Hatsune Miku, Fan-Voted VOCALOID Songs Featured on NHK Numa
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you’ve likely heard that the NHK program, Numa ni Hamatte Kiite Mita (hereafter “Numa Hama”) tweeted on June 11th that Hatsune Miku would be performing on their show!
What’s more, they were holding a survey asking fans for VOCALOID songs that they want to see introduced on the show.
The survey asked the following questions (※unofficial translations):
- “What are your top 3 choices for god-tier VOCALOID songs, and why?”
- “What are your 3 favourite VOCALOID songs, and why?”
- “What are your 3 favorite Hatsune Miku songs, and why?”
- “Tell us about the VOCALOID songs that you want to hear this summer:”
- Song with MAX addiction levels that you’ll play on repeat over and over
- Song to help you beat the heat and get you into a groove
- Heartrending songs that make you cry like a summer’s first love
- “What do you like about VOCALOID songs?”
The tweet survey was then widely circulated across various VOCALOID fandom accounts, such as Hatsune Miku’s official Twitter and 1st Place’s official Twitter. After all, fans were free to choose any VOCALOID song that they love, not just Miku ones. The survey thus quickly reached lots of fans and gave the Numa Hama staff a lot of answers to have to look through!
A second round of the survey was even conducted from June 23rd through the to the 26th, which also confirmed that the special VOCALOID episode will be called #ボカロ沼 (Vocalo Numa), a hashtag that quickly became trending!
In the end, it was reported that over 3,000 people took the survey, and that Numa Hama would be announcing the results on July 6th, 2020 at 6:55 PM (JST) for the Vocalo Numa special! What started out as simple survey for songs to play during Numa Hama quickly turned into a fandom-wide popularity contest!
In the reactions to their trailer tweet, you can almost feel the feverish excitement!
Vocalo Numa
Then came the big day on July 6th when Vocalo Numa aired live on NHK E-Tele! Below, you can see some opening scenes from the program when VocaSphere was watching! Viewers were even invited to tweet their thoughts with the hashtag #NHK沼 for the chance to see it read on air!
Category 1: Most Addictive VOCALOID Song
Then came the segments revealing the results of the survey questions about songs that we’ll be listening to this summer.
First category: the most addictive song!
- 脱法ロック / Dappou Rock (Law-Evading Rock) by Neru
- テオ / Teo by Omoi
- ボッカデラベリタ / Bocca della Verità by 柊キライ/Hiiragi Kirai
- 劣等上等 / Rettou Joutou (BRING IT ON) by Giga
- ロキ / Roki by みきとP / MikitoP
- Henceforth by Orangestar
- ウミユリ海底譚 / Umiyuri Kaitei Tan (Tales of the Deep-Sea Lily) by n-buna
- サマータイムレコード / Summer Time Record by じん / Jin
- 少女レイ / Shoujo Ray by みきとP / MikitoP
- エイリアンエイリアン / Alien Alien by ナユタン星人 / NayutalieN
After the top three were announced, they were put through one more vote that live viewers of the program could participate in by pressing the corresponding colored buttons on their remote controls to their song of choice. The song with the most votes would be declared the winner of that category!
Winner: 脱法ロック / Dappou Rock (Law-Evading Rock) by Neru
Reactions
v flower:
“Have you heard? A song that uses me was shown on Vocalo Numa.”
“It’s exciting to think that people are getting to know me more, bit by bit ✌︎(‘ω’✌︎ ) This is all thanks to the people who have used me for their songs, and have given me all their support! Thank you so much!✌︎(‘ω’✌︎ )”
Omoi:
“Eh? I’m 2nd?”
Neru:
“I hear that my songs are playing in the NHK program, but I don’t have a TV, so could everyone tell me later what they were all like?”
Hiiragi Kirai:
“I was watching the show on TV, wondering when they were going to play my song. And then Bocca della Verità started playing out of the blue and really surprised me.”
Category 2: VOCALOID Songs That Get You In A Groove
- 快晴 / Kaisei (Good Weather) by Orangestar
- 劣等上等 / Rettou Joutou / BRING IT ON by Giga
- ロキ / Roki by みきとP / MikitoP
- 脱法ロック / Dappou Rock (Law-Evading Rock) by Neru
- 積乱雲グラフィティ / Sekiranun Graffiti by ryo
- 39みゅーじっく! / 39 Music! by みきとP / MikitoP
- アゲアゲアゲイン / Ageage Again by Mitchie M
- DAYBREAK FRONTLINE by Orangestar
- チルドレンレコード / Children Record by じん / Jin
- ロケットサイダー / Rocket Cider by ナユタン星人 / NayutalieN
Reactions
Mitchie M:
“I heard that on today’s Vocalo Numa special, アゲアゲアゲイン / Ageage Again came in 7th in the ‘song that gets you in a groove’ category! Thank you so much for everyone who voted for it on the survey!”
