Vocaloids, being just a set of names, a design, and limited information, have to rely on the users and fans to determine each one’s’ personality, friendships, relationships and general life. There is no anime or dedicated official source for any of these, so today, we’ll be looking at videos and short series that show a representation into the lives of vocaloids. I’ve gathered together some small things from the internet that could represent the vocaloids in different ways, some more serious, and some just general laughs. Eitherways, I’ll leave you all to make your own decisions on how the vocaloids behave.
1. Welcome to Vocaloid
This 9-part series has a long awaited episode 10 – A matter of years, to be exact. It was created by splashdream15 on youtube, and was created with MMD, and just has a soundtrack with subtitles, complete with matching colors to the speaking Vocaloid. This show represents the vocaloids as more serious and sentimental, with a small amount of comedy nonetheless. The opening to this series is one of my favourite vocaloid songs, “Carbuncle” by BIRUGE, and I subsequently found this song due to this series. Considering the age of this series and the basic tools in MMD, it’s easy to understand how the animation isn’t the best. However, I find the storyline to be the best part of this series. The relatable storyline and drama created in this is amazing, and it delivers some serious messages in an appealing way. The story follows Miku, Kaito, Len, Luka and more in their school, and subsequent teenage issues like relationships and bullying are shown through Vocaloids. Multiple ships are brought through as well, from Miku x Kaito to even Miku x Dell, a fanloid I’d never even heard of. This series shows all the vocaloids as presumably as high school kids, and as seemingly innocent as they may be, it follows their shenanigans as everyone once did. Sadly, this incredible series, perfect for exactly introducing someone to vocaloid, ended abruptly on episode 9. I’m unfortunately sure there’ll never be an episode ten, and you’ll have to make a judgement on what happens for yourself. You can check out the series on splashdream15’s channel here~ https://www.youtube.com/user/splashdream15/videos
2. That MMD Show
This is a parody of one of my favorite comedy shows, “That 70’s Show”. Full of cringy teenage humour, this short compilation of videos has MMD animations with voiceovers from classic scenes from the show. The Vocaloids suit characters from the show perfectly, and the scenarios they are placed in give them all a chilled, teenage personality, compared to the more deep and emotional side like “Welcome to vocaloid”. This series also has some more comedic and adult humor to compliment that as well.The ships in this one stay relatively the same, compared to the on-and-off nature in “Welcome to vocaloid” as well. There are also little twists in this too, like project diva openings being played on TVs’ here and there, and themed posters to keep vocaloid within it. This series is definitely more of a comedy, and I would recommend it to fans of the original series. These have more short clips, rather than long episodes. The animation on this is slightly better in my opinion, but the voice syncing isn’t the best. There isn’t that much else to say on this series, as it is just an animation put to a pre-recorded show. Either way, If you’re looking for laughs, I’d go to this series before any others. You can check out the playlist here~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL_JowlcmgQ&list=PLvnjJDxgSxegpiXXHFNkXkKAYgEPesd63&index=4
3. The End
Edging away from MMD animations and onto holograms more this time, I have previously done an article on this incredible show. The End is an opera, and rather than an orchestra, this one has Miku against different backdrops and accompanied with a little rabbit instead. The theme of this show focuses around death and what happens after it, but as Miku isn’t human, it is presented in a more fascinating way. Miku is represented in this show as being innocent, unknowing of death and generally scared to die. She asks questions following that, and ends up completely pondering over her own existences’ meaning, before eventually coming to terms with it. The plot of this is abstract at times, but I personally adore the way it is presented. Nothing more than a set of screens and stunning graphics to fit over them. Anything from a large eye with Miku’s signature pigtails to scenes full of gas masks to translate from the climactic songs. The soundtrack itself is gorgeous, with songs ranging from simple melodies to almost techno songs. I love this one, mainly as a fan of Keiichiro Shibuya, but also as it is complete human-less, and is run by computers.
After looking at all of these shows, I threw together a small idea of what some of the vocaloids could act like depending on a combination of just these three. But to conclude, I included a relatable series, a comedy serious and a more serious one, to try and look at different ways their personalities could be. These may not be the best examples, but I tried to take three different themes to ultimately expand on it. Overall though, I hope I could give a small idea into the more vast idea of how the vocaloids act, however feel free to comment your own ideas.
~DaiSukiYuki