Animation, Touhou

Fantasy Kaleidoscope 9 vs. The Sealed Esoteric History -Wish-, the match (WIP)

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What you’re about to read here is a work-in-progress article that I never bothered to finish because of my legendary laziness. In order not to hide it from viewers, I decided to post it. Please keep in mind it’s unfinished while reading. Also, if you’d like this to be completed, please let me know.

Edit, 18/09/2024: Also, this article reflects my state of mind when I wrote it. And you guessed it, my state of mind changed and evolved since (as always, I realize now that my words were pretty rubbish). Keep this in mind while reading.

The most exciting news this Comiket 92 was certainly the release of Touhou 16, Hidden Star in Four Seasons. But there was also something pretty exciting for those who happen to enjoy animation too, the release of second episode of The Sealed Esoteric History by Kyoto Fantasy Troupe. This episode boasts 41 minutes of animation, which makes it the longest Touhou derivated animated feature to date. But besides was also the release from a competing circle, Manpuku Jinja, of epsiode 9 of Fantasy Kaleidoscope. Within any sensible mind, it would naturally appear that Manpuku Jinja now has something to worry about. Indeed, with the recent PoFV and Hisotensoku arcs debacle, Manpuku is clearly not at its advantage, especially when the other circle managed to produce an excellent episode 1. But how things will turn out this time? Kyoto Fantasy Troupe is taking a long shot while Manpuku is finally finding a balance within their artistic decisions. So competition may be tougher than expected. And that’s what we’re going to study, step by step and find out if there is a winner at the end.

Packaging and presentation

Manpuku gives us a standard slim Amaray case containing the disc and a tiny booklet (or small art book) presenting all protagonists playing a big role during the arc. Inside the disc is a standard DVDISO structure with menus (with subs, without subs, or both in sequence, all without voice) and nothing else.

Fantasy Troupe gives us something that looks like a digipack containing the disc and a slightly bigger booklet or art book. On the disc itself, we have an single 1080p MKV file with two audio tracks and a subtitle one (Japanese only). No extra pictures this time unfortunately. However, we now have a DVDISO structure present on the disc too, which makes it playable on a hardware player now (the DVD Video part is PAL 720×576 with a single PCM audio track, for the curious).

So no winner on this round, as both presentations are pretty similar. The Amaray case vs. digipack aspect is only a matter of preference.

Price tag and cost

Manpuku’s strength? Well, let’s put things back in perspective again. While Manpuku’s disc is clearly cheaper, we also have less content. On the other side, the price tag of JPY3,500 was maintained despite the big duration. Even if we take both parts of The IN arc, we end up with JPY4,000 total (JPY2,000 per episode approx.) which clearly puts Fantasy Troupe at advantage here. So, Fantasy Troupe wins this round.

Storytelling and writing

We all know that’s Manpuku’s Achille heel. With their poor decisions and weird sense of priorities they managed to divide opinions among those who gave a chance to their animated works, and give us the impression that all that talent and skill was somewhat wasted because of that. Well, it looks like they’re trying to set the record straight this time. I’m happy to announce that the path they’ve taken since part 1 of the Imperishable Night arc is still maintained. Interesting things still happen all the time and the handling of time space shows less and less waste. There’s a good balance between relaxed moments and serious ones. The so-called fan service is now reduced to a minimum (and so are grimaces, only present during relevant segments). Will it be enough to face the other animated feature?

Now let’s talk about Fantasy Troupe’s case. I feared they would screw up because of the duration of their work. After watching, it is clear that on the other hand, this is one of their strength. But as I said, the bet was risky, as they in fact “cheated” a bit. Well, they “cheated” a lot. By “cheated”, I mean the story we have here is no longer connected to canon. While the story in itself is very nicely written, it’s getting a bit far from what we’d expect from a Touhou animation. For one, we have an original character to fill in the holes of ZUN’s universe and bases. For two, the tone shown here doesn’t let a place for action scenes or things like that. The story is more or less told through that original character who is supposed to be a relative to Sanae. While they did an excellent job at telling their own story despite the lack of elaborate animation (most time is spent within that relative’s shrine telling about her memories around a table, with Renko and Merry), some of you might be surprised and not like this approach. The problem with it, as some on /jp have pointed out, is that you could remove any Touhou reference it wouldn’t even be noticeable and would work on its own as an original story.

