Vocaloid and its Community - autistic slapfights over anime musical instruments

[Ethereal Eye]

I remember finding Miku to be a very adorable character, along with the others such as Luka, Meiko, etc. To see Miku associated with LGBT and trannies leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Its like watching something once beautiful get utterly demolished before your eyes.

 

[albert chan]

The minute it was announced that Hatsune Miku was going to perform at Coachella was proof that Vocaloid “community” would not last.

And this was before the Wuhan virus hit.

 

[The Marauder]

 

[assigned stupid at birth]

Decided to make a new post since it ended up being more than I thought, so here are some more prominent instances of Vocaloid producer related drama over the years, including Vocaloid producers causing drama or people being dramatic over them.

Spoiler: MARETU

A producer that gained rapid popularity between 2016-early 2017. Known for being quite edgy.

Got indirectly called out by his ex-girlfriend in late 2017 for pulling a rockstar and cheating on her with a fan of his that was a severely mentally ill minor (19, as the age of adulthood in Japan is currently 20). People put the pieces together and figured out it was about him, and he later confirmed this and released an apology statement (doc) (translation).



After this he took a rather brief hiatus considering the gravity and returned to making music again with no issue.

Spoiler: LamazeP

Rather obscure by name, but the creator of the very popular meme song "Popipo".

Also known for being the creator of "Fukkireta", both song and visuals, and the Get Down meme format.

He is a self proclaimed lolicon and made an honestly kinda suspect song about it (english lyrics). Westerners were obviously not very happy.

Spoiler: Niru Kajitsu & john

Newer producers recently racking up hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views on the Youtube uploads of their songs.

Got into some hot water in May 2020 for their collab song "Rinshokuka (Miser)" (link is reupload to a Chinese video sharing site). The music video, illustrated by john, features a woman being sexually assaulted. This, a later scene where the woman kills her rapist while smiling as he seems to mourn their past relationship, and the lyrics stirred up controversy for the two, particularly with "Korean feminists" according to the Japanese buzz on the topic. The video was taken down shortly after its upload and Niru Kajitsu issued an apology, stating remorse for people misunderstanding their intentions with the work.


(it's a shit google translation, but the gist is there.)


Explanation from Japan Yahoo answers (tweet linked is unfortunately gone).

Spoiler: Crusher

Probably the most popular Western Vocaloid producer solely for her song "ECHO", which has been used by every edgy kid on Youtube and gained over 50 million views over the last 6 years.

She's been around for quite awhile, and her works have consistently been Extremely Edgy. The name "Crusher" comes from her Producer name (fan given name to producers, usually based on the themes of their songs) "ChildhoodCrusher-P", which she earned from making the song "Rugrats Theory", based on the creepypasta of the same name:

The worst offense of her past edginess, however, was the song "Calalini", a horror song based on a real life schizophrenic child that was all over the news at the time:

Initially she justified creating this song by saying it was meant to spread awareness of her situation and show the horrors of her illness. She also claimed to receive the approval of the parents in response to her song. More recently she has apologized for creating the song and deleted it off her channel. Of course, the internet never forgets or forgives, so many people still hold it against her.

Spoiler: OkameP

I honestly don't know anything about this guy, but I figured I'd summarize what was discussed on him on lolcow.

In November 2020, he posted a new song stating in the description that he was in the late stages of cancer, in terrible pain, and soon going to die. Naturally, his fans responded with condolences and love in what they believed was his final moments, some even creating tribute EPs in his honor.

Not long after, however, he dropped the bomb that it was all a lie. The truth was he is severely depressed and was intending to commit suicide, using the cancer story as a way to see if anyone would care about him dying before he left.

Spoiler: spoilered because I can't get thumbnails to work on these

People were understandably pissed about this.

Spoiler: Various Other Happenings

Just other shit I can remember:

Spoiler: Hazuki no Yume & BlackCero

These two were a translation group, the former being the translator and the latter subbing the videos. Known for having such accurate translations that they even earned the respect of damesukekun, a Japanese admin on the Vocaloid wiki so anal about translation accuracy that he has created a public shame list for those he feels do not do it right,

Got into a slap fight with popular English cover artists JubyPhonic and Rachie over the two basing their cover lyrics on their translations without credit, specifically taking issue with them making profit from these covers through patreon. The drama piled on with others failing to credit them drove Hazuki no Yume to go into semi-hiatus before deleting their channel completely, wiping out numerous popular translation videos without warning.

About a year later, BlackCero created a channel for uploading their translations and things continued on somewhat as they had before. However, drama came their way once again, which I will post this reddit cap to summarize for me:




As you can see from the tl;dr, they're a bit fucking over dramatic, and in spite of this drastic request, every vocaloidlyrics wiki article that used their lyrics continues to do so with this nice little note at the beginning:

Spoiler: SeeU & #SaveMiku

In 2011, SeeU was released as the first Korean language Vocaloid. Considering the shaky tensions between Japan and Korea, her debut resulted in an explosion of xenophobic tensions between the two factions of the fandom.

