History Headscratchers / Vocaloid

**** The products' boxes. Their names are also written as "Kagamine Rin/Len" and "Megurine Luka" in the official websites, events and so on.

**** Murdered by ''what''? All the videos imply "Meiko", but she gets locked away earlier in the song...
***** It's shown in one video that Meiko killed the twins before being locked up.
***** At least one video (The Hitobashira Alice Drama) implies it was the Queen Miku who ordered their deaths.
***** In another they kill eachother, and in another they aren't killed at all, but instead end up trapped within the dream (which is what the lyrics actually suggest)
***** One video ends with Rin staring at Len, whose face is half covered in darkness and bears a SlasherSmile. It then cuts to a silhouette of Len holding Rin bridal-style in a graveyard. She is [[PleaseWakeUp worryingly limp.]]

*** ''Dark Woods Circus'': Of course, this is based about the video I had watched, so it may be a little different from video to video... So, hey look, it's our favorite murderess Meiko! Now, don't ask me why she's always in that role. Ah, she's going to the circus, can't be too bad... Well, just watch a sub, I can't describe it very much, nor very well. All I can do is whine. Kaitoooo! Ah, at the end, Meiko hands out fliers. OF DOOM, as always with Meiko. Well, I hope I helped a bit. And I have a question of my own...
**** To be more specific, Meiko (non-murderous this time) is the little girl that visits the circus. She first encounters Haku and Neru (although the song says "chairman", it's more like "chairwomen"), the stilt people. Then there's Rin and Len, the two-headed person. It's implied in the video that [[BodyHorror they were sewn together to get that way.]] Miku is the diva. She doesn't look all that freakish, until you notice that her legs seem to be those of some variety of animal, possibly a goat, donkey, or ostrich. Also, everything she sees rots away and turns into flowers. Kaito is the "blue beast who likes to eat things cold", who was apparently forced to [[ImAHumanitarian eat human limbs]] (possibly his own--the outfit he was wearing didn't have arm holes) or starve, and developed a taste for them. There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo of Teto as the Hanging Clown, before she gets turned into rotten flowers by Miku's vision.

* You want to know what I don't get? Why there's ShipToShipCombat and {{Internet Backdraft}}s everywhere in regards to pairings...for a fandom whose canon ''[[YouFailLogicForever changes with each song]]''. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Sure, I'm not too fond of Len x Rin or Kaito x Luka, but you don't see me going {{Yandere}}-crazy whenever I see people shipping it.
** FanDumb? Once some shipping fanatic have their OTP set, they will bash any other ship which involve their OTP characters - regardless of canon (even though there are none)
** On an unrelated note, should UTAU and Vocaloid be two separate articles? I'm just curious since they're separate programs, the only difference being in that UTAU is just a freeware version of Vocaloid and isn't allowed to use famous singers/actors.

*** Plot is basically about a girl who fights against an evil girl because someone (possibly the evil one) killed her friend. In the anime trailer, it hints that the evil girl is actually her friend who disappeared, but it might be just to mislead the public.
*** Alright, but how come the other Vocaloid songs don't get an anime? There are some extremely popular ones that would make it, such as the Daughter of Evil series.
**** Because Aku no Musume already has a Theater Play and Kokoro a musical. Not to mention that it's harder to make an anime out of ''four songs'' as the centerpiece instead of one (think of a sports team having four mascots). And even so, B* RS is only going to be ''fifty minutes''. Released ''free online''. Not such a big deal after all.
**** Daughter of Evil is actually getting manga series.
*** It doesn't matter if the songs are short, or even how many there are. You could base an extremely good feature-length film solely on the song 'Madness of Duke Venomania' by going into the implied background and plot. Of course, the lead would have to be Gakupo...
*** Kagerou Project has ten songs and is getting a novel series and manga, and possibly an anime in the future if the manga is popular. Daughter of Evil now has a novel series and there are 20+ songs attached to it by the original sin series, the seven deadly sin series, and the clockwork series. BRS not only has the OVA, but is now a full fledged anime series. The prisoner series also has novels. The amount of songs doesn't really matter, what matters is the amount of popularity the songs have and whether the creator of the songs wants to write novels or make deals to make anime series.

