Tomonori: “Once 2008 came along, while it did remain an innocent playground for amateur creators, more and more who could contend with pros showed up. I think Melt was the impetus. The ‘Melt shock,’ with Melt and its covers dominating the NicoNico Douga Mylist rankings, left a real impression - in fact, looking back now, the very existence of the rankings was huge. I feel like that visualization of popularity made it into a place for competition.”

Hachioji-P: “Starting around 2008, I think Vocaloid producers started becoming aware of rankings and views. As ‘utattemita’ covers established themselves, there came to be some sparks flying between Vocaloid-likers and utattemita-likers... (wry smile) In any case, I suppose it was also one strategy to gain popularity through the synergy of fan works. However, there weren't yet many people who stopped to think it through that much around 2008. First things first, they just did what they wanted, songs they liked.”

T: “Exactly, it wasn't until later that ‘strategies’ came about. But if I had to note one thing, I think the visualization of the Vocaloid producers was very important.”

H: “Indeed, I think this might be the period where rather than the song coming out in front, there came to be more awareness of the people behind Hatsune Miku, and thinking ‘I'll listen because it's by this creator.’ … Everyone was concerned with the rankings at this point. I found that competition pleasant, and it was fun striving for the top.”

I know we all love Miku, but actually… Vocaloid/vocal-synth is more than Miku! What! Yeah, most Miku fans who don’t actually know that much about Vocaloid only care about Miku, but now we’re getting into like, the second layer of the iceberg that is the Vocaloid scene.

On December 28th, 2007, Crypton finally released the next product in their Character Vocals series: Kagamine Rin and Len. They were a two-in-one package; for the price of one Vocaloid, you get two! One girl and one boy, Rin and Len respectively. With Kagamine meaning “mirror sound”, the two of them were conceptualized as genderbended versions of each other. They even share the same voice provider, Asami Shimoda. KEI was called upon again to design their looks, and his design is just as genius as the one for Miku. They’re the same person underneath, it’s only their hair and clothes that are styled differently.

When Rin and Len’s silhouettes were teased earlier that month, the Vocaloid fans at the time wanted to assign a so-called “character item” to them, like the leek/spring onion that Miku had come to be recognized with. There were many, many arguments over what their items should be… eventually it was decided that, based off of the silhouettes of their heads, Rin’s would be an orange and Len’s would be a banana, and so from them on, even though they’re both “the yellow ones” in the Character Vocal line-up, Rin would be associated with the color orange and Len with yellow.

But they also had another character item between the two of them, because of this video. It jokingly proposes that Rin’s character item, rather than a food item, should be a road roller! On the basis that both Rin’s hair and road rollers are yellow, and because “Riiiiin” sounds like “Wryyyyy!!!”. The video linked in the subtitle is essential viewing in order to understand this.