MMD Cups. It’s been almost a decade (since 2009 I think) that every half-February and half-August, we are granted with a bunch of MMD videos made according to a selection of themes and acting as a vitrine of what each participant has best to offer. Each time, we have our bunch of amazing videos but also disappointments and people who give up or post their entry much much later (sometimes a year later for what was supposed to be completed within a month). Also the opportunity to see how the current trends are going and who are those among MMDers we will have a chance to discover as future gems or simply mere opportunists who intentionally only shine on MMD cups. What does this edition has to offer this time? Is MMD still going strong? Or is it still on its slow decline? This is what I’ll try to find out through the selection I made below.

Before getting into the topic, the selection below is far from complete and only reflects my own interests or entries that in my opinion have some particularity that make them worth watching.

Personal crush:

By けぜめ. This is the sensation of this cup. Finally an MMD dogfight which doesn’t look like a mess. From an author who came a pretty long way (even though he deleted his previous videos, but you don’t miss anything if this comforts you*). Almost comparable to MinusT to some aspects. I like how he doesn’t waste resources in adding unnecessary elements and only focusses himself on the dogfight (perhaps a bit to much some might add). I hope he won’t screw up in the future and he’ll keeps things more or less that way.

Sensations:

Indeed, the sensations are always in opportunist genres I’m not interested at all. As if the MMD scene always want to troll me. But we have a particularity this time.

By ＋⌒o⌒＋ (or SUWAWA). This looks like a reprise of KamS’ animation but in MMD. This is one of the few videos that I suspect of having “cheated”. What do I mean by that? Well, if you go to Nicolog (http://www.nicolog.jp/watch/sm31766343) and observe the progression of views and mylists, you can notice a “pH-jump” at a certain time, meaning something not normal occurred that boosted its popularity (in fact, you’ll not be able to see it as all stats before August 24th vanished!!). Touhousubs pointed me to the “クッキー☆” and “SWK is GOD” comments the video got. But I do have another assumption. At some time I suspect SUWAWA to have bombed his own video with ad tickets, which obviously made its popularity climb like crazy. You can at least go here, as an alternative in order to observe this phenomenon better (all data since its upload on August 18th is there, and you can even see ad ticket points): http://www.nicochart.jp/watch/sm31766343

By MSK. Was supposed to be a mere unassuming and rather cheesy sounding full voice MMD. It’s got nice moods, the performances can bring a smile but aren’t particularly bad either and the story looks rather pointless. So, nothing to be amazed of, except if you absolutely want to hear your 2hus for once. However, numbers prove me wrong again. The other case of pH-jump: http://www.nicolog.jp/watch/sm31787393
But wait, there are 2 of them! One on August 22nd and another one on August 29th!! To say I’m rather baffled is an euphemism. This one also got “クッキー☆” (unavoidable on those kind of videos) and “SWK” comments.

Other mentions:

By aaaaah. Ah yeah. That video showcasing ray-casting effects in MMD. Nice atmosphere and inspiring. If you like those and are desperate about finding some (the genre is underrepredented and plagued by MMDers giving up and dropping motivation), you’ll like it.

D-2‘s entry. Hit or miss, as usual with him. Personally, I think he saw much better days. But you might like it anyway. It’s a bit like a horror short with the KanColle cast. Can have its charm. However, the Voiceroid voices might make you cringe if you happen to not like them.

By のりタマ, HIEI LOVE series. Still works pretty well and pretty classy. One of the last remaing KanColle MMD efforts that don’t feel rushed or lazy. Probably an indicator that the tide is turning among KanColle MMDs (the only ones remaining being the countless rubbish picture-card shows, as always).

MMD band edition with many franchises covered.

Melfy-chan is back again for some new SoL silent shorts. Lacking a bit originality and inspiration over the years but still nice to watch.

Another day at the SDM series. Again, a series which I feel it loosing its appeal over time. Can be still nice to watch if you like the series. Note the appearance of Sobakasu Patchouli.

ZX Tech‘s 2D maze series. I’m not really into it because of the yukkuri voice and its tone but you may like it if you happen to follow this guy.

Vocaloid is alive!

Well, for those who’ve been watching MMDs for very long, you’re still tempted to believe that Vocaloids are still a thing with MMDers… despite being completely abandoned by the scene since competing franchises such as KanColle and Touken Ranbu made their apparition between 2013 and 2015.