So for this round, we finally have an improvement from one side and a (well managed) risky bet on the other. This makes things even tougher. I’m going to make Fantasy Troupe win this one (by a very short margin) because they did manage not to screw up with such an audacious choice, unlike what I feared. Both animations were really pleasant to watch.

Character portrayal and personality building

This is, IMHO, Maikaze’s weakest poi… oh wait, this isn’t about Maikaze at all! ‘Scuse me. Well, in all honesty, this is also the category I’m feeling the least at ease to talk about because of my lack of knowledge about canon. One of the hottest debate on Touhou discussion places is how characters should be portrayed and sometimes how established canon can sometimes severely clash with one’s vision of the characters. Because of my ignorance to canon, I’m going to talk about the characters’ tempers and how tangible their personality feels, even if far from canon. When referring to Manpuku’s effort, opinions are mixed and multiple. There are people like me who think they do a good job and others who feel they’re far from what they should be like or behave. I genuinely think Manpuku has always been in the right direction, and this is even truer during this arc. I really like how Marisa reacts to Alice’s warnings in episode 9 for instance. This brings up background and depth to characters and I like that. Also, since their episodes have always been quite chatty, their characters always look like they have “interesting” things to say.

On the other side, since storytelling has always been their strong point, it is natural that their characters’ personalities also feel solid and tangible. This is what helps a characters being endearing and not being just a façade. I may have one grief with how they portrayed Renko and Merry in episode 2. They look rather childish and immature (and now it’s Fantasy Troupe’s turn to inaugurate a grimace feast), not the kind of behaviour you would expect from university students (okay, that makes them cuter and more irresistible but still) but again I’m not the right person to judge this.

Tie for this one. They both do a respectable jobs at trying to give those characters personality, unlike what I usually witness on another side from another competitor whose name begins by a “M”. I’m not the best person to talk about this particular area but I think both efforts look equivalent.

Overall tone and mood

One of the controversial aspect again in Manpuku’s effort. Everyone remembers when they first introduced their venerable and incredibly classy PVs back in 2009 or 2010, if I remember correctly. Fans were unanimous about them. I bet some of them even dreamt of a potential animated adaptation at that stage. Then came the aforementioned animated adaptation and bam! Everything collapsed. Well, hehe… no. I’m just exaggerating a bit. Still I remain a bit surprised to this day to the first reactions I saw when episode 1 just came out in summer 2011. So what could possibly have happened? Well, the classy PVs basically turned into a rather empty cartooney mess which barely managed to make itself look as classy and refined through the care put in visuals, animation and sound. Not exactly what one was expecting from such a rather ambitious initiative. And I did have my own fears when they announced they would make an animated series. Come on! They have no experience at all. A PV and an episode aren’t the same deal at all. It is clear they had absolutely no experience in making a longer animated feature. But, IMO, they managed pretty well. Chemistry worked fully and that particular ambiance of Touhou fanworks was still there. People’s reaction were (and are still) a bit overdone on the negative side but it did have a good impact in the end. But it took them a lot of time, efforts and episodes to finally find their feet. Despite the classy PVs, the tone remained light and rather childish, which somewhat clashes with the overall design. This is for me a rather failed attempt at catering the widest audience possible among Touhou fans interested in animation. We had to wait the Imperishable Night arc for the circle to find a good balance and get closer to what should be expected from an animated adaptation of that calibre.