* Why the flying heck is Miku so popular? Okay, I get it, so the MemeticMutation kind of rose Vocaloids to their popularity, but between people who are already fans of them I can't believe how people prefer her voice to Meiko or Rin's. I find it a little shrill and annoyingly high. Plus many of the videos and fanart usually make her the [[SpotlightStealingSquad center of everything]]...
** The point of Miku was to make a voice with a range no human can realistically replicate. Not sure why she's so popular, though...
*** Super-long twin-tails, S+ rank zettai ryouiki with tiny miniskirt, and appears in a number of costumes, sometimes with her female costars? Yeah, I wonder [[{{Moe}} why]] she's so popular with the Vocaloid-loving masses. Anyway, not so sure about the majority of videos/fanart featuring her, though she is the flagship character so it's not surprising if it's true.
** Probably because she is the first Vocaloid to produce "child-like Kawaii" voices. No other Vocaloid has yet been as "Kawaii" as her.
*** Yuki was deliberately created to be cute, yet she's unpopular. Sweet Append Miku produces an even more child-like voice, but she's second to Dark Append (who sounds older and heartbroken) in popularity. In fact, cuteness has nearly dropped off the radar in terms of popularity in the Vocaloid fandom, the reason why Miku remains so popular today is likely her status as an all-rounder.
** I think it most likely comes down to the fact that she's usually the first vocaloid people come across. Many non-fans don't even realise there are Vocaloids other than Miku. So because she's so well known and popular, it gives people a reason to use her, which in turn makes her poularity grow. It's a bit of a never ending cycle, much to the annoyance of the many Miku haters out there.

** If I remembered correctly, ''Alice Human Sacrifice'' is based on the history of those Vocaloids. Consider Miku's part of the song and you will probably notice it.

**** I've heard that Miku didn't ''literally'' rot things; she was used as a sex slave. She's 'rotten fruit'. That's why she has the blindfold; so she couldn't see who was raping her.
**** I thought the flowers represented rot in the video; perhaps Miku has [[GoryDiscretionShot rot discretion version]]?
** Thanks guys, but it was just a joke, if you look at the history you'll see that the question and original response were both from me...

** Because Miku works better as The Corrupted/The Victim, Rin and Len are The Devil Children, and Kaito... Well, for some reason the fandom doesn't seem to think he's capable of much...
*** You're wrong. The fandom thinks he's [[{{Yandere}} capable]] [[KillEmAll of]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN4ZLk44rfQ&feature=related plenty...]]
**** Kaito is the [[ButtMonkey Poor Sucker The Keeps Getting Killed Or Suffering Despite Being Harmless Compared To The Others]].
***** Len also dies and suffers a lot. And gets forced into ridiculous outfits.
**** Because it's ''hilarious?''