Around this time bleeding into 2012, multiple popular uploads of Vocaloid songs on Youtube were taken down for false copyright strikes. I don't recall just how many videos were taken down, but it was prominent enough that a campaign was created about saving Miku from being erased from Youtube:

I post this in relation to SeeU because it was believed at the time that the ones doing the mass flaggings were angry Koreans.

SeeU has since been defunct, her company giving up and pulling her from the market due to poor sales. Her voice provider, Dahee Kim, was also arrested in 2014 and convicted in 2015 for blackmail, so it's safe to assume SeeU will never be picked back up.

Spoiler: Bruno and Clara

Bruno and Clara are the first Spanish language Vocaloids, released December 2011. As the Vocaloid fandom has a huge Spanish speaking side, they were eagerly welcomed, but their initial designs were fuck ugly and almost everyone universally hated it. This was not the precious animes we were accustomed to.

In response to the backlash, the company held a fanart contest for redesigns, which came out much more anime and therefore acceptable to the fans.



This is old news, but recently people have tried to reframe this as a narrative that the Vocaloid fandom is full of violent racists that hate brown skin:

Spoiler: VSinger

Vsinger is often referred to as "vocachina" as it is the Chinese Vocaloid project. I'm sure someone with more CCP vitriol than me could delve into the rabbit hole about any kind of propaganda associated with them, but I just want to point out one thing.



This Vocaloid, Yanhe, was created separately from the 5 others shown above. This was due in part to the VocaChina project temporarily dying soon after its inception. She was given a rather deep voice to match her tomboyish appearance, and it was later revealed her voice was initially meant to go to the male Vocaloid Zhiyu Moke.



At the time of it being finished, VocaChina had gone under because the head of the company at the time stole all the money and used it to buy prostitutes. The assets were bought by Yamaha, and the finished voicebank was then given to Yanhe just so it would have somewhere to go. Not really drama, but just a fun look into how even companies involved with Vocaloid can end up in a shitshow.

This is all I can think of off the top of my head right now. Apologies for none of it being in any discernible order.

 

[AbyssStarer]

I love the section about Bruno and Clara. I was lurking around a small amount in Vocaloid youtube for a bit at the time and the backlash to their ugly designs was amusing.
It's more amusing to me now that so many people for get that Spanish originated in Europe and is spoken in Spain by white people.

For something a bit more plain dumb from Vocaloid fans, look up Miku covers of English songs, like from Linkin Park. Especially if it's an older version of Miku where she struggles with English words more.

 

[White Girl]

This shit makes me weep. I remember being 13 and listening to vocaloid music. Now I just collect Miku nendoroids these days.

 

[Lapis.Fennecat]

This shit makes me weep. I remember being 13 and listening to vocaloid music. Now I just collect Miku nendoroids these days.

Nice Miku nendoroids! I'll definitely get a few once I get some money!

 

[Rusty Crab]

this is why I unironically support gatekeeping

 

[Autopsy]

LamazeP

You had me scared with this one, but it was nothing after all. I thought he would wind up arrested or something like that.
LamazeP is incredibly prolific, some other notable contributions include "Triple Baka" and "Ai No Uta." He differs from many other producers in that he makes a lot of hit music and internet culture but does not act as an accessible producer or do stage appearances. For all the cash he'd make given his content, he's the quintessential internet weirdo. More on that a bit further down.
By no means is the idea of LamazeP being a lolicon "new," or is this the first song he's written on the subject. "I Want You" is almost as explicit. A more accurate translation of the description video quoted is that he decided to go "full lolicon," and in doing so got pure moe beamed into his head, as if to explain why the song's theming is more cute than his average song- not to say he's converted into one from not.

I'm not sure what people are expecting with Japan, but that's Tumblr for you. These are the same people still trying to come to terms with Lovecraft being a blatant racist in the current year and some change, even though he's long dead. Trying to protect LamazeP's legacy, like the idea he's just become a lolicon or able to cater to lolicons is new, it's adorably naïve.
By definition, people interested in Vocaloid are at least Otaku in some related interest, and many early Vocaloid producers (him included) are thoroughly rooted in denpa and moe culture, these are weird people, not normal Japanese musicians. If the music alone wasn't enough to tip you off, I mean. Liking the lolis in Japan is about as rare as being gay is everywhere else, and they have loli mags on some convenience store racks. I don't think I need to explain that the rest of the population has pretty strong feelings on this subject overall, not the ones you'd expect, or that Otaku are vastly overrepresented in that 4 to 13%. This is the arena you step into when you intrude on weird people's hobbies, and make no mistake, Vocaloid is in that camp, even if many in the West don't realize that's what they're doing.
While that tumblr post ruminates on LamazeP outing himself as a pedophile, the complete opposite spin is in play in Japan. There's a great deal of support for banning Lolicon and hentai in general over there, not mainly because of the content itself, but because they believe people who wank too much won't have sex- at all. Strictly the opposite concern, closer to the "nofap" shenanigans; far from fearing some illusory child rape production line, they're more concerned with declining birthrates and women being outcompeted by fantasies. In other words, most there don't view twisted Otaku as pedophiles so much as celibate, like hermits.
Cultural humility is important. It's better to simply reject Otaku culture outright ("fucking Japan and their weird nuke shit" is a valid position), rather than to try and pick and choose which bits you prefer. Conversely, you can as easily enjoy something without any effort to care about the identities and character of the people who created it, or to try and hurt those people when they fall outside the fraction you find to be acceptable.

