Digital Diva Hatsune Miku has gone from being a simple vocal synthesizer to a global phenomenon. Between being featured in Vogue, opening for Lady Gaga, and performing at Coachella, she’s become the poster girl for VOCALOID and virtual singers over the last eighteen years. And not just the world over—She’s got her own manga series, Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix, had her voice and character featured in anime like Dropkick On My Devil and Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion, and even ventured to outer space via the JAXA Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter.
She’s also the face of the rhythm game series, Project Diva and its offshoot Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku. While the former game series features original songs sung by Miku and the other five VOCALOIDs from Crypton, the latter, Proseka, features tracks sung by both vocal synthesizers and an ensemble cast of twenty humans split into five individual groups. And it is through Proseka that Hatsune Miku is making her silver screen debut.
There has been a longstanding debate as to whether or not VOCALOID singers should be blank slates or have distinct personas. Initially, this professional singing software was about equipping aspiring musicians and sound producers with a singer who could belt out a range of vocals depending on the tuning. This gives the VOCALOID producer the freedom to not have a predetermined image of the singer, and let the song stand out on its own merit. But the minute VOCALOIDS get a personality, it comes with an image that becomes hard to shake off.
DECO*27’s Rabbit Hole stirred up quite the controversy when it was released in May 2023, especially among the western fanbase and those introduced to VOCALOID via Proseka. The song’s suggestive and mature themes were so far removed from their image of the forever sweet sixteen-year-old Miku. Despite the controversy, Rabbit Hole’s popularity has not taken a hit, and the song has even got its own light novel adaptation.
Before Proseka, in the golden era of VOCALOID circa 2007-2015, there was never a question of who Miku was. She was a changeling—a voice, a hologram, a cat, a stalker, a vegetable juice vendor, a cannibal, a princess, an alien, a vampire…the list goes on. The same applies to her fellow VOCALOIDS, which spawned new narrative playgrounds and universes like Black Rock Shooter and The Evillious Chronicles.
With the advent of Proseka, Miku has been given a distinct personality, and experimenting with that personality seems to have a negative impact on the growing Proseka fanbase. This, in turn, stifles creativity, pushing the limits of what the VOCALOID software can do. If Miku is perceived to only be a sweet-natured schoolgirl, then it puts a damper on things when a VOCALOID producer tries to experiment with a heavy metal or jazz take using her vocals. For this reason, the VOCALOID3 software had Miku Dark, Miku Sweet, Miku Vivid etc. With more and more tracks in the game being sung by humans, VOCALOIDS are relegated to be supporting cast members. As a result, many of them have faded into obscurity, a conundrum which has inevitably seeped into the film
Despite the title being Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing, Miku is not the central protagonist of this film. Instead, she’s a catalyst and an anchor for the twenty Proseka characters in the film. From the beginning, you are thrown into the deep end of this digital SEKAI (world) with no map or guidelines. It is definitely not a film for the average moviegoer because a working knowledge of Proseka is necessary to follow the story. The target demographic is the Proseka fans, not VOCALOID fans or anime movie enthusiasts, because the film does not elaborate on who the characters are or offer any explanation on how their world works.
Proseka features an alternate world called SEKAI, which is a reflection of the users’ feelings and, hence, varies depending on whose SEKAI it is. Miku is a virtual singer who appears in corresponding forms to help the humans of Proseka achieve their musical dreams and confront their true feelings. The film follows the same concept, except there’s a mysterious new Miku in town who comes from a SEKAI that’s gloomy and depressing. With no hope in sight, she’s unable to get through to the people in her SEKAI or even sing. It’s now up to the Proseka cast to help her find her voice and turn that gloom into sunshine.
To say that the film has a plot is stretching it. There’s no cohesion to the story or character development because the film expects the audience to already know the lore behind Proseka. It could have felt emotionally charged, but because there are five groups to focus on, a lot of the story’s depth gets lost in simply trying to keep up. Technically, there are five possible movies crammed into one if you consider them as a group. Again, it’s a Proseka film, not a VOCALOID film.
What the film does get right is showcasing the different genres of music. You have Leo/need (rock), More More Jump! (pop idol), Vivid Bad Squad (hip-hop), Wonderlands x Showtime (musical theatre/ pop ballads), and Nightcord at 25:00 (emo/ alt rock). That’s quite the range from a technical standpoint and does serve as a reminder that Miku isn’t just a pop or rock icon in Proseka’s world.
The music is the supposed highlight of the film, with six new compositions from DECO*27, arranged by various VOCALOID producers, from Giga-P to Iyowa. The scene of Ichika busking to keeno’s song “glow” (originally sung by Hatsune Miku in 2010) particularly stands out. The soundtrack on the whole was a bit of a letdown, considering the same producers have created better (and catchier) songs for VOCALOIDs.
But the only song that Miku sings in the film is Hello, SEKAI. Aside from that, none of the tracks actually feature the digital pop star, which is a shame considering the film has Miku featured in the title, yet barely gives her any of the spotlight. That’s when you realize that it quite literally says on the tin: a Miku who can’t sing.
There is an After Live sequence where the VOCALOIDS perform Hello SEKAI, encouraging the audience to wave their glow sticks, similar to what happens at Miku EXPO or Magical Mirai. In places like the US and Japan, the audience comes armed with glowsticks to use when the After Live begins, a highly anticipated moment when the instructions appear on screen. Ordinarily, this would’ve been the highlight of the film, but watching it in a near-empty theatre in pin-drop silence felt odd and added another layer of bittersweet gloom.
Visually, the film does a good job of showcasing the different aesthetics of the characters and their SEKAIs. Despite featuring a big cast, you won’t end up confusing one character for the other even if you forget their names. Here, the character designs are very unique and striking. Most anime music films employ the use of very distinct 3DCG for performance sections, so the translation of the musician’s movements to the animated character is accurate. The Proseka film, however, retains its 2D style even in concert scenes, which are jam-packed with characters executing complex choreography—a feat in itself.
The crux of the film is to showcase how music can connect people from diametrically opposite ends of the spectrum and lift up the listener’s spirits, which it does. While the film celebrates Proseka, one can’t help but feel cheated that VOCALOIDs don’t take center stage. The old Nico Nico Douga animated shorts and series featuring the VOCALOIDS are still the go-to media if one wants to see Miku or her fellow VOCALOIDs in full form with cohesive, intriguing plots and fleshed-out characterization.
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