"I'll sing in the rain, laugh in the darkness, and dance in hell. Our job will never change until the day the world ends. We'll let the people enjoy our songs. No matter what kind of storm we're facing, you'll always look handsome in the rain. Anyone who laughs at you will immediately be captivated in the next moment." ― KUJO TENN
(Feel free to leave your own thoughts; let's be respectful towards each other as well)
It's been a while since I have written something, but I felt like writing, so here I am. I think everyone here listens to music. There are all kinds of music around the world and everyone has their preferences when it comes to the music they like. After all, everyone is a unique individual.
It happens that I like to listen to anisongs most of the time, but the thing I'm most committed to are these songs from 2D music projects. I have to admit that it's a different world, and yet it is so similar to all other music around the world. The thing that sets these music projects apart is, I think you already feel it coming, that the groups/artists aren't real. In fact, there are a lot of projects with characters voiced by the same seiyuu, so… are these 2D-music projects really that special?
Yes, they are pretty unique and they definitely give you a different kind of experience. I'm not saying that it's something everyone can enjoy though. After all, we are still talking about 2D-characters.
One of the things that makes these projects so special, is the fact that everything is possible, since it's not real. The events happening in the story can take the craziest twists and turns, but it can also be something really normal. It really can go in all directions. I mean… We have zombies striving to become legendary idols (Zombieland Saga), vampires 'fighting' each other to be the best group (Visual Prison), but also idols who are considered test subjects by their company (HANA-Doll*) or a music project with androids making music (Technoroid). Pretty much everything is possible.
THE IMPACT OF ANIME ON POPULARITY
When a project gets a lot of recognition, then it's not weird that they will get an anime or manga adaptation. There are always original music animes like Starmyu, Selection Project or Visual Prison, but a lot of music animes have gotten anime adaptations due to their overall popularity. I'm going to be really honest here, but don't expect too much of an anime adaptation of a 2D-music project. It's cool to see your favourite characters move on screen, but most of the time, the anime is nothing more than an introduction to the main project, which is most of the time a game. BanG Dream! anime has its own original plot, just like Bushi's other music projects, D4DJ and ARGONAVIS. Ensemble Stars also got an anime adaptation and there's also a movie in the making. Hypnosis Mic also got an anime adaptation and I don't know who thought it was a good idea to add original characters, but it was a really questionable choice in my eyes. The original songs in anime are also really bad and not even a fraction of how good their songs can actually be. Most of their budget probably went to the original characters and it shows in their song… Poor management if you ask me, especially since the original anime characters are not even in the main story.
They don't want to sell out their main story, because that means less people will play the game or buy the CDs. They are just trying to lure you in with this anime adaptation that barely has any deep content in it. Of course, they are also in a bind, since they only have that many episodes to fit in the story, so they somehow have to make it interesting enough for the new fans. So. They don't like to give away their main plot, but that doesn't apply to every project. One of the best music project adaptations that has been done is IDOLiSH7. IDOLiSH7 is not afraid to animate their main story. Better said, it's even better than fans could have imagined and the adaptation has been praised several times as well. A lot of thoughts have been put into the anime. The original story can be read in game, but they really went all out when it came to visual representation. They even added extra content in it and it all fit perfectly. If you want to watch a good music project adaptation, then I would definitely tell you to watch IDOLiSH7.
An anime reaches more people than a rhythm game would, since it doesn't require time and effort to progress the story. The company is trying to sell the project to you in 12-13 episodes and honestly… the moment you're curious about a project and the moment you want to know more about it, that's the moment you have fallen into their sweet trap called advertisement.
ABOUT THE GAMES
Like I have mentioned just now, you can also enjoy the game that the music projects bring out. Okay, most of them only have a Japanese server, so you need a JP app store or another app to download the game, but most games are fortunately rhythm games. You will be able to enjoy the music while playing your tap tap games. Not a lot of brain cells required really. Yes, you are also dependent on fan translation if you're interested in the story, but you can use an online translator to translate the written dialogue. It's easier compared to voice dramas, but it might take some time and effort. There are some games with an English server like Love Live!, BanG Dream, D4DJ and Utapri, but it's still very limited.
For many projects, their game is the breadwinner of the project. It may be a rhythm game, but it will surprise you how much money they earn with it. The biggest reason for their income is the gacha involved in the game. Every week (or two), there's an event on these rhythm games and with this event, there will be a gacha dedicated to it. It will give you cards that give you more event points, so people will pull for it, if they decide to tier in the event. Tiering in events is no joke. It's fun to tier and to see how far you can get in the rankings, but it really takes a lot of time and effort to reach that high. Some people even end up buying boosts in-game, so they can increase their score just a little more. It's going to be difficult as a f2p player, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. You will have to save up a lot and have a lot of time on your sleeve and you are ready to go. It also depend on the game on how hardcore people will play. If you're playing Project Sekai, BanG Dream!, Ensemble Stars or HoneyWorks Premium Live, then I will wish you a lot of luck. If you play a rhythm game with a small fan base like AAside, then it won't be too difficult to get into the top 5000.