By まく. VOTOMS ANOTHER series. Mechas and Vocaloid. A it bland some might think, but it’s nice to it ongoing.

Pat Labor and Vocalo/Utau-loids

By 南瓜のたね. Slice of life and Vocaloids. Even though Vocaloids are being forgotten the rest of time (which is a shame, really), it’s nice to see them make a resurgence at least during MMD cups.

Same vein. Rin with mini-Miku.

Completely underrated and overlooked. Some kind of battle MMD. Looks cheap but remains enjoyable. For those who like those kind of amateurish-looking MMDs that still manage to do their job while not crapping.

Other chosen bites:

By ロットん. Pretty neat and accurate reproduction of a scene from Fast and Furious 8, down to small details and sequences (note: I didn’t watch the movie). I’m personally not into those kinds of MMDs because they don’t inspire me or talk to me (I prefer original efforts rather than mere reproductions). But if you like them or enjoyed that movie, you’ll like this one.

Miku exploring a rollercoster (!), mix with MMD and photographs

By マスク・ザ・春原. Kemono Friends bandwagon. I sincerely preferred when this MMDer did his nice street performance videos.

By 雲雀１３. Random 2hu+Daddy series. This time, Daiyousei and Daddy. Chatty, so you’ll need knowledge of Japanese to full enjoy. Otherwise nice shading and use of filters to attempt an atmosphere.

By ジョー. Hmm… what the hell is this? Someone trying to embrace full animation and discarding yukkuri voice to see if it works well. Well, when it just ends in chattiness only and nothing special writing-wise, it won’t look magically more appealing. Might work if you have knowledge of Japanese and happen not to like yukkuri voice.

Mujin‘s underrated mini-drama series with PMCA characters. Hit or miss. Might like if you happen to like Mujin’s works.

By 秦々. Marisa’s mushroom picking adventure. This is a silent short, or rather something that wants to look like one. This is pretty enjoyable and may give you a smile, in addition to be pretty nice visually. However, his narrative style and constraints are way too obvious, making it look just on par with 霧雨あろえ/ぱにょぺらんP‘s shorts. It looks like only Clover (or クローバー) seems to be at ease with this particular silent format. At least, this MMDer did experiment all possible narration styles by now (unfortunately not being particularly efficient in any of them).

In conclusion, to be honest, this MMD cup confirmed what I saw during the MMD drama festival and had let me quite unsatisfied. From what I saw, we had less participations than usual, and most importantly a lot less killer videos. Last year we got very nice surprises, especially in the full voice department. This year, for example, full voice attempts were hardly noticeable. Not even Kemono Friends raised the bar. Still we had our share of nice videos (this is what this post showed, and there’s a lot missing or that I omitted). Indeed, it can happen that some MMD cups could be less rewarding and with narrower content from time to time. But I still feel the tide definitely turning. Trends are what they are and I suspect the average Japanese otaku of today tending to spend less and less time on home computers and perhaps more time on mobile devices. Which means indeed less time for creative hobbies. Indeed, no MMDer will have the gut or naivety to acknowledge that, as they all know it’s a pretty rubbish reason, but I guess they tend to become like me and don’t see time flying. Just seeing how most MMDers are struggling to complete relatively ambitious and promising efforts seems to confirm that (if not scrapped or abandoned, plaguing some promising series and sometimes entire genres ending up deserted). Seeing a part 2 of some elaborate MMD drama taking more than 12 months to complete (which is more than a Fantasy Kaleidoscope episode, may I remind you!), a typical viewer fan of MMDs is indeed tempted to ask him(her)self questions. What I observed on the other hand is the migration to shorter formats or “Twitterisation” of MMD. Now, instead of series we have more short single efforts MMD drama-wise. Real talents are not considering MMD anymore (or rarely) limiting the number of groundbreaking efforts. We have a lot (perhaps too much) test videos or just glimpses of some gag or action scenes. More in the vein of what we see on Twitter. That’s a bit unfortunate, but the tide can turn back at any moment if you’d like some hope.

