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Vocoloid live!

Mar 282010

Quite a while ago we posted about some software you could buy that let you synthesize your own JPOP music. Well, here’s a sample of it taken to the extreme. Much like the Gorillaz concert, it features an animated character performing live in front of a packed stadium.

Note: if you don’t care for the music, skip ahead to about 5 minutes in to see the actual CG character performing.

If you want me to spoil it, I can explain how this is all done. But basically it’s the same technology used in Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride at Disney World. It’s been around for ages – they’ve just added a CG twist to it.

自主制作アニメーション『the TV show』

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Dec 082009

Amazing animated music video by director Sugimoto Kousuke!

Anime in the Limelight Returns

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Mar 132008

From: AWN Headline News

Toon Radio and Limelight Media announce the return of ANIME IN THE LIMELIGHT after a three-year hiatus.

The Japanese anime and videogame music radio show has been on local terrestrial radio and has been recording new episodes since January 2008.

It will resume broadcasting on the Toon Radio internet radio station (www.toonradio.net) on March 15, 2008.

On the air since 1997, Anime in the Limelight is a 30 to 60 minute Japanese animation music and Japanese pop culture show.

The show features uncut anime music tracks by the original artists in Japanese language, with English introductions, background histories, news, and Japanese pop culture information and is America’s top rated streaming media anime themed Internet radio show.

The show has aired on KUMU AM 1500 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and on the Fresno, California webcaster Japan-a-Radio (www.japanaradio.com).

ANIME IN THE LIMELIGHT is scheduled to broadcast on Toon Radio every Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

More information on ANIME IN THE LIMELIGHT can be found at www.limepub.com/radio.html.

More information on Toon Radio can be found at www.toonradio.net.

Tags: animeradio, toon radio

Kokiriko Bushi

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Dec 282007

As many of you know, I’m an animator. Mainly I do 3D animations, but occasionally I get to work on other projects like motion graphics for music videos. I found this video via a motion graphics website that I frequent.

The original Kokiriko Bushi is known as the oldest folk song in Japan. You can watch the original song being performed HERE.

I really like the 8-bit sound the artist has created in this video. It’s the Super Mario version of the song.

Warning: There are women in body suits in the video that make them appear to be naked – possibly NSFW!

Edit: The last one was taken offline – hopefully this version will stick around longer.

Kimi no kiseki PV

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Dec 242007

Another Christmas season favorite of mine. Kimi no kiseki by Soulhead. Have a merry Christmas everyone! I hope ya’ll are ready to celebrate. Mitemasho, douzo:)

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Hurry Xmas by L'Arc~en~Ciel PV

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Dec 192007

Konnichiwa minnasan! How’s your Christmas shopping going? I’m almost done. Just a few more things to get. Still need to mail out cards though. In the meantime, here’s some Christmas cheer for you. I found the romaji lyrics online.

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Kikazatta machi wa mou gensou sa
Tanjun demo waruku wa nai ne
Kimi ga hoshigatteta puresento shinobase takanaru mune
Ah hayaku, nee hayaku seiya ni naranai kana?

Hurry xmas yozora wo ubatte kyandoru ni honoou wo tomoshi
Itoshii hitomi ni hoshi wo ukabete
Amaku hajikeru gurasu e to sosoidara so sweet
Saa party no hajimari sa
Can music!

Yuki ga furi tsumoreba iinoni kotoshi mo furisou ni naine
Ikashita doresu kita kimisae itanara nanimo iranaisa
Ah nante, kirameku machijuu ni sumachita yume
Sekaijuu wo nuritsubushite

Hurry xmas yozora wo ubatte kyandoru ni honoou wo tomoshi
Itoshii hitomi ni hoshi wo ukabete
Amaku hajikeru gurasu e to sosoidara so sweet
Saa party no hajimari sa
Wow!

Yozora wo ubatte kyandoru ni honoou wo tomoshi
Puresento wa mada kakushite oite
Kira kira riisu to candy cake kazaritateta tree
Ano ko yorokonde kureru kana?

Xmas time has come to town (xmas time has come to town)
Xmas time for you and me (xmas time has come to town)
Xmas time has come to town (xmas time has come to town)

Seinaru yoru ni kuchizuke wo
Thank you Jesus

~I got the lyrics online from this link. Thank you to this link.~

Vocaloid 2 a hit with middle-aged men

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Dec 102007

A while back I blogged about a software package called “Vocoloid”, which let you create JPop songs with a “virtual idol” that would sing your songs for you.