I actually decided to tier in one of HoneyWorks Premium Live events, because I had the time and the resources for it. It was a bloodbath. I think I have played for over 80 hours in that one week of event duration and I ended up being 21st. Will I do it again? No. Some people really take it to the next level and I have concluded that it's nothing for me.
Not all music projects go down the rhythm game route. Take Technoroid as an example. It has a gameplay more similar to another game called Crash Fever, but it still holds its music genre. Blackstar does have a rhythm game function in their game, but you won't level up by playing songs unlike other rhythm games. That's because the focus lies on the "rehearsal" (something more like an idle game) part and the story. Not all games work with a tiering system as well. IDOLiSH7 doesn't really do rankings, maybe only once in a while, but most of the time it's just playing a song and accumulating as many points as you can get to get the rewards. You're not really missing out on a lot really.
TO BE AN OVERSEAS FAN…
A lot of good quality music projects don't have an anime or manga adaptation, so they rely heavily on their voice dramas. It's a fact that a music project gets more recognition if it has an adaptation of some sort, but that isn't always possible with the budget they have. There's nothing really wrong with voice dramas, but if you don't know the Japanese language, then there's also a limit on how much you can enjoy. Some projects provide English translations like MILGRAM and HeavenlyHelly. Paradox Live is also starting to cater towards overseas fans, but if there are no official translations, then you're pretty much dependent on fan translations. That's no problem, until you stumble upon a project with a really small overseas fandom. At that point, you are only able to enjoy the project by listening to their music and we are not even talking about the fact if they are region locked or even do online streaming…
That makes it really difficult to enjoy a project sometimes. Look at Blackstar for example. There are no online streaming services available for their songs, so the only way to listen to the songs is via the game or their YT channel and even their YT channel doesn't give out the length of the short version in their game. You can listen to a few full versions (Just a Loser, During the Demise, Niji no Kanata e, Breakin' it faster, Purple Dawn, Kyokuya and ego), but it definitely restricts the overseas fans from enjoying the project to its fullest potential, especially when there's no overseas shipping as well.
There are many more projects that don't release their songs world wide. Projects like Tsukiuta, Tsukipro, Ensemble Stars and Live us are all region locked on Spotify. You can easily access them by using a VPN, but how great would it be to be able to listen to them without the help of a VPN? As someone who doesn't really use VPN, I would love to be able to listen to these songs. That said, there are some projects starting to distribute their songs, which was not possible to listen to before. Rejet started to do online distribution with CARNELIAN BLOOD and they also did it for the band albums of Kare wa Vocalist. It may not seem like a lot, but the beginning is here.
Despite some projects having official translations, there are times when things can be translated better. For example, MILGRAM translates the prisoners verdict as guilty or innocent, but it would have been better if it was to forgive or not.
INTERACTIVE PROJECTS
What has been popular lately are the interactive projects where the audience decides what's going to happen in the story. You can vote on their site or via Twitter most of the time. It's a very creative way to engage with the audience, but it's also fun to see everyone's opinion on why they decide to vote on that option. It really is a fun way to see what the majority of the fandom thinks.
A popular interactive project is MILGRAM. It's the task for the audience to vote the characters (prisoners) to be guilty or innocent. This will have an effect on the story as well, so it's not like your choice is unimportant. It's important to listen to the songs and to watch the MVs as well. MILGRAM actually has a lot of controversial themes, so you will definitely have an opinion on them. Another project with audience voting is Clock over ORQUESTA. This is another music project where the audience decides if they want character A to win or character B. The fate of their life lies in our hands.
Of course, there can be voting around the music only. Take Paradox Live as an example. They have something called the stage battles and with the dope points you have collected, you can use your points on the team you want to win. Yes, there are voice dramas included, but it's not like it will have an immediate big change to the story like the other two above. You can listen to both songs of a stage battle and simply decide which song you like more. It's not like you have to theorise about the MV or need to think about the motivation why someone wants to win. However, the second battle seems to be more alike to Hypnosis Mic. Once you're eliminated, you're gone from the battle. Very similar to the D.R.B.
Then again, you also have VS AMBIVALENZ that's more similar to these idol survival shows (something like PD101). It's important here how much the character can grab your attention, especially since you have to choose between two characters voiced by the same seiyuu.