And finding the excuse of “we’re not producing for those filthy passive and lazy viewers” is just too easy. If not the viewers, who’s going to support you, encourage you, give you feedback or help you when you begin to lack perspective on your own art and are prone to screwing up? The view of a non-artist can be as important as the creator’s one as the former can have a foreign and unbiased view about a certain work. Also, viewers can be experienced on their own after seeing many works and being familiar with great things, great ideas, various styles but also mistakes artists tends to do and the bad or good habits they can have. Because someone isn’t creating shouldn’t mean (s)he should shut up. How could literature, cinema and music critics exist if there weren’t “viewers” who are not always creating themselves? For me, viewers are as important as the works themselves, as they help the creation process in their own way. So, a message to MMDers, especially the ones who have been acting very carelessly those last few years, don’t look down on your viewers simply because they’re not creating. By your careless attitude, you’re only generating frustration and disappointment among them and giving yourself a pretty bad image. You also give the MMD scene a poor image of immature and irresponsible people. Not having time anymore or having more important worries are indeed a perfectly valid reason for not creating or losing contact. Indeed, as a hobby, it is perfectly normal that an artist can have a break, be in a hiatus or simply in lack of inspiration resulting in long period of inactivity. But when you disappear and don’t tell anything (especially when you have ongoing efforts), how are we supposed to know? Only a few had the decency to confess they can’t produce anymore because of their tight schedule. Only a few apologize when they are late or for their slowness. Some of them post progress from time to time which i find very nice. I really wish MMDers were less careless especially when they have awesome potential they don’t seem to be aware of. In this case, it is the viewer’s job to tell him/her and unfortunately viewers don’t do that because they don’t want to hurt or put pressure. But sometimes, that might be necessary. It also shows that you’re actively interested in what certain artist does and not simply passively watching.

It may be better for me to end my conclusion here as it is getting way too long and starting to get polemical and that might not be a good thing. Indeed, my view is certainly biased and jaded on its own as the MMD scene is still pretty rich in content, even nowadays (2017). But I feel we are lacking the variety and enthusiasm of the early days. I hope one day that I can be proven wrong and that MMD today isn’t just copycat dance videos, lazy picture card shows or (often rubbish, but with some gems) yukkuri-voiced comedies.

Rather than posting a series of lonely Tweets that could get lost easily, I decided it was better to write an article instead. I’ll have more liberty this way, will be able to express more of my thoughts and have them more accessible.

As you may have guessed, I had mixed impressions about this 6th edition of the MMD Drama Festival. The huge drop of interest in MMD is now really palpable. The tide started turning after the third edition in 2014. It was the last one to feature a large selection of pretty high quality and memorable works. Most experienced MMDers seem to be tired now or have grown up with noone to replace them ([irony inside]or have screwed up so badly* or gone so over-ambitious that they can’t produce a thing anymore and therefore retire**[/irony outside]). This is something I gradually noticed over the years. Why “lack of interest”? Simply because MMDers don’t give a damn anymore. If they are to produce a high quality and ambitious work, they do it a their own pace, outside the Drama Festival. The most memorable MMD dramas have more chances to be released at any time of the year rather than during events. The only events that seem to still motivate MMDers now are MMD cups and Touhou Nico Dousai festivals. The tide is probably turning among the Japanese scene. Now the only hope would be the Chinese, Asian and Western scenes (if only they were more open-minded and motivated).

*Siraseuni, Kinoe, Notoaru, Sidare, In_Situ
**Harumao, Hojicya, Haripote, Nir, Whiteglint, FC (though I’m probably stretching a bit for some of them)

The only things remaining in this 6th edition are bandwagoning (could almost renamed Picture-card show festival), lack of variety (Kancolle still dominates everything), overall declining quality (where are all the good writers?) and among all that some nice little attempts floating on the surface. A good indicator of how the tide has probably turned. Also, to my biggest surprise, no presence of Kemono Friends (I placed hopes in that franchise) and more amusingly not a sign of Touken Ranbu this time.

So here’s my selection of interesting works from this 6th MMD Drama Festival:

My personal crushes

Surprisingly, they come from the Kancolle side. It’s really nice to see something really well made and pleasing standing out of the crowd:

【MMD艦これ】朝潮のキセキ ～HIEILOVE4~【MAD再現】, by のりタマ (music driven)
The HIEILOVE series still lives up to expectations. This is the kind of works the MMD Drama Festival needs.

【MMDドラマフェスティバル6】戦女神達の狂宴完成版【MMD艦これ】, by nirakun (MMD action)
Reminds of oro-kamen, but longer and more epic. Really nice shading, good pace and really pleasant to watch. There’s some vibe reminiscent of early Kancolle MMDs from 2014-2015 when it was still fresh and new.