* [=RinxLen=] shipping bugs me (it turns some people on), but what annoys me more is the fact that the official response is... well lame. I've heard it said over and over again that it's okay because they are "mirror images" of one another. We have a word for that. Twins or clones. Which still means that any romantic situations between them are going to end quickly, nastily or both.
** It's okay because it's Rin and Len. Whether they're blood siblings, whether they're [=A.I.=] or androids that don't even ''have'' blood, they will be shipped. Including by me. Unhappy ending =/= inevitable. Anyway, I think the 'mirror image' thing is the official attempt to please everybody, which as usual for these things [[UnpleasableFanbase didn't quite work]].
*** Speaking of which, I kind of wish 75% of the Rin and Len shippers didn't gag at the sight of yaoi/yuri pairings involving either. Really now...
**** Do they? Huh. I hadn't noticed, and I'm a diehard shipper of the Kagamines. Maybe I'm just not involved enough in the fandom?
***** Take a look at fanfiction.net. Also note that there is absolutely no good fanfic in the Vocaloid section.
***** I'm part of the Vocaloid fanfiction community. I'm friends with many of the RinxLen fans, being one myself, and every single one of them supports yaoi/yuri and many write for it. I do too... Maybe it's the Website/YouTube ones? Also, I find that there are some good fanfictions on the site, but you're partially right. A large amount of the fanfiction is pretty bad, especially if you're not fond of Kagaminecest. The section is dominated by that pairing.
**** I've been reading there for a while, and while most of it's not so good there are a few. Still don't see the hate, though-- At least, not at any higher (or rather, at much lower) rates than other fandoms. I'm not sure how the lack of quality fic relates to the original, or the branch-off which is: Why do people I meet who ship Kaito/Len or Gakupo/Len hate Rin/Len with the hate of a thousand fiery suns? I've come across that much more than the one asked here.
***** It's more of a reactionary thing, at least in my case. You must not read much beyond the Vocaloid LJ community, as there's spats over pairings everywhere, especially on ff.net and Website/DeviantArt (try shipping Kaito/Luka and watch the fires start!)
**** Well, there's the answer then: People on all sides should start being less reactionary. Website/DeviantArt is too fanwanky for me, and I've never bothered with the comms at ff.net.
**** IMHO, since they are robots, it's like that psychology thing: your ideal love is the opposite gender version of you.
* In Daughter and Servant of Evil, Did Meiko knew that [[spoiler: Len was Pretending to be Rin?]] It seen like she was too, letting [[spoiler: her]] go too, I mean look at [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JziPCm-N_7U&feature=related this from 7:00 to 7:12.]]
** Yes. If you listen to Daughter of Vengeance, she refers to [[spoiler: Len-dressed-as-Rin as "the servant who was taken for the princess"]] and she also knows that [[spoiler: Rin]] is standing among the people.
** Would make sense she'd be fine with that. Meiko was out to get revenge on Rin, and she and Kaito rebelling against her tyranny led to Rin losing ''everything'', including the one person who sincerely loved her, but now she has to live on, alone, with nothing. FateWorseThanDeath, I'd say.
** But Daughter of Vengeance is ''fanmade'', not made by Akuno-P/mothy himself. It's up to the reader to decide. But since the original songs imply nothing of the sort, I'd say Meiko didn't know. It'd be very unlikely she'd kill an innocent instead of the person who ''killed her father'' (according to mothy's blog). The PV linked is also not the original PV.
** It was revealed in the novels that Germaine (Meiko's character name in the songs) did know the princess was really the servant, who was also her foster brother and was going to let him go until he told her hed killed their foster father.
*** Not ''completely'' innocent... He did kill Miku, and it's implied in Servant of Evil that he's killed before on Rin's orders.
*** Well, the novel (which is written by Akuno-P) says that Len was adopted by Meiko's father (Leon), and he is actually the one who killed Leon, acting on Rin's orders. Meiko grew up with Len so she would most likely be able to recognise him, and she certainly had motivation to kill him.
*** Later songs and supplementary materials make it clear who killed Michaela/Miku... [[spoiler: It wasn't Allen/Len. It was Ney Futapie, played by Akita Neru- under orders from Kyle/Kaito's mother.]]
* Wait, I don't get it. Are they music videos? They're computer programs, but is their a story? How can tropes be applied to them?
** People confusing fanon with canon, I think...
*** The tropes are applied to the songs and popular fan interpretations. There is a sort of story to each song. So, to answer your last question, the same way one applies tropes to music and music videos.
**** Count me among the baffled. Isn't it true that anyone who buys the software for $180 can make it play whatever song she wants? Shipping Vocaloids makes as much sense as "Roland x Fairlight" or "trombone x french horn" shipping would.
***** Well, since they are ''voice'' synthesizers, they are [[AnthropomorphicPersonification given personality]] by the creators/fans. And when you can [[FanFicRecs/AxisPowersHetalia ship Italy and Germany]] together, trombone/french horn is really nothing.

** [[{{A-l-e-x-99}} This Troperâ„¢]] always thought that she DIDN'T wear boots. Initially, they looked to me more like thigh-high socks on top of sandals, or something like that.
** I was under the impression that she doesn't need to take them off so...
** They're actually pretty elastic. There.