YOU ARE YOUR OWN DEFINITION OF FAN
I don't think this is really necessary to say, but you're your own definition of a fan. There are probably times when you're not sure if you can call yourself a fan of a certain idol/group, because you are not able to follow it, since you don't master the language. I think it's okay. Fans come in all sizes, so you're definitely a fan. After all, everyone has that one thing in common and that's how they like to spend their time on the said thing.
As someone who shows a lot of interest in these 2D music projects and idol projects, I started to wonder if I was truly a "fan". As someone who doesn't really go out their way, I started to interact with people, who shared the same interest as me. What could possibly go wrong, right? I had a nice chat with different people, but there was one person who disappeared the moment I said I was in multiple fandoms. I innocently thought they were busy and they didn't had time to reply, but it turned out that they just didn't want to talk to me anymore. Great. At least they didn't block me.
What is a fan? I googled and the result gave me the following:
Fan: someone who admires and supports a person, sports, sports team, etc.
A pretty easy definition. There's no one who wouldn't be able to understand the explanation and if you don't, I will kindly explain it to you. The term has a very broad meaning in the sense that you can be a fan of anything and anyone.
Does that mean that you can call yourself a fan if you like anime? Yes, sounds pretty good in my ears at least. Sadly, there are some narrow minded people on this planet called earth, who can't differentiate between simply "liking" something and "obsessing" over something.
Anyway, there seems to be this "line" in every fandom (and otherwise the music fandoms I'm in), that you have to pass. People expect you to know the story and characters, and for music projects the songs. That's only normal. However, some expect you to show interest 24/7. Excuse me? I also live a normal life outside of this online world I live in…? I can imagine showing more interest in certain projects. After all, our preferences and priorities are always changing. There's always one thing that will shine brighter in your eyes than others.
I'm the type to love everything equally. I have to admit that I graciously fail at it, but that's a point of another discussion. Maybe it's better to say that it's impossible for me to be fixated on one thing. I like it when there's new content coming from left and right. Doesn't it get you excited whenever you see new content coming from the thing you currently like? It's a great feeling. I've always loved anime since the moment I came across it and that grew out to the love I hold for these 2D music projects. What I want to say is that I was made fun of because I liked anime back in the day. I felt isolated, because I liked something that no one else seemed to like around me. That's when I tried to find people online who shared the same sentiment. I wasn't able to understand English very well, so that says something about my desperate attempt to be understood. People minded their own business and they commented whenever there was something they wanted to comment on. Even if no one left a comment on your post, the likes made it as if they at least paid some attention to it. It was a weird way of comfort. Just saying, but the amount of likes mean nothing at all.
Some music fandoms are notorious for their fandom. I would have named one, but let's not go to that territory. Let's say that it can be a heated point of discussion when people think differently of some choices, to the point that it has to be canonly changed. They live in their own fantasies, some more than others. I would say, you do you. My point is that you shouldn't put everyone in the same box. The fandom may be notorious for their bad behaviour, but that doesn't mean everyone is like that. Sometimes I see people talking bad about certain fans (not necessarily a music project) and it makes it uncomfortable for me to start talking about the said thing. I respect your opinion, but please don't put everyone in the same box. You're not that small minded.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
We have a lot of big music projects like Love Live!, BanG Dream! and Ensemble Stars, but there is a lot more when you look further than that. There are a lot of music projects with interesting concepts, but the sad thing is that the popularity may be a bit disappointing from time to time. Only a few really make it big and a lot of small projects get discontinued or shelved for I don't know how long. That's the sad truth about these projects, if you don't make enough money, it will be the end of you. That has always been the case in this world.
If a project has a small following, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't successful. The best thing about these music projects is how you can connect with other people, as if these 2D characters are real artists. If I had to name one project that get a lot of support despite it's shakey base, I would say ARGONAVIS. This project went through a lot and it never really seemed to be received well in the eyes of a lot people, but even so, the fans keep supporting it. I think not a lot of people actually played the game, but the ones who played it, were sure to stay until the end of service. Not only that, a lot of things seem to be sold out quickly too and that wouldn't be possible without a loyal fanbase.
It's a common thing for projects to end their game service. AAside (the rhythm game of ARGONAVIS) was definitely not the first one to shut down. Some others are Banyaro, ICHU, B-Pro and Tsukipara… The thing is, most of them never really stopped bringing out content. That's just how much people love these projects. I mean… Ready!!! has gotten a lot of support from their fans, despite the fact that it isn't a name of a project you will hear very often. These projects can come a long with the help of their fans, but that still doesn't take away the fact how tough it is to keep the project going.
… and that's why we should enjoy the content to its fullest. A lot of people work on these projects and it takes a lot of dedication. I know that there are people who find it difficult to support a project when there's someone working on it they don't like, but remember that that person isn't the only person in the project and that many more work on it. Don't let one person take away your joy.