For some reason, Kyoto Fantasy Troupe started with a clear advantage. They, from the beginning, gave the impression of knowing their topic. Everyone was pleasantly surprised to see that they didn’t mess up for their first attempt. Everything was spot on, either scenes with light mood, action scenes, serious scenes… Nothing cartooney or out of place. Then came this episode 2. Things are a bit different this time. They perhaps realized they did a bit too much on episode 1 and tried to lighten the tone. As a result it feels less classy, cheesier and more plain. Despite the quality of the story some of the attempts of easing the mood look a bit out of place now. Renko and Merry now offer us a grimace feast on their own. A few of the voices can sound pretty cheesy too (Suwako, Reimu and Marisa notably but they appearance is short so it’s not disturbing in the end). So the overall tone is this episode is definitely lighter and that may disappoint some of you.

Many of you would be tempted to give the point to Kyoto Fantasy Troupe this time because their efforts better match what fans would expect from a Touhou animation. But again, it’s not that easy. It’s not because Manpuku’s attempt looks like a cartooney mess from a distance that it actually is one. Fantasy Kaleidoscope also has the opportunity to shine thanks to its wonderful music and classy and epic battle scenes. So in the end, only episodes 5 to 7 deserve their share of negative criticism as they give no room for classy battles and characters begin to act like caricatures, just like in… oh well… that summer thing which takes a lifetime to produce as I suspect its circle to be rather careless. So I’m giving the point to Manpuku Jinja despite the missed efforts because they manage to be spot on during the arc they’re covering and because Kyoto Fantasy Troupe borrowed a few of Manpuku’s bad habits this time.

Overall aesthetics, visuals and animation

I saw a big increase in quality starting from the IN arc in Manpuku’s case. Did they take Fantasy Troupe’s previous effort as a reference? I don’t know. I like how they work their environments and still maintain the same quality of animation. Also, no more whoopsies since that arc. In Fantasy Troupe’s case, we now have a more traditional and plain looking (but also less disturbing perhaps) styling. Work is also palpable on environments but their animation looks only fine now, but not stellar. The fault lies with the fact that there is no action scene or something that would make the animation shine. However, Fantasy Troupe’s style still looks pleasing to the eye.

The winner for this round is Manpuku Jinja, as they still manage to amaze to this day. Animation is clearly their strong point. And now they have background work an par (if not superior) to Fantasy Troupe’s work.

Sound and music

Because of the different styling and narration choices, sound and music won’t have the same function in both animations. Strong and fitting BGMs are Manpuku’s main feature. In Fantasy Troupe’s case, BGM really serves as background music as it’s only here to support the narration. So it’s less memorable than in episode 1 (also the fact that voice plays a bigger role now makes a lot for that). Sound effects-wise, both are equivalent. Fantasy Troupe’s sound design no longer sounds cheap an care is really palpable.

Winner is Manpuku by a very short margin (more memorable BGMs) because Fantasy Troupe now have a very nice and pleasing sound design.

Authoring, visual and sound quality

Manpuku’s weakness until episode 4 where they managed to maintain the same acceptable visual quality despite the huge limitations of DVD video’s specs. The fact that they choose to author a true SD DVD Video even in 2017 is beginning to look outdated and hardly relevant. On the other side, Fantasy Troupe chooses to put a video file inside the disc, so that it won’t have the limitations of the format. So, they have an advantage here where they can offer a nice and pleasant 1080p image while in Manpuku’s case you’ll find yourself play around with waifu2x or nnedi3 to get a decent picture on a big TV set. Encoding-wise, both circles made the correct choices and we have variable bitrate for both. No more constant bitrate and bitstarving nonsense as there was on Sealed Esoteric episode 1.

Now sound-wise, while perceived quality is high on both attempts, Fantasy Troupe still uses lossy assets for their audio mixing projects. In order to guarantee the best quality you have to avoid using lossy assets (especially BGMs). Some more discriminating audiophiles might be able to pick up the quality loss. Manpuku, on the other hand still uses lossless assets, I’m pretty sure of that. Other non negligible detail, Manupuku decided to make their audio signal a bit hotter than usual, especially on busy action scenes (to give the impression of “epicness”, you know that “louder is better” meme) while Fantasy Troupe still maintained their low level in order to give room to the voices (also, OP and ED themes now have respectable volume). Both maintain a good level of headroom and have good dynamics. I wish Manpuku’s sound was 2dB quieter in this case however, as I often find myself reducing the volume of my HT receiver by 2dB while watching it.