The sensations

Unfortunately for me, they come from genres I’m not really after (too opportunist to my taste) but you might like them:

765プロのみなさんのおかげです 続・細かすぎるモノマネ名場面集:前, by ストラビンスP (animated comic)
One of the only two incarnations of Idolm@aster for this edition. You might actually like this series as I see it’s pretty successful. However, I can’t sense any creativity in this and the lack of lipsync animation can disturb (it can certainly have its charm but seeing how the author fully animated just about everything else makes it look off)

【艦これMMDドラマ】首領ジャラ!-艦娘博打物語- 第二幕【ドンジャラ】, by ベホイミ (yukkuri-voiced comedy)
Behoimi at work. No need to say more. His works rely a lot on dialogue and can’t be understood without a translation if you don’t speak the language. But if you like the genre, don’t mindthe yukkuri voice or are simply curious, this is for you.

The ones who tried

They tried not bandwagoning and not being lazy or opportunist. But chemistry isn’t always taking because of either poor direction, lack of writing ability or simply lack of that magic sparkle that makes a work memorable:

【東方MMD】終わる話。, by ちぇしゃ＠火薬 (atmospheric?)
Someone who still try to find its feet. Some story attempt centred on Marisa. It can work if you’re really into those kind of “traditional” MMD dramas like I am. This author did make some other nice little pieces in the same vein.

【MMDドラマフェスティバル6】『彼女の望』（東方MMD）, niwaka@乙型 (story)
An attempt at writing a story. Pace and mood are awkward. Feels dull for the most part. There’s still work to do in order to produce something more captivating and interesting.

The whole 始まりの歌Ⅲ　～魔法使いにできる事～ series, by どりーむまっぷ (fantasy)
I’m only posting a link to the first episode here. One of the rare fantasy attempts. I really miss those. While I salute the effort, chemistry doesn’t really work on me. The culprit being the too awkward pacing (did it need to be spread over 6 episodes?).

【MMDドラマフェスティバルⅥ】Never Naming Legendary【#2-5】, by つちのこ (fantasy, half picture-card show)
Another one who tries to find its feet. The series gradually evolved from 90% picture-card who to only 40%. Nice effort. However, despite the nice direction, the story fails to interest me. Also, terribly underrated.

Honourable mentions

Same as above except chemistry can actually take because directing feels a bit more solid. Those works can be actually really interesting to watch, depending on your tastes:

【MMDドラマ?】CROSS STORIES 雪華の戦姫 F-3, by まく (Vocaloid and sword fights)
Not among the best series around but still nice to see it still ongoing. If you’re into Vocaloid MMD dramas and miss them, you may like.

【ＭＭＤ艦これ】古に 鷹舞い降りし 青葉山 第4話 後篇③【ドラマ】, by Leo (Kancolle and sea fights)
Almost the Kancolle equivalent of above work. Nice writing and directing for once. My only grief is the chattiness. Also pinpoints a recurring illness among those kind of Kancolle MMD dramas, they all lack originality. Too bad this one is no exception.

【ミリオンライブ】茜ちゃんのとある一日　前編【MMDドラマ】, by ポピー (Idolm@ster Million Live)
What a nice surprise. Again, not the best work around but I like the artistic touch and its tone, save the pretty rough lipsync animations. A bit underrated.

MMDアニメ「俺の就職先がブラックなわけだが」-第2話-, by Sero (anime-like with Vocaloid characters, full voice)
Yay! The first full voice MMD drama of 2017. Finally! For some reason full voice works are being phased out whereas they were all the rage back in 2015. It’s probably due to the closing of the Koebu website. I really liked episode 1 as it definitely set a new mark in MMD dramas with its smart artistic orientation of being in a very anime-esque style rather than slapping voice on a traditional-looking unvoiced MMD drama. But I also feared the novelty effect wouldn’t last long. Funnily, that’s exactly what happened. It suffered the “Yomi syndrome”. I mean we have something pretty looking and sounding (mixing might be too loud however) but with a rather pointless and empty plot. Note that Studio Sero is actually made of two people, the author and his wife. Yes, this guy is older than me. And he still quite didn’t find its feet yet, despite knowledge and skill he may have earned of his tools over the years. Proof that talent and age don’t always go well together. However, I acknowledge and appreciate the effort of having tried because his series looks pretty unique.