*** Super-long twin-tails, S+ rank zettai ryouiki with tiny miniskirt, and appears in a number of costumes, sometimes with her female costars? Yeah, I wonder [[{{Moe}} why]] she's so popular with the Vocaloid-loving masses. (Personally, This Troper prefers Rin.) Anyway, not so sure about the majority of videos/fanart featuring her, though she is the flagship character so it's not surprising if it's true.

** So, then... if it's heterosexual and it's not (questionably) incest, it can't possibly be forbidden love? I guess Romeo and Juliet were siblings, then! Pretty much any Vocaloid couple can fit the Magnet song if you use a little bit of imagination. I'm certain that there are many reasons why a Samurai, whose class had strict codes on who they could marry and even who they could take as a * mistress* , would be forbidden to love a particular woman.
*** Or, [[CaptainObvious maybe people just wanted to hear those particular voices singing that song. ]]
*** Anyone note that Gakupo and Luka are made by different companies..?
** Y'know, it COULD be forbidden in-context...

*** Few people characterize Vocaloids as characters whose lives revolve around music. Generally, fanfiction and "talkloids" serve to give the Vocaloids some personality, though most of the WordOfDante comes from songs. Remember, not everyone has to sing songs that are in line with their personality. If we do treat songs this way, there would be so many conflicts among different songs that it would be an utter mess.

*** For a while, people were so enamored with the novelty of a singing program that they never took the time to develop Miku's personality. Therefore, her stock personality at the time reflected that, and since [[FirstInstallmentWins a lot of early songs ended up in the]] SmallReferencePools [[FirstInstallmentWins of the majority of the overseas fandom]], people get the impression that she's still this way today. It's just plain inaccurate to say that her personality has completely shoved everyone else off the map, in fact, Luka, Rin, and Gumi have all had their turn as the SpotlightStealingSquad. Miku is popular, but not as popular as a lot of people make her out to be.
*** It's actually quite the opposite. When Miku was released, MEIKO and KAITO's popularity skyrocketed. In addition, most people discover vocaloids through Miku, so it's not really a matter of 'forgetting' the others.
*** KAITO's did. MEIKO's went up, then went into a nosedive. Unfairly enough, MEIKO became TheScrappy for a while and is still this to an extent now.
**** Well... no. MEIKO maybe is disliked, especially by rabid [[DieForOurShip KAITO x Miku]] fans, but she is not TheScrappy. She is still one of TOP 9 most popular Vocaloids EVER and compared to LOLA or Miriam her popularity did skyrocketed. To lesser degree than KAITO's (because he is a male and males were more needed in 2007/09), but it did. And compared to Iroha Nekomura, Yuki Kaai or Piko Utatane she is MADLY popular.
*** If I recall, Miku's short comings in Alice Human Sacrifice were ''entirely her fault''.
** This troper doesn't get it either. I mean... she a Vocaloid. She doesn't has a canon personality. If you hate Miku's Mary Sue-ness, then blame the songwriters and PV creators. Or make one that doesn't potray Miku like that. Anyways. It's impossible to call someone a Mary Sue when, you know, she's basically a blank slate.

* The "Hagane Vocaloids." As a metalhead myself (I have a very wide taste in music,) I'm facepalming at whoever is dubbing these designs as 'Heavy Metal.' Only a spare few of them even look like they could be classified as Rock.
** They're more punk-ish, if anything. Surprising, though, given the large metal presence in Japan. Or maybe that's how they dress there.
*** Are you referring to the "M-Side" Hagane-loids? I agree, for the longest time I did not believe that these guys could be 'metal' even though they are all over the place in the English fandom, because in my opinion they looked ridiculous...that is, until I found out that the punk-looking ones are fanmades of a fanmade. [[http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=3222695 Hansi's versions (original/H-Side)]] definitely fits the 'metal' look a lot better than Momopanda's M-Side.

*** This Troper reads the code on the side of Meiko as "CRV1". Since Miku's code is "CV01", it might be implied that Meiko's code is simply "1".

* I just wanna see if I can get this straight... Vocaloid's popularity is mostly from the Miku cover of Ievan Polka, right? And that's a parody of the leekspin meme, which is the clip of Orihime spinning a leek. So is Vocaloid basically famous because of {{Bleach}}?

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