“I don’t have a TV, so I couldn’t watch it myself”
Intermission
The program then introduced winners 10 through 2 for songs voted to be the best god-tier VOCALOID song before taking a short intermission for Miku to give a performance! Tell Your World (short version) by kz was performed and is actually 3rd place in the previously mentioned category!
*In order to keep things less confusing here, we’ll prove the full list later on in the article instead of splitting it up
Category 3: Heartwrenching VOCALOID Songs That Make You Cry
- Fire◎Flower by halyosy
- Calc. by ジミーサムP / JimmyThumbP
- ツギハギスタッカート / Tsugihagi Staccato (Patchwork Staccato) by とあ / toa
- からくりピエロ / Karakuri Pierrot by 40mP
- タイムマシン / Time Machine by 40mP
- 少女レイ / Shoujo Ray by みきとP / MikitoP
- いかないで / Ikanaide (Don’t Go) by 想太 / Sohta
- あの夏が飽和する。/ Ano Natsu ga Houwa Suru (That Summer Saturates) by カンザキイオリ / Kanzaki Iori
- 夜明けと蛍 / Yoake to Hotaru (Dawn and Fireflies) by n-buna
- Just Be Friends by Dixie Flatline
Winner: ツギハギスタッカート / Tsugihagi Staccato (Patchwork Staccato) by とあ / toa
Reactions
とあ / Toa:
“Thank you all voting my song into 3rd place in the heartrending songs that make you cry category!”
halyosy:
“Fire◎Flower is in the ranking! We did it, Len-kyun. And it’s even trending… wow… thank you all so much!”
想太 / Sohta:
“When you line up all their titles like this, ‘Ikanaide’ looks kind of out of place… (that’s what I intended for, but still)”
God-Tier VOCALOID Songs
And finally, here is the above-mentioned list of god-tier VOCALOID songs, complete with #1!
10. ロキ / Roki by みきとP / MikitoP
9. アンノウン・マザーグース / Unknown Mother Goose by wowaka
8. ワールズエンド・ダンスホール / World’s End Dance Hall by wowaka
7. シャルル / Charles by バルーン / Balloon
6. 砂の惑星 / Suna no Wakusei (Sand Planet) by ハチ / Hachi
5. 初音ミクの消失 / The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku by cosMo
3. Tell Your World by kz
2. 千本桜 / Senbonzakura by 黒うさP / KorousaP
1. メルト / Melt by ryo
With the announcement of メルト / Melt by ryo as the #1 voted VOCALOID song for the god-tier category, the summer playlist of VOCALOID songs present by Numa Hama’s was complete!
Reactions
kz:
“Seeing my song come in 3rd was surprising enough, but what made me extremely happy was hearing Nishikawa-san call out my name for the first time in a long while… Thank you so much…!”
cosMo:
“Thank you for including ‘Disappearance!'”
Closing Performance
And finally, to close the program, Miku performed the full version of the top rated VOCALOID song as voted by fans!
Fans even got a treat: A brand new illustration by 119 based on Melt!
BGM
In addition to all the winning songs, tons of other VOCALOID songs could be heard as BGM throughout Vocalo Numa. NAT on Twitter was even able to compile and list them all, showing that in the span of just 30 minutes, no less than *70* VOCALOID songs were played! Those who listened closely enough to catch them all can better appreciate how much of a love letter this whole program was to VOCALOID fandom and culture to include so many songs!
Find NAT’s list here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q1voS0bklXgcCS9rcL1dRrA2ot2nEZ3rMW8_hZpiPrY/edit#gid=0
Conclusion
It’s amazing how just a single VOCALOID special and its survey could become something so much more in such a short time. Fans voted in troves in hopes of seeing their favorite song get ranked, and the producers of those songs that succeeded felt very honored!
If there is ever going to be another Vocalo Numa or a similar special, it’ll likely be even bigger and better! Look forward to seeing what the future holds for the fandom!
Thank you for providing detailed breakdown of the show. I’m positively surprised that Orangestar got so much mentions.