Well, now Mainichi Daily News is reporting the software apparently is extremely popular among the “middle-aged” (I assume they mean men).

Computer software that allows users to create their own songs and
have them performed by a squeaky voiced “idol” singer is proving a
massive hit — among the middle-aged, according to Sunday Mainichi
(12/9).

Called “Vocaloid 2 Hatsune Miku”, the software uses
computer-generated vocal sounds mixed with an actual human voice (in
this installment, provided by voice actress Saki Fujita) that can be
manipulated to perform any song.

The software, put on the market by Crypton Virtual Media, has proved
popular because people can create their own tunes and fiddle with them
however they like, apparently creating the image of being able to make
a virtual idol singer in the home.

Selling at 16,000 yen — a comparatively cheap price for the type of
software — Hatsune Miku is priced to be attractive for the teenage
market. But actually, it’s the teens’ parents who’ve fallen for Hatsune
Miku in a big way.

Niko Niko Doga, a Japanese video sharing site, lets users upload
their Hatsune Miku productions, but the most popular vids are not
mimicked versions of current (or even recent) hits, but numbers dating
back decades, from long-gone artists like YMO and Pink Lady.

“Computer music had a huge following back in the 1970s, when today’s
parents were still in junior high or high school,” a Crypton Virtual
Media spokesman tells Sunday Mainichi. “It looks like that generation
has caught the computer music bug again in a big way, only this time
around they’re having fun with their kids as they get Hatsune Miku to
sing.” (By Ryann Connell)

Niko Niko Douga (Japanese) http://www.nicovideo.jp/

Source: Idol curiosity has cybernetic songstress striking a chord – Mainichi Daily News

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Tags: Software

Missing Pages

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May 292007

A listener alerted us to this short film.

It’s a short film written and directed by Jerome Olivier. It was produced by JPop star Chage who also did the music along with Akihiko Matsumoto.

The concept is very interesting. The entire “film” is not a film at all, but a series of still pictures that have been painstakingly animated to give the movie a very unusual feel.

The film stars Hatsunori Hasegawa, Shinsuke Kyo, Nobu Mizutani, Takahashi Murata, and Makoto Honda.

CLICK HERE to go to the Missing Pages site where you can view the trailer and even download the entire 24 minute film.

Soulhead PV "Pray"

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Apr 112007

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Soulhead is a very talented, Japanese, sister duo that not only performs great music, but also writes music for other artists as well. Their music is R&B, hiphop, pop, and they are soooo talented. They are one of my favorites! They are fans of American singer, Usher too. Their names are Yoshika and Tsugumi. These beautiful young ladies from Hokkaido, Japan brushed up on their english by spending some time in Australia, and later returned to their homeland Japan and became the stars they are today.

I have 3 of their albums thus far of which they wrote the lyrics, music, and, in combination with Octopussy, produced their own beats. Oh my sista, Braided, & Naked. These records jam! If you like to dance or if you like to hear music that’ll just move your soul, then you must listen to them.

Please visit their website which btw is in Nihongo.

You can also read about them at wikipedia.

In the past, Soulhead has worked with other artists such as Crystal Kay, Sowelu, and more recently with Koda Kumi.

I would be so incredibly happy if Soulhead would visit the US for a tour!

Hyde vs. Hide - they're different people you know

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Mar 182007

Xomba.com has an interesting write up on Hyde vs. Hide:

The pronounciation for Hyde and Hide is totally different. Hyde is pronounced “Hai-do” or “Hide,” whereas Hide is pronounced “Hi-De.” It’s only the similar spelling that has thrown me off.

When I found out that Hyde was a different person, I checked the library, and was surprised to find his 666 album. I was pretty excited because I had heard good things about Hyde. Judging from the one L’arc En Ciel song that I’d heard, I figured his music would be upbeat poppy rock music. (I’d heard “READY STEADY GO!” from Full Metal Alchemist.) While Hyde’s solo work sounds similar, it is also more metal, more glam and more boring. I was seriously disappointed.

Hide, on the other hand, is brilliant. I have both Hide Your Face and Psyence full-length albums. They are an amalgamation of various styles, genres and sounds, at times both familiar and exotic, various musical disciplines blending together to form a cohesive whole. His music is at times whimsical, angry, mature and childish, but mostly just plain genius. It is also obviously Japanese, plundering from Western music, but never aping it.

Read the complete article HERE.