Vocaloid/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Americans Hate Tingle: Gachapoid is quite popular among Japanese fans, though he was slow to gain popularity among producers. In America, well...
    • It goes so bad that most people calls him Gachapoid more than Ryuto, his avatar name, unlike Gackpoid and Megpoid (Gakupo and Gumi respectively).
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: Apparently, Project Diva's sequel, Project Mirai will not only include levels where you can do Story of Evil but Gumi will be a player character.
  • Anvilicious: "The New Millenium", and The Near-Future City.
  • Ascended Meme: Neru Akita, Haku Yowane, Miku Hachune, Sakine Meiko and TakoLuka are fanmade Vocaloids all officially recognized by Crypton. Unusual in that Neru and Haku's voices are modified versions of Miku's voice, and Hachune is just a Super-Deformed Miku.
  • Non Sequitur Scene: Tower of Sunz has one from approximately 3:25 to 4:20.
    • Miku fights a Godzilla rip-off in Kyoudai Shoujo PV in Project Diva 2nd. And then after it's defeated, she fights it again on the Moon. And then they sing together and bow to the audience. Yeah.
    • The UFO that also appears there however, isn't BLAM because it also appears in Updating Your Love List.
  • Cargo Ship: Kaito/Ice Cream
  • Covered Up: The Gakupo cover of Turkish March Owata has become so popular that some people refuse to even acknowledge the original Miku version of the song - by the same artist. Which is to say nothing of the fact that a lot of English-speaking fans seem to forget that the reason the words "Turkish March" are in there is because it's a lyrical version of a classical piece by the same name.
  • Crack is Cheaper: Vocaloids don't go cheap, going about 15,000 to 20,000 yen each (about $200–$250), not including the separate editor that needs to be bought with a Vocaloid3 Vocaloid. This tends to unnerve quite a few fans when they want to try the software for themselves and find themselves taken aback by the hefty pricetag.
  • Crack Pairings: Are technicaly impossible, since the canon changes with each song.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: Has its own page.
  • Crowning Moment of Funny: Also has a page.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: See here.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: A lot of the songs. Listed here.
  • Die for Our Ship: Rather oddly, Miku gets this all the time from hardcore Rin/Len shippers who perceive her as a Clingy Jealous Girl, even though genuine Len/Miku shippers or even songs are almost nonexistent.
    • On YouTube, Miku is often bashed by Meiko/Kaito and Luka/Gakupo fans who dislike the Miku/Kaito or Miku/Gakupo pairings. Probably ties into It's Popular, Now It Sucks (see below). The bashing can go the other way, too, towards Meiko or Luka.
  • Ear Worm: Dancing Samurai; Go Go Mario. Your Mileage May Vary. There's at least one. Everywhere. For everyone. It's just a matter of finding your personal one.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Kaito, when he was released, was Crypton's poorest-selling Vocaloid release. A little after Miku came out, his popularity suddenly skyrocketed. He is still the only largely popular Vocaloid from the Vocaloid1 line.
    • Fan-made derivatives-turned-official vocaloids Haku Yowane and Neru Akita are often more popular and recognized than some of the official vocaloids.
  • Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Opinions vary quite a bit on what, if anything, the song Rolling Girl could be about, with theories ranging from suicide to an abusive relationship. Also, the writer of Alice Human Sacrifice explicitly subverted the trope- according to him, (roughly translated) "it's a series of events with the Vocaloids, nothing else. Sorry."
  • Fan Dumb: Fans fight over depictions of certain characters or pairings that they don't agree with, even though there's no real canon and the Vocaloids have no official personalities. Thus all characterisation is strictly Fanon, any pairing is possible, and fan popularity (or lack thereof) can't really change either of those things.
    • The fact that the Vocaloids don't have a personality would question why people would dislike or like a character OR pairing. Guess it's all about the outside.
    • It's not all about the outside, because they ALL have Fanon personalities. And also some people are shipping pairing because of songs they liked, leading to hating other songs because they advocate ships that aren't in the first song they heard.
    • Every time a Vocaloid comes out, according to the Fan Dumb, it's unoriginal, its voice sucks, or the design is unoriginal/bland/horrible. Or all of the above.
    • There are people out there who still think that only the Crypton Vocaloids are the "official" ones (and for some reason throw in Teto as being "official"). So all of the others are "unofficial"?
    • And don't get started on Hatsune Miku's portrayals in the Toyota Corolla commercials and print ads (especially her art drawing there at Toyota's 2011 Corolla website), which got lots of Internet Backdraft.[1] Perhaps more recently the allegetions of Cultural Translation, including a rectangular image on her necktie which is said to have been turned into something that bears resemblance to the American Flag.
    • Fangirls of male vocaloids can be from pretty bad to nightmarish. General consensus says that Len fangirls are usually the worst; it's fairly common for them to bash the heck out of Rin (or any other Vocaloid) in such songs as Servant of Evil and other songs where Len dies, and freak out whenever he does (which happens often), even if the song has nothing to do with Len to begin with.
      • Speaking of Rin and chronically killed actors, they either don't know the fact that she dies in literally twice as many songs as Len does, or they choose to ignore that fact.
      • That doesn't even get into the fact that they tend to make generally disturbing comments about Len whenever he appears in any video, or how they gush about him nearly every second. And don't get me started on SPICE!
  • Fanon: Vocaloids might just be the greatest example ever of this trope. Absolutely nothing save for the designs and the voices were determined by Word of God. Crypton even backpedaled on their statement that the Kagamines were mirror images.
    • If a Miku song about love becomes a hit, rest assured an "Another" video will come out with Kaito's version.
    • If there is a series of popular songs, the song creator's word will often be ignored by the fans. The Dark Woods Circus series has it particularly bad. Everyone believes Wide Knowledge of the Late Madness is its prequel; despite what the fanmade PV implies, Machigerita-P has said it isn't. Even if the fans are aware that Wide Knowledge isn't part of the series, most will mess up the order of the songs.
    • Due to some English Vocaloids not having a full body avatar (exceptions being Sonika and Big Al), the fandom takes it upon themselves to sketch up various designs for the Engloids. Another is fans designing an image for VY1 and VY2, as they are the first Japanese Vocaloids to not have a full body avatar on their boxart, similar to Leon and Lola.
    • AH Software might be trying to move away from this with Kiyoteru Hiyama by releasing his official artbook. Still doesn't stop fans from screwing around with his personality (like in Delete).
  • Fanon Discontinuity: An alarmingly large amount of the Fan Dumb likes to pretend that any Vocaloid released after Gumi doesn't exist. It Got Worse after franchise-based Vocaloids (Iroha and Gachapoid) were announced.
    • Though this seems to be mellowing out, especially after SeeU was released.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: While the Vocaloids are software and there are no canon interactions between any of them, some pairings simply seem to have more videos and fans than others:
    • Kaito x Miku (though there are many many Kaito x Meiko fans, especially in America), Gakupo x Luka, and Len x Rin. Again, Vocaloids can be paired in any way you want, but these seem to be the most popular.
    • Yaoi-wise, it tends to be Kaito/Len or Gakupo/Kaito (or just Gakupo/Kaito/Len altogether). Yuri-wise it's Miku/Luka (and sometimes Miku/Rin) and Haku/Neru. Meiko/Luka is also pretty popular.
  • Fetish Retardant: Nehanshika features Absolute Cleavage bearing Miku and shirtless Gakupo. Not nearly as hot as it sounds.
  • Follow the Leader: The UTAUloids. Not that this is a bad thing...
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: SeeU, despite being designed by a Korean manhwa artist, the Japanese vocaloid fanbase, even those in 2ch who are infamous for their xenophobia towards Koreans, actually praised the character design heavily.
  • Ho Yay/Les Yay: Meiko's flashbacks in Paradise of Light and Shadow, which may or may not be sisterly love.
  • Hype Backlash: Whenever a famous producer (cosMo, Akuno-P, ryo/supercell, wowaka, etc.) publishes a new song, there will always be a horde of people hating the song (to counter the huge horde of people who love the song regardless of the quality because of its composer).
  • Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Banana Split for KAITOxLen, and LenxNeru can be referred to as Banana Phone.
    • And the less common but still popular in it's own right LenxTeto gets "Banana Bread".
  • Internet Backdraft: Examples
    • Fans weren't exactly thrilled with Gakupo and Megpoid's designs when they were first announced... and that's putting it nicely. Both have since gotten a lot more positive reception, thanks to their songs.
    • Hell, take ANY new Vocaloid when it's first released. The Backdraft is inevitable. It'll eventually cool down though. People will complain that "X's design sucks/is so unoriginal!" or "X's voice sounds like Y!". This will go on until another Vocaloid comes out, and all previously hated Vocaloids will become beloved. Then again, that's the fandom for ya.
      • Surprisingly averted with future Vocaloid Lily. Most people praised her unique design [dead link] and voice.
      • Aoki Lapis got backlashed early during her development stages due to her resemblance to Hentai video game characters (and as it turns out, the designer is herself an Eroge artist), and especially her rather strange headgear (a huge diamond on a headband, resembling a giant diamond ring, and for some, looks more like a Cranial Eruption). It slowly died down, though, like most Vocaloids before her, and she is now mostly liked for being Moe.
      • Surprisingly averted with SeeU, which got heaps of praise upon first release, and by the Japanese fanbase of all groups, despite being Korean designed (see Germans Love David Hasselhoff above)
    • Don't forget the amount of Backdraft there was when UTAU Ritsu's gender was announced...
    • On April 1, 2011, Power FX site went down as they were planning to transfer to a new server space. On the 6th it returned and on their Vocaloid page was a display of what appeared to be new designs for Big Al and Sweet Ann's. The fandom on both sides (West and Japanese) exploded with mixed reactions. Due to Power FX site having no explanation as to why the designs were there, it took about 48 hours(plus) until an employee informed the fanbase that the design were for the Taiwanese market.
    • And now there's the Toyota Corolla commercials starring Hatsune Miku fiasco, if the comments on the respective YouTube videos (and some of the response videos) are of any indication.
    • According to MasterVocaloid (a Spanish producer), Voctro Labs has received death threats [dead link] over Bruno and Clara's artwork. Not to mention the fandumb reactions over the latest Vocaloids not being Japanese or English.
    • After the initial success of demos from Korean Vocaloid SeeU, it seemed she was going to be accepted by the generally not-quite-receptive-to-Korea Japanese Vocaloid fans - until a series of comparatively lackluster demos led to a large amount of negativity directed towards her, including jeers to "get off of Nico". This has gotten to the point where previously-accepted Korean-speaking UTAU are starting to take insults.
  • It's Popular, Now It Sucks: Some Vocaloid fans dislike Miku simply because she's the most popular.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: The first version of Rin and Len is no longer sold; their ACT2 version, which many producers consider inferior, is sold as the standard Rin/Len issue. In order to get the first Rin/Len release, you need to find a seller of the original version, which is near impossible, or (god forbid) pirate.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • Miku became one when somebody had her cover a song that was already a memetic mutation.
      • Leekspin is now associated about equally with Orihime and Miku.
    • Takoluka. She's slowly winning the hearts of Vocaloid fans on the Internet.
    • Toeto Luka, aka loli Luka
    • "Sonika says...Hiiiiii!"
    • "WHERE ARE OUR DEMOS"
      • Led to the birth of this during the wait for Tonio's demos.
      • And now this during the wait for Piko's, which is a parody of the above.
    • LamazeP (see Ear Worm above) seems determined to accomplish this - keep in mind this is the creator of the meme for "GEDDAN," which reached extreme memetic heights with the help of Teto.
    • This song, which everyone knows as Nyan Cat due to the rainbow excreting cat-Popart, is sung by the UTAU Momone Momo. Most people don't know this.
    • After mothy released supplementary material for it, fans of Story of Evil have recently taken to commenting on Story of Evil related videos with "CURSE YOU PRIM MARLON!", Prim Marlon being a character played by Prima who had manipulated the events of the story for her own personal gain.
  • Moe: Len, oh so damn much.
    • Can't forget this.
    • Aoki Lapis is generally seen as this (when the fans aren't bashing her design; see Internet Backdraft above).
    • SeeU, too.
  • Most Annoying Sound - The whole premise of My boyfriend's wallet appeared to be velcro-fastened. Well, that and Crowning Moment of Funny.
    • Let's not for the loud screech Miku gives in the Toyota commercial. Admittedly, though, "World is Mine" was badly timed for that commercial.
  • Needs More Love: Several of the songs by the English singing Vocaloid2, like Your Side by Sweet Ann, only become modest hits despite being very good and catchy. Most of the good original songs by the UTAU just get buried, such as Ecnaraeppasid by Amane Luna.
  • Nightmare Fuel: See here.
  • Nightmare Retardant: Scared by "Alice Human Sacrifice"? Don't worry.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: When Gumi's design was first released, fans everywhere were bashing it to heck. Things got better after being released, but Gumi was easily overshadowed by the other Vocaloids. Cue Coward Mont Blanc which ended up boosting her popularity so much, she practically replaced Luka as Miku's rival. Nowadays, Gumi frequently appears every week on the Weekly Rankings and is often considered the last Vocaloid to be released before Fanon Discontinuity by most fans.
  • Ron the Death Eater: Any Vocaloid other than a Kagamine paired with either of the Kagamine twins. Usually from the particularly vehement Twincest supporters.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: Where the hell do I start? There's the Len X Rin Twincest pairing, most of whose supporters abhor either of them being paired with anyone else (in which the feeling is mutual) and then there's the yaoi pairings which garner the most overall hate from the Vocaloid community, especially the Len X Rin shippers. Good god.
    • Worst part is that they should know that in the end, none of these are canon and never will be, making all the fighting pretty much pointless.
    • Funnily, there's a small skirmish between Meiko/Kaito versus Miku/Kaito. The skirmish aren't that fierce and rarely present, unlike Die for Our Ship-things like Rin/Len vs one of them/whatever, mostly appear as I Want My Beloved to Be Happy.
      • However, admitting to either side that you ship Kaito/Luka or Kaito/Len will probably not be well-received (though again, usually not to the level of the Kagamine diehards. Usually.)
  • Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Let's be honest, who's actually more fond of "Benzene" and "Nitrobenzene" than "Paradichlorobenzene" and "Anti-Chlorobenzene"?
  • Tear Jerker: Has a page.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Sonika make-over 2009 and Miku Append in 2010. Fandom reaction was a mix of positive and negative.
    • This is surprisingly averted with Rin and Len's appends, as most of the fandom tends to love them.
    • Overlaps into Memetic Mutation with Kaito, whose covers of other songs typically have the lyrics changed to reflect... ice cream. In particular, songs once written to describe romantic love (SPICE!, Love is War, Melt...) are redone to reflect Kaito's equivalent love for "aisu"; taken to an extreme with a version of "For the Longest Time" with all the lyrics replaced by Engrish-y ice cream flavors.
    • And now a new contender, Big Al and Sweet Ann's Taiwanese designs, though fans seem a bit divided on Sweet Ann's.
    • Ring Suzune and Lui Hibiki. Not very many people like their redesigns. There is also very little new design Ring fanart to speak of, and most chose to draw her as Ringu Suzunone instead. On Japanese message boards, they too question why the original design could not apply to the revise.
  • They Copied It, So It Sucks: The opinion of some of the Fandom is that Hiyama Kiyoteru is just a rehash of Kaito because they sound so similar.
    • Occasionally the newest Vocaloids get this treatment. For example:
    • Aoki Lapis once was compared to Yuki Kaai, and at one instance, Miku Hatsune.
    • Mew got compared to Luka Megurine and Gumi (or a mix of the two).
    • Oliver got compared to Len Kagamine.
    • IA got compared to Gumi because of their similarity in voice.
  • OT3: Vocaloid shippers like to choose three of the female Japanese Vocaloids (at first mostly Vocaloids 00, 01, and one half of the reflection of 02 before Megurine Luka), but another common OT3 came shortly. With a third male Japanese Vocaloid, an obvious conclusion: Gakupo Kamui was tacked on to Kaito/Kagamine Len when he came onto the scene.
    • With Hiyama Kiyoteru (AKA Senseiloid) and Big Al, there will be an OT3 without shota for some shippers... Not that Shotacon with Len is a completely bad thing.
      • Then again, with the aptly-named Voiceroid Shouta, one can turn the Shotacon quotient of an OT3 Up to Eleven.
      • There is now an OT3 composed of adults for the Japanese (Gakupo, Kaito, Kiyoteru) and the Western (Big Al, Tonio, Leon) Vocaloids. If they announce another shota (there are rumors that the next Crypton Vocaloid will be somewhere in between), then, there'll be a shota OT3 as well (doesn't really matter if Shouta's a voiceroid).
        • The anthropomorphized version of Gachapoid may be considered as part of the shota group.
        • Len, Gachapoid and Piko. Shota OT3 complete.
          • Only if Gachapoid exists for you.
          • Unless you replace Gachapoid with Lui Hibiki
  • Tastes Like Diabetes: Some artists like doing this with songs and art, but notable ones are I want to eat a tuna and Koi Suru Voc@loid.
  • Toy Ship: Gachpoid and Kaai Yuki, sometimes.
  • Uncanny Valley: The Vocaloid voices can certainly dip into this, if their composer doesn't play a few tricks with their voice quality first.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Word of God states that Dell is what Haku would be if she were a man. Haku's a drunken, depressed perpetually unemployed NEET and Dell is a hard-working wage earner...
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: While not exactly, the special effects in the Vocaloid Live Concert qualify.
  • Wham! Line: In scissorsloid, Luka wakes up after Miku goes into her charging room and tries to cut the cables. She proceeds to tell Miku how much she loves her and how much she admires her, and it's quite a beautiful moment. However, after Miku is distracted by Luka's kind words, Luka says, "Just kidding", just before taking a knife and stabbing Miku with it. Those who are familiar with videos like this knew that it was too good to be true, but for those unused to videos of this type, it really was a Wham! Line.
    • The end of The Tailor Shop at Enbizaka. When Luka's 'lover' asks her who she is
    • Love Disease starts off as a jazzy love song, and then...Luka admits that she's never met the guy she's singing to. Then things get worse.
    • "A Clingy Boy Sticking for 15 Years" would normally be about a boy who has a ridiculously obsessive crush on a girl so that he writes love poems with no reply for 15 years, so passionate that he gets wrapped up in various incidents like his house burning down (and somehow only managing to singe off all his clothes in the process), becoming a semi-literary celebrity, and getting amnesia. And then we find out the truth: "I remembered everything and burst into tears / Because I remembered... / that you died fifteen years ago."
  1. ↑ The art is by Alvin Lee, who also does artwork for Street Fighter, of all things, which should tell you how decidedly un-feminine the artwork has been deemed.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Vocaloid/YMMV?oldid=1920178"