I give the winning point to Fantasy Troupe this time, as their content is presented in HD, rather than the outdated DVD MPEG2 format. In other aspects, they’re pretty much equivalent.

Voice acting

Logically, the point would go to Fantasy Troupe, as it is full voice, right? Well, it’s not as simple. While the Chinese circle clearly has an advantage with its high grade cast (as opposed to somewhat dodgy fandubs you’re forced to seek out if you want voice on Fantasy Kaleidoscope), both approaches are completely different when it comes to “tell the story” and create an overall atmosphere. Manpuku manages to give that pleasing and entertaining experience without the use of any voice. While this can be disturbing on first watches, you get used to it as chemistry works perfectly. It’s so well put together to the point you tend to forget how “chatty” it is.

On the other hand, Fantasy Troupe relies on Sanae’s relative’s narration to convey the mood and tell the story. Also, voice seems to be better used in this episode 2 of Sealed Esoteric. But wait, it’s not over. There’s an extra audio track on Fantasy Troupe’s animation, with voices removed from the mix. Apparently, there was a demand for that, so they included it as a bonus (note that it’s only present on the supplied video file and not the additional DVDISO structure). However, unlike the first episode, it really feels empty without voices. All the mood is conveyed through Yayoi’s (oops, spoiler) narration and her voice actor does an excellent job. So all that is lost with the voiceless mix. However, it can work as a curiosity feature, if you want to listen the work done on sound effects, or if you really dislike having your 2hus talking. You can’t replicate Fantasy Kaleidoscope’s particular atmosphere just by removing the voices. Try listening to that additional audio track and you’ll quickly find yourself switching back to the full voice one. Clearly, full voice from the start was the best decision they made for that episode, as it suits its narration style completely. You might remember the things I said about “fanmade cachet”, etc. Well, we have to reconsider this, as Fantasy Troupe’s effort proves once for all that full voice can work wonderfully on a Touhou animation if done right (at a cost of a slight cheesiness). And I still insist on the “if done right” as it is very easy to screw up if done wrong.

So, who wins this time? I’m really tempted to give a tie on this one. Yes, really tempted. Because, Manpuku still manages to give us a wonderful experience without the use of any voice. On Fantasy Troupe’s side, the lack of voice becomes a weakness where it remain a strength (I’m maintaining it) on Manpuku’s one. But we have decent voice acting made by professionals on one side and dodgy voice acting through fandubs on the other if you want voice on both. So, I declare a tie for this round.

Cameos, fan-service, possible memes and other extras

Aaah… That aspect. Yeah, that aspect. It’s the one /jp people love to insist on when talking (often bad) about Fantasy Kaleidoscope. And with good reason. It was Manpuku’s featured bad habit since episode 1 of their series. They always felt forced for some reason to include (sometimes rubbish and annoying) references to fanon which were often either completely outdated or rather unfitting because of their overuse in other more or less exposed fanworks (hand-drawns, illustrations, fan videos, MADs, MMDs, etc.). The other speciality was the time and screen waste by imposed fan service scenes which have nothing to do with the story (everyone still remember that hot spring scene in episode 4 stealing focus to the battle between Marisa and Patchouli). I’m pleased to announce that those have been tamed down a lot since this arc. They even have the gut of mocking their (I hope) old bad habits during the Tewi segment. It may be unintentional but I appreciate how it turned out.

