on pixiv

~MIKU’S 7TH BIRTHDAY~ by 薯子Chuko on pixiv

miku by mery on pixiv

❤HAPPY BIRTHDAY❤ by 黑川紙 on pixiv

歌姫 by kina on pixiv

Aug 302014
 

burenai-title-card
 
An extended version of Mitchie M’s song featured in Rohto’s Digi-Eye AR app has been released on YouTube and Niconico with a complete song and 3DPV.
 




 
The YouTube upload of Hatsune Miku’s up-beat love ballad features full English subtitles on the Youtube upload. The video was directed by llcheesell, and the dance choreography was provided by Malo chan (Tatsuro Ogata). The model is the same one used in the AR app, and was modeled by Kasoku Satō (KSK), who also made the model of Miku for the Happy Birthday song in 2012.
 
burenaimeadow
 
Rohto Digi-Eye was exhibited at Magical Mirai in Osaka as well.

Aug 292014
 


 
The previous information leaks regarding the upcoming Autumn Family Mart Promotion have proven to be true, and we now have photos of the prizes that will be available starting early October. The promotion will work the same as all past lotteries, where you must purchase an 800 Yen ticket from a Family Mart store to win a random prize. For this promotion, there is a total of 9 prize tiers. But this time, the TSUYATA & ANIMATE Group stores are also participating in the promotion.

【A Prize】Hatsune Miku: Lat Miku Autumn Version

 
The top prize (or second rarest prize) of the promotion is the Autumn colored LAT Miku scaled figure. Other than for the color scheme, the sculture is based on the original 1/8 scale LAT Miku figure.

【B & C Prize】Hatsune Miku and Luka Memo Note Figure Stand

 
The next two prize tiers are cute desk figures designed by CHAN×CO. They come in only one variety for each tier: Hatsune Miku for tier B, and Megurine Luka for tier C. The figures also double as a stand for notes, or anything else that might be paper thin.

【D Prize】Multi flat pouch

 
Featuring artwork by Fujinoki Tomoko, this flat pouch shows Miku playing music on an autumn night. It’s perfect for carrying around your tablet, small notebook and some documents.

【E Prize】Melamine plate set

 
For the E prize tier, winners will receive one of the three different Melamine plate sets pictured above. Each set will include a plate, fork and spoon.

【F Prize】Napsack Set
Family Mart exclusive napsacks

TSUYATA & ANIMATE Group exclusive napsacks

 
The napsack prize tier is interesting, as the bag design choices vary depending on if you purchase your tickets at Family Mart, or TSUYATA & ANIMATE Group. There is 5 designs per store, for a total of 10 different designs.

【E Prize】Rubber Strap

 
Based on the illustrative designs of OSTER project’sAlice in Musicland“, these cute rubber straps also include an additional tiny charm to accompany each character. There are 6 varieties in all.

【BE@RBRICKB Prize】Bear Brick

 
The bottom tier prize is a Bear Brick BE@RBRICK figures based on the 6 Cryptonloid characters. There is also a 7th secret character that is currently unknown. Any guesses as to who it could be?

【LAST Prize】Mikudayo face cushion

 
The “Last” prize is the Mikudayo face cushion, which can help you achieve the nightmares you desire in your sleep (just joking). In order to receive the “last” prize from any store, you must purchase the remaining ticket. For this reason, the “last” prize is also the rarest prize in each promotion.

Additional images of the prizes can also be found from the Happy Kuji website. If you plan to participate in the fall lottery promotion, good luck! Via Hatsune Miku Blog

Aug 272014
 


 
If you’ve been following Vocaloid music long enough (or dug deep enough), then some of you may remember the popular classic 3DPV for the song “Innocence”, which was created in 2008 using 3DCG software other than MikuMikuDance. One interesting aspect of the video was how Hatsune Miku was using a sort of touch screen synthesizer, held like a guitar.

The design inpired many artists to create various fan art, including Tripshots. The instrument is simply known as the “unknown music device” or “that instrument”. Below is the original 3DPV, where the instrument can be seen.

A Vocaloid fan and creator named Ma Shigure on Nicovideo has recreated the instrument in real life. In the video, Shigure shows the creation process, which used components that are freely available on the market, should anyone else also be interested in creating one. It is the first self-contained replica to offer completely dynamic output, instead of pre-programmed functions. Pretty amazing replica, I think.

The demo video below uses the instrumental for “Innocence”. The on-vocal and off-vocal versions can both be downloaded for free from KazuP’s Piapro.

Via Mikustream