Recently, renowned sci-fi writer William Gibson of Neuromancer fame annoyed a bunch of Miku fanboys when he tweeted, “Hatsune Miku doesn’t really rock me. I want higher rez, less anime.” This was immediately parsed by some to mean that he hates all things anime and wishes horrible things to happen to otakukind and hilarity ensued.

Coincidentally, I have been spending some time thinking about the concept of virtual idols recently and just picked up a copy of Gibson’s Idoru novel that touches on this exact issue. Incidentally, it has a pseudo anime-style cover.

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Read the rest of Virtual Idols and Hatsune Miku (1,041 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2010. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: future, hatsune miku, idol, meme, sci-fi, virtual idol

So all the cards are finally on the proverbial table. In addition to whatever was announced during the first press conference, the final details for Anime Festival Asia 09 was released this Wednesday (or last Wednesday depending on your preferred usage) during a blogging conference (hurray new media?). Being really short on free time these days, it naturally took me three whole days to write this post. You know you are getting old when you no longer care about first post.

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Read the rest of Anime Festivial Asia 09 – Preview (256 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: afa09, event, fire bomber, hatsune miku, k-on!, macross, madhouse studio, may'n, singapore, tatsunoko productions, yoshiki fukuyama

Crypton, the creator of VOCALOID2 software Hatsune Miku and the upcoming Kagamine Rin/Ren, sent a cease-and-desist order to doujin circle CLOCK☆HEARTS.

The circle was taking preorders on its website fan-made dakimakura covers of Miku and Rin. (Sort of NSFW: Hatsune Miku | Kagamine Rin) In response, the circle has taken down the pictures of the covers and will be refunding all the preorders.

[ Source: 痛いニュース ]

Short commentary after the break.

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Read the rest of Crypton to Doujin Circle: Cease and Desist (652 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2007. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crypton, doujin, hatsune miku, industry, kagamine rin, vocaloid

Mika-tan, an employee of GSC, posted some new “product testing” pictures (what an awesome job) of this wonderful creation on her blog today. Chibi Miku stetching out her hand while holding a negi is so cute, it hurts my tooth. (Or maybe it’s just my tooth decay.) I did preorder one some time ago. Hopefully I can get it.

[ Mika-tan’s Blog ]

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2007. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: good smile company, hatsune miku, mika-tan, nendroid, vocaloid

Excerpts from 33 songs sang by 14 people and Hatsune Miku mixed into 10 minutes of back to back pure concentrated awesomeness. Truly epic. Tokachitsukuchite!

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2007. | Permalink | 47 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: hatsune miku, tokachitsukuchite, youtube

Hatsune Miku

Well, I’m in love with the song all over again thanks to this YouTube video and a crazy piece of software called VOCALOID2. Embedded after the break.

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Read the rest of VOCALOID2′s Hatsune Miku (316 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: hatsune miku, ievan polkka, vocaloid, youtube