On Kyoto Fantasy Troupe’s side, all those things if there were any have always been introduced in a much subtle manner, and only through the shape of short cameos which are welcome and add some rewatch value. In my knowledge and unlike Manpuku Jinja, those never harmed the presentation of their episode or the story they’re trying to tell. However, things changed a little bit since episode 2. Creators now let it go a little more and offer us some rather borderline and evocative shots between Renko and Merry (that scene when they’re about to fall in a small pond for instance). It’s not flagrant and blatantly obvious but still.

Even if we have improvement from Manpuku Jinja, I’m still going to give the point to Kyoto Fantasy Troupe in this round as they always mastered that particular topic. By a small margin, but I’m making them win this round.

As said in the beginning, if you’d like this to be completed, please let me know. There are parts that may look incomplete or unfinished because I’m still adding things to this article.

Non classé

Before posting stuff online, please consider reading this

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Instead of venting and having inappropriate reactions following Celeste Melancholia’s channel termination, I decided to take a more refined care of that problem (and I may have good news regarding that incident, as I can now say here that her work isn’t lost and is currently in a safe place). I’ve been on the web for so long (since 2000-2001) to have witnessed all sorts of behaviours concerning posting content on the web, might it be a simple post on a message board, a drawing, an entire website, videos on Youtube, or even pointless and rubbish comments.

It’s time for me to expose my views on the topic after thinking about it for so long. There had been a lot of behaviours that I considered myself inappropriate from either creators or simple viewers but also felt my own views were somewhat wrong. Then those behaviours became more and more common until they harmed quality content I really enjoyed (see my awkward venting about The Maid who leapt through time and it’s author Shin-Chan, on Twitter and /jp if you’re courageous). I also decided to have even more hindsight on that topic and stop categorizing an entire batch of people because of the behaviour of only a tiny portion of them.

What you’ll read here is the continuation to a post a I originally posted on Reddit (/r/touhou). I chose to post it here in order not to clutter my original post and stay on-topic. Here’s the post in context: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/7h6mm5/people_please_ask_permissions_before_reprinting/

Again, this is a personal view, and you don’t have to agree with it. I also think artists themselves can be over-possessive, over-reactive and may not have enough hindsight. They just think “hey, it’s cool I’m gonna share my work online!” only to discover that the web isn’t the bright place they thought it was and there are a ton of things and behaviours they forgot to consider. The ones who post stuff only to delete it only 2 months later are the worst in that regard (they often hide their decision behind so-called “personal reasons”). Posting stuff online is indeed a responsibility, either you’re a creator or just an annoying reprinter. Some discover that way too late and can’t handle their presence on the long term very well.

To reprinters: Please don’t underestimate the side-effects of reprinting (or simply borrowing) someone else’s work, even if you credit him/her and add your own valuable work on top of it. You never know how the author’s going to react to it (some take it well, but some will over-react negatively as I mentioned earlier). I know that because I ventured myself, and regretted it afterwards. Some well known and talented artists also ventured and they bit the dust because they mistakenly thought “it’s okay as I’m myself an artist too”. Also, don’t be rude to artists, even if they react negatively. They have their rights to do so, as their work belongs to them first, and they surely don’t want it being taken out of their hands, especially if they’re trying to make a living of their works and you offer them for free. Having one’s approval is the best way to reprint one’s work, as the author will clearly know who will reprint it and where it will be reprinted. This settles good terms between the author and the reprinter. Please don’t go against their will if you get a negative answer from the author regarding reprinting, as this is even worse. You may upset the author even more and push him/her into rushed decisions. Having their work getting out of their control is something most artists hate dealing with. Keep that in mind before ignoring their refusal to your reprint request.

The best example of this is the Touhousubs Youtube channel. Its owner always asks permissions first, and always keeps an eye over possible copyright reclamations from third parties. Also, every reprinted work that generates more views than the original submission from its original country is systematically made unlisted, in order to encourage viewers to access playlists instead and give more visibility to the original work. I also like his approach in always encouraging his viewers to support original creators on their original place, in order to give them good habits. Thanks to him, I now systematically follow authors I like, mylist (fave) and throw ad tickets to works I enjoy on Nico Nico Douga. That’s the best way in maintaining a reprinting channel (which has a good reason to exist, as it offers translations of Touhou fanworks in English and sometimes other languages) in the long term. On the total opposite, I find Reddevils500’s approach very questionable and even harmful, as it seems to be based on solely self-exposure and opportunism. It also infantilizes its viewer base by giving them very bad habits. For me, Reddevils500’s channels represent everything I dislike about reprinting, inciting to do everything you mustn’t do.

