These past few days have been pretty crazy. Thanks to the mention from the Vocaloid facebook fanpage, my message has reached hundreds of thousands of Vocaloid fans around the world. It makes me happy that we can finally put old problems to rest, and we can continue doing what the community has always done before: Share our love and interest of Vocaloid with the many fans and artists around the world. I have taken the time to answer everyone’s questions on Facebook, Youtube, and Mikufan, and I want to thank everyone for the positive feedback!
I’ve been pretty busy for the past few days, the last couple in particular due to the unexpected attention, so I have a lot to cover. So I’ll just quickly recap some of the major news events, and express my opinions rather than going into heavy detail.
The Virtual Tupac Performance at Coachella Fest
I live within the Coachella Valley, so news of this spread around very quickly (here is a local article). Naturally, the thought of Hatsune Miku’s live 39’s concert performances came to mind and immediately reminded me of the Mikunopolis concert I had attended. This actually has me excited due to the fact that the music industry is realizing the potential that this technology has as an entertainment platform. Of course, the technology has never been exclusive to Hatsune Miku. So the idea that it was “stolen” is rather silly. It is a rather old concept that has been used many times before, most notably by the Gorillaz music group, and even the Haunted House ghosts at Disney Land. When it comes down to it, it’s just merely a projected image on glass. It will be very interesting to see where this leads in the future.
AniMiku Fan Concert to Premier at Tora-Con in New York
One of the very surprising recent announcements is that a completely fan-driven Vocaloid concert will be shown at Tora-Con on April 21st in New York. Crypton and SEGA have no official involvement in this concert, but they have acknowledged the concert and announced it to the fans to show their approval. This could very well be the first of many fanmade performances in the future. Additional information and details can be read from the linked article from Hatsune Miku’s facebook post.
A Chance for Miku to be Immortalized in Wax
Madame Tussauds is a well renowned London Gallery of famous people sculpted in wax, with 14 locations worldwide. One particular gallery located within Bangkok, Thailand has opened a facebook poll for people to vote for the next person or character we would like to see added to the gallery. Hatsune Miku is currently sitting with a comfortable lead with over 1,000 votes above the second highest candidate. If you can, go and place your vote to show your support!
Hatsune Miku Not Making an Anime Expo 2012 Concert Appearance
This comes as somewhat sad news to many expecting fans, including myself. The staff of Anime Expo has informed their followers that Hatsune Miku and the other Crypton Vocaloids will not be making a return concert appearance at Anime Expo 2012. SEGA and Crypton did, however, say that they have “other exciting plans”. These plans are still a mystery, so fans will need to stay tuned for further updates. They have also hinted at the possibility of a return concert in 2013. Regardless, I will still be attending Anime Expo 2012, and I hope to see many of you there!
About jrharbort
A Hatsune Miku fan since December 2007, jrharbort joined MikuFan as the Head Writer in October 2011. Follow on Twitter at @jrharbort.