I'm kind of surprised HachiP or Kikuo aren't in here anywhere, their songs are nuts. I suppose the art and the artist aren't so closely related after all.

Edit:

Is Vocaloid even that big anymore? I feel like it was a more 2010s thing. It seems like most of the big name producers have largely moved on and now it's just a bunch of smaller people doing their own thing from what I can tell.

It's had a few new artists ascend into big name status as new producers or from relative obscurity (the aforementioned GHOST and Creep-P, both embroiled in controversy), and remains culturally relevant in Japan, but the fad in the US and Europe has died to a dull roar outside of these cases. Which makes it cow breeding grounds, naturally. Not unlike Otaku in Japan that this is splintered off of, an even smaller community is born, and it's way easier for the West's brand of trendy internet outcasts (in this case trannies and Tumblr trogs) to make a big splash if the pond is smaller than their morbid BSA.
Edit Edit:
I had the thought that maybe particularly strange people are endemic to communities that have lost popularity. Small communities are too small to catch the crazies, but big communities that become small communities again do retain the hobbyists, now infested with the people crazy enough to stick around despite only having a social interest in the content (or because they have an unhealthy obsession with it).

 

[assigned stupid at birth]

I'm kind of surprised HachiP or Kikuo aren't in here anywhere, their songs are nuts. I suppose the art and the artist isn't so closely related after all.

Kikuo did get called out in 2019, specifically due to a comic he made a few years ago. I talked about it here, which is also quoted at the bottom of the OP, so I didn't think it was necessary to add it in again.

 

[Sea creature]

Every other vocaloid in existence >>>>>> Hatsune Miku

 

[Used Homunculi Salesman]

I can't believe no one mentioned the Domino's Pizza/Vocaloid collaboration yet.

 

[Kuwomi]

I like the thread a lot so far, it shines a light on a lot of weird Vocaloid shit that I'm sure a lot of people don't know about even if they're familiar with Vocaloid.
I think the OP should go more in depth about the Western side of the fandom (the producer GHOST was mentioned earlier; I don't keep up with them but they're pretty popular among edgy teens) and included some more screenshots. I also think there should be more current stuff like any ongoing drama or people of interest. Overall though, good work!

 

[Aaa0aaa0]

Hearing about Aki Glancy screwing over fans like that is mind blowing since I left the fandom before it all. She was well liked in her earlier days.

The Chinaloid case where it was done in by hookers and blackjack is like finding out the answer to a missing person's case was that the person who was missing was actually one town over with a new name and was, well, spending their money on hookers and blackjack. A dumb solution but at least its closure and wasn't a broken promise, just general dumbassery.

I feel like I left Game of Thrones mid season 4 and came back at the finale. This is some weird ass shit. Thanks op and people sharing more

 

[Ethereal Eye]

I like the thread a lot so far, it shines a light on a lot of weird Vocaloid shit that I'm sure a lot of people don't know about even if they're familiar with Vocaloid.
I think the OP should go more in depth about the Western side of the fandom (the producer GHOST was mentioned earlier; I don't keep up with them but they're pretty popular among edgy teens) and included some more screenshots. I also think there should be more current stuff like any ongoing drama or people of interest. Overall though, good work!

I think some content on MikuMikuDance would add a wealth of milk to the thread. MikuMikuDance sometimes has bitchfights over stolen models, assets, and "private models"

 

[Coffee Shits]

All the Vocaloid fans I've met are weirdos, arguing over whether or not the more robotic tone is superior and whether or not you need it to be the true husbando of your desired software plugin. We're walking fertile ground.

I think some content on MikuMikuDance would add a wealth of milk to the thread. MikuMikuDance sometimes has bitchfights over stolen models, assets, and "private models"

There's a lot of sperging in MMD from what I've heard, mixing some of that in wouldn't hurt.

 

[woowie queen]

I think some content on MikuMikuDance would add a wealth of milk to the thread. MikuMikuDance sometimes has bitchfights over stolen models, assets, and "private models"

second this.
i used to be part of the mmdc, and, oh boy, there had been lots of drama in the past. veterans might remember some (team desu, that aly whatever chick (i don't remember the full username), danna...)

 

[Yukari Yakumo]

The moment Creep-P revealed his face was when I lost any and all hope for the guy, as much as some of his music kinda bangs.

 

[World's Smallest Violin]

I'm so happy that this thread was made. I also want to add to the milk with the utau Ritsu Namine. Last year the voice provider for Ritsu posted this
View attachment 1915588
This caused some problems in the community. People were calling for the boycott of Ritsu and someone in the fandom said this
View attachment 1915592
People aren't allowed to have opinions anymore, so this led to him getting backlash by many in the fandom, After the backlash
View attachment 1915594
View attachment 1915595
he said that he would commit suicide, he didn't though.
This is just one example of the Vocaloid Fandom being full of cows though.

Homeboy needs a therapist.

 

[verygayFrogs]

Glad to see this out of PG