To creators: Pay a closer attention to how the web works. Think twice before sharing your works online. Don’t hesitate to ask friends or people you know about it. Be prepared of what your works will generate if they ever have success. Think about the long term. Think about possible frustration from viewers you may trigger if you delete your works, even if you consider them minor (they may have unseen, peculiar qualities or potential which you were unable to notice from your creator’s own view). Consult your friends or people you know well again before you decide to do so, or before any potential rushed decision. You will experience good but also bad things during your “web carieer”, as I said the web isn’t as bright as one think. There will be times when you’ll lose your lucidity and not have appropriate reactions to delicate situations (people abusing your kindness and asking too much requests, unfair criticism, offending comments, harassment, wild unauthorized reprinting, content theft, etc.). At some point you may wonder if you’re not simply way too implicated for what was supposed to remain a mere hobby. And that’s the key, distancing one’s self from all that can help. This will help you remaining productive (perhaps much less than before) while retaining hindsight and keeping one’s head clean and straight. You may find yourself starting all over something from scratch whereas it was probably not that bad in the first place but your biased or disconnected perception made you think otherwise. That’s why it’s important not to start announcing things or scheduling projects when you’re not sure of yourself, or even of their completion. This will add even more frustration to your viewer base who will wonder what the heck you’re doing and why you’re not respecting your planned completion dates. This is again an indication of needing to distance oneself and put things in perspective again. Also, a viewer can sometimes see things in your creations that you’re not able to see yourself (strengths, weaknesses, etc.). Last thing, not all viewers are bad or brainless idiots. Viewers are as important as your work itself as they can influence your creativity in a good or a bad way. So definitely don’t overlook or disconsider them.

To viewers: Keep in mind creating is a “time, motivation and energy”-consuming process that sometimes disconnects you from real life. An artist can’t be 100% focussed on his art all the time, as (s)he may have a busy life or may live from his/her art or content directly, biasing even more his/her views towards separating hobbies and work. Again, don’t be rude to artists, even if they fail to handle their long term presence or if they become unproductive. You may be a finer critic to one’s work than the author him/herself but it’s because you’re simply a viewer. Busy artists can sometimes “screw up” because they have been gradually disconnected. That’s the sign of needing a break and having to be more realistic. As a viewer, while you may complain why your favourite artist stopped producing stuff/underwent a radical style change/stopped doing art of your favourite character or franchise/can’t continue his series anymore/is unable to meet expected completion deadlines, you have to consider all the above (plus some bits I wrote into the “creators” paragraph). The energy and time creators use (or waste, some would say) to create can disconnect them and remove a part of their lucidity and their perception of time. Instead of sounding rude, upset and annoyed, remain nice to your artist if you are ever to contact him/her about his situation. Because of the energy spent in creating, one can become over-sensitive and prone not to react properly. Also, while remaining nice, show the author that you’re actually interested in what (s)he does and emphasis the unique or peculiar qualities of one’s work, comparing it to others and show him/her how his work is valuable and that his/her works are missed.

Note: You may have noticed that I added things to that post along the way, when they finally came to mind. I may still add other things or points I forgot about if they ever come to mind regarding the topic. As you also noticed, this is far from being straightforward topic and I recommand to think more than twice if you ever have to deal with related issues. It’s not an all-black or all-white topic and there’s no evil or hero. This is perhaps one of the most complex issue since the creation of the internet and we’ll always find people falling into the trap and not reacting properly regardless of the category they belong to.

MMD

19th MMD Cup – My selection

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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.