Long Week, Lots of Rin

[Rin 138]

Didn't end up getting some of my smaller PTs done last week- there was a big anime convention in town that a good handful of friends ended up flying in for. Despite some huge issues flying in and out of the con, the event itself was an absolute blast. There was SO much more Vocaloid representation this year which I was absolutely thrilled about- from cosplayers to vendor booths to a whole setup from Crypton themselves to promote their worldwide series of concerts, Miku Expo. That booth, specifically, had a huge screen playing through past concert footage. Most of it was for Miku, but with Rin getting some screen time (and love from passersby), I was pretty thrilled.

 

It's a little tangential to the VHL, but coming out of the weekend I can safely say that I've entered my...third honeymoon phase when it comes to Vocaloid/Rin specifically? I feel like every time I get to just weeb out for a weekend, I'm reminded again why I fell so in love with the concept. For those not in the know, Vocaloid is essentially a synthetic voice software, where character voices can be tuned and used as an instrument. Producers have been using the likes of Miku, Rin, Len, etc for well over a decade as vocalists for their projects, spanning across countless genres and artists to create one big collective. In a sense, it feels like a community was given a tool to help build the identity of these characters, and even a sense of built-in exposure. I, personally, have felt compelled to check out a NUMBER of artists just because they use Rin, since I already love her voice and design. Having that familiar element to their work makes it so much easier to just jump in and listen to a bunch of different stuff that I might not have even considered otherwise.

 

But what about the live concerts that they put on? Who provides the music for those? Actually, the concerts themselves are compilations of some of the more popular songs throughout the community. Hypothetically, ANYONE could produce a song using Rin that makes it all the way into official setlists.

 

I explain all of this to get around to the major thought I wanted to put forth. Interacting with other Vocaloid fans this last weekend and seeing just how much love they were getting both officially and unofficially gave me a huge sense of pride, in a way. This is something that can only exist because of the love of not only the creators, but fans as well. Vocaloid has been around for well over a decade at this point, and being in a big general anime environment that still features them so prominently is heartwarming. It's a similar feeling to the VHL, where you have this massive community/entity that can only exist because of every one of its pieces. In a very stereotypical way, both are products that are far greater than the sum of their parts.

 

So, yeah. I'm back on a massive Rin high. Again. Would be fantastic if this was my first player to make it into the HoF.

 

Since it was the prominently featured song in the booth's playlist, my song this week is ungray days: