Music MikuExpo 2024

[Blanc]

Did anyone here go, or is anyone here keeping up with the ‘controversy’ going on?

To make a long story short as any typical miku fan, I was elated when Miku Expo started coming to NA, even more so when I finally moved to an area that allowed me to go! I bought tickets (and got good seats!) for the first time to see Miku Expo back in 2020, unfortunately right when covid happened. Thus, my money was refunded and no Miku Expo took place that year, nor did it properly take place in 2022 (was a recap montage) and 2023 (a VR concert).

This year marks the first year Miku is finally back on stage properly since covid, and I did not know that the year I bought (and was refunded) my ticket was possibly the last year Miku would be in her well-known holographic state. Jrharbort, a writer of the Mikufan site, provides the TLDR of the uproar going on.

For anyone who doesn’t feel like link clicking, the short of it? Crypton and Crunchyroll (their partner for Miku Expo since Covid year) have decided running Miku on her holographic pane of glass is too financially straining to be going forward in the states. Until she reaches Japan again for touring, it’s unknown whether the ‘miku tv screen’ will become the norm just for NA or as a whole… either way, I’m deeply saddened to hear that not only was my shot at seeing Miku totaled by covid, but now possibly unachievable to witness in her purest form.

I also think it wasn’t great for Crypton to not tell attendees this until they witnessed it themselves… Shelling out 500 dollars to see Miku in an undecorated box I wasn’t made aware of doesn’t sit well with me.

So! With that rundown, anyone here go? What did you think of ‘miku in a box’? Even if you didn’t go, how do you feel about this? While I’m personally afraid this may be how she tours in NA and Europe going forward, I at least hope Japan gets to keep holo-miku. I’d be pretty sad if they retired that tech for her entirely.

 

[carpology]

i did go to the miku expo!!! this was my first time going to the expo at all (i didn't even know it existed until my friend told me back when the concerts for this year was first announced) and i'd never even seen any old concert recordings of it, so i was completely unaware that it wasn't always on a screen--my friend and i both thought she would be a hologram, but ultimately thought just being able to attend at all was amazing enough that we weren't toooo mad about it. i was personally very shocked though, because i've watched old real-life concerts for a certain rhythm game where the characters were all holograms & this rhythm game is certainly not as popular as miku herself and doesn't earn as much money as she does either. i don't know a thing about the finances of stuff like this, but both crypton and crunchyroll certainly earn enough money i feel pretty sure they could finance her as a hologram lol..... it seems more like they're penny-pinching to me than anything, but that's a common enough phenomenon among companies these days that it isn't really that outrageous, or at least that's what i think.

in any case i really did enjoy the concert! i thought it was cool that miku + friends changed their outfits a whole bunch, and it gave an opportunity for lots of cool lighting and background effects, and the live band was really really good. it's definitely really expensive, even more so depending on where you go, but i do think it's worth it despite it all!

 

[Blanc]

in any case i really did enjoy the concert! i thought it was cool that miku + friends changed their outfits a whole bunch, and it gave an opportunity for lots of cool lighting and background effects, and the live band was really really good. it's definitely really expensive, even more so depending on where you go, but i do think it's worth it despite it all!

I'm really glad you had a good time!! To be honest if I was able to go this year I probably would have had a good time nonetheless too, jamming to vocaloid is jamming to vocaloid LOL.

i don't know a thing about the finances of stuff like this, but both crypton and crunchyroll certainly earn enough money i feel pretty sure they could finance her as a hologram lol..... it seems more like they're penny-pinching to me than anything, but that's a common enough phenomenon among companies these days that it isn't really that outrageous, or at least that's what i think.

Yeah very this, I heard a lot of speculation that the screen is just easier to move around and cheaper/easier to setup when touring which is... a shame we're moving to that. I heard rumors the screen was recently used in JP concerts as well but it was much more decorated so the immersion wasn't broken and didn't feel as off as it was in NA tours.

I know of some other companies that use the screen rather than hologram projection (such as some vtuber agencies) but they decorate the stage around it, and I hope that's what they do if they stick this formula moving forward.

 

[Lapidot Matoi]

I don't really ever go to concerts because of the cost (and my lack of passion for music outside of vocaloid). But I really wanted to go to a Miku concert someday. I even noticed that a concert pretty soon is actually within reach distance wise. After this incident, and crypto saying this will be the norm, I'm worried about going to any current or future Miku event of this sort. I really hope they change their mind on this