ASIA VOCALOID Cosplayer Discussion（3/6）

Live on Nico Nico Douga. Cosplay warriors checking Akiba site live feed.

ab： Where do you get your VOCALOID, anime and game info?

Rikert（Korea）：From Nico Nico Douga.

-SZU-（Japan）： Nico-dou (Nico Nico Douga). I’m a heavy user (lol). As soon as a new song is uploaded I’m one of the first to check it out.

Pipi Chu （Hong Kong）： In Hong Kong we also use Nico-dou. YouTube as well. We can check out the Japanese news live. There are many others who use games (PSP projectDIVA), those who first encounter Hatsune Miku at game centers and also got hooked on VOCALOID.

Misa（Taiwan）: Taiwan is the same. There is a bit of a time lag with info coming to Taiwan so I check the Akihabara web sites.

ab：Besides Nico Nico Douga what other sources are there?

Mizutani　Rei（China）： I get information from Chinese game magazines. I also check the latest on Chinese dojin sites.

Ueda（Japan）： I check the VOCALOID info site “Hatsune Miku Miku” for info.

NORANEKO（Fukuoka）: Word of mouth from friends is another source of info.

Yuegene Fay（Thailand）：Some Japanese and Akihabara web sites have Thai translations so I check them for info. I also get a lot from friends and YouTube as well. I download the songs from the net. Nico Nico Douga is only in Japanese so it is not that popular in Thailand.
●These cosplayers from throughout Asia get their info live from Japan. The Internet is awesome!

Monthly comic and cosplay events. Unique VOCALOID events keep coming!

ab：What kind of pop-culture events like VOCALOID do you have in your countries?

Caruto（Korea）: The Comic World dojin event in Korea is the most famous. Cosplayers participate in the stage events there. Of course there are plenty of VOCALOID cosplayers too. Next week (interviewed Oct 23) the Korean domestic heats (held twice a year) to choose contestants for the World Cosplay Summit will be held. Many of the contestants are VOCALOID cosplayers and it has become one of the main genres.

●(Photo above) The Hatsune Miku concert “Mikupa 2011” held in Japan was screened in satellite venues in Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

NENEKO（Taiwan）: There are quite a few cosplay events in Taiwan. There are also many VOCALOID only events too. A satellite screening of the Mikupa (HATSUNE MIKU LIVE PARTY) 2011 was held in Gaoxiong. Practically all of the cosplay events are held in the Taiwan University gym hall; for exampleFF（FancyFrontier） andCWT（Comic World in Taiwan）. There is an event just about every month, both large and small.

Miyabi（Hong Kong）: There are not many only-VOCALOID events in Hong Kong. The first ever VOCALOID event MIRACLE Vox was held in April this year attracting about one thousand fans. It is slated for June next year. Other events that VOCALOID cosplayers attend are dojin and anisong events.

Wan Wan（China）: There is a VOCALOID-only event held every month. At the last only-VOCALOID event about one thousand cosplayers came, and there were also plenty who didn’t cosplay. There are many other non-VOCALOID events too.

Yuegene Fay（Thailand）: There are many game and manga specialty events, but there are few VOCALOID-only events. VOCALOID lovers get together and plan their own small events thinking that not many would show up, but you would be surprised at the number of people who show up. VOCALOID is all the rage in Thailand!

ab：What kind of events are there in Japan – the home of VOCALOID?

-SZU-（Japan）: In addition to VOCALOID-only events there are quite a few VOCALOID character-only events. For example, KAITO-only and Megurine Luka-only events. And not every month, sometimes once every two weeks you will find character-only events. Among these character-only events there is a lot of VOCALOID music, which means that there is a lot of VOCALOID cosplay and they are probably the biggest group.

Haruno（Japan）: Tokyo’s biggest VOCALOID-only event is THE VOC@LOiD　M@STER, a dojin sales event that you can attend in cosplay.

Rou（Fukuoka）: There are not many “only” events in Kyushu, but there are plenty of old western style architecture and Japanese castles that are popular backdrops for cosplayer photo shots.