【MMDドラマフェスティバルⅥ】とある水上の建物の話, by 塩蛙 (atmospheric)
塩蛙’s submission with original characters. His usual touch is there, intact for sure. However, when you work with original characters you have less material to work with when writing a story, having to create everything from scratch. And that’s the problem of this work and all other ones of him featuring original characters. For that reason, chemistry works less than with his attempts with Touhou. Story feels a bit superficial and you end up watching only for its nice mood and the care put into the audio department. Note that he plans to produce something in full voice. I hope we won’t screw up doing so.

Mayonnaise Pasta Sauce

This category is for rubbish artistic decisions and/or total misuse of computer-generated voices such as Softalk, CeVIO and Voiceroid, but the works themselves still having some enjoyment potential:

the VOCALOIDとの最終戦争を全力で終結させるUTAU共 series, by yuurika (talkroid?)
Complete waste of really nice shading. Perfect illustration of nowadays MMD scene. Nice animating or graphic skills but somewhat abysmal taste or incapacity to produce something solid and worth with that skill, other than showoff efforts (same dance moves repeated over and over, short tests, effect showcases…). Note that the use of Voiceroid is his trademark.

【MMDドラマフェスティバルⅥ】テのひらサイズ アドベンチャー_chapter 6, by フェアネス or ぷにほっこりP
Started out as a nice silent series but for some reason the author decided it was nice to add in some rubbish Voiceroid. If you don’t mind those voices you might like it.

Off competition

Works submitted around the same time but surprisingly outside the MMD Drama Festival that I happened to almost like better than most of this festival’s submissions.

【東方MMD】 探し物 Ex, by SF2B463 (translates as “the missing thing”, story)
2017 will definitely be the year of unexpected sequels. There’s something pretty lovely about those. Especially compared to planned sequels that never see the day because the author either went away, lost motivation, screwed up or became overbooked. This is situated right after Merry got sent back to earth through a gap Yukari Yakumo made. This is pretty much dialog-based only, so not easy to understand without a translation. But it’s always so nice watch the author’s neat animation and realizing he’s been MMDing for 7 years now (the average lifespan of a full-animating MMDer being 2 years).

【東方MMD】おちびなフラン5話, by LVがたりないけど物理で殴る/LVgatari (silent short)
Episode 5 of his little Flan series. I really like how it turns out. LVgatari is really at his best doing these little things, as they end up inspiring and never forced or cliché like on ぱにょぺらんP/霧雨あろえ‘s works for instance.

Okay, I think I’m done with this selection from the 6th MMD Drama Festival. Time after time it looks like what made the MMD scene so great, inspiring and ground-breaking is fading away. The fault to the age of the program and its lack of evolution mainly, but also some questionable behaviours from artists I tend to see more and more. It looks like it’s the ones who create the most interesting content who are prone either to quit suddenly without warning, go on long hiatus, have an intriguing temper (Sidare blocked me on Twitter because I mentioned him on one of my posts, and I didn’t do anything wrong from my perspective), delete their works or simply lose motivation very quickly over time. It’s like when you are a viewer, you naturally want to see more of them but no my friend! You don’t deserve it as a filthy passive viewer/secondary/leecher/insert whatever “/jp-ish” term is the best. To the artists’ credits, a good part of the viewers of their works are mostly immature themselves, not very smart, generally post pointless comments and can be very annoying (not to mention wild and unnecessary reprinting which bring them even more unwanted viewer base). Whereas people who throw very little artistic effort are the one who last the longest and are even still in activity after 4 or 5 years! Still doing the same soup, not evolving one bit and having their usual viewer base even demanding more! That’s how this scene turned from great to cringy, questionable and immature. Because all the good batch is slowly leaving and not being renewed. I have very little hope for this to change but as a consolation, I suggest to enjoy the remaining quality pieces even more. Because there still are. They just require a little more digging. Also, if you happen to read this and have been following the scene for quite long but are too lazy to create, just like me and you think you have potential, why instead not get started? You might have a chance to better master the concept of animating and posing than I. Just take inspiration from the best works, grasp what is making them so unique and enjoyable and you may come up with something interesting too. Note that the best works are not always the prettier looking and sounding. Some of them are in fact pretty rudimentary and cope very well with the very few elements at their disposal. As long as you don’t try to bandwagon, I think you can have your chance too, whatever the style you’re the most comfortable with.